My Top 10 in 2010

This year, we decided to make my grandmother a “Year in Review” photo album for Christmas.  As I was looking through the pictures and trying to narrow it down to my favorites, I was able to relive some happy (and sad) moments from this year.  Isn’t it amazing how photographs can do that?

Anyway, I decided that I wanted to pick my top ten photographs from this year…not because they are amazing photographs, or even because they are my absolute favorites, but because they bring back an emotion or a memory I never want to forget.  So here they are, with explanations of course (because it wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t caption ALL of the pictures ;))

Here they are (in reverse chronological order):

1. BCS National Championship Game – Pasadena, CA (January 2010)
   

        This was by far not my favorite photo from the trip, but it completely captured our emotions for the day.  We were freezing and exhausted, but so happy, relieved, and of course in awe of what we just saw.  The phrase  “Remember the Rose Bowl, we’ll win then”, from our fight song will probably forever make my eyes well up with tears of pride thanks to this moment.  I will be forever grateful for having the opportunity to witness this moment.

   2.  My 25th Birthday (February 2010)

   Selfish for putting my birthday as one of the “defining moments” of 2010…possibly, but in my eyes it was.  It was not necessarily the birthday itself, but more the milestone age and what it represented.  25 had always been my “goal year”…that was the year that I was going to be all settled with a house, a great job, married, etc.  Knowing that I had not accomplished all of that was rough on my self-esteem.  Anyway, some of my very favorite people and number one supporters all came to town to have dinner with me and CELEBRATE turning 25.  After a nice “pep talk”, turning 25 didn’t seem so bad and as much as I hate to say it,  they were right…25 is not the end of the world ;)

   3.  Watching my old dance studio compete (March 2010)

   

When I was at home for spring break, I had the opportunity to go see my old dance studio compete.  I hadn’t seen my dance teachers in ages and before I left, I had the opportunity to get a picture with all three of them…together…literally, 3 of the most important women in my life (outside my family of course)

4.  Visiting Alex in Arkansas (April 2010)

I’ll just go ahead and say that I love everything about this picture.  Not only do I love that it is “frame-worthy”, but I loved the emotion behind it and the memories it brings up every time I look at it.  It was my first long trip to Arkansas and I had been begging to visit this park.  I remember walking under this sweet little vine covered walkway and being so happy.  I don’t know why I stopped and took a picture at that moment, but I’m so glad I did.

 

5.  20th Anniversary Dance Recital (May 2010)

This was such an amazing moment that I will never forget.  This was taken at the Alumni Reception after the dress rehearsal.  Although the shows the next two nights were awesome, this moment was more special because this was the first time we’d seen each other in a long time and we came together to rehearse in old studio just like we did years ago.  It makes me teary just thinking about how amazing it was that we were able to come together, dancers of all ages, and share our passion one more time.

My dance teacher made this comment on the picture on FB which I think perfectly sums up the moment:  “A room full of blessings!!! A heart filled with love!!”

6. ISTE Presentation

 

When my professor approached me last year about doing a conference presentation, I never thought it would happen, however, she took me under her wing and helped walk me through the process.  Standing up in front of that crowd was one of the most nerve-wracking and rewarding things that I have ever done and my professor was beside my side the entire time.  Although this is not the best picture, I’m so thankful that I had this wonderful opportunity and that I had someone capture this huge moment for me!

7.  My first day as a COLLEGE teacher

 

This year I got to live out one of my life-long dreams…I had the opportunity to teach at the University of Alabama.  This picture was taken just moments before my first class and I was so giddy with excitement I couldn’t hardly stand it.  As a teacher, I want to remember this moment and always have that excitement about teaching :)

8.  Celebrating 6 Years with Alex

 

Although this is not the best picture of us and definitely not my favorite from the evening, this picture meant a lot to me.  Yes, it is a big deal that we celebrated 6 years, but to me it was more important that we were celebrating an anniversary at all.  In the car on the way to the restaurant for dinner (as you see above), we were talking about how much had changed in a year.  In November 2009, we didn’t have a clue as to what was about to happen.  As soon as he found out and decided he was moving, I remember telling him  that I would be shocked if we made it to our anniversary…he of course told me I was wrong and that we would be fine, but being the worry wart I am, I didn’t believe him.  Lo and behold, he was right (yes, Alex…I put it in writing ;)) and here we are celebrating another year together, and even stronger than ever :) 

9.  Cooking and hosting my very first Thanksgiving dinner

Because of the way the Iron Bowl fell this year, my brother and I were not able to make it home for Thanksgiving.  Because we are a stickler for tradition, my mom and I decided to take on the daunting task of recreating my grandmother’s traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a lot of hard work and wasn’t perfect, but I was pretty proud of myself for pulling it off :)

10.  White Christmas

We woke up this year to a very white Christmas!! The news said it had been since 1989 since we had so much snow on Christmas day :)  It was absolutely beautiful and I made sure to cherish every moment (as much as I could…I was super sick with a cold! :( ) because it may be a while before we see it again :)

So there you have it…my Top 10 in 2010!  Do you have some favorite memories from the year?  If so, please share :)

Flashback Friday: Football Recruiting – Bama vs. Utah State 2004

Since tomorrow is our first game of the season and next week begins my LAST season of football recruiting (due to some changes in rules…they are no longer allowing grad students ;( which I’ll talk about later ), I thought this would be the perfect time to look back on my first year of football recruiting.

Before this season, Alabama had a group called the “Bama Belles” that they used for football recruiting.  My friend Crystal and I had both interviewed, but neither of us made it.  I was devastated, but I had other commitments that kept me busy (i.e. being an Avanti student orientation leader mainly) and as with everything else…I knew there was a reason and just assumed it was not the job for me.

Not long after I interviewed, there was an incident in Colorado where a recruiting hostess got raped by a recruit so the NCAA changed a lot of the rules and ultimately cut out athletic specific hostesses such as the Bama Belles.  Since this new ruling was put into place only weeks before the kick-off of the football season, the football program was scrambling to find replacements.  Since they WERE allowed to use an already existing support group, they decided to use the Avantis (since we went through an extensive interview and training process) and I jumped at the chance to sign up to work the football games.  I felt like God was again reminding me that HE knew what was best for me and that if I was patient, he would work things out :)

I studied up on both the rules of football and Alabama football history before the first home game and was ready to go once it finally arrived!  One of our responsibilities was to memorize information about our new football complex and give group tours to recruits and their families on Game Day.  At that time, there were only a few of us that were recruiting so we alternated taking turns giving tours and usually averaged about 5-10 tours per game.

Anyway, the first game was nerve-wrecking and exciting at the same time.  I nervously squeaked through my tours and it was finally time for kick-off.  One of the best things about recruiting (there are many perks as you can imagine) is that we get to stand on the field to watch the team’s warm-ups.  I remember stepping on the field for that first game and it gave me chills…I knew that this is what I needed to be doing and was proud to be a part of this group!

Minutes after stepping on to the field for the first time (Note:  you won’t see a cool silver name tag on me.  When I went to pick mine up, they had Morgan Staten so I was stuck with a sticker until the next game)

My best friend Crystal and I savoring the moment. 

My favorite girls

       The following are some pictures my dad took of me on the sidelines.      

The Avantis that worked this game (except for Crystal…not sure where she is in the pic!)

    And of course baby Josh ready for the game ;)

Then, we continued the picture taking in the stands…

It was a great way to start our first recruiting season.  Stay tuned for more highlights from that season! :)

Flashback Friday – My Grandfather’s Last Birthday

On Sunday, August 9th, my grandfather would have been celebrating his 86th birthday.  Unfortunately, during Memorial Day weekend in 2006, he passed away in his room at the nursing home.  He had been suffering from what the doctors said was Alzheimer's and my family made the difficult decision to put him in the nursing home in September 2005.  I was very close to him so it was really hard to have to say goodbye on both occasions.

Anyway, before he went in the nursing home, we had the honor of celebrating what we didn’t realize would be his very last birthday.  I’m now very thankful we took pictures because this was the last time we were photographed with my grandfather.  So in honor of my grandfather’s birthday, today’s Flashback Friday post is in honor of my dear grandfather:  Charles Slaten.

Happy Birthday Granddaddy! We love and miss you!

Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles

Time to eat cake!!

No birthday is complete without cards & presents!

Then we took a few family pictures.  First the grandchildren (except Julie)

        

and his boys.

This is such a great memory and I’m glad we got to share this special day with him!     

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Flashback Friday: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Almost 6 years ago to this day, I participated in one of the best plays I’ve ever done:  The Wizard of Oz

As you know, I have a huge obsession with Wizard of Oz, so when I heard my local theatre company that I was involved with was going to do it as their summer show, I jumped at the chance to audition for what else, but Dorothy.

I began taking voice lessons and when the audition day finally arrived, I felt like I did well, but the director who is a dear friend thought I might be better at the choreography (which made me feel better because I would have been so nervous if I had gotten the part!)  I was happy to be a part of this wonderful production!

Not only was the play fun, but I adored the cast!  3 of my close friends became part of the “Fab 4” and I grew to love “our” Dorothy.  Working with them (and my dance teacher, Mrs. Susan) on choreography was a lot of fun and I wouldn’t have changed the experience for anything.  Although I was only in 2 scenes myself, I ended up staying at the studio a great deal to assist with choreography and just hang out with my fabulous friends and fellow actors.

The show was a great success and I feel so blessed to have been a part of it.  I had just gotten my digital camera so I took a ton of pictures.  I wish I could put them all on here, but instead I’m opting for a few of my favorites, plus a couple of slideshows with the remaining photos from my Webshots albums.

3 of the Fab 4 putting making their mark, literally, on the yellow brick road!

Alex came by to help with the set building.  We had met through this theatre company the previous summer (when we began dating), but during this play we were both dating other people.

Show Time!

One of the few pictures I got of myself backstage.  This is Addy and I (I’m in the Emerald City costume and she’s in our Jitterbug costume (mine is right behind me!)

The Fabulous Cast

Top to Bottom, Left to Right:  Mark as the Scarecrow, Erika as Dorothy, My best friend Bryan as the Tin Man, and dear friend Aimee as the Lion, Ms Pat as the Wicked Witch, and Quincy as Glinda

 

Friends

Alex came by to see the show.  You can tell he’s not too enthuised having his picture made with me! (Maybe it’s the outfit ;))

     Matt’s cousin and my dear friend Amanda came to see us as well!

Gifts

Even though I didn’t have a big part, my friends and family treated me like a star :)  I got a Wizard of Oz purse from my grandmother (you can see it in the cast pictures above)

       Flowers from Tim, my boyfriend as the time.  He unfortunately had to leave before I got a picture with him :(

I also got this candy bouquet from Ms. Pat (the wicked witch), as well as a balloon bouquet from my best friend Bryan.  So Sweet!

Since I couldn’t share all of my pictures with you, I’m sharing two slideshows from my Webshots albums (The first is mainly rehearsals and set up, while the second is closer to show time stuff)

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Flashback Friday: Moving to Tuscaloosa

As I’ve been watching all of my neighbors move out (and I’m not kidding…I’m now the only one on my floor!) and getting ready for my brother to move in, it has brought back many memories of when I moved into Tuscaloosa. 

This is what I journaled in my scrapbook about the experience (Note:  this was written my freshman year so obviously things are a little different, i.e. boyfriend ;))

On August 16, 2003 I left my home in Somerville to begin my new life in Tuscaloosa.  I was living my dream of becoming a college student at the University of Alabama pursuing a degree in Elementary Education.  This was the day I had been both looking forward to and dreading for the past year.  Part of me was so excited about starting over in a new place.  I was going to be a college student at UA and living in my own apartment – things that excited every high school graduate.  On the other hand, I was going to miss my life back home:  doing plays,  going to dance class, seeing my family, and spending time with my friends and boyfriend.  Everything I was used to was gone and I was starting over – clean slate.  It didn’t matter what I did in high school or who I knew…I had to make a new name for myself.

On this particular day, I woke up and did some last minute packing (of course I waited till the last minute to pack…what a surprise!).  My uncle Tim, a manager at the Canteen vending machine company in Priceville, arrived with one of their delivery trucks early that morning.  We loaded all of the boxes into the truck and Mom, Dad, Joshua, Tim, Mommaw Lucy, Poppaw Jack and I loaded into the truck, my car, and Mom’s explorer (we jokingly named ourselves Maegan’s caravan) and headed to Hartselle to pick up some items from the townhouse and then hit the road.  We had gotten walkie-talkies so we could all talk to each other without running up the phone bills so we talked to each other on the way there.  Thankfully I had driven this route to go to orientation so I was quite familiar with it at this point.  When we got to Tuscaloosa, we stopped at Sticks ‘n Stuff to pick up my new black leather coach, loveseat and ottoman that we had purchased when we came down apartment hunting in April.  When all of us got there, we were told we’d have to go pick it up at the warehouse, which ended up being an adventure in itself.  After we finally found the warehouse, we loaded the furniture into the truck and headed to my new apartment.  We called H.A. Edwards (the real estate company) to check on getting my key and they informed us that it was already unlocked so before heading to the office, we stopped off by the apartment.  We were nervous because we had not seen the apartment before signing the lease.  My high school friends, Tyler and Ashley, had both signed leases here and my parents had talked to their parents and trusted their judgment.  However, we had no idea if everything would fit so we just prayed everything would fit.  When we opened the door, we were excited to see how large and beautiful it was.  I immediately started taking pictures with my camera phone and sending it to the gang back home.  We spent the rest of the night unpacking and setting up getting ready for my houseguests the next day.

On August 17th, I had my very first house guests.  My aunt Tiffany and cousins Jordan and Jacob came down to meet my uncle, Tim.  They were dressed in their Alabama gear to go visit the Bryant Museum.  My boyfriend Tim, and our friends Will, Aimee, Bryan and Taylor also came to visit.  They were going to help me move in the day before, but Will and Aimee’s sister got married.  It was fun getting to spend the day with them.  My friend Amanda also stopped by on her way to MSU, where she would be attending college.

Here is a collage of pictures from the day (there are way too many for me to insert one by one!)  If you would like to see the entire album with captions, click on the yellow button on the bottom left corner and click on the album name, or click on a photo in the slide show to be taken to that particular photo in the album.

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Flashback Friday: Miss Point Mallard Pageant 2001

This is my first Flashback Friday!  (I’m still showing you my favorite things, but “Favorite Things Friday’s” has now been moved to Thursday’s :))

Each week I will share a picture, memory, or anything from my past to help me document these memories before I completely lose them!  Feel free to join in on the fun and post your own “Flashback Friday” on your blog on in the comments below.

My first Flashback Friday is in honor of our most recent holiday, Fourth of July (and the park in which I’ll be hanging out all weekend for Alex’s car show)!

Every year a local water park back home, Point Mallard, hosts a fourth of July festival (as well as a Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Festival on Memorial Day that you might have heard of).  They have carnival type food, bands, activities, etc, but their biggest event (besides the fireworks) is the Point Mallard pageant.

In Summer 2001, our dance studio was asked to perform as a “time-filler” for the two day pageant.  Because we had a huge competition ensemble that would never be able to fit on the stage, our dance teachers chose 6 of us to represent the studio.  We basically had a month to learn choreography for two dances and perfect them in time to perform them for the fourth celebration.  We spent many hours in the studio (and broke many glitter hats ;)), but in the end it went really well!!  It was an honor to be chosen as one of the six to represent our studio and as always, I loved having the chance to perform.

So here are a few pictures from the event (sorry they aren’t better…Mom was a little far away!)

 

Our first performance - “Tuxedo Junction”  I’m second from the right in the first picture and on the far right in the second.  Burch and Hatfield actually let us borrow the tux jackets and they took our picture in them to hang as advertisement in their store (unfortunately I never got a copy of the picture! :( )

Our second performance “Sing, Sing, Sing”.  After this performance, they took a group picture to put as an ad in a local magazine.  I have the magazine I should scan in, but not the original picture! :(  I have a few more pictures from this dance, but they didn’t scan correctly so I’ll more later!

Well, there you have it!  My first flashback Friday! :)  Check back next Friday for another “Flashback”