Finished Project

You may remember that we started a project this summer (has it really been 4 months??). Well, we are finally finished!! We have a new TV cabinet for our family room. We painted the cabinet a few different colors and then sanded for an antiqued look. We are still on the lookout for some hand painted procelain knobs to complete the whole look. For now, we are just happy that we have this project out of the garage and into the house. Although the pictures make the color look like a bright green, it is actually a dark olive color.

Furlough-cation

The State of Georgia mandated that all university employees take 6 furlough days during this academic year. Our first furlough day was fall break (Oct 30). So, we decided to make the most of it and take a furlough-cation. We packed the car and headed up to Lake Hartwell for some camping and canoeing. We found a nice little spot right on the lake. The dogs loved running up and down the shore and getting nice and wet (and dirty).









This was Hammy's first time sleeping in a tent. He hated it!! He refused to go to sleep and listened intently to every leaf that fell that night. Poor little guy. Beano, on the other hand, snuggled in to the bottom of a sleeping bag and didn't stir until the morning.




We enjoyed some beautiful fall colors and found some gigantic leaves.










We spent a day out in the canoe. Hammy actually enjoyed this part of the day. Chris brought back Kelley's canoe the last time he was down in Florida. We love it!!








On our way home, we stopped at a local BBQ joint and filled up.








Sadly, we did have to head back home.

Garage Sale

We participated in our neighborhood garage sale on Saturday. After many weekends of going through closets, boxes, the attic, the garage, etc. we realized that we had plenty of stuff to justify a full fledged sale. It was a lot of hard work, but we had great success.



Just looking at his favorite brown ottoman in the world was enough to make Chris feel sentimental and sad. He pulled through and sold it in the end.



Some other sentimental items...

My hot curlers from the 80s


Chris' disco pants


The gold couch that Jeannie and I inherited from a friend years ago. It treated us very well and made the moves from Bozeman to Boulder, back to Bozeman, and finally to Athens. We still haven't broken the news to the dogs.


Of course at the end of the day, it was nice to get rid of all the clutter and have a nice wad of cash in our pockets. We were amazed that almost everything sold!! YEAH!!

A Fun Visit

Mom and dad came to visit this week (grandma too). The whole time they lived in Georgia, my mom heard people talk about Social Circle, GA. It is a small historic town that has Old South ambiance. We decided to check it out. There is also a well known restaurant that is a must see if you ever visit Social Circle. True to form, my dad got the name of the restaraunt wrong (for any of you Milwaukee readers - my whole life my dad called Summerfest, Lakefest). We drove around town for about 15 minutes looking for "The Wren's Nest" and had no luck. We stumbled across the Blue Willow Inn and it was obvious that this was the restaurant that we were looking for. We dove into their Saturday buffet and were rewarded greatly. They had fried chicken, seafood au gratin, baked ham, chicken livers, candied yams, collard greens, fried green tomatoes, mac & cheese, bisquits, cornbread muffins, a huge dessert table and about a hundred other things. Mmmmmmmm!





Two little dogs were thoroughly spoiled by grandma and grandpa and have been depressed since they left.



Thanks for the visit mom and dad!!

After the Rain

You may have heard on the news that Atlanta was almost washed away in all the rain. Although we didn't experience any flooding here, we had 9 days of straight rain. A few days later, mushrooms were sprouting all over our yard. I love the bright orange!

Our new favorite way to make corn on the grill

Mexican-Style Charcoal-Grilled Corn

1/4 cup regular or light mayonnaisde
3 Tbs sour cream
3 Tbs minced fresh cilantro leaves
1 medium garlic clove - minced
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
4 tsp lime juice
1 ounce Pecorino Romano cheese grated about 1/2 cup (queso fresco or Cotija work too)
4 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt or 1/4 tsp table salt
6 large ears corns - husks and silk removed

1. Light large chimeny starter filled with charcoal and allow to burn until coals are fully ignited and partially covered with thin layer of ash, about 20 minutes. Arrange all coals in even layer over half of grill, leaving other half empty. Position cooking grate over coals, cover grill, and heat grate until hot, about 5 minutes; scrape grate clean with grill brush. Dip wad of paper towels in vegetable oil; holding wad with tongs, wipe cooking grate.

2. While grill is heating, combine mayo, sour cream, cilantro, garlic, 1/4 tsp chili powder, black pepper, cayenne, lime juice, and cheese in large bowl; set aside. In second large bowl, combine salt, and remaining 1/2 tsp chili powder; add corn and toss until coated evenly.

3. Grill corn over coals, turning occasionally, until lightly charred on all sides, 7-12 minutes total. Remove from grill and place in bowl with mayo mixture; toss to coat evenly. Serve immediately.

This recipe is courtesy of Cook's Illustrated. If you love to cook, this is a magazine that you must get!! We love it so much and can't wait for the next issue to arrive. Many of our all time favorite recipies come from this magazine -- this one is no exception. Enjoy!!

We love old friends!!

When you move 2,079 miles away, your friends just don't come to visit very often. That is why we were so thrilled to have our first friend visitors from our old life come to Athens for a visit. S & S actually go back to the Hooked days when Chris was working at the magazine in Boulder. They traveled the country in an RV going from event to event promoting the magazine. They have a similar gig now but are working for a different magazine - Delicious Living. We were thrilled that their travels brought them to Georgia and that they were able to spend some time with us.



The dogs were excited for the extra attention and intense game of ball.

Chris made a delicious meal and tested a new recipe out for Mexican Grilled Corn. It is worthy of its own blog post so stay tuned -- wow, was it good!

Old friends are definitely good for the soul - especially these two!! We love you S & S and hope our paths cross again soon.

Art Festival

A friend is attending an arts festival to try and sell some of her husband's woodwork. She offered to try and sell some of my necklaces. I have no idea if they will sell, but it has been fun working on them. Here are a few samples...

Storm Phobia Research Subject

I recently enrolled Hammy in a study at work. They were looking for storm-phobic dogs and do we have just the one! Anyone that knows our dogs knows that they are perfect opposites -- Beano is the fearless adventurous one and Hammy is the sensitive underdog. Since his puppyhood, he has been afraid of thunder (and car rides, and fireworks, and hardwood floors, and his harness, and the vaccuum, and tile floors, and going to the vet, etc.) We knew he would be perfect for the study.

We filled out the paperwork and brought Hammy in for the first meeting. The behaviorists met Hammy, did some bloodwork, and interviewed us. Just sitting in the exam room on that hard floor made Hammy nervous- he knew that something was up. They told us that they were going to play 3 recordings for him: one was a rainstorm, one a thunderstorm, and one rain and thunder. They would video record Hammy as he listened. We were told not to look at him, comfort him, or let him touch us, get on our lap, etc. He listened to the first recording like a brave little dog - he was very suspicious after sniffing the air for signs of rain and looking out the window several times and seeing only a sunny day. The next recordings didn't go as well. As we predicted, he started trembling after about the 3rd clap of thunder. He immediately tried to get up on my lap and then Chris' lap. He tried to look at us, paced between us, panted, whined, tried to get on our laps again, and just looked like a little mess. He was so happy when it was over. We were sent home with a little diary to track his behavior through the next 2 weeks and at least 2 storms. We were also told not to comfort him at all during storms. We know that comforting him only reinforces the anxious behavior, but it is hard not to comfort your cute little dog when he is about to loose his mind. This little study may be pretty hard on us too! We will keep you posted on his progress throughout the study.

A funopolis day

I celebrated my birthday today and had a grand time. Chris' aunt, uncles, and cousin came to Athens for a visit. On their way out, they saw a sign for a place called Funopolis. We decided to check it out because, well, it sounded like fun!





We actually went with the idea that we could play a round of mini-golf. However, as soon as we saw the go cart track, we knew that was the activity for us. The first round was pretty timid - we went fast, tried to pass each other, and just had some innocent fun. The second round was not quite as friendly - we were out to kill each other. Even though the 14 year old kid running the track told us several times that there was absolutely no bumping allowed, there was some serious bumping going on. At one point, Lisa crashed into me so hard that we got stuck on the rail and the guy had to come out and pull the carts apart. He was laughing so we figured a little bumping wasn't going to get us kicked out.



I beat Chris at air hockey (3 times). Where can we get one of these??


A serious ski-ball match between Chris, Marijn, and Chris.


Pac-Man!!!!


Chris made some monster cheeseburgers on the grill -- soooo good!


Cake!! (The candles were mysteriously found in the middle of the stairwell when we returned from Funopolis -- I wonder if Beano might know how they got there??)


Presents - including a beautifully knit scarf from my cuz-in-law Amy.


I mean what more could a girl ask for?? It was a great day.

This is what Chris has been up to

Chris started school two weeks ago. He is taking an Anatomy and Physiology course during the summer term as part of the pre-reqs for the nursing program. So far he is doing great. On the three quizzes he has taken so far his average is 100.33% (extra credit questions)!! He has another quiz on Monday, a lab quiz on Tuesday, and his first major exam on Wednesday -- the summer term is quite intensive, but he can obviously handle the pressure.





In order to keep me out of his hair so he can study, he started me on a project in the garage. We are refinishing a TV cabinet that we got from my parents' house. This is just phase one which involved lots of sanding, painting, sanding, painting, and more sanding. The plan is to put a distressed finish on the piece - the brown is the under color. Stay tuned to see the final result.



I paint so fast, you can't even see my brush!

Happy Birthday Kelley!!!

Here's a cute photo of one of the rare times we weren't fighting...
(i'm pretty sure that, three minutes after this snap, we were back at it)


...and here's a collection of memories...
(click on a pic to see it bigger)



(just one of the boys)










(Kelley and my wedgie)














(sorry Kelley - i couldn't NOT post this one!)






(parentally forced affection, i think)










(i had nothing to do with it)




(that's one pissed off little raggedy ann)






(wasted together, somewhere in the Caribbean)

July Obsession

I spend the month of July completely engrossed with the Tour de France. I don't even completely remember how the obsession started but it has become one of my favorite sports to watch (behind Packers football of course!). Lance Armstrong has come out of retirement to race once again -- the first 4 stages have been amazing!! I'm in heaven.

Celebrating Number Three

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary tonight by enjoying a delicious meal together and reminiscing about our wedding day. Here's to many many more...

Beano and Hammy - the cell phone collection

If you know us at all, you know that we LOVE our little dogs. Chris and I spend a lot of time taking pictures of them on our cell phones and then texting the pictures to one another. They do lots of cute things so we have many many pictures -- here are a few of our favorites.

New Additions

My parents have finally moved to Florida. They are downsizing to a smaller house, so we helped them out by taking a bunch of furniture off their hands.

Kitchen table - probably our favorite gain. Chris repainted the base and stained the top giving us a brand new look. You may remember my parents' table from here or here. We love it and are thrilled to finally have a table worthy (and big enough) for a family meal. We decided for now to use our old chairs which are a close match. It has a leaf to make it an oval but we like it like this.

Piano - another great addition. The piano is technically Alan's but he doesn't have the room for it or a way to get it to Virginia. The deal is that we will hold on to it and he can come for it at any time. I have a feeling that it will be ours permanently. After doing some detective work about how to move a piano, we decided, after reading on several websites that, "there is no such thing as a free piano," to leave it to the pros to move.

Buffet - the dining room has been just a table for about a year. We are very happy to have some more storage. We are probably going to move it to the opposite wall.

Dresser - Chris finally has his own dresser. I have the matching piece below. The mirror was a gift from my parents.

Birthday Party x 2

Despite the fact that my parents spent last weekend packing their house and having a huge garage sale, mom managed to throw two amazing birthday parties - one for Chris and one for Alan. We had a great time celebrating with friends and family and by eating amazing food.

Lake Seed

We recently spent a wonderful week up at Bobbi and Stan's lake house in northern Georgia. It was a perfect getaway (no cell service or internet) and beautiful surroundings. The dogs were in heaven.

It rained for about 2 days when we first arrived. It was perfect weather for not making us feel too guilty about lounging around. We read, napped, assembled puzzles, and played cards. When it finally did clear up we spent some time hiking to some falls, spending some time in Helen for a dose of Bavariana (we stocked up on real German mustard - mmmm!), and spent some time on the lake enjoying the canoe. Beano is an old pro at riding in a canoe - she loves it. Hammy, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. Its hard being a little neurotic dog sometimes.

Thanks Bobbi and Stan for a great week!!