"Go Dawgs" and "Glory, Glory"

A work colleague of Shawn's gave us 3 tickets to this past weekend's UGA game. Tickets are expensive, I have learned, when a college team is highly ranked and reigning national champion. So getting the tickets for nothing was amazing and we're so grateful. 

We left our house at 6:15 am for the noon game on Saturday. Painful to get up that early, sure, but when we arrived at our parking deck at around 8:00 am, we were definitely NOT the only ones. People were setting up their tailgate tents and tables, I presume they were serving breakfast? Not super clear on that. Next time it might be fun to tailgate but we didn't even attempt it ourselves for our first go-round. The "Dawg Walk" was scheduled to begin at 9:45 anyway, so we were there in time to walk to the student center, get coffee, and then Alex met us and showed us where to stand. 

The band lines up on either side of a walkway and then the players' charter bus drives up, and out they walk, very nicely dressed (suits and ties, or suits and handsome turtlenecks), led by the cutie cheerleaders, of course, and the band plays and it's all very spirited and wonderful!

Then there's the game, itself, even more spectacular. The stadium is enormous, and it was FILLED with fans. It was a beautiful 80-degree day (although it felt much warmer than that in our no-shade seats and we did get sunburned!), with blue skies, lovely breezes every once in a while... and our team won. It was a great game, too -- not the blowout we'd expected, but fun to watch and a little nerve-wracking! There were fumbles and interceptions and highs and lows. 

The halftime show was pretty incredible, too. Band parents live for halftime. :)

Afterwards we made the obligatory trip to the campus bookstore, walked over to let Kate see her brother's dorm room (which hasn't changed at all since we moved him in, lol - we thought he might decorate a little, put up a photo or two on the walls, but no... at least it was clean), and took him to dinner at a nearby BBQ place. 

It was such a great day, a full-on Experience. Alex is happy, doing what he loves. We are newly-minted Dawgs fans for life, I guess, with the t-shirts and hats to prove it. 

And Sunday we were (at least I was) exhausted. 

Onward to this week: Kate's Fall Break. I'm working M, T, W and then she and I are taking a girls' trip to Charleston, SC. (What is with schools these days having SO many breaks?! When I was growing up, it was Spring Break, Christmas, and Summer, that was it. But our school district has THREE week-long breaks, one in September, one in February, and Spring Break in April. Plus a full week off for Thanksgiving. Shawn and I have historically NEVER had enough vacation time to take a trip for all three of those. Yet, some kids do. And our kids know about those trips because of stupid Social Media. It pisses me off, frankly.) I do have some banked vacation time now (Shawn doesn't, bummer), so I booked a hotel, bought us tickets to Sherry's theater -- finally! after 10 years! -- and I can't wait for that. I'm crossing my fingers for good weather so Kate can have at least a little bit of a beach day somehow. Other than that, I'm planning on brunch, some exploring in the most beautiful parts of downtown, maybe a pedicure if we can find a place, and just leisurely girl-time. We won't be there too long, but hopefully it will scratch Kate's itch to be somewhere else, and I know it will at least give her some pretty #vaca photos to post to Instagram and BeReal (eyeroll).

Until then, it's a regular week, but I've got fall vibes (it actually is cooler here): 

S - Chicken and white bean chili.

M - Pumpkin-alfredo ravioli, with salad

T - we'll probably get takeout

W - Foil pack Cajun chicken and vegetables, with cornbread

Happy Monday!

A Morning Walk, and Other Pleasantries

I think there's nothing more pleasant than a morning walk when the weather is nice. And nice, for me, means cool (at least down in the 60s but I don't mind cooler than that) and low humidity. We have that kind of weather this week, hooray! So I just got back from my walk. I saw several hawks enjoying the morning air (I love hawks!).

Equally nice is an over-easy egg on toast, with Cholula and salt & pepper. You can't beat that for breakfast. A poached egg is nice, too, but for me that's a little more trouble. 

A really great workday is the day you can work from home after having to be in the office. This week, we had VIP visitors so it was all-butts-in-seats Monday and Tuesday, but my manager said I didn't have to be there today if I didn't want to, and guess what? I didn't. ;) Today I'm back at my home office, with the windows open and the cats standing watch there, until it gets too warm. 

Another great workday, I just learned, is a WFH day from your (my) parents' house! I took a quick trip last week to Pensacola. Left here Sunday, so we had Sunday night and Monday Labor Day to relax and do nothing, and then on Tuesday and Wednesday, I got up early with the laptop. It was nice! Lovely to just be there and have breakfast, lunch and dinner together. To watch TV together. I tried to be helpful, too, although I feel like I should have done more (definitely should have looked at some health care stuff with Mom, whoops -- next time). I'm going to plan to do that more frequently, I think. Would they like to see the rest of my family, too? Sure. But I think they liked seeing me, alone, just fine. And I sure liked being with them.

Something I've been doing on my WFH days lately, is stopping at 4:00 or 5:00, sitting down with a book and setting a timer for 30 or 45 minutes. Sometimes it morphs into a power nap, other times it doesn't. But usually Kate has just come home from school, so she's having her "chill out" time, too (sometimes she falls asleep) and it's been a DELIGHT to treat myself in that way. Then I'll get up and start dinner. Of course this will change when other activities come into play -- volleyball is about to start up again -- but for now I will TAKE IT. :)

Updates: I think the back extension exercises are helping, and I've stopped doing forward bends, (yes, even the yoga kind). I feel like I have fewer days of outright pain. Is it fully healed? Still no. But I feel a bit better. Shawn is rolling his eyes at me and silently begging me to go see someone. I'm the man in our relationship as far as doctor visits are concerned: I'd rather not. But next up in aches and pains: Plantar fasciitis. I went to a podiatrist once for this problem, and it was the WORST medical experience I've ever had. The guy seemed SO uninterested in helping me, and even seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. But this, my right heel, does seem to be getting worse, not better. Argh. 

Alex is doing great at college. We get to see him this weekend for a band thing (we're going to watch his girlfriend march at her university), so that will be nice. He told me that yesterday he spent a lot of time outside studying. How awesome is that?!