Game 1: JMU vs. St Francis

The Outfit
This year I decided to go hard or go home, spirit-wise. First off, remember when I talked about the cheerleader bows that the VCU cheerleaders wore in their hair during that basketball game I went to?

Well a friend bet me that I wouldn't wear a big JMU-colored bow to the first home football game. Does he even know me?

I bought some JMU-colored ribbon and my coworker who is a former college cheerleader made me an awesome bow to wear to the football game! 

Here's my first football game outfit!

Outfit: Shorts (Mossimo, Target $15). Tank (Forever 21, $3.80), Shirt (Rue21, ~$12), Shoes (Converse, Journey ~$44), Shoelaces (Journey, I can't remember the price. <less $10.)

The Tailgate
After fantasy football draft, Patti, Ben and I met her family in P-Lot for some tailgating. I love tailgating with Patti's family because they love me and because they always have awesome food! They come prepared! Patti and I helped assemble chicken and shrimp kabobs in between taking tons of pictures!

I also headed down P-Lot to tailgate with some of my favorites.

The Game
I purchased season tickets with my old roommate, Tyler and her boyfriend Steve. Our tickets are on the student side. At first, we were a little disappointed but then we considered how much excitement there would be sitting near the students.

At least that's what we thought. Our seats were in the middle of a bunch of people that don't stand up. Seriously. JMU scored their first touchdown and Tyler and I jumped up on our feet to sing the fight song loudly. No one else stood up. I was sure that people behind me had to be on their feel. I turned around. No one else was standing up. 

Thank goodness, Matt and Danielle came and rescued us and took us to the student section with them! Which was awesome to be where people actually stood up and to be in the midst of purple and yellow streamers flying. It was the first time I'd been in the student section since 2009 (gosh, I'm so old).

Anyway, according to Tyler, this team, St. Francis, had not won an away game in 37 years. I thought she was exaggerating but after watching them play I think she may have been right. At halftime, it was like 41-0. We all ended leaving early (which broke my heart a little) because the game got really boring. The final score was 55-7.

All in all, it was an amazing opening weekend to JMU Football. I can't wait to see how the rest of the season pans out. 

Fantasy Football Draft 2012

I can be super competitive. Know that. That's why the Saturday before last I partook (is that even a word) in one of my favorite end-of-summer activities: the annual Harrisonburg Fantasy Football League draft. 

I've been participating in this league for 4 years. The league has been around for 6 years. I am currently the reigning fantasy football champion.

On September 1, at noon, we gathered at our favorite fantasy football drafting location, the Buffalo Wild Wings in Harrisonburg. This year our league was made up of 8 teams, all of whom were present for our live draft, with the exception of one, which led to us having a celebrity drafter. That celebrity drafter happened to be:

My birthday twin!

With the help of your awesome sticker girl, Jessica, we all successfully drafted our fantasy teams. I had the 8th draft pick while Jeremy had the number 1 draft pack. Patti drafted 7th, which often caused problems when we tried to share her boyfriend consultant, Ben.

Jessica and I

Anyway here are the members of my nameless team!

Matthew Stafford, QB Detroit Lions

Steven Jackson, RB St. Louis Rams

Stevan Ridley, RB New England Patriots

Marshawn Lynch, RB Seattle Seahawks

Victor Cruz, WR New York Giants

Antonio Brown, WR Pittsburgh Steelers

Jermichael Finley, TE Green Bay Packers

Ravens D/ST

David Akers, K San Francisco 49ers

Dwayne Bowe, WR Kansas City Chiefs

Kevin Smith, RB Detroit Lions

Philip Rivers, QB San Diego Chargers

Robert Meachem, WR San Diego Chargers

Denarius Moore, WR Oakland Raiders

Kenny Britt, WR Tennessee Titans

Michael Bush, RB Chicago Bears

This league is one of two fantasy football I am participating in this year. Here's to hoping I can have a good season with both!

Do you participate in fantasy football? Who are your favorite players to draft?

Ways You Can Tell I Am Obsessed With My Alma Mater...

First, I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Before I get down to the nitty-gritty of this post, I want to mention something. Did anyone else remember that Thursday (August 23rd) was the one year anniversary of the Virginia earthquake?! Now onward to the subject of this post!

***

It is no secret that I love all things JMU. Seriously it was the best four years of my life and I cannot imagine (nor do I want to) where I would be without all of the people I met there, the experience I had, and the life lessons I learned. 

There are a couple of sure signs that let you know that I am obsessed with JMU. Use these to judge others that you think are obsessed with JMU too!

-My toenails will be painted JMU colors the entirety of JMU football season.

-Also, I will wear purple, gold/yellow, or JMU attire every Saturday that JMU has a football game.
-I have started to only buy purple and yellow clothing items.
-I own more purple nail polishes than any girl should.
-I have purple Converse All Stars, that are super sweet.

 

-I get super excited when I see anything JMU flavored colored and when I see JMU items.
-I can find JMU things anywhere!

Patti and the JMU license plate we found in PORTLAND, MAINE.

-Everyone who knows me knows I attended JMU and that I love love love it.
-I have a cat named James. He had a sister; her name was Madison. 

-I own a JMU class ring and I've worn it every day since I got it back in October 2008.
-I have the JMU Sports app on my iPhone. I also have The Breeze (our school newspaper) mobile app. 
-I once had the JMU fight song as a ringtone on my phone.

-I love my school's marching band! 
-I once had a JMU theme on my BlackBerry.

-I went to a "Would you be my friend if..." party dressed as the Over Spirited JMU fan and I consider wearing that outfit again sometimes.

-I will argue that JMU is the best university in Virginia and not accept no for an answer.

-I have a strong need to be friends with people when I find out they went to JMU.
-I have JMU season football tickets and I am so excited!

How do you show love for your alma mater?

Summer Savings

I hope your week as started out wonderfully!

This past weekend I had my first couponing success. I've never actually watched that Extreme Couponing show that comes on TLC (...I think that's the right channel) but I fully support the idea. I like saving money and I am excellent at hoarding things. And best of all,   I love cutting out coupons. I find it relaxing; it's the best part of getting the Sunday newspaper (I am being an awful journalism major right now).

Back to the shopping trip. I have been coveting this customizable planner from Staples for several months now, hoping it would go on sale. (I hate paying full price for things, call me cheap if you'd like and prepare to be amazed). I also recently became a Staples Rewards member.

Did you know that if you turn in your old ink cartridges to Staples you get $2 back for each of them (not on the spot)?  You can turn in up to 10 a month. So one day after work last month, I turned in 6 ink cartridges. I've been patiently awaiting my $12 back in rewards that finally arrived last week.

I also get emails from Staples and they went me a 20% of any one item coupon. With both of these awesome discounts I decided that it was time.

The planner in the center is the one that I have been conveting. It was $14.99. However, there was a buy any customizable notebook and getting a polycover customizable notebook (valued at $7.99) free, which is how I ended up with the green notebook! I needed a water because I have no AC in my car and I was super dehydrated; it was $1.69.

Blue leather notebook                    14.99

Green polycover notebook               7.99

Buy one, get one deal                     -7.99

Subtotal                                        14.99 

20% off                                          -3.00  

Subtotal                                        11.99

Water                                            1.69

Subtotal                                        13.68

Staples Rewards                            -12.00

Subtotal                                          1.68

Tax                                                 0.07

Grand Total                                               1.75 

Yeah, I totally paid $1.75 for all three of those items. Essentially that's as if I bought the water by itself and got a .01 cent discount on it.

Needless to say, I felt pretty accomplished. So I celebrated my spending way too much money at Target. Ugh, maybe I don't understand this saving money thing after all!

What are your thoughts on couponing? Have you ever attempted it? What's your greatest couponing success?

Winding Down and Gearing Up

Another weekend has come and gone. Every Sunday I spend some time winding down from my busy weekend and gearing up for the work week ahead. 

This Sunday I had a lot to wind down from. This weekend included attending a baby shower for one of my best friends from high school, eating dinner with my family, and hanging out in Richmond with one of my newest friends!

One of my first Sunday activities was one that I normally do every Sunday - paint my toe nails! I always wear closed toe shoes to work, but I can't stand not having my toes painted. So I opted to partake in this activity while finishing watching "21 Jump Street," featuring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.

Today I also took the time to straighten my hair while watching some HIMYM (That's "How I Met Your Mother" for you all not familiar with the acronym) on Netflix. That took a couple of episodes. :)

More relaxing despues the hair straightening

After I made myself presentable, I headed out to do some shopping for some staples I am going to need for the week -- mostly food! I did need to pick up some school supplies for the fill-a-backpack-for-a-needy-kid thing we are doing for work. 

Shopping purchases

Going to the grocery store hungry is never good and I was craving all sorts of crazy things! For instance, I really wanted some salad! With little tomatoes!

Now I really should be asleep but I can't stop watching the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics. I plan to watch this for a little and then paint my nails quickly before bed!

What do you do to wind down from your weekend and gear up for the work week?

Weekend in the Outer Banks

The weekend before last I spent some time down in the Outer Banks with my family. They has been there all week; however, due to my big girl job I had to settle for a shorter stay.

I've been going to the Outer Banks since I was one year old and have vacationed down there on nine separate occasions, if my counting is correct.

Though I've been there so frequently, this past weekend I had some new Outer Banks experiences. My family rented a place in Corolla, which is on the north end of the OBX. I'm used to staying much further south around Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Heas, etc.

Our house was a mile from the Currituck Lighthouse which was one of the lighthouses in the OBX that I'd never had the opportunity to visit. So they saved their visit to the lighthouse until Saturday so I could go too! In my reading about the tourist attraction , I learned we could climb the lighthouse for $7 each.

Guess who convinced her whole family that this was a good idea. Hint: It was the same girl who is afraid of heights, gets dizzy easily, and has a slight fear of stairs. Note to self, if you go 214 stairs up, you have to go down 214 stairs. It was an amazing, heart-racing experience.

Corolla is also home to a long stretch of beaches only accessible by 4x4 vehicles. Also, I found out that just over 100 wild horses live on these beaches.

Anyway, on our way down to where you can actually sit on the beach, guess what we saw on the beach! A DEAD SHARK! Terrifying, right?

On another note we did see some of the wild horses. It was amazing! You have to stay at least 50 feet from them but I got some nice photos!

On Sunday we did some souvenir shopping. JMU was well represented at the Outer Banks and I bought it all up! I also got my annual Brew Thru T-shirt which is a must-have every time I go to the Outer Banks!

All in all, it was an awesome weekend and a good break from my big girl life.

What's your favorite beach to go to? What are your favorite things to do at the beach?

An Obsession of Olympic Proportions...

I am obsessed with the Olympics! There's nothing better than having something to watch on tv every night and cheering on your country to win the gold.  

Source

I still remember the first Olympics I watched as a child. I was eight years old and the Summer Olympics were being held in Atlanta, Georgia. 


I have vague memories of heading out to route 1 in Dinwiddie to watch the Olympic torch make its way to Atlanta. 


My first Olympic love was gymnastics. I remember watching the "Magnificent 7" win the team gold in womens' gymnastics. I decided at that moment I was going to be a gymnast. I even had a folder with USA's gymnastics team on it. For the next two years, my parents paid for me and my sisters to take gymnastics. As most of you know, I'm athletically challenged. It did not work out well. I was not fearless enough for gymnastics. 

Be glad I used this photo instead of my old gymnastics recital photos.
(Source)

Next came the Winter Olympics of 1998. I decided that figure skating was going to be my thing and I watched Tara Lipinski win the gold. That school year, I attended every skate night my elementary school sponsored at the roller skating rink in efforts to eventually become a figure skater. I never could master that whole not-falling-down thing.

Source

I've followed those two events in all the Olympics since then along with many others. I watched Michael Phelps win his numerous gold medals in Beijing. I watched the USA ice hockey team attempt to overtake Canada in the Winter Olympics. Last night I watched the USA women's gymnastics take the gold for the first time since 1996 when I first fell in love with the Olympics. 

Source

The Olympics make me want to accomplish something (mostly on the athletic front). I always get so emotional listening to the athletes' back stories and watching their hard work result in medals.


What are your favorite Olympic sports? What are your thoughts on the Olympics?