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I hope everyone enjoys this holiday season!

Octoblur

What happened to the fall???  My favorite month, October, just flew by!  We had so much going on that I almost can't remember it all (and definitely have fallen short on capturing it on this blog!).  To be fair, this is a really long one, so be prepared...

Just to recap (and for memory's sake), here's what our October looked like:

The first weekend (October 1st - 3rd), Michael's friend Matt flew into town from Columbus.  The two met in law school and have pretty much picked a BIG football game every year to attend together.  This year they chose the Alabama v Florida game in Tuscaloosa.  Note: I told Michael at the beginning of football season that I wanted to attend this game; however, as the wife I got booted.  It actually turned out well.  The three of us went to dinner on Friday night (@ Cantina Laredo - my first time there, and it was delish), then I sent them on their merry way Saturday morning.  I, in turn, headed to a wonderful deep tissue massage at Escape, a movie, and pretty much just lounged around the rest of the day.  Not to shabby!  While I wanted to attend the game, it is just exhausting the drive down Saturday morning, go to a night game, spend the night in Birmingham and then get up early the next morning to get back.

The next weekend (October 8th - 10th) was Michael's firm retreat in New Orleans.  What a fun trip! Well, for me at least.  Michael was in conference rooms a lot of the time.  It really is a beautiful time of year to visit that area.  Still very warm, but not humid like it was mid-June when we went down there for Michael's cousin's wedding.  We flew down Friday, and then my friend, Erin, and I spent the day shopping, eating and drinking on Bourbon Street.  I'm not going to tell you what Erin bought - that's her story to tell ;)...  Michael and Erin's husband, Kyle, spent all day Friday in meetings with all the other attorneys.  Yuck!  The entire weekend was a whirlwind of cocktail parties, dinners and socializing.  Friday night dinner wasn't very good (we went to Arnaud's) but Saturday night was something.  We had a cocktail party to start the night off right then the firm had a jazz band escort the entire party (and we're talking about 500 people here) from our hotel on St Charlies to the Aquarium, right off Canal Place.  And when I say escort, we literally shut the streets down and walked down Canal Street with the Jazz Band just a blowing, and waving white towels in celebration.  It was quite a sight!  I wish I had pictures.  BABC did such a cool thing with dinner @ the Aquarium.  They rented out the entire place, and had a roaming buffet through all the rooms, ending up with bananas foster and coffee at the shark tanks.  And, a neat marketing idea, they had put bubble stickers (they looked like stickers but I'm positive they came off) of BABC facts (some funny, some statistical) on the glass to different tanks around the Aquariam.  That Sunday, Michael and I drove out to Picayune, Missisippi which is about an hour outside of NOLA, to visit with Michael's grandmother, Chere, and her husband, Chris.  We brunched, and then drove around the "plantation" that Michael's mother grew up on.  It's the town where Michael spent a lot of his summers growing up.  It was very special to spend that time with Chere and I think she really appreciated us coming out to see her.

The third weekend (October 15th - 17th), I don't know what we did.  We probably just sat on the couch and stared at each other.  October 15th was Sid's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY SID!  October 19th was Mom's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

The fourth weekend (October 22nd - 24th) was our bi-annual trip to Knoxville for the Alabama v UT game.  Six years ago (2004), Michael took me on this trip to meet his parents for the first time A MONTH AFTER WE STARTED DATING!  Obviously it worked out well.  Two years later (2006), Michael proposed the night before and we were able to celebrate our engagement with Michael's parents and sister in Knoxville after the game.  Anyway, this year we drove up Saturday morning, and attended the game that night.  It's always a good game, but like I said earlier, just makes for an exhausting weekend.

The fifth weekend (October 29th - 31st, btw how many weekends are in October!?!?!? I'm almost done, I promise) was Halloween weekend.  Friday night I had a girls dinner which was my first in like literally since the beginning of time.  Not really but it felt like it.  Michael sat at home on the couch and stared at Winston until I got home.  Friday night we ate dinner at the new restaurant, Fish & Co, and headed to the Ryman for the Avett Brothers show.  That was interesting.  I think they're a good band, but since it was the night before Halloween, everyone was dressed up in costumes and clearly having a good time (if ya know what I'm saying...).  Sunday night was Halloween, and our neighborhood does Halloween right.  Michael and I didn't dress up but Winston was a bouncer and took his job very seriously.  He protected the neighoborhood, he barked at everyone who walked by, he picked up trash, and overall secured the neighborhood.  We got about 50 trick or treaters and shut down about 7 when the teenagers started to come to the porch.  I do have pictures of our house and the neighborhood, but I haven't taken them off my camera yet. 

Sorry for the long post.  Even my eyes are a little blurry after typing all this... 

A day in the life...

I make my bed every morning.  I cannot not make my bed.  It's a disease but it makes me feel good, since it's one of the very few things that I can control in my life (I know I have issues). 

Winston likes it too, but for a different reason.  He likes a well-made bed, with all the pillows in the right place, because it creates a little sanctuary for his morning nap. 

Here's when I caught him sneaking into his spot, before I even left for work...

After turning in circles several (read: at least twenty) times, here's where he ended up.

When I grow up, I hope to live as good as Winston.

Fun Little Factoid

The Land Report published their Fall 2010 magazine and the main article is the Top 100 Largest Landowners in the US. 

Look who made the list at #78.

The Crosby Family is Michael's family on his mother's side (her maiden name was Crosby).

If you can't read the fine print, it states: 

Crosby Land and Resources was brought to our attention this year.  We were remiss in overlooking the largest family-owned, non-industrial private timberland company in Louisiana.  "We do not own nor operate any converting facilities," Robert H. Crosby III says modestly.  "We're just one big tree farm with a focus on maintaining a healthy and sustainable forest for the benefit of current and future generations of family owners."  The privately held company has been operating for over a century in Louisiance and Mississippi.

Kinda cool for the family business to be in operations for over a century.

Small Home Adjustments

We've lived in our home for three years now, and just this year, I've finally made some small improvements... but what a large difference it seems to make! 

In the dining room, we finally changed out our nasty brown blinds and got plantation shutters installed. 

Before

After

And addded a bar cart...

In the den area, it looked so brown and had all of Michael's bachelor furniture still in there.  So, in order to lighten it up, I ordered some chairs through Sevier & White Interiors (highly recommend them!).  I think they look wonderful - I just have to keep Winston off of them so they stay that way. 



Also, we constantly struggle with having enough seats in the room - especially when people come over to watch football games.  So, I ordered two custom ottoman stools from Ballard Designs.  Even though they took 8 weeks to get here, I loved being able to pick out my own fabric and send it to Ballard.  Here's the end result:

And they're actually storage cubes too!  What a great place to throw blankets, Winston's toys, magazines, etc. when I want to get them out of the way!

Lastly, my new couch arrived about two weeks ago - I haven't taken pictures yet, so those will be on my next post.  This room finally feels like it's coming together.

Birthday Month - one month belated

I'm not as quick on the uptake as I like to think I am.  Oops...  Finally, here are some pictures from the month of August, aka Birthday Month.

Michael's 33rd Birthday
 

 Presents

Carrot Cake from Sweet N Sassy - even I thought it was delish and I don't really like carrot cake

Michael opening his gifts - I got him the Bose Docking Station for his iPod (or iPhone, whatever) and he loves it!  it is pretty awesome if I do say so myself.  We've really enjoyed sitting on our back deck, listening to music, sipping some vino.

Winston trying to get to the birthday cake - I couldn't resist taking his picture even though he's not supposed to be up on the chairs (perhaps I shouldn't give him attention when he's doing something he's not supposed to do?)

My 30th Birthday - yuck

I still do not like the fact that I'm 30.  I'm fighting it tooth and nail.  I know everyone says your 30's are supposed to be great - I'm just not on that bandwagon yet.  Hence, the reason I've waited so long to post the pictures. 

 

 My team decorated my office at work

My team also gave me a birthday tiara - appropriate, yes?

Birthday Party 

Michael had the party catered by Pranza, the little italian cafe in his building

 

E cookies for party favors

 

Lindsey, me, Megan, Caroline, Kim and Lindsey

Erin and me - not the best pic but I wanted to give her a shout out

Michael, me, Sarah and Price

Michael and me

Chillin' at the end of the evening with a glass of bubbly (we finally popped the bottle of Veuve Cliquot Michael received when he made partner)

Like the new chairs?  I have more pics of my new furniture - separate post since this one is already getting long.

Michael's present to me.  It's HUGE - this does not do it justice.  Michael's friend Herb Williams is a curator for one of the local galleries.  He painted this.  I fell in love with the guitars last summer - it's just so Nashville.

Last subject... Towbin was in town at the beginning of August, so we postponed our regularly schedule first Tuesday of the month dinner to the following Saturday.  We headed out to Crow's Nest.  Not nearly as exciting as the girls get-togethers we once had, but fun none the less.



Michael, me, Lindsey, Annie, Megan, Kate, Towbin and Jonathon

(poor Michael - not one of his best photos)

We took this picture right before Caroline got there.  Tobwin complained because she said no one was hugging her, so we took this picture...

Then we took one more when Caroline and Kyle arrived

That's all for now.  :)

Love this post!

I'll be back later this week to post all the pictures from mine and Michael's birthday celebrations this month.  In the meantime, I had to point out a great post from Haven and Home today.  Love, love, love these pictures and definitely something I'm putting in my idea book.  Enjoy!