my sentiments exactly. i love you, love. happy anniversary.

Happiness is . . .

I really like rockstar diaries' list of 10 things that make her happy. I think it is a great thing to think about. I am going to try to start a weekly list of 10 things that make me happy. Perhaps I will become a more appreciative person in the process!

1. my morning smoothie
2. the smell and feel of David's tee shirts
3. breezy, sunny days
4. brussels sprouts
5. peonies
6. photos of my mother
7. any song by postal service
8. children's books
9. caterpillars
10. celebrating my 3 year wedding anniversary with David today

Twilight Weekend

We had a great weekend with lots of friends and fun events!

Friday night we went to the jazz festival downtown. It was such a nice night!

We went with our good friends Josh and Natalie.

Natalie and I decided to get a panoramic shot of the event, plus us.

On Friday night, the cyclists compete in timed heats
to determine the race positions on Saturday.

We relaxed and enjoyed the jazz, courtesy of our friend Bret.
His solos were wonderful!

David and I spent a large portion of our night sitting in front of the
funnel cake stand, trying our best to resist the lure. We were successful!

On Saturday, we headed down for a day trip to Macon to visit David's college friends.

Only one out of the group is still practicing landscape architecture.
Moral: DO NOT go into this field unless you plan on either
doing something completely different in 3 years, or going back to school.

Saturday night, we went over to Steph's for dinner and then headed to Twilight!

It was rather hot and crowded. We are all glistening a bit.

The girls minus Dawan. We could never seem to get everyone in the photo!

David and Aaron have been riding their
bikes 30 or so miles every couple of days, so they were really excited to see the pros!

Awkward photo #1 for the night. There were many.

We got really hot in the crowds, so we decided to go up to the parking deck for the nice breeze and the view.

And up there we found Joseph!

None of the girls could really see over the edge of the building.

I didn't even try.
Instead, I walked around forcing everyone to pose.

Amy showed us how her and Nathan were cuddling
when the swarm of tweens on top of the deck decided to take an interest.

I couldn't really see the race, but the views from the deck are amazing!

I am a little sad that this will be our LAST Twilight as official residents of Athens. I'm sure we'll be back next year, but we won't be able to walk downtown from our very own apartment.
Thanks to all of our friends for another fun weekend!

It looks like all of our days from now till moving time will be very eventful.
We'll be:
-celebrating our three year anniversary
-apartment-hunting in Atlanta
-going to UGA's graduation (only because I'm working, ugh)
-going home for mother's day
-taking Dawson to the mountains for a fun weekend
-packing
-moving
-and hopefully finding time somewhere in all of it for a par-tay!

If These Walls Could Talk

Last week at work I had a very interesting encounter.
The building I work in is very old and has A LOT of problems.
The walls in my office are constantly making noises - I have learned to tune them out over the last 10 months.
On this particular day, there was a sound coming from the wall next to my desk. It was soft at first, but then it got louder. It sounded like some sort of animal. I asked my co-worker in the office next to me if she could hear it too and she said she could.
I put my ear against the wall and said "I think it's a raccoon."
THEN I hear a voice from the wall say "It's just me; I'm fixing a pipe".
I think I almost passed out.
Nobody really puts their ear to a wall expecting a voice to speak to them, at least no sane person does.
I hope one day to meet this mystery man living in the walls of my office.

p.s. I hope you enjoy my paint depiction of the event.

Happy Friday!

This weekend we're busy, busy, busy - but in a fun way!
We're going to dinner and the jazz festival downtown with friends Friday night, then a day-trip to Macon Saturday to visit friends, then back to Athens Saturday night for TWILIGHT CRITERIUM 2009!!!
Hopefully Sunday will consist primarily of rest!

Did I mention that I'm kind of starting to get sad that this will be my last spring in Athens?

New Life Goal

I have a new goal for my life.
I really like yoga, but I have never taken an official class.
David used to teach pilates, so every now and then I'll have him show me some beneficial moves, but I am in no way dedicated.
I would really love to eventually be able to do this for more than a few seconds.


I think it would take a level of dedication to a fitness regime that I have not yet experienced.
You see, I'm a dabbler. I exercise regularly, but I never settle on one thing in particular. One month I'll run, the next me and Billy Blanks are best friends. Currently, I am doing Latin dance aerobics - very hard-core hip, butt and stomach action.
I would like to pick something to be dedicated to for the next while.
We'll be moving to Atlanta in a month. I think I will begin working towards my goal of yoga guru then. Anyone have any suggestions of good yoga classes in the Metro Atlanta area? I'm sure there are tons, but I like referrals.

To the Lighthouse

Elle took one of my favorite novels, ever, and turned it into beautiful photography!

images via fashiongonerogue.com

One of my favorite days

This past Saturday was one of my favorite days in Athens, ever!
We started the day in the morning at J & J Flea Market.
If you have never been and you live in Athens, you MUST go. It is a great cultural experience. 60-70% of stuff there is junk, but the Hispanic people have great produce and ethnic foods and every now and then you find a great treasure. I think pretty much everyone that went came away with at least one great thing.
Natalie found an awesome necklace.
Josh found his spring and summer staple-nopales, aka prickly pear cactus fronds.
Marie found a cool antique ring and her favorite childhood candy.
Dawan found her favorite running shoes that have been discontinued-and they were brand new.
Sarah found an early 1900s edition of The Last of the Mohicans.
Nate found the weirdest fingernail clippers in the shape of a fish. Don't worry, he'll be sanitzing those first.
And David and I found an awesome, huge mirror for $2. Look for pictures to come of its makeover.

I'm not quite sure what I'm doing with my hands here.
I tend to talk a lot with my hands, so this is a pretty normal gesture for me.

After perusing the isles, we headed to the Mexican food stand where Josh and Natalie introduced us to my favorite new drink, aguas frescas. It's basically fresh fruit, sugar, water and ice. The mango is the best!

After J & J we all headed home to get ready for our next activity. Singing in front of a room of other people!

Dinner began at six.


Thanks to the hard work of Dawan and some lovely volunteers, the meal was wonderful - especially the dessert! Yum!

We decided to pose for some pictures with two of our favorite people on the planet . . .

Joseph

and Natalie!

me and my love in our matching black

my big bro was kind enough to make the trip to hear us sing!

Once dinner was over, the show began.

Joseph and Dawan played host and hostess.


We had lots of great performances.

One of my favorite was from this man who we met the week before. He decided to do an impromptu performance, and it was wonderful.


Next, Miles and Ashlyn's friend Shelby dazzled us with a tabletop tap performance . . .


. . . accompanied by Ashlyn on the kazoo. I'm pretty sure she played "The Pink Panther Theme" and "The Final Countdown" by Europe. Loved it!


After the tapping, we were honored by a dance number set to 'NSYNC's "I Want You Back", choreographed by Emilee Davis.

I originally thought that Joseph was wearing underwear on his head, but when I asked him on Sunday, I was quickly corrected - it was a t-shirt sleeve.

Daniel and Emilee had a great time.

After our look back at 1999, Justin gave us a little John Mayer to enjoy.


Then it was our turn. I was a little nervous. I do not normally sing in front of more than maybe a couple of friends or my family. We performed "Anyone Else But You" from Juno. I'm not sure why i'm clasping my hands. It kind of looks like praying. I think it was the nervousness. Despite my qualms, it turned out to be lots of fun! Thanks Mom, the guitar sounded wonderful!




The next act was by far the best of the night. Joseph decided early on that he wanted to perform a number with a band. He made it very clear that only high-quality musicians would be considered. He ended up with a great band. Joseph called the band "Tickle Me Emo" - there is a wonderful story behind the name, oh how I love Joseph!
Miles played the drums. Brice played bass guitar, a guy Joseph met in the library played lead guitar and Joseph, of course took vocals. They performed "Creep" by Radiohead. It was really, really good.
I think if there had been a prize, they definitely would have taken it!

Joseph in his "emo" duds

The last performance of the night was by our dear friend Josh. He decided to serenade his Natalie with a twang-tastic performance of "I'm Gonna Love You Forever". He went above and beyond with his costume.

Once the show was over, Justin was kind enough to share his skills with David and Josh. I think they're hooked.


We all pitched in to clean up and take down the decorations and then headed home. Josh, Natalie and Dawan came back to our place.

I don't really have a good explanation for the next set of pictures. It was late, Dawan brought Easter candy.

The end. Great day!

Anyone Else But You

David and I had a Juno moment this past weekend. And by "moment" I do not mean that he knocked me up, but rather that we sang the song at the end of the movie, "Anyone Else But You" by the Moldy Peaches, at our church's talent show, aka AUB Fest '09.
Our good friend Joseph announced the show a month or so back, and David and I decided we should do something. Well, actually I decided we should do something and David decided that as long as I was going to sign us up for this, he would take the opportunity to learn the guitar.
We knew right away that we wanted to do the Juno song, because it's fun and you don't have to have a great singing voice for it to sound good.
This was a big deal for me. I have never sung in front of more than a couple of friends. This was in front of about thirty people or more!
David played the guitar and we both sang. It was lots of fun! I think if he gets really good at the guitar, we just may form our own little band.
p.s. there will be pictures to follow

Yum

I hosted a How-To Cook with Herbs Enrichment at my place last night and it was lots of fun! I don't know how we did it, but we somehow managed to squeeze 11 girls into my tiny kitchen for the cooking demo. I made a quiche with thyme and it was so delicious; I thought I would share the recipe here!


Yellow Squash and Mozzarella Quiche with Thyme

Ingredients:

1 frozen pie shell

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 yellow squash
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

2 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream (David and I usually use 2% milk for a healthier version)
1 dash salt
1 dash pepper

Preparation:

Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add squash and thyme. Sauté until squash is just tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Whisk eggs, cream, salt, pepper, and hot sauce in bowl. Arrange squash over bottom of pie shell. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Pour egg mixture into shell, filling completely (some egg mixture may be left over).

Bake quiche until filling is golden and set in center, about 30-35 minutes. Transfer quiche to rack; cool 15 minutes.

*The original recipe is from Epicurious, but I made several modifications (like store-bought crust) to make the recipe simpler.

David and I love quiche, and this is probably the best one I've ever made.
The combination of squash and thyme always makes me think of spring and summer.
This was yum!