Happy Birthday Kelley!!!

Here's a cute photo of one of the rare times we weren't fighting...
(i'm pretty sure that, three minutes after this snap, we were back at it)


...and here's a collection of memories...
(click on a pic to see it bigger)



(just one of the boys)










(Kelley and my wedgie)














(sorry Kelley - i couldn't NOT post this one!)






(parentally forced affection, i think)










(i had nothing to do with it)




(that's one pissed off little raggedy ann)






(wasted together, somewhere in the Caribbean)

July Obsession

I spend the month of July completely engrossed with the Tour de France. I don't even completely remember how the obsession started but it has become one of my favorite sports to watch (behind Packers football of course!). Lance Armstrong has come out of retirement to race once again -- the first 4 stages have been amazing!! I'm in heaven.

Celebrating Number Three

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary tonight by enjoying a delicious meal together and reminiscing about our wedding day. Here's to many many more...

Beano and Hammy - the cell phone collection

If you know us at all, you know that we LOVE our little dogs. Chris and I spend a lot of time taking pictures of them on our cell phones and then texting the pictures to one another. They do lots of cute things so we have many many pictures -- here are a few of our favorites.

New Additions

My parents have finally moved to Florida. They are downsizing to a smaller house, so we helped them out by taking a bunch of furniture off their hands.

Kitchen table - probably our favorite gain. Chris repainted the base and stained the top giving us a brand new look. You may remember my parents' table from here or here. We love it and are thrilled to finally have a table worthy (and big enough) for a family meal. We decided for now to use our old chairs which are a close match. It has a leaf to make it an oval but we like it like this.

Piano - another great addition. The piano is technically Alan's but he doesn't have the room for it or a way to get it to Virginia. The deal is that we will hold on to it and he can come for it at any time. I have a feeling that it will be ours permanently. After doing some detective work about how to move a piano, we decided, after reading on several websites that, "there is no such thing as a free piano," to leave it to the pros to move.

Buffet - the dining room has been just a table for about a year. We are very happy to have some more storage. We are probably going to move it to the opposite wall.

Dresser - Chris finally has his own dresser. I have the matching piece below. The mirror was a gift from my parents.

Birthday Party x 2

Despite the fact that my parents spent last weekend packing their house and having a huge garage sale, mom managed to throw two amazing birthday parties - one for Chris and one for Alan. We had a great time celebrating with friends and family and by eating amazing food.

Lake Seed

We recently spent a wonderful week up at Bobbi and Stan's lake house in northern Georgia. It was a perfect getaway (no cell service or internet) and beautiful surroundings. The dogs were in heaven.

It rained for about 2 days when we first arrived. It was perfect weather for not making us feel too guilty about lounging around. We read, napped, assembled puzzles, and played cards. When it finally did clear up we spent some time hiking to some falls, spending some time in Helen for a dose of Bavariana (we stocked up on real German mustard - mmmm!), and spent some time on the lake enjoying the canoe. Beano is an old pro at riding in a canoe - she loves it. Hammy, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. Its hard being a little neurotic dog sometimes.

Thanks Bobbi and Stan for a great week!!

Turning 40

Today Chris is celebrating his 40th birthday. What better way is there to celebrate than with loved ones? I have asked our friends and family to help celebrate this big day! Happy Birthday Chris - we all love you.

(you may need to click on some of the pictures to make them larger)

It isn't too late to send a picture - keep them coming!

Book Group

Last night I hosted our neighborhood book group. We have been meeting for about six months now and have had lots of great conversations. I love that we have members in their 20s all the way into their 70s. It makes for a fun get together and many different perspectives to share. We actually have about 5 other regular members but not everyone could make it this time.



This month we read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.


Our other books have been:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shafer and Annie Barrows
A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Peace Like a River by by Leif Enger

Next month we will read Mating by Norman Rush.

What are you reading? Do you have any suggestions for a good book group book?

March Snowstorm Still Reaking Havoc

I absolutely love this article from the Red and Black about the 6 inches of snow that fell in Athens back in March. We definitely aren't in Montana anymore!



You can click on the picture for a larger version of the article.

I Have Reached a Verdict

After recently having a pre-cancerous mole removed from my face, I have been testing out some new sunscreens. My biggest problem with putting sunscreen on my face is that they are usually very oily and heavy. Although all three sunscreens were very good, the hands down winner is Neutrogena's Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock. It goes on nice and light and doesn't make me break out. It comes in SPF 55, 70, and 85 which is nice because most moisturizer/sunscreen combos come in SPF 15 or 20 -- not strong enough for this strawberry blonde! I love it and highly recommend it to anyone searching for a new product.

Another One Rides the Bus

I'm being spoiled. Since Chris has returned to working out of the house, I have either been able to drive to work or usually get dropped off and picked back up by Chris. Tonight Chris is working in Atlanta so I rode the bus home. I'm so happy that we have such a convenient option in the bus. There are two stops right at our neighborhood entrance - the walk home if just over a mile.

I enjoyed my nice walk home taking in the wonderful smells of spring. It has been raining all week and everything is just vibrant and so green. It was a beautiful day.

The best part of the day is coming home to our two little monkeys. They always give such a warm welcome home.

Chris Thompson, Male Nurse

Chris is heading back to school this summer. He was recently accepted to Athens Tech and will be pursuing a nursing degree. His pre-requisites and beginning nursing classes will keep him busy starting in July. He can then officially apply to the nursing program in January.

Wish him luck (he needs lots of As)!

Reunited and it feels so good!

My parents spent the week down in Florida looking for a house (they found one too!). Chris spent the week at their house staying with my grandma. We split the dogs up so that we each had one - Beano hung out with Chris and Hammy stayed home with me. Both dogs moped around all week and missed each other terribly. Here is the reunion when we went to pick them up on Saturday...

Teaching a dog new tricks

This morning we decided it was time to teach Hammy to ride a bike. Well, sort of. For anyone familiar with Jack Russells they are almost impossible to tire out by simply going for a walk. When we lived in Bozeman, we would often times ride around the block on our bikes as Beano ran beside us. Another thing about Jack Russells is that they really shouldn't be off a leash -- they have very strong hunting instincts and are gone at the sight of squirrels, birds, other dogs, etc. Unlike other Bozeman dogs that would simply run next to a bike without a leash, our dog needed to learn to run next to a bike on leash. Beano is the master of this trick and we decided it was time for Hammy to learn this skill as well.

We fueled up with a yummy southern-style breaky and then headed out to the streets.



We asked the old pro to show her little brother how it's done. See, Hammy it's so easy!!


Easy? After 2 laps, Beano collapsed into the shaded clover panting away.


Hammy's turn. He was a little timid, but quickly got the hang of it. He needed encouragement to keep going (Jack Russells also love to explore and follow their noses). By lap three he was confident and running full speed.


I think it worked!

AnAtomic Dawg

If you drive around Athens, you will immediately notice the Bulldog statues that decorate the town. The Athens-Oconee Junior Woman's Club first created the public art exibit for Athens. It has been a fun way for local artists to showcase their talents and give back to the community. Of course Athens picked the Bulldog (or Bulldawg) to be the icon for very own animal parade.

The Vet School class of 2009 gave a bulldog to the College as their senior gift. Local artist John Ahee (and my boss' husband) painted the Bulldog. He is located in the student lobby for now, but will eventually find a permanent home on the Vet School campus. His name is AnAtomic Dawg (and according to my Anatomist co-workers he is anatomically correct for the most part).







Of course, a piece of art for the Vet School wouldn't be complete without a picture of the parasitic life cycle on its ass.


To see pictures of the other Bulldogs around town, click here.

I like to watch things grow

There is something so fun about watching tiny little sprouts poke through the soil and grow into something beautiful. Each spring I get excited at each tiny sign of new life. We have a tight budget this spring but we are adding little extras around the yard to welcome the change of seasons and to make our yard our own. Below are some sunflowers, zinnias, and forget-me-nots. They still have some growing to do before I separate and thin them out.

Twilight Criterium

We attended the Twilight Criterium in downtown Athens last night.

What is a criterium you ask...


(according to Wikipedia)

A criterium, or crit, is a bike race held on a short course (usually less than 5 km), often run on closed-off city centre streets.

Race length can be determined by a total time or a number of laps, in which case the number of remaining laps is calculated as the race progresses. Generally the event's duration (commonly one hour) is shorter than that of a traditional road race — which can last many hours, sometimes over the course of several days or even weeks, as in a Grand Tour. However, the average speed and intensity are appreciably higher. The winner is the first rider to cross the finish line without having been "lapped."

Waiting for the race to begin....

The girls in front of us were texting the entire time we were there and continued texting throughout the race.

We ventured out despite the shocking news that a UGA professor killed three people earlier in the day. They still haven't found him. A sad day for UGA.