Denise turns the big 50!

October has sure been a busy month with all the football games and such. I have been looking forward and planning for October for some time now. My mom celebrated her big birthday and we wanted to make it very special!!

Most everyone knows that I HATE taking off work. If you are a teacher- you will understand that being away is ten times more stressful than just going in! Luckily, I have fantastic classes this year so I decided to slip away for the big day. We (Annie and I) came up for Mom's birthday on Thursday night without her even knowing! This is unheard of considering I talk to her multiple times a day. I was so afraid she or someone else would see me in town- I hurried to Coldwater to stay at Meme's as soon as I hit the Tate county line. 

I had gotten a cake made in Jackson for her surpise lunch on Friday: 

Check out those nice photos!! 

Coach Patterson helped us make our grand entrance. I think she was surpised?! 

Hello Mom!! 

It was a fun lunch with all the teachers! I was so excited we were able to be there. 

I had made this sign for her door. Mrs. Susan hung it up for me! I wish you could see the close-up of all pictures. Meme did a great job helping me find some good ones. 

After school, we headed to Memphis for dinner. Our friends, Stan and Seetala Woods (and Marshal of course!) joined our family. We missed Jim who was at work and Mrs. Susan and Mr. Ricky!

 Mom doesn't look 50, does she?!

One of Mom's special gifts were "50" Happy Birthday messages and memories from family, friends, co-workers, and students! I was so thankful to everyone that participated. It is something special my mom can keep forever! 

It was a great day! Now if only we can top it for when Chuck turns the big 50 next year!! Guess we have some time to plan:-) 

So Long September!

I cannot believe today is the last day of September! This season is flying by! Pretty soon-it will be time to put up a Christmas tree. Not quite ready for that. I love the season of fall and we are thoroughly enjoying our time. Last weekend we headed to New Orleans to watch the rebels play Tulane. I was lucky to be able to catch up with some friends:

Cheering on the rebels! 

..and Jim and I also got to spend some time hanging out in New Orleans. I must say New Orleans has not always been a favorite of mine. I like it, just don't love it. The reason for this is-I didn't know much past Bourbon Street. We actually spent some time walking around, shopping, and eating after the game. The weather was perfect and it was a lovely afternoon. In fact, we decided we must come back for another weekend getaway. I texted Jordan on the way home insisting we make it a couples weekend. I didn't have to do too much convincing. Hopefully we'll be back soon! 

 One of my favorite parts about the weekend was our dinner Saturday night. This was my desert- Pecan Bread Pudding. Amazing!! Bread pudding is my absolute favorite (I'm sure I've only mentioned that about 20 times.) 

Thanks to Adam and Carlin for suggesting a great dinner spot! 

This weekend I have been totally lazy. Friday night Ginny and I went to see Trouble with the Curve. The movie was fantastic!! I had asked Ginny to go see it with me about a month ago, haha! It definitely lived up to my expectation. I would recommend it! I had great company too:) 

Saturday, I did a little shopping for fall clothes. It's my favorite season of all for clothes. I was so excited to find exactly what I was looking for- a fit and flare skit! Can't wait to wear it. 

Unfortunately, I have felt absolutely horrible all day today! Must be the allergies. We even had to miss church today- which I hate to do! My sweet husband is doing the grocery shopping for the week right now and getting me some good cold meds and popsicles! He is a lifesaver! Hopefully, I'll be back to normal tomorrow for my kiddos! Happy October! 

Ole Miss vs. Texas

This past weekend we headed to home/Oxford to cheer on the Ole Miss rebels against the Texas Longhorns. I was super excited for a couple of reasons. Number 1- I was meeting up with my friends who I rarely get to see anymore :( Number 2- A baby shower! Anyone who knows me knows that I love a great event- weddings, babies- you name it! I was thrilled to help host the first of hopefully many baby showers! Number 3- The BIG football game. I love going to the game. When I was in college, I enjoyed the grove more. Now that I am older, I look forward to the game more. Strange huh?!

Let's talk about the shower first. Mallory and I have been friends since high school! She was a part of the infamous magnolia heights/north delta group of girls:) As we continued to college, we all remained close. Now that we are older- we celebrate each other's weddings and now babies. How special!! Margaret's mom so graciously hosted Mallory's shower at her home. Now if you haven't been to Margaret's house in Oxford- you are missing out. It's in my top 5 of favorite homes. I told Margaret's mom one of my favorite things about her house is the fact she has so much CHINA! We even ate off real china at Margaret's wedding (which was hosted at her home!) Serving off fine china is such a lost art! It makes me so sad to see brides today not register for it. As I tell Julie all the time- You will be calling me one day to borrow mine when your baby is dedicated in the church. You will need it someday-I don't care what anyone says :-)

As my grandmother Joy would say- There is nothing prettier than gold-rimmed china. My favorite part of Margaret's house. 

Pretty Momma with just a few of her gifts. 

Margaret did such a fantastic job planning everything. She has quite the gift of hospitality!:-) 

Group Picture

One of my favorite parts about this weekend was having this chick as my grove partner until my husband arrived. She was the perfect date:-) I miss my Jordan so very much. She and I enjoy so much of the same things- but are so different that we tend to balance each other out. We could have life chats all the time, and if people would just listen to us- oh what a wonderful world it would be! 

There is no one like Lauran Booth!! I was so excited when she called and asked if she could ride with me to Oxford. We had such a fun time catching up. I wish we lived closer to each other! 

As you can tell-I miss my friends terribly. Thank goodness Ginny, Julie, and Marg are in Jackson! 

..And now off to the game

Hey Hugh!!! 

Miss America visits the Ole Miss game! Tell me this- Would she ever visit Starkville?! Of course not:-) 

There are only so many red shirts in the Ole Miss world! The Simpson twins

I looked as though I had obviously been sweating in the grove all day! haha. We may have lost- big time! But I feel Ole Miss was represented very well. I was proud to be a rebel! 

Now it's off to New Orleans to see the Rebels earn their first win on the road for this season. I'm sure a fun time will be had by all! 

Out on a School Night

Thanks to my type a, routine loving, super consistent personality- I hardly ever make it out during the week. I love to be at home and do things at home like clean my house, laundry, cook, piddle, you know just be at home...I'm not even kidding. However, if you came to my house this week you would not believe me!! It is a wreck because this week has been beyond busy with lots of fun things! Tuesday night, Jim and I headed out on the town to enjoy the Elton John concert. Let me tell you- the Wednesday morning blues were SO worth it. He was FANTASTIC! Everything I thought he would be. Some of my favorite performances were: Yellowbrick Road, Crocodile Rock, and Candle in the Wind!

The Legend himself!! 

Waiting for the concert to begin! 

Well I can cross seeing Elton John off my bucket list. Now if only Rod Stewart would make his way to Jackson... 

Tonight, I went to the JA-Mag Heights JR. high game to see my sweet Taylor cheer. 

I am so proud of her! She did such a great job. I can't believe my first "babysitting" baby is so old! Seems like just yesterday we were having sleepovers- oh the days! 

Well I have had an eventful week all leading up to an eventful weekend- Ole Miss vs. Texas! It's going to be a lot of fun. It's ten o'clock and past my bedtime! I'm off to sleep- Have a great weekend everyone!! 

Labor Day Weekend Fun

On Friday after school, we headed north to see the REBELS play!! I was also excited to see my family and spend time with them. Of course, little Annie was along for the trip. She was so excited to see her Ne-ne.

Annie normally is in her kennel in the backseat, but as you can tell she was not up for that on this trip. She stayed in my lap for the trip, which did not help me get my papers graded!!

Saturday morning, I woke up and headed to Memphis with Meme! We had to go to the Oak Court Mall to see the latest Alfred Dunner collection for fall. If you don't know what that is then you have obviously never shopped in the "older" section of Macy's :-) haha. We had a lot a great fun and I love helping Meme build her wardrobe. Afterwards, we headed to Marshall's (my favorite!) to find some bargains for me. I think we had a pretty successful day. I love getting to shop with me, not just for the clothes, but for the company!:-)

Later in the day, we headed to Oxford....

Yes- my parents (or grandparents, really) have a cat door! How funny is Annie? She always wants to follow us outside but can't fit through the door. Poor thing.

I was so nervous for the rebels. I love football and everything about Ole Miss. I so want Coach Freeze to be successful and bring our school back to life!

All ready for the white-out! Had to get there early for my BBQ nachos.(And cotton candy..I love food!)

Our view for the next couple of months!! Well- I won't actually be at every game. For example next week I plan to sit the UTEP game out. Of course we'll be at the Texas game and will be in New Orleans the next week for the Tulane game. Being away from home 4 weeks in a row totally stresses me out. It just doesn't mesh with my routine- ha! I was so excited to see the rebels play though! I thought they did such a good job.

I always get so sad on the way back to Jackson after a weekend at home. Not because I don't love our life here, but because I so badly miss being near family. Today has been good for me. I ran errands and did things around the house. And even though I know if we lived closer to home we could have spent the holiday with our family, I am trying to make the best of it-Breakfast for dinner!:-) Off to finish cooking...!

Home for the Hurricane

Or better yet...the tropical storm! We are out of school for the bad weather we are experiencing here in cental Mississippi. I was pleasantly suprised to hear that we would be out of school today. However, weather has been pretty rough (lots of wind and rain!) Is it enough to be at home and not at work? That's probably a question for the birds:) Oh well, I'll take a day off.

As soon as we heard that there would be no school today, I immediately started to construct a mental list of all the things I could do today! I always feel very guilty when I stay at home and don't accomplish anything productive. So my list for today is as follows: laundry, laundry, and more laundry, dust, mop, clean windows, bath the dog, school work, pack for the weekend, clean out the refrigerator, and update my blog. Let's hope I get to cross those projects off at the end of today! Big Brother comes on at 8 and I must be ready. If you are an avid fan of the show, such as I, this season is epic! Last night's episode was one for the books. I can't wait to see what happens tonight!!

Look at my little sidekick for today:

Annie is terrified of this storm. She tries to go outside to use the bathroom and then runs back in. She is afraid of all the rain too! There is also a nice flood forming in our yard which doesn't help the matter. Needless to say, we have resorted back to puppy pads for the next couple of days. Which make my mopping chore a little more difficult.

Some updates from the month of August:::

We finally got Annie a collar since we are going to work on transitioning her to being outside more:-)

Naturally, it's pink! She is such a big girl now. 

We have been making the most of our outdoor cooking area! Last Sunday, we cooked out and used our fire pit to make yummy smores! It was quite fun. 

...and last but not least. August brings hope of a new football season! The Simpson house is all ready for a new year. Obviously this picture was taken a couple of weeks ago! Our front porch and yard look like a diaster area now with all the limbs down! 

We are excited about heading north for the Labor Day weekend to cheer on the rebels!! I am also excited about staying at my parent's house, seeing my grandmother, doing some shopping, and playing with Eleanor! There's no place like home!!! 

Visiting Becca!

On Saturday, I met my mom and Ms. Hudson in Starkville to visit baby Becca!! The first stop was to the Kappa Delta house to watch their mock rush. They were so cute and fun! I know they will have a great rush this week :-) 

Becca and some of her cute KD friends!! 

Mom, Becca, and Hudson after skit! 

The Whole Gang!! 

Poe girls! 

After hanging out at the mock rush, we went to see Becca's new dorm room and to eat dinner at Stromboli's. It is important to note that Becca is the ONLY reason I will ever go to Starkville:) With that being said, we had a great visit! Mom and Hudson came back to Jackson with me afterwards which was even more fun!! Hudson was the first official guest in the newly furnished guest bedroom! It was also nice having them here to help me do some things around the house.  It has been an eventful weekend and I think I am going to need a nap to be rested for Monday! :-) 

I also had another visitor this weekend. Riley (julie's dog) came to play with us! Her and Annie are BFF (well kind of- Annie makes about 4 of Riley!) 

Have a great week!!