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!