The First Half of Summer

This summer has been filled with lots of fun events! May, June and the first part of July have been great!! I can't believe the summer is half way over.

For Mother's Day, my mom and I took a really fun painting class and now have matching paintings in our home!

For the first year, Brian and I joined a team for Memphis in May BBQ Fest. Our team was Swine-O-Mite! We competed in the ribs division. Even though we didn't win, we had so much fun and enjoyed having a place for all of our friends to hang out and eat great food.

One of the highlights of the summer (and a large part of why this blog has been neglected) is that the children's hospital where I work had it's grand opening for a brand new hospital on June 15. We have been in Memphis since 1952 but built a brand new, beautiful building next door to our current facility. It is absolutely amazing and I am so thankful to know that if my children ever need it, it is a top notch children's hospital. Part of the excitement of grand opening included a parade where various groups associated with the hospital marched and cheered with the crowd of over 2,000 people. Brian was asked to march along with the volunteers. He had so much fun! Our department (marketing and communications) was largely in charge of planning Grand Opening Week (yes, an entire week of huge events!) but we pulled it off with little sleep, 4 years of planning, and some of our best results yet!

Brian and me in game day attire :)

Saturday, June 19 some of our close friends, Sean and Ashlea, finally got married!!! We are so glad they moved back to Memphis from Chicago and they will be close by. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner at the Madison Hotel. It was so beautiful... cocktails on the roof gave us some of the best views of Memphis.

The groom and Brian - friends since kindergarten!

Brian and me on the roof of the Madison with the "m-bridge" in the background.

Saturday was wedding day! Brian was a groomsman and I read in the wedding. The wedding mass was at Immaculate Conception and was so beautiful.

The reception was at the Brooks Museum. I had never been to a reception there before and they completely transformed it for the wedding - it was really cool. Of course, the greatest wedding band of all-time Memphis Soul Revue performed. We had them at our wedding and I cannot say enough about them. I didn't take many pictures because we literally danced the entire night!

June 28, Brian and I celebrated two years of marriage! We had dinner at JG's and it was really good. I didn't take a single picture... now I am wishing I had. We had a huge dinner with lots to take home. We just had a quiet night together, which was really nice.

Last weekend, some of my high school friends got together and threw our friends Michelle and Ryan a wedding shower. They are getting married in October and we can't wait for their wedding! It was great to see Raina... I wish she came to visit us more often :)

The cake was hilarious. Michelle and Ryan are probably the most athletic people I know and they play in a competitive adult softball league. Ryan played baseball at the University of Memphis and Michelle played softball at MTSU. So truly, when Robyn and I saw this cake, we had to get it. Hilarious!

All the girls at the shower

Michelle got so much great stuff! Here she is opening up everything, with Michelle's sister, my mom, and Ryan's mom. Michelle and I went to preschool together and have known each other forever, so it is so cool to be a part of her wedding!

We had to get a mother/daughter picture of all the SBA girls. Poor Ms. Ginny (Robyn's mom) missed the picture! I think she had just left. It was such a great night... we loved doing it for Michelle. She cried and hugged us multiple times during the course of the night and told us how much she loves us. It was so sweet! I love having close friends like these that have known me for so long. It is really special.

Of course, what summer would be complete without a Redbirds game! It has been really hot lately in Memphis, but we braved the heat and watched the Birds win. Hopefully we'll be able to head out to more games.

Another big deal this summer is that I finally submitted and defended my special project (similar to a thesis) and officially have a master's degree! I could not be happier about this. I am so glad I did it, and I am DONE, and I will never go back to school again. I feel so proud because I graduated with the class I started with and worked full-time while I did it. There were some really challenging moments, juggling school, work, life, family, and friends, but I am pretty proud of myself.

That pretty much catches up the blog, with a few things left out here and there. I have a new camera on it's way (thanks to Leslie!) and some exciting life developments I will be blogging about soon!!! I can't wait! Stay tuned!

A few randoms...

SO my brother won the local Sing Like John Mayer contest! Now vote for him in the national contest here.

In other news, I have found my new most favorite blog ever. It makes me laugh everyday. It is calling Catalog Living and you can find it here. I cannot look at a Pottery Barn catalog without thinking of this blog.

After July 4th, I have some fun things in store for the blog! So check back soon.

Vote Vote Vote!!

Vote for my little brother Mark in a contest he recently entered - Sing Like John Mayer. Here is the link to vote for him: http://wrvr.singlikejohnmayer.com/

Vote as many times as you want! It would be fun to see him win.

Picking up where I left off

My last post was almost six months ago. Half a year... where did it go? Well, it went to weddings, wedding parties, various events for both work and friends, a trip to California, working on our house, and most importantly, studying for a masters degree. I have finished my last class, and now, with my thesis almost complete, I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

This summer will bring many more happy events in our life. Rather than trying to fill in all the events from the last six months, I have decided to pick up where I left off.

Stay tuned...

Worst Blogger Ever

Yup, that's me. I will try to catch you up through pictures.

We visited RiverArtsFest and chowed down on this deliciousness. As well as buy a little art.

We had a fun on Halloween as the Publisher's Clearinghouse Prize Patrol.

We enjoyed watching the Bulldogs beat the Tigers/War Eagle (whatever they are) in Athens.

We also had a lovely date night in Athens at Speakeasy, and then went out for drinks at The Winery. Our total bill at The Winery was $11 for 4 glasses of champagne and 7 beers. I miss Athens.

We had fun on Thankgiving down at the farm in Ethelsville, AL. This is the three of us at Forest Church. My grandparents were married there 57 years ago.

Hope y'all had a lovely Thanksgiving. We sure did! I promise to be a better blogger when this semester is over.

A House Divided

The second weekend in October is always interesting in the Fields' home. Why? Because it's Georgia vs. Tennessee. We have decided, as a rule, that we won't go to this game anymore. Let's just say both Brian and myself are sore losers :) However, I still say it's fun to be a house divided.

Friday night, we went to a great fundraiser for the Orpheum Theater called Brews & Q. We had a blast, and then went back to our house for a few rounds of Catch Phrase. Good times!

Me, Raina, Robyn and Michelle

Ryan, John Michael and Brian

Brian and me

Lots to Celebrate

I cannot believe I haven't posted in a month. Well, actually I can. If we could step away from football, housework, yardwork, studying, and spending time with friends/family this blog might get updated :) But then again, I would have nothing to blog about, so I guess it evens out.

Lots of fun things have happened lately. My close friend Michelle got engaged! We went out to celebrate with the girls.

I saw my close friend from growing up Chase get married to the love of his life, Cassie.

We saw Brian's new cousin Campbell get baptized.

The Fields' and the Slutz's

We celebrated Sean and Ashlea's engagement with a fun party at Sean's parents house. And of course, what night with Sean and Ashlea would be complete without a trip to Paula & Raiford's. Crazy night and we had a great time. I love hanging out with them! And meeting Ashlea's friends from her Atlanta days was a blast!

Robert, Blake, Chris, Sean, Charles and Brian

Brian and Sean

Joanna, Ashlea and me at Bardog

Ashlea and Sean at Raiford's

Me and Ashlea... this was prob around 4 a.m.

All the girls

Last weekend we headed to Knoxville for two special events. One was to celebrate Meg and Aaron's engagement and the other was to attend a little Delta Gamma reunion courtesy of the UT/Auburn football game. I hated to see the Vols lose in a close one, but the tailgate and the game were still so much fun. Brian and I had great seats, and I have to say that I was so happy with Brian that night. Living in a house divided is not always easy, especially since Georgia lost that day, but we really had a blast at the UT game. He hates orange, but loves me, so I appreciate the compromise :) Also, I was so excited to see the improvements to Neyland Stadium. It is sooo much nicer now. And we definitely got Petro's at the game, and it was the best ever!

Benjie, Hurt, Brian and me

Most of the girls at the engagement party


The girls again at the tailgate the next day

Enjoying the game!

Go Vols! And congrats to all of our friends!