As Thanksgiving is slowly but surely approaching I once again am reminded of all the things that I am thankful for this time of the year. This not only is my favorite season of the year but one of my favorite holidays as well. For me it's not just about the food and wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that we sit down to every year but more about what God has done in my life over the past year. As I pause for a few moments I stop and think about how blessed I am that I even get to spend Thanksgiving with those that I love, whether family or friends. There have been a couple of years when I wasn't living close to family that I either got together with my Mother or her and I got together with some close friends of the family. I use to wish that I had a big family to get together with on Thanksgiving and sometimes I must admit I still do at times. But then I'm reminded of how many people don't have any family or even a roof over their head to wake up to on Thanksgiving. That makes me realize once again how incredibly blessed I am to have the family that I have and the breath of life to get to enjoy those little moments while here on earth.
Another thing that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving is my wonderful husband that God has blessed me with. He is the love of my life and the one person I know I can count on no matter what! Richie and I have been married now for a little over 2 years and I am so grateful for the time that I have with him. Richie is my rock and he gives me so much strength and never ending support on a daily basis. The love that my husband gives me every day is so unconditional. I truly had never known love until I met him and I pray we have many more years together. I look forward to what God is going to do in our lives!
Have you thought about what you are most thankful for this Thanksgiving? Have you shared your thoughts with the ones that you love? My prayer is that we all learn to be thankful for everything that we have in our lives each and every day and not just on Thanksgiving. With that being said here's to a Happy Thanksgiving.....may we all remember our blessings, treasure the loves that we love, reach out to the ones that need that special touch, and live for Him daily!
May God bless you and yours,
~Lori Fender
The Phoenix Suns hosted the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday night. Though Kobe Bryant had a below-average game he's got so much help on this Los Angeles Lakers team it didn't really matter. Bryant scored 24 points, Vladimir Radmanovic made all five of his 3-pointers and a host of others made significant contributions to help the Lakers soar past the Phoenix Suns, 105-92 on Thursday night.
Kobe Bryant shot only 8-of-23, but the Lakers overwhelmed Phoenix with their depth. Six players reached double figures as Los Angeles improved its record to a league-best 9-1. "I was telling Luke Walton about 10 minutes ago that this might be the first season I average 31 minutes because we've been blowing people out," Bryant said. "I've been sitting the whole fourth quarter. That's pretty amazing." Bryant did make a fourth-quarter cameo, but mostly it was left to the reserves to finish off Phoenix. Radmanovic scored 15, Lamar Odom 13, Jordan Farmar 11, and Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza 10 apiece for Los Angeles. Pau Gasol scored only four points but had nine assists and nine rebounds.
"They're the best team," the Suns' Shaquille O'Neal said. "They're 9-1. They're playing good. Kobe's playing team ball, keeping everybody involved. He's got a lot of shooters around him. They're a very dangerous team." Amare Stoudemire scored 21 for Phoenix on 9-for-21 shooting. The Lakers' reserves outscored their Suns counterparts 42-30. "It's the kind of game we need from our bench," Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said. "We were able to play them most of the fourth quarter." The Lakers had 21 points off 15 Phoenix turnovers. Los Angeles committed just seven turnovers, resulting in seven points for the Suns.
"I thought Raja Bell did a great job on Kobe," Phoenix coach Terry Porter said. "He goes 8-for-23 and he has other guys step up. That's what's made these guys good this year." The Lakers made 10 of 21 3-pointers to win in Phoenix for the third straight time. Los Angeles took the lead for good late in the first half. The Lakers led by 14 in the third quarter and were up 89-71 when Odom sank a 3-pointer with 8:34 to play. Phoenix cut the lead to 10 in the final few minutes but got no closer. The Lakers went on a 14-0 run to end the first quarter and start the second, taking a 32-24 lead on Bynum's 10-footer. The Suns responded with a 12-2 spurt to go up 37-34 when Grant Hill made one of two free throws with 7:05 left in the half.
Once we entered Georgia and checked into our hotel we headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe. We had definitely worked up an appetite and were ready to fill our tummies. As we got to the Hard Rock Cafe we began to realize that they had no parking as did most everything in downtown Atlanta. Grrrr! This was extremely frustrating and we just kept driving around to finally figure out YOU HAD TO PAY TO PARK, yes pay to park just to eat dinner or even walk around the downtown area. To me that was absolutely ridiculous but after riding in a car for almost 8 hours and being extremely hungry sometimes you just do what you have to do. We wound up parking in a parking garage (which wound up costing us $10) and walking about a block to the Hard Rock Cafe. The disappointing thing was that dinner wound up being a complete let down and Richie and I both felt like the dinner was way overpriced and didn't taste as good as something we would normally get from Chili's. 
So after dinner we headed back to our hotel and retired for the evening. This mind you is no typical hotel.....there definitely is a story there! We did not know upon booking this particular hotel that you had to pay $15 a day for parking, which let me add is way up on the ninth floor. It almost feels like you are going up 39 floors, plum ridiculous! So after getting car sick every time we drove up to the guest parking I was definitely ready to get into our room. Oh getting into our room, that's another story in itself. We had to park on the 9th floor, walk down one floor, grab the elevator to ride down the last 8 floors, walk outside to enter the hotel, once inside the hotel grab the elevator up 5 floors to our room. In case you haven't figured it out by now the parking garage isn't attached to the hotel at all and is shared with an adjacent office building that was 25 floors. So needless to say the parking situation SUCKED!!!
On Wednesday, I took Richie to Toccoa, Georgia where I lived for a little over 3 years starting in March of 1994. I myself wondered how much that small town had changed but other than a couple of strip malls and a new supercenter WalMart everything looked pretty much the same. Richie and I ate at my favorite restaurant in Toccoa, Los Amigos. They still have some of the best mexican food on the east coast that I've ever had. Next we went to Toccoa Falls College where I attended briefly. The waterfall is still breathtaking and it was pure joy to walk that area with the love of my life holding my hand. The leaves were falling almost like snow and it was definitely a moment that Richie and I both wished we could have frozen in time.
Thursday Richie and I decided to go to the World Of Coca Cola. Richie had never been there and I had actually been to the old location back in 1996 when Heather & Linda came to visit. The new location is much more spread out and they have added a few different things as well as more drinks, tour guides, and a much larger Coca Cola store. It was a awesome experience to share it with my husband who is also a Coca Cola fan like myself. Very rarely do you see Pepsi products in our house unless once in awhile we pick up a pack of Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi. Other than that we are avid Coke fans all the way!! There definitely were some nasty tasting coca cola products from all over the world. Probably the most disgusting was the Beverly from Europe. Oh man it made the hair on your neck stand up! I myself like the traditional coca cola products like regular coke, diet coke, vanilla coke, and cherry coke. I always know what I am getting in the traditional flavors and their taste never changes. The one thing that I thought was absolutely cute was that the Coca Cola bear was on site and it was so cute to watch the kids take pictures with it. I have always loved polar bears and the Coca Cola bear is sure to bring a smile on anybody's face. What a cutie!
After Richie and I tried every single Coca Cola product there was we headed over to grab some dinner and relax by watching a football game where the Jets played the Patriots. We found a local ESPN zone, yay! Just our place! So we kicked back and took in a game while munching on some delicious food. We of course were rooting for the Jets as my husband and I can't stand the Patriots! I was actually surprised because there were quite a few Jets fans at the game with much less Patriots fans so that made for a wonderful evening! The Jets won the game 34-31 and it was a really good game! By that time we were tired and ready to retire for the evening but I wasn't looking forward to the drive up 9 whole floors just to get to our room, ugh!! Ready or not here we come though...
Friday Richie and I ate lunch at The Varsity, one of the famous places to eat in Atlanta, Georgia. The Varsity isn't a place you go to often because I'm sure the calorie count is through the roof! They do have the best chili cheese dogs, fries, onion rings, coca cola products and old fashioned milkshakes. The Varsity is still the world's largest drive-in restaurant and has been serving customers since 1928. People from all over the world come to experience The Varsity because there is nothing like it anywhere! The World's Largest Drive-in sits on more than two acres and can accommodate 600 cars and over eight hundred people inside. On days of Georgia Tech football games up to 30,000 people visit The Varsity. It sells more than two miles of hotdogs daily, a ton of onion rings, 2500 pounds of fresh cut potatoes, 5000 homemade fried pies, and 300 gallons of chili, all of which are made from scratch daily. The downtown Varsity is also the world's largest single outlet for Coca-Cola. This is where the now famous cry of The Varsity started "What'll Ya Have".
After lunch we headed over to the Georgia Aquarium. Richie & I love touring aquariums. Together we have been to 4 different aquariums in 4 different states. We've been to the Long Beach Aquarium in CA, the North Carolina aquarium at Fort Fisher, Ripley's aquarium in Myrtle Beach, SC, and now the Georgia aquarium. Can you tell we like to look at marine life? The Georgia Aquarium is the world's largest and most engaging aquarium. With eight million gallons of fresh and marine water and more aquatic life than found in any other aquarium, you are sure to see things you have never seen before! Richie and I got to see whale sharks, beluga whales, stingrays, horseshoes crabs, sea stars, and tons of different freshwater fish as well as saltwater fish. It was just an incredible day at the aquarium and we got to see so many different animals upclose. This by far was one of the best aquariums I have ever been to! 
Well until our next endeavor stay tuned for more Fender Chronicles. Also keep a lookout for more vacation slideshows coming soon!! May God bless you all and may you have a wonderful holiday season!
Blessings,
~LF
The North Carolina State Fair was awesome once again this year. Richie and I went to the fair Saturday October 25th and we had a fantastic time. The fair consists of booths that are setup for games, crafts, rides, vendors selling many unique gifts, a barnyard zoo, and a variety of different foods that would cause a person on a diet to go absolutely nuts!!
Richie took this pic because it had my name on it and we got a kick out of it. I was amazed at how much popcorn we saw always popping and how many caramel apples and cotton candy was sold. Face it many people had sticky hands this day! Sticky hands or not it still made many children happy not to mention the adults who were able to act like a kid for a day.
I personally enjoyed the time just walking around the grounds and taking it all in. It was a great day of relaxation and time to spend with just my husband. The fair drew in herds of people from all over the state and honestly I have never seen so many people come out to a big event like this before. Most times I did not notice because I was focused on enjoying the day and the time that I got to spend with Richie. As we strolled hand in hand the smells began to overwhelm Richie and I and we headed over to some of the food booths to check out what could tempt our taste buds.
I learned after walking around looking at the food booths that this definitely wasn't going to be a low-fat type of snack by any means. The majority of food at the fair is deep fried or somewhat dipped in some type of grease for sure. I saw some of the weirdest foods I'd ever seen in my entire life. They had deep fried twinkies, deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, deep fried snickers, funnel cakes, french fries, hamburgers, hot dogs, ribbon fries, chicken on a stick, and so much more. We could almost smell the grease in the air as we walked around and after awhile it was starting to get to me. By the end of the day I had had enough. I was sure my clothes smelled like deep fried whatever, sort of like when you're at a campfire and you go home and smell your clothes...they smell kind of smoky and like you took a part of that campfire home with you. Well this was the case when I got in our car that night after the fair. I smelled like a walking deep fried Lori, lol. You think I'm kidding!
All in all the day was an awesome day. I loved spending it with the love of my life and I'm pretty sure he liked the day at the fair with me by his side as well. Oh and yes we did eating something deep fried. We just couldn't resist. Richie got a deep fried snickers and I got a deep fried twinkie. Oh it was soooo good. Here's a pic for ya to see what a deep fried twinkie looks like. It's actually rather weird...the twinkie is dipped into a batter and then simply fried. I love twinkies and I wasn't sure what it was going to be like but oh man it was sinful! So here's to looking forward to next year when the North Carolina State Fair rolls around again.
Pau Gasol was definitely the man Tuesday night in the Lakers 116-109 win over Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls, scoring a game high 34 points. Gasol was just focused and had a pep to his step on the offensive end of the floor. Even though the Lakers won the game by 7 points, the Bulls threatened to come back late in the game with their 35 point effort in the fourth quarter. Derrick Rose had one of, if not the best performance of the season so far with 25 points and 9 assists. I have to admit, I was quite skeptical of Rose coming into this season. I knew the kid was special when I caught a glimpse of him in the NCAA last year, but I wasn't convinced he was ready for the NBA. After Tuesday night's game against arguably the best team in the NBA, he has officially proved he can play at a high level in the NBA and will be one of the best players in the league in the near future. He may just take rookie of the year this season and with all due respect he'll probably blow away his competition without a doubt but time will tell.
Besides Rose, the rest of the Bulls struggled shooting the basketball all night long against the revamped Lakers defense. Ben Gordon shot 6 of 22 for 23 points and Luol Deng had a miserable night with only 9 points on 4 of 10 from the floor. As for the Lakers, most of the squad had a great all around game. Andrew Bynum was impressive with 18 points, 9 boards and three blocked shots. The big kid seems to get better and better with every game, especially on the offensive glass and dominating the paint. I know the season has only just started, but if Bynum keeps blocking shots and being a dominant defense force for the Lakers he may be in the running for defensive player of the year. 
Kobe Bryant had another solid game, but unlike the past Kobe is helping the team out with a more versatile game. Kobe still put up 21 points, but his other numbers were more impressive as he stole the ball three times, blocked two shots, dished out 6 assists and ripped down 5 boards. I think after so many years of having to shoulder the scoring load for the Lakers, Kobe finally has the teammates he needs to make a legit run at yet another NBA title. Along with Kobe, Pau and Bynum, Lamar Odom and Jordan Farmar were also effective off the bench. Farmar is still breathing down Derek Fisher's neck for the starting job as he continues to play well off the bench. In just 19 minutes, Farmar did just about anything you could do on the floor. The UCLA alumni scored 12 points, grabbed 3 boards, dished 2 assists, stole the ball twice and blocked a shot. It is becoming more and more apparent that Farmar should be the starting point guard for the Lakers. With everything coming together, the Lakers are without a doubt the team to beat in the West, but the true test will be on Christmas Day with the NBA Finals rematch against the Boston Celitcs. All I gotta say is GO LAKERS!
The win was the Pistons' eighth in the last 10 meetings. Kobe Bryant scored 29 points for the Lakers, but went 12-of-30 from the floor. "We just played a good all-around game," Iverson said after the Pistons won for the third time since his arrival from Denver five games ago. "It's just about playing basketball, and understanding what we want to do on the basketball court. We didn't feel like it would take long, but we knew it would be kind of shaky in the beginning because I'm a totally different player than Chauncey Billups. I'm a lot more aggressive when it comes to driving to the basket, so my teammates have to know what spot I want them to be in to be able to create shots for them."
When asked how Detroit held the Lakers to under a hundred points, Allen Iverson responded, "We just played solid defense, and we made them take tough, contested shots. When they missed, we got out and ran and took advantage. On the offensive end, we just attacked all night." Kobe Bryant said that the Pistons presented a "matchup issue" for the Lakers' defense. "We didn't shoot particularly well, but those guys were hot, too, in the first half and third quarter they kept us at bay. They're one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, obviously. And they caught us on a night when they were hot as a pistol and we were pretty cold." The Pistons shot 51 percent and the Lakers 42 percent. Wallace, the Pistons' center, went 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Detroit usually plays rugged defense against Bryant, who had 17 points through the first three quarters as the Pistons took command. They have held him to 20 or fewer points in five of the last nine meetings.
Tayshaun Prince added 18 points in Detroit's balanced scoring. Former Laker Kwame Brown had a double-double, with 10 rebounds and 10 points, and Richard Hamilton also scored 10.
The Los Angeles Lakers broke out of a shooting slump Sunday night. It was a shock to many as some people can't fathom how the Lakers keep winnng with poor shooting off and on. While that may be the case to some, the Lakers haven't lost a game so far this season and are getting stronger as time goes on. Reigning MVP, Kobe Bryant scored 23 points, while Pau Gasol also had a brilliant game adding 20 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots. The Lakers shot 65.8 percent in the second half in a 111-82 victory over the Houston Rockets.
Houston's Tracy McGrady, a two-time NBA scoring champion and seven-time All-Star, had his second brutal shooting performance in a row at Staples Center, going 1-of-11 for three points two days after missing all five of his field goal attempts and scoring two points in a 92-83 victory over the Clippers. "I just couldn't get any rhythm," he said. I think they did a great job of really making it tough for me. Every time I posted up, they had a couple of extra guys coming over. "These were probably the worst two games of my career. But when you play a long time in this league, you're going to have some games like that. Unfortunately, I had two in a row. But it's a long season."
Ron Artest also had an off night, shooting 2-of-11 and scoring only eight points. "Obviously, nobody's happy about the loss, but I feel good about where we're going to be at," he said. "I feel confident about this team. I really believe that we're going to be there at the end." The Rockets were within one point before Bryant scored six and Derek Fisher added four during a 12-3 run that gave the Lakers a 67-57 lead with 4 minutes left in the third quarter. Houston wasn't closer than seven points after that.
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