I am finally back from my trip across the Mason-Dixon line where I ventured into the land known as Birmingham, AL. Now, I'm sure some of you are wondering what the heck took a girl like me down there-- and the truth is:
1) to get away from the chilly PA fall weather
and....
2) to see my good friends Brooke and Stephen!
and....
2) to see my good friends Brooke and Stephen!
Doesn't that seem like plenty good reasons??? I think so! I arrived there on Wednesday evening and I was welcomed by the delicious smells of BBQ in the airport. It was so distracting! There I was, looking for my suitcase and being distracted by the smells of yummy BBQ'd foods. (sigh)
Later that evening, after catching up with Mr. & Mrs. Wadsworth... we tuned in to the taped episode of LOST. Turns out that because my flight conflicted a little with the episode, Stephen taped it so we could all enjoy it together. Now, this was a show that I could have been hooked on in it's first year-- but I have neither the time and sometimes the mental energy that it takes to keep up with a show this intense. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate it when I can though! We decided to declare it an early night because Brooke and I had intentions of doing some serious shopping at the Galleria and the Summit the following day.
Our actual first stop was at the Met. Now, by Met, I don't mean a
lovely place where you can take in art and opera. This my friends is the home of the Hoover High Football team, and sometimes, the Birmingham Barons. Turns out that the team that actually packs the stands would be the high school football team! Believe it or not, this team is ranked pretty high in the country-- and even frequently travels out of town to exercise their power over others. The reason this was kind of a big deal was because this team happens to be the subject of MTV's latest show Two-A-Days... which follows the boys through their victories (and I think occasional loss). Football can make people do some crazy things!
Turns out that indeed, it was a good day for shopping! Luckily, I discovered that Brooke and I compliment each other in terms of our shopping styles. She is one to hunt down the bargains and rationalize, whereas I... I love to spend money I don't necessarily have! I managed to get her some pretty good deals on some things she was needing (new jeans! a button-down white shirt!), and I managed to walk away with a lot of fall sweaters/tops at really great prices! Hooray for Brooke the shopper! Stephen would have been proud. After a yummy lunch at McCalister's Deli where they almost freaked out at my request for unsweet tea... we headed over to The Summit where I managed to do more damage. All I can say is that ... wow. The Summit rocks!
After all that shopping, it was time to head home where we were expecting Stephen and Kenny to keep us company. And truly, it was good company. We watched My Name is Earl-- one of Brooke & Stephen's favorite shows... and attempted to watch The Office (my favorite show). Turns out, that we ended up watching Arrested Development instead (hooray!). Although, I am a little sad that I missed The Offic
e. : ( Anyways, after deciding that there had to be more to life than sitting in front of the TV... LIKE DESSERT... we were off to Dreamland to have some yummy banana puddin'. Believe it or not, the pudding was heavenly. :) The bbq sauce though... that was a little vinegar-y and it took us into this whole discussion of which sauces we preferred... vinegar based or _________ based. Clearly-- I don't know the other type of base you can have... which seems kind of tragic in a way. Turns out though, that Brooke is not a fan of banana pudding, so we als
o took a little detour to the Cracker Barrel on our way home so she could grab herself a little chocolate cobbler... and so Stephen and Kenny could get in a much-needed game of checkers. I think Stephen may have won, but I'm not sure. I was actually digging around for postcards inside... and believe it or not, I have found the ONE Cracker Barrel that doesn't sell postcards! Boo to them! All in all, this evening was pretty lovely as well-- and I had a great time chatting and catching up with Kenny-- who was on his way to Atlanta for the weekend to see the Indigo Girls.
You might be wondering if my weekend could get any better at this point... and the answer is, of course it can!
From a lovely time in Birmingham, we were off to Auburn to visit with Brooke's parents and catch the Auburn/Arkansas game. Her parents took us to what is probably the best italian restaurant in Alabama... and happens to be called Provino's. 
I loved visiting with her mom and Ken-- they are a hoot! Especially Ken-- he has some great stories, if he'll share them with you! After a YUMMY dinner... I had a variation of the "Ken Special", Brooke took me around Auburn and Opelika to see the sights. I was able to see the stadium at night, which was kinda cool-- especially since it was practically surrounded by tailgaters! In Opelika, I was able to see the courthouse which was right around the corner from a bar we went to called Eighth and Rail. This place was pretty neat and made some good flirtinis and "lemonades" in my opinion!
We actually started out the morning tailgating with Stephen's parents and Brooke's parents came out and joined the fun as well. It was there that I was able to meet her brother Brian and his wife Shea and their son Clay (also known as Clay-Baby!). This baby is just too precious... and they are excitedly expecting their second child here in April. Congrats to them! 
It was actually a little chilly... and we had to break out the "Old Lady Sweater" as Stephen and Kenny joke. I was actually the lucky wearer of the sweater as I decided to wear shorts to the game thinking that it would warm up... and it did. I don't know what the final temp was on that day-- but the sun was beating down on us for most of the game, but not that I was going to complain after freezing at the tailgate that morning.
Now, I'm sure by now you know what the turnout was... turns out that the Tigers had problems with the Razorbacks just like Tech did back in the day! And I am not going to lie and say that even I am not a little bitter about them losing! As you can tell, Brooke and I got a little sunburned (well, and I think Brooke took the brunt of it!)... but the best part was the end of the game where we were able to go and play with her
nephew Clay. He even did us a favor and showed us his Halloween costume... which I thought was just too precious for words. Turns out he is going to be a little chick this Halloween and he even did us a favor and "ruffled" his feathers for us to show us what a proud chick he was!
All in all... I had a great time. We ended the weekend by heading to church on Sunday and then a yummy lunch at the Guadalajara Restaurant where I had some good enchiladas which actually kept me full the rest of the day!
So... dear readers, until my next adventure... I bid you adieu!
Luckily, although I'd missed dinner with Brooke and Stephen (she had choir practice so they tend to eat early on Wednesday nights...), I was able to take in the joy that is Zaxby's. If you happen to be somewhere you can get Zaxby's-- and you haven't been and are hungry-- you should really stop and enjoy you some great chicken fingers! I know I've been trying to eat healthy, but this was definitely worth taking a small break from the diet for!
Later that evening, after catching up with Mr. & Mrs. Wadsworth... we tuned in to the taped episode of LOST. Turns out that because my flight conflicted a little with the episode, Stephen taped it so we could all enjoy it together. Now, this was a show that I could have been hooked on in it's first year-- but I have neither the time and sometimes the mental energy that it takes to keep up with a show this intense. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate it when I can though! We decided to declare it an early night because Brooke and I had intentions of doing some serious shopping at the Galleria and the Summit the following day.
Our actual first stop was at the Met. Now, by Met, I don't mean a
lovely place where you can take in art and opera. This my friends is the home of the Hoover High Football team, and sometimes, the Birmingham Barons. Turns out that the team that actually packs the stands would be the high school football team! Believe it or not, this team is ranked pretty high in the country-- and even frequently travels out of town to exercise their power over others. The reason this was kind of a big deal was because this team happens to be the subject of MTV's latest show Two-A-Days... which follows the boys through their victories (and I think occasional loss). Football can make people do some crazy things!
Turns out that indeed, it was a good day for shopping! Luckily, I discovered that Brooke and I compliment each other in terms of our shopping styles. She is one to hunt down the bargains and rationalize, whereas I... I love to spend money I don't necessarily have! I managed to get her some pretty good deals on some things she was needing (new jeans! a button-down white shirt!), and I managed to walk away with a lot of fall sweaters/tops at really great prices! Hooray for Brooke the shopper! Stephen would have been proud. After a yummy lunch at McCalister's Deli where they almost freaked out at my request for unsweet tea... we headed over to The Summit where I managed to do more damage. All I can say is that ... wow. The Summit rocks!After all that shopping, it was time to head home where we were expecting Stephen and Kenny to keep us company. And truly, it was good company. We watched My Name is Earl-- one of Brooke & Stephen's favorite shows... and attempted to watch The Office (my favorite show). Turns out, that we ended up watching Arrested Development instead (hooray!). Although, I am a little sad that I missed The Offic
e. : ( Anyways, after deciding that there had to be more to life than sitting in front of the TV... LIKE DESSERT... we were off to Dreamland to have some yummy banana puddin'. Believe it or not, the pudding was heavenly. :) The bbq sauce though... that was a little vinegar-y and it took us into this whole discussion of which sauces we preferred... vinegar based or _________ based. Clearly-- I don't know the other type of base you can have... which seems kind of tragic in a way. Turns out though, that Brooke is not a fan of banana pudding, so we als
o took a little detour to the Cracker Barrel on our way home so she could grab herself a little chocolate cobbler... and so Stephen and Kenny could get in a much-needed game of checkers. I think Stephen may have won, but I'm not sure. I was actually digging around for postcards inside... and believe it or not, I have found the ONE Cracker Barrel that doesn't sell postcards! Boo to them! All in all, this evening was pretty lovely as well-- and I had a great time chatting and catching up with Kenny-- who was on his way to Atlanta for the weekend to see the Indigo Girls.You might be wondering if my weekend could get any better at this point... and the answer is, of course it can!
From a lovely time in Birmingham, we were off to Auburn to visit with Brooke's parents and catch the Auburn/Arkansas game. Her parents took us to what is probably the best italian restaurant in Alabama... and happens to be called Provino's. 
I loved visiting with her mom and Ken-- they are a hoot! Especially Ken-- he has some great stories, if he'll share them with you! After a YUMMY dinner... I had a variation of the "Ken Special", Brooke took me around Auburn and Opelika to see the sights. I was able to see the stadium at night, which was kinda cool-- especially since it was practically surrounded by tailgaters! In Opelika, I was able to see the courthouse which was right around the corner from a bar we went to called Eighth and Rail. This place was pretty neat and made some good flirtinis and "lemonades" in my opinion!
We actually started out the morning tailgating with Stephen's parents and Brooke's parents came out and joined the fun as well. It was there that I was able to meet her brother Brian and his wife Shea and their son Clay (also known as Clay-Baby!). This baby is just too precious... and they are excitedly expecting their second child here in April. Congrats to them! 
It was actually a little chilly... and we had to break out the "Old Lady Sweater" as Stephen and Kenny joke. I was actually the lucky wearer of the sweater as I decided to wear shorts to the game thinking that it would warm up... and it did. I don't know what the final temp was on that day-- but the sun was beating down on us for most of the game, but not that I was going to complain after freezing at the tailgate that morning.
Now, I'm sure by now you know what the turnout was... turns out that the Tigers had problems with the Razorbacks just like Tech did back in the day! And I am not going to lie and say that even I am not a little bitter about them losing! As you can tell, Brooke and I got a little sunburned (well, and I think Brooke took the brunt of it!)... but the best part was the end of the game where we were able to go and play with her
nephew Clay. He even did us a favor and showed us his Halloween costume... which I thought was just too precious for words. Turns out he is going to be a little chick this Halloween and he even did us a favor and "ruffled" his feathers for us to show us what a proud chick he was!All in all... I had a great time. We ended the weekend by heading to church on Sunday and then a yummy lunch at the Guadalajara Restaurant where I had some good enchiladas which actually kept me full the rest of the day!
So... dear readers, until my next adventure... I bid you adieu!
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