Rocktober 2014

So much to talk about and so little time:
Friday, Oct 10:
Jillian and I both left work a little early to make our way to Gulf Shores. Her mom, step-dad, brother and his wife were all at a rented condo at the beach for the Shrimp Festival. We hadn't seen her brother Jarred in a while so we wanted to visit. Despite the festival being an annual event 45 minutes away from the home I grew up in, I had never attended it before. It lived up to my imagination; Drunk jort-wearing Floridians congregating around funnel cake stands that had recently upgraded their menu to carry shrimp and gumbo. Jillian and I had skipped dinner and refused to destroy our stomachs with fried food. Thankfully, the festival surrounded The Hangout Restaurant (a place we frequent on summer beach days) so we ate there. After touring the rest of the festival grounds, her family joined us at the table and we stayed there for a few hours drinking and telling stories. It turned out to be a very pleasant experience.
Saturday, Oct 11:
Jillian's brother and his wife Kristen decided to keep the party going and joined us back home during the Auburn football game. Unfortunately, the game started poorly as Auburn had turnovers on it's first two offensive plays. Although they fought hard to stay in the game, they never recovered; falling to Mississippi State (who currently sits at #1 in the AP Poll). The game ended, our guests headed back to Gulf Shores and while I was in the front yard I struck up a football conversation with our neighbor. I know our conversation was that of disappointment in the game, but I forget the details apart from him inviting Jillian and I to join their family and friends for a viewing of the remaining games on TV. So we grabbed a couple new drinks and headed over. It was quickly recognized by Jillian and I that we were on a different level of ... non-sobriety... than everyone else. I think we played it pretty cool, but we didn't seem to make a decent connection with anyone there so we left after eating their leftover hamburgers. So, it wasn't a total loss.
Saturday, Oct 12:
Jillian and I celebrated our 1st year anniversary. We had made a few plans for the day but none of them really panned out, so we spent the day mostly lounging around on the couch until we opened our presents for each other. Year one is "paper" themed. I thought I did pretty good by "making" a puzzle from pictures of our first year together. I was, of course, out done by Jillian who surprised me with tickets to our first NFL football game; Saints v Panthers at the Super Dome in New Orleans. The evening was unusual but nice. We put together the puzzle, looked through pictures from our wedding and honeymoon and then decided to go out for dinner and a movie. Instead of a theater and restaurant, we grabbed a rental from RedBox and went overboard in a Taco Bell drive thru. I wasn't sure about the movie selection (Blended - an Adam Sandler Comedy), but because it was a romantic comedy in the setting of South Africa, like our honeymoon, it seemed very fitting. It was as cheesy as we thought but a good way to end the night.

 I nearly forgot. In addition to the presents we got each other, Jillian had also ordered snorkeling equipment for our upcoming Jamaica trip, that happened to arrive that day as well. It was a nice addition. The new gear was part of the reason I decided a few days later to buy the 3-in-1 GoPro camera mount used for "selfies". Hopefully we can get some good snorkeling videos while we're goofing around in the Caribbean.

 The next week was pretty busy at work. September marks the end of South Alabama's fiscal year, and I think I'm finally getting to the end of compiling financial statements. I received what I hope is the first and last of my Audit requests, but likely isn't. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel. What I can say about this new job, to this point, is that there is a LOT less stress come year-end. I definitely haven't even considered overtime.
This past weekend was a little different than the one before. We went out to dinner Friday at Baumhower's Wings while we watched Daphne High School on a crummy local tv station as they ended the 30-something win streak of neighboring Spanish Fort High. Even thought the 7-0 game wasn't entertaining, the drunk woman at the end of the bar, yelling "HELL YEAH" every time Daphne did something positive, was.
Auburn had a bye weekend so Saturday was pretty much wide open. We decided an early morning trip to the Fairhope goodwill was a prime way to spend our morning before hitting up the liquor store and Walmart. I'll note here that there's a bit of an Ebola outbreak in Africa that has popped up in a couple places in the US, from Africa Volunteers returning home. As the virus is deadly and apparently more contagious than expected, we decided to stock up on some canned and dried goods just in case avoiding contact with the outside world for a month became mandatory for survival. Yes, I'm saying that we did doomsday shopping. I'm not proud of it,  but you can never be too careful with certain things. After the preppin', we went out for BBQ and spent the rest of the afternoon watching other highly ranked teams lose.
Sunday was much anticipated. Jillian had been invited to an Annual Grilled Cheese Cook-Off thrown by a woman named Deborah, who she volunteered with at multiple retirement homes via Paws'ative Therapy. Jillian had pointed out to me that this was apparently a pretty big deal as they were known to feature food made by local chefs... in the form of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (or at least resembled them to an extent). The even did not disappoint. It even managed to surprise me with it's magnitude. They had a tent, cookie buffet, bloody-mary bar for the adults and bouncy castle for the kids. There was even live music: a couple Jillian and Adam Holt. It was the first Jillian & Adam couple we had ever run into so we had to take a picture.

We were in friend making mode so we made a lot of small talk with people we didn't know. Jillian ran into a woman named Chris that she used to see at dog training sessions several years ago when Stella Blue was a savage. We also happened to run into Parker and his wife Rebecca. Parker and I were in the same grade growing up and we even crossed paths during a summer job where we were both lifeguards. It was nice exchanging old stories. Around 2:30, all the "grilled cheese sandwiches" started rolling out. There were some very impressive food combinations. Someone was bold enough to make his with lobster. Jillian and I both liked one simply made with Ricotta cheese. Her favorite was a little on the sweet side. Overall, there were 10 different trays full of sandwiches cut in the 4ths. Everyone was given a ticket used to vote for their favorite. In the end, Lobster guy won the 1st place adult vote and was given a custom cheese cutting board. The winner of kids choice turned out to be the hostesses grandmother. Around 4:30 we said our goodbyes and I grabbed as many cookies as I could fit in a To-Go bag and we headed back to the house.

To end the day on a high note, we made dinner and watched the Denver Broncos blow out the SF 49ers as Peyton Manning broke the NFL all time passing touchdown record with TD's 509 and 510.

 

Bachelor Weekend/ Staycation

Jillian's grandmother was taken to the hospital at the end of this past week so she and her mom made the drive down to Florida to see her. Being as there was no way of knowing the seriousness of the situation or how long the trip would be, Jillian asked me to stay behind with the animals. Plus, I have no sick or vacation days to use if the visit spilled over to Monday. I should say that, as of Sunday afternoon when I'm writing this, her grandmother is fine and should probably get out of the hospital soon.
To celebrate my weekend flying solo I did what any young bachelor would do; get drunk and hit up the clubs... or at least that's what I'll tell anyone who asked. The reality is that I sat inside all day yesterday and watched college football. Not a terrible decision considering three of the top 5 teams (included Alabama) lost their games, moving Auburn into the #2 spot behind and undeserving Florida State. Afterward I fed the dog, went to bed and watch a couple episodes of Ghost Adventures until I passed out from fatigue.
Sunday involved a little more exercise. I got up about 8am and cut the grass in the front yard. I decided around 10am that I was going to play a little golf (possibly the first time this entire year) so I drove to this Municipal course in Bay Minette, AL called Holly Hills. I dropped $26 to play 9 holes with a cart and get a small bucket of balls. It always looked pretty sketchy from the road when I drove by, but it was actually pretty nice inside. In fact, it has a really nice bar area. I went through about 3/4 of my practice balls before I decided to hit the first tee.
There was a pair of guys in front of me finishing up the hole when I teed off. In typical fashion, my first shot took a sharp right into the woods. My "mulligan" shot went straight. I played at a pretty slow pace because there wasn't anyone behind me the entire time I was there and after a few holes the guys in front of me packed it in. I basically had the whole course to myself. The greens were pretty fast and extremely rough in places. The fairways were in great shape though. Overall, I was very pleased with the place. It would be a great place to take kids. Very forgiving fairways.
I got home about two hours after I left. Decided to re-watch the Auburn v LSU game from Saturday while doing chores. I changed the sheets, did some laundry and cleaned the dishes. Now that I think about it, there might actually still be some time left for da' club...