Happy Belated Cinco de Mayo from the Bunco Babes!

This month's bunco had a Cinco de Mayo theme and was hosted by the lovely Vonda!

I am pretty sure that Coop and Amy G. thought they were the only ones in the picture, but we see who squeezed in at the last minute!

We also learned the Hoedown Throwdown, thanks to Coop! (I wish I had pictures of us learning this dance!) Now, I just need to perfect my moves for the wedding!

Chris' Graduation

This past Friday, my mom and I drove to St. Pete, FL for my cousin, Chris' graduation.

The weather was gorgeous Saturday and Sunday, but today it poured, and it's supposed to continue this trend for the rest of our stay. Ugh! Today we took a family trip to IKEA...if you've ever been to an IKEA store, you will not be shocked when I tell you we were there for 4 hours!

Meanwhile, back to graduation...

(me, Uncle Richard, Chris, Aunt Linda, & my mom)

As you probably are too, I was quite mesmerized by this one guy's regalia of goods he wore around his neck, so I conned my cousin into taking a picture with him so I could get in the picture, too. He's going to the University of Florida on an athletic scholarship to play football, so maybe one day he'll be wearing hundreds around his neck instead of singles.

Congratulations, Chris!

Baskin Robbins...

Our friends Jason and Claire Elrod recently opened Baskin Robbins at the Landings last week. Mike and I have been busy scooping ice cream (my scooping muscles hurt) to help them out. Please come by and try some ice cream...we'll be there Friday and Saturday night to earn some more volunteer hours! :)

The Running of the Brides

As many of you know, I was waiting to buy a wedding gown at the Running of the Brides at Filene's Basement. Or, as Angel likes to call it, Pandemonium 2009. Here's a "play-by-play" recount of those 18 hours....

Stephanie, Angel, and I left Columbus around 7:00 PM Thursday and headed toward Atlanta. We arrived at Filene's around 9:00 PM and set up camp. Our camp consisted of camping chairs, sleeping bags, and blankets...After about 30 minutes of sitting we realized we should get some sleep, so Angel devised a plan to setting up the sleeping bags etc...There were probably about 100 people in line when we got there.

Now, keep in mind, sleeping on the sidewalks in Buckhead was in no-way glamorous. It was about 40 degrees outside, with an occasional gust of wind. We were kept awake most of the night by some obnoxious jerk who liked to sing loudly, and yell random things throughout the night...not sure how much Jack Daniels, he drank, but I'm sure it was quite a bit. When it was time to go in, he held onto Angel's backpack, so she was able to shove him around a little bit as payback (but it still wasn't enough!) We slept off and on, but by about 5:00 security was getting everyone up and had us move our stuff to the car so we could start getting in a more organized line.

My mom and aunt joined us in line around 7:00 AM Friday morning, and by this time, the line grew to about 1,500 and wrapped around the building and into the parking garage.

At 8:00 they started the countdown and we quickly ran in and grabbed as many dresses as we could.

The store had over 2,300 dresses...

It only took 60 seconds and the racks were stripped bare.

Then, the swapping began....around 9:00 I was getting frustrated, so we went to Target for a bit to devise a new plan and grab a coke.

(can you tell at this point, they had about "had it" with me!)

When we went back, the dresses were getting back to the racks, so we went through them again.

If you look toward the bottom left of this next picture, you can see mom and Angel.

We had about 10 and found some girls who were about my size, so we all started trading...well, long story short...I HAVE A DRESS THAT I LOVE! Don't ask what it looks like...you'll have to come to the wedding to find out...but, I will say, it looks like a "Mercer" dress. Woohoo!

I would recommend this sale to anyone...while I don't think it's necessary to camp out, it added to the experience! By the way, check out our outfits...everyone at the "running" loved them!

Updates...for those of you who have asked!

Rachael Ray
In December, I took my mom to Atlanta to a Rachael Ray book signing. She is just as cute and friendly in person as she appears to be on tv. Here's a picture of her signing my book.

(If you look at the book, you can see it says Mercer!)

Mommand

On December 31, my grandmother, who I called Mommand, fell and hit her head on the tv stand. She called us at 4:45 AM and we rushed over there. Would you know she had gotten fully dressed to go to the hospital? She passed away the following day...she must have known she was going somewhere special...she had her makeup on when we picked up to take her to the hospital. We miss her very much...the hockey games aren't the same without her...and I never thought I would say this, but I even miss her nagging at me. Bless her heart, she was looking forward to our wedding, and told me she was going to wear a black dress. (Yes, black, not sure why!)

Krystal Hall of Fame
My brother, the lucky child he is, was inducted into the Krystal Hall of Fame. How did this happen, you ask? Well...he was online looking for coupons (he's a thrifty shopper) and saw a contest to be in the Hall of Fame. He wrote in about his first year at Auburn...he was living in the dorms and his power went out. It was during finals week, so he went to Krystal-he knew they had free wi-fi Internet access and he knew he could get a great meal. His induction ceremony was mid-December. I bet you have never been to a Krystal and eaten off of nice tablecloths with cloth napkins before! It was a nice ceremony; there is a plaque in the Phenix City and Auburn store!

Here's a picture of his box.

As for the wedding planning...

We have chosen a date: December 5, 2009.

Yes, we know it's SEC Championship Day!

We also know our Auburn Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs probably won't be playing in the game, so we should be safe. Never to fear you Bear-loving Alabama fans...there will be a large TV and a keg at the reception, so you can watch the game there.

Running of the Brides

On March 20, 2009 I will go to Atlanta to the Running of the Brides at Filene's.

For years, I've seen this event covered on The View and it looks like chaos, but lots of fun!

They bring in about 2,000 dresses and put them on the racks (no size order, etc...). When the store opens, hundreds of brides and their entourages run in to "race to the racks." The record for clearing the racks is 45 seconds. These are designer gowns that run in the $4,000-$10,000 price range and they sell for no more than $650. Too good of a deal to not at least try! I am going to take Mike's flip video, so I can video the all the bridezillas in action!

I'm taking my mom, my aunt, and two of my bridesmaids. My mom is going to be in charge of finding us a meeting/dressing place, my aunt is going to be the negotiator to negotiate trades with other brides, and the girls are going to partake in the mad dash with me. Stephanie has been known to hit a stripper, so hitting a bride should be easier. I should be in good hands that day! We are going to camp out the night before (American Idol style), so I'm sure it will be a long night!

Meanwhile, take a look at this video from the Atlanta store a few years ago! I showed it to my mom and she got a headache just thinking of this craziness!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZxZYUDK_sM

Prayer Request

Lastly, I would like to ask you to keep Mike's family in your prayers. His dad has been admitted to the hospital for observation and testing. As of right now, we do not have a diagnosis. Please pray that his body gets stronger so that testing can begin and doctors can plan their course of action.

I promise to keep this blog updated more frequently...several of my blogging friends have called me out for being a slacker. Not mentioning any names, but you know who you are!