The Great Bull Run

Thursday, October 24, 2013

How is October not over, yet? I feel like it's been the most eventful month of the year, for sure.

Last Saturday, my fellow adventurer friend, Madi, and I headed out to Conyers for the inaugural Great Bull Run - Atlanta. A couple twenty-something guys decided it would be a genius idea to bring the annual bull run in Pamplona Spain to the US. I agree, genius idea! However, I figured the Great Bull Run ATLANTA would be a little closer to Atlanta than Conyers, but whatever.

When we arrived, we were given an insane amount of wristbands. I mean, seriously? There had to be a more efficient way to do this! This is what they looked like after our Free Beer wristband had already been cut off. Absurd.



After doing some serious people watching (definitely an eclectic group of people, to put it nicely), it was time for us to make our way down to the track.

Look at the fun bandannas you get when you get into the track! 

After an awkward announcement of rules ("if you fall, cover your neck and the bulls should jump over you") by a weird emcee with terrible audio equipment, the countdown began! Everyone was yelling especially loud (must have been all the nervous energy), and when we all finally got to ONE(!) we expected to be mauled by bulls. Correction: When you get to one, the cowboys start trying to kick the bulls out of their cage, kind of anticlimactic and funny at the same time. Once the bulls got going however, it's ON. Every man for himself has never rung more true. I'm shocked no one died, seriously. So much pushing and shoving! Madi took a video of our first run and it looks like the zombie apocalypse (also, she fell, but not in the bulls' path). It was so much fun for adrenaline junkies like Madi and I!

We survived! And quickly redeemed our free beer.

We quickly decided that now that we knew how to properly run with the bulls, we wanted to be closer to the action - so we pulled a YOLO and did it again, this time starting much closer to the bulls.

We were pros (and cold) by round two!

This time, I figured I was way experienced and decided to take a couple videos. Don't mind my sing-songy, nervous yell. 



After round two, it was time to gear up for the Tomato Royale. Now, this part I wasn't too stoked about. While salsa is my favorite food, I do not like tomatoes, and the Tomato Royale is a big food fight with just tomatoes. As we walked in, ready for battle with our swim goggles (rookie mistake) we were told "there are no rules". AWESOME.

Needless to say, we both got brutally attacked by lots of rock hard tomatoes (I guess no one else read the packet, you're supposed to smash then throw!). 

You can't really tell, but those billions of things flying in the air behind us are the tomatoes we walked through. Ay yi yi. GROSS.


Madi was a genius and brought both of us shower caps to wear... crucial! We were gross enough when we got back to the car, but we saw some girls literally wringing out their hair. No, thank you! The day ended up being so fun, and there's no one I would rather have done it with than my fellow adventure heart!

After getting home and scrubbing tomato remnants off of myself (yes, that was as gross as it sounds), Adam and I had planned a date night! 


We headed down to the Phipps Plaza movie theatre (the seats recline completely flat - holla!) to see Gravity. Good thing the movie was so intense, because I was certain I would fall asleep in the comfy chairs if it wasn't. After the movie, we redeemed one of our many gift cards and had a yummy meal at Cook Hall. And then it was finally off to bed. What an exhausting (but very fun!) day! Needless to say, Sunday was full of a whole lotta nothing, and it was awesome.

auburn vs wcu

Friday, October 18, 2013

October has been crazy town. Full of so many weekends I've been not-so-patiently waiting for. I'm stoked I can finallllyyy talk about Brent's surprise visit!

Adam's best man in our wedding, Brent, also happens to be one of my favorite people (I guess we lucked out there). Adam and Brent haven't seen each other since the wedding in January 2011, so Brent and I have been secretly scheming to surprise Adam with his appearance for the Western Carolina/Auburn game this past weekend.

While the actual surprise on Thursday night didn't work out as we planned (We thought Adam was walking Ruthie when we showed up, so we walked into the dark house and Adam was standing in the kitchen. Weird. And creepy.), he was so surprised and the weekend officially began!

We headed out to Taco Mac for dinner and drinks, followed by late night drinks at Mulligan's (of course!). The love birds picked up right where they left off and it felt like we (sorry, they) had never been separated.





On Friday, we ran some errands and waited for Adam to get off work so we could head to Auburn for the big weekend! (Auburn played our alma mater, Western Carolina, in football on Saturday.) Adam was supposed to get off work at 3, but didn't even leave the office until 5:15. Gross. We hit the road as soon as Adam got home and were in Auburn less than two hours later.

I received this bad ass shirt from Kelly for my birthday and have been dying to wear it. A college town seemed like the perfect place! And then we arrived and Mitchell told me the Parents' Weekend Dinner we were going to was "kind of nice". Whoops, don't mind me! 


Look at little Mitchy double-fisting wine and a beer - he's all grown up!

I also brought my Retro Phone, and was surprised it actually made it back home with us. It was a hit.

[Side note: We stayed in brother's fraternity house the whole weekend. As gross as it sounds,  the frat castle really wasn't that bad - they even had a private girls' bathroom. How thoughtful.] Honestly, though. How gross could a place like this be? Yes, this is really Mitchell's frat house.



On Saturday, we were awoken by the Auburn Marching Band practicing at 6am. We thought we could go back to sleep, until the entire frat house thought it was appropriate to start blaring Beastie Boys and screaming "IT'S GAME DAY!!!!!!!!!" at 7am. Not impressed. (Actually, kind of impressed that they can rally back so fast. Ah, to be young again.)

We eventually got it together and started playing corn hole around 9:30am - not bad for old people, huh? Our friends Chad and Dallas (Adam was in their wedding this summer) were also in town for the game and we ended up being together the whole day, it was awesome!

I stole this collage from Dallas - thanks, love!


We also ran into one of our old college friends and fellow Catamount, Michael! He was all decked out in purple, including his purple and gold Bud Light can. Jealous!


After making a brief appearance at the Catamount Club tailgate, we joined Adam at the game. (He wanted to see all of the pre-game festivies, so he skipped the tailgate.)


We underestimated how HOT it was going to be.

We left in the first quarter (don't mind the $119 I spent on tickets, boys), because Adam just had to watch the end of the Georgia game. And we were already losing to Auburn 23-3.

On the way to Moe's (yes, what a wonderful local delicacy), Brent found a praying mantiss and insisted I take a picture. So, here it is.

In return, I made them pose for this picture. Don't mind their awkward poses - I counted to three and they both attacked each other, leaving me with this.


After Moe's we took a taxi back to the house (yep, we took a taxi 1.2 miles back to the house) to continue the party. My sorority, Alpha Xi Delta, is also on Auburn's campus and they had this sign out front of Mitchell's frat house. Woo!

Mitchell joined us back at the house after the 3rd quarter and we spent the rest of the day watching - you guessed it - MORE football and eating a pig (they roasted an ENTIRE pig).

It's not college if you don't p;ay numerous round of beer pong, right? Adam actually made Mitchell this board for his high school graduation.

Love birds.

After Dallas and I decided to perform with the band on stage (vocals and tambourine, don't worry about it), we all headed to Sky Bar to finish the night.

Retro Phone made another appearance.

We made it until 11:30pm and then had to tap out - we had been drinking since 8am! The next morning, Mitchell took us to another gourmet meal, this time at McDonald's, and then it was time to head back. SAD! We spent the rest of Sunday on our back deck soaking up the amazing weather, and some of Brent's dangerous vodka concoction. The fam came over for a nice little cookout and Brent I watched Dumb and Dumber (obviously), then it was bedtime for us old people. I took Brent to the airport on Monday morning and then the weekend of liver damage was officially over. I'm still super sad about it.

Speaking of Dumb and Dumber, my mood was brightened a little by the fact that Dumber and Dumber To was filming in the Marietta Square (read: 1 mile from our house) on Monday! Ruthie and I did a little bit of stalking and got to see Jim Carrey film a scene. So fun!


God Bless Texas

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

This past weekend was one I'd been looking forward to for quite some time, a trip back to my homeland... Texas! I'd been way over due for some Jack in the Box tacos and good Mexican food.

The whole Reaves side of the family was meeting up in Houston for my Papabear's 90th birthday party (yes, 90!), but I decided to fly into Fort Worth a couple days early to hang out with Jeff and Katie. I had not seen their new house yet, and I honestly can't even remember the last time I was in Texas (maybe 3 years ago?).

I flew standby on American Airlines (the family gets passes since my grandpa used to be a Captain for them), and lucky for me - the seat available was first class.  Two vodka ginger ales at 1pm on a Wednesday? Yes, please!



Jeff and Katie landed around the same time I did on Wednesday, except they were coming back from a week long vacation in Seattle and Canada. I'm sure they would have loved to relax for a couple days, but I bombarded them.

Jeff, being the spoiled guy that he is, was the lucky recipient of a Big Green Egg from Katie a couple months ago, so I demanded he make dinner on it. See how nice I am? I let him make a gourmet meal for me right after returning from vacay. Yummmmy!


On Thursday, Katie had to work so Jeff and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a nice bike ride on the Trinity River Trail. My brother is a fitness fanatic, so our ideas of a "casual" bike ride were very different. Either way, it was fun!


We met up with Katie for lunch at (where else?) a Mexican restaurant called Yucatan. Did I mention how much I love Mexican food? Since Katie is a PA at a dermatology office, she's able to offer us some pretty awesome deals (and by deals I mean she does everything for free).

Look how mature we are, handling the medical equipment like adults.



After relaxing for a bit, Jeff and I headed over to our aunt and uncle's house for a bit. John and Michelle have two of the cutest little boys, ever! Brody just turned 7 and got a go kart for his birthday, so I was lucky enough to go for a spin. I was shocked at what a good driver he was! Luke, on the other hand, drove his ATV like a bat out of hell. 


To end our fun-filled day, we met up with some of their friends for dinner at Tim Love's Woodshed Smokehouse. Tim Love is a No Kid Hungry supporter and I was excited to check the place out.  I'm sad I didn't get any shots of the atmosphere or the group, but it was awesome! It's right on the Trinity River and the majority of the seating is outside. Being the fatty I am, I did get a shot of my food. Again, YUM.


On Friday, I woke up bright and early to harass Natalie on her birthday. Natalie, Anna and I all planned to be in LA this past weekend, but then Papabear's party got moved and I couldn't make it. Sad day, but I couldn't miss the party in Houston.


We didn't do much on Friday morning and then met up with Katie for lunch at the original Fuzzy's Taco Shop near TCU. Post-lunch, Katie had a couple patients to see before we could start the 4 hour drive to Houston. While we waited, I was able to experience my first microdermabrasion, thanks to Katie! Kind of painful, but my face still feels awesome.

And then it was finally off to Houston! Adam, my dad and Mitch had all flown in Thursday night, so they were just waiting on us to really get the party started.

It was on this four hour road trip that I finally got my first Jack in the Box tacos of the trip. And of course, they didn't have any ready and I was about to lose my mind waiting. (I'm super patient.)


When we finally pulled into Houston, the party was already in full force so we quickly made our way to the drinks. It was a great night celebrating with a bunch of family I didn't know I had, and Papabear was in great spirits...and drunk. (The next day he told me the reason he got so drunk and fell down twice was because he didn't eat anything all day. Super funny coming from a 90 year old.)

The whole gang!

My cousin Jordan made it down for the occasion!



After a lot of vodka, we made our way back to the hotel...and made a quick stop at Jack in the Box, of course.

Saturday was spent lounging around and then meeting Katie's brother for lunch and football at Yard House and then getting ready for another night celebrating Papabear at his favorite Mexican restaurant, Hacienda San Angel.

Cheers to one of my most favorite people in the world!

After dinner, a group of us headed to a dive bar for some more celebratory drinks in Papabear's honor, then headed back to the hotel (with a pit stop at Jack in the Box... one more time!).

Sunday we wrapped the weekend up at Mamabear and Papabear's before saying goodbye and heading back to Atlanta.

Papabear has an entire closet full of hats (and booze), so we decided to snap a picture with all of us in one of them. The plan was for him to wear his "#1 Grandpa" hat, but he decided on this bad boy instead.

A good time was had by all. Now I have a few days to let me liver recuperate before heading to Auburn for the Auburn/Western Carolina football game this weekend. Woo hoo!

let's make this snappy

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

This is going to be short and sweet! I'm heading over to the Bakers in 5 minutes and I know I won't update it before I leave for TEXAS tomorrow. Here we go, the Bakers' weekend in 5..4..3..2...

On Friday, we did.....nothing. (Look, this quick roundup is going so well.)

Saturday, I got to see our favorite Canadians - the McNeelys! Adam was at work, so he didn't get to join in the on the festivities, but met me at my parents later to watch some of his must-be-seen college football games.

Saturday night we headed over to Erik's parents' insane McMansion to celebrate his 26th birthday with some (you guessed it, football). Luckily, his Erik's girlfriend happens to be my best friend, so those get togethers tend to work out well.

Football is much better when you have friends and a bar.

Since Erik lives right up the road from my parents, we spent the night there and woke up to this view (that never gets old, in case you were wondering). Hello, beautiful Sunday!


Some of our most favorite people, Kelly and Jason, just moved into a new place near Piedmont Park so we had plans to go check it out and spend some time in the park on Sunday. The weather could not have been more perfect! I'm sad I didn't get a picture of the four of us, but I did get some adorable shots of Adam and Ruthie. (Ruthie, by the way, caused a fit every time someone went to the restroom - but of course she didn't care at all when I left. RUDE.) Thanks for hosting us, Coopers! Remember, dinner on us in the Square soon. :)


And let's wrap this sucker up with this shot. We finally finished gave-up-and-decided-to-just-go-with-its-current-state... the headboard! Looks pretty awesome, if I may say so myself. Now we just need to get some more light in that room. (The room doesn't have built in lights or a ceiling fan, weird.)


Ok, now I'm late leaving for the Bakers. Bye!
 
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