Let the Celebration Begin!

Some people like to celebrate a birthDAY. I'm not one of those people. I like to celebrate for at least a week! So to start this week off right, we went to The High with Mark's family. If you haven't been to see the Terracotta Army yet, I would definitely recommend it. It is seriously fascinating learning about China's First Emperor and seeing statues from 200 BC! After the exhibit, we had a great lunch at Tap followed by some chocolate pie (Thanks Karla!). So far, 29 isn't looking that bad...

100 Things I've Done (Almost!)

Found this fun tag while blog-stalking today...thought it was pretty fun.
If you want to join in, just copy and paste the list below - put the ones YOU have done/experienced in bold.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band/orchestra
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Learned to play an instrument
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating – SICK!
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person

Tour of Turner Field

This is definitely belated, but a few weeks ago (ok...maybe more like a month ago) we had another super touristy day - just like I like! :) Mark's mission friend Adam was in town, so the 3 of us went on the tour of Turner Field (which I would recommend, for sure!), lunched at The Varsity, and then went on the tour of the CNN Center (you kinda need to do this once if you live here, but it's really not that cool - and they don't let you take ANY pictures!). The weather was amazing, and we really had a fun time.HaHa...tomahawk chop! Mark and Adam in the dugout

Gettin a J-O-B

Although he's still nearly a year from graduation (August 2009 can't get here fast enough!), Mark's obviously an amazing employee that Motorola just can't get enough of. After he completed his last co-op semester and told his boss he would be continuing with school full time til he graduates, they made him an offer. Last week he went ahead and signed his letter of intent, so it looks like we'll be sticking around Atlanta for a few more years.
So now there's only one thing left to do (and if the first answer you thought of was "Have a baby" you clearly don't know me at all). The correct answer is: start planning our trip to celebrate!
Any ideas of fun places to go?

Halloween 2008

So I know I've been slacking on blogging...sorry Michelle! Halloween was a pretty mellow holiday for us this year. Although I did get into the spirit by baking pumpkin cookies, we didn't have any big plans or reason to dress up - I wish we could've flown out for the party, Nat! We did start the Halloween week out right by carving pumpkins with Chad, Stacey and their kids. I've gotta say, I loved mine! (Yes, I did just finish reading the Twilight books!)
Me, Khira and Ashton with my finished pumpkinMark and Ashton's ghostThe finished product - Chad's two faced jack-o-lantern, and my vampire

On Halloween night, we went with Chad and Stacey and some other friends to take their kids trick-or-treating to what I like to call the "Halloween Wonderland" - an entire neighborhood that decorates like nothing you've ever seen. We had a great time freezing our butts off together.My last minute costumeThe scariest house...I'm pretty sure that's a real skeleton hanging there

That night, I ended up getting really sick, and spent the rest of the weekend in bed. So I gotta say, not the Halloween I'd hoped for. But it still had some fun times.
Side note: I'd like to point out that Mark is not in any pictures. That's because, although I did just complete 2 photography classes, he still takes way better pictures than I do. Bummer.

Weekend Fun

Did I mention I like to plan activities? Good thing Mark's nice to me and goes along for the ride. Here's a summary of our fun day last Saturday.
-Wake up early to get ready and leave promptly at 10:00. Drive about 45 minutes to Braselton, GA. Drink some free chocolate milk and put on our hairnets for a tour of the factory at the Mayfield Dairy. Eat some delicious ice cream for a great deal - $1.50 for 1 scoop (their 1 scoop is really about 2-3 scoops).-Continue on our journey by driving another 30 minutes or so to Cleveland, GA. Visit the birthplace of the Cabbage Patch Kids, Babyland General Hospital. Stay about 5 minutes, laughing at the crazies who treat the CPKs like actual babies. Really, this place was a trip: the employees wear scrubs, and "deliver" the babies; you have to sign "adoption papers" to buy one, etc. -Drive a few more minutes to Helen, GA and have lunch at our favorite lunch spot The Nacoochee Grill. Yummy!-Scratch my original plan to go floating down the river (we'd originally planned to do this fun Day Trip a few months ago). Instead decided to check out the Black Forest Bear Park. Feed apples and bread to about 20 bears, while marveling in the fact that this place was legal. It was seriously bear prison - small enclosures entirely of cement. Heartbreaking!-Decide to avoid the crazy traffic Oktoberfest brings to Helen, and head home just in time for Mark to head to the Priesthood session and me to head to Lauren's to finally watch the Sex and the City movie!
All in all, I'd say it was a pretty fun and successful day.

Niceville High School class of '98...oh yeah...

We had a couple of fun visits with my family this summer...the first time we went down to surprise my mom for her birthday; a week later, my mom and dad stopped by (on their way to and from North Carolina); then a few weeks later, Amy, Jason and the girls came up for a week for Amy's birthday; a few weeks after that, Mark and I headed down again for my 10 year high school reunion. Clearly this was before Atlanta ran out of gas :) We had a fun time seeing the fam, and reuniting with my old friends. Some of the highlights...
Swimming in the Kelly's pool...Emma and MarkMaddalyn was making the funniest faces/sounds
Dinner at Jason's restaurantA bunch of us met up for lunch at Giuseppe's before going on the school tour
L-R: Amanda (yes, Amanda from The Bachelor...a real live celeb from little ol' Niceville!), Jenny, Ashley, Me, Sabrina, LinnChristina, Alyssa, Amanda, Me - reminiscing about the good times...Mark was shocked that we remembered where our lockers were. I had to tell him "the main hall was where all the popular kids' lockers were". Yeah, we were cool :)
The "prom picture" before we left for the official reunionTyler wanted proof that he had hot friends...his words :)
Jenny, Ash, Amanda, Courtney, me, ChristinaTyler, Mikey, Craig D (aka my prom date!), EricWe are pretty cute together, right?
Christina's husband, Brian, was quite the entertainment, as he karaoke-ed to Bon Jovi, and then followed it up with KC & JoJo.