I think that dress is too small

I also think that it is probably meant to be worn with some sort of legging or pant. This woman was in front of us at the grocery store last night and I couldn't believe she was wearing this. Her entire bra is showing in the back. Her dress (t-shirt?) was also white. I'm also pretty sure she was not wearing any underwear, because if she was I would have been able to see it through the all the tightness and all the whiteness, which is all a bit risky considering how short it was. 

Also, green bean lady is in the background. She was the checker-outer last night. 

I never thought I could be so excited over storage

We remodeled the kitchen about a year ago. After we did it, we realized that we could fit in a horizontal cabinet over the refrigerator on the slanted wall. We finally bought and installed the extra cabinet on Monday. We think it makes the kitchen look more finished. We were able to put all of our wine, margarita, and beer glasses up there since we don't use those as often. Yay for more storage!

They Look A Little Bit Alike

This past Saturday, Ben and I had lunch with Grandma Green, Grandma and Grandpa Hudgins, and Mattie at the Varsity. Katherine and Will were out of town at a wedding, so they weren't there. From what I understand, several people think Mattie looks like Ben. The first picture is of Ben and me with Mattie. I thought it was cute even though Ben's eyes are closed. 

Don't they look alike in the face?

Later Saturday night, I agreed to help out a friend of a friend with a new baby. They live on the 32nd floor of the Four Seasons over on 14th street. I went over there for a few hours to watch their 4 month baby. She slept the whole time, I read a book, and at the end I got $40! This is the view from their balcony, looking south back toward midtown/downtown. It is kind of blurry because I had to turn the flash off, but couldn't keep the camera steady. They have a corner unit, so this is just one of their views.

Seaside

A few weeks ago we went on a mini vacation to Seaside and I am just now putting up some pictures! We really enjoyed our trip even though it rained or was cloudy the whole time we were there. We stayed in a place there called Inn by the Sea by Vera Bradley. I am not a huge Vera Bradley fan, but apparently this is the first and only place decorated by Barbara Bradley that created Vera Bradley. 

This is the room we stayed in. It is called "Posies." 

Our room was on the second floor of the hotel. This is a picture of the hallway outside our room. 

This is a picture of the Inn from the street. 

Ben took this picture on the beach of some of the beach front houses during a short sunny moment. It looks like it is really nice in this picture, but looking back out over the ocean it was really dark and rainy. 

We decided to rent bikes to ride around and check the entire place out. Once we rented them, I suddenly realized that I had not been on a bike since oh, elementary school. I thought it would be fine because "it's just like riding a bike," except for it is riding a bike, right? The bike was a little large for me because I could barely touch the ground with the edge of my flip flop, but I figured it would be no big deal. I had a lot of trouble riding in a straight line, and ended up kind of riding in a more weave-like fashion. I also had some trouble with turns. And the brakes. (The brakes weren't hand brakes. Instead, you had to push the pedals backwards.) Let's just say I had a few minor crashes, one into a stop sign on a turn, and the other into a parked car when a bug flew on the inside of my sunglasses and distracted me. Thankfully I dropped the bike before it hit the car, so only my body hit the car, and I escaped with only a scrape on my big toe. Following my crash, a lady in a car pulled up, rolled down her window, and asked if I was ok, which was really nice. Oh, and really embarrassing. I think I told I AM FINE! REALLY! like five times and she still just kept sitting there. Oh yeah, when I ran into the parked car (minivan, actually), there was a dad and couple of kids out in the front yard of the house on the other side of the minivan and they got to watch the whole thing. To make it that much worse, I was wearing flip flops and it appeared that the kids were about to go out on bikes and were in the process of putting on shoes, so the dad thought that it was a good time to say "see, that's why you can't wear flip flops." Next time we go here, I think I will stick to walking. 

There was a really cool bookstore there, and it happened to be right in front of the Inn where we stayed. They had a good selection considering it was really small. They had an entire Architecture section, which Ben said was better than what he could find at home. 

This trailor thing sold huge snow cones that were really good. 

We went to this Pizzeria place to eat dinner one night and it was the best food we had while we were there. Actually, the food was really good at all of the places that we ate, but this was my favorite. It had only been open three weeks at that time. The owners went to Italy and got certified in some sort of special pizza technique. Ben and I got broccolini with cheese and white bean something for appetizers and split a prosciutto pizza. It was pretty much the best food I have had a while. We sat at the bar next to this man and woman that were there together (but not together together as far as we could tell). The man was sitting next to me and struck up a conversation with us that ended up being very interesting. He was clearly a very wealthy man, but he was just chatting it up with us. Apparently he lives in Hawaii now, but went to Auburn, and owns a company in the Philippines. He also owns a house in the Highlands that his daughter lives in. He was telling us all about how he was buying up millions of dollars in loans from failing banks. It was all very interesting. Ben and I left and were laughing about thinking "if he only knew where we came from." Also, that we grew up on Hamburger Helper and shopped for clothes at Kmart and Penney's outlet. (Does he even know what Hamburger Helper is?!)

This is the us on the beach the last night we were there. 

More Pictures from Kimberly's Wedding

All the bridesmaids (minus 1) and Kimberly at the rehearsal waiting for instructions. 

Ben and me at the rehearsal dinner. 

Getting hair and makeup done at the salon. (Obviously this is before the makeup!)

A few of the bridesmaids at the salon with Kimberly. 
Kimberly getting ready!

Kimberly's Wedding

A couple of weeks ago we went to my friend Kimberly's wedding in Waycross where she is from. I met her in undergrad and now we are in grad school together. She was one of my bridesmaids and I was one of her bridesmaids. The wedding ceremony was at her church and the reception was a the train depot in downtown Waycross. 

This is a picture of the train depot. 

This is me walking to the train depot for more pictures after the ceremony. My feet were killing me, so I walked barefoot and carried my shoes. 

Ben and me at the reception. 

Me with Kimberly and Kim, my friends from school. 

They had sparklers for when they left, except mine caught on fire something serious. This little flame does not accurately represent how it caught on fire. See the kid in the background? He and his brother were behind me freaking out about it. 

We really enjoyed the wedding. It was my first time being a bridesmaid and I think it went well. I'm glad I finally have a married friend now!

Happy Birthday Mama!

Sunday, May 17th, would have been my Mama's 53rd birthday. A few people from my family met at the cemetery. It was raining, which was kind of nasty. My aunt Sandra made a really pretty new arrangement for the monument. She also brought balloons for us to write on and let go. Here are a few pictures. 

Happy Birthday Mama! I miss you so much. I had a coke icee just for you. 

Conehead

We had Eleanor spayed last Thursday morning after we got back from the beach. We figured she would be a drama queen about it, especially since her middle name is Drama. When we first brought her home she was a little out of it. She had her tail tucked between her legs and her back arched. By Friday, she seemed to be feeling a little better, and by Sunday she was pretty much back to normal. The vet told us to try to keep her from being too active, but Eleanor had different plans. We call her the lean mean fighting machine since she likes to start so many fights with Cleo. Anyway, here she is, Eleanor Drama the lean mean fighting machine weenie with her cone on. 

She gets her stitches out tomorrow evening, so she can get rid of the cone then. Cleo also has to get her yearly vaccinations tomorrow evening. That means I get to take both weenies to the vet tomorrow by myself!

Also, please notice how large Eleanor's cone is compared to her body. When we picked her up, they told us they had to give her a cone for a bigger dog because her nose is so long that the small dog cone would not prevent her from getting to her stitches. After one night, we decided that thing was way too huge, so I went back the next morning and got her the small dog cone. Her nose is a little longer than the cone, but not by much, so she can't really get to her stitches.  

I'm A Rule Follower

I'm a rule follower. I believe rules are made for a reason. It makes me uncomfortable to break the rules. If others around me break the rules, I generally feel the need to inform them that they are breaking the rules, which leads me into this story: 

During my super crazy finals week, we went to the 2 Dave Matthews Band concerts at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheater in Alpharetta. Normally DMB comes through Atlanta later in the summer and they only play 1 show at Lakewood. This year there were 2 shows, so we went to both. We didn't love the Ampitheater in Alpharetta. It is too far away! It is nice and new, but it is also small. The best thing is their parking. You are assigned a lot to park in with your tickets, and they get people in and out quickly. Anyway, I was hoping that they would be a bit more proactive with policing the weed smoking, as it is quite common at DMB concerts. I have a theory that the weed smoking increases the closer you get to the front. 

On the first night, we had seats down in what was called the orchestra section, which was basically the floor sections with seats. We were about halfway back in this section, so pretty close to the front, and we were in the middle of our row. There was a couple sitting to my right, but as the concert started, they moved down a seat for some reason. Anyway, it left a seat between us. As the concert started, two guys and one girl came in on the row in front of us with two other young-middle-aged-ish that were already there. It was clear that these were not there seats, but that some tickets were passed off somehow. One of the guys proceeded to climb over the seats into our row to take the seat next to me. Once he climbed over, he leaned over and yelled into my ear that "IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!" I think that his attempt at explaining why they were sitting in seats, really good seats, that they did not pay for. Meanwhile, I'm thinking that this is ridiculous, if you couldn't/didn't get really good tickets like we did, then go back to your purchased seats, and I DON'T CARE IF IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! This guy was clearly a Mr. Chatty-chat and kept trying to say things, which I could not hear, so I was forced to ignore him.

Mr. Chatty-chat is on the right in this picture. 

The guy in this picture is the one who I believe was passing the tickets to the other people who showed up after the concert started. He looked a lot like Danny from The King of Queens. He also had some of the strangest dance moves I have ever seen. 

Anyway, apparently these middle-agers were super cool so they brought their weed with them. The two guys in front of us passed the joint between them, and proceeded to hack and cough something serious. (I had to ask Ben for the term "joint." I was going to call it a weed cigarette.) Clearly these guys were pros. (Ha!) Then they passed the joint to Mr. Chatty-chat next to me. He squatted down (we were standing) to get him a puff and I was thinking "oh no you did not just smoke weed next to me and subject me to weed smoke in my face when that is not even your darn seat!" Again, I'm a rule follower. I was all agitated by this and started to gripe to Ben that I was not going to take that and planned to do something about it. While he was getting his weed puff, I tapped him on the shoulder with my pointer finger a few times. This is our conversation:

Me: Excuse me, you need to get rid of that or I was going to tell the people that worked there because it was not allowed. 

Chatty: You're going to go tell?

Me: Umm, yeah! It is not allowed and I don't want to smell it!

Ben: (He felt the need to interject apparently.) At least blow it the other way. (Ben doesn't like a confrontation as usual.)

Me: No don't blow it the other way! Get rid of it! It is not allowed and I don't want to smell it!

Chatty: Ok. (He passes it back to the other middle-aged losers in front of us.)

Chatty: I'm sorry. Thank you for telling me that. 

Me: Mm-hmm.

Chatty: Seriously, I don't want to offend anyone. 

Me: Mm-hmm.

Chatty: Again, I'm sorry. 

Then Chatty decided it would be best to leave, so he crawled up into the next row, and then moved up another row so that he could smoke up there. 

These guys were such losers. They were very obviously middle-aged, former frat-boy divorcees that probably had some sort of business job and they just come to the one concert so that can smoke them some weed. Also, based on the smell, they must have bought the weed from some high schooler because it wasn't very strong, but very smokey. (I have learned that the stronger the smell is, the more concentrated and expensive it is, thanks to our weed-happy neighbor down the hall.) 

Also, the lady that I mentioned at the beginning (IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!) was there with her boyfriend and judging by her dancing and yelling, she was definitely drunk. Her boyfriend seemed somewhat embarrassed by her. 

What I'm Reading: The Shack

For some time, I have heard a lot of hype about this book, so I have been interested to read it. Although the story did not sound especially interesting to me, I wanted to check it out to see why everyone thought it was so good. We have had a copy for a while, but I have not had time to read it. Last week when we went on our mini vacation, I brought it with me to read. 

I had some trouble getting into the book. I know that some books are slow to start, but this one has just been slow all the way through so far. I have read about half of the book. I can't figure out what the hype is all about! I think it is an interesting, modern take on God/trinity and how God reveals himself to people, but it is just a little weird. And drawn out. And generally disappointing. I will finish the book because I don't like to not finish something, but I'm not too excited about it!

Have any of you read this book? What did you think about?

Remember saxophone man?

Ben and I went to Taco Mac when we got back from the beach last week and guess who was outside? Saxophone man! Ben got 2 pictures on his phone, so they are not the best quality, but I still thought it was funny. 

I'm having trouble coming up with a title for this, so you can create your own

This is old stuff, but I am behind and wanted to show these pictures. A few weeks ago Ben and I went to the GT spring football game. It was a nice day and it was nice to get outside. We went the same Saturday as the Dogwood Festival. Here is a picture from the game.

After the game, we walked over to the Dogwood Festival. On the walk over, we came across this car parked in one of the street parking spaces on West Peachtree. I'm not sure if someone stole this car, wrecked it, and then left it there, or if someone parked their car there and it was hit. Either way, it isn't looking too good! It sat there for a several days before someone moved it. Oh yeah, it had a bright orange parking sticker on it, too. 

Finally, we went to the Dogwood Festival. It was a quite a disappointment in my opinion. Ben and I do not enjoy crowds too much, and it was extremely crowded. Crowded with lots of people from the suburbs who don't know where the heck they are at. (Sorry to all you suburbanite readers! Maybe you should move in town and I would no longer hold a bias against you.) Anyway, it was way too crowded, and the crafts were generally unimpressive. We did find a guy selling metal things and found a metal weenie dog that I loved, but did not buy due to the $75 price tag. I just took a picture of it instead. Here are some pictures from that. 

I've Been Busy

The past couple of weeks have been busy. Really busy. We have done A LOT in those few weeks. I had finals, an internship meeting, two Dave Matthews Band concerts, a wedding (in Waycross), and a mini-vacation. I have several new blogposts coming. I skipped the American Idol rundown two weeks in a row because I didn't watch them until a couple of days later, so I decided that there was no need to post about it late. 

Eleanor is getting spayed tomorrow, we are going to start our bathroom renovation tomorrow, and I start my internship on Monday. Hopefully I will be able to fit in some blog posts between everything!

Until then, here is a picture of Hannah and Cleo. Hillary kept the weenies while we were gone, so she brought Hannah by with her before we left to get weenie care instructions.