In the Same Boat

Summer is in full swing and things are fab! Spent the afternoon down on the lake cruising, gabbing, eating, and lovin' on the fam.

Moon Walkin'

"Cause this is thriller. Thriller night."

We will miss you MJ.

Speechless

I am delightfully speechless.

(Ironically, I find it fitting to try to speak of it).

That is all I can say.

I apologize for the cryptic post. No worries. All absolutely fabulous happenings.

Whoa baby.

Just a few snippets from Jenn's baby shower this weekend...much fun, fabulousness, and french toast was had by all!

15 years of friendship and countin'! Can't wait to see Sweet Baby Ryan Patrick once he makes his grand appearance!

I have to post these pictures to brag on Gidge and her ability to make super cute baby gifts--she handmade these ADORABLE gift boxes and burp cloths. Trendy Mama.

Lori, Courtney, Jennifer, Chelsea, and Me post-french toast frenzy. Whoa.

Allow me to take this opportunity to rave about Mimi's Cafe. The following items were on our selected menu for the shower. Please read them and tell me that you are strong enough to withhold the urge to have breakfast there. Tomorrow.

Mixed Berry Pain Perdu Breakfast
French Toast Stuffed with Cream Cheese & Orange Marmalade, Topped with Blueberries, Strawberries, & Raspberry Puree. Served with Bacon or Sausage and 2 Eggs.
Belgian Waffle Breakfast
Served a la carte or with Bacon or Sausage and 2 Eggs
Buttermilk Pancake Breakfast
Served a la carte or with Bacon or Sausage and 2 Eggs
Monterey Omelette
Bacon, Avocado, & Jack Cheese. Served with Salsa.
Capresse Omelette
Diced Tomatoes, Red Onions, and Basil. Topped with Tomatoes, Fresh Mozzarella, and Tomato Cream Sauce.
Crepes Brie Cheese Lorraine
2 Crepes Filled with Scrambled Eggs, Broccoli, Bacon, and Brie Cheese. Topped with Lemon Hollandaise
Ciabatta Breakfast Sandwich
Fried Egg, Griddled Ham, Bacon, Garlic Spinach, Tomato, Cheddar Cheese and Citrus Remoulade

My personal all-time favorite: the ciabatta breakfast sandwich. Holy goodness. I am dying for an excuse to head over to Mimi's to relive this experience. Oh, and I totally washed this glorious breakfast sandwich down with a tall bubbly glass of Coke! I have decided that instead of depriving myself of all things caffeinated, I will simply reintroduce exercise to my life. So far, so good.

One more pic (because I love this chickadee)...This is Chelsea. I used to be her babysitter. She was 2 and I was 14. She is now 16. And taller than me. Love her.

Later taters!

All Play and No Work

Total blast at Imaginations at Play today with the little man. Abby and Baby Jeremiah met up with us for some paint slingin', sand diggin', water splashin' good times. Highly recommend this place!

A man after my own heart, Buckaroo's most favorite station appeared to be the food station!
Baby J was quite fond of the faux hamburgers and Pringle chips as well :)

Imaginations at Play was followed by some fun over at Suwanee Playtown Park. Also a total blast!
We love our Wacky Wednesdays with our favorite 2 year old!

Not a Fighting Chance!

Update: Since attempting to give up my crazy Coke addiction, I have had 4 Coca-Colas, 3 Iced Coffee Drinks, and approximately 10 glasses of sweet tea. I give up. The end.

Every Picture Tells a Story

Today was jam packed with tons of fun adventures!

This morning I discovered two little slices of heaven here on earth. The first: Real Deals. Wow. 12 miles of Hobby Lobby type fabulousness. Insane-o. Came home with a darlin' monogrammed silver bracelet. It might have been the only thing along that 12 mile stretch that had nothing to do with home decor, but I just had to have it.

My Real Deals jaunt was followed by a trip to the grand opening of Ann Taylor Loft Outlet. Let me just say, whoa. There was much shrieking (internally, of course) and jumping around. After about an hour of walking around in circles and breaking into hives from much excitement, I realized that the marketing gurus at the Loft are pretty clever because I was 110% convinced that I just had to stock up on last seasons threads at unbeatable outlet prices. About 10 minutes later I stood in line dumbfounded at how quickly I was highjacked by retail insanity. I put all but 2 oober cute summer tops back and hightailed it home before I got myself into any more trouble.

My Real Deals and Ann Taylor Loft Outlet adventure was followed by a trip down south for a memorial dinner for sweet Mama Potts. Her group of YaYa Sisters (aka: The 50 Plus Club) invited our family out to eat in memory of what would have been her 89th birthday. Bless them.

Hubs and I arrived in the sleepy town of Griffin, GA 45 minutes early. That was just enough time to tear up the town before meeting up with the hilarious group of orthopedic shoe wearing little old ladies. I decided it was time to introduce Chris to The Griffin Sock Shoppe. Home of the "50 cent" pair of socks. Opened in 1936, the Sock Shoppe is simply a southern staple. We couldn't help but take this picture to capture the true beauty of such a place. Every good, strong lad should own a pair of "fancy socks".



After perusing the Sock Shoppe, we toured the downtown district where we ended up on the "wrong side of the tracks". There we couldn't help but snap this picture:

It's always good to give folks a heads up. Was it wrong that we stood in the middle of the street cracking up as we took pictures of the sign from a variety of different angles?


Dinner was an absolute hoot. Picture 10 90-something year old ladies trying to eat dinner while sitting at high top bar tables in a dimly lit "Sixth Street Pier Bar and Grill". Whichever old biddy booked the place was certainly not thinking about the double and triple knee and hip replacements that were going to have to climb up on the swivel bar stools in order to place their order by candlelight. We have never laughed so hard (or so discretely) in all our lives. These ladies are loony tunes. And we love them dearly. Since only 2 of them still drive and many were trying to beat nursing home curfews, we had to pick up the pace and wrap things up before I could snap a photo. I know that Mama Potts' was looking down from her white cloud in heaven chuckling away at all of us.

A Tall Glass of Water

So I have apparently landed myself in the non-caffeinated loony bin.

Here's how I arrived there:

1) I discovered that I drink approximately no less than 4 Cokes/Dr. Peppers/Starbucks Iced Coffees/Sweet Teas per day. All day. Every day.

2) Although I feel extremely guilty about this little caffeine infiltrated addiction, I continue to blow right past these guilty feelings and suck down the little boogers one after the other.

3) My dentist continues to ask me why I haven't considered whitening my teeth. Nothing personal, I'm sure. Just doing his job.

4) I ran across the following challenge last night. Being driven by my need to be competitive in all things ridiculous, I have decided that I can totally break free of my caffeine addiction and become healthier, happier, and less hippier by simply replacing my teeth-staining, belly-broadening drinks with water/crystal light/Propel.

5) Besides spinning class, I can't remember the last time I drank a glass of water. Seriously.

Those of you who know me know that I have attempted to kick the Coke habit at least a dozen times over the past year. Each time I make it a couple of hours and then have a total melt-down and run for the Chick-fil-a drive thru in hopes of curbing the craving with something fizzy and bubbly. Complete with purple bendy straw, not the red, wide, straight one that most of you probably deal with without hesitation.

Not this time. It has been 24 hours and I have consumed not one sip of Co-Cola. I did not have my 6:30am Dr. Pepper on the way to work. Or my late afternoon Starbucks iced coffee.

Confession: I did have one glass of sweet tea at lunch today while discussing this crazy plan with my friend Meredith. We decided that sweet tea might not count. Baby steps, baby steps.

I decided that if I blog about it, maybe I will have some sense of accountability and finally kick the habit for good.

In the meantime, here is my Top Ten list of favorite meals that go wonderfully with a nice tall glass of Co-Cola:

1) Mellow Mushroom Pizza

2) Chick-fil-a Chicken Strips

3) Chick-fil-a Sandwiches

4) Chick-fil-a Nuggets

5) Chick-fil-a Chicken Biscuits

6) All things Hibachi

7) Cheese Dip, Chicken Nachos, and Guacamole at Monterrey's

8) Moo Moo Mr. Cows at Moes

9) All things Subway, Quiznos, and/or Firehouse

10) Yum Yum Rolls/Utage Special Rolls

Looks like I have a lot of work to do.