Stressed!

I know I've been seriously slacking in the blogging department lately, but life has been crazy! The end of the semester madness has been going on for 2 weeks now and I'm hoping I make it to the finish line tomorrow. I have my worst (but last!) final exam tomorrow at 7:30am. While I don't think I could ever be fully prepared for a cumulative final in electromagnetism (yuck), I'm so ready to be done with this semester and on to finishing up all the wedding details I've been neglecting. Oh and there's that small detail of graduation on Friday! Yay! Though those awful gowns leave much to be desired, you all will LOVE how I decorated my cap! I can't wait to show you :)

Okay, I'm off to my last day of bootcamp (since my silly exam is making me miss the real last day). Hopefully I can sweat off some of this stress. Thought I'd post a picture of us after finishing a 5k last weekend on campus. How amazing of a coincidence is it that our race numbers are the Pouncey twins football numbers?

Almost official!

We decided to celebrate my last day of undergrad classes by taking a trip down to the county courthouse and getting our marriage license! It was not actually as exciting as I'd hoped (despite doing the whole "raise your right hand" thing), but it's another check mark off the to-do list which is nice. We enjoyed dinner and dessert at the Melting Pot afterward to commemorate the occasion and I even convinced an embarrassed Mike to take a picture of the "event." Only 23 days till we get to sign the thing!

a little like heaven

It's hard to believe that two weeks from today I'll be wearing my lovely cap and gown and graduating from UF. It's been a long road and it's almost here (as long as I survive my upcoming finals). Tomorrow, I'll be attending the Orange and Blue game to see my gators play one final time before we move. I thought it would be a good time to tell you all (who don't already know) where the name of my blog comes from. It's the title to an awesome song by Drew Copeland (of Sister Hazel) about Gainesville. Enjoy!

It was out on Paynes Prairie where I got my first kiss
There's the school yard where we would play as kids
We pulled arrow heads out of Hogtown Creek
And when the cops came 'round, we'd all hide our drinks

Where I come from, it's a little like heaven
And I can't stay gone too long
Where I come from, yeah, yeah

We'd water ski on Melrose Bay
And we could wear flip flops on Christmas Day
When we had enough cash for gasoline
We'd all skip school and go to Crescent Beach

Where I come from, it's a little like heaven
And I can't stay gone too long
Where I come from, yeah, yeah

There's the old graveyard where my loved ones lie
The church still stands where I was baptized
It's the place I go when I can't think clear
And when my time is up, please bring me back here

Where I come from, it's a little like heaven
And I can't stay gone too long
Where I come from, yeah, yeah

Meet Pouncey!

One of Mike and my favorite weekend rituals is to go see the animals for adoption at Pet Smart. This past weekend was the semi-annual Adopt-a-thon at the Oaks Mall where all the different pet adoption agencies in town try to find new homes for their pets. I've been asking (begging really) for a kitten for some time now and was so excited to finally find the perfect little guy on Sunday. He is 10 weeks old and completely crazy. We named him Pouncey (after the gator football players of course). He warmed up to us almost instantly which we were happily surprised about and has absolutely no fear. Besides waking me up at 4am every morning by biting my fingers and ears, he's really the perfect kitten. We both laugh about how we hate being away from home now and can't wait to see him. He's such a purr ball and loves to play and cuddle. I wish he would stay this small forever! Here are a few pictures of our micro-kitten (as I refer to him).

Check out the video of him seeing himself in the mirror for the first time. He did this for nearly an hour the first night and we couldn't stop laughing. He's finally decided the other kitten isn't threatening so he tries to play with it now. It's adorable!

Nashville: Outdoors

We spent lots of time exploring the out of doors when were were in Tennessee. Percy Warner State Park is a 2000 acre park with tons of trails for hiking, biking, horseback riding, and driving. We drove through parts of it and Mike can't wait to take his mountain bike out there. I'm going to have to step up my abilities to keep up with him!!On our last day in Nashville, we spent the day driving to random "points of interest" on the GPS and found lots of neat places. Below are a few pictures of a park that has a big walking bridge and river. We also went to 4 "mansions". This one was totally haunted and we drove away fast!
My most favorite thing was actually at Opry Mills Outlet Mall. They have a place called Stingray Reef where they give you cups of shrimp and you hand feed the sting rays. They actually come up out of the water onto the wall to eat it out of your hand. It was terrifying but so cool.

Nashville: The Sights

Playing tourist in Nashville was lots of fun. I struggled with obsessing that we had to see EVERYTHING while we were there... I forget I'll actually be living there soon and wanting things to do!
We spent our nights on Broadway street which is the main strip in Nashville. It's a few blocks in the center of downtown with tons of honkey-tonks, bars, etc. The first night we went to a place called The Stage. They had this completely awesome live band that sounded like they should already be famous. The next night we did the obligatory Coyote Ugly visit and actually won a free CD for howling... yes, I'm serious. Later that night, we headed to a dueling piano bar which I am so excited to have nearby. I LOVE these places. It is endlessly entertaining to me to watch two amazingly talented and crazy pianists play songs everyone loves.
A few other exciting places we found downtown were the Tennessee Titans stadium (refreshing after seeing Vanderbilt's),CMT,
Union station,
and a super neat to-scale replica of the Parthenon.
This thing was HUGE!
Mike finally had to drag me away from there... I guess he grew tired of me alternating between stalking the numerous wedding parties there taking pictures and plotting how I could hug the huge, fluffy sheep dogs apparently everyone in Nashville owns. I reeeaalllyyy want one...
How cute is he!?