Ready, set, CAMP!!

Last Saturday our heroine was sitting on the couch in a funk. Her lovely Sam tried all the usual fixes--the coffee house and the library were visited with no success. She would not be comforted. A grumpy morning turned into a grumpy afternoon, and the grump was spreading!! It is probably hard for you all to imagine that I can be moody (even I can't keep a straight face as I type that one) but occasionally, this sunny disposition just crumbles into something quite brooding and mysterious (not in a good way). Well, last Saturday when I looked at my Sam and saw that my cranky bad behavior was starting to be infectious, I knew we had to do something. Thinking about what would just completely shock and delight him, I suggested it was time that we go...

To Bavarian Euro-Disney? What?

German mini golfing, you say? No, crazy kids, despite what these pictures might indicate we went camping!!

Deep in the heart of Northeastern Georgia lies a Bavarian Village that time forgot, only a few thousand tourists a day visit it. And right outside Helen, GA (which I totally love, I freely admit it) is the Unicoi State Park where Sam and I reserved a place to tent camp at 2:00 on the day of our adventure. Seriously, we were THAT spontaneous! We didn't even own a tent when we concocted this scheme. We still think we are pretty charming and awesome for accomplishing this daring plot. Well, after we got in the truck, we got stuck in a Bavarian traffic jam and the fun really began!

I bet you can guess who thought to stick a finger in the general area of my nose as if it were mine:

The slow moving cars gave us plenty of time to chillax and think about how cool our new tent looked in the back of the truck. One of the first things we did after locating our campsite was to take a little walk around the lake loop. It was gorgeous!

Now in the back of your mind, you are probably thinking (weather channel addict that you are!) wasn't it like 105 degrees with 95% humidity last weekend in Georgia? You are right, it was. But you know, honestly, it didn't bother me a bit!

How could I be bothered by a little humidity when I was having an adventure? The night was gorgeous, despite what it did to tweak my lazy eye and flashlight holding capabilities.

And truly, we were having the time of our lives. :)

Believe it or not friends, I have been accepted as a volunteer and can't be late. There are more adventures to come, so stay tuned tomorrow when we see some incredible photographic artistry...

The New (to us) Blue Wonder

For awhile now, Sam has been between vehicles. He sold his old car a while ago and has been borrowing one of his parents' while waiting for the car that would give him that "married and can haul furniture around" look. At first, he considered something like this:

I was impressed that it matched Sam's ice cream perfectly, but Sam said that wasn't a good enough reason to get it.

Last week in a very exciting turn events, the truck we have been waiting and hoping for decided to find us. Here is my very happy husband in the act of the purchase (we had to take this picture really quickly so the seller wouldn't turn around and see how geeky we are).

Yay! So far the only problem we've had with the truck is that I like driving it just as much, if not more than Sam. Last week I went to see Salt with Angelina Jolie and for a couple of days I had a movie hangover in which I thought I was a spy and needed a Ford Ranger for undercover missions and improbable escapes.

Well, just as surely as this Ford Ranger joined our team, we had to go to a government building. Lately I've been spending a lot of time at government buildings. Whether it is waiting at the DMV for two hours to get my license with my new name, or the social security administration for the same purpose, there is hardly anything I love more than hanging with other people who have also been waiting for two hours to get a little piece of paper that will keep them civilized. There's a certain kinship that exists between the paperwork dispossessed, their legitimacy about to expire on uncomfortable plastic chairs, straining their ears to hear their magic number and get their turn. Since I married my Sam, my life has taken a big turn in the direction of courthouses and official offices. He often has to go to distant counties to do lawyerly things, and since I'm still waiting for my volunteer or (dare we think it!) employment ship to come in I can still make room in my schedule to tag along.

I'll be honest, after the DMV experience I wasn't sure I would enjoy the car registering process. You can imagine my surprise when I learned I was to wait in this, the paradise of government buildings!

Um, can you see the silver BIRDS flying around magically from the ceiling? We've come a long way from flickering florescent lighting, baby! As soon as I saw this haven of office buildings I planted it and decided Sam could take all the time he needed. Here I am with my 700 page book (I'm a reader like that).

You can see the finger incident is not behind us yet. It may be a while, but I suffer in silence... I was so enjoying this place that I was almost surprised when this handsome guy came up to me (check out that beard-ooh la la!):

He asked me out to lunch in downtown Atlanta and I said yes. After a little parking stop, we were off!

Sam is so proud of this picture to add to our Bad Faces At The Table (BFATT) Collection.

This burger was actually wonderful, but because I am a well trained undercover agent in another life, I can make it look like I am about to throw up.

Field Trip: Amicalola Falls

Well friends, lately we've been having a more interior tour of my surroundings and today we need to rise up off our hind ends and get out of the house! All you ever hear about Georgia in the summer is how hot and humid it is. Am I going to try to deny this? No, that would be like trying to deny the elephant sitting on your head. What doesn't get as much airtime is how breathtakingly beautiful and green it is.

I give you the Amicalola Falls Trail! This beautiful hike is the gateway to the Appalachian Trail. The southern most part of the AT (as official hikers like to call it) ends just seven miles from Amicalola Falls. To make this hike in the summer we got up early and drove to the trail head. As you can see, the falls were lovely the whole way. The first climb is something like 175 steps to get to the observation deck where you see the top of the falls.

At the observation deck you can watch the falls below your feet,

and their continued course down the mountain:

At this point some people would think that they had made it, and that was faster than they thought it would be. And maybe they could go get a coffee now. Oh poor people! Nope, there are 602 steps total before you can really say you've been to Amicalola Falls.

You may have noticed that our heroine has been spotted at the dinner table a lot lately. Dining out, cooking in, eating pudding during difficult artistic moments. Alas! Is it any wonder then, that she wore this expression when facing a climb of 602 steps?

And yet! Did she hesitate? (kind of) Did she think about going back to the car? (maybe) Did she do it anyway!?! YES! Meanwhile, Sam couldn't wait to get started.

So did they make it to the top?

Was there ever any doubt!

Sam looks like he pretty much conquered this valley twice. This is the view from just beyond the rail where Sam's elbow rests so powerfully:

For the safety and welfare of my self and others, I spent my up the stairs energy focused solely on the task at hand. I used the return trip to document a portion of the stairs:

Sam took a break to change shirts (that darn humidity!), but none of you are allowed to look...

Some of you may wonder if my husband willingly takes crazy pictures of himself or if I somehow coerce him. I give you exhibit A: the pictures Sam takes when his wife is collapsed on the picnic table after 602 steps up and back again...

I think he is working on our album cover. Personally, I think I may look a little too edgy for our sound, but Sam pretty much nailed it.

The Bedroom and the Flying Biscuit

I know that I disappointed many of you yesterday by the lack of post. Dear friends, I so wanted to write for you, but there was an accident. You may not realize that I still keep it real and do my own dishes. Well, yesterday a finger was injured in the line of duty. I don't want to go into the details (I may end up raising awareness for issues like this later) so suffice it to say, I was unable to continue on. I was forced to retire to the couch where I comforted the aforementioned finger by letting it watch t.v. online. If you see any typos, take it easy on the little guy.

Today I have planned a sort of mixed tape approach to blogging. We are continuing our tour of the house, and then, since Sam finished off the turkey chili at last, we get to go out to eat at one of my favorite places in Atlanta: The Flying Biscuit!!

So first things first. My concept for the bedroom was a restful circus. I wanted all the colors, the pageantry, the dazzle--without being too over the big top. Let me tell you, the real tight rope walk was trying to balance between pomp and peace when there were so many colors I wanted to include. In the end, I chose a sky blue wall to ground the space and add that shot of relaxation that every bedroom needs.

Sam sometimes gets stressed out that we don't have enough pillows on the bed, so I'm thinking about adding a few more. At night he gets so worried I'm not going to have enough that he stacks them all on my side.

We have a little patio out back where I'm successfully growing a huge pot of basil at the moment. Oh the luxury!

I know it's cliche, but I felt like I had to join the crowd and get a rug and slippers shot in.

I call this dresser-scape Cirque de Silver.

What's this?! I'm giving you a little peek into the kitchen, where our tour will next take us. No, your eyes do not deceive you, those are my speakers from the dump and that is a buttercream kitchen aid and the inanimate-object-love-of-my-life!

Now, with practically no transition whatever--Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages, turn to the center ring where I give you:

The food. The food here is just so darn good. How could it not be when there are biscuits with angel wings painted on the ceiling? I am shamelessly using the goodness of places like this restaurant to promote my Come See Me in Atlanta Campaign. Seriously. Come see me.

For lunch, Sam chose the bbq chicken wrap with collard greens. Now, I know the Idahoans out there may be suspicious, but it was delicious. Just look at Sam's face after he tasted it. He was positively giddy!

Before After

This is my cheddar bacon turkey burger. Sam is still sad that he didn't get to eat any of the bacon.

It rocked.

Health Care

As most of you probably know, I lead a non-profit life. Not only (as my mom and Sam like to joke) do I never make much profit, but I also love a good cause. Today I want to focus on a very important issue: health care. Did you know that when cows are not given appropriate preventative treatments for intestinal worms the end result can be diarrhea, malnutrition, and poor growth?!? (I can see my farmer and rancher family members nodding their heads and saying that, yes, they did in fact know that already). Well, when I heard about this problem, I knew I had to get involved! (Also, when Sam's family asked us to come help and Sam said yes that was another moment when I knew I would be involved.) This is a picture of Sam, right after he heard about parasites and malnutrition:

I have to tell you, worms break his heart. And this is me, ready to kick those intestinal worms where it counts:

In order to stamp out parasites before they start you just put on some gloves, guess how much the cow weighs (to me they all looked to be about 550 lbs, but Sam's brother said that actually isn't the case), and then squirt this blue stuff on their back and neck.

This job is much harder than it sounds. I begged Sam to let me hold the cows' heads, but he said he hadn't eaten as much biscuits and gravy as me for breakfast and he wasn't sure if he would have the strength to pour the medicine.

This is Sam's dad giving the cow a shot. I know it is for some good purpose, but I'm not sure what that purpose is.

Look at him smiling. That head holding job is a piece of cake.

Most of the cows were pretty cooperative (pictured here, they look like aliens because I couldn't figure out how to use the red eye fixer on my new computer). However, there was one rascal that would not budge down the chute.

Sam's Mom tried to give him a little nudge, they tried to give him a food trail, they sweet talked him, they gave him a offer he couldn't refuse, but nothing would do. Some people do not want to be helped. During this time, Sam and I had to stay out of the way so he wouldn't see us at the end of the chute and get suspicious. I used that opportunity to take some shots of the farm:

Of Sam's caught-in-a-spider-web mime skills:

Of Sam walking into the barn:

And me attempting a carefree swing on the gate. You can't win 'em all...

At the end of the day, I'm very sad to report that one cow may indeed end up with 3/4 of the disease that the shot was for, because he mostly got away from us. Even though the day was very successful, Sam and I will always ask ourselves if there was more we could have done...