Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend. We both worked late Friday - the students are coming back to campus this weekend for the fall semester so Columbia is full of activity. I cleaned the house Saturday morning while DJ did a little grocery shopping. We spent the late morning power washing the 2 sides of the house...and DJ finished the other 2 sides this afternoon. We are on countdown to a vacation...better late than not at all!

Rachel Hobo

I have been coveting this for the past few months...and finally broke down and purchased it in coral. I have owned it for less than 24 hours and love it!

Truck

DJ has been talking about a truck for about 2 years...ever since we traded in his truck for the Acadia. After 2 long years of driving the 4Runner DJ has a new truck. I think he's pretty excited...it looks little something like this

Travels

April was full of travels and visitors. I headed to Waco, TX with our equestrian team where they placed 3rd and I came home with real cowboy boots. I left Waco early Saturday and flew into Greenville/Spartanburg for a old college friend's wedding. She was a beautiful bride and it was good to see old college friends from my time at Clemson. A few days later we headed to Edisto and welcomed Jake, Katie, Scott and Krissy to South Carolina for a long weekend at the beach with old and newer friends. The boys have been friends since the 6th grade playing basketball...a long time ago! After we said goodbye to the midwest crew we had more visitors from Ames. DJ's parents came down for a weekend visit. We caught 2 baseball games, cleaned out the garage and put up shelves to make room for DJ's new ride. Some photos from April...

Blogging Hiatus

A few of you have commented that I haven't posted anything in a long time - so this blog is for you Jennifer!

Over the last few weeks we have been busy... Work is busy for both of us! DJ is spending a lot of time out at the baseball stadium cheering for the Gamecocks. They open SEC play this weekend against Tennessee. I joined a tennis league! I am playing Monday nights and lost my first game a couple nights ago 6-4 6-1. We also had a wonderful visit from DJ's grandparents. They spend the winter in Destin, Florida and stopped through Columbia on their way back north. It was good to see them - hopefully we will see them again soon.

I'll try to be better about posting...

Snow in SC

We had between 7 and 8 inches of snow Friday night. Trice loves the snow and wishes she got to see the white stuff more often!

DJ's Office

DJ has a new photo for his office. This will be the first USC thing in his office - fitting it would be the new baseball field!

Whetstone

Last night we attended the Ray Tanner Foundation auction and dinner. We walked away with several items...my favorite is a painting by Steven Whetstone. Whetstone is a former South Carolina baseball player and is now (although always was) an artist. Steven was affectionately know to many as *Dry Rock* and famous for his caricatures in the baseball media guide one season. We had a wonderful evening and it was great to see several of the former baseball players come out to support a good cause.

Horses

Our equestrian team does a promotion every year. Mom and Dad took part in the promotion and got on a horse and had their picture taken. DJ nor I got on a horse for the promotion...but I did convince a few football players to get on a horse. Thanks for being good sports Tori and Byron!

Kitty

This picture is from our trip to Charleston. Why is the kitty on the roof?

Mission Organization

I like things clean and tidy. Over our holiday break I tackled our closet. I still had spring clothes mixed in with winter clothes, shoes everywhere and sweaters piled up on the top shelf that I couldn't reach. I now have a pile of shoes to throw out, some clothes to give away and there is a little more room in the closet for DJ's stuff. Note for the next house - BIGGER master closet!

My next project...painting the den with my mom on Friday!

FIG

All dressed up and ready for FIG. We tried a new restaurant in Charleston, or new to us. FIG is a short walk from the condo and is now one of our top 3 favorite restaurants in Charleston. We will definitely dine there again!

we're back...

home that is. We spent the week between Christmas and New Year's Day in Charleston. The city was beautiful with all of the decorations - especially the on the wrought iron gates. These were some of my favorites.

Another Teammate of the Month

In October, I told you DJ was the Teammate of the Month for the month of September. Now I have to post about myself. We had our monthly staff meeting last week and the November Teammate of the Month was announced. Much to my surprise it was me! I usually know who is being named - sometimes I have to help scan photos and my good friend is usually responsible for rounding up photos of the person. However this month when I asked her who was getting Teammate of the Month she quickly responded with a name and lied to my face. DJ wasn't involved in the secret either - since we all know he can't lie! Caroline called my dad to get photos since mom was in Iowa visiting my grandmother. So I share with you two of the photos everyone in the athletic department has now seen of me...or at least they did if they came to the meeting.

Christmas Countdown...

We are on countdown at our house. Only 5 more (work) days until our holiday break!! We are looking forward to our week and a half off from work. The Christmas cards are in the mail, presents to those far away in the mail, the presents are wrapped, 2 more presents to find and one more party left.

A few days off...

We are looking forward to a long weekend at the beach while our football team has a a little time off too.

Gamecocks vs Florida

The Gamecocks couldn't pull off a win against the Florida Gators yesterday, Mom & Dad got to go down to the field pregame for 2001, DJ and I got to see Coach McCarney (former Iowa State Head Coach) and his wife after the game...all in all a good day. Now we are off to see our Women's Soccer team play Rutgers in the NCAA tournament.

Amost 80

...degrees that is. The high today was almost 80 degrees and we can expect the same tomorrow. I think that's a few degrees warmer than our friends and family in the midwest have been experiencing.

Two away games in a row...

We have a break from football the next 2 weeks. We play at Tennessee Saturday 10/31 (7:45 on ESPN) and then at Arkansas the following Saturday 11/7. DJ and I both have to work all of our home football games - so we are looking forward to two quiet weekends at home. I think I am going to take Friday off so I can clean the house...there is lots of dusting, vacuuming and laundry that have piled up the last few weeks. Go Cocks - we'll be watching from the comfort of our couch!

Homecoming

This past weekend was Homecoming at the University of South Carolina. We celebrated Friday night with my college's annual homecoming party at the McCutchen House. I didn't see many of my classmates from college but several of my newer friends from the alumni board I serve on were there. Saturday we played Vanderbilt and came away with a victory, although not pretty it was a win. I can't believe I graduated 10 years ago (almost 10 years since I really graduated in December since I was on the 4 1/2 year plan). Maybe we will make it back to Iowa State next year for homecoming...