The Last 10 Years in Pictures...

Good morning! Greetings with the energy that a grande Starbucks coffee and a morning workout can bring. I'm back on the workout wagon and it feels good! So, I ran across this in the NYT today and thought it was worth a post. (If you click on the image you can a larger version.) Happy Tuesday - and third to last day of this year.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I was behind the eight ball. It was December 2nd and my Thanksgiving/Fall decorations were still up at the house. Each time a saw them I was reminded that I was slacking on my job as the 'Holiday Decor Director' of my house. Then, on the 11th, I could take it NO more! Robert and I made the annual trek to Lowe's for our Christmas Tree. Once the tree was in the house, I had no choice but to get the Thanksgiving decorations down STAT. Had the fall leaves been in the presence of the green fir tree for too long the world may have combusted, and it would have been all my fault! After that it was easy, putting up the outside lights, mantle decorations and Christmas dishes all got me in the spirit. I got the tree ornamented with some help from Maddie on Sunday morning. My wrapping session with the paper that didn't really match my decorations took me out of the mood for a little while, but KG helped put it back into perspective for me. "Who cares?", she said. And she's right. So, here's to Christmas decorating - unmatching and all ;)

Hitting the Ice

Usually when I think about ice skating I think about having to drive WAY into the suburbs and lacing up nubuck colored skates with wet orange laces. While this was great for 5th grade birthday parties, there is just something missing for 30 year-olds on dates :)
Then we ran across the ice skating rink that was opening at the St. Regis hotel in Buckhead for the winter. We knew that was the way to do it! Me, Robert Jason, Rebekah, Matt and Heidi all met up on Sunday and hit the ice. It was beautiful! They served hot chocolate and had a s'mores station set up at the fireplace nearby. We got in about an hour of ice skating and then headed to Wahoo in Decatur for dinner. A GREAT way to spend a Sunday!

Unleashed

It was time for another Girls Weekend, so Jessica and I hopped in the car on Friday afternoon and headed north to Nashville for a visit to Andrea. As our social director for the weekend, she had us all hooked up. On the recommendation of Nicole, we stayed at the Hutton Hotel in downtown Nashville, which could possibly be the most fabulous and cost-efficient hotel in all of the city. Not only was the decor very posh, but the shower head in the shower was affixed to the ceiling!? The water came down just like a waterfall. I've been some pretty fancy places, but I've never seen that before. Andrea took us out for sushi on Friday and then shopping on Saturday. We watched the SEC game and then headed back for a nap. After dinner at The Boundry, we were headed for the 'Honky Tonk' bars. I can't believe in all the time that I have spent in Nashville, I hadn't ever been to these bars. So much fun! The band was great, and Cowboy Troy and Gretchen Wilson ended up performing a surprise set. So much excitement :) So much so, that Jessica and I had to call it quits and cab back to the hotel a little 'early'. A little late night pot roast sandwich with sweet potato chips, and we were off to bed. What a fabulous time with fabulous friends. I am the luckiest girl in the world! :) We had to be back in Atlanta by noon on Sunday, so with a little Diet Coke, an Egg McMuffin and hashbrowns we were on our way back to being grownup again.

100 Things to Be Happy About (#26-#50)

Continued from my February post....

#26 A favorite new song

#27 Edward and Jacob (The Twilight Saga)

#28 Big, Long Hugs

#29 Someone holding the door just for you

#30 Getting a text message from your brother

#31 Watching the creativity of a child

#32 Coming up with something almost as creative as a child would

#33 Tall boots and skinny jeans

#34 Pumpkin Waffles

#35 Cold sheets on a hot night

#36 When a recipe turns out just like the photo

#37 Getting all caught up with your picture albums

#38 Sitting on the beach listening to the water

#39 Lost returns to ABC in January

#40 A football win over UGA

#41 Costume jewelry

#42 Getting to bed early

#43 Newspapers on Sunday mornings

#44 Getting text messages

#45 Snail mail

#46 Grilled cheese and soup Tuesdays

#47 Uninhibited dance sessions

#48 Knowing all the right words when signing along

#49 New socks

#50 Homegrown Tomatos

I Knew It Was a Bad Idea

While everyone told me that it would be life changing - maybe for the worse - I was still very curious about it. And thought that I would be able to still keep a realistic perspective after reading it. Well...I was wrong. It doesn't happen very often, so take note! ;) I started reading Skinny Bitch and got past the part about all the horrible chemicals in our food with ease. That's not news to me. Then they went into graphic detail about how we get our meat and dairy products and the treatment of the animals - and that did it. Mental images that I'm not sure will ever go away. This should not shock anyone, as this is coming from the girl that tears up when seeing squirrels on the side of the road. However, I usually recover. From this, I might be unrecoverable. Which is sad because I have LOVED my cheese for a really long time. I've graduated from Velveeta Rotel dip to things like brie and fontina - but it's still cheese. And don't even ask me what comes to mind. So, here is my warning. If you're going to read the book, eat your life's worth of cheese and Chick-Fil-A first!

Hawks Game - Appendix

Okay, so I'm really not a basketball fan. I tried. Really hard. But definitely enjoyed the company and the wine more than what was happening on the court. Note to self - let other people enjoy the basketball tickets. Sigh.