State Capitol

On December 31st, Mark and I took advantage of the holiday and visited some Georgia attractions that are typically only open while we're at work/school. We started the day visiting the State Capitol. Since we were the only 2 people for the 11:00 tour, we had quite the VIP experience, and really had an interesting time. Our tour guide took us around for about 30 minutes, telling us the basics of the main rooms and statues, and then let us wander around for as long as we wanted. She told us to be sure to stop by the Governor's office, to sign in the visitor's book, and we ended up getting a tour of the office as a bonus.

After leaving the Capitol, and being stuck in traffic for a solid hour (freakin' New Year's Parade!), we ate some lunch and then continued on with our touristy day. We went to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which was semi-cool. It was neat seeing how they transport the money from room to room (in little robots), but it was definitely a quick visit. Honestly, the most interesting thing was talking with the police officers who worked there, and learning about what is in the building, besides cash (like a shooting ranges, and a hospital). The also had some great stories, like the time a woman came in with a legitimate $10,000 bill, and tried to get change! One downer about the Fed, was the "No Photography" rule...you can't even take pictures of the outside, due to the security measures. So we don't have any pictures to remember it, but I did get a bag of shredded cash, so that'll have to do.

Under the Capitol Dome

Hanging out in Sonny's office

Merry Noel!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas season as much as I did. We had a fabulous time celebrating my birthday, spending a week in Florida for Christmas, and celebrating Mark's birthday. Not much else to say...enjoy the pics!
Me and Mark, after a fabulous birthday dinner with Chad and Stacey at The Cheescake Factory. Don't I look old?!
The color version of our Christmas card...don't be too sad if you didn't get one...it's our first year sending them out, so we're still learning.
My niece, Maddalyn, getting excited for Santa to come.
With my other niece, Emma, before the annual Christmas Eve party.
My little sis Wendy and my mom. (Side note: I've gotta give my mom a shout out for looking super skinny after losing an "undisclosed number" of pounds over the last year. I didn't get a swim suit shot, but just you wait until summer!)
Back in Atlanta, we celebrated Mark's birthday with a fun dinner at a Hawaiian restaurant, followed by some HOT donuts.

Six Things...

Bertie tagged me, so here goes…

6 things you may not know about me:

1. I love show tunes. Seriously love. Probably most people know I love the theatre, but I also love the music. Mark just bought me the Rent and Hairspray soundtracks for my birthday…Rent has not left the CD player since; I’m obsessed with it (although Hairspray will get its turn soon enough, I’m sure!). Some other favs are Aida (also my favorite play) and Les Mis of course.

2. I am terrible at sports. This is likely due to the fact that I was never involved in any team sports growing up, and has bothered me a lot for the last few years. But I’m just not Sporty Spice.

3. I’ve lived more places than pretty much anyone else I know. Count em…California, Alabama, Florida, Utah, France, Connecticut, Hawaii and Georgia. That’s a lot, right?

4. I’m extremely frugal. Or you can call it cheap. I’m a big saver and hate spending money on things that won’t last. I think this partly comes from the fact that I love to move, and buying lots of material possessions ties you down. I try to fit most of what I love in a suitcase…makes it easier when saving for things I really want, which would typically be a vacation. Which leads to #5…

5. I love to travel. LOVE it. More than pretty much anything. I want to visit all 50 states (only like 10 more to go) and pretty much every major country. I’m dying to go to Greece, closely followed by Spain and Egypt. I really want to go back to the places I’ve been with Mark so he can see them; besides, it’s been way too long since I’ve seen the Tour Eiffel.

6. If I could go back in time, my college career is the main thing I’d do differently. I never had to work to get good grades, and basically skated through high school and college without putting in any effort, and I wish I had gone down a more challenging path. I wish I’d spent more time figuring out what I wanted to do with my life, instead of just playing and dating ½ of Provo.

Fun with the Fish

My little sis decided she'd had enough of the sand-n-sun a few weekends ago, and thought a road trip to Atlanta was just what she needed. The most fun thing we did was the Aquarium, and some shopping (I love you, Ikea!); all around it was a pretty fun weekend. Not too much to tell, but enjoy the pics. The king crabs...huge and crazy to see. They can grow as big as a car!The Belugas were super active while we were there, play-biting each other and swimming in circles.Some of the sweet fish we saw.Wendy, in the fish tunnel.I love the jellyfish...they look so peaceful!

Happy Halloween

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday and this year it was a blast. We celebrated a bit early with a party at Melissa and Greg's and spent Halloween night trick-or-treating with our friend's Chad and Stacey and their 3 kids. We went to the coolest neighborhood ever; I'll write more about it later, as soon as I get the pictures from Stacey.

Yes, there is no better costume than a bunny and a carrot!
A close up...nice green hair!Amy and Todd, as dog lovers Cruella de Ville and Michael VickMelissa and Greg weren't matching, but her Geisha outfit was nearly as cool as his MORE cowbell!
Lisa, Pete and Brooke as Tinkerbell, Peter Pan and Captain HookSpencer and Stacey...don't piss him off!
Dave, joining the men-in-tights club, as one Hot dog

Helen vs. Ellijay

(The purpose of this post is to detail an example of a fun Saturday activity vs. a NOT fun Saturday activity.)

FUN: Activities that are enjoyable or amusing (just in case you aren't aware of the definition).
A few weekends ago, we went to Helen for a day trip. For those not in the know, Helen is a quaint little town, a little over an hour away. It's got some great hiking, cute little shops, and is basically just a fun place. We spent a few hours hiking the Raven Cliff Falls Trail, seeing a few great waterfalls and basically just enjoying the perfect day (temperature wise...it was amazing!). We enjoyed a late lunch at the delicious Nacoochee Grill (you should definitely try this place out!) and headed home, happy and tired from so much fun.
At the start of the hike. One of the waterfalls (I think this is the one Mark waded into, having tons of fun)If you look closely, you can see me at the top! Drive to Helen: $20 for gas
Lunch at Nachootchee Grill: $30
Seeing a legitimate Rent-a-Redneck sign on the drive home: Priceless

NOT fun: aka miserable. Wretchedly unhappy, uneasy, or uncomfortable.
These are all good words to describe our next weekend outing, this time to the Apple Festival in Ellijay. (Notice that I'm not linking over to these sites...I don't want you accidentally stumble upon them and then blame me for the NOT fun time you had there.) Now, I had never heard of this festival until a few weeks earlier. We were at a bridal shower and one of the "games" we played involved writing down date ideas for the couple. Someone mentioned how great the Apple Festival is, so I made a note of it and told Mark we'd be going. Big mistake. Here's a summary of the day: drive 2 hours to Ellijay; sit in traffic (less than 1 mile from the Festival) for 1 hour waiting to park; pay $10 to enter festival; upon arrival, immediately realize that this place is NOT fun and we're ready to head home; buy 2 $5 corndogs; eat them, because we're starving; search for a caramel-covered apple (which you'd think would be easy to find, but you'd be wrong); buy 2 fudge-covered apple, since they were the only ones we could find; head home after spending approximately 25 NOT fun minutes at the festival. So this day was a total bust, but now we know. Beware of Ellijay.
The infamous $5 corndog (and although I look happy, inside I'm thinking "This is NOT fun")

Kangaroos Everywhere

So I have a list "50 Things To Do In Atlanta" on our fridge. And I like to check things off after we've done them. I know, kinda bizarre, but oh well. I love going to museums, zoos, the theatre...basically any kind of touristy place. You've probably gathered that from past posts. Saturday, since I didn't have to work and the weather was amazing, Mark and I decided to hit up #49 from the list...the Kangaroo Conservation Center located in exotic Dawsonville, GA. Who knew such a thing existed?! Apparently, it's the most kangaroos anywhere outside of Australia, and we had a great time seeing all of them! We learned lots of interesting facts: baby kangaroos are only the size of a gummy bear when they're born (the smallest type are only the size of a grain or rice!); Mark is the best boomerang thrower around; and bamboo is an insanely fast grower (see picture below). All in all, a very informative and enjoyable day.Each person in our tour group (there were about 85 of us) got to take a turn throwing a boomerang. I think Mark was a bit nervous, but he got up to the plate and killed it! Seriously, he threw it better than our tour guide.
Yeah...that's fast.
Mark, with a bearded lizard on his shoulder.
This kangaroo was crazy. It was soooo huge and kept growling at us. One of the guides later told us that it meant he was excited, but I think he wanted to kill us!
Getting to pet the kangaroos was awesome, even though we only got to touch the little guys.
I've never posted a video before so hopefully this one will work...we saw some pretty good kanga-fights, but this was the only one recorded.