Well, I've gotta say... being 26 has been great so far!
One major perk of marrying into the Jones family: they wholeheartedly believe that your birthday should be celebrated for a week! Hence, The Birthday Week. My thoughts on that? Sure, why not! Aside from the fact that my birthday was on November 1st, my birthday celebrations started a little early. I decided my "birthday week" would start when Saunders made it down on Friday night, October 29th. First things first! Saunders brought a gift from his and Carlton's mom-- a birthday present for me! A pretty, wavy, fluted, funky vase with gray and purple swirls all through-and-through. It is totally, 100% me and I love it! Carlton is sure he's gonna be looking at it for years to come. It's the perfect size to hold lots of knitting needles on the sofa end table, or a bundle of flowers on the dinner table! Thanks, Vicki!
Saunders came to Moultrie because we were heading to Jacksonville, Florida early-early-early the next morning to go to the Georgia/Florida football game. Once he got to Moultrie, and once I got home from work and changed, we decided to show Saunders a little bit of the "big town" Moultrie scene. We took him to Blue Sky, a favorite local hangout place for dinner, drinks, watching games, playing excellent trivia, and just hanging out.
As soon as we walked in, Saunders was satisfied: "This is what I wanted, this is something only Moultrie has." And that's exactly right! Saunders treated himself to the gigantic ribeye while Carlton had a burger and I overindulged in the Boom-Boom Shrimp (it's fried shrimp covered in a crazy-good sauce-- kinda a creamy sauce like they serve you at a Japanese steakhouse, only completely hot and spicy at the same time... totally delectable!). We stayed there for a couple hours, just talking and catching up over drinks and desserts.
We didn't stay up too late once we got back home, though, because our plans were to leave the house by about 6:00am the next morning. Goooooo Dawgs! It was a struggle to be awake and out the door, but we somehow managed to do it. The drive was nice, the tailgating with friends was excellent, and it didn't seem like it was long before we were making the trek to the stadium to see an incredibly exciting football game.
Our seats couldn't have been better! We were sitting just 3 rows from the field... that's right, you read that correctly... 3 rows back!!! We were on about the 15 yard line, so we were right there in the middle of all the action when exciting end zone plays made the crowd go wild. Unfortunately, The Dawgs lost in overtime, but I couldn't complain one bit. It was my first Georgia/Florida game experience and it was so exciting and fun and incredible!!!
The drive back was pretty rough. Not because of traffic, because there was none at all. It was rough because we were all so exhausted and ready for sleep. The stop at the Waffle House was a good call at first, because it gave us a chance to get moving again, to perk back up, and to get some food on our stomachs (I hadn't eaten since my breakfast McGriddle on the way down to Florida because the tailgate cooks only brought sausages and hotdogs... sadly, not my cup of tea). But once that Waffle House started digesting, we only got sleepier and warmer and cozier and more tired. Saunders toughed it out for most of the drive home, and I did my best to talk and keep the conversation going. I didn't want anyone falling asleep at the wheel! We made it home safely in the end, but man-o-man was that a struggle. Thanks for pulling through, Saunders!
Our Sunday consisted of seeing Saunders off, napping, having lunch, napping, tv watching, and seeing friends for dinner. You've gotta love a lazy Sunday!
Monday marked November 1st, my true birthday. I carried my new Dooney&Bourke eggplant-purple patent leather purse to work. Yeah, that's right. You can be jealous, I totally understand why you would be. It's because I have a new eggplant-purple patent leather Dooney& Bourke handbag and you don't. It's completely natural. (Actually, the truth is this: a fellow teller at the bank carries D&Bs on a regular basis. She's got two little girls under the age of four and needs both of her hands open at all times to keep up with her girls. This particular purse is more of a forearm bag, if you will--the strap is too short to classify it as a shoulderbag. So, she had this incredible purse at home and could never use it.)
I sent Carlton a text picture of it and he gave the thumbs up with a return comment of: "I'm so glad I found the perfect birthday present for you, Babe! I was getting worried that I wouldn't find you anything, but this purse is just perfect for you. Happy Birthday!" And so, I got a beautiful, brand new (okay, so it's last season), never-been-used Dooney&Bourke for $75. Can't beat that!)
Monday night I carried my new Dooney&Bourke eggplant-purple patent leather forearm bag to dinner in Thomasville. Carlton took me to one of my favorite places to eat, Jonah's, where I ordered the Surf-n-Turf filet and crabcake with their famous creamy white cheddar grits and coleslaw. Carlton got the fried shrimp and fries. We shared the sinful deep fried hushpuppies... we just couldn't
not eat them!
And now for today. My yarn arrived today! Remember, the yarn I purchased to knit this sweater? It was waiting for me, all dry and cozy in its USPS Mailing Box in the carport when I got home. I'm ready to knit myself a sweater. I really complicated, pretty, retro-style sweater.
As for my birthday week, I think it's gone well so far. Speckled in with a few white chocolate macadamia nut cookies for a nighttime snack here and there, I'm pretty satisfied! We're looking forward to a group dinner in Thomasville on Friday or Saturday night with our Moultrie crew. Since spunky little Stella will be turning 29 on the 9th, this dinner outing should be a fun one!
One more thing before I sign off: I'm not the only one getting great presents around here. Look in the background of this picture I took today after work. You'll see Vespa's new present: a backyard fence! She's been chasing squirrels and birds and lying in the warm sun, all while we're inside
not supervising! We are also getting Vespa used to her new "playpen" by running and playing as much as we can, and everybody's having a great time in this cool fall weather!
Thanks to everybody for sending so much love to me for my birthday! More "Adventures of the Moultrie Joneses" updates to come. Muah!
