catching up...

over two months since we last blogged - we are officially busy (and bad bloggers)!

so i'm going to do a photo medley post to catch you up on what we've been up to since the last post:

oct. 17: saturday night win over virginia tech preceeded by awesome tailgate. even the goal posts "got down" ;)

oct. 31: katy dressed up as daphne from scooby doo for halloween. i was busy in nashville at the tech game against vandy.

nov. 26: thanksgiving with the rimes family in alma. my 2nd cousins loved sitting in the big recliner with katy and eva!

nov. 28: tech-uga game. 35 folks plus 30+ pounds of fried turkey made for an awesome tailgate that turned out to be better than the game. sorry no pictures, our camera batteries died. if anyone has anything to say, my response is i hope you have fun at the independence bowl ;)

dec. 5: acc championship game vs. clemson with tilman in tampa, fl. jackets won 39-34, and we're going to the orange bowl!

dec. 11: sunday school christmas party at the hartsells' house. here's a picture of the wives because they look better than the husbands.

that's about it for now. katy and i are both off this week and looking forward to visiting family and friends in augusta and elsewhere. we wish each of you a very merry christmas and happy new year!

early new year's resolution: blog a little more in 2010.

christy's wedding

this weekend we visited augusta for the wedding of one of my good friends from high school, christy. i was a bridesmaid, which gave me perfect reason to take friday off! (by the way, i love the dresses she picked out - will definitely be wearing mine again!) so i enjoyed a bridesmaids' luncheon on friday. then chris came with me to the rehearsal & dinner that night.
christy is in medical school, which is where she met her now-husband, josh. i think it is so neat that they both have a passion for medical missions. they first got to know each other on a foreign medical mission trip, and they are preparing to go together on another in february to cambodia. christy's flowers in the wedding were beautiful, and i have been enjoying my bouquet all week!

surprise visit

julia called me this afternoon at work to say she & luke would be going to north carolina this evening to get a new car and they realized they'd be passing right through greenville. so on their way back, they came & shared pizza with us while we watched the last of the tech game. here's the sweet gurley family, with precious carrigan - and eva. so good to see them!

it's that time of year again...

you guessed it: it's football season. katy and i had a wonderful weekend in atlanta going to a wedding and visiting friends (see post below). still, my favorite and most anticipated part of the weekend was the first georgia tech football game. i always tell katy she doesn't have to do anything much for my birthday because the ncaa decides to start football season around the first of september. thanks ncaa!

as with every home football game, we started out the day with our usual tailgate. we didn't take any overall pictures of the set up, but the grill, lots of food, and satellite tv were present and accounted for. katy bought an excellent ice cream cake for a tailgate birthday celebration with all of our friends. here's a picture of me with the cake. i didn't blow out all the candles in one breath because of that first pesky y. good thing i didn't wish for an undefeated season!

last year the athletic association was running a special deal, so we bought four tickets and invited folks to games with us. this year we decided to get a little better seat location. we've got two tickets and are sitting with our friends the freemans and derek. katy thinks the game moves along much more quickly with linda there to talk to!


here are a few more pictures. the first is the view from our new seats in the upper east stands, and the second is beautiful tech tower, a campus icon, as seen from bobby dodd stadium at historic grant field (the oldest and winningest stadium in division 1-a football).

finally, here's a picture of katy and me after the game. we're looking forward to many more fun and exciting football weekends this fall!

doggies, weddings, and babies

three of my favorite things! first, we celebrated eva's first birthday this week with her first bandana that i found online at pawsh pooch, a doggie boutique by two women in kennesaw. i also found some peanut-butter flavored frozen dog treats near the ice cream in the grocery store. eva seemed to love it! we recommend putting it in a dog bowl, not a saucer (which is what the box shows) because as she licked it, it fell off the sides!

we went to atlanta for part of the long weekend for kaitlin & wallace's wedding and the first gt football game of the season. i'll let christopher tell you about the football...the wedding was beautiful. here are linda, angela, & me with the bride: our favorite campus minister, jamey, was the officiant. it was great to see him, and we miss him and his family a lot!we enjoyed staying with some tech friends, angela & joseph. they have a black lab named dixie that eva enjoyed playing with. chris & i got to meet luke & julia's baby, carrigan for the first time. she is around 6 months old and looks just like a tiny female version of luke. we also got to stop by for a visit with the yorks. it's hard to believe their son, ashton, is already one!

weekend with the goldens

chris' parents came to visit us in greenville for the first time last weekend. on friday night, we showed them around downtown and went to dinner at the lazy goat.on saturday, we went to the biltmore - mr. chris & mrs. cathy got to see it for the first time, and christopher & i enjoyed one last use of our annual passes before they expired. we decided to take a specialty tour and got to explore some balconies and rooftop terraces.
the gardens are always exquisite, and the weather was gorgeous. i can't imagine a family calling all of this home.our last stop on the estate was the farm, where mrs. cathy & i held baby chicks at the petting zoo.
the goldens came to church with us on sunday and left in the afternoon. it was a wonderful visit!

recent notes

now that i'm working i'm having trouble finding time to blog! here's what we've been up to lately:

we celebrated our second anniversary last week by watching our wedding video and going out to devereaux's for dinner. we exchanged our "cotton" gifts - i made a scrapbook of our second year with a cloth (presumably cotton?) cover, and christopher gave me a plush cotton robe.
we said goodbye to dustin as he moves to atlanta. liz and scott joined us for grilling out and brought leah (who is already a month old!)...she got to meet eva, which was fun. eva was simultaneously curious and scared of her, which is funny because eva weighs more than she does! they were very sweet together, and i'm excited to see more of leah as she gets bigger.chris is looking forward to football season (is it really only two weeks away?), and i am excited to be visiting our friends in atlanta again regularly.

random tidbits

just wanted to share a few recent pictures...

chris & i have been taking eva to a beginner obedience class at a place called dog trainer's workshop. we've been to 3 classes and have 3 to go. it has been really fun, and we're all learning a lot. eva was able to sit for us before the class, but now she is also learning to lay down, come, and stay! here's chris working on down with her:
last week we got to meet liz & scott's beautiful new daughter, leah audrey. she is absolutely precious. i kept thinking she was so tiny, but then i realized i've never met a baby as young as 8 days old! also, i should add that liz & her house look amazing for having given birth just a week earlier!finally, here are some pictures of my office now that maintenance came and hung everything for me. i included a few different angles. there is still more i want to do for the room, but this is good for now. eventually i'd like to get my diplomas framed and hung, and get a paper lantern for the corner to the left of the two counseling chairs.

birthday week

we celebrated my 25th birthday on wednesday, and chris got me two dozen beautiful roses! we went out to portofino's, a local italian restaurant that liz introduced me to. after spending two weeks in my office with stark white walls and little personality, i went on a mini shopping spree with my birthday money to find some office decor. i wanted a table to put between the two counseling chairs in my office. i also thought some soft lighting would be more relaxing than the fluorescent lights.i've never really liked fake flowers, but with no window i thought i better go fake if i wanted any green in my office. so these hydrangeas from world market grew on me (no pun intended). i also wanted a wall clock so that i'll be able to discreetly keep track of the time during sessions. i liked the retro look of this and thought the red was a nice pop of color. finally, i finished the artwork i started last month. this wasn't exactly what i'd planned - i didn't end up using newsprint or magazines, but i like how creative projects have a way of being spontaneous. the background is acrylic paint, and the collage part is scrapbook paper. if the silhouette looks familiar, it's because my sweet husband volunteered to let me trace his shadow! i'm excited to get more settled in my office, especially as i build up my schedule of individual sessions with clients. i'm enjoying work so far, and i think it's a great fit for me. i am so thankful to have a job that i like!

july 4th weekend

we had a great time last weekend with friends and family. since i've started work, it feels like my free time in the evenings flies by - so i'm later than usual with the weekend update. speaking of work, it's been going well so far. i definitely have moments where i feel totally overwhelmed, but overall i'm excited about what i'm going to be doing. i'm very thankful that my supervisors are easing me into my position and that my coworkers are so nice & helpful!
back to the weekend - after my first day on thursday, i had friday off! so thursday evening we drove to visit the riddle family in alabama. everybody loved eva, and i think daddy buck wouldn't mind having a pet!
on friday, we went to my aunt jenny & uncle larry's house which is on the river. we had a great time jet skiing, swimming, and hanging out! eva got to play with their golden retriever, jack. we came back to greenville on saturday afternoon and got to see patrick & brooke while they were back from iowa for a few days. we had a great time with them & brooke's sister & brother-in-law, who live in greenville. we found a good spot downtown and enjoyed the fireworks! (our new camera has a fireworks setting!)

places we like to eat: the lazy goat

katy tells me i haven't posted in a long time. i told her it's because she wasn't working and was able to beat me to the punch with every exciting event that we've had for the last few months. i figured i'd ease back into the blog with a personal favorite: places we like to eat, greenville edition.

today's restaurant is the lazy goat. it has quickly become one of our favorite downtown restaurants, and they've always got something interesting to eat. it's a great place for date night or a night out with friends, and with a motto like time well wasted, you know it has to be good.









restaurant: the lazy goat

food: mediterranean with a southern flair. at the lazy goat, you can have tapas (appetizer sized portions) or a regular entree portion. we've enjoyed many of the tapas, but the past few times we've been i've chosen from the entrees. a few months ago i tried a special that was brazed oxtails served over a bed of fava beans (shout out to all the hannibal lecter fans!). last weekend, i had the lazy goat paella which was my favorite dish there so far. some of our favorite tapas are the moroccan lamb and the fried goat cheese. we've tried something new and different each time we've gone to the lazy goat, and we've never been disappointed.

service: on a scale of 1-5, i'd give it a solid 4. we've had one visit with spotty service, but the wait staff has typically been excellent.

price: appetizers are $5-10, entrees are $10-20.

dress: casual to business casual

address: 170 river place, greenville, sc 29601

website: the lazy goat

riddles in greenville

this weekend, my parents came to visit us. chris took friday off, and we drove up to the biltmore for the day. the weather was gorgeous, and there was a refreshing mountain breeze. (my parents said it was 104 degrees in augusta - whew!)
on friday evening, we ate dinner at the overlook grill in downtown greenville, which is nestled in falls park overlooking the reedy river. we spent some time walking around main street, and came upon a dixieland jazz combo:

on saturday, we ate at a quaint restaurant called brick street cafe, which is only a couple of blocks from my new job (i start july 2nd!). we showed my parents the massive ge campus where chris works, our church, and a few other places.