Shortest Post Ever!

So I really don't have anything too exciting to post right now other than to announce that:

I just officially registered for my last semester EVER of Grad School! YAY! 6 more months then I will be done!

Short and sweet - totally not like me!

State Fair

Over the past month not only was Steven in school but he was also having to work 7 days a week on one of his projects at the fair grounds in Perry GA. Nightmare! The deadline for his project was when the state fair was due to start. I happened to be in class over my birthday - for the whole weekend - so when Steven finally had a little bit of down time and I was not in class we decided to celebrate by going down to the fair so that I could see his hard work and we could have fun at the same time. Here is his project which looked even more impressive in person and everyone we met said that they loved him - who wouldn't?! - and that he was awesome at his job!
The Horse Barn

The fair was a lot of fun, but such a culture shock for the English side of me! Case example number 1:

Fair food: aka a mound of grease with no nutrition whatsoever, and ridiculously expensive!

Case example number 2: Chair lift to help people get from one end of the fair to the other... why you can't just walk I have no idea. I blame the fact that Americans drive everywhere and so why not create a chair lift for a fair instead of helping people burn the calories that they may have just eaten from the aforementioned mound of grease? A chair lift without snow makes absolutely no sense to me but hey ho!
Case example number 3: a stand for Chinese food at a fair! Seriously, you can get Chinese food wherever you end up in this country! And yes, I was the weirdo taking a picture of the stand... I couldn't resist!
Case example number 4: the sheer size of the fair was HUMONGOUS like everything else American, not that I'm complaining though because it was a lot of fun in all its hugeness! Yes, I am ashamed to admit that we did ride the chair lift to take this picture!

And finally, case example number 5: the sheer heat of the day! We were burning up in amazing heat and sunshine in October - so strange!
We had an absolute blast on the rides and I screamed until I had no voice left. This was the first time I had ridden fair rides in the USA and they are AMAZING! We ended the evening with Josh Turner in concert (famous country singer for all you English peeps). I love country music and Steven is beginning to like it a little more since I now make him listen to it :) so he happily succumbed to the concert which turned out to be great!
Steel Magnolia were the opening act and they were great too:
Of course, we had to get a picture with the fair all lit up at night!
After the concert we went back to ride a few more rides and finally made it home at 1.30am at which point we decided that we are officially too old for such late nights, but it was well worth it and definitely a great belated birthday celebration!

Mum's Art Show

Back on September 17th a memorable event happened in the Gardner household... mum had her first ever art show opening! It is in the gallery at our church which has become really well known among artists in Atlanta and there were loads of people who came out to support her. Normally it is the job of mums to be proud of their kids but this time around I was the proud daughter. Mum's art looked amazing in the lights of the gallery and she did such a great job explaining her work to everyone. Steven and I went out for dinner before the show and then dad took us all out for dessert after - so nice to celebrate with mum on her special day!

Date night before the show!

Mum talking about her artwork



Sharon Gardner's artwork at its finest

Mum with her work



Display of what hiking means in the Gardner family - love this!

Mum, you are truly gifted and your artwork really shows the beauty of God's creation. I am honored and proud to call you my mum or Marmi ;) Love you!

We're Back!

There are two things that I have learned from this whole blog-posting business: 1) It is great fun stalking people and reading all their great news like what their sweet baby has done today, or what latest novelty people have tried in their new abode or who threw what temper tantrum where and 2) that blog writing is only fun when you have something to write about! No, we have not been computerless for the past 2 months, no we did not suddenly drop off the face of the earth, and YES we are in Grad School and yes it is consuming our life! Hence our lack of fun communication for so long. I didn't think it would be that entertaining for you all to see pictures of our paper covered apartment, or stacks of books everywhere so I just decided to go silent for a while.

Having said that though, here I am taking a wee breather from the craziness of school, which for the record will be officially be over in 6 months (YAY!!!) to update you all on life chez Simms. The problem with not keeping up with a blog is it then seems so overwhelming to catch up on, so here are a few photos to get me started from Grandmommy's birthday (yes it was a while ago and yes I am terrible, but like I said, it is all grad school's fault!)

Grandmommy blowing out her candles!

Debbie reading a sweet poem to Grandmommy that she wrote for her birthday. I thought we had more photos but the rest didn't come out that well. But here are a few of my new favorite past time on the farm!



We just wish we had more time to spend down there!

And the fun begins...

So, yesterday was a full day of MBA orientation at Emory. My three weeks of freedom before starting classes in September disappeared somewhere between 1 and 2 pm. There are events, classes and 'pre-classes' (who ever heard of such a thing?) for the next two weeks.

Until May 2011 Hannah and I will both be in classes. We apologize in advance if we do not see you for the next year. Sorry!

Anyway, in the evening yesterday Hannah and Kate met Charles and I for a welcome dinner at the Miller-Ward House on the Emory Campus. Very nice building and wonderful food (my tuition money at work no doubt), and we 'schmoozed' (Hannah's word) throughout the evening.

I'm looking forward to the program and moving my career forward. The schedule will be very demanding on both of us, so we would greatly appreciate your prayers.

¿Qué es eso? ¿Cuánto es?

First blog post from Steven:

"¿Qué es eso? ¿Cuánto es?" "What's this? How much?" This and many other Spanish phrases were what I heard - and did not understand - today with Hannah at the Georgia Farmer's Market in Forest Park, GA. We were able to buy a cornucopia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornucopia) of food for only $13.50! At our local Kroger it would have cost twice as much. (Dave Ramsey would be proud).

The trip would have been much more expensive without Hannah's fluent Spanish. My wife is truly amazing! Apparently at the farmer's market there is a white price and a non-white price. As soon as the shop keepers heard Hannah speaking to them in their native language one of two things happened - their jaws dropped (guys) or they got really animated and smiley (women). All of the shop keepers were impressed with Hannah's Spanish speaking abilities and dropped their prices by half. So, "caveat emptor!" (Let the buyer beware). At one stall we were trying to buy peppers and the guy literally was going to give us an entire crate for $1.00. Before he knew Hannah spoke Spanish the price was 5 for $1.00. So, 200 peppers for $1.00 later ... my eyes are burning! For anyone who is interested in really cheap prices for very fresh produce - Hannah will accompany you for $20.00! Trust me, it's worth the experience. We will definitely be going back, but I will take her unless I learn some Spanish.

For all the guys reading this post (or the wives reading the post) the Georgia Farmer's Market is my secret (not so secret now) spot for getting flowers for Hannah. There is a great store in the rear that sells 24 roses for $9.99! Super bargain.

So, this random excursion immediately followed our morning brunch with the Smiths and Flanarys (Kate and Charles - would that be Flanarys or Flanaries? Not sure). I had been bugging Hannah to go to the Farmer's Market for some time, but we had not had been able to find the time. On the way home I found that Hannah secretly didn't want to go, but ended up really enjoying it. She thought it would be much like the madhouse DeKalb Farmer's Market - which really is a madhouse and not fun for someone who hates shopping as much as Hannah and I do. The Georgia Farmer's Market has been around for a long time (see photo below) and reminds me of child hood trips to a similar Farmer's Market in Macon, GA. The roofs of the Farmer's Market are the same strange inverted shapes from the 1970s as the picnic sheds at Georgia rest stops. Check it out on your next road trip.

I wanted to make the trip to buy lots of peppers (pimientos) to make the Southern delicacy called 'pepper sauce'. Basically, it is vinegar and peppers and is useful for making unpleasant but healthy green vegetables, like turnip & collard greens, appetizing. Here is the end result:


A fun random trip in Atlanta. Enjoy!

West Egg!

This morning we woke up bright and early to meet some of our dear friends for Brunch. Life is always so busy that we are never all in town at the same time to be able to hang out, so this weekend we decided to give it a shot and for once it worked! We decided it would be a good time to celebrate our husbands as Ben just passed his treasury exam (really difficult!) and Charles and Steven will be starting their MBA's together on Saturday at Emory. We went to the West Egg Cafe which, mixed with great company, was such fun! The restaurant is based on the Great Gatsby which was so unique. We thought Ben and Blaire had dressed up just for breakfast with us but alas, we were mistaken! They were heading off to a wedding afterwards hence the nice clothes! Steven hates it when I get pictures of us at meal times when we are out, but, much to his dismay, I managed to ask the waitress to get a picture of us all, so here you go...

Steven, Hannah, Kate, Charles, Blaire and Ben

Friday Night Date Night!

Steven and I love to have quality time together on Friday nights and last night was no exception. Steven had had a busy week at work and was coming home a little early on Friday so I decided to make him a nice meal instead of our usual anything quick and easy to do on a Friday night after a long week at work. When we were at Dave and Amanda's a few weeks ago she had made a delicious chicken salad which Steven adored! Ever since then he had been bugging me to make it, so on Friday I decided that I would make it. Thankfully it turned out great - it has chicken, grapes, almonds, dried cherries, plain yogurt, curry powder, salad cream and mayonnaise - amazing! Funny, because to me chicken salad seems quite plain but this was delish and a big hit with the husby!



After dinner we headed out for a walk by the river in the rain. I wish we had taken the camera but we forgot it. The scenery was amazing because it was still REALLY hot so all the rain was evaporating off the ground and off the river, creating this mystic fog all along the river. Very cool! After our walk we decided to continue our cheap date night and go and look at houses we can't afford! We love looking at real estate and this time it was the East Cobb area which we were stalking! We ended the night with dessert at Yogli Mogli, a fantastic frozen yogurt store which I would highly recommend. So all in all in was a cheap, somewhat random, date night!

The Farm!

In a few weeks Steven will be beginning his MBA at Emory (in their evening program) and I will be beginning the final year of my masters in Counseling. While we are both so excited about this new stage in our lives, we are also becoming more and more aware that our precious weekends together are about to be gone! So this weekend we made the most of a free weekend and headed down to visit Steven's family. Steven's mom made a lovely lunch and the grandparents came over to join us. We love going down to the farm and escaping the city for a while. Usually we are able to ride four-wheelers and enjoy the land, but this time it was so incredibly hot that we simply enjoyed some southern cooking and the pool! Here are some photos of our day:


Steven with Grandma, Grandad and Uncle Wilfred

Steven, Grandmommy and Hannah


The blissful pool!

So, as our freedom disappears to school once again, we can simply say that we are blessed to have family close by to help maintain our sanity! Thanks mom and dad for a lovely day, we only wish it could have lasted for longer!

Baby Jack!

Last night Christy and I got to hang out while our sweet hubby's went to Christchurch men's BBQ. It was so nice to be able to spend some time catching up as we have both been out of town and keep missing each other. It was also great to play with little Jack too - we took him to the pool which he adores! So very cute. I don't have any pictures of Christy or myself but I do have one of little Jack who is growing up so fast! And we even caught his amazing smile on camera!


I have to laugh posting this picture because, while we don't have children of our own yet, recently this has been a baby oriented blog! We are at that stage of life when all our friends are having children which means we get to play with them, take cute pictures and then hand them right back!

Old Friends

While we were visiting Dave and Amanda we met up with Dave and Jane Wright. Dave was the youth pastor in Hartford when dad was the pastor there. It is always strange to see people in a different context and this was no exception. Very bizarre to think that having started in little old Hartford England they are now in Charleston SC and we are in Atlanta GA! It was good to catch up as I really miss them!

This photo is missing Steven as the one we tried to do with the timer turned out horribly, so Steven took on the role of photographer for this one!

When we were out walking around the market in Charleston in 100 degree heat, we popped into the year round Christmas store to enjoy their air conditioning. For those of you who know Steven well, you will know that he cannot survive without his Diet Coke so we found the ideal Christmas Tree ornament for him:


Needless to say, as fitting an ornament as it was, we could not bring ourselves to buy a coke can to hang on our tree!

On the way home on Sunday we stopped by to see Mays and Becky Boyd. Mays is Steven's friend from when they were in Kindergarten together so they go way back. They have just had their first baby, Tucker Mays Boyd. He is tiny and so precious! Here is the latest addition to their family.



All in all it was a great weekend away seeing family, friends and babies!

Our Precious Little Niece!

Thursday night, having both got off from work late, we headed down to David and Amanda's house (my brother and sister-in-law) to meet our sweet new niece Abigail Joy. We arrived at about 12.30am having driven rather fast to get down there and sung songs at the top of our lungs to stay awake! We then got to spend two days with the latest addition to the Gardner family. Here she is in all her cuteness!


We went out for brunch and Abigail slept through the whole meal!



But we kept her involved too! ;)

I could not get enough cuddles with dear Abigail!

Steven was a natural too!


Dave is such a proud dad!



Here is the happy new family!

A Few Final Tidbits from England!

While we were at Granny's house Steven and I went to the pub across the street to see if we could watch some of the World Cup. It is a quiet pub but we had gone there last time we were at Granny's and loved it so we decided to go back. We arrived and it was surprisingly quiet. After ordering a beer for Steven, wine for me and chocolate cake (amazing!) to share, we headed through the pub to try and find somewhere to sit. We found a room with nice couches and a TV which, to our horror, was not turned on! So we promptly put on the footy and enjoyed the game with a few interruptions from other guys who were jealous that we had found the TV while they were having to sit through family dinner! The room we were in was entertaining too with an old English phone box in it!


The final stop on our whirlwind tour of England was to Hartford where I spent my teenage years. We made a few impromptu stops at various people's houses and saw people who I hadn't seen in years. It was strange going back to Hartford for the first time in ten years, but it didn't really feel like I had been gone for that long other than the fact that all the trees seemed to have grown - funny huh?!

Here is Hartford church where dad was vicar for 13 years. I had always dreamed of getting married in this church (for obvious reasons) but, sadly, that could not be. But my other dream did come true...Steven finally got to see the church where I have so many memories.




Here is the new church hall which is just being completed. Awesome to see how the church is continuing to grow!



This is the house we used to live in right opposite the church:


And here is the post office next door to our house where we would run to get chocolate after school before mum and dad got home!


After a quick tour of Hartford we went for a cook out (or BBQ for all my English friends!) at Amie's house. Amie and I were at high school together and I miss her terribly! It was fun to be able to spend time with her family as I hadn't seen them in a long time. Steven had fun watching the footy with Martin (Amie's dad) too while us girls caught up! I would post a picture of us all but we all looked so awful in it that people might not forgive me for posting it! Amie played chef too - very impressive. We both had a great evening and didn't want to leave by the end!




We spent the night in Hartford with friends and then flew out the following morning from Manchester.

It was such a quick trip but, as you can see, we managed to squeeze in lots. Sorry to all those people we didn't get to see - we love you and there will always be next time! We are now back in the baking heat of Georgia and are happy to be home. England will always have a special place in my heart but, I am happy to call Atlanta "home" for Steven and me... at least for the time being ;)