anticipating

I've been looking forward to this weekend for a few weeks now. Tomorrow is the big Memphis vs. Tennessee basketball game. Memphis is #1 and UT is #2. If that weren't reason enough for this to be a big game, it's huge here in Memphis because U of M considers UT to be a huge rival. Whether UT feels that way or not, I do not know - but I have a hunch they don't really care. I'm not really looking forward to the game per-say because we don't have tickets and I really just don't care about basketball. But my bf is a HUGE (and when I say HUGE, I mean HUGE) UT fan. He has a group of friends coming in town for the game. None of them have tickets - and since the going price is an average of $1000 (some WAY more than that) I don't think any of the guys are actually going to be AT the game. But we will be downtown all day enjoying the festivities and then finding a nice cozy (probably loud) place to watch the game. I will be proudly sporting my Tiger Blue while the rest of the crew will be in their obnoxious orange. You tell me who will be the more fashionable of the group?
Tonight we're heading down to Tunica. I will be playing it safe at the penny and nickel slots. If I get really adventurous I might moozy over to the quarter slots, but that's about as wild as I get! I'm sure this weekend will be fun and exhausting weekend! I'll let ya know how it all went, on Monday!

Have a great weekend kiddos!

Valentines Cont'd

Well, the 2nd half of my Valentines proved to be as good, if not better than the 1st half. The bf surprised me and took me to Capriccio Grill. It's this amazing Italian Grill at the Peabody Hotel. It was fun, we got dressed up - which we don't do very often - and just enjoyed the night. The food was to die for! I even splurged and had the desert which was HEAVEN! Afterwards we went up on the rooftop and enjoyed the sites from up there. It was so pretty - cool, but not too cold and the sky was crystal clear. After some yummy hot chocolate in the hotel Lobby we went back to his place and opened gifts. It was by far the best Valentines I've ever had. Not because he got me dressed up and took me out, or bought me a delicious fruit arrangement.... but because he took the time to think of these things himself. I never dropped hints or suggestions about them - it was all him. And that meant the world to me. I've found a keep for sure!

I hope you all had a very wonderful Valentines!

Maybe this Valentines thing isn't so bad after all...

I'm gonna keep this short because it's about time to head home for the day. I just wanted to say how amazingly wonderful my bf is. We decided a few day ago not to do anything big - but today I'm sitting at my desk working, and the girl at the front desk calls me and says "hey, come up here for a min." I didn't think anything of it, because.... well I just didn't. So I walk up front and I see this....

How cute is that? It's a fruit flower arrangement! "Edible Arrangement" - I thought that the fruit was stuck down in florist foam... nope! It's lettuce! So creative. Anyway, this is so perfect! I'm not a huge fan of roses, and I'm trying to stay away from chocolate and eat a lot of fruit..... hence the perfection of this gift.

Best boyfriend in the nation!

Great friends, good times

This past weekend the bf and I headed down to Jackson, Miss. My best friend from college and her husband (L &L) live down there and I hadn't seen them since back in September. We left Saturday morning and got to my friends house around lunch. It only takes about 3 hours to get there, and it's straight down the interstate so it isn't a bad drive. We had lunch (taco soup, my favorite!) then went shopping in Madison at one my all time favorite stores. My friend's husband coaches baseball for one of the local high schools so we went and watched one of his games. I haven't been to a high school baseball game in probably 8 years - gosh, I remember thinking the guys out there were so old, mature, and just great athletes. Funny how your perception changes as you get older. Anyway, that night we just relaxed, had dinner, and enjoyed visiting. It was such a treat to get to spend some quality time with them.

Sunday after church we all had lunch with my Aunt and Uncle - they go to the same church as my friends. I love them so much and miss not getting to see them more - but at least L & L get to see them a good bit! But it was after church when the bf was in for a special treat! haha... I took him to Clinton so he could see Mississippi College. I went there for a few years before moving to Memphis so he's heard me talk about it from time to time..... and he has a good friend that is originally from Clinton and always mentions the "golden boob." He is referring to the coliseum which looks more like Epcot to me, but whatever. The tour lasted all of 10 mins, but I'm sure he loved it.... maybe.

The trip was short, but oh so sweet. It's easy to forget how much someone means to you when you don't seem them on a regular basis - but that girl means the world to me!

My newest love affair...

I have found a new vice, a new addiction, a love affair of sorts.... and it's called Craigslist! For those of you who are living under a rock and have not found the gold mine of treasures and deals, let me introduce you.... www.craigslist.com. It is a site that allows people to sell items, list services, advertise homes for sale/rent. Most every major city in the U.S. has a craigslist site. I have used craigslist alot over the past few years to find apartments, buy TV's, etc... but I had never sold anything on it.... until last week. And now I'm hooked!

I had this TV that I no longer needed/wanted but I didn't want to just throw it out. So I decided to list it on craigslist and see what would happen. Within 2 hours of posting the ad I had 2 people emailing me making offers. By 6:00pm the next day it was sold. The best part? I didn't have to ship it or worry about getting the money (like you do w/ ebay). I simply told them where to pick up the TV, and told them "cash only". Now I'm a little richer, and free from the cumbersome TV that I no longer needed. My friend had a bedroom suite that he wanted to get rid of.... sold 1 day after posting the ad! Wow, how simple! Now I'm looking around my house trying to find other things to sale. haha.

And since I've always been a bargain shopper, craigslist is one of the first places I look when I'm in the market for something. Tickets to a concert or sporting event? Yep, you can find them there! Need a refrigerator for your garage, but don't want to spend the money for a brand new one? CRAIGSLIST! It's a gold mine.... I'm not kidding.

Well, I guess it's safe to say I'm addicted.

Why is an oil change ALWAYS more than just an oil change?

This is something has frustrated me for the past few years - oil changes! We all know this is something that has to be done, it's a fact of life. If you want your car to run for an extended period of time, it is imperative that you have the oil changed (I know from experience. My sister and I went quite a while in high school w/out changing the oil in the car we shared, and amazingly enough the engine blew - yeah, my dad was thrilled!). But it seems that every time I go in for just a simple oil change, it's never just that! It's "Ms. Crosby... you need a new air filter, you need new wiper blades, you need an engine flush, you need your radiator flushed, you need more coolant." Are they telling me the truth? Heck if I know! Maybe I have a huge stamp on my forehead that says "ignorant about cars. Come on - Sucker me!" so they take full advantage of that. I can't help but feel that a lot of it is because I'm a young female and they assume (rightfully so) that I will not know if they are being truthful or not.

I went in the other day for an oil change - the sign out front said "Special! $21.99 Oil Change" I thought to myself "Sweet, I'll be in and out for about $25.00" - I should have known better. I pull in and can see them eying me thinking "here we go guys! Let's get her!". They hand me the clipboard, I fill out my information and tell them I want the $21.99 oil change. The guy begins to tell me that I should consider going for an upgrade because the $21.99 is a very basic oil and isn't that great for my engine - I tell him that I don't care, I just want the basic. They then offer to vacuum out my car- "how much is that gonna cost?". It's Free - well that's a surprise! (I'm still convinced there's a catch there). So I go wait in the lobby - I'm about 2 or 3 pages into a magazine before I hear "Ms. Crosby, we'd like to show you something." AHA! I knew it! They proceed to tell me that evidently someone has put in green antifreeze when it should have been the blue and it's caused some sludge to build up - I have no idea if that's true or not so I just nod in agreement - and the list goes on. I tell them to price it out and let me decide. After taking a look at the sheet and narrowing it down to what I thought was crucial, I got out of there for about $100.00. Well, there goes my cheap oil- change.

I am such a trusting person (sometimes to fault) and I want to believe that people are being honest with me..... but I can't honestly believe that 9 out of 10 times I get my oil changed there is something else wrong. I wish everyone could just treat people like they want to be treated - Honestly!