Bobo Around Town

For those of you who enjoy the actual photos, we
have decided to indulge you.

Here are a few photogs of "Bobo around town."
To be more accurate, they are photos of Bobo
around midtown ATL.

Do you like her tough girl swing pose? Or the glasses?
She is quite the character.

Today marks Olivia's 11-month birthday. She had
an exciting afternoon filled with swinging, meeting boys
and scaring Aunt Liz and Uncle Zak's kitty and dog.

What's the Use?

Of Christmas china? I have had THREE people tell me how they saved money
and/or scoured sale racks for Christmas china (no, none of them read this blog--just
in case you are wondering).

I just don't see the point. I mean, if you are buying Christmas china you probably
already have fine china. And, if you have fine china, you probably have everyday china.

Odds are, that the only time you use your fine china is during the holidays, no?! I mean,
I have fine china and it has never been out of the box (because I forget I have it, not
because I don't love it).

Perhaps Christmas china is one of those southern traditions that I will never understand...Sort of
like boiled peanuts (yuck), having your father as a groomsman (who's gonna sit with your teary-eyed Momma?), and wearing a cocktail dress to a football game (WTF- I mean really).

I guess Christmas china is probably a guilty pleasure/purchase for some. But I can think
of a lot more exciting ways to drop $1500.

I know, you probably think I am an irresponsible blogger and maybe you don't want to hear my little rant. But hey, we're all entitled to complain about a silly nuisance every once in a while. :)

Old School

Today we enjoyed some old fashioned fun. Olivia
played with her old-school pop-beads (my favorite early
childhood toy) and stack-a-bowls. The toy bowls are a
great alternative to her playing with the real bowls
from my cupboards.

As you can see, the pop-beads are quite the
"versatile accessory."

We also took a jaunt to Helen where we visited
the "Charlemagne" train museum. The museum
showcases 2500 sq. ft. of trains, trains, trains! It
was actually really spectacular and the photogs do
not do it justice. The owner, Wil, is from Germany
and he replicated his hometown in Germany in the
museum. He made sure we took a trip to the second
level of the museum so we could look down upon
the train display and take our own little "trip over Germany."

The museum sparked Pat's interest in train sets and
my interest in visiting Germany, the land of (some)
of my ancestors. Olivia, was only interested in trying
to crawl on the dirty floor and touching breakables. :)

Fireside Husky

The picture of winter bliss...snow, football, a
crackling fire, and an 80 lb Siberian Husky
in the lap of a very small woman.

Planes, Trucks, Cruisers and Snow

Riding is fun, but standing is better.

Getting ready to take some steps.

"Look, only one hand!"

This was the beginning of our "steak-induced
coma."

The last week has been a wild one. It started with my
work-related trip to Chicago. The trip started off smoothly,
the meeting went well and I was able to make social plans
with friends and family basically every night. Special thanks
to my high school/college friend Julie for trekking through
awful traffic from Highland Park to rescue me my
first night.

Then, on Wednesday, my company made the unusual
decision to END the meeting early and send us all home. Wednesday,
being my birthday, seemed like a great day to head back to ATL.
I figured I'd surprise Pat and Olivia.

As I raced through my hotel room, gathering up my things,
I realized that my clever husband had sent me a dozen red roses
and chocolate. Of course, I had to call him and I had to tell him
I was coming home. This all took place around 2:30 pm. The whole
time I was gathering my things I had this feeling that I should just
stay in Chicago until the morning After all, it was my birthday and
I had plans for dinner with my college friend Colleen. There was
no way I'd make it to Atlanta in time to celebrate with Pat and Olivia.
Still, I headed to O'Hare with my sales team.

By 8:30 pm, I learned that my 4:45 flight wasn't gonna happen.
Due to the "wintery mix" in Atlanta (translation: a couple of
flurries) the airport was closing shop and I was stuck in Chi-town
until the next morning. The next morning, my flight was delayed
AGAIN. In fact, I spent more time on the runway than I did on the
plane. All the while, friends were calling to wish me Happy
Birthday and let me know that there was NOT inclement weather
in Atlanta, just a lot of hype. Bottom line, I made it home safely
on late Thursday afternoon. The roses, on the other hand,
were laid to rest at the Marriott O'Hare.

Once arriving home I received several wonderful birthday gifts. Most
of all, I was thrilled to see that in the few days I was gone, Olivia started
to cruise around furniture. She was also taking steps BY HERSELF with
her push toy.

AND, on Saturday, we received some REAL snow. Real, by ATL
standards... which means 2-3 inches. But it was beautiful,
nonetheless.

Thanks to Team Deen for watching Olivia so Pat was able to take me
out to a fantastic dinner at Kevin Rathbun's Steakhouse.

AND FINALLY, thanks to everyone, especially Pat, for the wonderful
birthday gifts, cards and well-wishes. You all made my day!

Happy Birthday Kate!

My year in review slideshow isn't quite complete so enjoy another video of Olivia from a couple of weeks ago. We don't know who "Dagoy" is but he's very popular at daycare.