Midweek Confessions

One of the blogs I read does a Midweek Confessions posting series and I always love it. It may not be original, but it's always honest so here goes nothing....

I haven't been to the gym since before Thanksgiving. Yep - I ate pretty much everything in sight last week and went on and on about how I was going to work it off this week. Nope - haven't even been once. The worst part is that two nights this week I couldn't go bc I had dinner plans after work. Oh well.

I haven't finished decorating for Christmas. We started on Sunday night and there are still boxes all over the house. We actually just had to deal with the mess so that the cleaning lady can do her thing tomorrow.

My gym buddy emails me to tell me when there's good food at work. Today she emailed me to tell me there was peach cobbler, and I blame her for telling me where the froyo and the slushie machines are. I am proud to say I have avoided the later. I eat the former almost daily. With M&Ms.

I have been reading the same book for three months. I just can't find the time to sit down and commit to reading. So it's two pages a night for the next few months.

That's all for now. I feel better. :) Do you have any confessions?

Read more...

Thanksgiving!!!

I'm back from a little writing hiatus to enjoy the holidays!  We spent Thanksgiving with the whole (well almost whole) Stillwagon crew up in Habersham.  Originally, I thought it would be really hard to spend Thanksgiving at the mountain house (aka the house I grew up in).  And it was, but it was also just overwhelmingly fun and special.  It was always just me and my parents sitting around the table growing up.  There were a few Thanksgivings where a grandparent or friend would come over, but for the most part it was just the three of us.  My mom would cook everything, and my dad and I would eat everything.  I would always insist on using the china and crystal (which meant I had to wash it all b/c my mom refused to use anything that wouldn't go in the dishwasher), and this year we used that same china.  You could argue there were only a few similarities between my Thanksgivings growing up and this past one.  Those similiarities would be the china we dined on, a plethora of good food, and an overwhelming sense of love.  I'm pretty sure those three things (okay, the two things - the china isn't really important) are the only things that matter on Thanksgiving.  From the outside looking in, there's a huge difference between a little wooden table with three people around it, and two full tables with 12 people talking and laughing, but to me there was no real difference.  I was surrounded by people I loved.

This year we had all sorts of things going on.  We cooked, we ate, we crafted, we participated in the Thanksgiving Olympics, ate some more, the men built railings while we chatted, we ate again, zip lined, watched football, and played lots of Scattegories while we ate some more.  It was a really fun time.  Bryan took lots of great pictures as well.  Here are a few:

 Family time before the eating began.

 We had two turkeys....and they were both delicious!! 

 Grandma Stillwagon looking beautiful as always. 

 Mia and Bailey were literally drooling over the smell of turkey.  Can't say I blamed them.

This was the redneck portion of the day - which I dubbed the Thanksgiving Olympics.  Jessica's science project was to test the effects of caffeine on the heart rate. She measured off 40 yards (on the road no less) and we ran it, took our heart rate, chugged a caffeinated beverage and ran again.  The results were that your heart rate does in fact go up (and you laugh non-stop at a bunch of rednecks running up and down the road). 

 Friday morning Bryan and his dad went on an early morning photography expedition.  They got some great pictures, but be warned: that waterfall is very slippery.  Bryan can tell you all about it.  He slid most of the way down.  Thankfully he only has a few scrapes and bruises to show for it (and some really cool pictures).  

 We also went zip lining!  Let me correct that - the zip lining place could only take 9 people, so me, Bryan, and his grandma stayed behind to take pictures.  Bryan and I had done it before so we wanted everyone else to have the experience.  They had a blast, and we had fun watching them at the places where we could meet up.

Gentlemen - she's single and ready to mingle.  That would be Amy, not Jessica. :) Sorry Amy for trying to set you up with the zip lining tour guides.  Actually, I'm not sorry - it was fun! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families!!  We're decorating for Christmas now.  It is the most wonderful time of the year after all. :)

Read more...

Thankful

November is a month for gratitude, and lately all the social media sites have been buzzing with everyone's daily declaration of thanks.  Personally, I'm a little too grateful for my free time to blog about what I'm thankful for on a daily basis, but I would like to spend some time on those things for which I am the most thankful.

For starters, there's nothing that makes me feel more thankful than this man.

From the moment I met him I knew there was something so different about him.  My dad would always call him my soulmate.  At the time I don't think I could fully grasp what that meant, and I certainly don't even fully understand that now, but everyday I learn a little bit more about what exactly he meant.  I don't think there's anyone else on this earth who could have loved me, supported me, challenged me, and comforted me in the ways that he has.  I can be in a horrible mood (one of those that women get in sometimes for no apparent reason) and he can actually talk me out of my bad mood.  I mean, who knew that was even possible??  I couldn't imagine any better person to experience this wonderful journey called life with.

Okay, enough of the love fest.  There are so many other things I am thankful for as well. I'm thankful for family.  Not just the kind you're related to by blood b/c Lord knows I'm running short on those.  But the kind that you get to pick. Growing up an only child, I have always considered my girlfriends my sisters, and words cannot express how thankful I am for each and every one of them.  I am thankful to have the friend who's there to counsel me (quite literally sometimes) through the ups and downs of life, the friend who I can talk to for hours about nothing and everything all at the same time, the friend who encourages me to be a stronger woman, the friend who prays for me without me even having to ask, and the friends who I'm just now getting to know at work.  It's those friendships that make me feel loved and supported.  I am thankful that Bryan and I have so many couple friends who we treasure spending time with.  I am thankful for having in-laws who I actually want to come visit us, and who I enjoy spending time with.  I'm thankful for a sister-in-law who's way more sister and way less in-law.  I'm thankful for my new job and the additional free time I have.  I'm thankful for our home, and our 'hood.  The best part of our 'hood is our amazing neighbors for which I am incredibly thankful, and incredibly indebted to! I'm thankful for this stage of life I'm in and all the exciting things that are still in store for all the stages to come.  I'm thankful for the time I had with my parents.  There are people who live their whole life without the kind of relationship that I had with my parents.  For that I am incredibly thankful. I am thankful for a God who gave me the ability to be optimistic, and the grace and strength to withstand life's storms.

This picture actually captures almost all of our closest friends (we missed you Swartwoods)! 

And last but most certainly not least - I am thankful for the best dog in the whole wide world.  

The list goes on and on.  There isn't much in life I'm not grateful for.  Because without the hard times we wouldn't appreciate the good times.  I hope everyone has a blessed weekend.  I have a fun girl's night tomorrow night with Bonney (aka my counselor), and then we're spending our weekend with those in-laws that I may have mentioned earlier.  Stay warm!

Read more...

GA/FL - It's all about tradition

As we were sitting at our traditional post GA/FL Steak N Shake dinner, Kirsten pointed out that this was our 7th GA/FL game together.  Wow.  My junior year of college Bryan and I started dating, and along with dating we also started going to UGA games together (isn't that what every diehard UGA couple does?).  Bryan took me to my first GA/FL game, and of course I brought along my sorority sister and her boyfriend.  Ever since then the four of us haven't missed a game together.  Along the way there have been a lot of other people who have come down for a year or two, but it's always been the four of us.  A few years ago the Whitworths joined us, and I'm pretty sure the six of us will be doing this for quite a few years to come.

The Stillwagon GA/FL tradition began when Bryan was a freshman.  Back in college, it was always a big crew that made the trip.  The Friday night low country boil was the highlight of the trip (unless of course the Dawgs pulled out a win).  As I started to look back through the pics I was reminded of what a special trip this always is.  Granted, it's gone from leaving Athens on Wednesday afternoon to leaving after work on Friday and arriving in Brunswick at 11:30.  But regardless of where life has taken us, we still make it down.

2004 - I like to call this "the year before Courtney"

2005

2006

2007 - A Steak N Shake celebration!

2008

2009

2010

2011

2011 - DAWGS WIN!!!!! 

We may not have a winning record again Florida, but we always have a better time.  Keep it classy Georgia.

Read more...

The decision has been made

After about 10 different ideas and going back and forth for a few months, we finally booked our tickets for our Christmas 2011 destination.  And the winner is:

Oui, Oui, Paris!!! :) I'm soooo excited!  It almost didn't happen, but we booked the tickets last night, and we'll be enjoying a wonderful Christmas at our house in Atlanta (a first for us), and then flying out to Paris for a week. Which means we'll be spending NYE in the City of Lights.  Be still my heart.



Read more...

Weekend update x2

The weather here has been completely gorgeous these last few weekends, so of course we've spent as much time as possible outside taking advantage of it!  Here's a recap of what we've been up to.

We kicked off the weekend before last with our innaugural "Don't act your age" outing.  We went out on the town with the Whitworths and the Andersons to enjoy ourselves and for once not act like we have a care in the world.  Needless to say we had a blast, and there are no pictures to prove it. On Sunday we took advantage of the B-E-A-U-tiful weather and went on a bike ride on the Silver Comet Trail.  We've been wanting to do this for a long time now, but just never really got around to it.  My goodness it was beautiful.  You definitely didn't feel like you were anywhere near a major city.  Here are a few pics:

We rode 11 miles out, and then took a break to eat our lunch before heading back.  Before we got on the trail, we grabbed some sandwiches from Muss & Turner's.  They turned out to be quite tasty!

The trail was like this the whole way - gorgeous!!! We were some of the few recreational bikers on the path as there were tons of professional bikers.  We weren't intimidated though (on our 10 year old mountain bikes)....

On the way back, we diverged off the trail a bit to go into historic downtown Powder Springs.  It was really cute, and enjoyable (minus the part that you had to bike uphill the whole way back to the actual trail). 

This past weekend, we also took advantage of the amazing weather and went on an all day hike with Bonney and Paul to Cloudland Canyon.  Bryan and I originally wanted to go camping, but by the time we got around to actually reserving a camping spot there wasn't a single one to be found in the whole dang state park.  That's what you get when it's leaf season at one of the most beautiful places in the state. 

As 4 Georgia natives (and 3 of us are from north Georgia), we were all amazed that we hadn't been to Cloudland before.  It was hands down one of the most beautiful places we've seen in the state.  We had a blast hiking all day and enjoying the perfect weather and beautiful scenery.  We even hit up a delicious BBQ place on the way home (and then drove through Chattanooga to get back home).  It was a long, but incredibly fun day.  I'll let the pictures do the talking. 

This weekend we're headed down to Jacksonville for the GA/FL game.  Here's to more time with friends and family, good weather, and please God can we just have a W in Jacksonville this year??

Also, be sure to check out the photography tab.  Bryan added some more photos to show of his photography skills.

Read more...

Let's go on a tour of LA

As promised - here's some highlights from my whirlwind day trip of LA.  Better late than never. :) 

I started the day with a yummy breakfast at the hotel before hitting the road to Santa Monica.  I took a quick self portrait before I left because I knew I'd be flying solo for the day which means there aren't a lot of self portrait opportunities. 

Sidenote: There were a TON of pictures from this tour, but I spared you all the pain of looking through all of them and I just picked the highlights.  You're welcome.

Everyone warned me that the drive to Santa Monica would be horrible and I'd sit in traffic forever.  Now being an Atlantan I think I know a thing or two about traffic, so I left myself an hour to get there.  However, it only took me twenty minutes to get there (people, there was no traffic at all).  So I took the time to walk around Santa Monica.  I found good shopping and the farmer's market - which was awesome. This picture though, is from when the tour actually began.  We loaded the Rasta bus, which sounds sketchy but was actually tons of fun!  We drove by the Santa Monica peer before heading up the Pacific Highway (PC to the locals) to Malibu. 

Malibu was gorgeous, and there actually weren't a lot of tourists b/c it was still pretty early.  We then headed back down the PC and then over to what I like to call the "high falutin' area".  We went through Pacific Palisades,  Brookwood, and the neighborhoods of Beverly Hills.  We saw lots of celebrities houses, but honestly I can't remember which one's which in the pictures.  Most of them were hidden so far behind high fences that you couldn't really see them anyway. 

The bus also let us off Rodeo Drive for a little window shopping.  The stores were cool, but I wasn't about to walk into any of them.  I'm pretty sure they all sell approximately one blouse a day! 

I had to get a picture in front of the quintessential Beverly Hills sign.  

After lunch at the Farmers Market in LA (and strolling around The Grove where of course I went into the Banana Republic - I think I have a problem) we went up to the Griffith Observatory.  There were gorgeous views of the city as well as lots of astronomy geeks (and of course I thought of Paul)! 

One of the people on the tour was nice enough to get  a pic of me with the Hollywood sign.  The Griffith Observatory is as close as you can get to the sign without going on a hike.  There was not time for hiking in our all day tour. 

I just thought this was a cool pic of our tour guide.  If you're ever in LA and don't have a lot of time I totally recommend this tour.  They were very entertaining, knowledgable, and you can't beat $45 for the whole day! 

We also went down Sunset Strip, got to see all the stars at Grauman's Chinese Theater (WAY too touristy for my taste), and we also went to Venice Beach.  For anyone who lives in Atlanta, Venice Beach is like Little Five Points on steroids.  I kept my purse close. :) 

It was an exhausting, but incredibly fun day.  I hope you enjoyed the abbreviated version. 

Read more...