2009 Komen Knoxville

I'm going to be participating in the 2009 Komen Race for the Cure in Knoxville on October 24th. My SIL decided that this is how she wanted to spend her birthday, so DH and I are on Team Love Cake with her! If you are so inclined, please consider supporting me as we support a cure for breast cancer! See my donor page.

The last time we participated in a Susan G. Komen was in Honolulu with my cousins in 2007, just before a family wedding. As you can see in the group photo, we had a blast, and my cousin's MIL is a cancer survivor! I'm looking forward to being at World's Fair Park, since the last time I was there was 1981 for the World's Fair.

Skateful Weekend

I had a really great weekend! Despite the floods of this past week, deciding not to go to Big Spring Jam in Huntsville so DH could see Silversun Pickups, and more rain this past Saturday, our garage dried out just fine, and we didn't get anymore rain in there over the weekend. To reward our great patience, God gave us an absolutely gorgeous, sunny Sunday! Plus, I finally finished my meds and finally (I hope, fingers crossed) have gotten over my dual ear and sinus infection (double-yuck!).

Friday night, we saw our fave GT Volleyball team defeat NC State! The girls were as awesome as usual, and it was also alumnae night, so we saw 33+ former GTVB women recognized during the break!

Saturday night, we went to see the sneak preview of Whip It, a movie that is opening up next weekend about a girl growing up in smalltown Texas with a former beauty pagent mom, who finds her niche in the Austin roller derby. It's the first movie that Drew Barrymore has directed, and she also acted in it as one of the "Hurl Scouts" - the main roller derby team featured in the movie. I thought it was a really enjoyable film, and also got a cool t-shirt that reads: "WHIP IT - BE YOUR OWN HERO," complete with an image of a 2x2 rollerskate. Bonus!

Sunday morning, we got to see our former GT Wesley Foundation campus minister, Rev. Bridgette Young, preach at the Emory University ecumenical service in Cannon Chapel. We were very excited to be able to see her in action as well as briefly visit with her, as she recently moved to Nashville to take on a new position as the new Assistant General Secretary for Campus Ministry in the Division of Higher Education, United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry. She was not only our campus minister, but she also married us almost 7.5 years ago! And she told us that we were truly the happiest couple she has ever married, because we genuinely liked being around each other. I thought that was such a great compliment! The service was wonderful, and I especially loved hearing the Voices of Inner Strength (Emory's gospel choir) and their performance of our closing song, Flow to You. Truly an inspirational way to get my week started!

Sunday afternoon and evening, we continued our skate-themed weekend by going to watch the Southern Fried Smackdown - the first regional roller derby that the Atlanta Rollergirls have ever sponsored. It was some awesome action, and those girls skated their hearts out. There were teams from Texas, Kansas, Florida, Tennessee, and of course, Atlanta. The trophy was also pretty awesome - the Southern Fried Smackdown logo cut into the bottom of a cast iron skillet - it was impressive! Way to skate, girls!

Catching Up & The Exciting Adventures of Thoth

Okay, I'm clearly behind here. Let's see if I can recount the goings-on over the last few weeks...

Shortly after we returned from Houston, we received word that David's Grandmother Clo was not doing well. Basically her heart was wearing out, and she was not getting enough oxygen. Dear Grandmother Clo passed on August 29th*, and we quickly made arrangements to be in Cullman, AL, for her funeral on September 3rd*. She lived a good, long 94 years, and I know she is happy to be with Grandaddy Art after being without him all these years. I feel truly blessed to have known her. We did have a great opportunity to hear stories about her life, and to help start clearing things out of her house. It's quite a task when someone has lived in a house for over 40 years! (Another adventure, for another post).

Meanwhile, back at the "ranch," our kitty, Thoth, had somehow managed his escape out of the house while we were packing the car Thursday morning to leave. We were gone Thursday, Friday, and most of Saturday, returning at about 11 pm. I was outside the front door peeking in the sidelight and saw no cat. Unlocked the front door and stepped into the foyer and still no cat. Went into kitchen and saw food bowl, still piled up with food as we had left it. (Begin PANIC!) I turned to yell out to DH, "The cat is NOT in the house!" Of course, DH had to say, "That, or he's dead somewhere in the house." Yeah, not a great thought, although it would be highly unlikely that he just dropped dead in the house right after we left and didn't touch a bite of his food. SIL and doggie had already planned to spend the night at a friend's house to visit, so she and the doggie headed out to assist in our kitty recovery efforts. Meanwhile, I searched behind all closed doors in the house to make sure he wasn't trapped in a closet somewhere, and DH searched the grounds shaking the kitty treats (which doesn't normally work, but it was worth a try since it had been a few days). I resigned to going to bed because I was exhausted and still suffering from clogged sinuses. We left some kibble and water on the front steps, and left the front door open so we could glance out of the storm door occasionally. DH stayed up and watched movies and checked outside the front door periodically. At about 2:45 am (Sunday), I felt a cat being dropped next to me in bed! DH happened to look outside, and Thoth was sitting on the front steps. He immediately started meowing when he caught sight of DH, and then immediately purring after he walked in the front door and DH picked him up (if you know our cat, this is unusual!). (End PANIC!) Other than being a little dirty, he was just fine. He spent the better part of Sunday either grooming or napping. And being very loving (also unusual!). We enjoyed it while we could. I was glad that he appeared very happy to see us.

Overlaid on all that, our dear friend Cyndi was returning from Denmark a month early, due to the illness of her Aunt Kaye. Unfortuately, Aunt Kaye passed away a few days before she returned. Despite the consequences of her early return, we were still very happy to finally see her after a long year away, and met her at the airport and visited with her parents and brother at the same time. We were also able to stop by her house and have dinner with her family ("Crazy Chicken" - again, another story for another post) on our way back from Alabama, so that was also an enjoyable time despite everyone's sadness.

This past week, we've enjoyed a few GT volleyball games with the restart of the season, the last of the Louvre exhibit at the High Museum, an Australian Rules Football game. I also participated in the Corporate Challenge 5K walk last week, and finally rejoined the CRC after a little hiatus, so I'll be working off a little weight I put on earlier this year by being holed up studying for my AREs. (Thank goodness they're over!) On that note, I, along with two other coworkers, made it in to the "Achievements" column in our local Atlanta Business Chronicle. Nice recognition!


*Update - I got the dates a week off and corrected them.

Houston = humid but fun

DH and I had a whirlwind long weekend in Houston. It was the convergence of many relatives. Simply put, several convenient coincidences allowed members of both my mom's and dad's side of the family to be there while we were. This meant herding cats bunnies (my cousin Justus has 2 house bunnies, Badger and Peppercorn) relatives, several cars, big meals out, and random sightseeing - all typical at my extended family reunions/vacations.

Highlights from our trip:

Thursday: We arrived mid-morning in Houston. After a quick stop at my aunt's house, we headed to lunch at Ninfa's on Navigation (awesome fajitas and homemade tortillas), a trip to the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, taking photos of ducks and ducklings at my cousin's girlfriend's office park pond, visiting my maternal Grandma and Grandpa's resting spot, a big Chinese dinner with family at Fung's Kitchen, and hole-in-the-wall Mexican shaved ice.

Friday: Breakfast and coffee at Brasil, an outing at the Menil Collection (including the Cy Twombly Gallery, Rothko Chapel, and Dan Flavin Installation), hanging out at my cousin Justus's apartment (where we stayed), visiting cousins Eric and An's place (playing with doggie Skyy), and attending my cousin Marina's Rehearsal Dinner at Cafe Ginger.

Saturday: Early morning play time and photo shoot of the bunnies and cousin Justus, breakfast at Baby Barnaby's, a walk downtown to see some of the skyscrapers (yes, nerdy architect stuff), coffee at "The End of the Universe", a visit to the Beer Can House, and, of course, my cousin Marina's wedding at The Houston Club. The bride and groom were beautiful and handsome (respectively) and a great time was had by all! (We also played a late game of Ticket to Ride, which I actually won! So of course I had to add that in there.)

Sunday: I took an early walk with my cousin and his girlfriend through their Montrose neighborhood and took some photos while DH caught a few more winks, then we headed to Laredo Taqueria for some late breakfast (excellent tacos and homemade tortillas!), a group of cousins headed to the theater to catch District 9 (interesting) and took us by a Jamba Juice (to satisfy my craving - they really need to open some up in Georgia!), a quick stop at the Williams Water Wall and Galleria Mall before another big Chinese dinner at Confucious Seafood Restaurant with the family, then a cousin outing to see the Houston Dynamo vs. Seattle Sounders - our first ever MLS game!

Monday: We hopped onto a flight at the crack of dawn and got back in to work in Atlanta at noon. (Thanks, Justus, for getting up so early!)

Click on the images below to see my photo albums:

Houston - Part 1

Houston - Part 2 - Marina and Nicholas

Houston - Part 3

Busy Bee

Not much to post about lately, just life going on as usual - house projects, work projects, weekend visitors, movie outings, and my arch-nemesis, house cleaning! I did get a new camera backpack and camera strap to try out. We're taking a trip via airplane soon, so I thought it would be a good time to test out the camera backpack. I searched all over the internet trying to find one with easy access, sleek design, and good price. In addition with some feedback from friends, I decided to go ahead and get one with a small laptop sleeve in it as well (even though I don't have said laptop yet) and room for at least a shoe-mount flash and maybe 2-3 other lenses (also don't have those yet). I ended up ordering the Kata DR-466 Digital Rucksack with Reflex E camera strap. Additional bonus: there's a $15 rebate currently for the backback I ordered ($20 if you get a more expensive one). The camera strap comes in three sections - a cushy neck section, and then two straps that go on either side of the camera. There are release clips that allow you to remove the neck strap and hook the two ends to D-rings on the backpack straps, transferring and distributing the weight of the camera to your shoulders through the backpack straps and relieving your neck. The neck strap portion has two small zippered compartments - one on either end. I can fit my USB SD card reader and my tiny Nikon ML-L3 wireless remote control in there nicely. I could also put an SD card in there, but with a 16 GB card, I don't really need to carry around extra memory! I did read many online reviews before purchasing, and one thing that I already knew was that the Reflex E strap by itself could be a bit long if you are short, which indeed it is, but at the same time, the end lengths are perfect when you hook it onto the backpack. Really, I think I need the neck portion shortened. But the strap by itself does allow you to carry the camera cross-body and lift the camera to take a photo without having to shimmy your arm back out of the strap or shimmy it around your in order to lift the camera up to eye-level. Thought it was a pretty cool system, so I'll have to review it once I use it more.

Me testing out the new camera backpack and strap with my assistant, Thoth.

Some great bee shots that DH took the other day as they buzzed around our driveway hydrangea - you can see the pollen on the bee's rear in the second photo.

Stamp happy

Not a craft project...I got my official Registered Architect stamp today. Actually, another co-worker and I both got our stamps today, so we had a little fun testing them out. Don't really plan to be using it any time soon, but you can be sure to see them on our Christmas cards this year! :)

Tree Removal

Late Sunday night during a heavy rain storm, one of our silver maple trees fell in our driveway. We were very thankful to have a few friends that offered to help with either a chainsaw or truck. In the end, our friend Adam came by this morning with both to help us cut it up and haul it to the county landscape waste area. Luckily, the tree missed the house, just made a very small dent in the back of my car trunk where a small branch hit it, and didn't damage the driveway. It was the last of three major branch trunks on that tree, and we knew it was starting to rot at the base. Thanks very much to Adam and DH for getting this done!!

Before:

After: