Saturday was a trip to Birmingham for the Grizas! My friend Jessica was throwing a surprise birthday party for her boyfriend Dusty Otwell's 30th Birthday! I think, everyone that I know , knows Dusty or DO he was a frat brother of Erik's with a charming, witty personality so everyone loves him !! We enjoyed celebrating his 30th in Birmingham with everyone. The food was great and so was the company! I cant wait to post some pics but I am waiting on Jessica to send them to me b/c she took lots of great ones with her neat camera!
We stayed with our friends the Lewis' who were sweet enough to babysit the dog children while we attended the party. Ralphie loves his aunt sarah and tries to make out with her alot. He used to always pee on Marshall but he seems to have outgrown that. Floss, however stole her first food item (from Marshall) ha It was a Bacon Cheeseburger. :)

Next weekend we are off to Monroeville for my 10yr class reunion (GASP) ...

Cousin Karrissa had her baby this morning around 1am. Meet Caytlin Elizabeth Mckinney at 8lbs and 21 inches! Just beautiful. Brother Mac is very proud of his new sis. Congrats Family on another beautiful baby!

Now we are just waiting on
Baby Stovie (Kathy's & Mike's baby boy)
Baby MacLean ( Jenni & Kenny's baby boy)
Baby Harris ( Jessica & Ashley's baby Girl)11/22
Baby Parker (Tabitha & Grants Baby Boy) 2/1
And recently
Kristi Poltrack had a baby girl - Payton 7/24
Nikki Barnett had a baby girl - Caroline Montgomery 9/21
Lindsey Couch Douglas had a baby girl - Harper Jane 8/27
Cousin Karrissa had a baby girl - Caitlyn Elisabeth 9/28
Cousin Ashley had a baby boy -
Matt & Maggi had a baby boy - Mitchell Luke 10/1
Emily & Kevin had a baby girl - Kirkland Frances 9/28
So basically everyone we know was pregant this summer! There are 2 more not even on this list! LOTS OF BABIES

Saturday Night Lu took us all to a really fancy dinner in a restaurant called Areole

It was beautiful and the food was awesome... however it made me VERY sick and I threw my guts up all night when we got home. Not sure if it was food poisoning or just too much(very rich)foods.
Sunday I had to miss Brunch due to my illness, but once they got home ( and Erik & Lu napped) The boys and I went to china town while Julie studied for a test she has tomorrow.I had a blast there but Erik and Lu didnt! I told him this was payback for making me sit at a BORING baseball game yesterday in the RAIN.
I got to go in lots of secret rooms. Court they had NO purse like you are wanting dear. The prices have been great though! No Louis Vuitton's since the raid but lots of prada, channel and Dolce & Gabana. A picture of my loot (not all for me) below:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIEL!!!

Erik & I had a great flight on JETBLUE to NYC today to see Julie! They have satellite Tv on small Tv's at EACH seat so you can change the channel and watch whatever you want! We got here around 3 and met Julie at her apartment. She was not kiddin about this place being small. Everything in it is like miniature! HA We walked around town and looked at her school. My total shopping for the day was $4.00! I got a $2 Flower shaped paperclip for my daytimer and a $2 Peace Sign Button for my bag! Then we went and got some groceries (which we had to carry 4 blocks!!!)
Now we are at her apartment and just finished opening gifts. Julie saved all her cards etc to open today and she got some great stuff. Like her Bro... She got an iPhone from All of us and Lu and we are currently setting that up for her! Her old phone was about 50 years old and duct taped together so I am SO glad she is getting a new phone that will actually work!
Ralphie got her a new pair of slippers and Flossie got her some pocket sized tissues... both gifts which they will probably take back and chew up at some point ....

Here are some pics to enjoy of Julie opening her presents and these precious little cakes her roomates bought her! The detail on them is amazing...

Tonight was the season opener for Predators Hockey Season. We took Stevie and he seemed to be glad to be there, although I think he enjoyed the food and talking more than the game! HA

He has been studying his States and Capitals all week. He and Erik have probably reviewed them for about 15 hours this week! Then THANK YOU MAMMA .. My mom found songs singing all the states and capitals online, which I promptly purchased and it seems to be doing the trick. He got his progress report this week and has done really well in most everything...

Tomorrow Erik & I leave for NYC to celebrate Juliel's birthday! Should be a fun weekend.
Uncle Louie has the dog children again! He had to give Ralphie a shot in the butt for his nerves b/c he did NOt want his momma to leave him!

Next Blog post will be from New york !! Hooray!! China town is calling my name for SURE!!

This weekend my brother David killed a hog while hunting with his girlfriend Leslie. The Hog weighs somewhere between 200-300lbs. This is a huge source of entertainment for my father and brother so I just thought I would share with ya'll. As usual, nothing says " Dead Hog" like a picture:

Yippee Hooray! Today, on the way home from school Stevie and I were listening to the end of my podcast "Today in iPhone" and guess what? Rob, the host played a voicemail I left him on the show!! I sounded SOOOOOOO country HA
anyway if you wanna listen go to :

http://tii.libsyn.com/

and listen to Sept 15th show....

NEAT.

Last week, was quite challenging for the Grizas. I will spare all the personal details and drama and go straight to my doggy momma drama. These dogs are NOT normal I tell you. We had 3 major health crisis' last week and I dont think I can handle anymore for quite a while. Monday night Ralphie was vomiting stomach bile all night. I thought he was gonna die and it was awful to watch him retching like that. Wednesday we had a rush trip to Uncle Louie's b/c Floss has an open wound on her neck. Sweet Sweet Uncle Louie to the rescue.. AGAIN. ha He had to put her t o sleep so that he could clean and doctor the wound and she has 2 kinds of medicine which we administer twice a day. She fights this medicine with EVERY fiber of her being so it usually takes 3 of us to get it all done. Then as if that wasn't enough, Ralphie got his haircut on Friday and somehow.. .he came home with a rear end issue.. Not sure if his glands are stopped up/infected AGAIN or if he has hemorrhoids... Whatever it is, he is very uncomfortable and cant sit properly.. I am pretty sure that it was Divine intervention providing us with a Vet Uncle! I don't know that any other Vet could put up with me and my crazy dogs. Erik thinks that I am just super paranoid and imagine these illnesses but Louie assured me, they were in fact real. ( SEE ERIK I TOLD YOU!!)Mamma's always know when the baby is sick.. we can just tell so you men need to stuff it!

Erik & I went to Louisville to see the Killers on Tuesday Night. This is our 2nd time to see them this year because they are really great on this tour. It's rare these days to see a band that actually takes their career seriously and gives 110% to their show and comes on clean and sober and dedicated. It was awesome how fun and great they were and b/c Erik joined their fan club we got first dibs at seats and were on the 3rd row. I have never been that close in my life but its awesome! ...... just SUPER loud! I have a video clip as well as some pics to show off how beautiful the venue was.

I am SO excited and proud of everyone with their comment posting!! You guys have done great! Even my momma posted and that is GROUND breaking!!

So a quick "How To" for those of you who dont know how to leave comments.
Under each post, on the right side there is a small pic of a piece of paper with a pencil on it and next to it is will say "__ comments" click on this 2 comments or whatever it says and it will bring up a small window for which you can type a comment.

If you have a google account this is very easy, if you do not have a google account it may make you register before leaving a comment? Not sure yet.. someone tell me how it works for the non googlers.

I could spend an hour telling everyone why I think Gmail is a GREAT mail client and you all should have an account but I will spare you.... for now anyway!

While I just did a post on Podcasts, I did leave off an important one, so I decided to do a seperate post and elaborate. My friend Trevor (from Church camp in 1997) commented about some great podcast sermons. I have a favorite preacher on podcast as well. His name is Lance Sawyer and he is originally from Monroeville and without a doubt the BEST preacher I have ever heard!
Days fill up, time goes by, and you might find yourself not making time for God each day.. It happens to me quite often and i have found some resolutions to make sure that I have time with him everyday. Since I am ALWAYS on this computer, this is where God and I meet each day.
May I recommend the following:

www.christianwomentoday.com/subscribe
This is an email subscription for your daily devotional girls. Very nice to have.


http://www.fbcmuskogee.com/
Here is a link to Lance's church and his sermons. All are free downloads.

and then just as Trevor suggested you can go on iTunes and in the search window type "Mars Hill Church" and you will get several results for Pastor Mark Driscoll's sermon subscriptions..

Its very uplifting to be riding down the road (or sitting still in traffic) and listen to something pleasant, upbeat and enriching... you should all try it!

Yesterday Erik and Bro gave Stevie's room a makeover. His room had 2 twin beds in it and alot of antique decor. He has been sleeping upside down in his bed because he said the antique doll pictures "freaked him out" ha and then he started taking off his pillowcases b/c they had "girly stuff" (embroidery) on them.. so it was apparent he needed a more big boyish type of room. Erik and bro worked hard to put in a full size bed, hook up all of his electronics, a bedside lamp, and in a few days a desk, new blinds and a new bedspread set.
Here are some pics of Stevie discovering his new room. It was a BIG hit.





I will post more pictures upon completion.... Mother did you see that poster on the wall ? Ha!! I will think of you every time I look at it! (FYI my mom just LOVES posters on bedroom walls... NOT.. i would hang them up when i was younger and by the time I got home from school they had disappeared! HA)

Recently, I have become a BIG fan of podcasts... for those of you who don't know what that is, its basically talk radio that you can download for FREE onto your Ipod and listen to whenever, wherever. They really make sitting in traffic, or long drives less painful because they are engaging your mind, and depending on what you are listening to, can be pretty educational as well.

So if you haven't taken advantage of this free service, you totally should do it now! My current favorites are:

The typical MAC user (great tips and news for mac users)
Today in iPhone (all about the iphone)
Sunshine Daydream ( live narrated recordings of the Grateful dead in concert)
Coffee Break Spanish ( teaches you spanish) Thanks Marsh.. Good lookin out!

Well, I am gonna try not to go off here.. and just give you some insight. As much as my husband loves about me, one of his least favorite things about me is my fire. He is mostly a very calm, rational individual who does NOT enjoy rocking the boat....and then he married ME! ha I am ok with getting pretty rowdy in certain situations, one of which I happen to encounter in Auburn last weekend.
Out of respect for my husbands feelings, ( he does not want you all to be subjected to my fire) I will not give the complete story, and just say to you all that when tailgating, be mindful of all of your belongings... I was a victim of theft, and I witnessed several attempted stealings and was VERY disappointed in that atmosphere present on the beautiful plains. Maybe this has always been going on and I am just especially sensitive and aware now that it has happened to me?... or maybe not....
So that being said, I would also like to share this with you. Whenever you are purchasing something significant, always use your credit card AND make sure you have "purchase protection" on your credit card. This is a great (and free) feature of many cards. It basically acts as an insurance policy for your purchases and will cover them in situations such as theft or loss. As with anything there are some restrictions so get all the details.
In other news the War Eagle Supper Club got a GREAT makeover on the deck.. its awesome so go check it out. They also added extra bathrooms (big plus!)....
Thanks to the Pauley's for hosting us all weekend! We love you guys !

BEFORE:(nasty)



We held out on purpose because I have the most lovely hairdresser in all the land. His name is Matt (so from now on, when I refer to Matt on my blog you know that is Matt The Hairstylist becase we are also good friends) and it took me years to find this perfect stylist so no way is our move to Nashville going to change who does my hair. Erik has not had a haircut since Memorial Day (when Matt & Scott came to viist) and he had this interesting bumble of hair resembling a mullet.
So, on our way to Auburn we stopped in Birmingham to pay Matt a visit at his new salon MOP. It was about a 3 hour visit b/c he had to do so much damage control on our long over due hairs. Erik was there for the duration which was good because he never understands why girls have to pay so much for their hair and He got to see first hand the labor intensive artwork that Matt always performs on me! He also got a makeover for himself! Melissa (the salon owner) is an brow expert and worked on mine for me. Erik passed on that service
Here are some before (during)and after pics for your enjoyment!!







If any of my readers are interested in a perfect hair style, you can contact Matt Hill at MOP in Homewood, AL

and I have come to realize that I don't remember a thing from the 5th Grade.. His math homework was all about "Estimating" .. great now what the HECK is estimating? I gotta find a tutor asap b/c my fumbling through teaching myself and him at the same time probably only confuses him more!
He is a complete WHIZ at reading and spelling. He makes A's and 100's on everything in that subject.. which is great! Maybe he can start proof-reading my blogs!
All of my teacher friends who read this, if you know anything about 5th grade math holla at me.

I have also discovered that Erik has quite a passion for teaching and school work. I never knew this about him, but no matter what he says, I think he looks forward to Stevie's homework and helping him and teaching him. Its pretty cute!

If you cant tell from their facial expressions, Ralphie and Flossie are SO excited about their new school outfits!! When we were school shopping for Stevie some new clothes the dogchildren had to get some school clothes as well so they wouldn't feel left out!
Ralphie likes more of a preppy look, while Floss prefers the hippie look. She keeps trying to grow her hair out in dread locks, and I keep having to cut them out b.c she is not a fan of the brushing....

In other news, the Griza's head down south to Birmingham Thursday night to get some long overdue ( 3 months) haircuts!! Thanks Matt!!
Then Friday- Sunday we will join our War Eaglish friends in Auburn for some gametime. Doggles are coming along on the trip so they can see all their old pals.

My Nonnie (read: grandmother),(she is too young looking to be called "granny" so we call her Nonnie) anyway, Nonie would like all of our readers to know that I did in fact receeve a colluge educashion and that my errers in grammer and punctuation are from lazyness rather than ignerance... So just for kicks, I am informing everyone that I do know some of the words I type dont actually exist, I make them up... for fun and stuff and since this isnt a book report I dont pay much attention to my errors or all the red squiggly lines. HA but for my Nonie I will try harder!

Not sure who all is aware of this Rash I have been plagued with for the last year and a half.... its quite awful! Basically, for reasons unknown to me, atleast once a week i break out in hives or welts that not only are unattractive, but itch like the dickens.. imagine a weekly chicken poxs outbreak....
So finally, after numerous doctor trips, and cortizone shots ( in the booty OUCH)... this little old lady in Mexico noticed it all over my back and approached me and said I was allergic to SUNSCREEN....some chemical in sunscreen which is also in numerous other products like deoderant, bug spray.. etc.. I am So excited to finally have some answers.. I am still researching online to get the exact ingredients, but basically from my readings it seems in the last 2 years sunscreen has changed its potion and lots of people are having these outbreaks..mostly children.
When in Orange Beach, one of my old co-workers who is pregnant , got this rash.. and it was BAD... that was the first time I had seen anyone get my rash.. so Tabitha,...NOW we know what happened.. SUNSCREEN...
Laura's advice for the day is to buy organic sunscreens, (Like the brands Kiss my Face, Alba, or ROC) and avoid this trauma. It ranges in severity but it can cause alot of swelling.. like to eyes etc..
Anyway, as usual I must provide my readers with a visual aid.. so as to really drive my point home.Below are some pics of my rash (that I still have from wearing sunscreen while in Cabo)....

Just kidding , contrary to popular belief... my brother is actually not a figment of my imagination.. I really do have a real life Brother. He isliving in Troy, Al going to school there. No one (other than family) ever sees him, nor does he care to attend anything ( LIKE OUR WEDDING) but he exists and claims to love me...
So for proof, I give you a pic of my bro DAVID or "NowDAvid" as he calls himself (he says this because when getting a lecture from our father, dad would always start it out saying " Now David, ....." ha (Dad, maybe this is news to you?) its still funny though.....

May I present to you David Michael Colquett and his beautiful gfriend Leslie aka LESLO

Julie & Ralphie had their 1st real fight. They were snuggling on the couch and Ralphie had his bone and we didnt notice he had replaced his bone with Julie's dress (brand new one of a kind really cute dress) so he actually ate a portion of it. This comes 2 days after he ate her Juicy Pants, the black ones that she wears everyday! SO Aunteee was MAD, and Ralphie was so upset that she was mad at him that he went to furtherest corner of the room and put his back to us and faced the wall (so pathetic looking, were not for Julie I would have immediately snuggled him up) but we let him stay that way and think about what he had done. Ears down, Tail between his legs, facing the wall, he sat that way FOREVER until Julie came over and picked him up!!
They went back in the back and had a heart to heart and both are feeling better now.
He is a very sensitive doggle.....