C'est mon bon anniversaire!

I had a very nice birthday, with very nice birthday wishes from a lot of people. Thanks to everybody for the well-wishes!

I had lunch at Figo with my friends Joanne and Susan. Then yummy dinner at Simpatico with DH, Steph, Chris and Cyndi. Then my free scoop of birthday ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, and 31-cent ice cream for everyone else. That's me with DH after getting home with dinner, sporting my cute bunny charm necklace that Cyndi made me. (Thanks, Cyndi!) And the photo was taken using my new fancy schmancy tripod that can turn into a monopod. Thanks, Honey! :) Now I just need that fancy schmancy camera...

Waiting for the storm to hit me at work - another trek through another tough project deadline forecasted ahead...

Figaro

I had a great time at the opera tonight! It was my second time in Cobb Energy Center, DH's first. DH found it relaxing, which is good in his book. We had pretty good seats, and were excited to see both our acquaintance through WF@GT, Craig, and his wife Rebecca in the performance. Craig in the pit of course, and Rebecca making her debut with the AO.

Here we are during the first intermission, "chillaxing" in the lobby, and a view from our seats. More fun tomorrow - time for bed!

I scream, you scream,

we all scream for ICE CREAM!

I have to say, there must be something really wrong with me if I refuse ice cream. Ice cream is hands-down one of my biggest dessert weaknesses. My absolute favorite (store-bought) is Breyers Natural Vanilla. Not the churned stuff. Not the fat-free stuff. Not the extra creamy stuff. The original, and I quote, "natural vanilla ice cream with real vanilla bean specks." Why? Because the ingredients list goes like this: MILK, CREAM, SUGAR, NATURAL FLAVOR, NATURAL TARA GUM. Okay, so the "natural flavor" and "natural tara gum" (??) leave a little to the imagination, but you have to admit, that's probably the shortest list that you'll find on a store-bought carton of ice cream anywhere. None of that guar gum stuff.

So why am I talking about ice cream today? Because I thought to check two of my favorite events online today, and I am so glad, because otherwise they would have passed me by! Tomorrow is FREE SCOOP DAY at Ben and Jerry's, and Wednesday (MY BIRTHDAY) is 31-CENT SCOOP NIGHT at Baskin-Robbins. So go out there and be happy and get you some yummy ice cream. I know I am!

Test went relatively well

Other than the test not starting up initially and having to wait abou 45 minutes for the Proctor to contact tech support and get a new test packet to upload, I am cautiously optimistic that my test went well today. I guess having a brand new test loaded up was better than it dying in the middle of my test! I was able to get my problems solved with a little extra time after for checking. So, we'll see if I passed in 4-6 weeks. On to studying for the next one...

Funny GT song on YouTube

A friend of mine sent this to me yesterday. I can't view YouTube at work, so I had to wait until I got home last night to actually see it - it is pretty hilarious! Of course, you probably appreciate it more if you actually went to Tech. For the non-Tech grads, "taking the M-train" refers to people who become Management majors because it is considered the easiest major at a tough school like GT. Anyway, it was my amusement for the day...enjoy! Just trying to take it easy before my exam tomorrow.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0NzNKKrYHqY

Booked and Blooming

Our trip to Seattle in July for my cousin's wedding is BOOKED. We decided to use my SkyMiles, since prices skyrocketed this week due to the fuel price hike. So 2 RT tickets for $10. I like it.

Also, I am enjoying the continuing stages of blooming things in our yard. The irises in the front yard decided to make their appearance 2 days ago. I always forget they bloom late, so I had almost given up hope that they would bloom this year. Also, my pink wild roses and hot pink knockout roses are starting to unfurl – pics of those to come sometime in the next week.

On a side note, there's nothing like waking up in the morning, coming downstairs, and then stepping in and slipping (practically breaking my neck), on a small pool of cat yack. Sorry, I know that isn't a pleasant picture, but Beastie Boy could have given me some warning!! Especially since I was sleepy-eyed, not looking down, and probably didn't notice that *HE* side-stepped it in front of me...

Otherwise, studying for my ARE on Saturday. Wish me luck!

Weekend in Natchez

Weekend in Natchez

We had a really fun weekend in Natchez. Pretty relaxing, really charming town, and fun visiting with our B&B proprietor as well as David's family at the wedding. Now it's time to get back to the books in preparation for my exam on Saturday - probably not much else to report at this time. Click above to access my photos from the weekend. More detail about the trip to come. Just happy to be home for now.

Gone fishin'

This week has been a doozy! Between yardwork, errands, a WF board meeting, day-long meetings at work, taxes, studying, and preparing for the weekend, I am bushed! On top of that, I have had either allergies or a weather-change cold thing starting. Yesterday I was a little sneezy and runny. Today, sinus pressure and stuffy head. If the night and day temps could just stay closer together, I think I would be feeling better. Here's another calming, zen photo of the backyard - it makes me feel happy looking at the flowers.

Tomorrow morning we head to Natchez, MS, for DH's cousin's wedding. Looking forward to spending some quality time with MIL's side of the fam. Pictures to follow on Monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tax Cat 2007

I'm getting them done, but boy is it a pain. Either the stress or something I ate in the last two days keeps giving me little hives on my face. Ugh. Although, my Tax Cat advisor seems to be on top of things...LOL! Does he count as a dependent??

On top of that, I went online to look for available dates for a mutiple choice section of the ARE today, and for some reason, my authorization to test number is NOT RECOGNIZED! I went backwards and tried to register for a graphics section, and IT WAS RECOGNIZED! ??? Can someone tell me what's going on here? I'm authorized to take the whole freakin' thing! Anyway, I've got an email in to them to get this corrected ASAP and I'm going to hit the phone in the morning to see what I can find out there. Hope I am not on hold for hours...

Weekend round-up

Let's see...what did I do this weekend?

Saturday - Spent late morning/early afternoon with some friends at the High. Saw the current Louvre exhibit (mostly Egyptian collection), Georgia O'Keefe again, and other random stuff in the permanent gallery. Had a lot of fun with our friends and had a late lunch after at Vickery's. Late afternoon and evening were spent at work, finishing up getting some files posted for our current overseas job.

Sunday - Made some yummy waffles and bacon for breakfast. I think I have this recipe down now that I've made it twice. I did take some photos, but the pics don't do them justice, so you'll just have to imagine them melting in your mouth... Spent the afternoon weeding wild violets out of the center bed of my front yard (ugh), picking up all the bridesmaid dresses for Cyndi's wedding (yay - but all except mine, b/c one of the buttons was missing its fabric cover, which they're fixing this week), taking photos of all the blooming stuff in our yard, and now, getting ready to make some dinner. Then more studying for Site Planning! Enjoy the pics.

Kitty Capers

Our "Big Tuna" (reference to The Office), Mr. T, Stinkerbelle (I guess that should really be Stinkerbeau), Beastie Boy, just turned a ripe 6-ish years young this past month. We don't know exactly when his birthday is, but I think celebrating on the Ides of March is appropriate for a black cat. I guess that is really middle-aged in kitty-years, but he still loves to play. Thoth loves string, feathers, and his seagull on a string. A couple of shots from playtime the other night... His latest hidey hole this week has been the bottom drawer of DH's armoire, or my dresser. His own personal kitty caves. Or Le Cave de le Chat Noir. Just keeping this joker entertained is such a stress-reliever...he makes me laugh all the time!

Year Six

DH and I celebrated our 6th anniversary today! We had very enjoyable day. After making yummy waffles for a late breakfast, we went over to Lenox Square to visit the Dogwood Festival. It was sort of weird since they moved it to a big asphalt parking lot this year due the city not allowing festivals in the parks because of the drought and worrying about the grass, but I still enjoyed it and there still appeared to be just as many people there. One of my favorite jewerly artists was there, Molly Dingledine (www.mollydingledine.com), and of course, one of my anniversary gifts was a necklace that I got to pick out. :) I got DH a waffle cone maker (that was the closest to "iron" that I could think of!) Then we had a very nice dinner al fresco at one of our favorite restaurants, Canoe. Happy Anniversary, Honey! I love you!

Big Step

I took a Big Step (for me) today - I scheduled my very first ARE exam! I'm set to take the Site Planning division on April 26th - wish me luck! If you're interested in reading more about what the Architect Registration Exam (ARE) involves these days, check out http://www.ncarb.org/are/index.html. I have a total of 9 divisions to take. Each costs me money. Fail one div and you hafta wait 6 months to retake it. Very stressful. All support (monetary and moral) welcome!