Waaarrrrrrr EAGLE!

I'm back from a FUN weekend of SEC football, tailgating and such, courtesy of the wonderful Tapp and Wright families! I took Friday off work (thanks Girl Scouts!), dropped Paisley off to spend the weekend with friends (thanks Lib, Jorge & Stella!) and joined Mr. and Mrs. Tapp for the car ride down to Atlanta. 4 hours (and not too much traffic) later, we arrived at the beautiful resort belonging to their good friends the Wrights. Ok, so technically it's just their house, but with the lush lawns and landscaping, scenic pool and tennis courts, white feather beds and warm greetings, it was pretty much as good as one!

Wade arrived shortly after us, and after sharing introductions and a few old stories, the 6 of us enjoyed a yummy lasagna and salad dinner outside by the pool. After a short trip to the mall to buy socks for everyone who forgot them :), the adults picked a movie to watch and Wade and I decided to brave the tepid waters of the pool. It was fun to just be outside under the stars and be totally relaxed - nowhere to rush off to, no to-do list hanging over us, nothing on the agenda - just chill and talk. We did just that until we were a little TOO chilled and starting to get goose bumps and pruney hands, at which point we got warm inside and watched episodes of The Office for a while and laughed our heads off.

Saturday morning we leisurely awoke, chatted with parents, went for a run (Wade and I - and, ok, the run wasn't that leisurely - have you ever tried to run with a 6'7" varsity collegiate athlete?), shot hoops (Wade shot hoops; I rebounded for him and hurled the ball in the direction of the goal a few times, missing 90% of the time) and then got ready to go to Auburn.

With 6 adults, 2 coolers and additional food, we piled in an SUV and made the 2 hour trip, meeting Wade's sister Whitney at her dorm before the tailgate. Can I just say how much nicer Whitney's dorm was than my freshman abode in Hinton James? No whitewashed, cinder block walls, no hot & sticky bathroom shared by 8 girls with 60 years of accumulated grime, no broken down window unit ACs. Nope, just cute white and green walls, matching pink/black/and white bedding, twin Mac laptops, a flat screen TV and a whole coffee shop on a shelf!

The rest of the afternoon consisted of a lot of food, a lot of sitting around in Auburn camping chairs, shaking pom poms and shouting "war eagle!" to people walking by :). I still don't really get why the Auburn Tigers shout "war eagle" but I likened it to UNC having a ram mascot even though we're the Tar Heels. We had a really nice tailgating spot, under some trees and right next the the street where the football players walk down to the stadium before the game. It was quite a step up from my UNC football tailgating experiences!

At 8:00, the long-awaited game began - in the biggest stadium I have ever been in, completely packed with orange-and-blue-clad fans. Wade and I were one section over from the parents, and we were surrounded by an interesting assortment of fans. The guy on Wade's left wore an orange scrub top and talked to Wade incessantly throughout the game. The couple in front of me had the least Auburn spirit of anybody in the stadium (at least in their green and khaki and carolina blue clothing choices). The family behind us were obviously hard core Auburn born-and-bred fans and their yelling got louder and louder the more alcohol they ingested (or sugar - I'm hoping - in the case of their 3 little kids). The most interesting was the guy on my right, who stood on the bleachers throughout the game, with his headphones on (presumably listening to commentary or other football games), waving his arms up and down as if he was trying to get everyone to stand up (or "raise the roof" :)). We weren't sure what he was accomplishing with that motion (nobody took notice and stood up with him), but he also periodically chanted "block that kick!" or "block that punt!" with little effect.

Although I felt like I was watching the game, I somehow missed almost every time either team scored, as well as all 4 missed field goals kicked by USF. At halftime, Wade treated me to some sweetly sour "Lemon-Aid" and we shared a dish of Dippin' Dots. Ordering Dippin' Dots went like this... Wade: "Can I get cookies and cream?" Girl: "We don't have that kind." Wade: "Then can I have the vanilla with the pieces of Oreo in it?" Girl: "Sure!" She was not the brightest crayon in the box!

With 13 minutes left in the 4th quarter, we left to beat the traffic, and probably missed the most exciting part of the game since it went into OT - but Auburn eventually lost :(. After getting back to Atlanta at 2:30 a.m., we all crashed and slept soundly until church Sunday morning. This post is getting really long, so I won't drag it out - we had a great time of worship and teaching, and then another delicious meal, before hitting the road - me bound for Charlotte with Mr. and Mrs. Tapp and Wade heading off in the other direction for Chattanooga. We napped on the way home and made it in time for me to get to my Community Group cookout, which I was thankful for.

So that was the weekend!