Brandi's Place

We're only 17 days in to October and already the stores are full of Christmas decorations and talk of where people are going for Thanksgiving seems to be increasing.

The holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, are going to be a little different for us this year. I don't know where or who or what will be happening, but we'll get there.

The other is that this is going to be a no gift year for us. We're not giving, and we're asking to you help us not receive. As you all know, we're trying to raise the money we need to do IVF after the first of the year. We're still about 17 grand shy of what we're going to need, but we're hopeful we're going to get there.

This year, we hope everyone will accept a Christmas card and our love, prayers and hugs. It feels weird not to be giving gifts to everyone. I love sharing gifts with people. But this year we feel like we have to put this baby first and to do that we need every extra penny we can get.

We're also asking that you not give us any gifts this year. We mean this, in the nicest way we can say. If you feel compelled to give us a gift, we ask that you do so in the form of a donation to BabyorBust.

We have lots of stuff and things- but what we really want is a baby, we want to start a family.

We're blessed to have loving families, each other, fantastic jobs, a beautiful home and our health. That's really all anyone can ask for.

Posted by BrandiK at 10/17/2006 08:48:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

As a Sooner, or even a Longhorn, there is one game in the season that matters most- OU/texas. I'm sad to say that after 5 years at OU, I never once made it down to Dallas for the baddest rivalry in the game. But my heart was there every year, just as it is today.

At this moment, the Sooners just ran out of the tunnel on to the field. I don't know stats, I can rarely remember our QB's name and I don't know what our rank is this year... but I know Adrian is carrying our team, I know Stoops is a fantastic coach, I know my blood beats with Crimson & Cream and that is all that matters. I'm hoping like crazy that we're going to take home the Red River Rivalry trophy today... I've listened to commentary from both sides all week, and I really think this is anybody's game. No one is owning this before the toin coss- it's definitely going home to the best team today. I'm cheering crazily that it's us- so kick some Bevo ass today boys!!

Something about the game today is making me miss college. My front yard is covered in crunchy leaves, there's a perfect crispness in the air today and my favorite team is playing ball today. One of those days that makes you fall in love with being in Norman. I miss that walk across South Oval in the fall and I miss skipping late classes to make happy hour at Brother's. I miss that small niche of incredible people I found myself a part of, and feel so fortunate that I still call most of them friends. And I miss walking into Memorial Stadium every Saturday with 80,000 fellow Sooner devotees.

It's a cliche, but my years in Norman at OU were truly some of the best of my life. I'll never get them back, but the memories are one-of-a-kind. Nothing will ever compare.

How did I get across that graduation stage without at least one OU/texas under my belt? Don't ask me, I don't know how they allowed it! One of these days I'll make it there and cheer louder than anyone.

Kick some texas ass today Sooners... BOOMER SOONER!!

Posted by BrandiK at 10/07/2006 02:38:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

I don't know that you could really say "versus" because it was more like the 49ers and 80,000 some odd fans showed up to watch the Chiefs practice.

Shelton and I were offered two tickets to yesterday's match up in Kansas City and we accepted. We've never been to an NFL game before, so we were pretty psyched to take the tickets off of some very generous hands.

We left Wichita about 6am to make it to Arrowhead by 10am to get in a little tailgating w/ some friends of Shelton's from his office. We paid $20 to park, made our way to lot D, then Shelton decided we should turn around and park in lot F (behind us) b/c that is where the tailgating was happening. I got out of the car and let him drive b/c it was becoming too much to handle. We ended up going head-on into Arrowhead traffic and then forced to leave stadium parking all together and park in a huge lot that would have been free. Needless to say we were a little irked.

We hiked 47 miles over to lot F and met up w/ the tailgaters and their FANTASTIC cookout. All we'd had to eat that morning was a jug of OJ, a few day-old donut holes and some grapes. So when the marinated chicken breasts and baked potatoes rolled off the grill, I was all up in that mess. I don't think I came up for air until it was time to wipe the sour cream mustache off my face. Damn good food- thanks to Rob and crew for sharing their grub with us.

Our seats were in the corner of the home team end zone. We watched the cheerleaders shake their teeny tiny asses and the big 'ole football players pummell each other. It was such an incredibly different environment that we're used to at OU games. For one, interest level. We don't follow NFL so it could have been the girl scouts vs. campfire and we wouldn't have known the difference. When I was a kid, the 49ers were the stellar, but not so much any more as I witnessed yesterday.

It was crazy loud, crazy crazy loud. And when anyone new would sit down, like us, the 300 year season ticket holders would look over and say- "You for the Chiefs?" As if to say, "I can see you don't have a stitch of red in your clothing, we've never seen you before and if you say one thing positive about the 49ers I will punt your ass over this wall." We of course said GO CHIEFS!

All in all it was a cool experience. Very intense. We especially enjoyed the 300-woman Jazzercise performance at half time. Those ladies are better than me, I would never have gotten out there and done my workout routine in front of all those people.

Thanks to Sus for the tickets and giving us an excuse to spend 8 hours of our day driving. All worth it for a little time together... and a pit stop in Lawrence for dinner w/ Wade and Jeni which was quite enjoyable.

Posted by BrandiK at 10/02/2006 12:14:00 PM | Permalink | Comments