last weekend of summer

i ended my summer with my college friends

celebrating the exciting things of life

in athens and on the lake.

we ate our way through athens

hitting up our favorite hotspots

and then headed to the griffeth plantation

for some lake time.

i also got to see

my favorite barn friends

and garden.

it was quite lovely.

love you all so much!

lemon garlic shrimp pasta

happy last day of july, everyone.

here is that new-easy-cheap-healthy recipe i had told you about.

i found this recipe here and have made a few adjustments.

it is so yummy and a perfect end of summer dish.

ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 TB parsley (6 TB fresh parsley)

1 TB minced garlic

2 tsp red pepper flakes

ground black pepper to taste

1 pound of shrimp, peeled

1 package of spinach

linguine pasta

parmesan cheese

what to do:

1. in a large bowl, stir together the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic,

red pepper flakes, and pepper

2. remove half of the mixture for pasta sauce

3. add the shrimp to remaining mixture

and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes

4. saute the spinach

5. cook the linguine

6. after 30 minutes of marinating, cook shrimp until pink (either on grill or in a skillet)

7. combine spinach, linguine, shrimp, and remaining mixture.

8. top with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

no, i did not forget

fourth of july. only my favorite non-fussy holiday.

well, better late than never! {at least it's still july..}

okay, so fourth of july:

lots of low country boil. and i mean LOTS

some boat cruising and fireworks watching

our lovely hosts

some crazy tubing

and crazy jumping {boys}

and a little dog loving {done by abby}

such a wonderful weekend! ahh fourth of july, come back to me..

encouragement

thanks to my new iphone, i have been listening to my music a lot more frequently.

the song i can't get enough of? bethany dillon's "be near me"

i've had the song for a while now,

but i haven't really heard the lyrics until recently,

and the timing could not be more perfect.

they are beautiful and powerful and so real.

"i cannot believe You are angry or unjust

You've done nothing but have compassion on us

so be near me when I've given up

be near me

...

i believe You are good and righteous

You've given me Your reckless love

so be near, be near"

check out the rest

life, recently

well, we have been living life in the city for almost a month now.

there have been lots of ups and a few downs, but such is life.

things i've learned:

1. don't drive in the left hand lane. atlanta doesn't have that many turning lanes and you will get trapped behind the one car who is turning left and you will wait.

2. you have to be a daring driver in the city, but not too daring {learned that the hard way, oops. don't worry, just a little fender bender. but really, really frustrating!}

3. toll booths are annoying {i use to think they were fun}

4. use the skyline{s} to figure out direction

5. when going out for the day, prepare for almost everything

so, there you go. some city living tips for ya.

so, besides adjusting to city driving, what else has been going on?

well, i got to spend the weekend with the sister

sorry for the graininess :(

and soak up my last few days with these guys. 3 month old twins, brothers of my little friend from last summer.

so, what's next? oh, just gearing up for back to school :) so, i am going to try to squeeze as much as i possible can into the blog before the august craziness consumes me.

oh, i've got a great new-easy-cheap-healthy recipe to share. be back later with that.

popsicles in the park

this has happened twice this week :)

thank you king of pops for being awesome.

thank you katie for living down the street from piedmont park.

and thank you summer for still existing.

the kitchen and the master

here are some photos, like i promised!

first up, the kitchen.

she is cute and sweet

{aka tiny}

but organized!

a lot of what you will see were gifts,

so shout out to you if you gave them to us!

now, onto the master.

and boy is she a master!

we have never had room for side tables

or runners!

missing a few candles,

but other than that

she is FINISHED!!!

{i promise there are no clothes in boxes that i cropped out. everything is unpacked!!!}

still to come: guest bedroom, dining room, and living room

yesterday was my birthday

{photo credit to al}

and it was a very special one.

filled with card opening, dining with friends, phone calls,

and even a little surprise party!

thank you sweet husband and friends for a fun birthday evening!

oh, and the couch arrived!

and she is perfect. thank you pottery barn outlet for this steal!

happy birthday dad!!!

sorry i stole your birthday thunder, dad.

i like to think that i was a pretty good present, though.

birthday buddies forever :)

hold the phone. no, really.

my life just changed,

drastically.

yes, on this birthday eve,

i've arrived.

iphone 4, baby.

this is a big step up from my env3,

that would turn itself off randomly

and that would only let me make calls using the speaker phone.

every time i would answer it

i wanted to say to the world,

"no, i don't think i'm cool enough for you to want to hear my conversation,

my phone just sucks."

ha.

now, what case to get?

what apps to download?

screen saver, ring tone?

ah, decisions, decisions...

new treasures

no, i am not ready to show you pictures of our new place.

i have two pieces of furniture being delivered this week.

{one being a couch!}

maybe by the weekend i will be ready to show you.

but i'm not making any promises.

i did want to show you these new friends.

we ventured out to scott's this weekend.

and found these sweet treasures for our new home.

bedside tables

lamps

a little cupboard

and a desk.

we are growing up!

move in day

hello from atlanta! this first post from the peach state is a bit delayed due to lack of internet and free time. move in day was 10 days ago and i am still hard at work getting our new home just right. comical story from move in day: our couch would not fit in the condo's elevator {old building and extremely small elevator} so our movers walked it up 10 flights of stairs. i was waiting at the top with water and cookies praying that everyone would survive {including the couch}. unfortunately the couch was not able to turn the corner to our unit. wait, what?! after all that, it still didn't fit? yes. so, back down they went with our couch as i stood there without my cookies and now without a couch. thankfully we found a home for the couch quickly. i guess it was just the Lord telling me it was okay to update my college couch and get a more grown up look :)

the rest of the day went pretty smoothly and we ended the move in day with pizza for good luck, as dad says, from our new neighborhood spot, fellinis.

more on recent life later. i'm off to recreate this for the third time:
more pictures of our new place soon, i promise!

the eve of the big move

well, it's the eve of the big move.

the move to the city, that is.

we have been packing and loading

and packing some more.

we keep finding more stuff

and tossing it in the uhaul and stuffing it in the car.

oh, how fun!

the best part of the afternoon?

when the cupcake fairy delivered these sweet ones.

take a break from loading? sure, why not.

i think God made packing so miserable so leaving wouldn't be as hard.

our last night in sweet Auburn:

amsterdams, duh

and fro yo with some friends.

i'm going to miss these simple days...

ATLANTA, HERE WE COME!