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Food, Flowers, and Flicks

A few days ago I called David and told him that I didn't want to cook dinner and that everything I had the necessary groceries to make sounded yucky. Do you ever have those days? Hmm? I know you do.

I asked David if he would be so kind as to pick up something for us to eat on his way home.

He brought me dinner and these:



What can I say? He's a charmer.

Then, yesterday David said not to make any plans for the evening. He took me to see Eat, Pray, Love, the new Julia Roberts movie. I love Julia.

David, on the other hand, has still not forgiven Miss Roberts for America's Sweethearts, so seeing this movie was a sacrafice on his part.


Let it go, Dave...you have to let it go.

At the movies, he bought me popcorn and a coke.

He loves me. I'm a lucky gal.
Melissa

My Life Has Come Full Circle

Dearest Friends and Loved Ones,

Today is a strange, strange day. Let me give you some background information. I am from Fitzgerald, Georgia, a community of approximately 9,000 lovely people. I went to Fitzgerald High School, the only school in the town, where I was a Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane. Amen.
Fitzgerald loves football like a cheerleader loves pom poms, and because Fitzgerald has only one high school, nearly all of its citizens attended FHS and were Hurricanes themselves. This makes Fitzgerald football different, I think. It is a community event. Fitzgerald is 'Cane Country.

Anyone from Fitzgerald will quickly tell you that our biggest football rivals are the neighboring Irwin County Indians. On the day that Fitzgerald was to face off against the Indians, we always had a pep rally...a really long pep rally. Did you know that all school systems are allotted a certain number of bad weather days that the schools are allowed to miss without making the day up, for snow days and weather emergencies? We did not have school on the day of the Fitzgerald v. Irwin County pep rally. We screamed in the gym until it was time for lunch. It was counted as a bad weather day. After all...a Hurricane was coming ;)

Please excuse these pictures. They are courtesy of Jonathon Walker, Facebook, and 1999. I want you to experience the Irwin County pep rally with me...

Here are the cheerleaders. Yes, they are carrying a coffin. Do you know what it's for? That's right, the Indians...'cause we're gonna kill em!

Do you see the red flag in the background? That's a hurricane warning flag. You have to warn people before a storm hits...it's the right thing to do.

There's the coffin again, but behind it you can see the picture of the Indian. You'll notice that he's been burned at the stake. Looking back on this, we may have been a bit drastic. Drastic and violent.
That's our principal in the purple sports coat. He's wearing it because our school colors are purple and gold, not because he's trying to channel Austin Powers or something.
I don't have a picture, but we also had paper Indians stuffed with red feathers. The football players ripped them to shreds, sending feathers flying everywhere. It was metaphorical.

These are losers. Losers get trampled in the hallways under mighty Hurricane feet.

Cheerleaders and football players doing some kind of rain dance, maybe? I don't really remember. It is also possibly the Macarena. Oh how we loved the Macarena.


Here is the distinguished Mayor of Fitzgerald. Yes, the mayor...at the pep rally. I don't think that you can understand this unless you've lived it. He is there to declare that it is "Hurricane Day" or "Kill the Indians Day" in Fitzgerald.

These are great high school memories and funny stories. Here's where things get weird, though. Tonight, the private school where David teaches is having their first football game of the season. They are playing the Irwin County Indians. My life has come full circle. I am at odds with the Indians, yet again.

To be totally honest, I'm not so sure how their going to do. I need them to beat the Indians. I don't like to lose to the Indians. But today, at their sweet Christian school pep rally, they will probably pray for the Indians' safety instead of symbolically putting them in a coffin, burning them at the stake, or even tearing them up and trampling them underfoot. I'm not sure if they will be ready. Maybe they will at least do a Macarena rain dance. One can only hope.

Purple and Gold Forever,

Melissa

PS: One day I will tell you where I was during this pep rally, but not today. You're not ready for it.

The 2010 Peachtree Roadrace

For those of you who are not from Georgia, let me tell you about a little thing we have here called The Peachtree Road Race. It is an Atlanta institution. The race takes place every year on the Fourth of July and has been going on since the 1970's. It is the world's largest 10k, with 55,000 participants running through downtown Atlanta. It's a huge event. The race has both professional runners and amateurs. Many people do the race every year as a tradition. Some do it in costumes. It's a very fun thing to watch.

But this year, we did not just watch...we participated! (Please note that I am using the term "we" here very loosely. I did not run anywhere, except to catch MARTA to take me from the starting line to the finish line.)


David has wanted to run the Peachtree since hearing about it in college and this year he registered and was accepted. He does a lot of races but he was really excited about this one. I'm telling you people, it's more than a race! It's an event! A tradition! An Institution!

So July 3rd, we hightail it up to Hotlanta. We went to the Health and Fitness Expo, that is held in conjunction with the race, to pick up his race packet and number, to get some swag, and to see if we could find Ryan Hall (a famous runner that David would really like to meet). Ryan was not there, but on the upside we did get free chips and salsa.



David's cousin Harold and his wife Sonia graciously let us spend the night before the race at their house. Thanks guys! We went with their family to a Fourth of July picnic, which was so much fun. We watched great fireworks, drank cokes, ate cotton candy and popcorn...all racing fuel...


The next morning we got up so EARLY. It was 4 something. I don't remember, nor do I want to. We had to ride MARTA (the public transit, kind of like a subway) into the city, because if we drove our car, there would really have been no where to park. Everyone on MARTA was in running gear. It was actually a funny feeling- we were all going to the same place to do the same thing.


We got to the starting line in plenty of time. David did a warm up run. I looked for an open Starbucks. No luck. Please note that it was dark out side. Thank you.

The race is very aptly patriotic, as it is on Independence Day. This huge flag hung over the starting line. As the sun was coming up, someone sang the National Anthem and a plane flew over us just as it ended. I'm a sucker for all things patriotic, and this nearly did me in. But I was too sleepy to be done in.



There were 28 corals of runners, organized by their projected finish time (how fast they are). David was in the third coral, right behind the professionals...because he is awesome. Nuff said.

As soon as the race started and I knew David had gone by (even though I couldn't see him- you can't imagine how many people there are running and watching!), I ran to get back on MARTA so that I could get to the finish line. I was petrified that I was going to get on the wrong train and get lost.

As I was about to have a breakdown and just give up, an old woman, with what was clearly her granddaughter, said "You look like you know where you're going, so I'm just going to follow you." Yikes. I decided I had to be brave for all of us. I looked at the map, picked a train, and led us to the finish line! A small victory.

Once we got off the train, I actually had to walk a really long way to get to the finish. Along the way I would stop to watch the runners and look for Starbucks. I know pretty much how long Dave takes to run a race, so I know where and when to look for him. With so many people running, however, I really had no hope of actually seeing him. But then, as I'm watching clouds of runners zooming by, I spot my man, I yell at him, and snap this pic.


I love how surprised he looks to see me. Hilarious.

Here's the finish line and meeting area where spectators can find their runners. It is a very stinky place due to the 55,000 smelly runners looking for their families.
Jonathan David Dark
Peachtree Road Race 2010
Time: 49:50

Blue Bell gives out free ice cream near the finish line, which made David very happy. This man loves ice cream. Loves it. Especially Blue Bell ice cream. It is the best...accept no substitutes.



Shortly after this I found a Starbucks and we went home. We had so much fun at the Peachtree Road Race and David really wants to do it again next year. You'll all have to come spectate with me...I know where the nearest Starbucks is now, so we're all good. Fourth of July 2011...it's a date!

Have You Seen This Dog?

Please be on the lookout for this hardened criminal in your area.

His name is Jackson Brown. He weighs 68 pounds. He has brown eyes and brown hair.


His aliases include: Jackers, Crackers, Butter Bean Ears, and Mr. Bubs.

He is not to be trusted.

He is thought to be fleeing the scene of his latest heinous crime, as seen here:

He may be armed with a tennis ball, very dangerous, and ready to strike again. No plants are safe while this culprit is on the loose.


He was last seen headed south in a white pickup truck.

We can only assume that he is on his way to Mexico to allude local law enforcement and escape punishment, yet again.


Please alert the authorities if you have any tips that might lead to the apprehension of the suspect.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Melissa



How Does Your Garden Grow?


Look at our beautiful garden! This summer we decided that we wanted to have a small raised bed in our backyard to grow some vegetables. It's a project that we had been debating for a long time, but we either didn't have the space OR we were not going to be home enough to take care of it. Well, this was our year- 2010 is The Year of the Garden! We built the bed out of pieces of wood from our old deck that we tore down last fall. We did some research first to make sure that the chemicals that were used on the boards wouldn't leech into our vegetables and kill us. Turns out that because they were so old, there would be no harmful chemicals present in the wood anymore. Safety first.
Onward and upward.

A raised bed is a great solution if you have a small space for gardening. It also helps keep weeds and grass out of your garden and its nice that you can control the type of dirt that you put in it, unlike your yard, where you just have to deal with the dirt that Mother Nature gave you. A raised bed also puts the plants up about a foot off the ground, which makes working in the garden, weeding, etc, much easier on your back.

After we built the frame (we used the tutorial from The Pioneer Woman and adjusted it a bit) we just needed to fill it in with soil.

Well, come to find out, surprise...dirt is kinda pricey. You know the expression "dirt cheap"? Don't believe a word of it.
We were waiting to save up a chunk of change to buy our dirt but soon after building the bed, my parents ended up coming to visit us and surprised us by bringing a HUGE load of topsoil with them! Pay Dirt. YAY! I never pictured myself being so excited about dirt.

After we got our topsoil, we went to a garden center and purchased seeds and plants for our raised bed, which we call "the garden spot," because that is what my Daddy calls his garden. His garden spot is much, much bigger than ours though. We planted corn, squash, green beans, and onions from seeds in the raised bed. We also planted teeny weeny baby tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, and a cucumber in large pots around the raised bed.

...And it all grew and grew! We harvested enough vegetables to last us through the winter!
Just kidding.

We are not prepared for a winter without Kroger, but it did grow and we have gotten to eat some yummy home grown vegetables. It was certainly not the bounteous cornucopia of goodness that I had pictured in my mind, but how many things turn out like we plan them? Not many. Overall it has been a sweet and faithful little garden and that's about as much as anybody can ask for!
See look how pretty...


These are all little baby garden pictures...

...when all the plants had just begun to flower and produce produce. Good one, huh?

These jalapenos are H.O.T. I picked some the other day and then scratched my ear before I could wash my hands...Holy Hot Ear Batman! Not good. David had to put milk and cornstarch in my ear. I won't go in to all of the ramifications that putting milk in one's ear has on a person. Let's move along.

I love the color of these cherry tomatoes as they ripen. Amazing.

We are not disappointed with the our "little garden that could." It's been a lot of fun and we are happy with the fruit (er, vegetables?) of our labor. We had the best luck with the jalapeno peppers and tomatoes, and we are still getting a few of those everyday. The corn was a no-go and our squash was attacked by chich-worms. Yeah, you heard me...Chinch Worms. They are ruthless killers. The rest of the vegetables were all just so-so.

We made a couple of mistakes in the garden that we hope to remedy with our fall crop:

  1. We over-crowded the bed. Since we planted seeds, we really underestimated how big everything would grow. Next time we will leave more space.
  2. Some of our pots were really too small to grow vegetables in.

  3. At the first sign of pests or disease, we really should have used some sort of pesticide or fungicide or whatever the case may have warranted. We are a low cost operation, though, and didn't want to shell out the dough. What can I say?

  4. We need to get rid of our dogs, kill all the squirrels in our trees, and move our garden to a place that is not 120 degrees in the summer.

I guess we can't fix all of those, but we are making the necessary and possible adjustments for our fall planting. We have pulled up all of the plants that are no longer producing and David already has some small squash and zucchini coming up. Beware chinches. We are coming after you!

So that's our Summer 2010 Garden Spot. We'll keep you posted on the fall planting.

This is me with my first garden harvest! It is small but I'm so proud. You don't have to look nice to harvest, right? My grubbiness just shows how hard I was working...or how I just woke up...I can't remember which. Well, I'm sure it was the working hard thing. Let's go with that.


Soon I'll show you all of our summer herbs that we planted on the deck and how we use them in the kitchen almost everyday!

Melissa

4 Years and Counting

It's hard for me to believe, but this past month David and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. We have now officially been married longer than we dated. We are more comfortable together than we are apart. That's a nice feeling. I am so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man and for the amazing life that we have. These past 4 years have flown by. It seems like our wedding was just yesterday, but the deteriorating layer of Teflon on my nonstick cookware that we received as wedding gifts tells me otherwise. So, before the rest of our lives pass us by, I decided that I should begin recording both our adventures and mundane daily activities in a blog so we can look back on it one day and to keep in touch with our family and friends that we don't get to see as often as we would like. I wish I had started this as soon as we bought our house so that we could have documented all of our renovation progress. Oh well, better late than never!

Here we go...
Melissa

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