Today is reading day. Which means classes are over, but exams are not. Oh the joys.

I was planning on having an entry about UVA and explain all the fun/not so fun stuff that happened, but some how that never happened, as well as for Jacksonville. Let's just say they were all in all pretty fun. The UVA band were total asses to us. A highlight was when a very large tuba (he couldn't fit in the tuba!) said, "We'll send you a card from Jacksonville!" And Shannon says, "Yeah! When you're there for the Gator Bowl!!!" Everyone should know the outcome of that game by now! WE WON! COASTAL CHAMPS!!! And we got the Commonwealth Cup...AGAIN! :-) That was so sweet to win that game. At the end of the game everyone was chanting "JACKSONVILLE!" and "ACC!" It was so awesome. Then we left the following Friday morning for Jacksonville, FL. The further south we got the warmer it got, it was awesome. When we got there that evening, it was SO humid, I had to change into my tank top. I was rooming with some sisters (my big sis Sarah, JJ, and Jenn) and our room was adjoined to some freshman trombones. They were a HUGE hit with the sisters, it was so funny. They were like, I've never seen them before!!! We may have convinced three of them to pledge KKY in the spring. Sunshine, Biscuit, and Gumby. See? They already have nicknames, it's great. The following day was a busy one, but I love earlier games because you don't have a lot of time to kill before the game! We practiced our shows real quick, then practiced the national anthem with the Boston College band...who are SO much nicer than the UVA band and it was really nice getting to meet them. We performed for each other too. They have about 180 people in their band, so they were a tad smaller than us. Haha. (We have 330 who march on the field, plus alternates and such) So...the first three quarters of that game weren't so great. BUT, it was pretty great that BC scored no more after half-time. And toward the end I was about to have a heart attack. I was so afraid they'd do what they did to us in October again. But no, we did it to them instead! It was so amazing to win the ACC Championship! ...again. Haha. So now we get to go to the Orange Bowl! That will be a lot of fun. We're flying down on the first and coming back on the 4th. We are staying at this amazing hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. So it should be pretty sweet! :-)

So it'll be hard to wait for the first to come, but I'm glad I get to spend New Year's Eve with Kevin again! Two out of Three so far isn't bad! :-)

~Taylor~

P.S. It snowed yesterday!

I'm sad today, because today was my office mate's, Christin, last day. She is graduating Friday and will be moving to Jacksonville, Fl!!! Her fiance, Ryan, got a really good job down there. So hopefully she can find one too. I'm really going to miss her.

This is us at Dawn's wedding! We've been looking for someone to fill her position, but we haven't found someone yet. My friend, Jillian, was interested for a little while, but then said next semester would be too busy for her to work here. So, so much for that! Oh, and today is my four year anniversary starting this job!

Today we have a yankee swap for our work Holiday Party. They are so much fun. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures to share on here! This is our second holiday party. We had one Monday at the Inn at Virginia Tech for the whole big OIA...and I'm not sure what that stands for, haha. I think Outreach and International Affairs or something. Then today is for just my work here in the building, it is CPE...Continuing and Professional Education. Haha. They change the names on me all the time, so I'm not sure what anything stands for anymore. The party today is going to be at the Blacksburg Country Club! Why we need to go all the way out there, I don't know, but it should be fun. As long as we don't get lost getting there!

Oh, and by the way, I'M FINISHED WITH THE FALL 2007 SEMESTER!!! :-D

Yay.

~Taylor~

A find from FOUND:

So all in all the holiday party was fun. I was probably the second person there because Dawn and David got stuck behind a bunch of buses and I was first in a line of cars on the way there. Haha. Atleast I saw someone I knew in the parking lot, or I wouldn't have known where I was going! My present was pretty big, I had wrapped the actual present (which was so cute!...I got penguin slippers that were attached to a cusion and was a foot massager! $10 at wally world!) and then put it in an awesome Vera Bradly box (which was SO pretty, but I had no use for it and it was just taking up space, and I knew out of all the women that work at my work, one of them would appreciate it!) at wrapped it, then put it in another bag and sprinkled hershey candies around it. I out do things sometimes, haha. Oh, and there are no pictures, because I forgot my camera at work! Anyway, people finally started arriving and we ate some snacks and we finally got to have the yankee swap!

The way we play it is everyone brings in (the limit this year was a $5 gift, but I was like, no...you can't get anything good for that amount, so mine was a tad bit more) gift and you put it on a table. Each gift is then numbered and everyone who brought a gift picks a number out of a tin. The first person opens gift #1. Then the second person can either steal what #1 got or open gift #2. And it goes on...in a round, only two swaps can be made (to save time). Then at the end when all the gifts are open, person #1 can swap and get any gift they want, since they never had the chance to steal. So yay for them! Courtney got to be #1, she didn't know the power she had until we explained it to her. Haha. I was #6. When it was my turn I chose to open my gift. It was a cute cheerleader penguin that danced and sang "Jingle Bells." Debbie ended up stealing it from me and I got a measly mug. This mug cost 99 cents (according to the sticker on the bottom), and looked like it had already been used. Needless to say, my present was never stolen from me again. It was a cute mug and all...but it just kinda sucked you know?

I did try to get rid of it by trying to tell people in search of a trade how great of a mug it was, but I didn't want to be too obviously disappointed. I don't like to offend people. And I was afraid the person who got it would have thought of me as an unappreciative little...female dog. But Dawn was funny, she was so angry that they had put no money or effort into the gift and thought it was so gross that it looked used. She just went off about it. She said that gifts should cost ATLEAST $5 so no one gets as crummy of a gift as I got stuck with, and that I spent $10 on a gift and put a lot of effort into it, and I didn't deserve to be stuck with that. Haha. She was telling Dave some of this too (he's another guy who works over in Marketing...he didn't forget his camera, haha). But she was really funny, and I'm really glad she had my back. But sometimes you just gotta live with what you got. And I'm hoping maybe I can con some sucker into buying the mug on ebay or something...for around $5. Then at least the mug will be good for something, and I'll clean it before giving it away!

My present got swapped around a bunch. It started out with...I think her name is Tracey, and she loved the box, and she was excited with the slippers. Then Nancy from my part of the office stole them from her. Then Andy from Finance stole them from Nancy for his pregnant wife. All this time Tracey kept the Vera Bradley box hidden in hopes everyone who was doing the stealing wouldn't want the box either. However, up came Shawn's turn (he use to be my office mate a while ago!) and he had this whole speech, and we didn't know exactly what he was going for, then he went for the slipper, AND he wanted the box for his wife too! Hahaha. It was hilarious that he had remembered it and called Tracey out on it. He ended up with it in the end. He was really happy with it! I'm glad.

THE TWIST!

I get to work today, and I'm sitting at my desk minding my own business when Dave (the one who I spoke of before) shows up with a gift bag in his hand. He told me it was for me, but before I could see it I had to be prepared not to be offended because it looked a little risque. Haha. I told him I'm not too easily offended by things (I am in a section of mostly college guys who are so ridiculous). He told me he bought a bunch of these, but when he saw them, he decided he couldn't give them away as gifts because of how they looked. So now I'm like, I wanna know what it is!!! Haha. He was giving the gift to me because he felt bad about how I got shafted a the party yesterday. (Can you tell how Dawn talked about it now!? That mug wasn't even his gift!) He finally handed it to me and I opened it, and it was a cactus pen!!! (It looks a little falic/vibratorish) Haha. It is so cute, and I was like, this is so awesome!!! That was so nice of him to do that for me. So I'm definately going to have to get him the most awesome thank you card known to man. As soon as I get home and am able to upload a picture of it, you can see it too!

Getting that mug had a good out come, haha.

~Taylor~

P.S. The traffic here in Blacksburg is horrible!!! Graduation is tomorrow, and the last exams were today. So a ton of people coming and going equal a TON of traffic.

So I haven't been in to work for a few days because I've been somewhat sickly, and I get to work and there was a huge present on my chair. I was like, what?! And it said "to Taylor from Santa." I was like, okay...what in the?! Haha, so I open it and it was double wrapped like I had wrapped my present, haha, and it was the Cheerleader Penguin I had gotten originally! I was like, WHAT?! Haha, so I called Andy in to ask if he knew anything about it and he said Debbie had been asking where my office was and she had been the last person to get it. I went to ask her, because I'd like to be able to thank the person it was from, but she swore up and down it wasn't hers, that hers was wrapped up ready to go to her niece. Haha. So I don't know who it is from. But it is so cute, and who ever gave it to me, THANK YOU! :-) Robin says she wants to get the bad gift next year so she can get all the extra gifts I've gotten. Haha. So yay :-)

~Taylor~

So, you'd think I would be use to deer in the road running around by now. Kevin has deer by his house daily and going down his road to get to the highway is usually filled with at least three or four deer! Today I was not so lucky to just see them down the road and have plenty of time to just slow down and wait for them to move.

I was headed home from Kevin's house at around mid-night, there was a heavy wet snow falling, and I had safely turned on to Main Street from 460 and was gradually picking up speed again, when all of a sudden I see this flash of white in the corner of my eye to the left. DEER! I immediately slammed on my breaks...okay, maybe not the best idea...because the road was slippery and I slid! It seemed to take the deer about 5 hours to jump across the road right in front of me, but it crossed without me hitting it, thank goodness, because I would have been so heart broken! I managed to get control of the car again and I very very slowly picked up speed again. My heart was racing, so I called Kevin to tell him what happened and I knew talking to him would calm me down. It worked! I got home safely and without further complications!

I just don't see why they have to wait until the last possible second to go across the road! That deer had plenty of time before I got there. Unless he has seen that Gieco commercial where the squirrels run the cars off the road. I am just so glad I didn't turn my steering wheel, because that would have been really bad.

So why did the deer cross the road?!

We may never know.

~Taylor~

I have done a lot recently that I've been meaning to discuss, but never got around to...until now!

This past weekend our family went on our annual trip to Gatlinburg, TN. A very interesting time as usual. Getting there was not easy...there was a ton of traffic because of accidents and we left during rush hour, so after getting off the highway, and going in circles on back streets we finally got to the part of the highway that didn't have traffic. That was all a half an hour from our house, the rest of the way went well. When we finally got there we walked around downtown Gatlinburg a little and discovered they now have a Bubba Gump's! I was so excited! When Kevin and I were in Charleston, we ate there for dinner both nights we were there! Including on my birthday :)! They have FANTASTIC strawberry smoothies! (Even though it isn't on the menu, they'll still make it for you) We made a mental note to have dinner there the next night. It was cold so we didn't stay out for long, and soon we were snoozing away.

We woke up early to get some shopping in before the rain started. We ate at a pancake house, there is one at about every corner. Then, since it was still too early to go to Tangier Mall, we went by Dollywood, some how my dad ended up at the employee entrance! Haha. We finally went to the mall and shopped shopped shopped. I got so many things! I think my mom bought one thing. Haha. She bought me a pretty shimmery black and gold skirt...originally $88 for $9.99!!! How awesome is that? I also got PJ bottoms that says "Lazy Bones" which I had to get (because I'm a trombone and we're known for our laziness!) They're flannel and warm. I got a few other random things, presents for others, but I didn't find anything for Kevin! He's so picky I'm always nervous about getting him presents he doesn't know about. I actually managed to get him a surprise this year and be successful! YAY! But I gave it to him weeks ago...we can never wait until Christmas to give each other gifts.

We then got lunch at Bennett's BBQ. We always eat there every time we come down. It's alright, I'm not the biggest fan of it, but my parents like it...so I usually find something I like there. I think I just had chicken tenders this time, haha.

Then we went to a store that had a ton of bathing suits! We passed it on the way in, and my mom noticed it had bathing suits. I've been in need of one for Miami! After looking at them all and trying on a whole lot I finally found one that fit! My brother and father found their own way to entertain themselves....

On our way over to the Christmas place my mom decided she wanted to go on the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride....yes, you heard right. It was actually a bit frightening. You went into a really dark cave type thing and dinosaurs and weird looking creatures would come at you from the sides and the t-rex's head came down toward you like it was going to eat you! And at the end, just when you thought it was over the boat's front begins to lift like you're going to be tipped out the back and a huge snake comes at you from above as you're lifted closer! It was creepy, if I had been younger I would have been in hysterics!

We finally got to the Christmas Place. I love it there, it's like a mini-christmas town! They also recently built a Christmas Place Hotel!!! How cool is that? We spent a little while in there looking around! I got an ornament there for Dawn! Which I just realized I forgot to give her...oops! It's so cute! It's a first Christmas together, and it's precious moments! I love those cute little characters! I'd love to have just a precious moments tree! Haha.

At this point we were exhausted. So we went back to the hotel and I took a nap. My parents went out around town. They came back and watched a football game. Then we finally got to go to Bubba Gump! I actually ran into someone I went to high school with there! Haha. He goes to ETSU and was there with a few of his friends. So, it was nice to see him since I haven't seen him in years. He's the fuzzy headed guy in the picture below, haha:

Our waitress at Bubba Gump's was very interesting...she seemed very slow and when she came to tell us that she'd be with us in a minute, she explained everything she was going to do in that minute and she paused like she expected us to have an entire conversation with her. And when my mom told her she couldn't have any bread on her plate because she is allergic, she told her there was only Garlic Bread on there....um...yeah. So, it was interesting, haha. But it was good because I got a very lovely Strawberry Smoothie! They are so good there, they don't have it on the menu, but it's basically parts of other smoothies put together. Haha.

YUM!

We walked around Gatlinburg a bit more, but it was raining, so we didn't stay out for long and eventually went back to the hotel.

The morning we woke up and had some breakfast. Stopped at a few places...including an As Seen on TV store...those places are crazy! I don't recommend going.

The first few days of the week I wasn't feeling too well. I picked up some sort of bug, but I was feeling better by Wednesday. I started working on fun ornaments for friends and family. Since I haven't given them all out yet, I'll wait until I post pictures of them! But they are really cute! :-)

Yesterday Dawn and I exchanged gifts! I gave her her presents of ornaments (one broke!)...except that one I just remembered writing this, haha. She got me a super cute hokie t-shirt that is kind of vintagey looking and VT scrap booking stuff! I can't wait to use that! I'll need to get a scrapbook to put it all in. I had gone to Volume II to get face tattoos for Sarah since she forgot hers in her dorm and would not be back to Blacksburg before the Orange Bowl, I was mailing her a card and her ornament anyway, so I just slipped those in with it! And the mailman said it would be there BEFORE Christmas, so it better be!

Yesterday my eye also started getting red. I just thought something just irritated it, but now I find out it is pink eye. Kevin was putting clear eyes in it last night to see if that would help. It did for about an hour or so. He had to hold my eye open to get it in because seeing the bottle right over my eye freaked me out and I would close my eye...kind of like Rachel in Friends when Monica tried to get drops in her eye. Haha. He washed his hands afterward to be sure not to get pink eye from me. He had pink eye a few weeks ago. The clear eyes worked for him! I called the doctor this morning and they're calling in a prescription for me at CVS. I love it when I don't actually have to go to the doctor!

So, there is my story. Christmas is right around the corner!!!

~Taylor~

Happy Christmas Eve!

Yesterday Kevin's grandma gave me presents from her and Kevin's mom. Kevin's grandma made me a pillow out of an MV Flag Uniform!

If I can talk my dad into looking through his pictures from years past, maybe I can get a picture of an actual Flag uniform up so you can see where all that came from!

She also got me a gift card for Michael's!!! I'm so excited, because Dawn just got me VT scrapbooking stuff, and Kevin got me a scrapbook, so this will really help to get me started on that. If this VT scrapbook goes well, then I hope to make one of Kevin and I throughout the years! :) I have some good pictures of us from hiking, dates, and vacations that would be great to put in a scrapbook.

Kevin's mom got me electronic Sudoku! Which will be fabulous for going to Alexandria today and for the plane to Miami! And for class! ...just joking...that's what the CT is for! :)

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I'm sure I'll be gushing about all my gifts I got tomorrow...so stay tuned!

Follow Santa!

~Taylor~

P.S. My mom hands me a present for me today and tells me that she thinks it will be my favorite present. So I tell her I should open it...you know that whole opening one present on Christmas Eve thing, and she says I can't but I can shake it if I want to. So I do, and there is no sound or movement. She likes to play games with my head. So I have no idea what it is, but I think it is an empty box. We probably won't open presents at home until the 26th when we get back from Alexandria...so I'll have to wait until then unless I go talk her into it right now...stay tuned!

Update: No such luck yet :( But I still have an hour until we leave!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! Mine went pretty well, I'll blog about it later! :) Let's just say I still have presents at home to open and I got a lot of gift cards today, so my Christmas isn't over!

~Taylor~

So, about the mystery gift...my mom gave me a clue..."It's not a pony." We'll, duh! A pony wouldn't fit in that small box. She kept saying, it is not a pony! Then one time she said, it's not a pony that bites...that clued something in...

A PHONE! SHE'S GETTING ME A NEW PHONE! But wait a minute...that box was way too light to hold a phone! My mom explained that our contract ends on January 12th, so she's getting me a new phone then! When I finally got home to open the gift, this is what I opened it to:

So I can't wait until I get that!

The rest of Christmas was good, I got a bunch of gift cards and a printer! So yay! :)

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a great night, and a safe one. I'm going to MIAMI tomorrow!!! :D

YAY '08!

~Taylor~