It's beginning to look a lot like ... Thanksgiving?

Lately not too much has gone on, hence the silence the blog has been getting...then all of a sudden, I have the busiest week of my life followed by a trip? What in the world haha isn't that how it works?

2 weekends ago we had 2 of our friends from Harding come and visit! They are getting married to each other this summer and Chad is a groomsman in the wedding. It is in Colorado - woo hoo!! That means an AWESOME vacation. I absolutely love Colorado. In the summer it is PERFECT. Not too hot during the day and a light jacket weather at night. Scenery is breathtaking. Ah, looking forward to that. We hung out with them all weekend like old times sake at Harding. I must admit, it made me kind of miss Harding that atmosphere. The townhouse we lived in was great, and we had people over all the time. I miss that! Now our place is flooded and boxes are everywhere. Who wants to invite people over to that? ha.
This past week was busy busy busy! Monday night one of my friends from our small group was having some of us over for her Birthday! It (of course) ended up being an incredibly late day at work; I got home at 6:40, changed, and ran out to the parking lot where one of the girls was waiting on me. We drove to another girl’s house that we then carpooled with to Erin's house because it was kind of far out. We got there around 7:30 and I really had a ton of fun. Its great having a group of friends again...as pitiful as that sounds haha. Everyone knows what that means though. We just hung out, ate pizza, ate cheesecake (all the healthy things), opened gifts, and just talked. 9:15 we left and headed home. Great night!


Tuesday we got together with another group from with in our small group. We do it just about every week. Chad had a meeting / presentation for work in Jasper so I went alone this time. We finally got back home, and went to bed.
Wednesday was church and pack as much as you can tonight-night, and Thursday Chad drove me to work in the morning so that he could pick me up and we could head straight for Memphis. We are serious when we go out of town as you can see :) The trip up was great, I wasn't feeling too good but I pushed through it. I was kind of a bum that weekend - bad headaches / nausea. Lots of the fun stuff that doesn't classify you as 'sick' but just makes you a bum to be around haha. The trip to Memphis was so fun though. It had been since FEBRUARY since I had been up there - FEBRUARY!! What kind of daughter-in-law am I? SO yes, wonderful trip- Thursday night we got there around 9 and hung out, played some foosball (which I am pretty bad at, but got better the more we played...yess) and went to bed. Friday morning Chad woke up to go to a meeting with his dad at their new church they are building (Chad's dad is the architect!) and then they went and played golf the whole rest of the afternoon. While that exciting adventure was going on, Sherry and I went to Garden Ridge, and let me just say, that place is spectacular. I probably could have spent an incredible amount of money...but I withheld and showed control haha I was looking for some fall decorations - I have NONE and every decorative pumpkin and ever sparkling fruit basket and leaves I see makes me want something decorative. So we looked at some glass pumpkins that Sherry and Mema had gotten before - and they were half off! WOO HOO! Gotta love sales. I loved them and ended up getting 2! There were also these little basket-like pumpkins on sale for $0.99...and you just cant pass that up (am I my father's daughter or what?). SO now I have successfully started a fall collection!

There they are! So we did that and then headed to a Tea Room for lunch! This is a tradition in Missouri but this time it was in Memphis and just me and Sherry! It was so much fun! It was an old house that had been turned into a tea room/ Christmas Shoppe. Food and Christmas? Some of my favorite things :) I got a turkey a bacon pesto sandwich and it was DELICIOUS! (Bacon again? Can you believe it?) We both got raspberry tea which was equally wonderful. After lunch we looked around the shop and we both got some ornaments! I am SO EXCITED about Christmas!!! Just had to throw that out there :)


After that we headed to some grocery stores to get some stuff for dinner. That night was some great grilled salmon, man do I love that stuff. More foosball that night!


Saturday we went and looked at the new church building. It...is....the most amazing thing. Every room was one of those close-your-mouth-and-quit-saying-WHOA-every-two-seconds kind of room. Can't wait for that first Sunday!


Speaking of church - we got to visit their church that Sunday. It was so good to see everyone! I've gotten to know several people there so it's always good to have people that you know you can talk to and say hey to instead of just awkwardly standing around and smiling ha. We got to visit the youth group, see the youth ministers, chat with the kiddies, and then we headed to lunch. Went to Dixie Cafe and our conversation shifted to how Chad and I started dating, who we dated before each other, how he dated my suite-mate, and I dated his roommate, so on and so forth haha. It was quite hilarious though - I think we have quite a good story.


After lunch we headed back, packed up, and left for b'ham. Chad had a presentation for work to give that night and so we had to get back in time for that. We didn't turn on any music the entire time on the way back! We were talking the entire time - let me just throw this in. I love my husband :) Who does that? I love that he can talk like that! What a man.


When we got back Chad headed to the presentation and I headed over to our church's fall festival that was going on. Saw some costumes, ate way too much candy and hot dogs, and saw cocoa as she went crazy because there were so many people around haha it was fun.

For other news...


We have been deciding whether or not to renew our apartment lease, look for another place, etc. With our apartment we are in now, to renew it for however long would actually be cheaper than what we are paying now. BUT, you have to take into consideration 280 (which I grow to hate more and more every day), and the fact that we have flooded twice. SO we decided to just parooze what was around us. We went and looked at a few other apartments but everything else was either way more expensive than what we were paying, or smaller, or something. Nothing seemed right. We had just about given up when I just decided to check around Craigslist. Now, I must say, this was quite sketchy. I emailed a TON of people, half of them came back as scams, the other half was true but then I saw pictures and said "no thanks". There were about 3 that looked decent - 2 houses for rent, and one duplex. All great locations. So I emailed these people and asked if we could see them that weekend. One townhouse and the duplex said yes we could! So, even though I was nervous about this being a scam and us going inside the duplex and being on the news the next morning ("Craigslist listing leads to young couple’s death") we went ahead and said we would at least just check these 2 out. Thank goodness for Chad ha. We pulled up to the townhouse and both of us were just like "look at this! how cute!” and that was just the outside! It was an end unit so it had an extra patch of grass on the end too. We knocked and I held my breath imaging who..or what was about to open the door. And to my surprise, a girl a few years older than me opened it up. Completely normal looking (besides the disgusting Alabama sweatshirt she had on haha) and very friendly. She welcomed us in, and showed us around, and we hung out and talked for a little bit. Turns out her future sister-in-law went to high school with me ha. Small world. Anyways we walked back to our truck, closed the doors, looked at each other, and said 'wow, I loved that!' and there ya go. We called them the next day and said we want it, they said OK, and it’s a done deal! We are renting a townhouse for the next year! One step closer to the real thing haha. They are buying a house and that should be closing around Thanksgiving so as soon as that is over we will paint and move in! We are SO EXCITED. Every day since then I think I have said that. I cannot wait. Only a month to go! YESSS!
SNEAK PEAK...

(yep, that's an Alabama flag...ugh)

So that’s the new exciting news as of late. This weekend for Halloween we aren't sure what we are doing. Guess we should figure that out pretty quick haha. Tonight we are going to eat pizza and play games with the rents! Hasn't happened for a while - it'll be good.


*I'm adding a new little end to these blog posts because I want to...so here it is*


~Little Things I Love~


- I love when you buy a brand new tube of mascara and you dip it in for the very first time so that the brush changes colors. Why? I don't know, but it makes me smile every time :)

Saturday, October 3rd, I woke up at 5 in the morning. 5 IN THE MORNING! Why oh why would I ever do such a thing? For the love of my football team, the Auburn Tigers.

We woke up at 5 to prepare to leave by 6 or 630 which turned into 7 really. The reason for that being that you just HAVE to get a chicken biscuit to start the road trip. We were making the long drive to Knoxville, TN to see the Tigers and Vols duke it out. Chad's best friend lives in Knoxvegas so we had somewhere to stay, which is always nice. We were going to go Friday but I had to work so there was no point in getting there at one in the morning, so we just woke up early Saturday. I hate waking up early, and I hate packing, and I had to do both of these things at the same time. UGH.

We headed out and walked out side and it was COLD! Can you believe it? Alabama? Cold? I know it. It was wonderful. The drive seemed long but it wasn't too bad...of course I was out cold for about an hour of it. We got there about 11:30 and that's when we saw it....drum roll.....Steak and Shake. Now, if you don't know, this is about Chad's favorite burger place, ever. He loves it. So we picked up lunch and headed to Jeremy's (Chad's bff) afterwards. We hung out for a little bit but then headed down to UT to start mingling and tailgating! We parked in some random parking lot and paid some guy who sounded like an elf and went down to a parking lot absolutely covered inch to inch with tailgaters and tents and games and food, etc. We met Jeremy's friends, and then the rest of the afternoon was just chilling. It was PERFECT weather and just a whole lot of fun. I met a girl who I instantly connected with and we basically hung out the whole time so I had a TN buddy so I wasn't just a random Auburn person meandering aimlessly.

Game time came and we headed to Neyland Stadium. This is in the top 5 biggest stadiums in the US - 102,037 seats. Now yes, it was incredibly HUGE but we found out how they fit so many seats in there very quickly as we headed to our own. We got to our section, and proceeded to head almost literally STRAIGHT UP as we climbed the stairs. Then, getting to our seats, saw that the numbered seating gives everyone about 5 inches per person (ok, it may be a little more than that but that is what it felt like). As you are sitting in your personal 5 inch space, you CONSTANTLY are getting up and down to let others go to their seats because there was only one entrance on our section. Our seats were 3 from the very end, so anyone from seats 26-1 got to walk by us. As you stand up to let someone else by, you realize there really is no room at all to let that person by, therefore causing you to curve your knees over the bench seat like a v as the rest of your body counts on your knees not to give out as you teeter back and forth.. Then there was the whole fact that if you leaned even an inch forward you felt like you were going to plummet to your death on the field down below because of how steep it was. To make it more interesting, a guy who had just torn his ACL sat right behind us, crutches, brace, and all. Our backs still have bruises...

It seemed like ALL of the students who actually chanted and cheered were about 3 sections down from us. We had the geriatric Auburn section. At first we were a little bummed but we have many interesting stories because of it. For example, I sat next to a guy who HAS to be an older twin of a guy I know (don't question the fact that you can't be twins and be older, just take that at what it is) It was almost like I knew him already. They left at half time and then I was sitting by a lady about 80 years old. She was a lively ol gal - she got so into the game that on every play she would flail her arms over to me or hold my leg as if she was waiting to see a crash. It was hilarious - we were cheering and yelling the whole time. Way to go geriatric section.

We ended up winning the game 26-22 and the last 6 points on TN's end were scored at the last 2 seconds of the game, and that’s not an exaggeration. We should have blown them out of the water, but at least we won. We are now undefeated, ranked 17th, which is both good and bad. Good that we are doing so well, bad that we might now be seen as a threat, but ya know, what happens happens. We are awesome though. WAR EAGLE baby!

After the game we walked proudly among all the depressed vols fans and went back to Jeremy's apartment. We talked and watched an episode of something called Top Gear which was quite hilarious - take into consideration though that it was about 2 in the morning at this point, so I'll need to see another episode to correctly judge how funny this show actually was.

We went to sleep around 3 (I actually lasted the whole day - that my friends, is a miracle) and then woke up the next morning around 10? Someone was blasting a sermon from their truck outside...not sure if that is just an "easy" way to do church for some people or if the guy who owned the truck was doing it for all the people most likely passed out drunk from the night before. Either way, interesting way to wake up haha. We laid there for a little while longer (on our new air mattress) and then finally got up, packed up, and headed out. On the way out I mentioned maybe we should get breakfast at a place Jeremy had been meaning to go. (Yes, I suggested breakfast...I have changed so much over the years). We found it and pulled up - it was ADORABLE! It was a house that they had turned into a restaurant. We walked inside, I think I said "aww look at that!" seven times as we were seated. We looked at the menu (quite large and many choices) and I found what I wanted pretty quick...and then about 4 other things that sounded good to go with it. That’s how it normally goes. Both of us ended up getting chocolate chip pancakes and hash browns, and then I got a side of bacon to go with it (Yes mom, I did get bacon. Can you believe it?). We both got coffee too. The meal was SPECTACULAR. We both said best chocolate chip pancakes we've ever had. We will be going again next Knoxville trip, for sure.

Thats us sad to leave Knoxville. Well, I'm sad. Chad just looks tired/indifferent.

Best place to go!!!

After that we drove the long trip back home and got home about an hour before we went to out small group Sunday. Group was great as usual, we really like everyone there. Everyone gets along great and it’s always a weekly pick-me-up.

This week so far has been looooooooong. Its only Wednesday, and I feel like it should be Friday. I hate when that happens. Just drags everything out. I also got sneezed on in the face by a 2 year old that is sick when I was helping him take his shoes off. Now that’s exciting. If my next post is about me being sick, we know who to blame :)

Big Broiling Bust

I had my first fail at an attempt of a new recipe this week. Granted, I haven't really tried too many new things that require something I've never done before, but still. FAIL. What was it? A simple pecan crusted chicken.

I had printed off a recipe online that sounded wonderful, however, didn't exactly read through the directions (A problem I face more often than I should ha). I just saw that the only extra things I would need to buy from the store were soy sauce and pecans. SIMPLE! Hooray!

As I started making the dish, I realized it said 'in a broiler...' I stared at it and was trying to figure out what to do. What was my solution? ... When in doubt, call Mom. Mom said you could do a home-made version by putting a rack over a cookie sheet to drain. However, the only rack I had was in the toaster oven. I took the oddly shaped rack and placed it on the cake pan (all the cookie sheets were dirty) and admired my DIY broiler. You mix honey and soy sauce for the beginning - that went well...then you dip the chicken in it and proceed to cover with pecans. As I dipped I realized it wasn't quite coating as well as what I thought it should...which continued on to the pecans. A few of them stuck, but looked nothing like what you would see in a magazine...or even close. SO I covered what I could, laid it on the metal concoction, and watched as the pecans slid off the chicken. I grabbed a few and sprinkled them in the naked areas and looked at it as I thought to myself "huh...this is not going to work". I carried on, however, thinking maybe it could possibly turn out somewhat decent.

The next step was to broil on each side of the chicken for 2 minutes. I put it in, set the timer for 1:40, and cleaned up some stuff while I waited. Timer buzzes, I open the oven door, and see my beautiful creation. My beautiful, black, burned creation. Lovely. 2 minutes in the oven and it burned. HA. I took it out to survey the damage - I turned one of the chicken breasts over. It was still raw on the other side. I contemplated " maybe if I pick off the pecans and just made chicken...hm..." and then realized that pecan crusted chicken was not suppose to be chicken with crusty pecans. Therefore the chicken dinner went gladly into the trash can.

It may take me a little while to be brave enough to try to broil something again. Grilled chicken sounds just fine to me :)

There ya have it. The one on the right is what burned and the one on the left is what I turned over to show the raw pecan un-crusted chicken.

By the way! New email - cristy.burris@gmail.com if anyone wants it. I guess the entire world could see that if I wanted so it should be interesting to see what types of emails I get, but I'll take that chance. That one is just mine so that if anything needs to be just between me and you (whoever you may be) it can happen! Chad and I still have the other one though, don't worry :)

Visit from the in-laws / birthday catch up!

had's parents and brother came to visit us! We were so excited because we hadn’t seen them in quite a while. TOO long :) They came on a Thursday night because Sherry works on the weekends starting Saturday so they planned on staying until Saturday afternoon. They arrived and we ordered pizza, showed them our beautiful box-filled home, and then just hung out the rest of the night. We got to catch up on a lot of things! Sherry brought pumpkin bread (YUUUMM!) and it was absolutely delish and made me soo ready for fall! Pumpkin bread = Thanksgiving in my brain because that is always my contribution to the dinner haha.

Friday morning we got up and headed to Atlanta! (We love this place, can you tell? ha). We went to the Marietta Diner first, to share our experience that we had the week before. Apparently, the menu changes between lunch and dinner, so it wasn't the HUGE menu we had, but still big enough to confuse ya. We talked up the spanikopita and then found out they don't serve it at lunch haha, of course. BUT everything everyone got was amazing, and we left full and happy :)

After that it was IKEA TIME!! We spent SEVERAL hours in there - Chad and I were looking for a desk and possibly a dresser but we weren't 100% sure. Needless to say after seeing one dresser, finding out it was out of stock, seeing another dresser, thinking maybe it was too expensive, not liking the other dresser we thought we liked, going back to the one that was maybe too expensive, talking about it, figuring it wasn't too expensive since insurance was paying for it anyways, and looking at it for another thirty minutes making a decision. THAT decision then led to "hmm well these bedside tables go perfectly with the dresser...." and then "well look at that bed! That goes with everything too...we need a bed too I believe" haha. So yes, we got the entire set. Dresser, tables, and bed. And we love it :) We haven't set up the bed but the guys put together the dresser and Chad and I put together the bedside tables. They look so great! Can't wait until they aren't surrounded by boxes so we can actually admire them...

That is our bedroom set!! ... just use your imagination to how it is set up haha

We also got a desk for Chad to do all his official business work. It is light wood and has2 drawers to the right of it. Looks wonderful - we got that all set up too! We also got a random spatula that we really did need, but you always have to pick up the random kitchen utensil you pass at the very end of IKEA that you know you can't live without. For us - spatula.

We headed back home and the next morning is when setting up the dresser started. With IKEA it’s not just a put-it-together-yourself store, it’s a try-and-figure-out-what-the-directions-with-no-words-mean-while-trying-to-put-it-together-yourself-and-figure-out-what-this-screw-is-for store. Sherry and I just sat back and watched as the men worked hard ha it looks GREAT! and is still holding up :)

Great visit but so sad to see them go! I can't wait until we can go up there again.
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My birthday was this past week! It went really well, thanks so much for all the wonderful cards and calls! It makes me feel so blessed for all the amazing people I have in my life. Yall are spectacular! Chad just couldn't wait until my actual birthday so the Friday before he gave me my gifts. I got an awesome Auburn shirt that I have been eye-ing for quite a while (bravo remembering that!) and then .... drum roll.... a massage package! AHH! Talk about perfect. I have only had one massage my whole life, and it was right after I got done backpacking Europe so my muscles were completely out of whack. I cannot WAIT to get this done. Now, if that wasn't perfect enough, Chad said he would do the couple package with me if that is what I wanted (sorry Chad if you didn't want to tell the entire world this, but everyone will think it is sweet. its ok). And of COURSE I wanted that. That'll be so cute! Like on the movies when there is a montage of everything the couple does together and there is a 5 second clip of them laying on massage tables on the beach looking into each others eyes (cue the aww)...except without the beach and the whole 'being in a movie' part. So sweet :)
I got lots of very very sweet cards too which I always love to save and just randomly look at. I have a whole box of them...No, I'm not a pack rat like my dad. Hush Mom.

The Friday before my birthday my parents took me out to eat. It was a place called Joe's Italian (are you completely shocked it is Italian? I bet you are). I was excited because they had said how good it was, but it was my first time to get to go. We got there early and got seated quick - we saw Joe sittin outside on a bench. The classic old, heavy-set, Italian man that just looked Italian, you know? SO cute! The entire place was just so cute. Half the people there you could tell were family or related somehow. That Italian look was just promintent in a bunch of them. There was even a little old Italian man playing the accordian! He was in the black and white striped shirt and tilted hat and red scarf - just like in Italy! I kept hearing Italian phrases being shouted too. Ah, my heart melted a little. I got alfredo of course and it was spectacular. Just so creamy and perfect! We got bruschetta as an appetizer that was wonderful, except they put a whole lot of garlic on there that we had to scrape off because it was so intense haha. Chad got some Chicken Parmesan that was one of the best I have ever tasted. Simply delicioso! So we were getting close to being done and one of the waiters comes over to me and is clearing my space, and then kind of pushed the table beside us back and just stood there looking around which I thought was a little strange but didn't think anything of it. He then mumbled "as you can see I'm clearning a space" ... and then all the waiters and waitresses were suddenly in that space forming a semi-circle around me. The guy playing the accordian was right behind me - they all started up and sang happy birthday and then continued to clap and dance to a classic Italian song as my face continued to turn red. They placed a huge piece of chocolate cake in front of me (which I wasn't about to turn down, despite how I was complaining I couldn't eat another bite about 2 seconds earlier). So all but 2 people left, but the ones that remained were 'Mama' and another waiter. Mama then proceeded to dance and then motioned for me to stand up and dance with them both. YIKES! haha But I did it! I clapped and bounced a little to the beat. She then motioned to turn around - I did. Motion to shake my hips - I did. haha it was quite hilarious and everyone in the entire place was clapping around and watching. Had the lights been brighter, you would have been able to see that my face was the color of Chad's tomato sauce on his plate. (...that was not a very good description, but gets the point across I suppose). SO needless to say, it was a memorable, enjoyable evening and I have found my new favorite authentic Italian place!

This past Friday I went shopping with my mom to pick out some boots because I decided to brave up and try that style this year.  We actually found a pair in black and brown that I really liked! I will be showing those off as soon as it gets cool enough to where I'm not sweating at the mere thought of going outside.

This past weekend we took my Dad to his first SEC football game! Auburn vs. Ball State (intense, I know). It was a lot of fun though - it rained almost the entire first half but it wasn't anything unbearable. Chad and I had bought some rain jackets that day just incase - and they were worth every penny, let me tell you. The beginning of the game was a little scary because of how bad we were doing (fumbled in the first 5 seconds) but then, of course, we brought up our game and won it 54-30. Great game! Dad and Kevin both enjoyed it, and it was fun being able to bring them to their first Auburn experience. WAAAAR EAGLE! HEY!

Before we headed down to Auburn we got to go on a shopping spree at Macy's because of a gift card Chad won for work because he broke a sales record! How cool is that? He got 4 new pairs of slacks, 2 new pairs of shoes, a jacket, and we still have a bunch left over. He is blowing everyone away with how well he is doing! I always knew he would be perfect for it :)

Overall life is going great! This week my grandparents (Dad's parents) are stopping by and we get to go to Joe's again! Hooray! No birthday dance this time - and I'm OK with that. This weekend Chad and I were able to get tickets to the Auburn vs. TN game and so we are incredibly pumped about that. Chad's best friend (best man at the wedding) goes to TN so we will get to see him and are excited about that too :)
Upcoming months...I am ALREADY excited about Thanksgiving, and cannot WAIT for Christmas. The minute they start playing the songs on the radio I'm not going to turn it off until December 26th. What I'm even more excited about is getting decorations for fall/winter! I guess we should figure out WHERE we will be living before I get too excited but still. I'm excited.

Picture Time!!

birthday cake from Mom!

Chad and me at Auburn vs. LA Tech

Braves vs. Reds game!

Braves vs. Reds :)

Marietta Diner!!!

Water, Water, EVERYWHERE (continued...)

OK so where did I leave off? Oh yes, suspensfully is where. So here we go.

We had had a week of craziness but finally it was Friday. We had plans for the weekend we were super excited about, and it had been a week since we were out of the flood. Whew. I get to work, doing my job, la-dee-da, and then I get a call from Chad.
Our kitchen was flooded. What? Did you say flooded Cristy? Yes, yes I did. The dishwasher (BRAND NEW DISHWASHER in our BRAND NEW apartment) was broken, and had leaked water all over the kitchen. Lovely. He said it wasn't anything horrible but 'ha-ha' we are flooded again. What luck, right? oh no, that’s not even the worst part...not only had our dishwasher flooded but then our hot water heater broke and our carpet all around that was now soaking wet. Sound familiar? Oh yeah, that happened the WEEK before...


Yep. Chad was sitting in his recliner and all of a sudden heard a trickling noise. He got up to see what it was about and stepped in soggy carpet (I'm getting so sick of that...). The thing had busted and was leaking everywhere. Chad started filling up a frying pan (the only thing close to him to pick up water) and filling it up and dumping it out like a sinking boat. This is when he called me saying "You need to come home. Our apartment is flooding again" and my response was a slight laugh followed by "yeah right" followed by shock followed by anger...and on and on haha.


I leave work, half upset, half laughing at the fact that we are dealing with this again. I called my friend Lauren because we were suppose to meet for lunch, and I said "Ok I'm gonna need to cancel on lunch...our apartment is flooding again" and she had about the same reaction I did. She offered to come to our apartment and see if there was anything we could do because she was already on her way. We all met there and I just laughed. Oh this shall be a great story one day...

The maintenance guy was there fixing/draining/drying everything so we decided to go ahead and go to lunch since we hadn't eaten yet because of all the drama. We went to mellow mushroom and got to hang out with Garrett and Lauren! They were going to look at churches for their wedding (this is the one I'm going to be Married Maid of Honor in...yes, I changed the name. Matron is too old sounding) and so we discussed all their options. Lauren had sheets all organized out with times, prices, places, pro's, con's, etc. Oh the memories :) We did a few things we needed to do and then went back home ...to our apartment. Everything was back in place, or at least looked like it. It had obviously been wet-vac'd but it was STILL soaking wet. Yes. We let out a sigh, looked around at all our boxes, and then packed for our weekend away from it all.
Saturday morning we headed out to go to AUBURN! We had tickets to the first game (vs. LA Tech) and we were staying with my friend Craven at his apt there (his is NOT flooded, don’t worry). We got there and walked around with Craven for a while, went to Tiger Rags (a must...t-shirts, souveniers, etc). I got a T-Shirt because apparently if you sit in the student section, you are supposed to wear orange because of the slogan "All Auburn, All Orange" and I had on a navy Auburn shirt...of course haha. But you know me and t-shirts, I love 'em :)
We went back to Craven's and hung out until game time (actually about 2 hours BEFORE the game, but you have to go early if you want good seats). We went and it was awesome. People were everywhere, pumped up, in their all orange (thank goodness I switched. don't wanna be that girl). The game was amazing. We were yelling all the cheers just like we were true Auburn-goers. Waving our shakers in the air, spelling out A-U-B-U-R-NNNN! Fantastic. We also got to witness the longest play in AU's history. History folks, history. After the game we went back and watched the rest of the Alabama game and then went to the famous Momma Goldberg’s Deli - they've opened a few in Birmingham but there is just nothing like the good ol original. Went back to Craven's and I went to bed (party pooper, I know) and Chad and Craven and his friends stayed up a while longer. The next morning we woke up early (when can I EVER sleep in??) and headed to HOTLANTA again. We had tickets to the Braves game at one and we got there just in time to grab some quick ballpark food (woo hoo!) and take our seats. Now, we walked up to our section, and it was getting filled quickly. The tickets we had for that section were on a 'special' online so EVERYONE had been buying them. We took one look at that section on our left, took one look to the empty section to our right, and had a seat there instead. Turns out that was genius. The left section was PACKED (minus our seats) and our section stayed pretty minimal the whole time. I was even able to stretch out. Wooonderful. The game was a good game to watch, we ended up losing 4-2 but we did see 2 team members collide in outfield which was definitely a first for me. I also saw my first (live) homerun and my first extra base hit. Overall very historical as well! ha. Historical sports weekend in my life for sure.

Side note about baseball the game. I had on a tank top, and had planned on buying a braves t-shirt but couldn’t find one. Anyways I got completely burnt and was miserable sleeping that night haha. My tan line of the scooped neck tank top is hilarious.
After the game we headed to the oh-so-famous Marietta Diner. This place has been raved about by the ingenious food critic, my dad, for quite a while now. Just walking up to the place was impressive. Classic diner look to it. We walked in and got seated quick and then looked at the menu. Now, saying 'menu' doesn't even describe the magnitude of this booklet. Imagine a normal menu, one, maybe two pages, and stick 4 of those together, and that is the ONE menu here at this diner. There is every single type of food you can imagine on there. Breakfast, dinner, desserts, Greek, Italian, burgers, steaks, it goes on and on. Now, being someone who can't even decide what her favorite color is, this was a difficult task for yours truly. I finally decided on the chicken fettuccini alfredo (I really branched out...haha) and Chad got the chicken Florentine. They were both phenomenal!! Ugh...im getting hungry just thinking about it... Before we even got our entrees we got bread and spainikopita which was SO GOOD. Chad almost stole mine from me because he eats so fast and was done with his before I even ate 1/3 of mine.

After that we went to our hotel we had checked into earlier that day (that the apartment complex paid for thank-you!) and decided to rent one of the ridiculously overpriced movies. We rented 'Away We Go' because we had heard it was pretty good. If you have heard this, disregard that and only hear this- that movie was awful. Wouldn't have even been worth renting from a Red Box, let alone paying $14.95 at a hotel. Don't watch it.
Oh yeah, we did take home a piece of cake from the diner. It was called chocolate suicide. Doesn't that just make your mouth water and your heart melt all at once? And it was like 3 times the normal cake size too. No pansy cakes at Marietta Diner, no sir. It was deeelish.


Monday was the day to drive home (aww) but we were going to make a stop at Discover Mills (yay!) which is a HUGE mall with tons of stores in it. However, as we were getting ready to leave the parking lot Chad says "Ok, lets get out of the car" after squishing something on his seat. I can only say I semi-freaked at this thought. Now, I'm going to let you in on a secret if you don't already know this fact about me - I am Deathly afraid of ants. Before you make fun of me, I KNOW this is a completely irrational fear. I know. However, I just can't shake it. They absolutely creep me out. Bleh. Ok back to the story. So Chad had squished one ant, only to find a whole army of them in his truck. We spent the net 30 minutes going inside the hotel, getting a cleaning lady, spraying down the truck, and calming my nerves. I'm itching right now thinking of it...ugh.
OK! On our way to Discover Mills! We spent a few hours (yes, hours) at the mall, replacing some tennis shoes and clothes destroyed by the flood. It was a lot of fun. My hubby is such a trooper. Not only does he not complain (too much) when I'm trying on shirt after shirt after shirt after shirt, to only come out and say none of them worked, but he also is glad when I do find something I've been looking for or something that looks pretty good! AND he likes shoes :) HOORAY! The perfect man! haha It’s just nice to not feel like I'm dragging him around while I try and find something :)


Done with my lunch break again! Still have to update everyone on the WONDERFUL IKEA trip we had with the in-laws! Man I love that place! To be continued ... again ...

Water, Water, EVERYWHERE

Good Grief do I have some catching up to do...here we go

OK. So last week we were surrounded by clean up crews, apt managers, other homeless people as we all tried to figure out what to do. I got home from work and the rest of the day was spent simply sorting out all our options. The apartment complex finally offered us another apartment (AFTER offering everyone else one and ignoring the fact that we had no where to live) and so we took some random essential stuff over to it. Now when we first looked at the apartments this exact one is the one we wanted. (weird? and no we did not flood on purpose just to get this one...) It is a corner one, bottom floor, bigger living room, kitchen, dining room, and 2nd bedroom. Yep, we were pretty excited. SO we moved our bed over so we would at least be able to sleep there that night. The next day we woke up about 6:00 AM. ON A SATURDAY. What happened to sleep-in on Saturday? No idea. So we are up and the cleanup crew/packers/movers were suppose to be starting at 7. It was 7 and no one was there yet - shock. We went and picked up some doughnuts for everyone (here is a doughnut! ... don't break our stuff) and then they came a little later. From then until 11 that night we were moving. Mmhm. ALL DAY LONG. They brought in boxes, tape, packing paper and suddenly started pushing everything in boxes. They started with our room and were just flyin. BOOM there goes the lamp, WHOOSH there go our bathroom goodies...our entire closes was covered in plastic ready to be transported, boxes were being carried out continuously after they would finish. They got done with that room and then almost as soon as the last box was out, the demo crew came in and RIPPED up the carpet, sliced out the walls, and our bedroom suddenly looked like no one had lived there, ever.
Mom and I were trying to help pack everything up but the lady 'in charge' of all of that just seemed to gripe at us every time we did.
"Hey what can I help with?"
"you can pack up the dishes if you want"
"alright" ...(packing dishes)
( a few minutes later) " wait wait wait why are you doing that? you have to write the names of blah blah blah on the boxes and write the box amount on my piece of paper!"
...how in the world was I suppose to know that.

So we basically just stood around looking like idiots turning in circles, maybe picking up a box here and there to look like we were helping haha. We did run stuff back and forth to the new apt (which is a few buildings down) so that was good I suppose. I was SO GLAD she was there though because otherwise I would have felt so ridiculous haha. Thanks for being helpless with me mom :)
We finally got all that over with, everything packed up, everything moved, everything final. And we weren't going to have to pay - hallelujah. WHEW, finally done...so we thought (that always ramps up the suspense, doesn't it?)

Sunday we unpacked forever, and still barely made a dent in all we have left to do. Boxes are stacked EVERYWHERE. We did get most of the living room and kitchen done but as far as anything else goes...well, boxes still dominate.
The rest of the week went quickly. Monday I didn't feel well when I got home - nothing big just exhausted and a tiny (hence the tiny) fever. So that night instead of unpacking we just chilled and watched a movie because I was just so incredibly tired. The next night we unpacked a little but had no motivation. It is just overwhelming. I mean who really gets excited about that? YAY! BOXES! Ok I can understand setting everything up in a brand new house or at least a new place, but to move a few hundred feet down into basically the same layout? Not very exciting. The next night was church, next night after that was 'Chuck Night' (we get together with some people and eat and watch the show Chuck from ABC), and then there was Friday...

(* I wrote this on my lunch break so i will post again when I get home tonight!! haha or maybe I just wanted to keep the suspense growing...its working isn't it...)

A Rude Awakening...

...literally! This morning around 5:30 we woke up to a knocking at our door. Ok - now let me explain what kind of 'knocking' i mean. We woke up to a cop-knock, you know, the huge "BANG BANG BANG BANG OPEN UP!" kind of knock, not the "hey im your neighbor and have a question" kind of knock. Chad jumped out of bed and I sat straight up thinking someone got murdered or we got framed for something we definitely didn't do ha. From the room I heard the guy say the apartments around us were flooding so we needed to get all our stuff off the floor. 'Weird' was my thought and I got out of bed to put my robe on...left foot hits the ground...SPLASH. I look down and there is water everywhere. It covered my foot but not over my ankle. I couldn't believe it. I put the robe on and then talked to the guy about what happened. Apparently a water line or something broke and just started flooding us and the crawl spaces around us. We quickly started packing everything up and putting it in bags and boxes and moving to higher ground. We had about 7 firemen come in and offer to help. I was in the closet packing up shoes (no I'm not one of those people obsessed with them but its just where I was at the moment so hush) so they offered to help. Now right next to me was our laundry pile. Yep, they got plastic bags and started putting our dirty clothes in bags. How embarrassing. HOWEVER, just about a week ago we had laundry everywhere (literally, everywhere) because we were just saving up to do one day of huge laundry, and all I could think about was how HORRIBLY EMBARRASSING that would have been. Wet, dirty, muddy clothes ALL over the place. Whew.
After we got most of the stuff on 'higher ground' (aka our couches and counter tops ha) then they came in with a ghostbusters-like machine to suck up all the water. They helped with that and then went on their way to the other apts. 2 down from us the guy had water about a foot or more deep. There was mud, rocks, FLOWING water everywhere and he had a brand new MAC book and electric guitars and everything that got absolutely ruined. We were extremely lucky. All the firemen told us that as soon as they came in our place after being at the other guys.
So we spent most of our time looking at what had been damaged, calling our insurance company, talking to our apt manager, etc. We JUST got renter's insurance about a month ago- thank goodness for that, right? We are in the middle of finding out how to go about everything - I had to come to work today so Chad is out there figuring out all the messy details of what needs to happen. We aren't able to stay there tonight for sure, as far as future plans, no idea. We'll be staying in a hotel somewhere and then I guess deciding what to do from there. Who knows where life will take ya, huh! The big man upstairs apparently thought our life was getting too boring and decided to give us a little adventure :)

I'll keep ya informed with updates but for now we have nowhere to live! Hm...haha

Unreal

I'm not gonna lie. I have been dreading writing this blog. Even now I am staring at the screen wondering what I could possibly write about this last week. I guess I'll just start with the facts.

On Thursday August 6th, around 11:30 PM, one of the best men I have had the privilege of knowing in my life passed away. Dan Baxter had gone in the ER that Sunday and they found out he had an aneurysm and an enlarged aorta. This news was reported to us and Monday night Chad and I headed down to the hospital and saw him. He was the same ol Dan just in a hospital bed, not able to really do anything. This fact alone was hard enough on me. I cried as we were leaving the hospital - I have never experienced anyone close to me, or even not close to me, dying or even in the hospital with anything serious. It was just unreal.

Tuesday we headed back down and took some cookies and things and hung out for a little longer. Dan looked a little more tired, but probably just because he had his glasses on. There were a lot of people in there visiting him. We all sat around, breaking all sorts of rules with out food brought in from everywhere and having about 7 people in the room when you are suppose to only have 2 at a time...whoops :) We were even told to 'keep it down' once. That's when we decided to head out haha. The next few days are still a blur....

They sent him home Wednesday and one doctor had said he needed to schedule surgery asap, one doctor said just sometime within the next 5 years...so we were all telling him to go to UAB for a second opinion and, sorry other hospital, but better care. SO they sent him home, and ended up going to UAB Thursday. Honestly all the details are blurry but what ended up happening was that somehow he went septic, and started going downhill quick. Late Thursday night Mom called me saying they were headed over because he wasn't doing well. I hung up the phone and layed in bed, then asked Chad if we should go. I just felt like we should. We got back out of bed, got dressed, and headed to UAB. As we were walking in my heart started pounding more and more. At one point I had to stop because it was like the possibilities hit me all at once. We turned the corner and my Dad was standing there. He gave us the news. Tears in his eyes he looked at me and told me "he didn't make it". I have never had that type of cry before. It was an emotional experience that I don't want to ever have to relive, but know that is far from reality. The Chaplin nurse came over and asked if I was his daughter - I must have seemed like I was. And in a way, I will always consider him my second dad. That's exactly what he was to me. From the first time I met him I had always had a great respect for him, and he was always the one asking me questions, challenging my faith, and making me think about my life. He was an exceptional man.

I didn't sleep that night, I don't think a lot of people did. The next day was my Friday to work and I went in for about 3 hours and then had to go home. I went in waves of emotions. Over the next several days all of a sudden it would hit me what all this actually meant, and I would burst into tears for a few minutes, and then it would all go away because none of it seemed real. I went back and forth and back and forth with that. Saturday my anger from the entire situation decided to explode out onto Chad after getting completely lost and driving an hour the wrong direction. Everything just poured out but I think that needed to happen. (haha sorry though Chad!) After that I wasn't so much back and forth with the crying, although I did cry several times in the next several days. Church Sunday was tough. We talked about Dan, and sang some songs that were picked out weeks in advance but went perfectly along with the situation. If you know it, we sang 'I Can Only Imagine' which talks all about how it will be in heaven. That is when I balled during church. However, I wasn't crying because I was sad for Dan. I know he is in Heaven, rejoicing, holding his baby Brooke, and singing at the top of his lungs. I know that. I was crying a selfish cry because it is going to be tough for us down here. For his family. For my family. But at the same time, I know he is happy, and I know I will be able to see him again one day.

Tuesday was Dan's funeral. Again, I've never been to one so I had no idea what to expect. My dad was one of the speakers and I know it was incredibly hard on him. Dan is his best friend. They were hilarious together and knew everything about each other. And Dad gave an incredible speech that pointed out every aspect of how great of a man Dan was. He even mentioned how he helped 'interview' Chad as we were dating :) great memories. There were so many people there. So many. Seeing everyone impacted me so much because it made me want to touch that many people in my life like he did. Everyone filled up the entire auditorium and there were people standing in the back because there weren't enough chairs. How awesome. Dan, you lived your life wonderfully.

Afterwards we all went to the grave site and I just have to mention one of the things that happened. It was pouring rain and everyone was under a tent. My Dad started praying and right in the middle of it, right as he said how much we will miss Dan - a HUGE crash of thunder exploded right above us. I just know, no doubt in my mind, that was God. NO doubt.

The days after the funeral have been tough. Everyone else is going about their business, normal activities, etc. It will never be completely 'normal' again for us though. When driving home from work, or going to sleep at night, I think of Dan and really how much he meant to me. And still means. I will never, ever forget him and will love him till the day I see him again in Heaven. And I will do my best to be the kind of person he was. One that shares his faith, shines his spirit, and shows his love for God wherever he goes. Thank you Dan for the impact you had on my life. Thank you so much.

Being burnt, being bitten and being AT THE BEACH!

Last week Chad and I got to enjoy an amazing vacation with his family! We have been looking forward to this for MONTHS and it was so much fun! Tuesday I had to work, and Chad was suppose to too.... however, that was before we found the moldy nasty-ness in our CLOSET. That is right. Gross wet mold in the back of of closet that had gotten on a backpack and a bag of ours (The original way we found it). So Chad got stuck at home calling the office and getting them to bring a huge fan blower thing to get it all dry. AND if that wasn't enough (right before we leave for vacation) there were also termites all over the wood when Chad lifted up the carpet to dry it. What a great start!!

Ok...now the exciting stuff. Monday night I packed everything I needed so that Tuesday we would be ready to driiiive. Chad came to my work and picked me up as soon as we finished- and we were off! It took about 4.5 hours to get to the beach but road trips are always so much fun. Now get ready to be shocked...I, Cristy Burris, did not sleep AT ALL. Not even a power nap or anything. Can you believe it? I can barely believe it myself....

See? there I am, wide awake and ready for the trip. That was right after work ... and no, I'm not bleeding, I just ate a red starburst that is all.

So we finally got to the beach and unloaded everything...then got to go to the beach!! We went out, flashlights in hand, ready to hunt whatever may be out there...crabs, sand fleas, clams, whatever came our way. It was gorgeous and the sound is just one of the best in the world. We walked down the beach and I of course would let out a squeal every time a crab unexpectedly ran anywhere near me and I didn't see it ahead of time. We came back inside to relax and to my,dismay, I realized I should have definitely put on bug spray. Now, some of you may know this, some of you may not, but my blood has a magical ingredient that, for whatever reason, attracts any and all bugs that bite. Now you may be laughing being like aw, she gets a few bites here and there. No. Anytime I am outside for any length of time, I WILL get bitten. Fact. Anyways I got 7 bug bites just that night. Yep. The rest of the trip i was fully prepared with my bug spray in hand at all times.

We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast, and then headed to the beach!! When I have been at the beach before it usually consists of me laying out for a little while, maybe reading a book or talking with Mom, but then we head in and maybe go out a little later but usually my family heads out to check out the town, fine a cool place to eat, do some shopping, etc. However, going in the water is something I usually just don't really do. I may get my feet wet, or cool off quickly, etc. This beach trip, I believe I spent more time in the water than a combined total of every beach trip I have ever taken...and I loved it! We had rafts and stuff out there that we just hung out in, fighting off the waves and creating games that to anyone else watching I'm sure looked incredibly dorky but to us, we were having a blast. We came up and Doug and Chelsie started building a sand sculpture. Now, you may be imagining some little house that you turn a bucket over and wah-lah, there is your sculpture, but may I remind you that my father-in-law is an architect, and his daughter is following extremely close behind with the creative...ness. SO they set out and ended up building a HUGE alligator that had only his head, back, and tail sticking out of the water. It was incredible! They just saw it in their mind and went for it. I, on the other hand, sat off to the side with Sherry and watched as they built this masterpiece right in front of our eyes. I did contribute and made 2 scale/fin things on the back. They were great ha.

That night I got to make dinner for everyone!! Chad talks about my enchiladas so much that they wanted me to make them one of the nights at the beach. We doubled the recipe and started to it with only a few bumps in the road (an incredibly annoying cheese grater being one of them) but they were finished and turned out great!

That night we watched the All-Star game (baseball) and hung out and then headed to bed! Chad got pretty burned as did I, but along with my burn I also had the wonderful reaction to whatever it is that usually happens to me. Yep, one more thing to add to the weird list of me haha. I had red bumps all over my stomach, chest, and back. It went away by the next day though and we went back to the beach fine! We were getting more and more burned (no lectures...please :) ) so we would put T-shirts on whenever we couldn't stand it anymore. It was just so much fun hanging out with everyone. His family is so much fun and just very inviting and great overall people. I am so thankful that I get to be a part of them!

Thursday night we went out to eat at The Original Oyster House. This place was PACKED and we got our beeper and were prepared to wait. There were several stores around though that kept us occupied for a little while. We were all lookin nice and took some pictures though ...

Dinner was great! My shrimp scampi I got was phenomenal and you gotta have the hushpuppies to top everything off. Afterwards we went to one of the tourist shops. It was called Surf Style but let me just say these were EVERYWHERE. From standing in the street you were able to see 4 different stores, all within a mile of each other. It was crazy! We picked one and went in. Got the t-shirts that you always have to get and roamed around. After that we headed to the famous "Scoops" ice cream place that was hoppin! There were tons of people there and this has been a long standing tradition in the Burris family come to find out. I got mint chocolate chip in a shake ... my favorite!

See how much fun we're having?? haha.

Friday was our last day :( but it was also the day we were doing the white shirts and khaki pants picture! I was really looking forward to this! We drove to a place where the dunes were perfect and the sky was perfect and it was just perfect! haha.

Aren't they so cute :) So Friday night we played some catch phrase and then finished the rest of Titanic (another Burris beach tradition!). Saturday was our pack up and go home day. SO depressing. We headed out, said our goodbyes (ugh!) and then Chad and I headed back to the wonderful Surf Style to get another coffee mug (because someone forgot it was in the bag and threw the bag down on the tile floor haha) and we also looked at a few more of those sneaky tourist t-shirts (buy one get one free! buy one get this special souvenir bag! etc etc). We ended up going to 3 because the t-shirt Chad wanted wasn't at the first or second one, so we got quite familiar with the lovely store. We finally headed out in the crazy bumper to bumper traffic of EVERYONE leaving all at once. This went on for quite a while but finally cleared up and we were headed home for the 4 hour trip ...so we thought. We got to Montgomery, AL and up ahead as far as you could see was traffic....and not just the slow moving kind, the might as well pull out a deck of cards or get out and stretch your legs we'll be here forever kind. So Chad swiftly pulled off the interstate and thanks to our wonderful GPS ("jeeps" as I call it) headed down an old country road behind a few other cars doing the same. We went about 10 miles down the road and it crossed over 65 to get back on...and we just drove over it in shock to see that it was STILL the same traffic not moving 10 miles further down. At this point we were ... I was ... starting to get a little nervous. Chad had to work that night you see, and depending on how many back roads good ol jeeps could find us, we may be a while. At this point we pulled over, pulled out the atlas, and pulled out our cell phone and called my dad (where would we be without all this technology?? ... probably still stuck in Montgomery). We decided to head towards Auburn and cut across on a road that way. We started out and there was traffic going the same way because apparently everyone else had caught on to that idea as well. SO I pulled out the Atlas again and figured it would take us less time to go the opposite (and less crowded looking) way towards Tuscaloosa and cut up on a bunch of roads that way. Let me just take a moment to say and brag a little on myself that I cannot believe I was reading an atlas and actually navigating pretty darn well. Incredible. Anyways so we headed that way, bunch of country roads, the 'scenic route' if you will. It was fun though because we were laughing and talking the whole way. We maneuvered our way all the way back to 65 at a familiar exit (where we went fishing for 4th of July!) and were completely relieved to see NO TRAFFIC!! We did see many beach-going vans and cars driving though. Wonder how long they sat ... So the 4, 4/12 hour trip turned into a 9 1/2 hour trip (yes, that says 9 1/2, not a typo). Needless to say Chad had to call work and say he didn't think he was going to make it back.

(^thats me incredibly frustrated with the atlas. see.)

On the way back we did stop at a restaurant called Country Cafe and it was one of those places you normally just look at and go "Wow I wonder how they stay in business". We walked in and the people looked like they hadn't seen real customers in ages. We seated and stared at and it was hilarious. The only other customers in there were apparently the daughters or nieces of someone who worked there; they sat down and weren't given menus and just orderd "the usual" kind of thing haha. We split a hamburger steak with mashed potatoes, rolls, drinks, salad, and chocolate pudding. It was actually pretty good I must say. Way to go Country Cafe.

Here's some random pictures from the week!!

Chad made daiquiris for everyone one night - no no, don't worry everyone, they were virgin ha

The girls newly manicured ORANGE toes!

The alligator we made in the sand! You can see his back and tail behind him too.

This is the tent we had set up all week. Came in handy definitely!

Spooky house Chad got an AWESOME picture of!

Our farmers market! Didn't you know?
Sisters!
The famous picture that will be continued EVERY beach trip from now on!

Our condo we stayed in.

**PS. I added the pictures of our Atlanta trip below in a slideshow thing!! check them out!**