A baby girl!

A huge Congratulations goes out to my sister Karen and her husband Brian! They found out last week that they are going to have a BABY GIRL in early April!!! Yippee - I love little girl clothes!

Check out the specific information on her blog - Blessed Beyond Measure.

Finally.....some down-time....before the craziness begins again!

Time just seems to be flying by and with lots going on in my life, it has been hard to find time to blog. It seems like we haven't been home much these past few weeks and up until this week, work has been taking up a lot of my time. It is now much s-l-o-w-e-r here since the football team lost their game Saturday to VA Tech.

Most of the coaches are on the road for the next few weeks visiting different high schools and trying to recruit the best players for our future teams. They will all be back on Friday for practice on Saturday and Sunday. Then, off again next Monday to do more recruiting! My job here has definitely opened my eyes to "the real life of a college football coach" and it isn't very pretty in my opinion. Of course, they all have really nice salaries but I am pretty sure that the time they have away from their wives and children isn't made up by the paychecks that they receive. It makes me wonder sometimes, "why would anyone want to be a football coach?"

Well, the advantage to them being on the road this week is that I (and the rest of the admin staff) get a little down-time this week before we prepare for the Bowl game, which will be played at the end of December. Right now, we don't know which Bowl game we are going to be playing in, but we will know on Sunday night when the announcement is made. It appears right now that we are heading to Florida (either to Jacksonville or to Orlando) but we won't be 100% sure until Sunday.

Once the official announcement comes, the admin staff in the office, including myself, will be busy over the next two weeks preparing manuals, memos, travel arrangements, itineraries, rosters, hotel information, and lots of other stuff. We will be traveling to the selected destination 5-6 days before the actual game. The entire travel party will include over 100 people encompassing coaches, staff, spouses and children. In addition to the 22 of us that work in the football office everyday, staff from many other departments within Athletics will be traveling including those from Administration, Sports Medicine/Team Physicians, Weight Room, Equipment Room, Video Operations, Media Relations, Team Security, Ticket Office, and the VAF (Virginia Athletics Foundation). And, of course, there are over 100 players that will be traveling also. It's amazing the amount of preparation that goes into a College Bowl game!

The one downside to going to one of these games is that they are always played the last week of December which is smack dab in the middle of the holiday season! Often people have to miss Christmas and/or New Year's with their families because of the game. Hopefully that won't happen to us this year, but as it stands now, if we are chosen for the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando (which is played on Dec. 28th), we will be leaving Charlottesville on December 23rd and therefore spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Florida! 80 degree weather for Christmas is not my idea of fun (neither is missing time with mine or Keith's families) but, I guess that is what might have to happen. Right now, we just have to wait and see!

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, Keith and I became husband and wife. It was such a beautiful day filled with many friends and family who traveled to Richmond to be with us on our special day. I remember thinking in the months leading up to the wedding, "November 18th is never going to get here!" Now, here we are are an entire year later! My how time flies!

Looking back, I can honestly say it was the happiest day of my life! And I am so blessed to have Keith in my life. He and I are best friends and hopefully we will be as happy 50 years from now as we are today!

Off we go.....

Keith and I are leaving tomorrow after work to head to Pennsylvania to visit his family. With the football team having a bye week this weekend, this was a perfect weekend to get away. It will be nice to spend some time with Keith's family and to get in some rest and relaxation time.

Keith grew up in a town called Indian Head, which is in southwest PA about an hour south of Pittsburgh. His aunt and uncle currently live in the house that he grew up in and that is where we are going to stay. His mom is going to come to Indian Head from Somerset, PA where she lives. It will be really good to see them all and to catch up on the happenings in everyone's lives.

A few things we are going to do while we are up there are:

• We are going into the city of Pittsburgh on Thursday. We are going to visit the University of Pittsburgh campus (where Keith got his Masters degrees). Hopefully I will finally be able to see the Heinz Chapel that Keith has been telling me about for 3 years. I haven't been able to see it up until now because the only time we have been up there for an extended period of time is around Christmas and New Year's and it's always been closed. I know that he has been looking forward to showing it to me and I am excited to finally see it. (Side note - he was planning on proposing to me in the Chapel in January 2006 when we were on our way back home from visiting his family, but my engagement ring - which he had special ordered - wasn't ready before we left for the trip. He also really wanted to get married in that Chapel but of course, since we were living in Richmond at the time, it made more sense to get married there.)

• We are also going to have dinner with an old friend of Keith's while we are in Pittsburgh. Liz and Keith were in library school together at Pitt and they have maintained contact for the past 10 years. I first met Liz & her husband at our wedding and then we had lunch with her when we were up in PA for the holidays last year. After lunch, we went back to her house and hung out with her and her husband and met her kids (she has three children who are in their late teens/early twenties). We had a lot of fun spending time with them last year and I am very much looking forward to seeing her again.

• On Saturday, Keith's aunt Kay is having a "Thanksgiving Dinner" for the family since we will not be able to be there on Thanksgiving Day. Keith's cousin, her husband and her two teenage kids will be joining us for dinner. In addition to the yummy food that we are going to have, I am also looking forward to the conversation, laughter and fun that we are going to have while we are all together. Keith's cousin's husband is a HUGE game fanatic. He loves to play cards or a board game or anything! So, no doubt we will be playing something fun and having a great time.

• On our way home on Sunday, Keith and I are going to stop at the Jean Bonnet Tavern in Bedford, PA. The Tavern is a place that Keith has been telling me about ever since we started dating. It is nothing fancy but a restaurant that Keith really likes. Every time we pass by it on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, we say we should stop, but for one reason or another, we don't. So, this time, in celebration of our actual 1st anniversary on Sunday, we are going to stop at the Tavern and have dinner. It's another thing I am looking forward to and I am sure it's going to be great!

Now, I have to get off this computer so I can finish doing laundry and get all packed up. It should be a fun and interesting adventure. I will blog when we get back and hopefully have fun stories to tell.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Great Day

I realize my posts have been non-existent lately. Either one of two things has been happening - 1. nothing exciting is going on in my life and therefore I have nothing to post or 2. I have been so busy that I haven't had time to type anything. These have both been true over the last week.

My intention was to post something on Saturday and then the day just got away from me. Keith and I made a trip to Richmond on Saturday morning for another 1st anniversary present to ourselves (we have had a lot of celebratory adventures and our *real* anniversary isn't even here yet!). Anyways, since my massage at the Homestead didn't happen a few weekends ago, I decided to schedule some "Spa time" for Keith and me at my favorite spa in Richmond - Nesbit. I had $200 in gift cards that I had been saving up and hadn't used so I figured we could use them to get pampered and not have to spend any money. I booked us for the "Rekindle" package, which includes a 30 minute soak in a tub with complimentary champagne and chocolate covered strawberries followed by side by side full body massages. The package is supposed to include 60 minute massages, but when I called two weeks ago they only had time for us to do 45 minute massages. They took $50 off of the price so I think it was well worth it and we didn't really miss the extra 15 minutes!

I must admit that I was a little worried that Keith wasn't going to enjoy this little adventure I had planned. He had never had a full body massage before and he never understood why I loved them so much. Well, now he knows! And, now he loves them too! :) It ended up being a great couple of hours with us spending relaxing time together.

After we finished at the spa, we drove back to Cville to get the house ready for our overnight visitors - Katie, Shaun and Pierce! Since they do not have cable, they came over to our house to watch the UVA-Miami football game that was on at 7:20pm. They decided to spend the night since the game was so late and they go to church on Sunday morning somewhat close to our house. Even though they only live about 20 minutes outside of Cville, it wouldn't have made sense for them to go home that late at night just to turn around and come back early the next morning. Plus, this way, they don't have to wake Pierce up and take him out in the cold night air. It was so much fun having them here with us. We had fun playing with Pierce before the game started, Katie made some very yummy chili for dinner, and the game ended up being awesome (if you are a UVA fan! 48-0!). All in all, it was a fantasticly fun and exciting day! A restful, relaxing and refreshing day filled with family, food and football - what could be better! :)

Where did the weekend go?

I can't believe it is already Sunday! And how crazy is it that it is November!? Only 50 more shopping days until Christmas! It will be here in no time!

Here are a few highlights of the past few days:

• Of course, the first good thing that comes to mind is the win by the Virginia Cavalier football team yesterday vs. Wake Forest. It was another close game (17-16) but a good win against a good team. I know personally that the coaches and players (and us admin folks too!) all worked hard this week preparing for the game. We definitely needed this win if we want to stay in the race for the ACC Championship. Two more games to go. Hang on to your hats, its going to be an exciting ride!

• At the end of the game yesterday, I had to escort two of our visiting football prospects down to the locker room via the stadium elevator because they were both on crutches (all of the prospects get to go into the locker room after the game but these guys couldn't go down the stadium steps to get there like everyone else). So, we took the elevator down to the locker room/team tunnel level and ended up in the lobby outside the locker room. We get off the elevator and who is standing right in front on me.....NFL Hall-of-Famer & Fox Sports Analyst Howie Long (his son, Chris, is a player on our team)! I was a bit shocked to see him but I was in "work-mode" and was so busy trying to figure out how to get these guys in the locker room (since I am not allowed in there for obvious reasons) that I didn't really get a chance to say anything to him. He did walk over to the two recruits and the fathers and say hello and shook their hands. I thought that was nice of him. Afterwards, I was thinking, "Oh my gosh - I just saw HOWIE LONG!!!! Why didn't I introduce myself??" Oh well, I'm hoping that there will be another meeting like that at a time when I can actually speak to him so I can say I really met him.

• Keith left on Thursday morning to go to a conference and then to PA to visit his mom for the weekend. Although I am not happy about him being away, I was able to take the opportunity to spend Friday evening with my sister Katie and my nephew Pierce. Katie's husband was hanging out with some friends so she and I ate Chinese take-out and gabbed a lot! She gave Pierce a bath and I was able to read him bedtime stories! He is so cute (as I have stated many times before) and he is so attentive when someone is reading to him. He does get distracted at times, but for the most part he sat there and listened and even helped turn the pages. He is turning into such a big boy!

• On Thursday night I went to the house of one of my co-workers to watch the Virginia Tech vs Georgia Tech football game. Since Virginia and Virginia Tech are rivals, to us, the game wasn't very exciting (VT won 27-3) but I had a good time hanging out with Roxann, her husband Justin and some of her friends. One of the hardest things about moving from Richmond was that Keith and I left so many friends behind. It is nice that I have been able to form a friendship with Roxann - she is a real blessing in my life.

• Today was a lazy kind of day for the most part. The highlight of the day was that the Buffalo Bills won their game against the Cincinnati Bengals. I was really excited to be able to actually watch the game. Being a Bills fan in the Virginia means that you can very rarely see them play on TV unless you have a special sports package with your cable subscription or you go to a sports bar to watch it. To my surprise, today's game was actually on local TV and they won!

• I also watched two old episodes of Grey's Anatomy & last week's episode of Private Practice on ABC.com today. I LOVE that you can watch the entire episode of a show that you missed. We don't have DVR and I often forget to set the VCR to record a show so if I miss something, I can go on the computer and watch it. It's one of those things that makes me often ask "What did we do before computers?"

Well, tomorrow is the start of another work week. Even though I love my job, I also love weekends when I can sleep in and catch up on things that I haven't had time to do during the week. I know the upcoming week will fly by and before I know it, it will be Friday again. Happy almost-Monday to you all!