On Friday Kyle and I hopped in the car and headed north about 7 1/2 hours to Athens, GA. Kyle's cousin Jason is an assistant golf coach at The University of Georgia and offered us a place to stay and tickets to the football game so we took him up on his offer. And we got to spend a wonderful weekend with family and you can't beat that. We got in pretty late on Friday and pretty much went straight to bed. I wish I had taken pictures of their house because it is beautiful. They have done a lot of remodeling and it looks like a perfect southern country home. Their kitchen is so beautiful I could spend all day in it! And the decor looks like it came out of the Pottery Barn catalog...I knew Angela and I would get along great. ;-)
On Saturday morning we got up and got dressed in our black and red for the game. I must say Georgia has some pretty cute collegiate clothes and as long as you are wearing red, black, and white you are good to go. Jason made us some yummy pancakes and we watched some sports center and I got to meet the other Angela in the family. We headed to the game to do some tailgating and we had so much fun. They make this dip that is to die for. All it is is some pepper and onion relish from Harry and David and cream cheese and viola...really good dip!
Angela and Jason Payne
The Dawgs were playing Tennessee Tech and it was a blow out. By time we got to our seats it was 14-0 but it was nice to get to watch some live college football. The stadium is bigger than OU's and it holds something like 92,000 people. Around the field they have hedges and they call it "tween the hedges" because you can walk around the field inside the hedges and it's pretty cool. We walked down there and got to see UGA the mascot! such a cute pup.
UGA!
And Jason and Angela have an english bulldog too named Dooley! We left the game early and it was nice to be a fan of a winning team that day. I won't talk about OU losing to Nebraska and I'm certainly not going to talk trash about the OSU game because there is a possibility that we might lose to them. ugh.
Kyle (how cute is he in his Georgia gear!) and Jason
Oh and there's a tradition that SEC teams have that I think OU / the Big 12 needs to adopt. All the sororities and fraternities have stickers/ buttons that they wear saying (insert sorority / frat here) loves the Dawgs. So of course I ventured towards the student section to see if I could find me some cutie Chi O's and get a sticker. I found a group of them and asked if they had any extras and they didn't. That or they thought I some crazy old alumni! Either way I ended up finding a mom that had a sticker on and took a picture. I think it is such a great idea! See not everything about the SEC is annoying!
Saturday night we went back to campus and ate at a pizza place called The Mellow Mushroom. It is Hideaway's long lost cousin. It was really good! Then we walked around campus and got a tour from Jason and Angela. They have some pretty cool traditions. They have a bell tower that you ring after winning a game. People just walk up to it and ring it all night long. So we gave the bell a ring since they won the game that day. They also have arches around campus that stand for wisdom, justice, and moderation. If you walk under the Arch while you are a freshman, legend has it that you will never graduate. (sound familiar...clock tower). We saw the field where the first football game was played and their campuses are divided between north and south campus! Very similar to Norman!
Then we went back to their house and roasted marshmallows and made S'mores. Perfect ending to a perfect day. They have an amazing fire pit and it was pretty chilly in Athens so it was nice to bundle up next to a fire with great company. Jason and Angela are the first and only family members on Kyle's side of the family that I've met and vise versa. It is so nice to reconnect with family. I hope to get to meet more of them in the future. Also, Angela is expecting their first child in April and they find out this Friday what they are having. We can't thank them enough for a wonderful weekend and hope to do it again soon.
Love,
AP and KP
Hey I read this and had to tell you that I ate at Mellow Mushroom in Dtown Chattanooga last Saturday :). I just got back from spending 2 weeks in Dalton, GA. :)
ReplyDeletehey i've been in that xo house!! before i went to OU my friend was a xo there...fun times!! and yes, i love the XO buttons too! I always wished we had them...they've had them here at UT for as long as i can remember! yay for your house too! =) i will need your new address for xmas cards!!
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