Jack Daniels BBQ Championship

On Saturday, my parents and friends Becky and Steve came up and we all headed to Lynchburg, Tennessee for the Jack Daniels BBQ Championship. The drive to Lynchburg is beautiful during this time of year with all of the Fall colors. It was a little overcast and pretty chilly but a lot of fun! We ate lots of food from BBQ ribs to footlong corn dogs to ribbon fries to cheesecake on a stick. This is our second time to go to this event and it is always a lot of fun.

Rob enjoying a rocking chair made out of a whiskey barrel
Dad enjoying a frozen lemonade

"The man" and me

Mom and Dad enjoying the rocking chairs at the Jack Daniels Distillary

Becky and myself posing for the camera (probably after eating something) :)

We left the BBQ Championship and headed back to our house to watch the Alabama/Tennessee game. We all stressed and bit our nails until the last second of the game but were overjoyed with the outcome. RTR! After the game, we had dinner at Beauregards and enjoyed some wings while watching the Auburn/LSU game that unfortunately didn't have such a good outcome! All in all it was a wonderful Fall day with great friends and family!!

Taste of Huntsville

Thursday night we enjoyed our second Taste of Huntsville. This is the second year that we have attended this event and it is always so much fun. Lots of the local restaurants and give out samples of their appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Some of the new ones included The Melting Pot, Newks (which is one of my fave restaurants), 801 Franklin, and Another Broken Egg Cafe.

Not only do we like to sample foods from various restaurants but the ticket sales go to charity. This year's charities were United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) and Kids to Love so it's a win-win! If you are in the Huntsville area next year, you should definitely check it out!

Rob enjoying some fondue from The Melting Pot. (bad picture quality because I only had my Blackberry)

RTR!

Last Saturday, Rob and I headed to T-Town for some Bama tailgating! It was Homecoming so there were lots of festivities and things to see. We enjoyed the parade and then headed to the Quad for some real tailgating! Thank you Ray family!!!! There is just nothing better than tailgating with friends and family in Tuscaloosa!

My dad, Jacob and Donny in deep conversation....probably discussing Oneonta's loss the night before at their Homecoming.

Jacob, Donny, and Dad posing

Amanda and Pearce (I think Amanda and I were the only two that were absolutely freezing the entire day!)

All bundled up and it's early!

and J-Ray acting like who else....J-Ray!

As the night progressed I got colder and colder. At one point I had on my fleece jacket, a down vest and scarf. I was also wrapped in a blanket and had a fleece blanket thrown on top of me! I was SO cold! But how cute is my houndstooth scarf that I got for $9.99...yay me!

Please notice that I look like the abominable snowman and Rob looks barely chilled. Apparently, I'm a sissy!

We had a great time as usual! Hopefully we will find another available weekend to hang out again!

Happy Boss's Day (to me)!

Tomorrow is National Boss's Day but since I'm not working tomorrow my staff threw me a party today. They had prepared food and desserts and it was YUMMY! I forgot to take pictures before we ate so the pics are of half eaten food....ha!

We had a mexican casserole that was yummy and cheese dip (always one of my favorites). Apparently they all know how much I LOVE Mexican food! :)

And Mexican cornbread...

We also had a Reese Cup trifle (if you know me, you know my fave candy bar is a Reese Cup) and a scrumptious Mississippi Mud Cake!

Not only did they bring amazing food, they also bought me the MAC perfume that I've been wanting. Apparently it is MAC's newest scent and smells SO GOOD! (And of course that is NOT a People Style Watch magazine sitting on my desk)

Here are more pictures from the day

Kyle, Brandi and Katie enjoying the yummy food:

Katie and Meagan (posing, of course) :)

Kyle working HARD! :)

I am over another office as well but I'm not with them every day. This group, however, I'm with all day, every day and they are a lot of fun (most of the time...haha). They are such a funny group of people and they keep me laughing all of the time. It is so nice to enjoy the people that you work with and even when I'm having a bad day, they can ususally snap me out of it! Thanks so much guys for giving me a great Boss's Day!

Happy Retirement Donny Ray!

Last Tuesday I attended the retirement party for Donny Ray, Blount County Revenue Commissioner. I worked for Donny at the courthouse from the time that I graduated from high school until I moved to Huntsville and got a "real job." Donny let me work as many (or as few...haha) as I needed/wanted to and it was the absolute best work environment!!! No college student has EVER had a better gig! :) Donny was the BEST to work for! He has been with Blount County for 26 years and during the past election decided to not seek another term as Revenue Commissioner. He decided it was time for another chapter and so it begins.

God puts special people in your life and he did that for me with Donny! Donny has influenced me in more ways than he will ever know! He was more than just a boss to me and I can only hope that my employees feel that way about me! In the last 10 years Donny and his wife Kristie have become close friends and I love them dearly!

Happy Retirement Donny!

A Paisley Change

When Rob and I got married, we registered for two sets of dishes which was one of the smartest decisions we made during that time. We chose an 8-place setting of white everyday dishes and then chose a 4-place setting of colorful dishes with fat chefs. I know myself and I knew I would get tired of those fat chefs after a while. Well, it took me 6 years but I was finally SICK of looking at them. (Actually I was tired of them after about year 4) So, I sold all of my chef stuff to someone that works with Rob and used that money to buy new dishes. I learned with the fat chefs that "themed kitchens" are a BAD idea for me. I am very fickle and change my mind fairly regularly.

So, anyway after much looking I finally found dishes that I absolutely LOVE! I found these at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

The Platter:

The dinner plate
The setting minus the coffee mugs
I haven't decided exactly how I want to arrange everything. I will probably buy a couple of other things and rearrange this but for now this is what it looks like. I love it so much more than those fat chefs. Ha! What do you think?