Family Care?

What if you're single?

Just in case you thought it was...

Adventures in {and out of} Atlanta

The Stamp will never be replaced, but it can be followed.  Enter the new stampish turn-of-the-century home:

I do love it.  It feels as homey as it looks.

In other news, my coach from work (I guess this is the equivalent of a supervisor in a non-public accounting business?) has left the firm and it has been totally depressing.  I refuse to even walk to that side of the building any more.  It's too sad.  Here is why:

She will be missed because she did everything. 

Here we are - her other coachees and I - on her last day:

Samine, April, Jenn, me, Michele

A quick visit to the farm to visit family...

Poppy and me.  My grandfather is wonderful.

Auntie Ivy and me.  My aunt is a nut.  {I love her.}

Stop here.  Right now.  THIS is not family.  This dog slobbers everywhere and is very dirty.  I love my dog.  I love most dogs.  I do not love this dog.  No, I will not, can not say that I am sorry, Ivy.  I am not.  He is terrible. Bad. 

But this IS family and is a very good reason to visit the farm.  Big Ralph and Riley the Rooster.  I love that kid.  I love all of them, but I really love little Riley who stays by my side and tells me 28 times a night that he loves me and can I hold him.

And then my best friend forever got married.  BFF since I was 4 years old.  I have 21 years of consistent letter writing between the two of us.  I have been rereading some of the letters recently.

This is the only photo I got because I couldn't seem to stop crying the rest of the time, and the Cannon's eye piece would flood with saline.  I swear, I'm not sure that I've ever cried that much at a wedding.  I do hope she doesn't cry that much at mine.  She would hold it together better, though, I feel quite sure.  Here is the conversation her brother and I had after the ceremony:

Me: Hunter, could you tell that I cried during the wedding?

Hunter: Are you kidding me?  Do you think there was anyone in that church who couldn't tell you were crying?

Me: {total dismay} Was it really that bad?

Hunter: Elizabeth, your shoulders were shaking.  Your shoulders were sobbing the entire time.  It looked awful.  But you looked beautiful.  I just thought I was going to have to come up there the whole time and hold you up.

You know, at this point 'you looked beautiful' didn't have much of an effect at all.  But God loves him and so do I.  At least he was honest.

Shelley's fabulous photographer is giving Shells all of the pictures on CD, and I'm excited to see some pictures where my tear ducts were not operating in emergency mode.  How embarrassing.

One of the most fun parts of the weekend was meeting Shell's college friends Candice and Kathy.  Here is why:

A random woman (obviously a world-famous photographer) passed Candice and I and asked us to pose for an impromptu photo shoot.  I'm pretty sure we can be classified as models after this.  {Kathy took these pictures from the side of the professional photographer.}  She mumbled something about our appearing in some magazine, handed me her card, and said we could send the bill to the same address.  It was as quick as that.  We're models now.  Right place, right people, right time. 

Following the fashion shoot, we continued through the garden rooms of Anna Hyatt Huntington, a beautiful artist to say the least.  Her gardens were magnificent, and I would live there if given half the chance.  Look at these trees!

I had to constantly watch Candice and Kathy because they wanted to take everything as a souvenir.  {I was the only tourist}

But none of us could get these statues to give.  There is always the reunion tour, guys, don't lose heart.

This is what Candice did all day.  Her pictures are much, much better than mine.  Trust me.

Beautiful planters

I particularly loved these.  I can not imagine an art project spanning 5 years!  What dedication!

It wasn't until we journeyed over to the petting zoo that I began to see the life lesson in this treck.  It was life changing.

No, not that.  We knew they would bite.

I spotted it from afar:

And got closer to make sure I didn't miss anything

Do you know how much simpler my life would have been if someone had put this sign in front of me before I reached the age of 25? 

Just stay on the path. 

Please. 

Stay on it. 

PLEASE STAY ON THE PATH.

Things could have been so much simpler.  They could also have been a whole lot of boring.  Ahhh, cheers to the things we wish we'd known then, but cheers to the things that were a whole lot of fun learning for ourselves...

The next leg of the journey, Crabby Mike's, will have to wait until another chapter.  I am still wrapping my mind around everything that those two words entailed. 

Cheers to life's paths!

Sometimes...

Fancy the Stamp

my favorite place to have ever lived was The Stamp, Auburn, AL.  The stamp, the stamp, oh how I miss that place.  All 250 square feet of it.  But wouldn't you love coming home to this, too?

with some of my art on the wall (the couch left shortly after this picture was taken...what a relief!)

But my favorite thing about Payne Street was this:

...learning to dream...dreaming...and then living the dreams to life...

It was a cozy place, and I go back to visit as often as possible.  Maybe one day my child will decide to live there if she decides to go to Auburn. (I don't think a boy would want to live here.) 

Remember the table from up above?  This one {that you can hardly see because of my accounting book and study materials}:

it later was transformed during the beginning of my blue period. I loved the blue...

with Mexican tiles which were purchased on a very fun trip to Mexico!

The lamp behind the table was also transformed, but during my red period {which is the majority of the time}:

along with the new couch...but that is for another blog post on another blogging day...

Knowing you're on the street where I live:

I loved this walk home from class every day...