Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Table In Action!

Well, ok, it's just sitting in my kitchen. But it's fun to look at! Our new table came, and I definitely love it! It's so nice to have a grown-up table! Yes, right now it is bare, but I figured I would set it Christmasy, and that won't happen until this weekend. With our tiled floors, it's a little tricky to slide the chair out, especially with my large self in it! But a rug will be the next step for this room, and that will solve the sliding problem!
The trick is, however, that Roxy's home-away-from-home is in the kitchen. She's a little annoyed we are infringing on her space as we slowly bring in furniture, and she retaliated by completely eating her bed yesterday while we were at work (or she just likes to chew things, one of the two...)


Since Sandy is a little bit bossy, we keep the dogs separate via a fancy baby gate while we are gone during the day.

I hate the gate - it's a pain to take it down, so we leave it up. We splurged for the nicer looking metal one, but we bungee cord it open when we are home, and it's not so cute. Anyway, even if Sandy wasn't bossy, Roxy would have half of our stuff in the house carted to another room or eaten by the time we came home each day - she's destructive, I'm telling you!! The kitchen is the only room we can successfully Roxy-proof. So far (knock on wood) she has never even thought about chewing on furniture, so I feel the table is safe with her. The point of that random story is that I might wait a little bit before getting a rug, since Roxy might be tempted to destroy it. And painting - she jumps on the walls and scrapes a little paint up every time!
I'm very excited to be able to eat like a human, not hunched over the coffee table, and to eat without staring at the TV. Now Tony will be forced to talk to me (muhahah!!) ;)

Thanks for the help, mom!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Time flies....

...when you're married! Or at least it feels that way to me! Today, Tony and I have been married for 6 months! (Yes, I realize this is not a substantial anniversary, but I bored at work, so I thought I would mention it!) Although, it feels like it has been ages (technically, we got our house a year and a half ago, so it's not surprising it feels like longer!)

Perhaps it's not just marriage, but post-college life, that makes time feel like it's flying. When you don't have midterms, finals, winter and summer breaks to help break up the year, it has a tendency to all run together. Weeks go by, months, years, and I sometimes feel like I didn't even stop to enjoy them! I'm going on two years at my job, about to be one year older, and I feel like I was just getting used to it being 2008.

But back to the married part -- so far it's been great-- 6 months down - 888+ to go!


Note to Tony: if you actually read this, you better remember 6 months from now! :)

Friday, November 21, 2008

Hockey Time!


Last night Tony and I went to our first hockey game! Now, Atlanta isn't really known as much of a pro sports town... sure, you have the Braves (big name, not so great game), the Hawks (um, they were kinda good last year, right?), and the Falcons (got some great press the past few years...). Sure, college sports - football especially - are huge. But as far as pro goes...slim pickings -- poor Atlanta. So it's not too surprising that we hadn't been to a Thrashers game before.


We got to sit in one of the suites, thanks to some free tickets I scored through work. Free food and drinks, can't beat that! And of course we had a great view. I'm sure I annoyed Tony by asking 8 million questions throughout the whole game, I'm sure he laughed at me when I thought it was interesting that all of the players are from Canada or Sweden - (makes sense, cold...), and I'm sure that I was a little too amused by the fire-breathing birds that went off when they scored.



But all in all it was quite enjoyable - I would definitely go back for another game. Usually, being the non-sports-enthusiast that I am, by the time the third quarter, second half, fourth inning rolls around, etc, I am a little bored. But this game was fast paced enough that I was a little sad to see it end. Plus, there wasn't a real fight, just some pushing, which I should be ashamed to say that I was a little disappointed by. So, my southern self has been exposed to a very northern sport - and I liked it.






Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tis (almost) the season!


It's hard not to be swept up by the rush that is the "holiday" season.

I absolutely love Christmas -- I always have. My favorite word is festive, which is, of course, absolutely appropriate to use during this time (other times, not so much, but whatever!). Being in advertising, I especially understand that every twinkling light and glittery snowflake is a carefully-crafted attempt to get you to feel the need to buy, buy, buy -- gifts, decorations, etc. I get it, but IT WORKS! Every store you go into has such a festive feel, it's hard not to want to be a part of it!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to fight it! It's just a matter of timing. Of course this is always a popular theme -- people complaining that commercialized Christmas comes earlier and earlier every year. Although, this year, I feel like it's actually coming at a semi-appropriate time. Sure, Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet, but at least they waited until after Halloween, right? This does not mean that I personally feel ready for it to be that time of year...2008 has flown by so fast...

I am big on tradition, always have been. Since my birthday is at the beginning of December, my parents decided that we would always go cut down our tree on my birthday weekend - and I really cherished that. We would get all bundled up, make the long trip to the tree farm, and we would wander the rows of trees looking for the perfect one. Mom would be indecisive, but finally we would settle on one, and Dad would cut it down. We got free candy canes back at the barn - woo! After hauling that sucker home, Dad would have the frustrating, but crucial, role of stringing the lights. Then the rest of us would get out the box of ornaments and get to decorating. I loved looking through the hodge podge of ornaments that my mom had collected over the years. They all had special meaning in some way. I have a few favorites that she knows I have dibs on! I was always very adamant each year that we stuck to our timing and tradition...often to the point of annoyance to others as we got older and life got a little more complicated.

Of course we haven't been able to get the tree as a family for 5 years now, since I have been gone, as have my sisters. Last year, Tony and I wanted to wait until December to get our tree - for whatever reason we ended up waiting til mid December, and at that point, it seems almost silly to go to all of the trouble, when it's just going to come down soon (um.. we've made up for this, I suppose, by still having the tree - dead and rotting - in our backyard... don't judge me).

So this year, I have decided to start our own tradition by decorating the house, getting the tree, etc, on Thanksgiving weekend. I know this makes my mother shudder, but it's the best for timing purposes! I have some time off of work, and Tony has a little time off, so next weekend I will be a Christmas machine! Don't worry (you were worrying, weren't you??)- I will document this process with an obscene amount of pictures that I will post for all of the world to see. Lucky you!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Furniture Find

This weekend my mom and Courtney came to visit us and help us pick out a kitchen table. We got one, and I'm super excited about it! It's coming Friday, and they will even put it together for us! Woo!! (I get a little frustrated with following convoluted directions necessary for furniture construction - which is why I can never bring myself to buy Ikea furniture). So when I get home, it will be ready to go in all it's glory.

I will post before and after pictures, but if you've seen our current "table" then you would know why I'm so excited. It was a craigslist find when we first moved into our house -- it was $20, and I'm pretty sure it was a kids coloring table in its former life. So now I will have a fancy grownup table that I can set, and we might actually eat at it! And I have an excuse to pick out a festive centerpiece, just in time for Christmas!

Also, it was great seeing part of my family -- hopefully the others will come visit soon!




(from American Signature Furniture)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Results!

We finally have something to show for our front yard efforts! We went from this:

Don't be deceived by the green color, those were all weeds!
To this:

To this!

We are both beyond excited that the grass actually grew!! And it's pretty thick too! There are a few spots where the seed washed downhill and the ground is a little bare, but we'll take that. I took these pictures from my car window this morning, so they are a little crooked (it was cold, okay??). But you get the idea. Next season we can add more to our little islands, and hopefully the grass will be even thicker then. We will also clean up the side yard and do something with it...
Also, I can't wait to paint the shutters and front door, and replace the white glass door with a full glass door (the dogs love to stand there and look out, barking at innocent passersby, so we can't deny them the glass door).

Since our yard looks so "welcoming" now, I expect you all to come visit!!!! The invitation is always open!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Weekend Update

We did indeed spend some time outdoors this weekend, as I had hoped. The weather was beautiful, and the foliage did not disappoint. One of the fabulous things about Peachtree City, is the hundreds of miles of cart paths that wind through town. In case you don't know - Peachtree City is (in)famous for the fact that so many people own golfcarts -- which are not necessarily used for golfing. It's a source of mocking from some, but it's actually kind of nice! Sadly, we don't have one, but we get to enjoy the perks from others' ownership -- lots of safe and scenic dog-walking paths! Most of the paths run along woods that divide streets and neighborhoods, and in protected woodland areas. Many stores have golfcart parking spots up front, and it's not uncommon to see familes headed to dinner, or doing grocery shopping, on their carts.


Usually we stick to the paths in and around our neighborhood, but since the weather was so perfect Saturday morning, we decided to head down to Lake Peachtree (creative name, huh??) and walk around those paths. The dogs enjoyed it, I'm sure, and got the chance to be models.




All in all, a nice taste of fall.

Friday, November 7, 2008

I can't sit still for very long...

Forget consistency, I'm going for seasonality.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Leaves!


These past few weeks, I was a little scared. It seemed like fall had been bypassed altogether, and winter had set in -- I mean, it was 30 degrees every morning for about a week. There's a reason I live in Georgia! I don't do cold!


But thankfully, the temps have risen some, and now it's perfect fall weather. The trees have really started to glow. There are some absolutely gorgeous ones! My drive is actually tolerable this week, as I have distracted myself by looking at all of the colorful trees that line the roads.

I took this while driving - safe, right?? Yes, actually, it is, because I was going a steady 2 mph for about an hour. You can't really see it, but those trees looked like they were on fire with the sun setting on them... Sadder picture below.... that's my 10 seconds of whining.. sorry.



I'm hoping to do something "outdoorsy" this weekend... apparently this weekend is the "peak" of the color change...we'll see!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

You've Gotta Start Somewhere...


About 2 weeks ago, we planted the grass for the front yard. And for two weeks, nothing happened. We had been watering diligently...but nothing. Since I have a notoriously brown thumb, I had given up hope. Then finally, this weekend, tiny little blades started coming up in a few areas. Granted, there are some patches where rain has washed everything away, but we'll tackle that next year. If you look reallllly closely in the picture above, you can see some green.
Also this weekend we put in our "island." Since it was practically a blank canvas, with no big trees dictating where we had to put it, we just sort of randomly picked a place, and went with it. As much as I wish we could have gone all-out -- we can't.. So our landscaping is small, and really it's just the basics for now. Come next fall, we will hopefully be one year wiser and will know what to add to it to really make it nice.
We put in a dogwood, a rhododendron, and some azaleas. Do those plants grow well together? - who knows! - but Home Depot had them, so we got them. So as scrawny and wimpy as it looks now, hopefully these little plants will grow and look great eventually! And once the ugly straw is up, perhaps it won't look so sad!
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