Happy Memorial Day weekend! Tim and I headed down to Savannah to celebrate Memorial Day, 2 wedding anniversaries, my birthday, and our nephew Joey's birthday (which is actually in June, but nobody's counting).
The Birthday Boy
Mr. Joey-bag-of-doughnuts (Mr. Bags) got lots of wonderful gifts including the musket he is holding proudly in the picture. We took him outside to have him practice shooting...just kidding...have you seen the size of the musket compared to the kid? Oh, that, and he doesn't have fine motor skills yet.
Prior to this weekend, my sister-in-law Penny, charged me with the task of coming up with a cake idea for Mr. Bags. It had to be doughnut themed. We came up with several ideas but nothing seemed to strike our fancy. After a brainstorming session with my coworkers, several hours of work (during which Ava watched me the whole time), one low blood sugar melt down, and lots of frosting, this was the result...
Bag-of-Doughnuts Krispy Kreme cake for Mr. Joey-Bag-of-Doughnuts
This weekend we went hiking again at Red Top Mountain where we previously went camping with my sister and her family, and unsuccessfully did their orienteering course (we ran out of time looking for a control post we swear had been removed or knocked down or something). So we headed back to Red Top Mountain to conquer the orienteering course that had conquered us. We decided to make it even more fun by doing the course backwards. We were very successful although we did have a little help. A couple of control posts were easy to find because as we hiked around the mountain and would come over a hill, we would spot a cluster of the national guard working on the course as well, at which point I told Tim, "So, I'm pretty sure I know where the next control is" :D.
Working the course backward ended up working in our favor. The control posts are set up in such a way that if you are coming at the next control from the correct direction, the post is sideways to you so you can't just look for the post, you actually have to find the spot using the map and compass. Had we not been doing the course backward, I think we would have missed the post again...
See all the craziness around the post?
Tim thinks he walked by the post on the cliff above a few times when we did the course before. But we found it this time!
So we successfully completed the course, ate some Mexican food, and went to a flee market where we observed some crazy people stuff to buy.
Zac Brown Band, Dancing, and Hiking = Ridiculously Awesome Weekend (and very tired people :D )
I'm so...so...tired. But it's the good kind of tired...the kind that comes when you've had way too much fun (is there such a thing?), and it's going to take a very boring week to help you recover from the incredible-ness that was the fun you had.
This weekend, Tim was able to get Zac Brown Band (ZBB) tickets through his work. Let me preface this with, I am not a concert person, don't really like them, I get bored, I never know the songs, and I'm not much of a music person (by this I mean, if we're ever in a life or death situation and I am called up to remember a band name, a singer's name, the name of a song, or lyrics from a song...you're dead). So my response to him asking me if I wanted to go was "sure, as long as it doesn't affect us going to the dance the next day that I've had on the calendar for about a month". So we headed to the concert at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (shameless plug for my husband's company in...3...2...1...Red Clay Interactive developed their website, so check it out...http://www.vzwamp.com/) where I discovered that a lot of my reasons for not liking concerts was fixed by the VZWAMP.
I don't like being crammed into a stuffy building where I have to stand for hours shoulder to shoulder with sweaty people I don't know and where the music is too loud (yes, I know, I'm old). The VZWAMP is outside, the weather was perfect, the trees and sky were gorgeous, I had a seat, and the outside venue allowed for the perfect rockin' music volume (oh yeah, and VIP access allowed access to the good bathrooms). And I was not bored...not for one second. Come to find out, the ZBB plays a lot of the tunes I've been jammin' to on the radio lately (which I didn't realize, see explanation above on how I'm not a music person). Oh yeah, and since this was the first concert I've been to since getting an i-phone, I could look up the lyrics and sing along (I know, I'm a nerd). THE ZBB WAS AWESOME! It's amazing what happens when truly talented musicians play great music for 2 1/2 hours. I had so much fun, I even came home w/ a t-shirt (again, not my thing). So now I'm a converted ZBB-t-shirt-wearing-fan, who had the guts to ask one of the band members for a photo...(see pic below). We didn't get home 'til 2am, but it was totally worth it.
Fuzzy but awesome pic of Brandi and me with John Driskell Hopkins, the bass player of the ZBB
Zac Brown on the big screen...I'm proud he's from GA
T-shirt twins
Us at the concert
So the next night, we headed to Athens to visit my coworker and attend a dance at the Civitan Club (a kind of sketchy building down a kind of sketchy road). We first ate a scrum-diddily-umptious dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant, where we stuffed ourselves silly with yummy yummy sushi that I haven't had since I moved away from Athens last August. This was the kind of stuffing that you're supposed to wait an hour before swimming...but instead we went dancing. We spent the next few hours cutting a rug, ballroom style, at the Civitan Club (funny story about rugs... the Civitan club building has unique decor that includes green plush carpet...not on the floor...but from the top of the 70's style wood paneling up to the ceiling, so if you get tired you can find a nice soft spot on the wall to lean against...but I digress).
One of our friends lives down the less sketchy road by the Civitan club. We drove by his house on a whim and noticed another friend's car in the driveway. By this time it was almost midnight, but we decided to knock on the door anyway. Inside we found a group of our Athen's friends (who we have been dearly missing) hanging out. So we got to hang out with our cool peeps...and then got home around 2am.
The next day we slept in (wouldn't you?), went to church, and went hiking. It was great weather, a great hike, and a great time to catch up with my hubby. We had an amazing weekend...I'm going to sleep now.
And for your listening pleasure...Zac Brown Band singing "Chicken Fried"
