You've Got a Friend in Me, and I've Got One in You <3

This evening, Peter and I went to visit one of my very best friends from my church Youth group when I was in high school.  I had so much fun visiting with her, her hubby, her sweet little boy, and her cute dog!  It was kinda funny.  She and I spoke on the phone this afternoon to arrange the time and everything, and the conversation was kind of stiff.  She texted me after and said she had been distracted because her drink had spilled.  I haven't seen her in a very long time, except for the few moments we visited with her at my wedding reception (she very sweetly missed a family gathering to be there, and I'm so glad!), so I was a little (very slightly) concerned we wouldn't have much to talk about this evening.  How silly of me!  We continued texting for a bit this afternoon, and when Peter and I got there, we talked about anything and everything.  It was so much fun.  We caught up on what we and our husbands were doing; we also talked about how fast her little siblings were growing up (crazy!), about pets, about kids, about school and work, sleeping habits, whatever!  She also showed me her cute jungle nursery, which she had painted herself!  Talking with her made me remember being in youth, going to dances, going to her house, and having her over.  We had so much fun back then!  One crazy thing about life: you don't always realize how much fun you're having during any given period of your life until you look back on it and realize all the fun you had.  We did some reminiscing but intermixed it with talking about our current lives.  I really, really enjoyed talking with her, sharing her and her family with my husband, and sharing him with them.  She texted me after we left and told me how much fun she had had visiting with us, too, and I was glad she had enjoyed it as much as I did.  She is one of those people who has always made me feel loved, and she has touched my life more than I think she knows.  Love you, girl!

New Friends

This summer I've been an intern at CoSaint Insurance, a small, independent insurance agency.  This was our last week, so today they had a party for the three interns.  The interns, our bosses, and guests all went to Strike City for some bowling.  It was really fun to be able to introduce everyone to Peter and visit with everybody in a less formal setting.  The bowling alley was really cool, too.  The bowling area was somewhat darkened, and the alleys were lit and had large televisions at the end.  Employees served us sodas and a little buffet of snack foods: a vegetable tray, chips and salsa, buffalo wings, and these little chicken kabobs in some sort of peanut sauce.  It was all very good.  The employees also entered our names into the score keepers for us; it was very nice.  There was some variation in the amount of skill present in our game.  Some of us were very skilled, and other of us......were less skilled (I was one of the not so skilled, and Peter was more in the upper range lol).  However, I think all of us enjoyed it, whatever skills we had.

Thanks so much to CoSaint Insurance for letting me be a part of your team this summer.  I learned a lot about what it takes to build a business and what role technology plays in that.  I also learned more about myself.  Thank you for being kind and helping me learn.  Good luck, and keep in touch!

A Weekend in Georgia

This weekend, my parents took Peter and me to Georgia.  We had decided to have a little mini vacation while it was just the four of us around.  We drove down to my Grandmother's house Friday afternoon, and spent the evening visiting with my grandparents.  Peter and I were glad we got to see them again before we go back to school in just a few short weeks (this summer has seriously flown past for me).  Saturday, after we went for a nice long walk with the dogs, PawPaw brought us Krispee Kreme donuts, and Bambutter made maple link sausage.  Yum yum!  (and so nutritious! :-P)

Next, Mom, Dad and I went to Target, where we bought Peter some back to school shirts and some new shoes.  He had been looking at these red shoes at Target for months, and since the shoes he had planned on wearing that day had gotten wet on our walk, I decided to go ahead and get these for him.  This seemed like a great idea...until he wore them without socks and got blisters!  Poor Peter :(

We chilled a little longer at Bambutter and PawPaw's, then went to the Mexican restaurant so Dad could get some ceviche.  Then we headed down to Stone Mountain!

We arrived with great plans to do all the available activities and have an exciting afternoon...unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate.  The only thing Mom really wanted to do was the SkyRide, so we headed there first.  We got there and discovered that it was closed due to storms in the area!  Well, Peter and I had planned on doing a few activities we knew Mom couldn't do, anyway, so we headed to our first choice: the Sky Hike.  However, we quickly discovered it was also closed due to the weather.  

By this time, Mom and Dad had gone back out to the car to get our blanket, so we picked out our seat to view the laser show, and Mom and Dad decided to hold the fort, while Peter and I went to see what was open.

We headed over to "Butterfly Adventures!" where they let you feed and hold any of the butterflies contained in their butterfly room.  The line was somewhat long because this was one of the few attractions still up and running, but it wasn't too bad.  I was wearing my Superman t-shirt, and the Park Worker who explained the rules to our group kept calling me Clark Kent.  He also asked Peter where his batman shirt was--this was doubly funny because I had considered buying Peter a superman or batman shirt at Target that morning (so we could match lol) and decided not to. 

We were given butterfly feeders (which we were assured were not q-tips, but were, in-fact, official butterfly feeders lol) and set loose on the butterflies.  

The butterflies rather liked Peter; one landed on his head and just chilled there for quite a while, until I tried to pick it up on my butterfly feeder and scared it off.

Apparently, this butterfly approved of Peter's new shoes.

Me attempting to convince a butterfly to climb onto my feeder.

Finally, I'm actually holding one!

Pretty butterfly

 When we first attempted to play mini golf, the weather had it closed down, too.  But it opened again!  We decided to play, even though it was raining a little at this point.  I told Peter, if we hadn't had so much trouble finding open attractions, we probably would have been doing something inside, out of the rain.  But as it was, we were just so glad it was open, we were willing to do it in spite of getting wet!

While playing mini golf, we discovered the other attractions had opened!  We went back to my parents, and Peter volunteered to stay at the blanket so that Mom, Dad, and I could go do the SkyRide, since that was the one thing Mom wanted to do.  We were a little concerned the line would be long since it had just reopened, but we managed to beat the crowd and get right on the lift! 

The view out of the window on the way up the mountain: 

The Atlanta Skyline

Proof that I made it to the top.
We didn't take a picture of anyone else up there...oops.

 It was kind of funny to watch Mom inch her way toward this fence; she didn't make it all the way down to it.

If you look really close, you can see Peter reading on the blanket
at the top of the lawn! ;)

Coming back down (Mom had to close her eyes for part of this lol)

After I got off the lift, Peter and I raced over to do the Sky Hike.  Scariest thing I did that day.  We didn't get any pictures since we had to lock our stuff up and Mom and Dad were both back at the blanket.  You were harnessed in, but you had to make your way across this skinny ropes and boards.  I was a little nervous.  Or a lot nervous.  

Peter, on the other hand, went up and did the highest part of the sky hike.  Not me.  I bailed after doing the middle set.

Peter and I picked up our food (Mom had gotten tickets that included a meal in the park and free refills of coke beverages all day!) then went to chill with my folks while we waited for the laser show to start.  We had picked up some glow sticks for cheap at Target that morning to have for the laser show, so we got our glow on!

Mom and Dad in front of the mountain, waiting for the show.

Peter, me and Mom with our glow sticks in front of the mountain!

Love my sweet hubby!

This carving is actually A LOT bigger than it looks.
Apparently, they once held a dinner party on top of Lee's shoulder.

So, we were a little bummed at the laser show.  We had these high expectations from our previous visit, and they were not met (well, Peter hadn't been before, so I think he enjoyed the show all right).  The biggest problem was the fireworks that went with the show.  The slight breeze we had had all evening from the storms just disappeared, so the smoke from the fireworks stuck around, blocking the lasers.  And about the time the smoke would clear enough to see what was going on, they would shoot off more stinking fireworks!  We couldn't even see the part where the lasers trace the carving, and then make it seem to come alive because of the smoke.  There was a pretty cool effect where they made it look like the mountain crumbled to reveal the feet of the horses on the carving and they moved for a minute.

At one point, while we couldn't see for the smoke, Peter decided
 to make the sign of the Deathly Hallows using our glow sticks.
 Yes, we are HP dorks, thanks for asking :)

Handmade Invitations

So, I was looking for a craft to do with the girl I'm nannying for this summer.  She had been talking about her birthday coming up and the party she was going to have, so we decided to hand-make her invitations!  She said she liked turquoise and gray, and we both liked gray chevron with turquoise accents.  

We headed over to Hobby Lobby and looked through all their scrapbook paper!  We found this cute gray chevron paper, as well as some blue (it's brighter than it looks in the pictures).  We also found some turquoise envelopes, and she loves fleur de lis, so we got some stickers to use to seal the envelopes.

Here is the final product!  I think they turned out really cute.

Celebration!

Last night (which just so happened to be the anniversary of our engagement), Peter and I went to see Despicable Me 2!  It was very cute.  After, we went to the empty Target parking lot and Peter had me practice starting Kira's car, which is a stick shift.  It was somewhat nerve-wracking, but he says I did well.  I felt very cute.  My bangs were kind of greasy looking from the day, so I pulled them back, and my hair had been in a braid all day, so it was wavy.  I wore a black shirt (black is a good color on me), along with the red jewelry my sister made for me.  I also borrowed my mom's red purse.  I felt very put together.  We tried to take a picture in the car.  At first we didn't think the speech commands were working because I had turned down the volume and the flash was off, so we had several pictures like the one below.

Then I turned the flash on.

The outfit

Peter strikes a pose

Today is Independence Day!  We went to the Ward Breakfast this morning and had a very good visit with a couple of the members.  We relaxed most of the day.  For lunch/dinner (it happened at about 4pm) I (yes, me!  Mostly by myself.  Peter peeled the potatoes, and Dad peeled the eggs) made bbq roast, potato salad, and baked beans.  I also made homemade ice cream, which Dad froze for us.

My dessert was red, white, and blue!  

Happy 4th of July!!!