Christmas with the Cates

Being married means two Christmases, so on Christmas morning we loaded up the car and left the Dunn family abode and headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a cabin Christmas. Donna fixed a wonderful meal and we opened presents!




The next day we all decided to go for a hike on part of the Appalachian Trail near the Cates' home. The puppies had a great time exploring the trail.



David's parents had to leave the next day for a wedding in California, so we gladly offered to house-sit for them. David got some cuddling in with Murph.


And I continued in the tedious task of teaching myself to play the piano.


That weekend we decided to do some exploring, so we drove up to Copper Hill, Tennessee and drove and hiked in the National Forest areas. We found the most beautiful creek in the heart of the forest.




Monday was David's birthday. I took him to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant (his favorite!) and then I gave him his birthday present.


The watch is J Crew's Timex military watch. I'm very proud of this gift, because I was able to surprise him with it, a feat which I have never accomplished before. I either get too excited and spill the beans or he just looks at our bank statement and sees that I bought him something. Thanks to some help from my mom, I was able to keep it a secret until his birthday!

The Cates came home the next day and we decided to go horseback riding for David's birthday. The day was perfect for riding and the land we rode on was so nice and secluded.





Thanks to Donna and Dewey for providing us with a restful week. We had lots of fun!
The next day we headed back to Athens for the New Year. . .

Christmas with the Dunns

This Christmas was wonderfully eventful! I was fortunate enough to have 12 days off from work, so we decided to spend most of our time with family. We headed up to Toccoa on Tuesday evening and spent Christmas Eve and morning with the Dunns.

Christmas Eve is full of traditions for every family. The Dunn family is no exception. My mom decided to do our big meal on Christmas Eve, and she was kind enough to include mostly vegetarian dishes this Christmas. Once dinner is over and we've consumed unhealthy amounts of dessert, we always read the account of Christ's birth found in Luke. After the reading my dad sings "The Christmas Song" also known as"Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire". Then we each open one present. This year the must-have present for the Dunns was blankets. My family loves blankets. Even in the summer, you will find us all wrapped up in a blanket if we're all together in the family room. We call ourselves the Blanket Nation. This Christmas, my family decided to make David an official member of the Blanket Nation with new Woolrich blankets for all the boys.


Then Dawson, who had been carefully contemplating which gift he would open, made his selection. We all waited in anticipation, while Dawson opened the package, and then every child's worst dream came true-the selected gift was a pair of pants.


Dawson made his best attempt to be grateful, but I could tell that he was holding in a reaction that is best let loose in a remote corner of the house. While Dawson emotionally imploded, the rest of us opened our presents. David and I gave my family Blokus (thanks Goodwin family for getting us hooked!) and we proceeded to play for much of the night.
After several rounds of Blokus, we broke out Rock Band and Guitar Hero. My mom decided to show us what's what with a round of "Through the Fire and Flames".


Before Mom started playing, Dawson decided to head to bed. To completely understand the next events of the night, I must first explain the catalyst of the whole situation. David and I own a cat. Her name is Lyra and she is insane. She has never fully adapted to living with humans, and so from time to time she will react to human interaction in a manner befitting the freak she is and the end result is usually a scratch or some sort of minor skin wound.
Enter my 10-year-old brother, who is afraid of oh so many things. Lyra decided to stake her claim on the stairs, and so if my brother wished to go to bed, he had to walk the gauntlet and pass her. Well, I think we all know what happened next. Lyra was playing on the stairs and Dawson was hanging out at the bottom trying to figure out a way to make it to bed without actually having to walk past her. We try not to baby Dawson when it comes to his fears, so we told him to just be brave and walk past her, because we knew she wouldn't do anything to him. Of course, in his fearful mind, he pictured her clawing him to death, or some other horrific image, so he refused to budge.
All the while, my mother is trying to play "Through the Fire and Flames" on Guitar Hero. Intermittently she would scold Dawson, while keeping her eyes on the game. Finally, the tension between Dawson and Lyra became too much for Dawson to bear and the tears started to fall. So my mom, in a fit of aggravation turned to Dawson and said, "if you make me put down this guitar, I'm going to get you!" I'm pretty sure no other mother, besides perhaps Lita Ford (I could she her saying that), has ever said those words to her child. Dawson ran up the stairs, went to sleep, and seemed to forget all about his traumatic experience, just in time to open presents Christmas morning.

Another Dunn family tradition occurs every Christmas morning with the opening of our stockings. It has long been a tradition to give every family member several scratch-off lottery tickets, with the hopes of a big win. Well, in years past, the most I've won is maybe one dollar or a free ticket, but this year I won $150 on a single ticket! It may not have been the jackpot, but it was my personal best, and I was pretty excited.

Me with scary morning hair and my winning ticket

After we opened our stockings, my mom made hot chocolate and we all proceeded to open gifts. My favorite gift by far from my parents was my new J Crew coat.


It is black and lovely. I'm sure I will be wearing it all winter long (if "winter" will ever come).
We all opened presents and had a wonderful time. Especially Dawson.


This Christmas at the Dunns was very memorable and fun! Thanks to my family for all of the gifts and all of the love.

Currently Reading

I finished Middlemarch a few months ago, and a day or so ago I remembered that I have completely forgotten to keep up with what I'm currently reading. Since Middlemarch, I have read the Twilight series for the second time (yes, I know I'm obsessed) and I've picked up three different books, but I didn't finish any of them - I just couldn't get into them. Finally, after searching through our library for the right book, I came across one that interested me.
The book is The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy. I read the book for my Southern Literature class (which was one of the best classes I took in my college career- Dr. McAlexander is the BEST!). I realized that I didn't remember much about this book besides the basics. The book was the last book we were assigned to read before the final, so I'm sure I probably rushed through it and absorbed very little.
I have been really interested in all things New York since our trip in October and I remembered that the novel is set in New York City in the late 1960s. The novel is a post-modern tale of a young, southern man living in the city. I'm only a little ways in, but I'm starting to remember some of the reasons why the book is worth a second read. Instead of writing long-winded paragraphs, naming what I like and dislike about the book, I will give the four main reasons I feel the book is wonderful.
1. The main character in the book is in his 20s, and I find his perspective on just about everything intriguing.
2. All of Percy's characters have little idiosyncrasies that make them fun to read about.
3. Percy touches on all of the important issues-love, religion, identity, etc.-in an entertaining, refreshing way. The novel is not self-important.
3. Percy does a great job creating an atmosphere in which experience and thought mean nothing and everything at the same time.

Just a Few Loves

Just a few things I've come across.

This headband from Anthropologie.
I don't wear a lot of headbands, but this one is so delicate.












Urban Outfitter's cute purses. I think they're
faux-leather, but I'm not certain.

JCrew's Winter gear. I love the sheer mohair scarves.
The hat is for men, but the stripes are adorable.

The artwork of this artist
I really love the second one!













































The music of Vampire Weekend

They are on the soundtrack to Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist
(amazing movie-by the way)

That is all for now.

Birthday Fun!

My 24th birthday was this past weekend. David asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I told him that all I wanted was a birthday dinner at Rusan's and tickets to see Twilight. I don't know how the movie executives knew that I wished for Twilight on my birthday, but they were kind enough to grant me my wish!
So we started the night at Rusan's. I decided that we should sit in the patio area, since it would be quieter and we wouldn't bother any of the other guests in the main dining area. They assured me when I made the reservation that the area would be sealed and they would have heaters, but who knew that the plastic liner they put around the patio would have huge gaps in it.



Notice we all have our jackets and scarves on. And Josh and Natalie had to stand by the heater to thaw out!

Aside from the chill, we had lots of fun! I have great friends!


After the dinner we headed off to see TWILIGHT!!!
I am so obsessed with Twilight, that I stipulated that the dinner must be over 1 1/2 hours before the beginning of the movie, so that I could wait in line and get a great seat. David humored me as he always does when it comes to my obsessions.


We got a great place at the front of the line-right behind some Twilight moms with homemade t-shirts and hours worth of Twilight quizzes. I eavesdropped on the questions-I knew pretty much all of them. The obsession is getting bad, I'm not kidding. If I start talking about it, it's not long before I'm hopping up and down and shaking my fists in fits of hysteria. David just keeps repeating that he'll be glad when this is all over and he has his wife back. The problem is, will it ever be over? As long as they keep coming out with movies-my weird pre-teenish obsession will continue. I'm thinking of writing the publishers to see if they laced the pages of the books with crack.

A few faithful friends joined us in line for the movie.
Miles did his best vampire impression for us.




David was kind enough to get to the theater early and sit for an hour on the floor of the lobby, an act that defied all of his notions of sanitation, all for me! I love this man! He is my Edward times ten!

I wish I could say that the movie lived up to my expectations, but sadly it did not. I loved parts of the movie and I have every intention of seeing it again soon, maybe several more times, but I wish that several things had been different. For instance, I wish that they had not added scenes to the movie that weren't in the book or changed the way certain characters talked or acted-like Billy-he would NEVER say "that's the bomb"! But overall I loved the movie and I'm way excited for New Moon!
It was a great 24th birthday! Thanks to all of my friends and family for making me feel special. I love you guys!

NEW BIKE!

My 2009 Bianchi Milano Parco bike finally arrived all the way from Italy! It is the best bike, ever! Sometimes, when you have to wait four months for something, you start to wonder whether or not it will be worth the wait. This bike was DEFINITELY worth the wait.
I was really excited to finally have my bike, so David and I decided to go for a ride on Sunday afternoon. I didn't know that the afternoon would soon be tainted by some very foolish mistakes on my part.
Mistake #1: My wardrobe choice was my first and biggest mistake.
I decided that since this bike is meant to be a means of transportation for me if I need it, that I should wear whatever I would normally wear in transit. My everyday choice is jeans and some sort of top, so I went with that. However, my mistake was choosing to wear my favorite pair of 7 jeans!
So, David and I drove over to the old Jefferson Highway, which is traffic-free - ideal for riding!
This is me and my beautiful bike before the ride.

Oh, so innocent.

We decided to go on a six mile bike ride. We got to about mile three and I was having so much fun. My bike is way cute and the afternoon was perfect for riding.
Mistake #2: I became so distracted by the fun I was having that I decided to look over at David for a split-second.
I looked left and my bike veered right - right into a three inch trench beside the pavement drop-off. I tried to steady myself, but there was nowhere for my wheels to go. I was going down, but not even fast. My fall was a wobbly, clumsy, slow crash into the pavement. Luckily, I was going slow enough, so when I fell onto my left hand, it didn't scrape against the pavement ( I don't think I could handle another month of missing the skin on my palms, like when I tripped over a speed-bump while walking - don't ask - I'm a mess).
Unfortunately, I could feel my left knee scraping into the pavement and I knew that I had just put a whole in my 7s! I got up, and immediately started crying and babbling incoherently that everything is ruined.
David checked my bike out and told me that it's okay, I didn't do any damage to my new bike, but I was not appeased. I hate ruining clothes. I am very possessive and attached to my clothes. I both love and hate buying jeans. They're expensive and I always have to have them altered to fit my height, so when I finally have a pair that is perfectly suited to my petite frame, I become very emotionally attached to them. David tried to calm me down, but I wasn't having any of it. Sometimes, I think when people see me having a public tantrum, they must wonder who the psycho is next to David. Luckily, no one was around to witness my meltdown. Only seconds after I decided to stop crying, a huge peloton came towards us. I am SO glad they were not there to witness my embarrassing fall or the resulting fit. We got back on our bikes and continued our ride. I was fuming the entire ride. We made it back to the car without any more wipe outs. We loaded the bikes and drove home.
So, until next weekend, I will look at my gorgeous bike, my poor disfigured jeans and my knees that bear the marks of my many falls (David says I shouldn't care, because they're the mark of an active person. I think they are just the mark of my clumsiness). But I will get back on my bike, because as long as I don't fall and smash my head open; I think I can deal with a few scars and some ruined jeans. They are a small price to pay for outdoor fun with my love!

Tagged

Janie tagged me.

1.Post rules on your blog.

2.Answer the six “8″ items.

3.Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment.

8 Favorite TV Shows

1. The Office
2. Project Runway
3. Lost
4. What Not to Wear
5. Fringe
6. Sex and the City
7. Scrubs
8. Jon and Kate Plus 8

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Slept until 10am
2. Cuddled on the couch with the space heater on full blast
3. Watched movies
4. Moped
5. Ordered David (who is the best husband, ever) to bring me things with a sometimes not-so-nice tone
6. Re-read the third Twilight book
7. Watched the new episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8
8. Went to bed tired even though I did NOTHING the whole day
(in case you can't tell, I was sick)

8 Things I Look Forward to

1. All of the holidays between now and January
2. Hearing the verdict from David on Wednesday!
3. The Twilight Movie!
4. Every weekend
5. Wednesday Girls' Night with Amy!
6. Fun activities this fall and winter with my family and David's family
7. Reading - I always look forward to reading - anytime, anywhere.
8. Camping - at some point

8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Ru San's
2. East West Bistro
3. The Last Resort
4. Murphy's
5. Thai Spoon
6. Popover Cafe
7. Mirko Pasta
8. Big City Bread

8 Things on My Wishlist

1. Forrest Green Hunter Wellington's
2. Topshop Frilly Wool Belted Coat
3. Complete works of David Sedaris
4. Anthropologie shopping spree
5. Season 4 of Lost
6. Ikea floor to ceiling bookshelves
7. Piano Lessons
8. Waring 60th Anniversary Blender

8 People to Tag

1. Natalie
2. Steph
3. Bonnie
4. Katy
5. Krista
6. Sarah
7. Dana
8. Kim

NYC in the Fall

"One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years."

-Thomas Wolfe

David and I took a trip to New York City a few weeks ago. Our friends, Martin and Mim, were getting married in the Manhattan Temple, so we decided it would be the perfect time for me to experience the city. Here are a few highlights from the trip. Actually, I'm totally lying. This is probably going to be my longest post ever, sorry!

Thursday:

We had a nice, safe plane ride. David is always kind enough to let me have the window seat wherever we fly, because nine times out of ten, he's already been where we're going. My knuckles were white from gripping the arm rests for the entire flight, and I made a few "what if the plane crashes" comments that David thought were inappropriate, considering that we were 5,000 feet in the air. I was relieved when we landed safely in Laguardia around noon. I don't like flying, but I'm getting better.
I was so excited for my first cab ride, but I soon learned that a cab ride is not something to get "excited" about. Cab drivers really are as bad as the stereotype suggests. I don't understand the honking and the speeding up, only to slam on their brakes at the red light that is thirty feet away. Oh well.
We made it safely to our hostel, which turned out to be way better than expected. I am so thankful for the hostel, because when you're trying to do New York on a budget; $250 a night at a hotel just doesn't figure in.
After we relaxed for a few minutes, we headed out into the city. Our first stop was Rockefeller Center. We walked around and David tried to convince me to go to the "top of the Rock", but I am a firm believer that when possible, my feet should remain on the ground. We then headed to what I consider my idea of heaven - the Anthropologie at Rockefeller!

In case you can't tell, this is my happy face.

I am very proud of myself. I restrained the shopping addict within me and only bought some jewelry from Anthropologie. The crazy shopping would come later at Madewell in Soho, my new favorite store!

Then we headed to Times Square. I have to say, this stop was my least favorite of the trip. Times Square is crowded with tourists and it's noisy. The only way that I can describe my experience there is complete sensory overload.


David had me make out a list of everything I wanted to see in New York, and our next stop was at the top of that list! I didn't recognize Parson's The New School for Design at first, because the orange banners were not on the building (I guess that is just for Project Runway?). I didn't want to leave. I kept hoping that maybe Tim Gunn would come out and offer to adopt me. But sadly, he did not, and I am still far away from my dream of being the adopted child of Tim Gunn and Paula Dean.

Happy hands.

Our next stop was Bryant Park. I am still sad that I was just a few weeks late for fashion week! Not that I would have actually gotten into a tent, but it would have been fun to be there anyways. Bryant Park is perhaps my favorite place in New York! The day was beautiful and the park was so peaceful. Before we left for the trip, I did some research on what would be going on during our stay. I found out that Bryant Park hosts free concerts during the fall featuring the various New York orchestras. I immediately knew that I wanted to be there for one. So we left Bryant Park to kill time till the concert started and made a stop at the New York Public Library (the site of Carrie and Big's "almost" wedding). The library's architecture is amazing. I could have spent all day just walking around and looking at the different book rooms - I loved it! After the library, we returned to Bryant Park in time to hear the New York Pops perform.

It was a bit chilly that night, but the evening was so nice. We wrapped up our day with dinner at an awesome vegetarian restaurant in the Village and dessert at Pinkberry.

Friday:

Friday and Saturday are tied for my favorite day in New York! Friday was dedicated to Martin and Mim's wedding. Their entire day was beautiful from beginning to end! Martin and Mim looked gorgeous and so happy. I am so grateful that we were able to be at their wedding.



We went for pictures in Central Park and then walked through the park with some friends, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Beky. We stopped at the Shakespeare Garden and Strawberry Fields on our way to have lunch at a restaurant Mim recommended called Popover Cafe. If you have never had a popover, have one, they are delicious!

After lunch, we took the subway to Soho for the reception. Martin and Mim held their reception in a beautiful Italian restaurant called I Tre Merli. The night was wonderful. We really loved getting to see Martin and Mim with all of their friends and family. It was a very special day!

Saturday:

Saturday morning we went to breakfast at Les Halles Brasserie. It is owned by Anthony Bourdain, David's favoriter person, ever! It was so good!

Next we went to the Modern Museum of Art. All of my favorite art is there! We got to see paintings by van Gogh, Matisse, Rothko, Pollock, Warhol, Wyeth, and so many more. The contemporary gallery was particularly interesting . . . and strange.


After MOMA we headed to Central Park. On our way, David took us on a detour to a great pocket park near MOMA. The fountain was designed to drown out the sounds of the city, and it works! When you're in the park, all you can hear is the sound of falling water!


We didn't get enough of Central Park on Friday and the weather was perfect for taking a long walk. The park is such a singular place. I never wanted to leave!


That evening, we went to dinner at an awesome sushi place, Haru Broadway.


Then we were off to see the Phantom of the Opera. My mom and dad are the best ever. They paid for us to go to see Phantom and we were able to get really great seats!

Thanks mom and dad!

After the show let out, we noticed a hoard of people gathered near our theater. We wondered what the commotion was for. We thought it was for the kid with no shoes on getting arrested in the middle of the street.


However, this was not the case. We looked up and saw the marquee next to ours and realized that Phantom is next to the theater where Equus is playing, starring a nude Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter. We waited for a little while and realized that he would be coming out of the theater soon! I was so excited. The streets got really crowded and his car pulled up and almost blocked my view of him, but luckily I was standing in a pretty good spot and I got to see him! I won't even bother putting the picture of him up. The picture is dark and there are guards and people all around him. But he is the one famous person I saw while in the city (other than when we went to Soho and saw who we think was Sisquo, but I don't really count that)!

Sunday:

We wanted to spend our last day in New York walking around Soho and seeing a few more sights on my list. We ate breakfast at a great little diner in Soho called Waverly Restaurant.

Yum!

Before breakfast, we stopped by Magnolia Bakery. Everyone I talked to before the trip said that we had to get their cupcakes, so we did. I however, was not keen on dumping a cupcake into my stomach with nothing else in it so early in the morning; thus the trip to the Waverly. Once I had something other than sugar in my stomach, we decided to stop in Washington Square Park and eat our cupcakes. David fell in love.

After our massive sugar rush, we had lots of energy to burn off, so we decided to head to Ground Zero and Wall Street. There isn't much to see right now at Ground Zero; it's just a big construction site. But it is amazing to look at it from a distance and see the hole in the skyline. The buildings were so huge; the hole still looks so strange. I'm really excited to see the building they erect in place of the World Trade Towers. We were able to see some design proposals at MOMA, but I haven't seen the proposal that was chosen.

Several people told me that I had to stop by Century 21. It's like a huge one building outlet mall for designer clothes located near Ground Zero. After experiencing the madness that is Century 21, I have one word of advice: if you do not want to lose your sanity, go on a weekday or a rainy day when you have nothing else to do and are willing to spend hours looking around. Otherwise, it is really crowded and overwhelming. I did find a great BCBG dress, though - it was all by itself, inside-out, in the coat section!

One of our last stops of the trip was the Brooklyn Bridge. Sunday was such a nice, overcast, windy day. I was really excited about our walk to the middle of the bridge. As we were walking along, I realized that I was suddenly walking on PLANKS OF WOOD! Nobody told me that the bridge is partially made of wood and that you can look down below where you're walking and see WATER! As mentioned previously, I am not a fan of heights, so I tried not to pass out as I thought about the thin wooden boards separating me from certain death. I decided I would not look down again, and luckily, that did the trick and I was fine for the rest of our walk on the bridge. I'm glad that I didn't let the height scare me, because the view is amazing!


After the Brooklyn Bridge, we walked around Soho, and I found my new favorite clothing store, Madewell. After shopping, we took the subway back to our hostel, gathered our bags, and took a cab to the airport. Once we were sitting in the terminal, waiting for our flight, the exhaustion finally caught up with us. Our goal for the trip was to relax and not rush around the city trying to see everything. We thought we had taken it easy, but we were both ready to pass out once we reached our seats on the plane. As the plane took off, I looked out of my window and saw fireworks going off over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a perfect final glimpse of the city!
New York City is every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be. The trip was perfect. Who know, perhaps I'll have a reason to return soon enough?
The end.


Thanks for reading this amazingly long post.