Come Thou Fount

Back home from D.C.

But I'm missing my home.

I miss this today:

For whatever reason, this song is bringing me peace today.

Come Thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

God Of Glory, Voice of Thunder
Split the cedars, bring us under
Oh the shadows, of your wings
You give us grace, you give us peace

O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above

God Of Glory, Voice of Thunder
Split the cedars, bring us under
Oh the shadows, of your wings
You give us grace, you give us peace

And in a twist of complete awkward randomness that you will never understand...

I am listening to this song on repeat from youtube.

Listen to it a few times.

I pray it gives you peace like it has for me the first half of today.

Oh, p.s.

I'm an Auntie again!

She is seriously a beautiful baby.

I'm holding out for red hair on this one...

I know she will be equally as awesome as this wonderful monster is...

I love them both.

And I love that we lived on this side of the country so we could be there for the special day!

There are some perks to living here...

I'm finding them.

Slowly.

My new city

Yes, I realize I've lived here before.

I actually grew up here in HOTlanta (yeah, where is that heat, btw??)

But living here married and experiencing it older, it's different.

We've found a few restaurants that we like.

So far Figo, Murphy's and D.B.A BBQ are fave's.

And thanks to a photographer friend we found a cool place to take a skyline pic!

So basically what I'm trying to say is, I'm learning how to love Atlanta ... again.

I already know I love Orange County, San Diego and Los Angeles, so I believe there's room in my heart to love another city...right?

Well, I KNOW there is room to love another city because I love NYC, San Francisco, Miami, Colorado Springs, D.C., Big Sur, Monterey, Scottsdale ... the list goes on. I'll spare you.

In searching for a poem about Atlanta for some reason the search brought up Psalm 23.

I don't know how.

But after searching and searching, this verse resonates with where I'm at right now.

The Lord IS my shepherd...

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
²He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
³He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Bachelor

It has been so hard for me not to blog during the Bachelor.

But I realize not everyone watches it and to be honest, the last time I blogged about the Bachelor, someone (that is mean and stupid) commented with a spoiler of who was going to win.

Some of us LIKE surprises.

Do not comment on this if you have read stupid spoiler mags or websites and know who wins.

Why do you watch the show if you just read who wins in the end anyhow?

ANYWAY.

I always liked Ali...

She was fun and equally as lame and gushy-lovey-dovey as Jake is.

Watch this clip with her on Ellen (yes, I love Ellen)

Now Jake ... Jake, Jake, Jake.

You should be in the room when I watch the show and talk about him.

Mark says I morph into a 16 year old that can't say appropriate things.

There was one episode where he had on a black turtleneck.

I believe I've been scarred for life from that experience.

Basically here's how I feel about it.

I want him to pick Vienna.

Not because I don't like Tenley better, because I do...

But I want him to choose Vienna because I think they deserve one another.

It will be so sad for Tenley if he picks Vienna though -- poor thing is fragile and heartbroken still.

If they make Gia the next Bachelorette, I will probably not watch the series for the first time in 14 seasons.

That's right. I just admitted to watching, faithfully, 14 seasons of the Bachelor(ette).

I just can't stand her voice! She always sounds like she's got to spit or something.

And her lips HAVE to be fake...along with a few other things.

I know some peeps think Tenley's voice is annoying (which it is) but I can handle hers.

Def can't handle Gia's.

Plus, let's get serious, we all KNOW why Jake kept her on the show.

At least he isn't stupid, right?

T-Pain

Yes. I just stole this from a friends blog.

I'm admitting outright blog theft.

HOEVER, just as Cami says,

"If this doesn't make you laugh..."

First day of work

Mark's first day of his new job was today!

So of course we had to take a picture.

One of my favorite kid pictures of Mark growing up was of him on his first day of school sometime in elementary school and he had on a Chick-fil-A backpack (hiked up to his ears) and this so totally awesome "A-Team" shirt.

So to pay tribute to that fun picture - we took a pic this morning to commemorate this special event.

Yes, and the puppies wanted to go to work with him.

Actually we did this as a joke, but when it was time to get out of the bag, the puppies were not having it. Especially Cooper!

They would NOT crawl out of the bag. It was hilarious.

In other news ... I'm also getting geared back up with lots of work to do to.

But seriously.

How am I going to get any work done when this is in the way of typing???!!!

She refuses to sit anywhere else.

We modified her sleeping position a little bit so that I could type...

Clearly she is less than pleased.

But never-the-less it's back to work!

Also, I get to keep my mom's 3 dachshund's this coming week, so I'm sure we will have some hilarious pictures/stories from that.

Keeping 5 weenies in one small apartment is definitely guaranteed laughs.

Long time no blog...

I haven't blogged in a while and there are a few reasons.

#1 - Travel.

#2 - A bad attitude.

The travel is the exciting part, so I'll share all of that with you for this blog!

The bad attitude is because I'm having a difficult time "loving" my "new home"

I will NOT blog about that.

December 6th Mark graduated from Pepperdine University with a MBA.

I couldn't be more proud of him.

(Mark with his Dad and Uncle Dan)

(I'm so proud!)

The very next day we left for Maui with our dear friends Skip and Heather.

(Old Lahaina Luau)

(Getting destroyed by the waves on the North Shore of Maui)

Then we left Maui and Skip and Heather to venture out to Kauai for the first time.

(Mark contemplating the HIGH surf due to the North swell at the islands. Right around the corner there is Hanalei Bay)

(SURFING!)

(We were able to see the whale migration from the sandy beaches)

Then we drove across the country.

But you've already read about that.

We screeched into town just in time for my brother Andrew to graduate from UGA.

His best friend Tyson Hill graduated as well.

(Who just so happens to be my sister April's husband, Destin's youngest brother. Not to be confused with Sean and Erin Hill who are also in the mix...and don't get me started on all the CFA connections.)

ANYHOW. The 10 of us: Andrew + girlfriend, Tyson + girlfriend, Mark & me, Sean & Erin, April & Destin suprised the boys and flew to NYC the night they graduated.

You can read about it here and here and here.

But here are a few of my pictures...

(Jump picture in a snowy Central Park. Also I love that Erin slammed herself in the face with her purse in this picture. It makes me laugh EVERY time I look at it.)

(Not going to lie, I have no idea what part of the city is in the background, but it's a good "city picture".)

(Yet another jump picture. This is on the Manhattan Bridge.)

Times Square Snowball Fight! from Sean Hill on Vimeo.

(Here's a video of the MASSIVE snowball fight that we participated in after watching In the Heights on Broadway. It was so much fun! CRAZINESS!)

Then we came back from NYC.

Did family Christmas.

Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Happy New Year - Peach Drop is where it's at.

Then we left the 4th of January to fly to CHINA!

First stop was Beijing.

Rachel left us to fly to Shanghai for a week of work, but we met up with her later.

Beijing was FREEZING!

Right before we got there it snowed the most snow that the city of Beijing has seen in like 50 years. So everything was covered in snow and the air was CLEAR...which is usually never the case.

So yes. I am wearing a ski jacket in all of these pictures.

I had to stay warm somehow.

(Inside the Forbidden City)

(We climbed the hill behind Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City to these lookout memorials)

(It was so cool to be able to see SO far while at the Great Wall. There was also about a foot of snow on the Wall. Very, very, very memorable.)

(We drove by the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube from the 2008 Beijing Olympics)

On Friday morning we flew to Shanghai to visit Rachel!

We visited her at her work and met lots of her co-workers.

We met back up with her later to explore Shanghai.

Rachel is blogging again, so go on over to her blog and leave a comment.

You know how to tell if someone needs encouragement? They're breathing. :)

(People EVERYWHERE!)

VIDEO EXPLANATION:

We needed to go one stop on the subway to get where we were going.

Imagine: rush hour, China style.

Like if you've ever used or heard the expression "packed in there like a can of sardines" that's what this train looked like.

So the train rolls to a stop and you are thinking in your head, "Is there possibly room for one more human being on this crazy train?!"

Meanwhile, Rachel is telling us, "You just push on. Don't wuss out. GET on the train. There will be people trying to push OFF the train, but stay strong and push your way on."

Some members of the group are concerned about if we get separated, some are laughing, some are business as usual.

Then we get on the train and it's -

UTTER. SILENCE.

Like there are no China people saying a word.

Not. One. Word.

The clumsy Americans on the other hand are laughing their fool heads off.

Then, out of nowhere, someone starts trying to push towards the doors while the train is still moving...like he is determined NOT to miss getting off at the next stop.

One problem.

There's nowhere to "push forward" towards.

Remember? SARDINES.

This creates hysteria on the Americans side of things.

So that's the set up...enjoy:

We left Rachel and took another 14 hour flight back to the States.

We had a really tight connection and because you have to claim and recheck your bags on the first port of entry we ended up missing our flight by 9 minutes.

Sooooo we ended making an unintended nights stay in Newark, NJ.

After we finally reached Atlanta we had a few days to get over jet lag.

Then it was off to Athens for a dear friends wedding.

I'm so jealous that they spent the last 9 days in Tahiti!

The day after the wedding we woke up early.

We flew to Denver, Colorado with our friends April and Jordan.

Neither one of them had been skiing or snowboarding ever so we had quite a good time!

(At the top of the main mountain)

(A kiss for Mark's 28th birthday!)

Bday cake from Amy Cathy on Vimeo.

(Video of Mark's birthday "cake" of his choice)

(The happy skiing couple. After 2 days of snowboarding their bodies were begging to not spend as much time of their tooshies...so skiing it was!)

(We're pointing to what hurts the most)

Ok, so if you've ever been skiing before, you know one of the hardest things to do is get off the ski lift successfully.

And by "successfully" I mean not falling over and taking others out with you.

Well April busted it every time she got off and every time she busted it, she would inevitably take down some poor soul with her. So of course the 17 year old lift operator would stop the ski lift to clear out the mess.

April created this love-hate relationship with that 17 year old lift operator.

She was determined to show that lift operator that she could get off without taking someone down with her.

So that's a little of the back story to the video below.

Listen to what April "tells" the lift operator at the end of this video...

Ski lift from Amy Cathy on Vimeo.

We flew from Colorado to California for a quick stop over.

Chick-fil-A was having a celebration for being in California for 5 years and having such great success :)

So 6 of us carpooled to the party all loaded up in the car and dressed up.

As we were pulling out of the driveway someone said, "I feel like I'm going to prom!"

Thus we called the party "Chick-fil-A Prom" for the rest of the night.

(Awkward prom pose just for kicks.)

(All dressed up for Chick-fil-A Prom!)

So that's what I've been up to for the last few months.

I'm doing my best to work on my attitude so that maybe I can blog more frequently.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading/watching/listening!

Georgia.

Well, this is it!

We made it, we're here!

We drove 2,371 miles in 5 days (with 1 day of rest in Scottsdale!)

I'm excited for new adventures, really I am.

There has been lots of laughing and plenty of tears on our drive back to Atlanta.

For those of you who have been so kind to pray for me to "heal" on this drive, I have.

Well, I've at least begun to heal. :)

First up, ATHENS!

Brother is graduating tomorrow from UGA.

I'm so proud of you!!

More to come, but I just thought I'd catch up on the current status.

On the road again!

Can you tell the camera on my phone works again?
I just don't think I can blog without pictures.
What fun is that!?

Anyhow, we made it to San Antonio last night, slept for a few hours, woke up, took a walk by the River, froze. Then ate breakfast on the River and we're off again!
We're meeting a friend in Houston for lunch and visiting one of Mark's CFA FRL buddies in Baytown, TX.

Should be a fun day!
Well anything is more fun than West Texas. :) That drive was BRUTAL.

New Orleans (or Mobile) here we come!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Movin' out

Well the men came...

Packed it up.

Shipped it out.

So sad to see my apartment all boxed up!

To sum it up, we flew in overnight from Hawaii, drove to apartment, packed for drive across country, moving dudes came 30 minutes early, packed up apartment, mailed Christmas cards, drove to storage units (18 wheeler truck broke down - we have bad moving luck), eventually packed up our 2 storage units and left the movers for the 7 hour drive to Phoenix to visit SISTER!

It was a crazy day and all I wanted to do was sleep and hang out.

April and I did some mad Christmas shopping Monday and we hung out and had real home made food at their loft because they knew we'd be eating Taco Bell for the next 2500 miles.

Thanks April and Destin :)

Then we drove.

And drove.

And drove some more.

We drove 1,000 miles and it took us 16 hours.

I'm SOOOO over West Texas. Let me tell you about it.

I've given you a video of the MOST exciting thing we saw all day...

Enjoy!

Last INO

Our last In-N-Out food for a long time.
This is bitter sweet.
I do love this place.
Grilled cheese with onions, fries and a chocolate milkshake.
INO, I will be back for you!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry