Frat Beach, Family Weekend, Gum Grafting, Thanksgiving Break, & Turkey Trot

At the beginning of November, Brayden spent the weekend with her sorority sisters at “Frat Beach”, which is the term designated for when mass amounts of UGA students flock to St. Simons Island, Georgia whenever the Georgia versus Florida football game takes place. Her and her sorority sisters stayed at an Airbnb, spent lots of time on the beach partying with 8,000 other kids, and just hung out. It looked like a great weekend and apparently this is an annual tradition! The three of us ventured up to Raleigh for the NC State versus Georgia Tech football game. Alison joined us for tailgating, and it was so amazing to spend such quality time with her! The game was amazing and Georgia Tech was undefeated until we got finished with them! The students rushed the field, which was so fun to see. Everyone was so hyped up! Brayden went to a Pi Kap social when she got back from her trip; meanwhile, Mandy, Heather, Tonya, Kendall, and I went to the Cellar at Duckworth’s for dinner before going to see the Broadway musical, Six! It was so great! The play introduces you to Henry VIIIII’s six wives and tells the background of their story in a modern pop-day vibe. It was also one of the first musicals I’ve seen where there is no intermission. They sung for 90 minutes straight! 

Brayden, Leslie, Emilia, and I hopped on the computer together for another concert pre-sale…this time for Morgan Wallen next June in Clemson’s stadium and we got great seats! It will be the four of us and Hanleigh going to that concert and we are so excited! Ella Langley will open for him as well as another artist or two. The next weekend, the three of us headed down to Athens to visit Brayden for the first inaugural UGA family weekend. This would be the first time in many weeks for both of our girls to be reunited! It was so great seeing them together, bouncing right back into their routine of teasing each other and acting silly together. When we first saw Brayden, she had just gotten done taking her Macroeconomics midterm and was stressing out about needing a certain grade. This was important because whether she lives in the sorority house is completely dictated by her GPA. The house can hold 68 girls and they prioritize who gets to live there by their grades. So, every assignment and every test carries a lot of weight. I absolutely love this because it is one of the few sororities that really prioritize grades. So many other ones prioritize points, which is great because it encourages social participation, but grades may take a backseat to that. All sororities have certain GPA standards that everyone must adhere to, but her sorority goes above and beyond. So, not only do they admit people to the house in numerical GPA order, those with the highest GPAs get first dibs on picking what room they want, which usually also means how many roommates they have. There are a limited amount of rooms with only two girls in them and those are the most desired. Stay tuned for more on how this shapes out!

That evening, Brayden went to another Pi Kap social, and the next morning, we worked out at the student gym, attended a family weekend breakfast, toured the Morehead Honors College, walked around campus, and then that evening, we celebrated Cora’s birthday with her family at Cielito Lindo, a new Mexican restaurant that was incredibly delicious (even though we had to wait forever to get seated). The next morning, Trent and I were feeling ambitious, so we ran about a mile and a half to the student gym so that we could exercise there, only to find out that it was actually not even open, so we ran all the way back uphill. For those of you that are familiar with Athens, it is not a flat town, so we treated ourselves to breakfast at Sully’s Steamers and it was worth all of the hype! After getting cleaned up, we made our way to Paloma Park to watch the UGA versus Mississippi State away football game. It was really crowded and the vibes were high! It was so much fun! Brayden and Hanleigh went back to her room to hang out for a bit, so that was awesome that they got some much-needed sister time! I went back to the gym and took a fun (albeit very easy) hip-hop dance class. Later that evening, the four of us had dinner at DePalma’s, an Italian restaurant, and it was delicious! After we wrapped up that weekend, Trent basically dropped off Hanleigh and me in Charlotte where he did a quick turnaround and drove straight to Raleigh from there for a work trip. Meanwhile, Brayden enjoyed some yummy, home-baked treats that local parents had made for the girls as they were getting ready for the holiday season. She also had her chapter elections and a social with Fiji.

Back in Charlotte, I had gum-grafting surgery for the second time in about 20 years. My mom took me for the surgery and the healing is definitely no fun. I basically ate soft foods for the next month as my mouth continued to heal. Apparently, I am an aggressive brusher and have since switched out my automatic toothbrush for one that is less abrasive. I wouldn’t wish this surgery on anyone, so be careful how you brush! Coincidentally enough, our little buddy, Myers, also had oral surgery in the same week. He had three teeth removed! Poor little guy! So both of us were drugged up for a couple days. It was pretty comical. It was nice to have a day off of work on Veteran’s Day to honor those who have served our country (thanks, Terry!). Brayden participated in the weekly Grady Night Shift program and also registered for classes for spring semester! Trent joined his friends for their weekly post-workout bagel breakfast, Brayden toured the SEC Nation set (which is super awesome!), and Hanleigh babysat Aary down the street! I invited Tonya, Heather, Julie, and Mandy over to watch the Woman in Cabin 10, which all of us had read. As good as the book was (and I can’t say that very often because I don’t do any reading for pleasure…I overdosed on reading in grad school!), the plot was really different and there were a lot of characters and other sideline stories that were not in the book. So, we were a bit disappointed, but we had a great time hanging out nevertheless. While we had that girls night, Trent and Mike went to the Knights’ stadium to watch NC State versus Alabama play ice hockey in the middle of the baseball field, which is pretty cool. 

UGA played Texas in Athens and they won that game, which was a big deal! Brayden presented a ceremonial speech as part of her public speaking class, Trent and I went to an appointment with a lawyer to discuss updating our wills and trusts (something that we have needed to do for 15 years!), and we picked up our Turkey Trot bib numbers in anticipation for the race on Thanksgiving Day. Landon and Thad both celebrated their birthdays, Brayden went to a Delta Sig social, and Hanleigh had her biannual dentist appointment. I enjoyed a facial with Amy, Brayden had an RA meeting, and also participated in a service event by putting together sensory kits for kids. This was followed by a friendsgiving dinner, a Delta Sig social, and then tests in both Earth Sciences and her Media, News, and Consumers classes. 

We took Hanleigh to get her iron levels tested because she’s been having some issues there and they are trying to understand what the root cause of them is. I know everything will be figured out and she will be okay! NC State played Florida State in football in Raleigh, but it was a Friday night, so we opted to sell our tickets. It was another Wolfpack win! Hanleigh volunteered on a Saturday morning as part of a club she is in at school, Paws, by speaking to people outside of a local shopping area about becoming a foster parent to a dog, or to even adopt one. Dogs were there who are just looking for loving homes, so this was awesome that she was helping volunteer! That evening, we took her out for a date night at the Topgolf Swing Suite, which we all enjoyed! Between zombie dodgeball, soccer, baseball, golf, and other sports, it’s really fun! After that, we went next door and had dinner at Dunbar Social, which was absolutely delicious! And the cherry on top for the evening was that when we came home, Brayden was there! It was the first time she had been home all semester, and this time it was for Thanksgiving break! We were so excited to see her and have her back home. I know she missed us and the doggies! 

My mom came over on a Sunday evening so that we could discuss the annual sperlin family reunion room assignments! Next summer, we are headed to Asheville, and the houses we have are absolutely amazing, but we have to be very methodical in terms of where each family stays to maximize the space, so it’s a bit of a Rubik’s cube puzzle to figure out, but we did it! We cannot wait for that trip! It’s always one of the highlights of our year! Brayden had lunch with Kelly, and spent most of her time home visiting with friends. Hanleigh earned some more money taking care of our neighbor’s cat, and Trent and I did the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot. Unfortunately, Brayden was under the weather and so she was not able to join us. Next year! We came back quickly from the race and got everything in order to host Thanksgiving for the family! I think we had about 22 people there, but it’s not too difficult to get everything prepared because everyone is very helpful and brings food to contribute to the meal! It was great seeing everyone! 

The next day, we quickly got the ornaments hung on the tree and set up all of our Christmas decorations before heading to Apex where we would have dinner at the Wright’s house, and where the Mazzolas were as well! We had not seen them since our sailing trip this summer, and damn do we miss them! It was such a fun evening, and we got to see them the next morning for brunch at Grub in Durham. There’s never enough time with them! After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel for a little bit and then made our way to Carter-Finley stadium for what is always the most fun tailgate…the NC State versus UNC football game. This is a game that no one misses, even if they aren’t going into the actual game. As we say, we always win the tailgate! And that we did (and the game!)! It’s the last game of the year and the weather always gets extremely cold. I think it was 33° at kick off, but we managed okay!!! It was just great to all be together again! Nothing beats being with family…it was a great Thanksgiving break with all four of us together again!!!

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