Football Season Update!

Football season has been super crazy!  We have not had a weekend off since it started as the Southern Pride Marching Band has taken at least a pep band to every away game, and I have traveled with Colin to all but one of the away trips.  The band kids have been really great to both of us, and even surprised us by bringing a pep band to our house one night to play the fight song in our front yard!  It is has been a super fun but busy time, and was made extra exciting this weekend when the GSU Eagles traveled to South Carolina to defeat Wofford in their conference closer for the season to become the Southern Conference Champions!  We will be traveling to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, this weekend with the full marching band as GSU takes on Alabama (YIKES!!!!) in our closing game for the regular season, and will have a weekend off (FINALLY) for Thanksgiving where we will be traveling to North Carolina to spend the holiday with the McKenzie family.  After that, we will have FCS playoff games that will hopefully be at home.  So, that is why we have been the worst blog updaters ever this fall, and I will leave you with some of our favorite pictures from the football games so far.

To see a complete album of pictures from the fall, click here.

Beautiful mountain scenery at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina

Colin and Mandie at the Appalachian State v. GSU game (it was snowing!) in Boone, North Carolina

Mandie with Freedom, the GSU mascot

Mandie and Colin at the GSU v. the Citadel game

Southern Pride Marching Band "Script Eagles" Show

Pep Band that surprised us by coming to play the GSU fight song at our house

Dr. Colin McKenzie and the Southern Pride Marching Band featured on Georgia Public Television (Colin's name on T.V.!!)

New House Pictures!

I FINALLY took some pictures of our new house--these are not all of them as we are still working on put the finishing touches on some of the rooms. Enjoy!

Click here the view photos.

Moving Update

We are now settled into our new home in Statesboro, Georgia.  We left over Memorial Day weekend and took two days to drive from Michigan to Georgia.  The move was very long and stressful--our GPS led us down an off-the-beaten path route (meaning no interstate travel) through the mountains in Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, which would have been beautiful if it hadn't added five extra hours to our trip and if Colin wasn't trying to drive a twenty-six foot Penske truck with a car trailer attached to it on windy mountain roads.  We had a hotel reservation in Charlotte, North Carolina, where we were going to stay the night.  We originally thought we would be there by 10 PM, but did not arrive until 3 AM, where Colin promptly fell down a hill and bruised a rib and scraped up his \face.  After a terrible day of driving, we went to sleep and finally got to Statesboro the next day where we unloaded the truck at our beautiful new house! Special thanks to my sister Amber for helping me drive the Honda and for enduring the move from hell with us.  I would have fallen asleep at the wheel multiple times were it not for her accompanying us. Colin and I have since decided that the next time we decide to move, we are hiring movers! :)

Once we had unloaded the truck, we got into the car, dropped the puppies off at the kennel, and made our way to Columbus, Georgia, for Colin's youngest brother Andy's wedding.  We were so blessed to be able to see most of the Garcia and McKenzie relatives including both sets of grandparents and some cousins from North Carolina.  We were also super excited to get to hang out with Ian, Colin's middle brother, and his wife Meredith. We always have a great time with them and do not get to see them often as Ian is in the Army.  It was a great time to see family and congratulations to Andy and Renee, the newest addition to the McKenzie family!  We then returned home to start the task of unpacking and setting up the house. We were happy to have Colin's mom come to visit us this week and had fun showing her our new hometown. Now we just need to finish unpacking everything!

Andy and Renee, the Bride and Groom

Mom McKenzie, Ian, Meredith and Mandie at Andy and Renee's Wedding  Reception

Colin and Mandie at Andy and Renee's Wedding Reception

Mandie and Mom McKenzie at Andy and Renee's Wedding  Reception

I am going to Texas to visit family and friends next weekend and will be there for a week and a half or so, so Colin will be enjoying the bachelor life while I am away.  He has plenty to keep him busy as he prepares for marching season with his new band! Colin officially starts his new job on July 1, and then we will be back in the swing of football season before we know it! I will post pictures of the new house as soon as we finish putting everything away (probably early next week).

Moving Day is Drawing Near...

All of the moving boxes stacked in our guest bedrooms

We are in the final stretches of our moving preparations! Colin and I have been packing diligently and trying to get rid of most of our pre-marriage stuff that still lurks in our house and have been squeezing in meals with all of our friends here in Michigan. We also went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie in IMAX 3D--it is super fun and you should all go see it this summer!  We pack up the truck on Saturday, and then my sister Amber comes in from Dallas to help us with the drive down to Georgia on Sunday. And then we leave for our new home in Georgia on Monday (yes, we know it is Memorial Day and that we will be driving along with everybody else!). :) We are super excited to be in our new home and starting the newest chapter of our lives in the South!

And...I leave you with this super fun giveaway from Sara at the Crazy Cozads blog.  She is offering a beautiful notecard set from Cambria Cove, so go check it out!

Dr. McKenzie and New House!

So many exciting things have been happening in our lives lately!  On May 2, Colin successfully defended his dissertation and is now Dr. McKenzie (he will not walk until December but is Dr. on paper). We immediately left for Statesboro, Georgia, to look for a place to live and so that Colin could meet with some students and faculty before GSU's semester was over. We found a wonderful house and are so excited to move there!  It is the nicest place we will have ever lived since we have been married, and, for the first time, we will have a walk-in closet! For more pictures of the new house, click here. We also were able to spend a day in Savannah, which is a super fun city, and even got to walk on the beach at Tybee Island. We are so excited to be moving to such a vibrant area and cannot wait to move. Now, we just have to finish packing (yuck!) and then will be ready to move over Memorial Day weekend!

New house in Statesboro!

Charlotte featured online through Bark Magazine

Charlotte has been chosen as one of the Bark Magazine's smiling dogs! Check out her photo at http://www.thebark.com/content/weekly-smilers-4-25-11. (She is listed under week 4-25-11). The dogs are listed alphabetically so her photo is at the beginning of the array! YAY for our beautiful, gorgeous girl!

Moving Countdown!

Things are coming to an end quickly here in Michigan! I have only three weeks of work left, so have been busy trying to wrap things up there. I will be sad to leave a job that I love and all of the wonderful co-workers I have, but am looking forward to our next adventure!

Colin has submitted his transcription of John Corliagno's Tournaments for band as well his document to his committee. His dissertation defense is scheduled for May 2. Hopefully, if all goes well, he will have finished all of his requirements and we will just need to register for his remaining dissertation hours this summer (why we are still required to buy those after he has defended, I don't know--graduate school can be a racket!) and then he will be Dr. McKenzie in August! Please keep him in your thoughts as he tries to finish up his last class and prepares for his dissertation defense.

We go May 4 to Statesboro to look for a place to live, so wish us luck! We are hoping to move over Memorial Day weekend.

Mandie

Puppy Dog Easter Pictures

Last weekend, we took our puppies to Petco because the Lansing Jaycees were having a fundraiser for the Capital Area Humane Society and the Animal Placement Bureau by taking pictures of dogs with the Easter Bunny (CAHS is the animal rescue where Colin and I volunteer, and one of my co-workers helps run the Animal Placement Bureau, so we like to support them!).  We have never taken our dogs to have pictures taken like this before, so it was a little bit of an adventure. Charlotte is apparently scared of people in costume and originally started growling at the Easter Bunny, but we finally got her settled down with lots of treats!  Beauregard just wanted to escape and run around the store (true to form) and Savannah, as usual, was our best dog, sitting still for the camera. Overall it was a fun experience and gave us some cute pictures while we supported a good cause!

You can view all of the Easter pictures as well as other puppy pics by clicking here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2332887&id=9203837&l=f6f5504c5d

Beauregard

Charlotte

Savannah

Please vote for Beauregard!

Beauregard, our beagle, has been entered in Bissel's MVP pet photo contest! If he wins, we could win a number of prizes, including money for our favorite pet charity! Please vote for him everyday this week! Thanks

Click on the following link to vote for Beauregard:
Beauregard

Click here to learn more about the Bissel MVP pet photo contest:
http://bissell.promo.eprize.com/mvpcontest/?cid=p1core-tbx07.f.1800/b08a5/557/eaed585e.5af59c261f5849c6da6a8b5c54f4dc93

Giveaway on Unruly Things

One of my very favorite blogs to read, Unruly Things, is hosting a giveaway of a year-long subscription to super cute Parchment Post greeting cards!  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on the Unruly Things post saying what you would do with the cards by Friday!  Just thought I would share--enjoy!

Exciting News!

We have some very exciting news!  Colin has accepted the Associate Director of Bands position at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA (which is just outside of Savannah).  He will be the marching band director there as well as coordinate the basketball band, teach classes, and have a performing ensemble in the Spring.  His start date at GSU is July 1, so we will be moving to Georgia sometime mid-June.  We are super excited to know where we will be moving and are so happy that it is in such a beautiful area of the South!

Dreaming of Spring

The past few days have been a giant tease of what the warmer weather of Spring will bring.  We had temperatures in the fifties and all of the snow finally melted, leaving us with green grass and a big yard for the dogs to play in without snow on the ground.  I could even see the baby shoots coming in our front yard flower bed where daffodils will be when winter finally disappears.  And then, yesterday at three o'clock, a blizzard hit Lansing.  In about four hours, all of the snow that had melted was back covering everything in a foot-thick blanket.  Colin made his flight from Atlanta to Detroit, but his flight from Detroit to Lansing was cancelled because of the weather, so he had to take a bus from Detroit to East Lansing, where I went to pick him up.  The roads were horribly icy and I had a really bad spin-out where I narrowly missed hitting two other cars by inches by the grace of God. After sitting in the parking lot of the Haslett Animal Clinic and having a panic attack about my narrow escape from a car wreck, I trucked on to East Lansing from our home to pick up Colin...

Whose bus took forever to get here.  After my harrowing driving experience to East Lansing, I spent a long time in Barnes and Noble browsing for books and then spent even more time talking to my mom on the phone in the parking garage while watching the gale winds blow and the blizzard snow fall.  Finally, Colin arrived and I made him drive home! :)  Today, the city  has yet to plow our neighborhood--Colin got stuck four times trying to get onto a main road and some neighbors kindly helped to dig his car out.  I could not get out of the neighborhood to go to work tonight.  When will winter ever end here? Can we please move somewhere warmer soon?  I am dreaming of weather in the seventies and the beauty of Spring!

Love!

Valentine's Day has always been difficult for us to celebrate because it usually falls in the middle of the week instead of on the convenient weekend.  This year was no exception, so we celebrated Valentine's Day the Saturday before by going to see The King's Speech (which is absolutely fantastic if you haven't seen it yet) and going to have a nice romantic dinner at a local restaurant. We also exchanged gifts:

Colin got me this beautiful ruby bracelet to match the ruby necklace he got me our first Valentine's Day that we spent together as a married couple and some ruby stud earrings he got me last Christmas (he fondly calls it the "Ruby Collection").

Ruby bracelet from Colin

I opted for a more traditional love letter for Colin.  Any of you who know me know that my handwriting is atrocious and akin to that of a small child's, and I really wanted Colin to have something heartfelt and special as well as beautiful, so I enlisted the help of my friend Anna who has her own calligraphy business at http://calligraphybyanna.com/.  I sent her what I wanted the text of the letter to be, and she wrote it out on heavyweight paper and mailed it to Colin in time for Valentine's Day.  I know that this is a shameless plug for my friend's business, but she makes beautiful handcrafted paper gifts and calligraphy and I just love her work!  You can check out her website or also check out her Etsy store.  Doesn't her Shakespeare font just say "LOVE" to you??

Love letter

Colin has since traveled to Atlanta where he is spending the whole weekend clinicing Harrison High School's band as they prepare for the Georgia music festival.  He is very excited to be asked to clinic this group as it is the school at which he student taught and has great respect for their band program.  My loving husband, knowing that I am very sad when he leaves, surprised me a super cute flower arrangement delivered to the house today!  He is so thoughtful and I will be happy to have him home again on Sunday!

Flowers from Colin!

Colin passed his Comps!

We just got word that Colin has passed all of his Comprehensive Exams with flying colors!  WOO HOO!! One more thing that he can check off of the list as he moves closer to his doctorate completion date in the spring!  YAY for my super smart husband!

Giveaways!

Two of my friends who also blog are giving away free things on their sites, so I thought that I would share with you!

Win a free $35 CSN giftcard from Cardigan Junkie (a fashion blog):
http://www.cardiganjunkie.com/2011/02/35-gift-card-giveaway-from-csn-stores.html

Win a giant Gummy Bear from the Crazy Cozads ( a family blog similar to ours)--you have to love the factor of whimsy  provided by this:
http://crazycozads.blogspot.com/2011/02/massive-gummi-bear-give-way_07.html

Happy entries! :)

Snowcalypse!

Colin and Mandie in the snow in front of our house

So, while all of my Texas friends in Dallas were iced in for four days, we had our own Snowcalypse here in Michigan!  Last Tuesday, the weather forecast for our area simply stated "Blizzard," and Colin and I said "why do we live here?!?" We received about a foot of snow over the course of the evening (which Colin promptly had to spend hours shoveling the next day), and MSU actually cancelled classes on Wednesday, which was only the third time that the university has closed in thirty years!  Colin and I enjoyed our snow day, but were grateful that we didn't have the nasty ice that our Texas friends had!

In other news, Colin has taken his comprehensive exams and will find out if he passed them soon.  One step closer to being Dr.!  He has also set his doctoral chamber recital date for March 20, which is required for graduation from the program. The fact that we will be finished with our sojourn in Michigan by the end of the semester is beginning to set in, and we are starting to plan for the next chapter of our lives with great anticipation!  Keep us in your prayers during this exciting, yet stressful time.

You can view our whole winter album by clicking here. Photos include the bowl trip to Orlando, our friend Armand's conducting recital, and our snow pictures.

Savannah and Charlotte digging in the snow in the backyard

Our Christmas penguins buried in the snow!

Photo album link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2413787&id=9203837&l=5e1b5d714b

2011 -- New Year, New Resolutions

2011 promises to be a year of great change and (hopefully!) lots of excitement for Colin and I.  Colin will be finishing up school, we will be moving to an unknown destination, and will be able to experience all of the anticipation and enjoyment that comes with those experiences.  The turn from the previous year to the new year is always one of my favorite times as it allows one to reflect on the happenings of the previous year and make decisions to direct one's life onward and ever upward in the coming year.  That being said, I thought that I would share some McKenzie New Year's resolutions as we prepare to make the most of 2011:

*Lose weight :)
*Find jobs
*Move successfully
*Walk the dogs more and live a generally more healthy lifestyle

What are your New Year's resolutions?  We wish you the best of luck with 2011!