Jack-O-Lantern Time

Tonight my dear husband and I carved pumpkins. We had an exciting day of shopping, looking at Christmas items at Home Depot and Lowes, looking at paint for our bedroom and bathroom, and walking through the aisles of BJ's. This is my first year of celebrating Halloween with carved pumpkins and handing out candy, so I am pretty excited.

We took the 2 pumpkins out to the back deck and started carving away. He sawed the top off and skimmed the inside, I helped take out the stringy stuff and seeds. The dogs were fairly well behaved until we started scooping the pumpkins. Harry was so excited that his teeth were chattering and he was grunting. Although I have seen this on little dogs, it is hilarious to see it on a large dog, he is just so dog-gone CUTE!

The transfer of the patterns to the pumpkins took a while and then we started carving. I wanted to scrape the dog paw design so my carving took a little longer than his, even though his (a Golden Retriever) was more intricate. It was so much fun just carving the pumpkins, watching the dogs race around the back yard, listening to the Rat Pack (we don't have a Halloween CD yet). We finished around 8:30ish, took the pumkins to the front, put candles in them, and left for dinner at Chili's.

After a great meal we headed back home. The pumpkins look great but my dog paws will need to be cut out instead of having a window pane effect. When we first put them out front it could not be readily seen from the road and when we got back the candle was not lit. It was a good idea but not for the paw print pattern.

Meet the Cousins, and another brother

Today we went to church together then headed down to Phipps Plaza to go to a restaurant called Twists. It was definately a 'happening' restaurant with the younger set. We met one of my brothers, whom my date had previously met and had dinner with before, my cousin and her husband, whom he met at a race day, and my other brother whom he had only seen from a distance. We all ate lunch together (except the brother previously seen from a distance) and had dessert, when the other brother finally met us.

After lunch we toured Phipps Plaza, stopping in Tiffany's (of course), Teavana, and stopping to chat at one of the courtyard tables. Then the cousins, my date, and myself went to Lenox Square. We went through Anthropologie (of course), the Apple Store, Starbucks, Banana Republic, and back home again. It was a wonderful day.

After driving back from the mall we went to Chili's for dinner. It was late when I got home, parents treated me like a 16-year-old, but who cares? I had a wonderful day!!

Chili's anyone?

Sunday was a great day, we went to church, listened to Andy Stanley talk about our direction in life and the difference between what we want and the path we are travelling. After the service we went out with our friends to Sweet Tomatoes, talked about dogs, cults, religion, and soon-to-be-born puppies.

I went home to work on my essay for History 1111, and submit it before Monday's deadline.

Sunday night my boyfriend, his co-worker / friend, and I went out for dinner at Chili's. They had been working on switching a motorcycle chain all afternoon and were ready for a break. I believe we all were famished because we had a double portion of chips, salsa and cheese dip. And we finished our burgers as well!

After Chili's we watched Bringing Up Baby and called it a night. A calm, simple, but delightful day with a great guy and friends.

Vroom Vroom

Sunday we both were as excited as kids the day before Christmas. My boyfriend had planned on a drive over Fort Mountain on his motorcycle. Brad, Chuck, Chuck Sr., Susan, and Eric went with us. Only Chuck and my boyfriend had a piggyback rider, the others rode solo. It was a great day for a ride, clear skies, slight breeze, beautiful scenery, and great company. First stop was Waleska, then on to Goshen for our first 'group stop'. Everyone was ok with the pace we were setting, so off we went again. Next stop was Dahlonega for lunch at the Dahlonega Brewery. I thought that it would be different than what it was. It was decorated in Italian frescos. Somehow that was the furthest from my mind. I don't really know what I was expecting, but it wasn't Italian Fresco. After a friendly lunch with good conversation and comments on chick flicks and the music over the speakers (they were from different chick flicks, hence the conversation), we were off again. But not before everyone stopped to look an a nicely restored red vintage car. Ok, so I don't know what it was, but it looked very nice. Then we stopped in Ellijay so the guys could try each other's bikes out. Ok, so girls assist with makeup and clothes, guys swap bikes and cars. Go figure. I do believe it is a guy thing. But they had fun - all grins when we saw them next. Susan and I went into 3 antique shops. Funny thing, we didn't purchase any antiques, only giftware items. But they were small enough to fit into the bikes. Next stop was Fort Mountain at a lookout spot. We took our group photo here. The scenery was beautiful, we got some swooshing in, a couple of low turns (the bike was leaning kinda low), and curves in the road that added fun to the ride. Next stop was Waleska. By this time I was having a difficult time getting off the bike. I just am not accustom to an 8-hour ride. Thankfully we stopped for about 30 minutes to cool down, rest, and stretch our legs. Then home again, 9 hours later. **Whew** I was tired . . . and sore . . . and thirsty . . . and tired. . .

After my boyfriend let the dogs out to exercise and put them back up, we both went to Chili's for dinner. It was somewhat funny because when our waiter brought our chips and salsa, the chips left a trail from about 2 tables away all the way to our table. A few minutes later the menus made it to the floor. Then more chips made it to the table. Luckily the fajitas stayed on the table. We both agreed that it was the table's fault and not our own. Was it possessed? Quite possibly. After our Molten Lava Cake we decided it would be best to head on home and call it a day. I dropped off my boyfriend and headed on to my house. What a day. What larks! What fun!

Wonderful Weekend, well sorta

This weekend started out to be wonderful, then ended up somewhat disastrous, but urging me to do what I have needed to do for quite some time.

Saturday we went to a little French Bistro and had a wonderful dinner. A few doors down was a pet clinic 'Paws and Claws' and beside it was 'Good Mews' a humane cat shelter. It was quite interesting - there were no cages (ok, a couple of quarantine rooms), tons of cat condos, a couple of huge litter boxes, and cats, tons of cats, fat cats, skinny cats, you name it cats. Even a manx cat! A couple had on collars, the rest were snoozing. Except the two black cats who were racing back and forth and playing with each other.

After a delicious dinner we headed to the movie theater. We saw Wild Hogs. I haven't laughed so much since I saw Little Miss Sunshine. This is a 'must see' movie!!

Sunday I met my boyfriend at his house. He was supervising a grooming session for Belle, Bogey's mom was grooming. Also his friend from work was there, we all went to Chili's for dinner. It was a lazy dinner, we talked and ate and ate and talked and gave the waiter a hard time about needing refills for our drinks. The common phrase "A good time was had by all" could be applied to this evening.

I hitched a ride with Bogey's mom, left my car at my boyfriend's house. The cold reception when I got home and the implication that I was partaking in an unapproved activity was a final straw. It is not necessary to chaperon someone over the age of 20 when they go on a date. It is not necessary to belittle them or to insult them by thinking that they would be someone who would run wild once on their own. Needless to say, today I am going apartment hunting, by the end of the month, hopefully, I will have my own place. Now if I can only get the pay raise that I need .....