Last night, one of our VPs at nonprofit job declared today to be Spirit Day in honor of March Madness. I almost felt sorry for him since he’s a UGA alum, but then I thought, “Ugh. Georgia. HA! Y’all LOST!”

This was perfect since I’ve been plotting all week how to wear UT stuff to work. We have casual Friday, but a zip-up hoodie is pushing it. Someone has to show these whimpy AU fans how it’s done in the SEC.

The declaration of Spirit Day allowed me to take it to the next level.

I went home and dug through all my orange regalia. Should I wear my orange polo or “Smokey Is My Homeboy” shirt? (It’s the office, so I went with the polo).

I couldn’t find my Power T dangle earrings, but I still had Volunteer ribbon for my hair.

• Orange polo. check.
• UT zip-up hoodie. check.
• Orange muffler and gloves. check
• Canvas UT purse with Power Ts. check.
• Volunteer ribbon. check.

Then I realized that I had one more UT item. Did I dare wear them and officially become a hypocrite? When Maven Mom gave me the UT Crocs, I swore that I would never wear them in public. Then she offered me $100 to take pixs wearing them in front of monuments. The money is tempting, but I haven’t had time to take her up on it.

I made a compromise today.

I wore my black Converses on the Metro and changed into my UT Crocs at the office. Since my cube is mostly decorated in orange, I figured my co-workers would let it pass. Everyone knows how much I love the Vols.

Today, I temporarily resign as president of the Anti-Croc Coalition and hand the reigns over to Mrs. M. Tomorrow, I’m back to being a Croc-hater.

A Tennessee girl has to show her pride. As the Vol Abroad says on her blog, “You can take the girl out of Tennessee, but you’ll never get her out of orange leisure wear.”

GO VOLS!

Over the weekend, I got this IM from John Brown:

John: whoo, Tennessee plays American in round 1! who will Adrienne pull for?!

In a bizarre match-up, both of my alma maters will play each other in the first round of the NCAA Basketball tournament.

The no. 2 seeded University of Tennessee Volunteers (B.S. ‘04) will play the Patriot League champions, American University Eagles (M.A. ‘07). I never saw that one coming.

While I enjoyed grad school at AU, my blood runs orange, John.

Actually it’s kind of funny to see this at AU. The school is better known for activism than sports. It’s a new type of excitement for AU students. Usually, it takes a Barack Obama visit to campus or a Karl Rove protest to get them riled up. Without realizing it, the NCAA is bringing two completely different types of fans together.

UT Fans

vs. typical AU Students

A friend posted this on Facebook, and I thought it was absolutely adorable. I missed it if it made the Vol blogs earlier.

If I had the opportunity to teach kids in other parts of the world about God’s country, teaching them Rocky Top would be at the top of my list.

Just got an alert that the official Vol Mall is running a 50% off EVERYTHING sale until midnight tonight!

Those of you on my Christmas list–expect something orange under the Christmas tree.

I can hear my credit card moaning right now. I think that Vol Abroad once said that your alumni nostalgia goes up in proportion to your distance from the University. Once I despised hearing Rocky Top outside of football games. Now it’s my ringtone.

Perfect timing for me deck out new Honda Vol style. I’ve already added an alumni bumper sticker and license plate to my cart. Should I invest in stuff now for my future Big Orange Bathroom?*

*Long ago, I decided to create a Big Orange Bathroom when I finally buy a place. Where else can you indulge your alumni love? Orange is a hard color to use in decorating, so a small guest bath or powder room would be perfect. I’ll paint the walls UT orange and use the Vol wallpaper border. I already have a Smokey soap dispenser. I plan on buying cheesy pictures of Ayres Hall, Neyland Stadium, and Smokey and including all those giant football books dedicated to General Neyland for bathroom reading. At Christmas, I’ll put a small white tree in there with orange bows and my collection of UT ornaments. The piece de resistance will be a giant, orange-painted screw in a shadowbox frame. I’ll finally have the Big Orange Screw on my terms.

Tonight is the greatest night of the year for football–the SEC Championship. No one plays football like the SEC.

It was a rough road, and there will probably be a lot of Georgia fans crying over their beer tonight, but bwahahaha!

I just pray that it won’t be a repeat of 2002 when LSU kicked our butts over the SEC title. That was a painful night. I was at a party watching it with friends while my voicemail filled up with messages from the LSU fans in my family. Lots of love that night.

In honor of my LSU heritage and parentals from the South:

GEAUX VOLS!!!!!!

Fellow UT alum, Stephen Harris, is raising money to support his dreams of competing in Beijing in the decathlon.

I was in Campus Crusade with Stephen years ago, and he’s an all-around stellar guy. He teaches high school history outside of Atlanta and can’t afford to train for the Olympics on a teacher’s salary.

He’s set up a web page and an Facebook group, asking 5,000 people to each contribute $5.

I can’t think of a better person to represent the U.S. in the Olympics. Please help Stephen out today.

www.SupportStephenHarris2008.com

One of the highlights of being home this weekend was watching the UT game with McGuyver Dad just like we did when I lived in-state. What a game! After sitting through four overtime periods, I’m fairly certain that God is a Vol fan. ATL here we come!

Now the difficult family rivalry emerges. GFTS is the black sheep of the family who opted to attend UT over LSU. This is the ONLY time that Maven Mom takes a passing interest in football, and McGuyver Dad is faced with the difficult decision of which team to support. But as Maven Mom put it today, “The only thing UT got from your father and I was tuition money.”

I wish we could go to the game in Atlanta. I’d even sit in the LSU section. The atmosphere would be more entertaining there. Drunk Cajuns are always funny, and the food would be good. They would probably even have jambalaya.

GEAUX VOLS!!!

Had Beka not put up a Facebook message about my trip home next week, I would have forgotten that I’m flying out of here on Tuesday.

Despite the hopes of some liberals, I haven’t fallen off the face of the planet. Work has just be supremely busy. I mean busy in an incredibly serious manner, and not my usual melodramatic exaggerations. I’m sure all my co-workers who read this blog now (thanks to Facebook or the WaPo Express), would back me up. A few days went by when I actually forgot that I had a blog.

It’s all good though. When I enjoy it, I don’t mind being a workaholic.

I’m pretty psyched to get home. It’s been about 4 months since I saw the family and Chattabuddies. Coco, the dog from the South has forgotten my existence, and I’m looking forward to a brief respite from the Beltway. The thought of shopping at Wal-mart makes me happy!

This weekend, I must have felt college nostalgia. Saturday, I wore an a Volunteer orange polo shirt with a Tennessee zip-up hoodie. Since I never get to pull out the Vol wear, I paired it with my Power T scarf, gloves and purse. (The Crocs stayed home.) Of course I ended up running into my friend Sarah from college. She’s now in an SIS grad program at American, and laughed at my Vol fever. It did look like I was leaving Neyland Stadium sans alcoholic beverage.

Sunday, John stopped by from a visit on his way home from New York. It was great to catch up with him and hang out. We ended up taking the Monument March of Death late Sunday night. My two favorite times to see DC are at night and when it snows. The WWII monument is breathtaking at night. The lighting and fountains are amazing. It’s my favorite monument.

All the college friends are so spread out now that I don’t get to see everyone very often. John, come back and visit, and Nathan–I’m expecting a visit sometime soon. Philadelphia isn’t that far from here.

Tonight, I received a fall care package from Maven Mom with special pumpkin spice soap. I wish that we could send smells over the web. This smells better than a pumpkin spice frappachino. When is she going to start selling this stuff? If I walked into Lush, this bar of soap would have cost at least $10. Maven Mom soap is the best in the world. Who else has a mother who makes organic, homemade soap?

Can you tell that I haven’t read the news or checked my email lately? All I have tonight are updates from GFTS world. At least I’m alive and checking in with the blogosphere. My next post may not be until Chattanooga…

My loathing of Crocs is noted at GFTS. I don’t care how comfortable they are, Crocs are ugly, ugly, boat-like shoes.

A while back, Maven Mom pledged to buy me a pair for my birthday. This past weekend, my annual b-day care package arrived, and sure enough, there was a shoebox inside.

As soon as I put them on, Daisy, my roomie’s dog, started playing with them. I can’t blame her. Crocs look and feel a lot like dog toys.

So I’m torn. On one hand, they are damn ugly shoes. On the other, they’re orange with Power Ts. Where do you draw the line on tasteful Volunteer wear? Sure, they are comfortable and feel like you’re walking on clouds. That does not mean that I’ll ever wear them out. At this point, I’ll wear them when I’m watching UT games from the privacy of my own home or need to slip something on to walk Daisy late at night. Unless I suddenly take up gardening or join the Vol Navy, there’s no other reason to wear them.

I should include a disclaimer on all following anti-Croc posts that I am an unintentional member of Croc owners.

Sometimes, it’s hard to be a Vol in GFTS world. Much of my family went to LSU, including the parentals from the South, my boss is a Gator fan, another co-worker is a Georgia fan, my godson is being raised as a Bama fan, and there are entirely too many Florida alums in the DC metro area.

Usually, I just keep quiet, sing Rocky Top to myself, wave an imaginary shaker and pray to Peyton Manning, the patron saint of Tennessee, that we’ll remember that defense is important in football.

Vol Abroad, on the other hand, was gutsy and made a bet with a Dawg fan. As a rule, Dawg fans are rather cocky and rarely turn down bets. While I’m shocked that the Vol Abroad would have risked permanent damage to her adorable son by forcing him to wear red and black, the loser was gracious.

This makes my plans to buy a white bulldog and name him Smokey seem rather kind. I also want a fur-friendly Power T sticker to put on the Coco, the dog from the South. I’m afraid that I’ll go home over Thanksgiving and see him dressed in purple and gold.

GO VOLS!

Have I mentioned how thankful I am that the Vols aren’t playing LSU this year?