Is that a steak on your head?

I think this shall always be one of my favorite YouTube clips.

The Baker, The Caterer, The Bridal Gown Maker

So I'm the Cogginator's maid of honor and I am just thrilled. The wedding is in October, giving us plenty of time to make sure every detail is just so.

This weekend, Coggin and I went with the mothers of the bride and groom to the Nashville Bridal Show at the Convention Center. It's basically a million brides, a dozen grooms, a few thousand mothers and a bunch of friends all finding out way too much about weddings. You can purchase your cake, find your photographer, get your caterer, hire a DJ and schedule an appointment for nearly nude photos and liposuction all in one place. This place is for keeps.

So Laura so graciously asked me to go with her and the moms to the show. We knew it would be wedding overload but figured that we can make any situation fun, right? Well, about halfway through we hit our 5th bakery. This baker woman was hocking her wares left and right. I should have gone no where near the pamphlet to get more information because she beelined to me.

Our conversation went a little something like this:

Baker: "CAN I HELP YOU?"

Me: "Oh, not me. My friend here is the one getting married."

(Seeing the fear in my eyes, I pull Laura into the convo.)

Baker: "When are you getting married?"

Laura: "October 16th, so we have a while."

Baker: "Do you have your cake picked out yet?"

Laura: "Well, not ye..."

Baker: "Oh, you've got to try my cake. We use all real ingredients, real butter. It's the best."

Laura and I: "Oh, no thank you."

Baker to me (while looking at my stomach): "Well I know you're full."

Me: "EXCUSE ME?!?! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?!? I KNOW YOU AREN'T IMPLYING THAT I'M...DID YOU REALLY?!?!?"

Me in actuality: "I am. I've eaten a lot today."

End of conversation.

If that baker keeps it up, someone is going to drop a 'bow on her head. I should have let her know that you can look at someone and assume they've eaten a lot that day but you shouldn't tell them you assume that.

For the Love of the Game

I am pleased to inform you that the 2010 professional tennis year has begun. That's right, folks! Get ready. Amber and I will be talking tennis-ese for the next 10 months as we watch our favorite players chase the eternal summer.

There are many reasons I love tennis. Ask me sometime and I can tell you. Mostly, I love it because I can actually play. And while I'm not the best at it, I have my strengths (all forehands, never a backhand.) A goal of 2010 is to get on the court and play more.

How could you not love this?

I vow not to inundate you with tennis posts. I realize it could be very excluding.

12monthsofresolutions.blogspot.com

If I Could Turn Back Time

It's been said that TV is the window to your soul. That's not true but it's a good intro into this blog post. Is there a TV show you've watched from the beginning? One that you could watch over and over again (and sometimes do on Hulu.com)? One that you hope they'll put on Lifetime, Oxygen or TBS syndication so you can watch it at every hour of the day?

Here are the 5 shows that I will always love:

1. Friday Night Lights (Doi, have you not seen the blog posts that I've penned (uh, typed) about this fabulous show?)

2. How I Met Your Mother (One of the best shows on TV.)

3. Sex and the City

4. Saved by the Bell

5. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (Gone too soon.)

Here are the 3 shows that I am currently loving:

1. Modern Family (Give this show a chance. You won't regret it.)

2. The Middle

3. 30 Rock

Is there a TV show that you have loved from the beginning and get envious when you hear someone is starting to watch it starting at Season 1 on DVD?

Life is a Game

If my job was the game of Risk, I would have just lost my grip on the world. I had control of Asia, Australia and parts of the Middle East. I've had to relinquish my control on most of the Eastern Hemisphere and in turn I'm defending Europe. Rumor is that when playing Risk, Europe is hard to keep control of because there are so many ports of entry.

Good thing my job is nothing like Risk :)

Have you met Mariclaire?

I'd be lying if I said it's been easy. Sometimes I think of taking the easy way out, saying it's my blog and my challenge and I'll do what I darn well please. But then again, that's the purpose of the 12 Months of Resolutions. You see, they say it takes 21 days to make a habit. I'll admit that I've started brushing my teeth and halfway through I stop because I've forgotten to floss. So it's not a habit yet. I get to about 10 o'clock and think about how tired I am and think It'll be okay if I blog tomorrow. But that's not the deal.

So I give you a seven fun facts about my best friend, Mariclaire.

1. Mariclaire is a Spanish teacher in Madison, Miss. She spent 1 summer in Peru, a semester in Spain and another month in Spain during her college years. She's quite the aficionado. However, as of right now she's only managed to teach me how to say Cuidado! (That means caution.)

2. Mariclaire's mother, Debbie, was my kindergarten teacher at Broadmoor. She tells the story about how I was going to write a book when I got older. If only she had known... I also was with dear WMU-heading Debbie when she drank mimosas thinking they were orange juice. Boy, they were good.

3. Mariclaire and I are great traveling buddies. We have driven many a southern highway and backroad. We've conquered the Superdome and New Orleans. We journeyed through the streets and avenues of New York City, drove the PCH on the coast of California, walked the Las Vegas Strip (losing only a few dollars) and sipped tea in London across the pond.

4. We had great plans to be on The Amazing Race. With her knowledge of Spanish and ability to drive a stick shift and my impeccable directional sense and 6 years of French, the Italian lessons on my iPod and my Scottish/Irish last name, we would have been an unstoppable force. Marian (as I call her) is an amazing pedestrian. She can weave through a crowd with the best of them. There was a moment in London where I thought she was not going to make it across the 6 lanes of traffic but, by golly, she did.

5. Mariclaire loves the band Boston. I think the reason is mostly because of More Than a

Feeling mentions "MaryAnn" but she thinks it is Marian, her given name (Marian Claire.)

6. Mariclaire has sensitive ears and on many occasions has called my handclap the Clap of Doom. If memory serves me correctly, I think it's the left ear that is super sensitive causing me to mostly sit on her right at sporting events.

7. Mariclaire wrote many of my student recruiting letters during college. As a Roadrunner, we had to write 25 letters a week (you wrote more if you were new) and she could churn those letters out. She also helped me learn the words to the Mississippi State alma mater. "In the heart of Mississippi, Made by none but God's own hands..."

Our Yeoman from the Tower of London

Tea Time in London

Wedding Weekend!

Love you, MCI!!!

12monthsofresolutions.blogspot.com

A Family Affair...

As John and I were growing up we each seemed to favor a different side of the family...John the Bilbreys and I the McDonnells. However, as we've aged I'm not sure this is the same. You be the judge...

Who do I look like...Kay or Bob? I'll put some different shots of them on here to give you more to go from in case you don't know the fabulous Mr. & Mrs. McDonnell.

John (My brother) and Sarah (me!)

Kay (isn't she beautiful?)

Bob (not really but it is his face on someone else's head. I'm working to get a legit pic.)

Me (I would have rocked the 60s)

Bob and Me (2009)

So, who do we look like? Or could what John told me as a child be true...that I was adopted from the Salvation Army?

12monthsofresolutions.blogspot.com