Petit Fours and More

Bryan's Aunt Pat passed way unexpectedly this past week. Bryan flew to Indiana to be with his family, which means Susie had to stay in "jail" all day while I was at work... Or did she?

This is what I came home to...

Someone broke through her barricade of a chair, trash can, and baby gate.

And had toys strewn EVERYWHERE!

We miss Bryan, it was our first time staying without him since we moved to Atlanta!

There's a few things you must know about the South...

They have interesting patterns of speech. For example, "Might could." Instead of saying, "Oh, you could do this...." you say, "Oh, you might could do this...."

And people "Fall out." Not "pass out" or "faint." For example, one of my first couple of weeks at St. Joe's, I heard a nurse say, "Someone just fell out in pod 2!" I asked, "Fell out of what?" Ohhhhh.... they meant somone lost consciousness, not fell out of a chair.

Well, another Southern thing, perhaps the best and tastiest of all, are petit fours. It's pronounced "Petty Fore". (Don't ask what I called them...)

They are scrumptious little 2 inch x 2 inch little squares of cake dunked in frosting and decorated. I was told that no Southern shower/party is complete without them. In Indiana we serve sheet cakes. Down here, you have dainty little squares of decadence. I was told it was because Southern women like to feel like they're only eating little bits of food. That's fine. I just had four of them. There's more frosting per square inch than a piece of sheet cake, so I was happy.

MIA...

We've been missing in action here in Atlanta...

enjoying the 70 degree fall days, working, and watching Colts football.

Susie has been playing hard...

We've enjoyed some steaks, indoor-style, thanks to my Mom's coaching. We're both looking forward to having a place where we can grill outside, but we've had some delicious steaks on the stove... that is, when Susie hasn't confiscated the meat...

Here's the culprit... looking quite innocent in her Dad's office.

The object of desire... a ribeye steak. Tenderized, Susie style. The evidence from the scene of the crime...

I learned a very important lesson that day. I must NEVER carry in a load of groceries, deposit them in the living room, and return to the car for more.

I was able to go north to see my family for Halloween. I had a great time shopping for wedding dresses with my mom, and found "the one". I got to spend some time with a very special little girl, who was an award-winning Wonder Woman for Halloween. She placed first place and second place in two separate costume contests! I didn't have much for a costume, just a mask, but Mike and Hope supplied some great scary hair.

Here's my SIL Hope and the Green Lantern (my brother, Mike) at the fire station in North Webster.

Ella was SO excited that her Dad was dressing up for Halloween. It was a rather creative costume, I thought!

Super heroes and villians... The larger Darth Vader is Mike's new BIL, Scott Hardy, and the little Darth is Mike's nephew, Riley. And of course, the Green Lantern and Wonder Woman Ella. Beezleys at Halloween... Ella, me, and Mike.

Ella made a beautiful little Wonder Woman!

I also got to worship at my brother's church before leaving for my flight in Indy. They recently built on to their little brick building, and it looked awesome! I took some poor quality pictures, but the stained glass looked beautiful. This is "Bullseye", Ella's pet fish. He was part of the sermon.

A view of the pulpit.

Pretty sun in the sanctuary.

And Ella posing in front of a portion of the new part of the building.

It was great to be back in Indiana!

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!