I said it's great...to be...a Georgia...Gaaaator!

I guess that's what I could be labeled...a Georgia Gator. 

Well, my poor Dawgs took a beating and it was hard to watch, but I was hoping for the Gators to take the win.  Blood runs thicker than an alma mater, right?  Most definitely!  (love you Teej!)  And TJ's coach did not hesitate to tell me that when I visited the team hotel on Friday night wearing a Georgia t-shirt, which I only did to pick on TJ...and so I could get this picture of the little sibling rivalry we've got going on...

P.S.  When did my little brother get so big??

Tim Tebow thought my little prank was funny and insisted on getting a picture with me and my Georgia shirt too, but I've somehow misplaced that picture... ;)

So, Ryan and I got to Jacksonville Friday night before my parents and (family friends) Lisa and Benny, so we got to hang out at the team hotel with TJ and Sam (his roommate & bff...or whatever guys call their bff's) for awhile, which is always fun - those two are entertaining together.


Saw Omar, a Buford teammate of TJ's who also plays at UF - he came up to hug me, but then saw my shirt and said he just couldn't hug me with that thing on.  :) 

Made it to our hotel pretty late to find that Jacksonville on GA/FL weekend is I-N-S-A-N-E!!!  We stayed at a hotel walking distance from the stadium so we wouldn't have to deal with parking on game day, but in doing so, our hotel happened to be right beside The Landing...on Halloween weekend...with about 50,000 college students (= lots of drunk people in costumes at all hours of the day...and night).  We had to wear wristbands and show them to security guards just to get on the elevator at our hotel, and we slept soundly at night to the calming noises of our sound machine, which we had set to the "drunken 3AM party in the hotel hallway" setting.

Aside from the chaotic hotel experience though, we had a fun weekend!  My whole family was there except for Matt (who had to be in Virginia to whoop up on some Cavaliers that day) along with family friends Benny & Lisa and my uncle Steve and cousin Eric...all of whom have been die hard UGA fans all their lives, but rocked the orange and blue all weekend for TJ (except for my cousin Eric...he couldn't bring himself to do it).





As we were walking around the stadium waiting for the Gator Walk, I heard the Red Coat Band play the Georgia fight song from a distance.  That was the first time I realized that it was going to be harder than I thought to pull against my bulldogs.  Although I logically wanted Florida to win for TJ's sake, hearing the fight song, and then later the calling of the dawgs and the chants during the game made me want to stand up in the middle of the sea of orange and blue that I was sitting in and join right in with the Bulldog nation!  I have to say, it's been so fun to be at Florida games this season and be a part of TJ's experience there, but I do miss Georgia football game days in Athens!



And here comes the team! Left picture is TJ following Coach White (his position coach) in the Gator Walk, middle is Omar Hunter (Buford high school teammate of TJ's), right is...superman himself...that's right, Tim Tebow.



I have to admit...Jennica and I did call the Dawgs on the first kickoff...just for fun.  oops. And if you look closely in the middle picture, we both did rock our Georgia "G"'s despite being decked out in Florida colors - hers on her face, mine on my earrings.  :)



And here come the teams...

Opening Kickoff for Georgia/Florida 2009 in Jacksonville, FL...

Unfortunately, I didn't get a ton of great in-game pictures and wasn't able to zoom in very well, but here's one of TJ making a block on special teams.  He's #45 near the left sideline.



TJ's fan club :)

Final score: 41-17 Florida.  Note the difference between the left half of the stands and the right half.  Sad day for the Dawgs...on a happier note, I think this game secured Florida's spot in the SEC Championship.

Meanwhile, Matt and the Blue Devils beat Virginia 25-17 for Duke's 3rd straight ACC win!

After the fun weekend in Jacksonville with family and friends, Ryan and I headed north on I-95 on Sunday morning via a detour in Savannah, GA for lunch and a couple hours of enjoying the charming southern town...and it's good southern food! Oh, how I miss the south!

The Southern Charm of Savannah, GA...



And of course we had to get some pralines from River Street Sweets...



But I think lunch is what sent us straight to heaven, because we ate here....


Yes, that would be Lady & Sons, Paula Deen's restaurant. And check out that flag - she's a Georgia fan!

Here's what we ate...



Amazing is all I can say.



Thanks for stoppin' by y'all.  Come on back now, ya hear!