a bowl game and blister band-aids

After a week chock-full of traveling for Christmas, the hubs and I took a 2 day hiatus {to do fun, relaxing things like cleaning the house, doing 11 loads of laundry, and running errands} before heading on our last trip of 2011 to Memphis. CSB attended Vanderbilt for undergrad and jumped on the chance to watch them play in a bowl game, only their fifth appearance ever. I somewhat reluctantly agreed initially but got more excited about the trip as it got closer. We packed up the car with tailgate necessities and hit the road on Friday after lunch. Needless to say it took us 4 1/2 hours to get there from Nashville due to wrecks, pit stops, and errands on the way. Once there we checked into our hotel and headed to dinner with two of our good friends. After dinner we decided to explore a little bit and headed to Beal Street. Umm, not quite what I expected! We stood in line for several minutes and then had to be patted down/scanned with a metal detector. Our trip didn't last long, and we decided to head to the Peabody for drinks and called it a night. 

Beale Street (early in the night, even!). Call me old, but not quite my idea of fun. 

Of course my camera is currently on the disabled list and awaiting me to take it to Best Buy for repairs. There was no way I was going to venture to Best Buy the day before Christmas or immediately after, however, so the only pictures I have from the weekend are from my iPhone. 

On Saturday morning we headed out bright and early to set up our tailgate. We catered Corky's barbecue {delicious!} and I baked a few things the day before. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a great time visiting with friends. We had incredible seats at the game, thanks to a good friend of CSB's and cheered on the Dores until we were hoarse. Unfortunately, they didn't pull off a victory. It was a hard loss, but it was such a fun weekend and experience nonetheless! I'm already planning tailgates for next season... 

More tomorrow on our super exciting very laid back new year's eve... Happy 2012! 

P.S. Blister band-aids are the best. invention. ever. If you've never used them, I definitely recommend trying them, especially for blisters on your heel. I will save you the details I forced upon CSB and our other two friends on Friday night but trust me!