A Concert In Blacksburg, Family & Showers

May 28th - June 1st

We made it home on Tuesday night and successfully hide all the dirty laundry and miscellaneous stuff that was all over the house in time for Andrew Zap to get into town on Wednesday. Jed's cousin, Andrew is a very talented musician and on his Late Night Lo-Fi Tour scheduled a stop in Blacksburg. We were so excited to have him come and play at She-Sha but we very pretty bummed that he couldn't make it before all the students left for the summer.

Andrew did a great job and we did have some awesome friends that made the trip out on a random Thursday night to come see him.

On Friday evening, Andrew, Jed & I took off around town to help make a promo video for his tour. It was so much fun! Here are a few of the making of pictures...

And the final video...

When Andrew continued his tour west, Jed & I headed south for the weekend to Charlotte. We decided to make a quick pit stop in downtown Charlotte to check out Dish. It is a Diners, Drive In & Dives place that we have been wanting to check out.

The atmosphere/décor wasn't the best but the food was outstanding! This is definitely a place we would go again. After lunch we wandered around a few shops in the area before heading to Joel & Leigh to spend some time with them and our niece's & nephew.

On Sunday, we headed over to our friends, Jeff & Christy's baby shower. It was great to see everyone and catch up before little Arlo gets here.

Christy & Jed

Joel, Jeff & Christy

And finally, on our way out, we stopped to see one of Jed's old students, Mike. Mike proposed to his girlfriend, Paige over the weekend and we were so excited to celebrate a little with them and hear the stories before we had to head back home. Congratulations, Mike & Paige!

Football, Friends and An Engagement

November 8th - 11th

What a crazy weekend!
The weekend started early with a Hokie football game on Thursday night. It was pretty cold but that didn't stop us from continuing our traditional home football game tailgate. All kinds of people stopped by to hang out, eat and get ready for the big game.

Our friend, Tim came from Boston for the game and my mom and Tom come to the game too.

It was another heartbreaking loss in the end. We had the lead with 2 minutes left but just couldn't hold them off. As we stood there, just standing in disbelief that it had happened yet again this year to our Hokie Nation, Tom got down on one knee and asked my mom to marry him.

She was completely shocked and once she realized what was going on, she said YES. Tom's son, Ryan and his girlfriend, Mackenzie were with us at the end of the game so we were there to celebrate the exciting news.

Saturday was a jam packed day! It started with a really cool Silent Auction to help support some friends that are adopting a child from Ethiopia. We won a gift card and some VT autographed stuff for Jed's office.

After the Silent Auction, Jed and Tim headed off to a basketball game and I headed off to a baby shower.

That evening Jed and I meet up with my mom, Tom, Ryan and Mackenzie for dinner at Mackenzie's place. We had a lot of fun watching football, laughing and just hanging out.

After dinner we just hung out at the house until Mathis got here from Texas. That is when the party really started!

We spent late Saturday and all day Sunday, Monday & Tuesday hanging out, reminiscing about old times and making new memories. I think the highlight being a "two hand touch" football game.

I think all of us walked away for a few bumps and bruises but we had a great time!

A Non-Hokie Football Weekend

November 1st - 4th


First things first. I forget to post a picture from last week that HAS to be documented. As I left for all the festivities, Jed was getting ready for an amazing costume party. I think the picture says it all.

He went to the party as Shrek. I didn't get to see the full costume put together but I think he did an amazing job!

Jed headed to Miami for the Thursday night game. It was another heartbreaking game. Danielle and I watched it over at Derley's place. I did everything I could to help my team pull a win out, even standing on my head. But it was not enough. (Will insert the picture of the headstand when I get it...)

We decided that for the weekend, we were going to go watch a college football game that we didn't care if we won or lost. We were going to go just for the experience and the fun. So Friday night, we drove most of the way to Knoxville, TN. We stopped off in Bristol and revisited a restaurant that we really enjoyed on a previous road trip called The Mad Greek.

Saturday morning we finished our drive into Knoxville and just started exploring. It was a lot of fun. We wondered around the town, followed the crowds, checked out the bookstore, campus and downtown area.

We watched the team "walk" and heard "Rocky Top" about a few dozen times. We explored campus and all the festivities they had going on for the day. It was neat to see how other schools handle and participate in game days.

We found a local hole in the wall for lunch before the game called Niro's Gyros. The people there were super nice and the food was all the way from Chicago. It was such a neat, little, local place.

The game was a lot of fun too. There was no pressure or stress, we just sat and enjoyed a back a forth game with lots of points being scored. The final was 55-48 UT. They won in the last few minutes.

After the game, we wondered around and found a fun open air downtown area. We found another popular local joint for dinner, The Tomato Head, and then headed home. We had a lot to get done for Sunday.

Sunday we had the opportunity to host a very non traditional baby shower for our friends Scott & Katie. They have 3 beautiful girls and they are expecting a little boy in December. They are big sports fans so we combined the two for a Redskins Baby Shower. All that meant was we had some snacks, gifts and turned on the game.

Unfortunately, the Redskins were not able to pull off a win for the shower but we all had fun hanging out, celebrating the arrival of little Cole and watching some football. Definitely my kind of shower!