Hotty Toddy

Sorry for the lack of postings lately, I promise this one will make up for it. This past weekend I traveled back to the Promiseland... aka Oxford, Mississippi. I had not been back since I left the day after graduation in May, so it was good to be back in the place I spent my 4 years during college. Oh how I missed it!

Friday I left Austin quite early and met my dear friend Amy at the Memphis airport. We drove back to Oxford and man did it feel oh so good to be back in that sweet town. Friday night Amy, Christie, Chelsea and I met up and went to Proud Larry's for dinner. Unfortunately the square was absolutely packed and so we had to wait almost 1 hour to be seated, and then another unfortunate thing happened and all of our meal was messed up. Despite the crazy night at Proud Larrys we had a great time catching up and hanging out, just like old times. Oh how time flies, it seems like yesterday we were doing this often and all living in Oxford. And now everyone is working and in graduate school. Christie is now an intern with Campus Crusade at Ole Miss, Chelsea is a kindergarden teacher at Regent's in Oxford, and Amy is still on Staff with Campus Crusade, but she and her husband Kyle are pregnant! So exciting! Bye the time we finished dinner and catching up I was exhausted since I had been up early. Christie, Kay, another friend and Crusade Intern at Ole Miss and I went back to the CKC (Christie, Kay, and Carmen Rae) house and chatted and went to sleep.

Saturday we slept in, watched a little pregame football on ESPN where Will Ferrell predicted Ole Miss to beat Aubrun, the number 1 team in the country, Texas to beat Baylor and Georgia to beat Florida. Upon hearing this I was super excited because those are three of my favorite teams. According to Will Ferrell it was going to be a great day in college football... We got ready, and headed to the grove around 1. Oh it was so great to be back in the Grove on a gameday... I hadn't experienced the Grove on gameday in 2 years since I was in Spain last year during football season. We hung out in the grove and I saw lots of people who I hadn't seen in a while... I also passed by the infamous Bear in the Walk of Champions, for those of y'all that don't know, that's the new Ole Miss mascot. Around 4 we headed into the stadium to watch the pregame show... yes we sat in the student section as if we were still students, but it was fun to be in such a lively atmosphere. Soon came the 5 PM kickoff and the stadium was absolutely packed... I think there was a record number of people in Oxford for the game and in the stadium, let's just say it was crazy! Within the first minute of the game we scored and everyone was crazy, however, the game quickly turned in Auburn's favor. After standing for so long we decided it would be a good idea to leave since we were loosing so bad anyway. So Christie, Carmen Rae, Amy and Me all went back to the CKC house and hungout for a while. Unfortunately, Will Ferrell's predictions did not come true.... none of them did! It was oh such a sad day for Ole Miss, Texas and Georgia. But if we had to lose, I'd rather it be to Auburn.

Christie, Amy, Carmen Rae and Me

Carmen Rae and Me

Amy and Me (and future baby Cole :))

Me and Christie

Kelsey and Me

Chelsea, Carmen Rae, Christie and Me

Chelsea, Carmen Rae, Christie, Me and Kelsey

Notice the Black bear in the background... our new mascot

Oh I missed this place...

Sunday, we went to Grace, my home church in Oxford during college and heard Stephen preach the Word. It was great as always and nice to be in such a small community. After church a big group of us made a trip to Newks, another Oxford favorite that is now here in Austin. It was fun! After lunch I took a 2 hour nap and then Christie and I went to babysit Etta Kate and then made a trip to Yaya's on the square. Sunday night I joined the Crusade Staff team for a Halloween dinner and got to play with sweet Etta Kate who was dressed up as a flower. After the party we went over to Amy and Kyle's house to hangout and Missy and Craig brought over their sweet new chocolate lab puppy named Jake. We bathed Jake and played with him for awhile and then I headed back over to the CKC house and went to sleep.

Etta Kate in her flower costume and Me

Jake... isn't he the cutest thing ever

Monday, my sweet friend Christie drove me to the airport bright and early. I got back to Austin and immediately took a long nap before class last night. Oxford was successful and it was so great to be back in that great town with all of my good friends! Oh how I miss it! But I do love life in the city too! I always have been a city person! haha! Now I just have to get through the next 3 days and then I am New York bound.

-Mo