Happy Birthday to Bryan!

Yesterday was Bryan's Birthday!

It was a cool, rainy day here in Atlanta, and since Bryan had to work, we celebrated at home with dinner and cake. And gifts! (Except for two that I hid a month ago and cannot find now...)

For dinner we had pan seared sea scallops with basil pesto, basmati rice medley, and asparagus.

The birthday cake suffered some damage under the weight of the candles used to depict "33". Bryan thought he was only 19 years old, since that's how many candles he counted on top. He made a wish anyway, and blew out all the candles at once.

We ended the night by watching some Monday Night Football and falling asleep on the couch! What? We're getting old? Nonsense!

Weekend off, continued!

On Sunday, we all drove back to Atlanta, stopping first in Marietta, Georgia, to shop at Harry's Farmer's Market. They sell delicious organic home grown produce and fresh foods. We also saw the "Big Chicken."

This landmark structure is famous, and often used when giving directions from one place to another. The beak opens and closes. While Sharon, Russell, Kent, and Debbie went to Costco, Bryan and I went back home. I had to go retrieve Susie from The Park. I was pleased to hear that she had befriended a 14 year old dachsund. They were called "the two old ladies", and had been sleeping together in Susie's bed! Such closeness and warmth resulted in a VERY smelly Susie, so it was right home to the bathtub.

After some wine and cheese from Harry's at our apartment, we went to dinner at Five Season's. We ordered several small "tapas-style" plates, and enjoyed some of their microbrewery beers.

The food was delicious, but like always, we saved room for dessert. Bryan and I shared a flourless chocolate dome cake. This picture was taken less than a minute after the waiter left it on the table! After dinner, Bryan and I returned home, and the rest of the Holcomb's returned to Summerville. The perfect ending to Bryan's weekend off awaited us on the DVR... a glorious Colts victory!

Weekend Ramblings

Bryan had his first day off in 19 days this past Saturday! To celebrate, we had plans to visit his Aunt Sharon, Uncle Russell (his dad's brother), and Mom and Dad in Summerville, GA, and go to Chattanooga, TN for Wine Over Water. Wine Over Water is a premier wine-tasting festival in Chattanooga with proceeds benefiting the Historic Preservation Society. Unfortunately, the weather (torrential downpour) changed our plans. We didn't mind, though... we got to spend the day in fellowship with family and friends (critters!), and Susie got to spend the night at The Park!

Russell and Sharon prepared a delicious vegetarian meal for us. They live tucked away in the hills of Summerville, with Sally (a teddy-bear of a dog), Dottie (a shy calico), Sammy (a slow, bumbling black cat), and Midnight (an elusive, also black, kitty). Oh, and also 10 hens, a rooster "Buddy-Love", and two Guineas (guinea-fowl).

I didn't get any pictures of the animal-friends, aside from the one above, of Sally backed into the corner of the deck, trying to stay out of the rain.

While Debbie (front) and Sharon (rear) toiled in the kitchen, Bryan and his Dad nibbled on cheese and sipped wine.

Russell is good help in the kitchen... and he is excellent with color coordination. (Note the orange ceramic dish on his head.)

Dinner was delicious. Bryan's mom could scarcely control herself, and had seconds!

Topped off with a sip of wine!

After dinner, I walked down to the chicken house with Russell and Sharon to "put the chickens to bed." The hens were all lined up on the roost, cooing contentedly. Buddy had to be moved from his make-shift roost atop the watering can, to the designated roost next to the hens. I loved patting the hens and Buddy on their warm backs, and the sounds they made were so sweet.

During the night, poor Sally had a run-in with a skunk. The smell was so powerful, it woke us up!! (Well, Bryan slept through it...)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to Russell and Sharon for your hospitality! We loved spending the day with you!

3am Emergencies

This picture was taken at 3am.

This happy, tail-thrashing girl woke her mom up at 3am

LIKE IT WAS AN EMERGENCY!

Ooooo Ooooo Ooooo-ing, paws up on the side of the bed, jumping around, and wriggling uncontrollably.

FOR WHAT, You ask?

She needed a drink of water.

Without further delay...

I can't believe we've gone nearly a month without posting... Football season has a way of doing that, I guess. Ha ha! We've definitely been watching our fair share, and more, of college and pro football the past couple of weeks. We are the proud new owners of the NFL channel. We did finally make it to the World of Coke a couple of weekends ago

It was a beautiful day to enjoy the world's greatest beverage

The entryway is filled with decorated coke bottles and other art.

They had some super cool artwork in the gallery.

And some antique memorabilia...

And a timeline of the different soft drinks and their release...

Atlanta's Olympic pin series when they hosted the Olymics. There were literally hundreds of Olympic pins on disply there.

They actually bottle Coke at the World of Coca Cola (who knew?!), so we got to see it being made, and even take a souvenier bottle home with us!

And last but definitely not least... THE TASTING ROOM. Bryan and I tasted nearly all of the 64 different soft drinks Coke offers from around the world. They were divided up roughly by continent (Europe, Latin/South America, Asia, etc.).

Some were tasty, others were not.

And an Italian one, called Beverly, tasted like throw-up. Seriously.

And look closely at the center of the picture above... Simba has a soft drink named after him!

It doesn't look as though soft-drink fame has affected him much.

Here's a closer look. If you look closely beneath, you'll see the drink is from Paraguay.

And here's one last view of the tasting room.

It was a great time... and memories of the Beverly will stay with us for a very very long time!

It's a rough life...

It's a rough life.

The alarm goes off so early in the morning.

What does a girl have to do to get breakfast in bed around here?!

Happy Anniversary to us... and Sunday morning Blueberry Pancakes

Bryan and I celebrated 2 years of dating on August 17th! Our first date was coffee and conversation at Starbuck's. We celebrated with dinner at home and watching one of our favorite shows. Bryan surprised me with a dozen beautiful red roses, too

The rest of our week was uneventful. Bryan actually got off work at 2:30pm on Friday! I had a better week on orientation. I watched a robotic mitral valve replacement on Friday. It was unbelievably cool. Click HERE to read a little more on St. Joseph's Hospital and the cutting-edge surgery using the da Vinci robot. The surgeon sits (NOT scrubbed in) in a little "bat cave" in the corner of the room and operates remotely, sending commands to the four or five robotic arms placed in the chest through small incisions. I was impressed with the anesthesia, which was delivered by a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. I got to recover the patient, a young woman, up in the CVICU after the surgery. She did very well and was up sitting in a chair within 4 hours of returning to the ICU! Rumor has it that I will be off orientation in another two weeks. Hooray! We have a new Sunday morning tradition around here... Blueberry Pancakes! I feel compelled to share some tips to make the best blueberry pancakes EVER. 1. DON'T add the blueberries to the pancake batter. Pour the batter onto the griddle, which you've preheated to 375 degrees, and place the fresh blueberries directly onto the pancake, like in the above picture. 2. The pancakes are best if you only flip once. So, wait until they are well-bubbled, and take a peek under the edge. The result is a plump, fluffy pancake!

3. You simply haven't had the best blueberry pancake unless you've topped it with MAPLE BUTTER! To make maple butter, heat EQUAL parts real butter and real maple syrup over low heat, stirring frequently. (This is Bryan's job.)

Bryan says, "The tart blueberries pair perfectly with the sweet maple butter."

I couldn't agree more!

We hope you had a great weekend.