Weekend Rewind

This past weekend Cory, Sam and I went to visit my parents and brothers in GA.  We left out early Friday morning because I had scheduled for our carpet to be cleaned at noon and wanted to be gone before they arrived.  We arrived after lunchtime and went to my Mama's work to see her first.  Sam enjoys walking around to all of the different offices and "visiting" with everyone.  He even got to sit in Grandma's chair and "do" some of her work.  After visiting with her and keeping her from completing any work, we headed to the house to unload.  We visited with my Daddy and youngest brother, William, and then got ready for the sports auction that night.

The high school my brother attends, CHS, has a sports auction each year to help pay for all of the athletic expenses.  This year was the 24th annual one but the first one I had attended.  (I have been to numerous auctions before, just not this one).  My parents purchased tickets for Cory and I because an Auburn football player was the guest speaker for the night.  His name is Josh Harris and he graduated from CHS in 2007.  He attends Auburn and is the long snapper for the football team.  He snapped the ball that led to the kick that led to the win of the 2010 National Championship Game! Needless to say, we were looking forward to hearing him speak and getting to meet him.

The auction had 400 items/packages for bid.  Most of them were silent auction items and the "big-ticket" items were live auctioned.  We did a walk through and made mental notes of all the items we wanted.  There was quite a bit of Auburn stuff there--a lot of it brought by Josh--and Cory and I had our eye on a few things we really wanted. 

As the live auction got started, we quickly realized that the people were bidding way, way out of our price range.  My mother had warned me but it didn't really sink in until I heard those large numbers.  My mother bid on a few things but I kept my bid number securely in my lap for most of the evening!!  We slowly watched the Auburn items going for $500, $600, $800, $1000....  I was beginning to think we wouldn't be able to get anything!  Then, my mother won the bid for 4 box seats to the AU vs. Mississippi State game and we opted to split the cost with my parents and go together!

The evening wore on and finally a helmet signed by all of the AU players on the National Championship team was brought up to bid.  Of all the items there, I knew that was Cory's favorite item.  Then, they decided to throw in a framed picture of Toomer's Corner after the National Championship Game, complete with the coin as well.  The picture was my favorite item and when I saw they were together, I knew I had to have them both.  

I began bidding, and bidding, and bidding, and finally it was between myself and another man.  The number kept increasing and I kept bidding higher.  After what seemed like forever, I won the bid!!!!  I couldn't believe I had just spent our entire life savings on a helmet and picture.  (Yes, you read that right: our entire life savings!)  I do not want to share the exact number but let's just say that Lauren Giddens is the BIGGEST supporter of CHS Athletics for 2011!!  There was only one other item for bid that went for higher than what I paid.  I told my brother that the tennis team uniforms were paid for for the next 10 years with my single payment....and I am not exaggerating!

Cory was shocked but not mad....how could he be mad?  He was now the owner of an AU helmet signed by all of the players.  We went over and got Josh to sign our program and we located his signature on the helmet as well.  He thanked us for our generosity and for our loyal devotion to Auburn.  We were talked about for the rest of the night!  We retrieved our precious items and immediately purchased a case from Amazon for the helmet.  

Saturday was not as exciting as Friday night.  I am not sure we could have topped it if we tried.  We went out as a family--minus one brother--to try the Chicken and Waffles at IHOP.  My brother Stephen--the one that wasn't with us--has eaten at the original Chicken and Waffles restaurant in Atlanta, but we didn't have time to drive to Atlanta so we chose the IHOP version instead.  It was actually very good and we all enjoyed the odd combination.  

Saturday evening I had a Thirty-One meeting and then spent some time talking with a friend from high school about "the good old days."  It was so nice to reminisce with her and to laugh about how naive we were.  

Sunday, my other brother came home from his Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale, and we had a nice time visiting and catching up.  We left Sunday afternoon and came home to some wonderfully clean carpet!  I have been very busy and I have a very busy few days ahead of me and will most likely be MIA for a little while.  I will be admiring my wonderful purchase and trying to restock our bank account!