I've Been Tagged

The rules...

1.) Go to the place on your computer and choose the 4th folder.

2.) Choose the 4th picture in that folder.

3.) Explain the photo.

4.) Tag 4 others to do the same.



This photo is from our wedding reception in December 2006 at Gabrella Manor in East Birmingham (in the historic Roebuck Springs area). We weren't supposed to really have lots of dancing but it just turned into a great party. We're not going wild in this pic but there are some pics where the party is definitely getting on. Even sweet Robert who isn't a huge fan of dancing in public broke it down solo for me to make the day special. What a sweet husband! You can see my brother, David, and his girlfriend, Shelby, dancing in the background. Robert's sisters Liz and Bec are dancing with a much younger Tallon. And some sweet girlfriends from Tuscaloosa: Jen, Sarah Grace, and Merriweather. Looks like Robert's dad is filming in the background too!

Okay - I'm now tagging Elizabeth H., Rebecca, Melanie, and Liz.

Acoustic Soup!

So, if you're my facebook friend, you probably know by now that I've been volunteering with this great nonprofit in town called VSA arts of Alabama and am helping plan their Acoustic Soup fundraiser. It's going to be such a fun event, and this is a "personal" invitation to all my blog readers to attend. More about Acoustic Soup in a bit....

VSA provides opportunities in the arts for adults and children with disabilities and chronic illnesses. Basically, they run several art therapy programs in hospitals, schools, and other community organizations for children with Down Syndrome, cancer, and other disabilities and illnesses. They also have this super neat program called Art Partners that pairs artists in the community with an "emerging artist," a child or adult in the program, to work together several Saturdays during the year. So for all my talented friends out there, if you're interested in volunteering let me know! The kids are precious, and I know you'll love painting or doing pottery or other art with them. (The art possibilities really are endless.)

The staff at VSA is incredible, and I've really enjoyed getting to know them and seeing their passion for what they do. It's definitely been a wonderful experience serving on their Junior Patrons board. As a member of the JPs, we were tasked with planning VSA's Acoustic Soup fundraising event. This is the third-annual Acoustic Soup, and we're hoping for the biggest and best yet. Somehow I got asked to chair the event, so Acoustic Soup has been my life for the past several months, but we're all getting really excited as the event date approaches.

So, here's the details.

Acoustic Soup
Thursday, January 29, 2009
5:30 to 9:30 p.m. (come and go)
The Tutwiler Hotel and Icon Bar and Restaurant in Downtown Birmingham
Tickets: $30 (single) or $50 (pair)

With you ticket price you get to sample as much soup as you can hold from all the wonderful Birmingham-area restaurants that have made special soups for the event. We'll also have appetizers, breads, and desserts. And great live much along with a silent auction and chance to purchase a hand-painted bowl by a VSA emerging artist. Silent auction items include an autographed copy of Frank Stitt's new cookbook Bottega Favorita along with a hand-written soup recipe from Frank Stitt, a night's stay at the Tutwiler, a Super Suppers gift certificate, and many more culinary and music-related items.

Participating restaurants include:

• Ashley Mac's
• B&A Warehouse
• Bistro Provare at the Culinary and Hospitality Institute
• Cafe de Paris
• Cafe Dupont
• Corretti Catering
• Daniel George
• Icon Restaurant and Bar
• Jackson's Bar and Bistro
• John's City Diner
• Lucy's Coffee and Tea
• Southern Living
• Veranda
• V Richards
• and more..

Here's the flyer with all the details. To purchase tickets you can call ahead to 307-6300 ext. 15 or you can purchase tickets at the door. Be sure to mention my name when you place your order. Hope you all can make it!

Correction

So, my grandmother unashamedly told me she is 79, but that she liked the sound of 29 and was fine with that. She also said she and Big Daddy were married for 61 years; I totally didn't mean to gyp them shy a year. Just wanted to set the official record straight! :)

Happy Birthday Big Mama!

Today is my grandmother's birthday. I honestly don't know how old she is but am going to guess on the low side to be safe; I'll say early to mid-70s.

Actually, she doesn't read this blog so I think it's more like 78. On second thought, my mom does read this blog and she very well may show it to my grandmother...or at least tell her what I write. Therefore, my new educated guess on my grandmother's age is 29.

Sometimes I am amazed when I think of all my grandmother has experienced in her life. By the time she was my age (nearly 25), she had experienced a world war, nearly a decade of marriage to my grandfather, motherhood more than once over, and the loss of a baby.

She was my grandfather's loving wife for 60 years, caring for him throughout his struggle with Alzheimer's. She also cared for her five children, three of whom are still living. Today she is a mother of three, grandmother of nine, and great grandmother of nine. She is one of the strongest ladies I know and has finally earned a little time for herself...which she spends watching Desperate Housewives!

We love you, Big Mama! Happy 29th Birthday!

Thursday's Big Surprise

Thursday I came home from work and found a nice little package on my door step. At first I didn't get all that excited because I thought it was a public economics textbook I had ordered for class (oh, joy!), but then I realized it was from my sweet mother-in-law.

When we visited over the holidays I had taken some fabric up to South Carolina because she had graciously offered to make me some pillow covers for some very sturdy but horribly ugly pillows that originally came with our couch.

Being the highly talented, speedy, and thoughtful seamstress she is, she had already made them and mailed them to Birmingham.


They look so nice and really tie in the dark red, tan, and green colors I have going on in the living room.

As you can see, Robert loves them too.

Year in Review

I thought I'd do a little year in review. Thinking back on what to include in this listing has made me remember the good times, the tough times, and God's faithfulness to us through them all. We truly serve a mighty God who has promised to complete the work he has begun in our lives and never leaves or forsakes us.

So, here's a little recap of some of the big and not so big events in 2008...not in any particular order.

Big Daddy's Passing

My grandfather passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's last January. God was faithful to him until his last day on earth, and was equally faithful to us as we cared for him in those difficult times when he slowly lost all of his memory and abilities. Experiencing death has a funny way of realigning your priorities and making you truly long for heaven. It will certainly be a sweet reunion for us.

Ski Trip in Montana

For Christmas last year Rob's family gave us all a ski trip in Whitefish, Montana. It was so generous of them to fly the whole gang cross country to enjoy the beauty of the mountains. Somehow we all managed to arrive safely from Kentucky, Birmingham, and South Carolina, and had a fun week together.


Kyle's Surgery

My brother Kyle had to undergo emergency surgery over the summer after being diagnosed with a nontraditional occurrence of compartment syndrome. This was a difficult time for my whole family but God was truly good to us, and Kyle was fortunate to only lose a small bit of his muscle and function in his leg. Today he is completely mobile and has resumed nearly all of his normal activity with the help of a small leg brace he only wears occassionally. Thank you all for your prayers for him during those difficult months.


Weddings

We had five wonderful weddings in 2008 and traveled to Starkville, Columbus, Demopolis, and Birmingham for the weddings of some of our dearest friends:

• Amy and Matt
• Patrick and Meg
• Katie and Drew
  
• Anne and Rob
• Parker and Kristy

Congrats again to the newlyweds!

Upcoming in 2009...(we can't wait!)

• John Austin and Sarah
• Leigh and Justin
• Margaret and Dave
• ????????????????????

54 Hours

Ok, so Robert and I didn't realize this until just a minute ago when we did the math, but collectively we completed 54 hours of graduate classes in calendar year 2008 while both working full-time. I can truly say it was the grace of God that got us through. Graduate school has really been an overall positive experience for the both of us. I have particularly enjoyed the opportunity to develop some new friendships with classmates. We're both taking 9 hours again this spring semester.

Countdown to graduation (hours left):

• Robert - 18 hours; anticipated graduation date: Summer 2009
  
• Tiffany - 27 hours; anticipated graduation date: December 2009

Presidential Election

So, the 2008 presidential election was certainly one for the history books. Regardless of how you feel about the outcome, you have to admit we got a pretty great couple halloween costume out of it. (Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin for those of you still trying to figure it out.)


12-2 Season

What a second year for Nick Saban's Crimson Tide. The boys truly played above their potential and gave us 12 great victories in 08. The ending of the season wasn't so wonderful, but we got a ton of awesome road trips (Knoxville, Baton Rouge, Atlanta...) out of it and really enjoyed going to games with so many of our family members and college friends - and also tailgating on the quad with my brother, the UA freshman. Already looking forward to next year. (Only 7 more months until kickoff...)


Seeing Julia 3 Times

You may not realize it, but seeing Julia, my best friend from college, three times in one year is truly remarkable. She's a Coloradian now and our visits are just too few and far between. But we espeically enjoyed a girl's weekend at Smith Lake over the summer. Good times.


Proration/Buyout
(Sorry couldn't find a good illustration for this one. Google Images failed me.)

So, tough economic times meant the governor enacted proration for the state educational system and budgets are a little tighter this year at UAB. At the same time, Robert's engineering firm was sold to a larger firm based in Houston. Yet this year more than ever we have seen God's faithfulness to us in the provision and security of our jobs.

During my junior year of college I applied for two internships - one at Southern Progress and one at EBSCO. I didn't get the one at Southern Progress but did get the one at EBSCO, which led to my first job out of school there in public relations and eventually my current position in Development at UAB. Robert received a job offer from Hyundai in Montgomery before receiving and accepting the offer at BE&K, where he is now working towards his PE license. Both of us never saw ourselves at UAB or BE&K. This year, Southern Progress has made massive layoffs and Hyundai has had to make large production cuts like the other auto manufacturers. Looking back we both see God's provision and good plan from the beginning. We are truly thankful.

Baby Tess's Arrival

Yes, our beautiful little niece made her debut December 3. She's such a joy and blessing!

FunDayGo!

So one of the highlights of the trip to South Carolina over Christmas was our afternoon at FunDayGo. It's basically a child's paradise of inflatable bouncy slides, tunnels, and mazes. It's probably the closest thing to Disney World in Florence, South Carolina but don't take my word on that since I still haven't seen much of the town. It definitely was a new experience for Robert and I. I'm sure there are some similar places in Birmingham but we haven't really been in the market for inflatable entertainment.

So one afternoon we all (Liz, Mike, Reeves, Tallon, Robert and myself) piled into Reeves and Rebecca's minivan and headed to FunDayGo. We got a few stares when Reeves asked for one child ticket and five adults, and then subsequently paid the $7 for Tallon while the rest of us got in free, but they let us in.

Tallon was pretty excited as he got ready to show Uncle Mike and the rest of us where to put our shoes (socks only while playing). The rest of the hour pretty much consisted of five adults following a three-year-old whether he wanted to go...and getting lots more strange looks from other kids, parents, and staff.

Here we go...

The slide was a big hit with everyone.

At first Tallon was a little nervous, but then he got used to going down...

...and started enjoying it a little more.

Tallon really liked riding this red dinosaur...maybe it was a dragon...(?)


The point of the trip was to 1) entertain the three-year-old and 2) wear him slap out so he would take a nap. But as you can see, we were the ones who tired out first, and he never napped that afternoon.

The boys got this idea to see if they could jump through this section of the maze and thread themselves between the bars in the middle. I got some pretty funny photos of everyone's attempts.

We all had loads of fun but Tallon especially enjoyed all his playmates and the attention.