Happy Birthday Jeanne

Happy Birthday to my boss, Jeanne. My co-worker, Jen, and I decided we wanted to plan a surprise party for our wonderful boss. Jeanne is always doing things for others, and we figured it was time that she had something done for her. The planning began about 3 weeks ago...by the way, Evite.com is the best website ever to keep things a secret, or to use invitations for anything at all. We invited all of the committees and board members of the Christian Chamber.
Today, she had a meeting scheduled at 11am and everyone was showing up around 12 to the meeting room downstairs in our office. We pulled her out of the meeting and told her we wanted to take her to lunch. We got her downstairs, and when the elevator opened, about 40 of her closest friends were standing there singing "Happy Birthday"!!! It was a perfect surprise. A special thanks to Lea McQuinn for making another fabulous cake!! Jeanne, you are wonderful! We love you and appreciate all that you do!!

THIS IS ALABAMA FOOTBALL

The Crimson Tide jumped to No. 2 in the Associated Press ranking on the strength of a dominating 41-30 victory over Georgia on national television on Saturday night. The No. 2 ranking represents the highest ranking for Alabama since 1993, when the Crimson Tide opened the season at No. 2 and stayed there for seven weeks before a 17-17 tie with Tennessee in Bir­mingham dropped the Tide to No. 4 (Montgomery Advertiser)
So this has been an awesome football for BAMA fans. Even though I am so far away from all of the excitement, I am a true Alabama fan and watch every single game that is on TV. I am so proud of our team. They have had such a hard time these past few years, and we are finally becoming the team we used to be known for. ROLL TIDE!!! These are my BAMA cupcakes for GAMEDAY!

Siesta Key

I am starting to blog all of my latest happenings...this will be the first of about 4 I think.

On September 12-13, Matt and I went to Siesta Key with his mom and dad, and our Gilliam friends from church. The surf was really good, so the boys wanted to go up. I just wanted to tan. We got there around 7pm on Friday and Matt went straight to surf! Afterwards, we all had dinner at a pizza place right across from our hotel.
On Saturday, we surfed all day long. I was having a really hard time getting up at first because the waves were coming one after the other. I was getting beat up. I decided I would take a break, and go hang by the pool. That is always relaxing.
At the end of the day, I decided to give surfing another chance. I got up on my knees several times. I was so happy about that, I didn't even care if I ever got on my feet. After slamming my head into the rocky bottom, sunburn, getting hit in the forehead by my surfboard, and having millions of no-see-um bites, I had a great time. Siesta Key is a favorite place for Matt and I. It is only about an hour away and right on the beach.

Matt & I Have Already Been Married for a YEAR!!!

On Monday, September 8th, Matt and I celbrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe that the time has gone by so fast. We have made so many memories, made lots of mistakes, and learned so many new things together. Matt is such an amazing man and I fall more and more in love with him everyday.
I got off of work at 5 and was rushing to get home and take a shower because Matt told me we had to leave the house at 6:30. When I walked in the front door, the lights were low and he had music playing on his computer, our wedding cake's top surrounded by roses, 2 cards, and a long stem rose laying over our wedding album sitting on the kitchen table. There were 12 roses around the cake and they represented how many months we had been married. The long stemmed rose represented the next year to come. He gave me one really goofy card and then one really sweet card. I hurried to get in the shower. I was finally ready at 6:25 and he was anxious to give me my gift. He pulled a mahogany box out of his back pocket and I knew exactly where that box came from...Dunkin's Diamonds. When I opened it up, there was a diamond pendant inside it. The significance behind this is as follows. When I went home in October of 2007 to visit my mom, the diamond in my engagement ring fell out. We had only been married for a month. We couldn't find it, so I had to come back to Florida missing a diamond. My mom found it 2 weeks later and gave it back to me. Thank God our insurance covered my ring, so I already had the diamond replaced, so now I had 2 diamonds. I really wanted my original diamond. He had my 1st diamond put into a pendant to match my engagement ring. When I get a really good picture of it, I will post it.
Anyways, back to our anniversary. He took me to Tokyo Bay in Bonita Springs which is my favorite place EVER!!! It is a Japanese Steakhouse.
We had a table in a quiet corner all to ourselves. We ordered some edamames, which were the best I have ever had. I even ate a little bit of sushi...still not too big of a fan. Our meal was the BOMB!!!

I ordered the Steak and Shrimp combo from the grill and Matt ordered the
Steak and the
Chicken combo.






We were stuffed by the time we left. After dinner, we headed back home and cut our cake. It was still as good as it was on our wedding day!! Great Job Aunt Lea. After that...well, you know! Then we watched The Hills and called it a night. It was such a wonderful night. We are usually so busy that it is hard to find time to just be together. I love you Matty with all my heart. I can't wait for many more years with you baby!!!