NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

With only 4 days left before we leave for Thailand, I'm sure you were expecting a different blog post... probably something about what's going on in my heart and mind as we prepare to leave....or maybe how stressful packing is....

But if you know me at all - even a little bit - you would know that if there is anything that must come first on my brand new blog, it's a celebratory post about my BELOVED AUBURN TIGERS winning the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

And so, here it is! Just a little glimpse of what my game watching experience was like...

I must admit, I have never, EVER been more homesick than I was for the week leading up to this game. To some of you that may sound silly, but for you friends who know what it's like to be a part of the Auburn Family, you will understand. I am not an Auburn FAN, I am a member of the Auburn Family. I didn't just wake up one day and decide to cheer for Auburn when they play sports... I went to school there. I also worked for Auburn University for 5 years in the Admissions office. I was a part of almost every organization there was (okay, maybe not all 200 student organizations, but some days it felt like it with the extra curricular schedule I tried to keep in college! ;) I represented Auburn to prospective students when I led campus tours. I represented Auburn as a member of the SGA. I represented Auburn as an AU Singer. I represented Auburn as Miss Glomerata and Miss Auburn-Opelika Area. I was also blessed with the incredible honor of representing Auburn in a national commercial AND with my picture on the side of a few buses... (that's a long story that maybe I will save for another day ;)

And of course, I graduated from there. The proof is hanging on my wall, on my beautifully framed Auburn diploma. I am an Auburn University Alumna.

So you can only imagine my EXCITEMENT when MY UNIVERSITY was playing for the National Championship!!! And my heartache when I realized that not only would I not be able to GO to the game, or GO to AUBURN to roll Toomer's Corner after the game... I wouldn't even have ONE Auburn friend to watch the game with. Not even ONE fellow Auburn Alum to do Boda Getta, or Track 'Em with, or to sing the Alma Mater with at the end of the game.  I may or may not have cried (a few times) in the days leading up to the National Championship.

But, on GameDay, it was time to make the best of things! So I packed up my Auburn cooler (that plays the Auburn Fight Song when you open the lid... love it!) and headed over to the Wargo's house.

Thankfully, our pastor/friend Mark Wargo was gracious enough to let me crash guy's night so I would have people to watch the game with. (Women here don't really watch football. Southern girls, I know you all just GASPED at that comment! Talk about culture shock!)

So we arrived with goodies, and I set up my very own Auburn Gameday atmosphere! Check out our spread!

And of course, no Auburn party is complete without the CAMMY CAM JUICE!

I framed a copy of the Auburn Creed so my Michigan friends would understand 

what it means to be an Auburn man & woman....

... and I was dressed in my Auburn clothes from my head to my TOES!

(literally! my toenails were painted orange & blue!)

And let me tell you friends, when my Arkansas Alum Crazy Razorback Fan husband stepped out wearing this outfit, I fell in love with him all over again....

That is TRUE LOVE!

Of course, there were some obnoxious Michigan hecklers friends there (love ya'll ;) , and I knew they would try to trash talk Auburn. (The Big Ten refuses to admit that the SEC is SUPERIOR! But that's a soapbox for another time ;)

But don't you worry - I was prepared for that with this little sign!

But when they saw it their only question was "Who is Nick Fairley?" SERIOUSLY?! WHO IS NICK FAIRLEY!?!

Don't you worry, they figured out the answer to that question pretty quickly. And you'd better believe I was very thankful when Auburn SHUT THEM UP!

I was glad to have a few Michigan friends cheering with me.... though they hate the SEC, they put aside their feelings for the game and I definitely felt the love! Cory even got decked out in Auburn gear for me, and let me teach him some cheers! Thanks Cory!

Of course, we all know how this story ends.... with me screaming hysterically, jumping into the arms of my husband and celebrating a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WIN!!!

I actually cried tears of joy when I watched the trophy presentation. I cannot explain the pride I felt seeing Auburn bring home another National Championship (especially after living through the heartbreaking ending of our 2004 season).

To the Wargos (and all the guys at guy's night) - thanks so much for letting me crash your party and scream like a lunatic at the TV all night!

And to all my fellow members of the AUBURN FAMILY,  cheer it with me....

it's GREAT to BE an AUBURN TIGER NATIONAL CHAMPION!!!

WAR EAGLE!