Monday Morning Review (Depressing Style)

Well, if you were a Tar Heel fan, you pretty much had the worst weekend ever. Carolina lost to State, 29-25. But that wasn't all. Carolina also managed to lose two basketball games in one weekend. Oh, yeah there's more. Women's field hockey lost in the national championship game and women's soccer lost in the NCAA tournament. It was awful.

The only highlight: TJ had an awesome game (his third over 400 yards passing), despite the outcome.

The bball boys play UNC-A tomorrow night and the fball boys take on Duke Saturday in their season finale.

Thank You, Seniors! (aka I love you, TJ)

Saturday's game against State is Senior Day. I know Saturday will be a busy and emotional day, so I'm going to thank our seniors now (read: I'm not going to be able to thank them Saturday when I'm sobbing knowing it's TJ's last game in Kenan).

Thank you seniors for everything you've done. We will be going to a bowl game for the third year in a row this year. For Carolina football standards, that's amazing! During your four years, I've become the biggest Carolina football fan I've ever been and I have you to thank for that.

To my two favorite seniors:

Deunta Williams - Thanks for all your clutch tackles and interceptions. Thank you most for saying "I'm Deunta Williams and I'm a Tar Heel" with the biggest, most handsome smile on your face. It brightened my day to see that. Each time I met you, you were exceptionally friendly and embodied the kind of student-athlete I want representing my university. Thank you, Deunta.

And now, sweet baby.

TJ Yates - Oh goodness. Where do I begin. You have turned me into the college football fan that I am now. I started out in college liking Cam Sexton and being upset with you for battling him for his job. How things have changed! You have put up with so much from Carolina fans and never been bitter about it. You've been a great spokesperson for the team. You will leave Carolina with your name in the record books. I know you're leaving us in capable hands with Bryn, but Carolina fans will miss you more than they know. I'm going to miss yelling "WE LOVE YOU TJ" and you giving a little fist pump more than you know. Thanks Teejy for everything - now let's go beat the Pack and Blue Devils and get ready for a bowl game victory!!!

Tailgate Treats: State Edition

Y'all, Saturday is huge. We play State at home. I didn't post about our last game, because, well, it's my blog and sometimes I have selective memory and choose to "forget" bad games. Anyway, the State game is always big, but we desperately need a win. Also, State has won the last three in the series so we need to take a stand.

It will be senior day. I'll do a Thank You Seniors post soon (which will basically be a We Love You, TJ! post, just for fair warning).

Until then, here are Saturday's tailgate treats for the noon kickoff:

Slow cooker breakfast casserole (I'm so excited about this, but it could end up being a disaster. I'll keep you posted.)
Cream cheese danish squares (new recipe!)
Carolina Cake Balls (These were a huge hit last week. I've had a couple of baking successes lately which is huge for me! Promise to post a picture this time).

Stay tuned for senior day and I hate state posts. Lovelovelove.

Carolina Cake Balls

Hello, Perspective

Ok. I promise to post about Carolina Cake Balls and the Va. Tech game later, but some things trump food and football (gasp, I know, it is hard to believe and I can't believe I said it).

I have had a series of events lately that have been HUGE wake up calls. There is no denying that God is trying to tell me something (to realize how blessed I am, to lean on him and to stop sweating the small stuff, I think) and I'm so grateful for it.

I won't get into specifics for the sake of people's privacy, but there have been a couple scares in my life lately. They both have turned out to be nothing more than scares, but have provided ridiculous amounts of perspective.

In addition to those two scares, my brother is giving me the same much needed reality check.  He will be 9 on Friday. WHAT?! I remember the day he came home, the day I was the only one that could make him stop crying, the day I complained awkwardly about how starving I was to distract from the fact that I didn't know how to feel about getting a new brother the day before my 16th birthday.

I cannot believe he will be 9. He is starting to get this great little personality that makes me so proud of him. He's smart and funny and we have a bond that I cherish. His sense of humor kills me and I cannot imagine my life without him. I'm so grateful for my brother in my life.

Anyway, all this is to say there are way more important things than the things that stress us out day-to-day. And I have to believe that God really does have a plan for me. He's been trying to tell me to relax and appreciate all the blessings that I have - He will handle the rest. What an enormous gift to have such amazing friends and family AND be able to give all the little daily stresses to God. Life is good!! :)

Tailgate Treats

I'm starting a new blog posting category: tailgate treats. I figure I put so much thought and effort into what I'm making each tailgate that I should share the yummy successes (and not so yummy failures) with you here.

Saturday is a big game. We are playing Va. Tech in Chapel Hill and we NEED to win. A win would be huge. Ginormous. Priceless. Insane. You get the picture.

I'll start cooking tomorrow night, but for now, let me leave you with the menu.

Ham and Cheese Palmiers (these have become a staple)
Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Dip (new recipe!)
Carolina Cake Balls (I'm particularly nervous about this one - I'm SO not a baker, but these look precious and more tailgate friendly than a giant cake you have to cut)

Stay tuned for pictures and taste verdicts.

Monday Morning Review

This weekend was absolutely insane. I literally don't think I had a moment to myself other than sleeping for a few hours at a time. That being said, it was an absolutely AMAZING WEEKEND!

Friday night started off with a Chapel Hill dinner at Brixx followed by watching the bball boys take on Barton. We won, by a lot. KMarsh looked great. Barnes struggled, but I'm not worried. I imagine it's pretty hard to be the first freshman ever named to the preseason All-American team. No pressure, right? He'll be fine.

Saturday I had a really fun work event. The weather was cold and gross, but the turnout was great. After that, I headed to my dad's to watch the football boys BEAT FLORIDA STATE IN TALLAHASSEE. Yep, you read that correctly. It all came down to a last second MISSED field goal by FSU, giving us the two point win 37-35. And our beloved Taylor Jonathan had a career game with close to 450 yards passing. Ready? WE LOVE YOU, TJ!!

TJ's Crew!

Sunday was our Pancreatic Cancer Walk which went so amazingly well! We raised over $100,000 dollars (the goal was $25,000) and had close to 700 people walk/run! After the race we had two after parties, so there was no rest for the weary!

Looking forward to some down time after visiting my grandparents tonight with a little XOXO Gossip Girl.

Oh hey there November!

Today is November 1, 2010. It is also a Monday. I lovelovelove when the first of the month falls on a Monday. It seems so...fitting. Monday's are always "fresh start" days and when a Monday falls on the 1st the fresh start quotient is like quadrupled.

I've been making a conscious effort to live in the moment and just be happy. There are several things coming in my future that I could worry about, but I have no idea how they will turn out and there is absolutely nothing I can do to affect the outcome. So, in the meantime, I will just live and have fun.

And November is Thanksgiving month! Which means the holidays are upon us! Everyone knows Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Any holiday that involves massive amounts of food (especially carbs), beverage (prosecco, please) and football (Carolina at Duke) is right up my alley.

Happy November, y'all! Enjoy and lighten up a little. :)

Monday Morning Review

Dressed up as Marvin Austin

Homecoming + Halloween = a guaranteed good time. And it was. The Heels managed to pull out a 21-17 win over Mike Paulus and William and Mary. It was NOT pretty, but we got the W. We're now one win away from bowl eligibility. Unfortunately, we play FSU next game in Florida so it will be a daunting task. Also, Shankles tore his ACL so he is out for the season. Turns out he will be the 30th player to miss a game this season. That is almost a third of the team. Insane.

The weekend itself was great. Fun with friends and family all weekend. So game day! I got to see so many people from school, including one of my best friends/my little sister from my sorority. Basketball season starts Friday. Stay tuned. :)