Happy Halloween!!

Enjoy your trick or treating!

Wedding Website Up!

Hello Friends :)

Just wanted to update you really quickly to say, the beginnings of our wedding website is up and running!

Click here to view

Check back for updates as more information becomes available!

Cola has moved :)

Cola has decided to be a triple blogger!

I have been meaning to link her new blog Aprons Required for a while...

but then she went and started another blog! (so that she could save the original one for just wedding related info...)

Check her out at Inside Out!

A Weekend Recap!

As I am in the full swing of a graduate program, sometimes I have busy days that do not involve blogging. So, I apologize for this being not as timely as I had anticipated!

But, this weekend I made sure I had all of my homework done and put away so I could focus on the lovely Rolland family :)

They got here Friday evening, after a little hiccup in the directions (sorry guys!). The only thing that we really had time for was to watch the boys play Mario Kart on the Wii...soooo entertaining, lol.

We got up Saturday morning, ready for a full day! I made some scrambled eggs to tide us over and then got ready for the day and headed to lunch at the Last Resort! We enjoyed lunch and then moved on to the main feature: Red Velvet Cake.

 

We each had a slice and did NOT share with the boys :)

 

 

Mama Rolland with her cake!

After lunch we headed to Hobby Lobby, a favorite stop for every mom-to-be and bride-to-be, I am sure. Even the boys came :)

After that we headed into Atlanta to go to Lenox Mall and do some shopping! Diana got the cutest top for her baby shower...no pictures so that it is a surprise.

Then we grabbed a quick dinner at Outback and headed to the Lasershow Spectacular. It was very...very...laser-y. {Definitely something to take the kids to, but we had a good time anyway.}

We headed home, played some more Wii and hit the hay.

Sunday morning we had a glorious breakfast/brunch at Big City Bread and just sat and talked for a couple hours before they had to head home...

A quick one, but a GREAT weekend!

A Party in the Fall

Friday afternoon I had the most fun in attendance at a Pumpkin Carving Party hosted by Miss Jessica Morgan (one of my cohortmates).

This lady is full of Southern grace and hospitality and is a fantastic cook! I promised to make some Ghost Cupcakes which was an idea that I had gathered bits and pieces from in different places.

When I described them to my mom she made me promise to take a picture regardless of how they turned out (so she could laugh if I failed miserably, I presume) but they actually came out pretty cute! Take a look:

 

So what are they? Chocolate Cupcakes (recipe from here) with homemade Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe from my big, red Betty Crocker Cookbook) and Meringue Puffs (recipe from here). I used some of the frosting and some food coloring to make the purple eyes...

They were pretty labor intensive, but combined with Jessica's Chicken Tortilla Soup and Turkey Chili and Cornbread, check out this table:

After gorging on some awesome food we all headed outside to carve up some pumpkins! I haven't carved a pumpkin since maybe before high school and had a blast. Check out our sweet pumpkins:

 

Mine is the small one, second from the top...it actually wasn't that small...Margaret's pumpkin was just HUGE...here, look at it close up:

 

A scary haunted house! It has a candle in it and is sitting outside our door...bring on the fall!

Happy Anniversary Babe

Wow. 8 years. And our last anniversary as an unmarried - yet fabulously committed - couple! So weird!

I figured that I would share the story of how we met, that will be posted on our wedding website to commemorate the occasion, as well as some of our favorite nostalgic photos. Enjoy!

How We Met:

as recounted by the bride:

One day, a few years ago, a striking young woman was asked to join her high school's musical production of Guys and Dolls stage crew team. Though she knew nothing about constructing or moving sets, or for that matter anything about musicals, she agreed.

Upon arrival at her first after school meeting, she realized that she knew even less than she thought that she did about stage crew. She was quickly sent to dry brush more than a thousand tiny window panes for the cityscape backdrop and was heartily ignored by the rest of the crew, save one young man.

That young man thought to himself "Wow, that young lady is so amazing. She dry brushes like nobody's business. I must get to know her better."

And so he did. And so they fell in love.

as recounted by the groom:

I remember it vividly - a beautiful girl in the corner of the stage working tirelessly on a backdrop for the school musical. She seemed to always be dry brushing (a technique used to add depth).

I am not good at this effect, however I searched for any reason to be near her.

After, I'm sure, a few awkward attempts, I finally got my chance. During a nightly performance, the girl who will be my wife and I pushed a flat out onto the stage. As we were rushing back to the wings, the lights went up early and she was about to step out on center stage.

I reached out and grabbed her hand.

We spent the next forty five minutes trapped behind the flat in whispered conversation. Under those lights I found my love.

 

Tech Crew...where it all started.

 

  

A weekend in the mountains (Fall 2001)

 

 

 Prom (Spring 2002)

 

At prom

 

  

 

 Watching the sunrise on the beach, after prom
 

 

Graduation (Spring 2002)

 

  

Graduation night. He was just sleeping. I swear ;)

 

  

Top of the Empire State Building. Note the Weezer patch on Austin's jeans. (Fall 2002) 

  

 

Baby, I love you and I cannot wait to be Mrs. Courtney Rae Brawford Gage ;)

The Rollands are rolling in...

That title only works when written down because they actually pronounce their last name "Rahlland" but whatevs.

I am SO excited to see the whole family this weekend! Allen, Diana, Kalea and little baby Emma Grace (in utero and all, but still)

We have quite a weekend planned! Saturday will consist of

• lunch at Last Resort for some yummy food - and possibly the best red velvet cake in the south - followed closely by Publix, no joke.
• fun walking around downtown Athens and heading to Atlanta for dinner
• an undisclosed dinner location in Atlanta - read: whatever we feel like.
• and then to Stone Mountain for the last showing of the 25th Anniversary edition of LASER SHOW SPECTACULAR

It should be so much fun!!! So excited!

I think Sunday we will probably just hang out a little bit, hit up Big City Bread for breakfast, and do some chillaxin.

I am so excited for this weekend, especially because I am kicking it off tomorrow with a Pumpkin Carving Party! Bring on the fall :)

Lemons and Melons and Pears, Oh My!

YAY for Wicked!

As was previously told to me, the musical is very different than the book...a much happier ending, I must say.

We ladies had SO much fun, and we have been serenading our cohort with songs like "Popular" since Sunday trying to convince them they are "hanging with the right cohort" (LOL)

The show was at the fabulous Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta. The inside of the theater is very Moroccan and the ceiling is lit so that it looks like you are in a courtyard at night, below the open sky. There are even clouds rolling across the sky throughout the productions!

In any case we had awesome seats and thoroughly enjoyed our evening...we snapped the picture below as we ran out of the theater at the end, and had to fight against crowds to stop and get it, so please excuse the, uh, scandalous way my strap has fallen off of my shoulder...I blame it on everyone else being so much shorter than me (no offense girlies :) )

I swear I had a shawl with me, it is just hidden behind my other ladies! Or maybe I was just feeling wicked ;)



Too much? Yup, I know, I couldn't resist.

Austin's on the Prom Committee

HAHAHAHAHA...

Not really, but he was assigned to be on the planning and set up committee for his first Navy Ball, which will be taking place this Friday. Considering that he is required to go to the ball, which he would rather not attend, the addition of being on the planning committee has him thrilled, as you can imagine.

Austin will be going sans moi, because it is $45/ person to go, and he is required to attend another ball in the spring with his own class, which will be more fun, so we will both go to that one. (The only reason he has to go to this one is basically because he checked in early here in Athens.)

Anywho, he is pouting about it, and I think it is hysterical. Thought I would share.

Go Monarchs!

This may be old for some of us, but some fellow ODU lovers out there haven't seen it, and I think it is cool. this is a virtual tour of what Foreman Field (originally built in 1936) will look like when it is all renovated and fabulous.



ODU Football Fall of 2009, Get Excited!

Addition to the Blogroll!

Check out yet another of my sorority sisters and her family at:

The Everett Family

Happy Reading!

Lazy Saturday

We have had so much going on lately that I made the decision to not go to the Georgia game today. I know, I know, sacrilege.

BUT, we are watching it on TV as I check things off of my to-do list...and I am wearing Georgia gear, so I feel a little better about it.

Here is a pic I just snapped of my favorite boys relaxing on the couch (who have no to-do lists to worry about):

It's a good thing that I am getting some things done today, because tomorrow I am headed to Atlanta with the girls to see WICKED! Reviews to follow ;)

Happy Birthday Critter!

or Sherlby Marle

or Dogtip

or Shel

or my dear friend and old roommate,
co-founder of burnett's citrus vodka and mountain dew cocktail hours,
survivor of 42nd St., 
fellow Greek Woman of the year ;) ,
co-saver of bridal bouquets and seating charts,
and the perfecter of the one-arm-self-portrait-with-other-people's-cameras

Shelby!

I hope that you have the happiest of days on your lovely cruise ship :)

p.s. so does Austin.

Scarily True Glimpse into the Future

 

Right down to the Navy T-shirt. 

Addition to the Blogroll!

This is the adorable blog of one of my sorority sisters Sam! Enjoy!

http://florestfamily.blogspot.com/

and...Corey is back to blogger!

http://exponentialnonsense.blogspot.com/

Georgia on My Mind

Last weekend was a tough one to be around Athens, but not tough enough to have Georgia fans lose their class.

This observation was a very true one, and that comes from someone who was in the stands until the teams left the field.

Life Updates!

I haven't really updated so much on what has been happening in our lives as I had been this summer and I guess people are noticing. Ack! Sorry! I will be better, I promise.

The last few weeks have seen some busy times for us here in Athens. I am busy as ever with class and with work, and now wedding planning thrown in the mix. We are waist deep in midterms in my program, so my life has pretty much consisted of trying to study through a haze of medications...I have a lingering sickness that will not get out of my life.

In addition, there have been some developments in the Greek Life Office (where I work) so now in addition to advising the Multicultural Greek Council, I also advise Order of Omega, our honor society. I was VP of Membership for our chapter at ODU, so I am pretty excited about helping them out. I am getting pretty sick of homework, especially after the summer tease of being a full time professional again, so I cannot wait for graduation!

Austin now has a "job" as a stash officer in Athens. He is "stashed" at the Supply School, which means he goes in to work every morning and checks in to see if they have anything for him to do - until he starts class in January. Right now he has secured a "job" at the Supply School Museum. He scans old newsletters and things into a computer to create digital files for them, and then calls it a day around noon. Tough life.

He has had a lot of fun recently with two of his OCS buddies, Connor and Hayes, who have moved to Athens. We have been all over the place showing them this cool little town.

The Supply School is really beautiful, so I will make sure that we get down there and get some photos. Once upon a time it was the Female Normal School (or Teacher's College) counterpart to the all male UGA. In 2011 it will again be acquired by UGA, but this time to be the medical school campus.

Well, I hope that catches everyone up! Look for more current, and smaller, updates in the future :)

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

but, we didn't have internet yesterday (long story) so...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LINDSEY DEAN!!!

Welcome to 24. It's not that bad.

We love you so much!

All of our love,

Austin, Courtney and Bings.

Dear Starbucks,

Thank you for nonfat Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

They make my life so much better with every little autumnal sip.

What shall I do when they go away? Can you not make them a permanent addition to the menu?

Love,

Me.

Project Runway: like a trainwreck

You can't stop watching.