Friday, June 8, 2012

Atlanta Weekend

Sorry for becoming MIA on the ole blog-ola, but I spent last weekend in Atlanta and have been exhausted all week.  I think it was mentioned in my last post, but last weekend it was time for our annual college friends get together, and we just happened to plan it in the home town of Tara so that we could attend her baby shower.  She and her hubby are expecting their first baby, a boy, and she's due in mid-July.  It was a hella long trip for me but it was worth it to get to spend time with these wonderful friends.  I left EARLY Friday morning (6:15) and drove to Memphis, hopped into Vanessa's car, and we traveled to Tupelo, MS, to pick up Becca (who was LATE, haha!!) so we spent some time in the lovely Tupelo mall.  Once we had the whole crew, we headed on to Atlanta.  We got there about 9:00 Atlanta time and went straight to Tara's house to see her and visit with her and her family.  
 
Tara had lots of family staying at her house so we opted not to crowd them more and stayed in a hotel.  We slept in Saturday morning before getting up and dressed to head back to Tara's.  We had a little brunch with pastries, fruit, and mimosas, had a little picture time, and then headed to the shower.
 
All the girls that came from all over...me (Arkansas), Tara's sis-in-law Christa that lives in North Carolina, her good friend Vicki from California (WOW!!), Tara, Becca (Mississippi), Brandy (Tennessee), and Vanessa (Tennessee)
 
 
 
Tara's shower was at the neatest place.  It was held at the Community Gardens of a little suburb of Atlanta.  It was so neat to walk around and see all the little patches of vegetables, herbs, beautiful plants and flowers, and there were even chickens!  The shower hostesses did such a cute job with the decor...they played off the whole 'gardens' thing beautifully!  We did a few games that included the what's-in-this-diaper game (where melted candy bars are inside and you have to guess what's in each) and a onesie decorating contest.  Cute!  Tara got some wonderful gifts and is all ready for the arrival of Baby G!
 
 
 
 
 
After the shower, we made the one stop that I was DYING to make.  For those that don't know, I work in environmental science and that's what my Masters degree is in, but my Bachelors degree is in microbiology.  It was a medically based program and that what I really love (stupid GRE kept me out of 2 medical microbiology graduate programs...I'm not a standardized test taker...but everything happens for a reason!).  And my DREAM job is at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.  Seriously, dream job.  And I actually know someone who works there...TARA!!!  Yes, I am jealous of her every day to get to go to work at the coolest place ever (she's far smarter than I with a PhD!!).  So we drove by the CDC to see it!  Tara didn't have her ID and security there is extremely tight but I did get a picture of the sign, which made my whole day (yes, I'm a giant dork).
 
 
 After the coolest stop ever, we went to the coolest market ever.  Tara called it a Farmers Market, but I call it a GIANT indoor all natural and organic grocery store.  Seriously, it was huge, like maybe the size of a couple of Wal-Marts put together.  It had everything you could possibly think of...every kind of meat, every cut of meat, every vegetable and fruit you could imagine, spices, breads, pastas, sauces, coffees, wine...it was so neat.  I brought home a yummy loaf of bread that we have enjoyed sandwiches on this week, and I brought Chris some coffee from Costa Rica.  At this point, my camera battery died and I somehow managed to leave home without a spare battery or the charger.  So iPhone pictures from here on out!  Anyway, we went back to Tara's and got to see something else super cool.  They have bee hives in the corner of their back yard so Chris (her husband) was going to check the bees!  I took tons of pictures on my phone and I might do a separate post with them just because it was so cool, but here's one picture of Chris checking the bees and looking for the queen.  
 
We had dinner at a cute little Mexican restaurant and said goodbye for the evening.  Vanessa, Brandy, Becca, and I ended up going out for a while after that at this neat rooftop bar across from the hotel...and by a while, I don't think we went to bed until 3 am.
 
Needless to say, Sunday came early and my trip home was long!  I got home around 8 Sunday night and was thrilled to see Sara Kate and Chris.  Whew, what a weekend!  I know this is a super detailed post and most of you won't care but I blog to journal my life so I definitely want to remember these fun times.  Love you girls and can't wait to see you all again soon!! 

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