Thirty-one years ago today...

Today I am officially a 31 year-old, northern grown, southern living, wife of an anchorman.

Damn. How did that happen? Just last week I was in my early twenties...

No fear. I was asked if I was still "in school" at the grocery store recently. I'm not sure if it was my youthful glow or my Nike running shorts, frat-tastic t-shirt ca. 1999 and hair piled on my head.

Probably the latter.

30 year-olds, and certainly 31 year-old women, do not dress like they are dashing off to chicken finger night at their university's dining hall. What can I say? I still rock (on occasion) my senior year formal t-shirt with pride...It reads: "Last time I had this much fun I got spanked," accompanied by a cartoon of a sorority girl paddling a frat boy. Nice. I'm all class.

On other fronts...this morning I started my routine at 6:05 am with coffee and decided since it is my birthday, I'm just going to lounge on the couch for a little bit. Mr. News Readin' (who usually sleeps until 7:45/8:00) poked his head in the den around 6:45 am to inquire as to when I was getting in the shower. Cute husband! He wanted to surprise me with Starbucks après showering on my birthday.

Life in a word is excellent. Amazing husband, caring family and friends, good job, awesome dog and cat, cute house, fab hair and no regrets. Not bad.

Now, if I could just add passenger rail service to and fro' work and friendship via Facebook with Tim Gunn - it would be perfection...a News Readin' Wife can dream, can't she?

More at 11.

Southern, Preppy and Perfect.

It would be just plain mean of me not to share my second favorite shirt purchase of the weekend.

Southern Tide has the most comfortable polos ever. And in my opinion, they are very well made. There was just a leetle bit of guilt buying one for just me, so I snagged Mr. News Readin' one in red for UGA gamedays.


Photo credit: Southern Tide

Their website doesn't seem to have ladies shirts, but they are available. Click here to see their retailers.

And how cute is their College Ambassador program? That would have totally been Mr. News Readin' back in the prime of his frattiness.

Weekend Update

As I mentioned, the News Readin' Husband is on a Testosterone Team Building Retreat with some old fraternity brothers in Charlottesville, VA. This annual golf outing is referred to as the WannaBeer Cup - a take on the PGA's hallowed Wanamaker Trophy. (Could I be anymore underwhelmed by their cleverness?)

The NRH checked-in earlier and all seems to be going well and everyone is fratting hard. (If you need a refresher course on Fratting check out this site.) So while, he was swilling Jack & Coke on the front nine, I was going to take care of a few things around the house and then head to Lowe's to start making an upholstered headboard for the guestroom. It was all going well until about 9:08 am EST.

We were having our new treadmill set-up at 10 am. So, I got up at 8:00 am, had a cup of coffee, walked the dog, started some laundry, made the bed and hopped in the shower. So far, so good. I left the door to our screened-in porch open so Putter could come and go as she pleases through the doggy door. Big mistake.

After showering, I'm sitting on our bed applying lotion and contemplating today's ensemble when oh...holy...shit...here comes the cold blooded killer kitty, Pearl with a freakin' bird in her mouth. I scream and completely insult Pearl by my lack of appreciation, so she takes the prized kill into our guest room.

At this point, the dog starts barking at the cat so that she too, can get in on the avian action. Ding-dong. What the...? These people are never on time and these guys are 45 minutes early??!! Oh, and then the phone rang. Mind you, I'm still in a towel with lotion everywhere, sopping wet hair, a dead bird in the guest room, a killer kitty and a barking dog. Ding-dong.

This is not a clothing optional moment. So, I run and throw on Bids Day shirt ca. 1996 and my standard hot pink Old Navy lounge pants. As soon as I open the front door, I see dead bird fly down the hallway. Obviously, the dead bird - not so dead. (Worthless cat.) For 15 minutes, me and two men I have never met before ran through our house trying to catch killer kitty and the bird.

Somehow, the cat, the dog and the bird ended up outside. Thankfully, birdie lived to fly another day. Pearl was totally pissed that the goofy dog had foiled yet another skillfully planned kill. I'm pleased they only broke two terracotta pots and I'm not dealing with a bird, dead or alive.

The Killer Kitty: Pearl

To hell with actually using the treadmill...After all that madness I just needed some Essie Mademoiselle and the latest edition of Cosmopolitan. Pedicure!

To lessen the blow of being without Mr. News Readin' for 48 hours, I purchased a fabulous white shirt with monogram pour moi. All I can say is that I love the Claridge & King website so much, I had to buy a shirt. Love the logo, love the look, love the concept. I went with the Avery Script monogram on the cuff in charcoal. Any thoughts?

Don't worry, I didn't lose sight of the big project: make upholstered headboard for guest room. Mission accomplished for under $150 and I might add, it looks fab-u-lous. (Pictures forthcoming.)

Due to the above mentioned successful headboard, all other household chores will be postponed until tomorrow. Tonight, I'm looking forward to catching up on Mad Men and a drunk-dial from Mr. News Readin' about 3:30 am...just like the old days.