Life Update

- Have you noticed anything different? I'll give you a hint: it starts at the top of this page. It's my new design! I've been playing around with it for a while {I have a secret 'practice blog' that I've been using to try out new designs}, and I finally created one that I'm happy with. It would be a lot easier if I had Photoshop or InDesign like we used for the yearbook in high school, but I don't, so Microsoft Publisher it is! If I keep blogging long enough I may give in and pay someone to do it, but I don't think I'm there yet. I will do my best to get the new tabs at the top up and running soon!

- I need to apologize for the lengthiness of this post. I should know by now that if a post takes me that long to write and edit, it's probably too long. It really should have been three different posts. Bear with me. I'm still learning. And if you did start to read it and either lost interest or ran out of time, I encourage you to go back and pick up where you left off. At least read the piano bar part. That's the best part! And if you make it all the way to the end there may or may not be a fried s'more waiting for you. Yum!

- Next up, the garden! Oh, the garden. I think it may have died at one point? I'm not really sure. For about a month or so it completely stopped growing. I was watering and fertilizing, and it just wasn't growing. At all. And some parts were starting to turn brown. Then out of no where it started growing again! And one of the plants even has blooms now! So we will see. By the way... My dad's tomato plants are taller than I am, and my PaPaw has them randomly growing out from underneath his porch. He calls them 'volunteers'. I call it not fair. I think just his presence makes tomato plants grow. *Thanks to our sweet neighbors and their boys for watering while we were gone. If we ever actually get tomatoes we'll bring some over!*


{Notice the ones on the right are a lot smaller than the ones on the left.}

- I haven't updated you all on my running progress in a while. I'm still running, just not as often as I did before the 5k. When we got back to Corpus {after Brandon working in Dallas for three months} I was so ready to jump back into yoga. Finding a good balance between running and yoga was tough at first {I was trying to add yoga without cutting back on running, and I wasn't doing either one successfully}, but I've now fallen into a routine that works for me. And even though I haven't ran in another actual race, it just feels good to know that I could if I wanted to.

- I haven't done a fantasy football update for two reasons: 1. I don't want to bore you. 2. I have actually lost interest, myself. The first few weeks were exciting, but after that it's been the same routine every week, and I just really don't care anymore. I'm still the owner, but I've hired Brandon as my manager {he sets my line-up each week, with my input of course} and my dad as the head coach {he keeps up with how my team is doing and gives me updates}. It's a system that works for everyone. Oh, and I beat Brandon this week.

- Lastly, if you haven't seen Pitch Perfect GO SEE IT!! I've seen it twice. And I'm trying to think of who else I can take, so I can see it again. It's that funny!



I hope you're having a great week!!

As Requested {INVINCIBLE Update}

I wasn't going to do fantasy football updates {because I figured no one cared}, but someone approached me at a wedding yesterday and said, "Emily, I've been checking your blog to see how fantasy football is going! How is it?!"

Turns out there's people who actually read this thing!

~~~

Week 1 for INVINCIBLE was not fun. We played RyDawgs {B's ten year old cousin}, and we lost. By 18 points. I was not happy.

So I told B, "If my guys don't step it up in week 2, then they're all getting traded."

B laughed and said, "Oh yeah! Who are you going to pick up? Because the players who are available are not any better than the ones you have!"

My players must have heard me, because in week 2 INVINCIBLE looked like a completely different team.

Not only did we win, but we earned the highest score in the league. The highest score in the league! Now that is an accomplishment!

{Did I mention that we played Old Timers? Aka Brandon's Parents!}

I decided that this may never happen again, so in my head I'm pretending it was the championship.

I even slept in my 'Fantasy Football Legend' shirt on Monday night.

Pivo Draft

Now that the league has officially started, let me introduce you to my team!


...Drum roll, please...

 

 

*INVINCIBLE*

{Get it? inVINCEable? As in Vince Young, VY,  the guy I explained my love for here?}

{Team Logo}

{Now I know that VY hasn't exactly lived up to the above definition in the past few years, but I choose to focus on the positive moments in his football career. I hope that when people think of me they, too, choose to focus on everything I've accomplished, instead of my failures.} Okay, moving on...

 

Since I already had the best team name and logo in the league, when draft week came I could focus all my time and energy on getting the best players {because some people think that's what matters}.

 

I decided I was going to do "research" while Brandon was gone last week. When he got home on Friday I showed him my "notes".

{Page one. I had six pages of "notes"}

 

He took one look, laughed and said, "What website did you copy this from? Because I know you didn't come up with this on your own."

 

Well...so what if I copied it down. The truth was I didn't know that much about the NFL. I've usually based a player's status on three things:

 

1. Have I ever heard of him? {If I have heard a player's name enough to remember it, then he must be good.}

2. Who did he play for in college? {Former Longhorns rank higher than anyone else.}

3. Is the player attractive? {This one is self-explanatory.}

 

Even though I had a lack of experience with the NFL I still wanted INVINCIBLE to be successful. But I soon realized that no matter how many articles I read or how many fantasy rankings I studied, I was never going to feel prepared.

 

 

As the countdown expired I began to panic. I was sitting on the couch with my computer in my lap and my "notes" spread out around me. Oh yeah, and I was wearing this shirt:

{Mom bought this shirt for B several years ago, when he was on a championship winning streak.
I just knew it would bring me luck!]

I glanced down at my "notes" and realized I had no clue what I was doing.

 

"B, I'm so nervous! I have no idea who to pick! I don't know anything about any of these people!"

 

"Emily, calm down! You have the third pick. You know Arian Foster is going to go first. Next will be either Ray Rice or LeSean McCoy, and you'll take whichever one is left."

"Ok, but who do I pick after that???"

 

"You'll have time to figure it out..."

 

{Let me remind you that while Brandon was guiding me through this process he was picking his own team, as well.}

 

I got Ray Rice for my first pick. And I don't remember the order of my picks after that.

 

~~~

INVINCIBLE

Eli Manning

Quarterback, New York Giants

Julio Jones

Wide Receiver, Atlanta Falcons

Hakeem Nicks

Wide Receiver, New York Giants

DeSean Jackson

Wide Receiver, Philadelphia Eagles

Ray Rice

Running Back, Baltimore Ravens

Michael Turner

Running Back, Atlanta Falcons

Jermichael Finley

Tight End, Green Bay Packers

Reggie Bush

Running Back, Miami Dolphins

{I almost didn't take him, because he goes against my whole team motto. He won the Heisman in 2005, instead of VY. And he had to give it back a few years ago, so VY should have won in the first place.}

Antonio Brown

Wide Receiver, Pittsburgh Steelers

Peyton Hillis

Running Back, Kansas City Chiefs

Jason Witten

Tight End, Dallas Cowboys

Jay Cutler

Quarterback, Chicago Bears

Greg Little

Wide Receiver, Cleveland Browns

Justin Tucker

Kicker, Baltimore Ravens

{Any Texas kicker who kicks the game winning forty-yard field goal in the final seconds of the final game against Texas A&M deserves to kick for INVINCIBLE.}

Vince Young

Honorary Quarterback, INVINCIBLE

{Yes, I know he got dropped from his team.}

 

And I have to pick up a defense

{It's all part of my strategy.}

~~~

So there you have it... The 2012 Pivo League Champs! {Ha, I wish!}

Our season starts tonight! I'll be watching the Cowboys vs. Giants game, cheering on Eli Manning and Hakeem Nicks. Hakeem better get over his foot problem fast! {Jason Witten is only a back-up for INVINCIBLE, and he's currently injured.} 

Alright, INVINCIBLE...Don't let me down! 

 

  

"The Pivo League"

On Friday evening after PawPaw's funeral services we were sitting outside when Brandon's Uncle Marc had the best idea ever...

"Hey, you know what would be fun? We should create a family fantasy football league...It would be just family, and we could each have a team. Everyone would have to participate..."

Not only was everyone willing to participate, but we were all excited about it. We immediately started talking team names, draft dates, top picks and buy-ins.

By the end of the evening we had everything decided...

League: The Pivo League
We decided the league name should have something to do with PawPaw because of when the league was created. PawPaw spoke Czech, and he enjoyed having a pivo {beer} at the end of each each work day; hence, The Pivo League.

Buy-in: $10
At first we weren't going to have a buy-in, but we all know that when there's money on the line things get little more interesting.

Draft: Sunday, September 2 at 3:00p.m.

Top Prize: The Pivo, AND all the money
I'm not sure if The Pivo will be a homemade trophy, an actual case of pivo, or both... I forgot what we decided. If it is an actual case of pivo then B's cousin, Ryan, will be getting a case of Root Beer instead. {He's ten years old} And since I'm not a fan of pivo, or Root Beer, I will be handing off my prize to someone else {assuming I win this thing}.

After discussing the details our conversation turned into...

"You know who's going to win this, don't you?.."

"I mean really, it's just going to be a battle between three teams..."

"Ryan will probably surprise us all..."

"Ha! I know Lavonne's first two picks! Ryan Tannehill and Stephen McGee..."

"Emily is going to do one of two things. She's either going to draft all the former Texas Longhorns, or she's going to take it seriously and try to win..."

{Draft countdown is current as of yesterday. My team name and logo will be revealed at a later date.}

I guess we will find out on September 2 which strategy I choose...