West Virginia!!

West Virgina: 48.

Texas: 45.

Let's GOOOO MOUNTAINEERS!!!

Saturday Afternoon

West Virginia 70.

Baylor 63.

Happy Weekend or LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS!

This is what we're doing this weekend! 

Oh - yeah. There will be yelling. 

Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe.  We certainly are enjoying our milder temperatures and football. 

xoxox

Tonya

MOUNTAINEERS!

Yeah.....

Orange Bowl

Let's Go Mountaineers!!!

BEAT PITT!!!!!

On Friday night we played Pitt at home. 

We beat em'. 

BWAH!

Let's Go Mountaineers! Beat Pitt!

Let's Go Mountaineers

I just want to thank all of you for bearing with me last week.  This is not a sports blog.  That is not why we're here.  I appreciate that y'all were able to bear with me while I celebrated such a joyous season with our team. 

And I also just want to say how very, very proud we all are of our basketball team this season (and always).  They had a truly remarkable run and played well until the very end.  West Virginia University thinks the world of it's Mountaineers as does, I think, the entire State of West Virginia.  We are all so proud of this team!

Friday's West Virginia Pretty Man

It's Da'Sean Butler, the big man.

Thursday West Virginia Pretty Man

Today's West Virginia Pretty Man is Mr. John Flowers.

He's coming off the bench just for us, here at The Bee Charmer.

Wednesday West Virginia Pretty Man

It's Kevin Jones!

This is what he looks like.  The whole game.

Happy.

Loose.

Joyous and smoochy.

Tuesday's West Virgina Pretty Man

Ladies, Devin Ebanks is back.

He's my new sweet babboo.  

And he still ain't nothin' but pretty.

Happy Monday!

Hi!

I could sit here and act like I have anything to say right now that is the least bit UN-related to West Virginia's win this weekend, but it would be shallow and a lie.

I am overjoyed with this team.  This means so much to us.  As a school, as a state.  I think I can speak for West Virginia when I tell you how very proud we are of this team and how much their sportsmanship and joy and confidence has meant to us all.

West Virginia LOVES it's Mountaineers.

And the Bee Charmer loves them, too.

I think it's going to be a great week and I can't promise that I'll be able to tone it down very much.  If we actually win this thing, I may very well become unbearable!

But for now, I'll thank you all for bearing with me.  This is a momentous occasion and deserves to be celebrated!

So Let's GO MOUNTAINEERS!  All the way to Indianapolis!!!
Image:  Choose Happiness by Sweet Blue Photography.

It's West Virginia!

I have a confession to make.

Going into last weekend's game against Kentucky, I knew in my head that Kentucky was supposed to win.

But in my quiet little heart, I thought we would win.  I expressed this secret thought to a few close friends, who looked at me with a mixture of love, skepticism and pity. 

It turns out that I was right.  WVU beat Kentucky.  And not by a little bit.

As you all know, I've been following this team pretty closely in March.  I sat through three nail biting games with them on their way to the Big East title.  I paced.  I fretted.  I buried my face in my hands.  I confess that I had to walk away and go upstairs during the final seconds of the Big East final (because I was sure we were going to overtime and I needed a minute to prepare myself).  I watched Da'Sean Butler's game winning basket on instant replay. 

And now I've sat through all the games of the NCAA Tournament.  I've been a mess.  My friends are making fun of me.

Now that we've made it to the Final Four, I am here to brag a bit and to bitch a lot.

First, the bitching:

Throughout this whole thing, I've been STUNNED by the lack of decency and basic respect that is shown not only to this team, but to our whole state.

Even in the victory over Kentucky, Dick Enberg stumbled over our name, almost forgetting to put the "West" in front of the word "Virginia".  Last weekend, during the Missouri game, the announcer referred to us as "Western Virginia".  Until very recently, our team was regularly (and incorrectly) referred to as "The University of West Virginia" as opposed to West Virginia University (here's a hint, if you can remember "WVU" you can use it as a mnemonic tool to put the words in the right order).  The articles that came out after last night's game initially referred to our campus being located in Huntington (it's in Morgantown, about 200 miles NORTH of Huntington, where it's been since 1867).

You know, nobody deserves to be treated this way.  West Virginia itself has been a state since 1863.  It's not asking too much, even of sportscasters, to get the name right or to know where the campus is located.  

So for the record, let me just say that this team has been monumental throughout the Big East Tournament and throughout the NCAA Tournament.  They've never quit, they've never stopped, they've never lost their heads.  This team is tough.  It is experienced.  It is disciplined.  And I think they're not done yet.  They have played with joy and quiet confidence.  As the sports article read West Virginia had the stage Saturday night, after Kentucky had the spotlight all season. 

Whatever happens from here on out, I think that people need to figure out how to get the name right.

I'll bet they can remember it in Kentucky now.

The Daily Athenaeum!

I am so in love with these guys right now!!!

FINAL FOUR!

Way to go Mounties!!!!!

Final Four here we come!!

The Elite Eight!!!

Let's Go Mountaineers!!!!  Bring on Kentucky!!

Happy Monday!

Hi!

I hope everybody had a great weekend.

I didn't do much of anything, unless you count watching NCAA Basketball.  If you count that, then I did a lot.

My friends are a bit shocked, given my firm "anti-sports" stance.  However, I get swept up in it and especially this year, when my team is doing so well.

Saturday was absolutely the most perfect spring day and I enjoyed it thoroughly.  Lola and I took a walk through the neighborhood and at some point I went and got my toes done, during which I finished last month's Vogue.  The Tina Fey article is entertaining and the Grace Coddington shoot in Jamaica was thought provoking (especially the Alexander McQueen Armadillo shoes).  And that's about all I have to say about it.  The rest of the weekend was spent puttering around the house, sitting in the yard, napping and doing laundry.   Oh and there were lazy mornings with lots and lots of peace and coffee. 

Some would call that boring.

I call it absolutely wonderful.

I wouldn't want to spend every weekend with so little to do, but sometimes, there is nothing better.

I didn't even shop for cheese and chocolate because I didn't want to drive and deal with parking and crowds.  The upside of that is that I didn't spend much money!

Back to the basketball, Wake Forest (my other school) is out.  Pitt (WVU's arch-nemesis) is out.  And my darling West Virginia Mountaineers are through to the Sweet 16.  Way to go Mounties!!!

I think it's gonna be a good week. 
Image:  Sweetness and Light by Gabrielle Kai.

Beast in the East

So in case you guys don't know, my alma mater, WVU, won the Big East Tournament on Saturday night and on Sunday was honored with a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Wow!  What kind of craziness is that?

I watched all three tournament games this weekend, which is remarkable because I'm not a sports girl.  It's also remarkable because watching the Mountaineers usually turns me into a miserable, nervous wreck.  But you know I did my deep breathing exercises and stuck it out.  I'm really quite proud of them.  Teary, even.

And then the next thing I know Country Roads is blaring from the loud speakers at Madison Square Garden.  Just, well, WOW.

I should stop here and tell those of you who don't know me well that I after I broke up with The Love Maker, I adopted a militantly "anti-sports" stance.  TLM was obsessed with sports to the point of ridiculousness and after the breakup I went the other way, building a girly little world full of pink art and pastel colors.  Sports were banned here, for the most part.

But I love the NCAA tournament.

To me, it's joyous.  It doesn't help that the entire March calendar is built around it here in North Carolina.  Usually, it's because either Duke or Chapel Hill are contenders.  Last year Davidson put on quite the show.  This year, the ACC is in tatters, Chapel Hill isn't even going to the NCAA and West Virginia (my darlings) are seeded number 2.

Again - I can only say wow. 

Anyway, I will probably say more as the tournament unfolds but for now I just have to say that I am so proud of our team, and their Big East win.  It was wonderful and we are so proud.

Let's Go Mountaineers!