Weekend Recap

“In terms of days and moments lived, you’ll never again be as young as you are right now, so spend this day, the youth of your future, in a way that deflects regret. Invest in yourself. Have some fun. Do something important. Love somebody extra. In one sense, you’re just a kid, but a kid with enough years on her to know that every day is priceless." ~Victoria Moran

It's Tuesday folks, and that means we're closer to the freakin' weekend than we were yesterday!  I thought I'd give ya'll a little weekend recap of the happenings around here.

 

 On Friday night, Soldier Cousin came to town!  I love that he's stationed within driving distance so we can hang out.  We ended up meeting up with BFF at the Dixie Chicken for a beer and just general conversation. Which somehow led to BFF suggesting that maybe I should consider getting some eggs harvested because my biological clock is ticking.  Just normal Friday afternoon conversation for me and BFF.  (We have an interesting relationship.)  After The Chicken, we headed to this amazing restaurant here in town called La Bodega for tacos with my New Roomie.  It was (by some miracle!) cooled off enough that we got to sit out on the patio, eat our tacos, and just hang out.  It was an awesome Friday night in my book.

But....I failed to take a single picture.  FAIL.

On Saturday, I was wide awake at 7 in the morning, while Soldier Cousin slept in like a good teenager.  So I ran a bunch of errands, balanced my checkbook, did some shopping.....wild and crazy, that's me!  After we grabbed some lunch, I took him on a tour of the A&M campus, including the ever-popular photo op at Kyle Field. Look how tiny he looks!!

Then it was time for a little road trip.  BFF, The Persuasion, Soldier Cousin and I headed to Waco.  First stop:  Baylor University to take some pictures to send to their biggest fan, Cousin Swiss Mister.  We drove all over that dang campus trying to find the bear habitat, where the mascots live.  We must have asked 5 people--Baylor students/alum, no doubt--and none of them could give us coherent directions.  Come on, people!  But we finally found them.  And they were taking a nap.  Grrr.  But we took the picture that Cousin Swiss Mister requested.  I don't think he was so impressed with my foam finger....GO POKES!

Check out the anatomy of taking this photo

Setting up the foam finger....

BFF thinking he was too important to get off the phone...

The money shot.

Then we headed off to check out the new football stadium being constructed.  Looked like a construction sight to me.  That's about all I can say.

And then, it was time for the main event.  Kiddo was playing an acoustic set at golf course/country club.  I've heard him play his guitar 100 times, but it was my first time seeing him play at a show.  He did great!

He looks a little Eric Church-ish, no?

Instructions to BFF here?  "Look cute."  

Love that kid!

Then we wrapped up the night with dinner/breakfast at Denny's (attached to a truck stop, no less) and the hour drive back home.  I'm way, way, way too old for this kind of thing.  Especially when I wake up at 7:30 on the dot Sunday morning.  I'll be trying to catch up on sleep for the rest of the week.

WILW (Part I)

“If we counted our blessings instead of our money, we would all be rich.”  ~ Linda Poindexter

Haven't done this link up in a while, so I had a LONG list of things that I'm loving this week.  In order to help everyone from getting completely bored by a super long post, I've split this baby into a two parter.  So...things I'm loving Part I....

NUMBER ONE:  This song by Chad Sullins called Only Girl.  Seriously, LOVE it.

NUMBER TWO:  The fact that Kiddo is a rock star and opens for Chad Sullins.  No, seriously.  Like playing gigs out on the strip two nights in a row last week.  Look how cute he is.

I'm already trying to chase away the little college girls who are after any boy with a guitar who are clearly not good enough for my favorite kid.

To celebrate the first gig, I may have sent him balloons.  Which he took with him to the bar.  Classic.

NUMBER THREE:  Speaking of rock stars, Little Linebacker got drums for his 3rd birthday.  Like a full set of real drums.  How stinkin cute is this kid??

Apparently he is constantly asking his daddy to bring his guitar and come play with him in the garage (to where the drums have been banished).  Seriously, a 3 year old and his daddy having a jam session in the garage.  I know that my dream is for him to play college football, but this might be better.  I'm only saying that once.

NUMBER FOUR: Speaking of Little Linebacker, he is now officially a big brother.  That's right friends, meet the newest of Aunt Tiff's brood of nephews....Little Fullback. 

He came last week in dramatic fashion when he was delivered by paramedics at home because he was apparently ready to make his entrance NOW.  I'm sure his uber organized mama was a little concerned.  As was his daddy, who was getting instructions on how to deliver a baby with a shoe lace and safety pin from the 911 operator  (still not sure what the pin was for?).  To see their interview on the news, click here. Anyway, Little Fullback arrived safe and sound, and he's adorable!

NUMBER FIVE:  My sweet cousin Mim texts me all excited about this article last week.  What does it say?  Oh, ya know, just that my future home has been deemed one of the top 5 universities in the country to find a husband.  Haha....this move is looking better and better all the time!

NUMBER SIX:  OSU brough the rowdy back to Gallagher-Iba Arena!  See, when I was in school, every single game sold out, you stood in line for hours to get good seats, and that place was crazy.  The last couple of years had been bad for the OSU basketball program and the attendance dwindles.  But this year, FINALLY, we have a team that is ranked in the Top 25, tied for first in the Big 12, and a sold out Gallagher-Iba Arena for the Bedlam game against OU.  Good job, kids!  And good job, Pokes, on the overtime win!

 

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part II....

Jam Sessions, Tailgates, Touchdowns, Fried Pickles and a Marathon Relay

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."  ~Anon.

Oh what a glorious weekend it was.  Let's get right to it, shall we?

So after what I can only describe as an insane day at work on Friday, I hopped a plane and headed for the Happiest Place on Earth.  That's right, kids.....I was off to Stillwater for game day weekend!

I do like it when I'm in Stillwater and the Pokes are in the end zone!

SATURDAY

Loud Oklahoma Girl and I kicked off the day on Saturday by headeing to SoulMate Friend's house.  This may have been my favorite part of the day, thanks to the adorable Little Linebacker.  First off, he was decorating the Christmas tree with "jingles" which is what he calls ornaments, so he was all wound up and excited. 

This kid totally has me figured out.  First off, when SoulMate Friend told him that Aunt Tiff was coming to town, he said, "Aunt Tiff go to the football game."  That is how I'm known to this child.  My heart is full.  Secondly, as soon as we walked in he said, "Little Linebacker wants a cookie."  His mama said no.  He then came over to me and said, "Tiff, Little Linebacker wants a cookie."  When mama says no, go to Aunt Tiff.  He's a smart one!

Up next came a tour of the house.  Complete with things like, "This is the bathroom.  That is the bath tub" and the like.  When we got to his room, we somehow ended up in a jam session.  Picture it, Loud Oklahoma Girl on the marracas, me on the little kid guitar, and Little Linebacker on the toy drums.  We rocked out to some We Wish You A Merry Christmas, ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Ba Ba Black Sheep (which turns out Aunt Tiff did NOT know the words to).  We ended the day with Little Linebacker singing us the cutest Thanksgiving song....which I have on video....but you'll have to stick around until Thursday to check that out.

She's having a baby in 2 monhs...could she be any cuter??

So after the wild jam session, we headed off to do a little tailgating and have a drink or two at Eskimo Joe's to pre-game.  That's where we met up with my dear Kiddo.  Bless his sweet 21 year old heart, he hung out with the old ladies and I think even had a good time?  He's a wild one that kid....I made it through three years with the Animal House Boys and never had a run in with the OSU police.  I was there for an hour with Kiddo and said run in may have occurred.  No worries, didn't have to pull the lawyer card.  Phew!

After that, it was game time.  I think that the word "domination" pretty much sums it up.  Nice work, boys.  Nice work!  Now let's get geared up for Bedlam on Saturday!

As we always do, we hit up the Penny post-game.  Any bar that has an air of cow crap, a bouncer wearing Carhart coveralls, and photos of cattle on the wall is my kind of place.  That's why it became my bar 8 years ago.  It just makes me happy.

Next up was Bad Brad's bbq for dinner.  And we went all out and ordered the fried pickles appetizer.  So.  Good.

We wrapped up Saturday night watching the complete chaos occur in every football game on tv.  I was so happy to see Oregon go down (and that mean that the Irish move up into the top two!!), but honestly was disappointed about K-State.  This is the same weekend that OSU got upset in OT last year, so I feel their pain.  However, as of today, the Fighting Irish are #1 and you know this girl loves it!

I'm this excited.  Again.

SUNDAY

 

Yesterday morning it was time for the big marathon relay event!  At the Tulsa Route 66 Marathon they have a marathon relay event where you get teams of 5 and then each of you runs between 5-5.6 miles, for a total of 26.1.  Now, for those of you thinking, "Wait a minute, she drank all day and ate fried pickles and then ran??"  Yea.  I did.  And I was worried about it.  That is until I started running. 

Me and LOKG at the start of my leg.

 As I usually do, I had three goals for the race:  (1)  Finish.  (2) Run the whole thing.  (3) Run an 11 minute mile pace.  I realize that's not an impressive pace, but my training had not been good and I was honestly worried about running the 5 miles.  Well from somewhere (maybe the fried pickles?) I pulled it out and wound up running....get this...just under 10 minute miles!  It was awesome!  The girl for the next leg was on the phone when I showed up because she didn't expect me for 10 more minutes!  I was pretty proud of myself, and I've got to stop being such a slacker in the training department!



Pre-race team photo

We ended up 24th out of 46 teams---not bad, especially considering we had one team mate doing her very first race ever and LOKG running 5 miles for the first time ever.  It was awesome!  Go Team Slow Pokes!

Team Slow Pokes at the Finish!

Friday's Letters

"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap."  ~Robert Folghum

As I'll explain below, my whole life is sort of off kilter right now due to taking a nap.  So......we're doing a quick blog and linking up with Friday Letters!

Dear job:  I did not appreciate you making me wake up yesterday morning at 3:30 am to fly back home.  And then making me be at the office in a feeble attempt to be productive.  I did, however, enjoy the fact that I was able to leave the office at 3:00 in the afternoon to take a nap before the Thunder game.

Dear Thunder:  The aforementioned nap may have lasted a bit longer than I intended....like from 4 in the afternoon until 1:45 this morning.  This may have caused me to miss your game.  Sorry about that one.   The outcome was not what Oklahoma would have liked, but cheers to a great season.  And to learning not to foul with 5 seconds left on the shot clock for no apparent reason in game 4.  Just saying.

 Dear Kiddo: Please don't be mad at my failure to text you back last night. As you can see, I clearly needed a little sleep.  You are still my favorite.  

Dear weekend:  Hallelujah you're almost here!  I'm feeling some spin classes, some treadmill work, some pool time with College Roomie, and hopefully meeting up with my cousin and his girlfriend who are going to be in town!

Dear Mom:  Thank you for making me spit water all over my computer laughing at your comment on my blog yesterday.  "For awhile, I had asked Dad to work on the windchime because some of the pieces had come off or become twisted, etc. He had not done it yet. However, after reading this blog, he went to the tree and the shop, and now the windchime is repaired! Could you PLEASE do a blog tomorrow about your sweet memories of when you, Denton, and Dad would change the oil in my car?"

Dear Loud Oklahoma Girl:  Two weeks from today and I will be in Tulsa for your wedding!  Two weeks.  Your wedding.  HOLLA!  Pedicures, mimosas, a candy bar, and the Hard Rock.  Cannot wait.  Oh yea, for the wedding part too!

Dear Casey Donahew Band:  I know that you came out with your album "Double Wide Dream" like forever ago, but can I just tell you that it's still one of my favorites.  I've had it on repeat on my iTunes for the last week and it just makes me happy.  Good work, boys.

Dear Sister-in-Law:  Thank you for making my day with the recent Little Cowboy photos on facebook.  Could this child be any cuter?  No.  This is why it IS necessary for Aunt Tiff to send him things like slingshots from Costa Rica and extra large packs of fun dip in the mail.  You're welcome.

Top L:  Helping mom.
Top R:  I assume this is an 8 Seconds pose.
Bottom L:  Watching the rodeo.
Bottm R:  Surfing at the pool.

He Went to Jared....I Went to Oklahoma!

"There is only one happiness in life,to love and be loved." ~ George Sands

I'm just going to get this out there right now---no one went to Jared for me. Sorry to rain on your hopeful parade, but I don't want the snazzy title to give anyone a false impression. Now that we've got that out of the way, you're probably asking, who did go to Jared? That would be Speedy--who is now officially the Loud Oklahoma Girl's fiance. Here's how it went down.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from LOKG's cousin telling me that this proposal was coming and asking if I wanted to come for the surprise engagement party that was being planned for the night of the big question. Um....yea!! You know I love surprise trips to Oklahoma! So I loaded up and set off for the big event.

We had to lie to her. All of us. For weeks. She was told that she was going to Tulsa for her cousin's birthday party. All his friends would be there. And his wife made clear that it was going to be dressy--everyone in cocktail attire. At a steakhouse. And I was spending the weekend reading and working at home. Big, fat lies. Every. Single. One.

Two nights before the big event, the wheels appeared to be falling off the wagon. LOKG dedided she couldn't find any dress that she liked and she decided she didn't even want to go to the stupid birthday party. NOT in the plans, LOKG. Not in the plans. Fortunately she ended up going shopping the day of the big event and finding something. Phew! (Ladies...lesson....if you guy is insisting that you wear a dress, DO IT!)

So I got to spend Saturday with BOKG and her mama. And we were lucky to have this adorable fella grace us with his presence. This would be BFF's baby brother, who we'll just call Kiddo on my blog. Anyway, Kiddo got stuck hanging out with us and driving us around all weekend. He's also a rock star guitarist and Red Dirt Music player, so for literally hours he had to sit in Blonde OK Girl's house and play requests. It was like a live concert in the living room! BOKG officially booked him for her wedding one day.

So we listened to live guitar music while we got all dolled up...and proceedd to take prom-ish pictures. :) Anyhow....as we were getting ready, Speedy took LOKG into a hotel room under the guise of getting ready to go to the fake birthday party and proposed with a beautiful ring. And, of course, she said yes! After that, they headed down to the restaurant for dinner and met up with all of their friends.In the meantime, Kiddo, Blonde OK Girl and I were all hiding out at the bar trying not to be seen until it was time for our surprise. And if you want to fit in at a bar and not look suspicious, you drink. So we did. Flirtini's to be exact. We were hiding out next a couple on their first date which was totally hilarious to listen in on. Ahh...first dates. So painfully awkward.Anyway, so we're hiding and freaking out about being seen and all of a sudden, Kiddo rocks out with this tone of voice that BFF pretty much uses with me all the time that basically says, "Stop your crazy acting like a girl, take a deep breath, clam down and order another drink." It's apparently genetic, that tone.

When they finally seated the group. BOKG went over first to join in the fun.

And then I sauntered up. Cue screaming and jumping up and down and crying and she kept saying, "No wonder you didn't call me back today!" Ha!

I'll skip all the dinner details, except for the one edamame debacle. Have y'all ever eaten this before? Looks like snap peas to me. So I grab one and eat the sucker. It was pretty chewy and hard to swallow. About this time, someone points out that you don't actually eat the shell, just the beans on the inside and everyone gets a good laugh at my expense. Here's a photo to commemorate that disaster. Note that Kiddo looks terrified in the background. He ate his the same way as me. Ha! (FYI, in order to avoid this, BOKG and Kiddo were instructed that if someone throws me an engagement party, we better be at a steakhouse where I know what/how to eat!)

So after an amazing dinner and surprise party, BOKG, Kiddo and I headed out to do a little dancing. Listen folks, this girl does not pass up a live band playing Red Dirt music and a boy to two step with.

My favorite part of the dancing portion of the evening was when an old guy--seriously must have been 85 at a minimum--came up to Kiddo and asked if he had two dates, and then proceeded to hit on BOKG. She always gets the attention! They danced and then he whipped out a Werther's Original hard candy to give her. Talk about a sly move there, ladies!

And there you have it....one of the Gossip Girls is engaged and we had a great weekend celebrating!