December 8: CSAA Holiday Party

Tonight we had our annual holiday party for the CSAA-D (the PhDers) and the faculty.  This year we were at Dr. Chris Linder's house.  The food was amazing and we always have a very eventual gift exchange.  This year I brought a coin counting bank with some $ in it and a gift card.  It was actually picked first and after two steals it was done.  Me?  Well, I got the bulldawg which is suppose to return every year (I don't plan to be here) and someone hoping it brings them good luck with graduation for the following year (i.e., 2015).  I mean, I am pretty confident May 2014 is going to happen, but I guess a little luck is always good.

November 19: President Morehead

November 19th marked the investiture of the 22nd president of The University of Georgia, Jere Morehead.  They held a very formal ceremony to honor and induct him as president.  Faculty, staff, and students spoke about their support for him.  The governor, Nathan Deal, and Hank Huckaby were also in attendance.  I think Jere Morehead will do good things for UGA including increasing fundraising and research opportunities.  Although he has many priorities, students are at the heart of what he does.  His very first item as acting president was a breakfast with students.  I think that speaks volumes for his commitment to seeing UGA continue to provide quality education and enhance the academic mission for students.  I was glad I was able to attend the ceremony.

Oct 30: #WARfortheOAR

Every year, the Georgia v. Florida football game is a big rivalry game.  A few years ago the two Student Government Associations (SGA) decided they wanted some sort of trophy to exchange for the winner of this game.  This giant Okefenokee oar is just that.  UGA has had the oar for the last couple of years.  This weekend is the big game, so the oar will go down for the game and remain with the victor.  Well, in anticipation of the game, SGA went around campus to stir up excitement.  Although the oar has been in Tate for awhile, I wanted to make sure I got a picture of it before it went to the game (in case it doesn't return).  

As you can see, the oar is about twice as tall as I am.  The other side of the oar has the Florida mascot and seal on it.  Hopefully the oar will return to Georgia after the game this weekend.  Go Dawgs, sic 'em. 

Christmas 2010 (part I)

Christmas is usually crazy.  Ever since I left California, Christmas has been a bit of a fiasco.  I have many friends who live in southern California; my dad lives outside of Sacramento and my grandparents on my mom's side live near my dad (a random coincidence).  Additionally, my dad's extended family does a Christmas celebration the Saturday before Christmas.  It's a lot of Christmas, a lot of people to see, and a lot of time traveling.  This is before I usually head to Oregon to visit my mom and sister.

Are you tired yet?

I have grown to appreciate Thanksgiving more and more these last few years.  Partly because it's a time to pause and reflect on my many blessings, and partly because it's too short of a holiday to do too much.

However, this post is about Christmas :)

This year, my sister and I decided to try and make it to my dad's extended family Christmas.  We hadn't been there in three or four years, and since I had a longer break (an advantage of being a student again), we decided this would be a good year to do it.

On Friday morning, I woke up at 5:30am and Mallory and I headed to the airport.  Her flight left at noon and mine at 3pm.  Upon arriving in Houston, Texas, I awaited my next flight to California.  A few delays, 5 hours worth of a layover, and a 4.5 hour flight, I was finally landing in California.  My Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to pick me up from the airport ... late.  We arrived at their home at 1:30am (PST) ie. 3:30am EST...almost 24 hours worth of travel.  Phew.

Saturday morning came, and my body woke up as if it were on the east coast.  Boo.  However, we went to work peeling potatoes and preparing for the party.  I had a wonderful time visiting with the two of them before everyone else joined!

Dad's family Christmas is a tradition that's gone on for roughly 30 years, nearly all my life.  Every year we play Christmas bingo, sing the 12 days of Christmas, and have some sort of gift exchange.

Here are some pictures from the day!

I won!  Don't worry, we play enough rounds so that everyone can win!  My half brother Joey is next to me.

Below is a picture of Joey, me, my sister, and my dad.  We're only missing Kevin, my other half brother.  That, however, is a long story...and one I'm not even sure I know all the details to.

Aren't we cute?!  Do you see the resemblance?

We have two cousins closest in age to us, Lauren and Scott.  They are wonderful people and truly make these family get togethers a blast.  Anyway, Scott is now engaged to Lauren (who is featured on the left) and that's his sister Lauren in the middle.  Guess what his mom (my aunts) name is?  No, it's not Lauren, but it is Laura. 

Here's my sister, AJ (cousin Lauren's husband), and Scott.  Like I said, they were cracking me up...and apparently themselves as well.

Since there were 29 of us this Christmas, we had to partner up for the 12 days of Christmas.  My sister and I were ... yes, eleven pipers piping.

After the singing, we did a closet item gift exchange.  I'm not even sure I want to explain how it was played this year, but I'll say it involved my uncle and cousin playing the bongos.  Here is what we won! :)

I think, no, I know there was some tampering with the outcome...in our favor.  All this to say, the day was extremely enjoyable.  I had a good time catching up with family I hadn't seen in a long time.

That night, my sister and I celebrated Christmas with our dad.  As part of our family tradition, we exchange Hallmark ornaments.  I have a collection of puppy dogs, my sister has gingerbread houses, and my dad collects football players.  This tradition started when I was born.  I've gone through one other collection, rocking horses.  My sister, however, has gone through multiple collections.  Anyway, it's a fun tradition that has continued even into our adult lives, and I love that!  It was a nice ending to a nice day.

End of part one.

Ghost Tour

UGA does a ghost tour near halloween around the campus.  Mallory told me about it.  Wednesday night, she ditched class a bit early and we headed over to the arch in order to start the tour.  Earlier in the night, it had begun pouring, however, by 8pm, it was only a drizzle.  Rain gear in hand, we waited in eager anticipation for the tour to start.

5 minutes later, we figured being late must be part of the 'act'.

10 minutes later, we figured they may be late.

15 minutes later, we about gave up hope.

Even as we walked away 20 minutes later, we kept looking back in hope that someone would appear to give the tour.

Here's a pic of us waiting with excited anticipation! :)

Maybe next year...right?!  :/  But who knows, maybe I'll be the one having to ditch class early to try and attend the ghost tour ;)

Blue Bonnets

Blue bonnets are Texas State flower and every spring they pop up in patches. They can be found on the side of the highway, in front yards, almost anywhere there is grass. These flowers are so prized that if they grown in your front yard, you have to mow around them. They are beautiful flowers, but frankly, I think they are a bit over dramatized.

However, taking pictures in blue bonnets is the thing to do. And so, after living in Texas for almost five whole years, I finally took some pictures in these lovely flower beds. It was a bit awkward, especially as a grown adult, but fortunately, I made my friend Megan Baldree go too. Okay...truth...we stumbled upon them going to the lake and I coerced her into stopping to take pictures :)

This patch was right near the lake entrance. Strangely enough, this couple pulled off to the side of the road to ask if we wanted a picture together (picture above). It was nice. I do enjoy the hospitality of the south, especially in small towns. I also enjoy self portrait pictures and have become fairly good at taking them (below).

As we were getting ready to enter the freeway to head home, we found another large patch of blue bonnets and couldn't resist taking yet another self portrait. In this bunch were also Indian paintbrushes...I know, not culturally sensitive, but that's what they're called.

Christmas 2009

I realize Christmas 09 has come and gone, but I have yet to post some pictures from the grand adventure.

My trip started on Sunday, December 20th with my flight into LAX. I was picked up by one of my good friend's husbands (he's my friend too, but I was her friend first :)). I stayed a few nights with them before heading up north with my friend Kristel. After a few pit stops, including lunch with my friend Kristin at In-N-Out (yep, I ate there 3 times) Kristel and I made it to Ripon, California. On the 23rd of December, I had a sisters/roommates get together...see if you can follow...

I was roommates with Kristel

Kristel is sisters with Melanie

Melanie was roommates with Sarah

Sarah is sisters with Jessica

Jessica was roommates with Christa

Christa is my sister.

Phew. Three sets of sisters who have all been roommates with another sister. AND, this happened at three different schools at three different times. Upon conversing a few months ago, my sister and Kristel and I were trying to figure out if there would ever be a time we met. Wedding, no. Funeral, no (and morbid). So we decided to get together for a sisters/roommates lunch. It was a BLAST! On top of that, my sister came up with a fun game, like the newly wed game to see if you knew your sister or your former roommate better. Again, a blast!

Christmas eve was spent with my sister and my dad.

Christmas day was spent with my mom, sister, and extended mom's side.

On the 26th, my mom, sister, and I flew up to Portland to celebrate our Christmas.

The rest of the week, I spent hanging out with my mom and sister...and just kind of relaxing. It was a great trip and for as much 'traveling' as I did (SoCal, NorCal, Oregon) it was very restful and extremely rejuvenating!

Here are some pictures from the Christmas 09 adventure!

First stop: Jenny & Erics. We went to Upland to see the lights. In my years of living in Southern California, I had never been. It was a neat time of visiting with Jenny, Eric, and her family (which was my second family when I lived in SoCal).

Jenny and I as we walked around the neighborhoods looking at lights.

Of course, after a long night of looking at Christmas lights, one gets a craving for 21 CHOICES! And for those of you who care, you can get ANY special flavor at ANY time (I got animal cracker)...yumm!

First set of sisters: Melanie and Kristel (my former roommate)
Here is Sarah and Jessica
And of course, my sister and me.
Ahhh, and all six of us together! I guess the only question is, which set of sisters look most alike?
Oh yep...now roommates: Christa and Jessica
Sarah and Melanie
Kristel and me
Now isn't that one of the craziest, most miraculous things?! And even more miraculous that each set of roommates are such good friends! Obviously good upbringings ;) and God's good grace that brought us each together!

Below is a picture on Christmas eve with my dad.
And Christmas day at my grandparents. We had a hoot looking through old photo albums. The current one was a lineage of my grandma's side way back to...sometime a long time ago.
My sister and me and the infamous bear that plays music and it's heart blinks along to the beat. That bear has lived at my grandparents house for longer than I can remember.
The four of us looking at photo albums of my grandma's growing up years; prior to and after meeting my grandpa.
The next picture is just wonderful! We got snow in Portland, AGAIN! I was in the shower when my mom interrupted letting me know it was snowing. I quickly jumped out of the shower as we all figured the snow wouldn't last. Ten hours, and about 4 inches later, the snow stopped falling.The coldest part was not making the snow angel, but rather posing for the picture. Cold, wet, butt.

I made snow cream...yep, ice cream with snow. :) It wasn't awful, but next time, I've got a better game plan. Maybe next Christmas? Here's to hoping for snow!

What wonderful memories! My Christmas was a blessed one with family and friends! Yay for 2010 and all the possibilities that it holds!

Black Friday

Last year I experienced my first black Friday and to tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed. There were no crazy lines (practically no lines at all). No rushing, pushing, or anything of the sort. Realizing the economy probably played a large part in last years' uneventful Black Friday, I didn't have much hope of seeing any craziness this year. Lisa, Ryn, and I left Baylor at 4:30am in hopes of seeing some of Waco's crazies (those who got in line at 2am or earlier for some prized item). Well...when we arrived at Target 10 minutes before the doors opened at 5am, my dreams became reality. There was a line from one door, down the side, around the corner, and back to the door. Crazy. I got out of the car to take a picture then back to the car to wait until the doors opened.

Target was a zoo. After searching for a variety of Christmas gifts, we headed to the line. Getting into the line that fed into the lanes we waited patiently for our turn. Only an hour later, we found we were standing in line for isle 17. Yep, other people decided to form their own lines, but us rule followers stayed in the intended line (don't worry, I'm not bitter) :).

From there we hit a couple other stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohls (with a stop for Panera breakfast in between). It was a fun experience with some great company (I'm not interested in doing black Friday without fun friends to withstand the lines with!) and I was definitely able to see some crazies! :)

The Baylor Line

Every home football game, prior to kick off, the freshmen charge the field and line up to cheer the football players onto the field. This is known as running the Baylor Line.

During the last home game of the season, seniors can also run the Baylor Line one last time. Well, since I've been around for a few years, I've never run the line. Now, I know what you are thinking, I'm not a student and never was...but, how fun would it be to run the line?!

On Saturday, Ryn and I ran the line. After trading our tickets out for student tickets, borrowing a couple line jerseys, sneakily showing our IDs as we passed through security, and waiting in line for 42 minutes, we were able to run across the field and cheer on the Baylor Bears!

It was an adrenaline rush. I'm not sure if that was because we were sneaky and ran 'illegally' or if it was the rush of running the field with thousands of people watching and yelling.

Check me out in my Baylor Line jersey. The back says, SWIMDUDE...thanks to my former CL, Jason, for letting me borrow it!

The back of Ryn's said, POOH, one of my students let her borrow it...yay. And I need to remember to ask her why she put pooh on the back. ;)

Getting ready to run...the band is currently on the field.

I thought about trying to run with my camera. However, between holding my purse and trying not to trip in my flip flops (not the wisest choice), I figured I'd be sure to fall if I also tried to video the run.

However, I did get a shot of the Baylor players running past the line.

What a fun memory! I'm really glad we jumped through all the hoops in order to run the line, I would recommend it...at least once!

Homecoming 2009

This year was the 100th anniversary of the first homecoming at Baylor University.

Homecoming at Baylor is a wonderful production of events scattered throughout the weekend. The traditions begin with freshman mass meeting on Thursday night where the story of the immortal ten is told. From there, the freshman take the eternal flame to founders mall. Here the freshman use to guard the flame until Friday evening when the flame was taken and the bonfire was lit. However, due to events over the last few years, the tradition of guarding the flame was replaced by the building of the bonfire. Pigskin is offered on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and is the top six acts from Sing (the largest off broadway production in the country). Friday evening is the bonfire and concert. Saturday is the longest collegiate parade in the country and is followed by the homecoming football game.

This year they had a fireworks show, being the 100th anniversary and all. The show had 12 minutes worth of fireworks packed into 3 minutes. I LOVE fireworks! Megan, Sarah, and me at the bonfire (above) and Tiffanie, Lisa, and Monica (below).

I love that there are so many APU people at Baylor. Adam, Em, and I were in the same cohort and Monica and I were RAs together (although I don't remember her...ooops). She just finished the APU program (in higher ed) and is now working at Baylor. Sarah is the odd ball here, but we love her the same, even though she didn't go to APU.

Left to right: Me, Adam, Em, Sarah, and Monica
Reintroduced a few years ago was the residence hall decorating contest. Halls decorate the outside of their building based on the 'theme'. This year, the theme was Baylor through the years (past themes have been Baylor traditions...it's time they get a little more creative).

Anyway, the winner gets a trophy and major bragging rights. This year, little Allen/Dawson WON! This achievement is announced at the bonfire. My students made these impressive 8x4 foot picture frames that outlined the last 100 years of Baylor's history. They made honorable mention signs that lined the way between the giant signs with other random traditions or things that happened within the decade.

I am so proud of their hard work. AND, I'm glad we won!!!!

Here are the pictures of their work and the giant 'frames'.

Yep, that's right, the first African American to play in the Southwest Conference was at Baylor.

Yep friends, Baylor was good at football...back in the 80s and 90s!
Now I know this is stunning, but true. The first woman was not allowed to run in the Baylor line until 1993. Prior to 93, the women would participate in the 'Baylor sideline' where all the women would cheer from..you guessed it, the sideline.

**The Baylor Line is 'run' during the home football games. All the freshman line up with their jerseys and rush the field into line formation and then cheer the football players on as they run onto the field. It's a remarkable site, most of the time.

And here is our living art. Baylor will continue through the years because people like them! :)

The judges come around to each all and although 'spirit' is unofficially judged, it doesn't hurt to have your students out yelling and cheering ;)

Ps this is a great showing considering we were planning on the judges arriving an hour later...yikes.

Oh...if you made it through this entire post, congrats, treat yourself to something nice, it was a long one! :)