Birthday Weekend

To say it's been an amazing weekend is an understatement. A big one!

I turned 25 on Friday and was celebrated all day long, thanks to my sweet sixth graders at the middle school where I teach. I left Friday afternoon with more than two dozen handmade birthday cards--my favorite!

We didn't do anything spectacular Friday night... We ate pizza and went to bed early. Last week was a busy one; all I wanted for my birthday was a good night's sleep!

Saturday  morning I got up and went to the gym then visited Starbucks for a tall, nonfat pumpkin spice latte. When I tried my first PSL two years ago, I wasn't immediately hooked; I thought they were yummy, but I wasn't obsessed like most girls people. But now?! It's totally grown on me; I LOVE pumpkin spice latte season at Starbucks! I had a regular one and a pumpkin muffin for my birthday treat Friday morning. The muffin was delicious, and I'm going to make my own version in the next couple weeks; be on the lookout for the recipe!

My cousin got married Saturday afternoon, so I went solo to her wedding. Eric and Vaught stayed home since it was a "please, no children" wedding. I have an immense amount of respect for the couples who do that... In my opinion, weddings aren't the place for small children. I was glad to get a little more time to myself and enjoy the ceremony sitting with my parents and niece.

We drove to Firebird's in Collierville afterwards, meeting Eric and Vaught for my birthday dinner. My best friend/cousin and her fiancé came as well. We had a great time!

Audrey Anna and my mom know me so well... These were the most perfect gifts!

At 8:15, it was time for Ole Miss Football versus the Alabama Crimson Tide. We went to my aunt and uncle's house in Nesbit for a football party. I'll skip past the mini heart-attacks, the touchdown shots I demanded we all take, and my uncle's hilarious fallout in the floor after a touchdown... The Rebels WON with a final score of 43-37. We won at Alabama for only the second time in history. It is damn hard to win a game in Bryant-Denny Stadium, but somehow we pulled it out. We lead the game the entire time, by three touchdowns at two different times. It ended up being a closer game than this Rebel (any Rebel) prefers, but a win is a win all day long.

I love how people will still say things like, "Well... Alabama almost beat y'all!"
"They would have scored if they'd had another minute!"
 "Act like y'all've won a game before!"
(It's all over Facebook right now, you should see it).

1. This is football, sweetheart. "Almost "doesn't matter. The team that plays the better part of sixty minutes will win every time. Last night, that team was the Rebels.

2. With another minute, we would have scored again too. Calm down.

3. Had it been your team, whatever team that may be, you know you'd still be celebrating. You're not fooling anyone.

Needless to say, my Saturday night ended perfectly at about 12:30.

I woke up at six Sunday morning and hit the gym for a forty-five minute workout. I did legs with lots of squats and lunges, a bit of shoulder work, and a mile of HIIT on the treadmill.

My tanks totally look like dresses now.

Afterwards, I had to have another nonfat PSL from Starbucks. This time, I indulged in a grande... Even nonfat, I know it's still bad for me. Don't go there.

We had a pleasant Sunday. We had breakfast together as a family of three then lazed around for most of the day until nearly four.

New favorite food: GRITS!

My mother-in-law and stepfather-in-law bought me a jogging stroller for my birthday, and I couldn't wait to try it out, so after nap time, we went to the Olive Branch park and hit the nature trails with the stroller. I really should reach out to Chicco about being a representative for them because I cannot explain how smooth and easy to push this stroller is! The two trails we did are full of tree roots and rocks, and it just glided right over them! Vaught loved it, giggling and babbling as we explored. We tried a new trail that's about a quarter mile long but feels much longer than that. Eric caught some kids setting things on fire, and he called the police and walked back into the woods to help the officer find them. We're not really the tattletail types, but if some punk kids had set this gorgeous park on fire, I'd be upset!

We're excited to be having Vaught's party here next Sunday too!

I devoted my Sunday evening to lesson planning and PowerPoint-making, and that, my friend, is where I leave you :)

It's been an amazing birthday weekend. I'm expecting 25 to be a fantastic year. Thank you for all the love on my birthday and always!

Come back tomorrow for a post about taking food from my sixth graders :)