WVU Football

One of the things I have missed most about living in the South is not being able to watch every Mountaineer football game.  For some reason, they prefer to show SEC games rather than Big East games down here...go figure.  So, when a WVU game is shown, I have to take advantage of it.  Friday night, WVU's game at Marshall was on ESPN, so Blue and I dressed up for the occasion.

He was less thrilled than I was about the clothes.

Blue even got "gold eye" instead of "red eye" for this picture because he knew who was playing, I'm sure!

WVU ended up winning 24-21 in overtime after a very intense fourth quarter.  We did not play as well as I would have liked, but when puch came to shove, we pulled it off in the end.  Let's Go Mountaineers!

College Football is Back!

Friday night, Devin and I headed down to Athens for a the first UGA game of the season.  First though, we went for sushi with Devin's sister and brother-in-law.  Devin and Paul shared a sampler plate of some of their more extreme foods, while Sarah and I shared a sampling of different rolls.  I also ate some cucumber salad (which I love love love!) and most of Devin's miso soup. 

Notice the raw quail's egg cracked over the ground up tuna...I didn't try it, but Devin loved it all!

On Saturday, we headed out to watch Georgia take on Louisiana Lafayette.  Sarah and Paul had tickets with his family, which left Devin, me, Cory, and Lindsey to try to scalp them.  We actually ended up getting good seats for a really good price by waiting to buy them until 5 minutes before kickoff.  They were around some fun people, and we enjoyed the game.  The best part was of course the 55-7 victory.  The worst part was getting completely fried.  I learned last night that it's difficult to sleep when the insides of your elbows are sunburned.  Here's a quick shot of all of us as we headed out to the game.

Go Dawgs!

On a side note, WVU's defense looked really good shutting our Coastal Carolina 31-0.  I wish I could have been at that game, too!  But, it was the first game at Mountaineer Field for my younger sister Jessa who is currently a freshman and a Maniac!

Thoughts on Yoga

Yesterday I started my first yoga class ever with my friend Sheena. I have never done it before, so it was quite the experience. While I can see how I might fall in love with yoga in the future, today I feel like I was run over by a steam roller. Muscles I didn't know I had are screaming at me today. But, it's a good feeling to know I got a good workout. Here are some of my thoughts on the ups and downs of yoga...

Pros:
Learning I have above average flexibility
Awesome feeling of accomplishment
Having time fly by faster than in any other workout

Cons:
Breathing that feels completely backwards
Being afraid of farting with my rear up in the air
Large amounts of pain in unknown muscles

We will see how this eight week class goes, but if I can avoid beans on Tuesdays, get in a little better shape, and figure out how to "stick out my belly" when I inhale, I think I may have to take another class after this one!

Takosushi

After more than a year in Augusta, I am happy to announce that we have finally found some good nachos. We have looked high and low all over the city and today fell in love with the ones at Takosushi. It's an interesting place that serves food that is "Far East/Southwest." We fell in love with their sushi rolls and tempura asparagus. Devin loves the sashimi. I'm partial to the Spider Roll. But, it was the nachos more than anything else that is going to keep us going back. While these nachos photograph more like a pile of goo than anything else, they were amazing!!!

Summer's End...Bring on Fall!!!

Devin goes back to school tomorrow, so our summer is pretty much over. It's been a very busy summer, and I realize I haven't shared all of the great memories. Some of my favorites that I have missed:

We went blueberry picking with friends Fourth of July weekend. We brought home two gallons of fresh berries and have been enjoying them ever since.

Blue has learned a couple new tricks including playing dead when we point and yell "bang" and balancing on Devin's back. He likes the first trick much better.

We also got to go backpacking last weekend. The trip was a lot of fun, and I loved making "gourmet smores." Except for the hour where Blue panicked and disappeared, it was an exciting new adventure. We are looking forward to more trips when it's cooler this fall.

Speaking of fall, I now have a lot of things to look forward to including the return of football, camping, a Labor Day weekend trip, MSA getting going again, planting grass, and seeing Devin during the middle of the day on a regular basis as we will both be spending our days at MCG. So, as much as I've loved summer, I'm definitely ready to say "Bring on fall!!!"

Sun, Sand, and Saltwater

This summer we had two separate beach vacations with both of our families. In June, we hit Jekyll Island with my parents and siblings. While there, we spent time enjoying the beach, looking for sea turtle eggs, learning about the local wildlife, mini golfing, exploring the island, playing games, and eating too much food.

Our first evening we went to watch the sunset at the pier. Jessa's friend Kaytlin joined the McCollum kids for the week. Still, we were missing three sisters on this trip.

The four of us girls headed out on this bike-like contraption to explore the island on our second day. This was a little more difficult to power than it seemed at first glance. But, it was still super fun.

This was an awesome tree in a beautiful park. We had some fun while taking a break from pedalling "Big Blue" and eating a frozen lemonade.

I fell in love with the sea turtles there. We visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Rescue while there, which led to us hunting down some nests. Unfortunately, on the last morning, we found one nest where a wild animal had dug under the protective netting and ate many of the eggs. :(

Here we are posing outside the Jekyll Island 4-H Wilderness Center. I had sunburned my legs so badly the day before that I could not wear shorts for a few days.

One night, we all went out to eat at a local seafood restaurant. There was a wide variety of food, and all ten of us ordered something different. It made for a fun meal.

After getting full and happy, we posed for one more picture outside the restaurant. I love that Tanner wanted to stand with the "guys" despite being the shortest one there. This was an amazing week, and I can't wait til we all get together again for Christmas!

* * *

In July, we spent a long weekend at Hilton Head Island. This trip led to my first real sampling of sushi, late night conversation, amazing waves, and relaxing in the sand.

Our first night there we went for a walk on the beach. We did the same thing when we visited Tybee Island two years ago. (See http://beckyleighwv.blogspot.com/2008/08/beach.html)

On the beach, we saw a fun sand sculpture someone left behind.

However, it didn't compare with one on display in the hotel lobby.

Both days on the beach, we managed to catch a good high tide. I tried to learn how to boogy board but just kept getting large amounts of salt water up my nose

And, Devin of course turned goofy during one of the photos we tried to take. It turned out to be my favorite one from the weekend. It was great for all of us to be able to get together for the few days. This was definitely the beachy-est summer I've ever had!

Lonely Pack

This is Devin's new packback. This means I'm now alone until Thursday afternoon now while he helps out with a Boy Scout camping trip. Sigh...