My lovely weekend

Yes, I know it was 27 degrees at times, but my weekend was wonderful because my very best friend, Lesley and her little boy, Giovanni, came in town for 3 days.  We packed a lot into those three days!

First, I took off work on Friday and we went to The Flying Biscuit, my very favorite breakfast spot. I had my favorite- eggs on top of love cakes (black bean corn cakes) smothered in tomatillo sauce, sour cream and feta cheese, with a side of grits and flying biscuits with cranberry apple butter of course.

Lesley had her first fried green tomatoes, which were covered with goat cheese-yum!  G had oatmeal pancakes which had a very strange texture from the oatmeal, but were totally addicting!

Here is G in the restaurant.

Then, we headed over to Perimeter mall.  I haven’t been there in ages- it is so nice.  I was pretty peeved that they don’t have a Hollister.  I mean, really.  Who the heck doesn’t have a Hollister??  That was the main reason for me going to the mall- Christmas presents of Hollister t-shirts (on sale of course) for Jake.  But, finding my new favorite store, Anthropologie, made it all worth while.  I’ve decided that if I ever win the lottery, I’m just going to buy the whole store. 

After that, we head home to take the kids to their birthday dinner- Japanese steakhouse, of course.  Bailey turned 9 on the 13th and Jake turned 12 on Monday.  The kids had fun with the warm hand towels.

…about Dave’s head…I’ll just leave you with “stupid human trick” and you can use your own imagination…

This was Giovanni’s first time at a hibachi and I was kind of concerned.  I shouldn’t have been- he had a blast! This was the look on his face the whole night.

Our hibachi chef was quite funny.  He even posed for me!

I also had the best drink I’ve ever had.  Seriously.  You know how much I love lychees.  They are absolutely my favorite thing.  My favorite fruit, my favorite drink (which I can only find at the Asian market),  my favorite candy (again- Asian market only) my favorite flavor of all time.  Well, new to America is Soho Lychee Liquor.  Yee haw! They made a drink there with it and it was just lychee yumminess.  Next time I go, I’m making them give me the recipe. Here is the loveliness which is my new favorite beverage.

After that, we headed over to my mom and dad’s house to drop Jake off to spend the night.  They brought out their bin of ooooold McDonald’s toys and we all had fun. I think Lesley and I had more fun than the kids!

The next day we headed out to Stone Mountain Christmas.  Lesley just couldn’t get over how amazing Stone Mountain was!

It is pretty darn cool!

Here are my goofballs.

This would have been a cool Christmas card, had Jake not made a silly face.

After walking around the Christmas village for a little bit, we decide to go up the mountain on one of these.

Jake keeps telling me he doesn’t want to go up and can’t understand why he can’t just wait in the car.  LOL  By the time we get in line, he is hysterical- he is sobbing, hitting me and calling me an idiot.  Um, yeah.  My response?  Suck it up, be a man, you.are.going.on.the.skytram.  Here he is halfway up the mountain.

We made it to the top!

There is nothing like a sunset on top of a mountain!

Jake LOVED running around the top- it looks like the surface of the moon.

So, we’re ready to ride down and somehow, Jake talks Lesley into hiking down with him while Bailey and I take G town on the Skytram. Great idea, right?  Sure, the hike wasn’t bad.  But, the fact that it took them around the other side of the park and they had to walk miles back to the Christmas Village was just not in the plans.  So, an hour later, with wobbly legs, they finally find us!

And then my camera dies…

If you have kids and you haven’t gone to Stone Mountain Christmas yet, I recommend it.  The village is adorable, the Christmas Train ride was great, unfortunately we didn’t get to see the 4-D Polar Express, but we’ll get that next time.  The best part was the Snow Angel show at the end- fireworks, snow (soap suds) falling from the sky and a real flying Snow Angel- she was actually flying above us- held up by wires.  It was very cool!

The next day, they went home and I cried, as always.

A taste of Maine

I thought I’d share some of my favorite pictures that my mom sent me from their trip in Maine. I am so jealous!!

This is my mom’s best friend, Pirjo.

This is my mom and Pirjo being crazy!

Here is my Dad in front of Pirjo’s son, Dan’s house.  Wow.

My parents- aren’t they great?!

A little more BFF craziness!

Isn’t it great to have a BFF- one of those best friends where no matter how long it’s been, it’s so easy to pick right back up again?  Yep, I got me one of those- Lesley.  Tomorrow, I’ll be boarding a plane to visit her.  So, at the same time my mom is with her BFF, I’ll be with mine. 

Fourth of July fun

We went to my parents for fourth of July.  When you walk to the end of their street, you can walk up a hill and have a perfect view of the RHS fireworks, without all the traffic and crowds! 

Here we are getting ready to make smores with some ridiculously aromatic (think stinky) pinon wood.

Here is Tim and his friend, Maura.

My dad and Dave chillin.

My mom is enjoying one of about 20 marshmallows charcol briquettes that she ate that night.

Dave & Bailey enjoying a little lovin’.

Ah, so that’s where Bailey gets her famous sneer!

Now that’s better!

Wondering where Jake is?  He’s visiting his other grandparents in Florida for almost 3 weeks!

Sisterchicks Race for a Cure

Today was the Atlanta Susan G. Komen breast cancer walk.  For the second year, the Sisterchick team walked.

Here are the shirts I designed.  It was really great having all the names of the women we walk for on the back of the shirt.

Here are some highlights of the walk:

The Sisterchicks, minus Mandy. From the left; Kristen, Staci, Amanda, Mandi, and myself.

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Here’s our survivor- Glenda-walking through the survivor arch!

Here’s the whole gang!

After the walk, we headed over to The Flying Biscuit Cafe. Can you say, yum?

I don’t know what they are looking at, but this is just a hilarious picture!

Back to the Super H Mart!

This time with the kids and my parents.  Mom & Dad both ended up whining about how far it was (sorry guys), but once they experienced Super H Mart, they agreed that it was well worth the drive.

First thing we did was eat.  Jake ordered beef and mushroom teriyaki, but had to try some of the octopus out of Nanny & Papa’s soup!

Mom and dad ordered cold spring rolls, hot spring rolls and an enormous bowl of soup!

I got the same thing as last time- King Dumplings and Vietnamese spring rolls. Bailey ordered sushi (salmon, avocado & cream cheese) with miso soup.

Here we are checking out the store.

Papa and Jake found the same huge seaweed that I posed with last time!

Easter

We had a lovely Easter with my parents, but, of course, the festivities started on Saturday.

Heather & I took Bailey, Reece & Rayne to Publix for the annual egg hunt.Rayne found the golden egg, so she got to pick a pre-made Easter basket!!

Then we headed over to a local church for an egg hunt. 

The girls did well!

At the same time, my friend Kerrie took her son & Jake to an egg hunt that was being put on by a local church. They were dropping 50,000 eggs out of a helicopter!  Sounds great, right?  Well, the first group started running and all bent down to gather eggs, the second group went forward and trampled them, and so on.  Both Jake & Brent ended up with cuts and bruises and they each got one egg.  Yes, that’s right- I said ONE egg. 

On Easter Sunday, we went to church for a standing room only service- it was great!  Then, my parents and Tim came over for lunch and an egg hunt.  We spent the rest of the day watching Bizarre Foods and Anthony Bourdain. We all had a great time!

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

We spend St. Patty’s Day with my mom and dad a day early this year.  The kids always have a blast and my mom always goes all out with decorations, music, and of course food!  Any excuse to eat corned beef, cabbage & boiled potatoes is alright with me!  It’s also my parents 36th anniversary from their first date. 

Mom’s 60th!

So, today, my mom turned 60!  I can’t believe it- she certainly doesn’t look 60.  I hope I look half as good as she does when I’m…gulp…60.

We had a lovely brunch at The Cheesecake Factory.  My dad got her a beautiful antique necklace that she wanted, Tim got her a cd, Bailey got her a harvest angel statue, Jake got her a cat puzzle, and Dave & I got her a James Avery pendant of a sand dollar. 

Our Dahlonega experience

Today, my mom and I took the kids up to Dahlonega to pan for gold and grub for gems!  We chose not to do the underground mine tour because Mom is claustrophobic! 

Mom and I got the larger pan of dirt and the kids each got the smaller pan.  Boy, were the pans heavy!  We wished we had all chosen the smaller pan!  It took 15-20 minutes to swish the dirt in the water.  Gold is heavier so it sinks to the bottom. 

 After that was the fun part- grubbing for gems.  Yes, that’s actually what it’s called!  Mom bought the $50 bucket of gems, which includes precious stones.  We had a blast doing it and we made out pretty good.  Jake has a rock tumbler, so they’ll end up very pretty.  We all got some lovely stones and the kids each found some precious stones like rubies, emeralds and saphires. 

Wordless Wednesday