FALL

I think it is officially Fall here in Athens, GA. The weather has cooled off dramatically at night and the days are not getting too hot. It is wonderful!!

With October right around the corner I just wanted to give a shout out to all of my friends celebrating Anniversaries this month and next. Happy Anniversary to Michelle & Kelly, Kristen & Chad, and Adam & Amanda! Congrats!!

Spider?

We have a lot of spiders that hang out around the outside of our house (maybe we should use some bug spray) and yesterday I found a very strange looking thing in a spider web. After doing a little research I discovered that this weird looking thing is actually a Spiny Orb Weaver Spider. Check out this picture for a better view. I didn't want to get too close. Anyways...I didn't find anything on the spider that said it was poisonous so I am going to leave it alone even though it is a little creepy looking. Eventually it will find a new home.

4 Years

Well, today is my four year wedding anniversary with Eric. Unfortunately....he has the flu. Wah wah wah... This means that our plans to spend the weekend in Asheville, NC at a B&B have been put off for another month. I have to say it kind of stinks that I cant give my husband a kiss let alone a hug on our anniversary in fear of getting the flu myself. He has been sick for 5 days and I have managed to not get sick so I am not going to risk anything! So in October, I will be writing a post about our stay in Asheville and not posting about it on Monday (Yes I am throwing myself a pity party).

Back to the Anniversary....The last 4 years have been great and I love Eric just as much now (if not more) as I did when we got married. Since our last anniversary our lives have seemed to have gotten busier with school, church, and just doing more with our extra time but we still take time for our relationship. This is the reason we take a weekend every year to celebrate our marriage. I think it is important to take time out to recognize what you have and get away from the things that can distract you from it. Hopefully we can still spend some quality time together this weekend (with out getting too close) and I definitely look forward to our time in October that we will spend in Asheville.

Here are some pictures from over the years....

Amish Friendship Bread Results

Well, if you were wondering....I finally made my Friendship Bread (my first attempt failed because I didn't have all the ingredients I needed) and I think it turned out very good! It is more like a coffee cake than bread but it is still yummy. I think it will be good for breakfast tomorrow when I am in a hurry to run out the door. I have two starters left if anyone is interested! The stuff would be ready by next Friday. Let me know!

Cat Pee

How can this adorable little kitty cause so much trouble?? It is possible...our male cat (Heidegger) keeps peeing all over our furniture. First the couch in the basement now our good couch upstairs. No matter how many times I clean it he keeps on peeing. Our female cat (Rainy) has no problem going in the litter box...why cant her brother follow her example?? It is driving us insane!! How do we keep this little creature from peeing all over the house? Our first step, effective tomorrow, will be to lock him in the basement while we are not home. Then, sometime this week, I will be bringing him to the Vet to see if there is anything else we can do. He might just become an outdoors cat yet.

Things I am looking forward to...

1. Weekend away with my Hubby to Asheville, NC for our 4th Anniversary!
2. 1st Session classes are almost over (3 classes left!)
3. Watching UGA Football every weekend
4. Having Thursday nights free for 2nd Session classes
5. Getting my first check from my new job
6. Fall weather! Is it too early for me to start decorating?
7. Turkey!!!

Lightroom

For some time now I have been wanting to get some form of photo shop to edit my pictures. Some friends recommended Lightroom so I checked it out online. Turns out you can sign up for a 30 day free trial....so I am giving it a shot. I have NO IDEA how to use this so I am just playing around. It seems a lot harder than I know it is but here are some pictures I have edited....
Before

After


Before

After


What do you think?? I think I am going to need a lot of practice on this!!

Friday!!

OK, so I just had to post how happy I am it is Friday! Woot woot! The reasons it is a good day:
1. No more work at St. Mary's until Monday = no stress until Monday
2. This crappy week is over (ran out of gas on Wed, migraine on Thurs)
3. Dinner with friends tonight
4. Tomorrow I am going to the Farmers Market
5. Tomorrow is UGA vs South Carolina Football....Go Dawgs!!
6. The weather has been great, not too hot!
7. I have minimal homework = relaxing weekend!!

Happy Friday everyone!!

Amish Friendship Bread

On Sunday a friend from church shared with me a "starter" for Amish Friendship Bread. Amish Friendship bread is basically white bread that you can make every ten days from this weird yeast mixture that you store in a plastic baggie, feed it, and split it up and share with your friends. The first six days all you have to do is mush it every day...which basically means to squish the bag so the contents are stirred up. On the 6th day you add Milk, flour, and sugar to it. Then on the 10th day you add some more stuff, make 3 separate bags to share with friends, add more stuff to your own, and bake it. Seems easy right? I am on the 4th day so I will keep you updated on my progress. Until day 10 comes....anyone interested in a starter for Amish Friendship Bread???

Food

On Friday Eric and I went and saw the new documentary Food, Inc. This movie talks about the food industry and how it has changed within the last 50 years. Did you know it takes 78 gallons of oil to bring one cow to slaughter? Did you know that in 2008 the FDA approved the sale of meet and milk from cloned cows? There are a lot of interesting things this movie discusses from factory farming, genetic engineering, pesticides, farm worker protection, diabetes/obesity, and Kevin's Law. The movie has informed Eric and I on a lot of things that need to change in our lives. One, we need to make better choices in the grocery store. We need to know what is in our food. We also want to buy locally if at all possible. When I went to the grocery store yesterday I tried my hardest to buy organic foods and foods that were healthy for us. I think I did pretty good but not everything I needed had an organic counterpart. Here are a few new things we are trying....

Letting the cat out of the bag....

...or more like out of the house. Eric and I have slowly started letting our cats out of the house. We think they enjoy being outside and it might help them behave a little better when they are inside. They are only allowed to be on the deck while we are outside. I think the enjoy it a lot! They know their boundaries and that we will make them go back inside if they cross them. We aren't planning on letting them go farther out or go out unsupervised...but I guess we will see!

Deer Me

Lately the deer around our neighborhood have been out in full force. I think we have a couple bucks, doe, and at least 4 fawns. The are super cute and not very afraid of us. I am pretty sure here in Athens, GA the have no predators and the only thing they have to worry about are cars. They are fun to watch....especially the fawns because they like to play. Here is a picture I snagged of a doe and her two fawns crossing our yard.

So much to talk about!

I have been a slacker at blogging lately. Sorry! I started school about 3 weeks ago and just cant keep up. I have finally found another part-time job. It is a Graduate Assistant position at the School I am attending for my MBA. I think I will be starting in 2 weeks so I am very excited!

The weather here has been making me ache for Fall. I LOVE Fall and the cool crisp weather it brings. The only reason I dont like Fall is because of all the leaves we have to rake up (see old posts 1, 2, and I am pretty sure there was a 3rd time I didn't blog about). Over all though it is my favorite season! Plus it is also Football season!! GO DAWGS! Unfortunately we didn't get student tickets this year but I am sure we will be able to buy some for a few games.


We are also planning a trip back to Costa Rica for March! When we flew out to Oregon Delta had to change our return flights around and they gave us two $400 vouchers to use in the next year. So we decided we wanted to go back to Costa Rica! We had a great time there on our honeymoon and now we will be able to explore more of the beautiful country!


Other than school, work, football and future vacations we don't have a whole lot new going on here. I promise to post more soon!