MARTA makes you SMARTA

Since we've moved to Atlanta, we've had the opportunity to use public transportation on occasion.  MARTA comes particularly in handy when headed to the airport.  We've successfully used MARTA several times and TB jumped on that bandwagon.  Quickly.  Pretty typical TB.
He's always talking about what a great resource MARTA is for Atlanta and how quick and convenient it is to get to the airport.

How sweet.  And naive.

Oh, how quickly things change. Our most recent MARTA experience made him fall off the bandwagon. 

We were headed to Oregon to see my sister.  Purchased our tickets, headed up the escalator and .... doh.  Our train was just pulling away.  No problem, we'll just wait for the next one.  And wait.  And wait.  And wait. Wow, we were waiting so long that making our flight was going to be hard.  TB frantically gets on his phone and pulls up the MARTA train schedule.  He breaths a sigh of relief.  The next train was scheduled to arrive in just a few minutes.  A few minutes pass.  And then many more minutes. And more......

Many curse words, a small argument, running through the airport, tears, several Delta workers, an oversized bag, hand sanitizer, several smelly people, bad seat selection, a mini meltdown and a lost favorite jacket later.  We made our flight.

Stupid MARTA.  Next time we'll be SMARTA about our MARTA ride. :)

Tis the Season: Part 2

Our next wedding of the season required the use of a passport.  I traveled down to the Dominican Republic to see my friend from graduate school, Monica, get married to Peter.  Several of us went a few days early to enjoy the sun and relax. 

The adventure started out a touch rough, as I almost wasn't allowed in the country.....

I was travelling alone. And sometimes I can be a bad traveler.  TB had to stay behind and work, so I was going at this adventure by myself.  The flight into the DR was smooth and even on time.  As everyone deplaned, we were herded to a line where they checked our passports and then we were told to go see the cashier.  The cashier?  It seems that you have to pay to enter the DR.  Not a huge deal, right.  It was only $10.

Slight problem.  In my rush to pack and get ready for this trip, I completely forgot to go to the ATM.  And I didn't think the cashier took AMEX.  I started frantically looking around the straw hut airport for an ATM. None in sight.  As it's my turn to pay, I start digging in my purse for any pennies that may have gone astray.  The cashier starts to look impatiently at me and all I can do is stare back in panic....... Awkward silence.

Luckily, there was a very nice gentleman in line ahead of me that must have recognized my panic and offered to pay my entry.  I had to accept, or I would still be standing in line in the DR.

Aside from the small hiccup, the week was a blast and a gorgeous wedding to boot!

Me, Liz, Amanda and the Bride (Monica)

Here I am posing with TB.  See - I even take pictures with him when he's not there.

Don't ask.

There were very large bugs in the DR.......

The ceremony spot

The girls

Time to tie the knot!  Notice her veil tied in a knot.  It was out of control in the wind.

The Colombian Love Dance

The "cake topper" :)

Tis the Season: Round 1

The season of the year.  And the season of life.  For.......

Weddings!!!!

I love weddings and definitely appreciate them much more since we've had our own.

Our first wedding of the year was in Richmond, for our friends Matt and Kate.  It was a great weekend, complete with a bluegrass band, southern plantation house, big white tent, garden, a train station, an injury, a great speech by TB, red velvet cupcakes and of course a little party in the USA.

Career Change

I think I'd like to be a back up dancer for Jimmy Buffett.  Yes.  I think that would work out well. 

At our most recent concert with my folks, I noticed that Jimmy has two ladies who stand behind him, sway from side to side and snap their fingers.  I can sway.  And snap. 

Now singing might be another story, but I could always lip synch that part.........

The Cone of Shame is Serious

I am definitely running the risk of sounding like the crazy cat lady by posting another cat post, but this is a good one.  Promise.

Our two kitties had a "procedure" shortly after moving to Atlanta.  When I picked them up, I had a shocking, horrified moment when I realized they both had on the dreaded cones.  However, the vet prefers to call them "E-Collars".  Whatever.  They're cones.

These two cones were supposed to be left on for a whole week.  It was the saddest sight, seeing them walk around and bump into things with the cones....  So.  I cheated and took them off early.  Even though I removed them, they caused so much emotional damage that one of our cats made a suicide attempt.  For real.

One afternoon, I realized it was just a little too quiet in the apartment.  I walked around calling for Captain.  Calling, calling and calling and no answer.  I thought maybe he was just hiding and went back to work but couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.  It suddenly hit me that I had left the second floor porch door open and maybe he had decided to make a run for it.  As I was peering over the porch railing, looking at my car that was parked just below the porch - I noticed kitty prints on my car roof then a big smudge down the windshield (where said kitty had slid down the glass), then more prints on the hood.

I raced downstairs and found Captain hovering and shaking underneath my car.

Phew.  Suicide attempt failed. 

Needless to say, the porch is now off limits for kitties.

Soooo sad.  I hate the cones.

The scene of the crime

The kitties will never see this porch.  Ever. Again.

Our First Marathon

OK, so not really.  It was just a 5K, but it sure did feel like a marathon!  It's all relative, right?

Several weeks ago, TB decided he would get involved in some of the social activities at his new job and signed us both up for the race.  Key words here:

"Several weeks ago."

I'm a planner, can get pretty competitive and also a casual runner.  These three things do not go together with signing up for a race just a few weeks in advance. 

So the weeks leading up to the race were filled with evening runs around our new neighborhood.  I'd like to say that we were one of those cute couples that you see running together down the road.  Unfortunately, I'm too slow for TB, so he finishes our course and then I arrive 5-10 minutes later.  Occasionally, if he loves me a lot that day, he'll start to run back through the course to find me - just to make sure I didn't get abducted somewhere along the way.  How nice of him.

It seems that this one little race has created a monster.  TB obsessively checked the race website for days afterward so he could see how he ranked.  He already has plans to run a 10K and who knows, maybe we will run our first "real" marathon one day.....

So the race really wasn't in a parking garage, but we forgot to take an actual running picture until we were about to leave.....

Crickets

Yes yes, there's been a bit of silence over here on the 'ol blog. But, we did indeed move to Atlanta and have been here since the beginning of April.

In order to introduce ourselves to our new city we took a Saturday and did a Tour O'Atlanta. We took in a little festival at Piedmont Park, went to a Braves game and did a marathon (or a 5K - but it felt like a marathon, more details on this one coming soon) through a portion of downtown.

All in all, we've been enjoying the new city and are glad we made this move! If only we could find a house....

Can't go to a festival without a corndog.

A view of downtown from the park.

Lllamas are even at Piedmont Park.

Turner Field

TB at his very first Braves game!