Thankful Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been meaning to join this link-up with the sweet Meghan of Shine On for weeks, and what better week to finally join than Thanksgiving itself?

First, I am mostly thankful for the friends and family I get to see this holiday:

Fall Friday: The Football

I already shared my love for fall foliage, fall fashion and more fall fashion. This week, I wanted to share one of my greatest loves in the autumn season: football! More specifically, college football. Even more specifically, Tiger football.

Mizzou Football Tailgate by mcszr3

I know the Tigers haven't been performing too well this season, but I don't mind. The way I see it, no one expected us to perform well in the SEC. When we lose, no one is surprised. When we win, it will be awesome and everyone will be impressed! I like to set my expectations low so they are harder to disappoint.... Well, with my sports anyway. I always root for the underdog. :)

Which team are you rooting for this season?

Happy birthday to me!

Source: weheartit.com via Soraya on Pinterest

In honor of my 22nd birthday, I was going to share with you 22 fabulous things that have happened to me in the past year (inspired by the lovely Jessica at Lovely Undergrad). Then I realized I already shared most of them (and more!) with you last October when I posted about my favorite college memories. So instead, I'm going to share 22 random things about me that you might not already know:

My first SEC game.

As you might know, the University of Missouri recently moved to the Southeastern Conference. This means beginning in 2012, my school will be playing my brother's school, the University of Georgia, in the SEC East. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend my first Georgia game, which is also the second-to-last football game during which Georgia can be my favorite SEC team (because of course, beginning next season I'll have to root for my Tigers).

My sister, dad and I all flew into Atlanta on Friday night and drove out to Athens to start our Thanksgiving Break. (The school is much further from Atlanta than I had previously thought - almost 80 miles instead of a mere 45 minutes.) We picked my brother up bright and early the next day (bright and early for a college freshman, that is) and headed to Waffle House for breakfast. Kickoff was scheduled for 12:20, and we made it into the stadium only a few minutes late.

My brother, Michael, headed off to the student section while Abby, Dad and I headed up to our seats in the nosebleed section ... on level 600. I had heard Missouri would have to do a $40 million renovation to our stadium to be in the SEC, but I wasn't sure what that would entail. Now I'm wondering, maybe that entails building our stadium a few levels higher? These seats were insanely high. The stadium also seats well over 92,000 people, so I'm sure the seats have to built that high just to fit around the field. When my dad sent his girlfriend a picture of the field from our seats and joked about how awesome our view was, she texted back:

"Yeah, you and the Goodyear blimp."

As you can see from our view, my dad's girlfriend was pretty accurate.

I loved the pretty autumn colors outside the stadium.

I'm happy to say Georgia won, 19-10, despite the few obnoxious Kentucky fans that were heckling the crowd in our section and periodically announcing the score of the Kentucky basketball game, in which the Wildcats were faring a little better (wrong sport!). The game ended just in time for me to follow the Missouri vs. Texas Tech game on my phone while we went to dinner (more about that later), and I was able to watch our victorious end back at the hotel! We also watched Oregon lose to USC, so those few games combined with Oklahoma State's loss the night before made for one heck of a college football weekend and a great start to Thanksgiving break!

Unfortunately, we didn't quite leave ourselves enough time in the morning to attend an actual tailgate outside the stadium, so I can't cross that off my list yet. But, I can cross attending an SEC football game off #20. Whoop!

Does this mean Missouri is Southern?

I woke up this morning to a text telling me the event I was supposed to attend at 4 p.m. had to be rescheduled "due to the press conference at 4:30."

What press conference? I thought. I assumed it probably had something to do with Mizzou's much-anticipated move to the Southeastern Conference, but why hadn't I heard anything about it before now?

Well, within 30 minutes, I had four different emails conveying the same message:

MU Chancellor Brady J. Deaton

invites you to join

Athletic Director Mike Alden,

University of Florida President Bernie Machen

and

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive

For a celebration and news conference

on the occasion of the

University of Missouri’s

admission to the

Southeastern Conference

Sunday, November 6, 4:30 p.m.

MU Student Center

One was from the chancellor himself, one from Greek Life, one from the Student Recreation Complex where I work and one from the Mizzou Alumni Association.

It only happens once in 100 years.

This past weekend, Mizzou celebrated its Centennial Homecoming. Although the term "first homecoming" is debatable, the University of Missouri is widely recognized as the founder of homecoming, dating back to when the athletic director invited alumni home to Mizzou for the Missouri-Kansas football game in 1911. Without getting too scholarly here, I will acknowledge the opposing faction that claims Mizzou was not the first. An Associated Press story published last month said, in part:

Tigers faithful have spent decades claiming former Missouri football coach and athletic director Chester Brewer's invitation for graduates to “come home” was the start of the tradition. School leaders know better — and are now more vocal in dispelling a well-worn myth whose adherents included Brewer himself.

“We try to be a little more careful about it,” said Missouri Alumni Association executive director Todd McCubbin, whose organization used to promote the school's homecoming as “the first and finest.”

The Oct. 15 game vs. Iowa State, preceded by a week's worth of activities, is now simply the school's centennial celebration.

“Certainly, our graduates feel like we're the first,” he said. “Sometimes perception is reality.”

So basically, what I'm saying is I'll still claim Mizzou as the originator of Homecoming. And we're still recognized as the largest student-run homecoming in the nation!

This is what Greektown looks like the night before Homecoming! (Right outside the ADPi house.)

Go Tigers! Moving on ...

72 Days at Mizzou.

Photo via Pinterest

1. It's been a while since I've written a post about my
impending graduation and subsequent limited time at Mizzou.

2. I bought my cap and gown for graduation today. Eek!

3. With only 72 days left, I don't anticipate I'll accomplish

much more during my undergraduate experience.

Due to these three items, I decided it was time to write a nostalgic piece about my time at the University of Missouri. I don't know if you can be nostalgic about something that isn't actually over yet, but I'm going to do it. So there. This will be mostly photos that represent my most memorable and/or proudest moments here at Mizzou. Enjoy!

Fall into autumn.

Source: prepfromthemidwest.tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

I just love fall. It is undoubtedly my favorite season of the year.

The weather is perfect for jeans and a cardigan, but it's not yet necessary to bundle up in gloves and a hat every time I want to leave the house. It's cool enough for a hot drink at Starbucks but warm enough to sit outside and enjoy a good book. It's acceptable to wear a scarf with shorts or boots with a sundress.

Source: prepfromthemidwest.tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

Fall is also the perfect time for adorable day dates, like visiting a pumpkin patch, apple orchard or a corn maze. Which reminds me, the food of autumn is wonderful! Apple cider, pumpkin spice lattes, other various pumpkin-flavored noms, sweet potato casserole, Thanksgiving dinner ... the list goes on.

And then, of course, there's the football. College football, professional football, tailgating, exorbitant amounts of barbequed food and clothing with school logos.

Source: llstudents.org via Megan on Pinterest

So get me some apple cider in the morning, take me to a tailgate with BBQ pork and hot chocolate, cover me in black and gold to watch the Mizzou Tigers take Faurot Field, and send me home to an oversized sweater, a good book and cuddling on the couch. That's my idea of heaven.

What's your favorite part about fall?

94 Days at Mizzou.

Source: weheartit.com via Megan on Pinterest

Whew. Every day I look at the countdown on my phone and the number gets smaller and smaller, meaning graduation is getting closer and closer! The 94 days I have left until graduation include:

• 11 chapter meetings with Alpha Delta Pi
• 44 scheduled shifts at MizzouRec
• 84 class meetings
• 5 home football games
• 82 nights in the Pi lodge
• 1 academic break (boo!)

Wow. I probably shouldn't have done that. Now graduation seems so much closer, and I'm started to feel a little depressed about leaving my carefree college life behind....