Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!  and now...Merry Christmas!!

Andrew and I left Wednesday to head up to Oxford for Thanksgiving and the weekend.  Thursday we got to take another tour of Peter and Darcy's house that's being built - and wow it is coming along fast and looks sooo great!  We watched a little of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (I dream of going one day!!) and a little of the Dog Show.  Random, I know, haha!  Then my parents came into town and we all [Andrew, me, Peter, Darcy, my parents + Kelly, and Andrew's parents] had a big Thanksgiving day lunch at Andrew's parents' house.  There was a lot of food, a lot of laughing, and well, even more laughing! 

Friday, Andrew and I went with Andrew's parents and Peter over to Tupelo for a few Black Friday deals.  We didn't go early at the crack of dawn or anything, but we did snag a few good finds.  Friday night, we went to the Powerhouse in Oxford for a wedding reception.  The couple got married in Scotland (how cool?!) and had their reception back in town. 

Andrew, Kent, Trey...Trey's sister, Holly, was the bride.

looking frumpy, but it was freezing that night!

Andrew and I had a lot of fun catching up with some of his good friends from growing up that we don't to see all that often with Kent being in Pennsylvania and Trey in New Orleans.

Saturday was a fun day with friends and family in the Grove!  I finally got to see several friends I had missed at the last few games, and really loved catching up with them!!

love my sweet engaged friend, Anna

Hogan family :-)

another fun engaged friend, Jocelyn, at our tent!

The game was obviously not as much fun as hanging out in the Grove beforehand was.  It started out a good game, then it sucked, then we thought we had a chance, but we should totally have known better than that...

Mom and I found some cute gloves at Stein Mart the other day, called "spirit fingers."  They are just your typically knit gloves but have pom-poms on the fingers...perfect for cheering on our team!

Mom and Kelly at the game...with "spirit fingers"

There's always next year...right?

Finally Finished!

After lots of studying and 2 days of testing, my board exam is finally over!!  I don't believe the day has finally come (I think, and hope!) that I've just taken my *last* test for the past 21 years.  I still have a few class projects to do, and I'll still have to tackle my clinical boards in March....but I consider this a MAJOR hurdle I finally jumped over, and I am so relieved. Whew! 

Well I put a lot of things on hold, so here's a few pictures of the few things we've been up to lately (besides studying, of course!)...

My little Pumpkin for Halloween

"Do I have to keep taking pictures??"

tired of modeling her pumpkin shirt...

Izzy's new cousin - MOE!!

I'm in love.  He's so adorable.  and fluffy!

at the Ole Miss/Auburn Game

I made Mom's cheeseball into a pumpkin! [found the idea on someone's blog, but can't remember where, if you do, send me the link!]

at the "Random Rebels" tent :-)

fun friends in the grove!

glad I got to see Lindsey before the game!

watching the 3-D show (?) at halftime 

The Oxford trip was a good little break before the exam...glad it's over now!

First Game and Grove Time

I meant to write this post all week long, but it's better late than never! 

Andrew and I love all things Ole Miss, and there is nothing better than Fall...football, friends, grove, and good food :-)  The first game of the season was last week, and even though it wasn't the best game ever considering the awful loss to Jacksonville State, we had the best time seeing family and friends and getting away for the weekend. 

decked out in Ole Miss gear...

my parents [my mom knows almost as many ole miss sports stats as Peter...maybe more?]

sweet seeester

THE most spirited boys

wife friends

Luckily Ole Miss pulled out a WIN this weekend against Tulane.  The game was at the Super Dome in New Orleans, and from all reports I've heard, New Orleans became the "new" Oxford as it was invaded with Rebel fans.  Wish we were there!!  I'm not gonna lie, I did thoroughly enjoy watching the game on my couch in my PJs while I snuggled with Izzy.

Looking forward to more games!!

Christmas, Corndogs, and Snow

I finally took some pictures of our Christmas tree! I'm sure you've been holding your breath in anticipation…

But first, I came across a few other pictures I wanted to share.

I know it was a few weeks ago, but here are some pics from the Ole Miss-LSU game.

Here's Andrew and me:

The Ross' + Jeffrey:

The Hogan Family at the game:

One of the most hilarious Ole Miss fans:

Now here's one of my Izzy girl. She wanted to go to school with me the other day, so she hoped in one of my bags! [Andrew put her in there, of course.]

Here's Izzy checking out the snow from last Friday…"Mom, my feet are COLD. How much longer do I have to stand here for you to take my picture??"

Now here she is in her finest form…she thinks she rules our house.

And here's proof that she does. Hanging out with her daddy, watching football while I studied:

OK so, here's the grand finale of today's parade of pictures. Drum roll, please…



OUR FIRST TREE!!

[Side Note #1] I have always had a real tree, but Andrew already had this lovely (yet, massive) tree.  Our deal was that we'd use it for this year and next year (our last Christmas' in this house *tear*), and then we could start getting real trees whenever we are in our next house.


[Side Note #2] I am mostly a fan of white lights on Christmas trees.  I just like the white ones.  BUT with that being said, I also really love a fat frazier fir with multi-colored lights and all handmade/super-random ornaments.  One day I want to have a "proper" Christmas tree in the living room and a "fun" tree in the kitchen or den or whatever.  So, needless to say - my tree obviously does not fall into either category, I know.  Want to know my secret??  I wrapped the entire tree in white lights (3 or 4 strands).  Then I found these awesome (If I may say so myself) colored lights that are ONLY red/purple-pink/gold, so they add a "warm glow" without the blue and green lights.  SO...then wrap 1-2 strands of the "warm" colored lights throughout the tree.  Now, you have a very "blended" look and the best of both worlds!!  I love this idea/look so I hope you do, too.


[Side Note #3] Yes, we do have a topper.  A star, I think.  We just haven't come across it yet! haha.

Here are some of my our favorite ornaments.

This one is from our Honeymoon @ Disney World!!

This is the first one I've given Andrew. My friend Sarah gave me the idea for this new "ornament tradition." She surprises her husband, Joe, with a new one each year. It has Andrew and me and Izzy (of course) on there since it is "Our first Christmas" for all 3 of us!

Here are some close-ups from other random parts of the tree:

And here's our mantle…

I also have lots of Christmas decorations spread throughout the house, too. It's safe to say we're obsessed. Here's my new reindeer that I got at Mistletoe this year (along with our engagement pic! … can you believe that was almost a YEAR ago?!?).

And last but not least, here's the two of us before we went to the UMC Claus Ball.

I have my LAST final tomorrow!!  woo hoo!  We have a written test at 8, and then a "lab" test right afterward, which consists of doing periodontal surgeries on PIG jaws!!