Trip to Georgia!

As Ray Charles would say.....

"Georgia, Georgia,

The whole day through
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind"

.....So I went for a little visit before I begin my new job and while Misha was out of town for his work!

Tuesday was my driving day (six hours) and I went straight to Mama & Daddy's.  Talked with Mama, Daddy, and Susan after my long drive then went to town for groceries and paint with Susan.  Our plans were to paint Mama & Daddy's master bathroom while I was there (mission accomplished by the way).  Mama made a delicious dish for supper and we really just sat around talking and laughing.  It was so good!!!!  The food + the conversation + being with my family.  Mama and I went through boxes of old pictures that night trying to assign dates to the pictures.  None of those pictures will be posted!  At least not any from middle & high school - what I am now referring to as my "awkward years".  LOL!

 This pic is of my Kangaroo Pouch that Mama gave to me and Susan.  

It's a purse organizer!  

OMG - awesome!!!!

Mama always knows exactly what I need. 

 

It keeps things organized and you can just lift it out to switch purses!  Amazing!

Wednesday was a painting day.  Mama and I prepped her bathroom and put the base coat on the walls.  That took all afternoon!  Wouldn't you know it - I finish the last area that needs paint, step down from the ladder, and cut my foot on some screw!  Ouch!  It's all better now though thanks to my Daddy coming to the rescue with bandages and ointment.  No pictures of painting or the cut foot though!  :-)

Thursday was the day for the real paint!  A nice blue that will compliment their soon-to-be-painted bedroom.  The bedroom will be chocolate brown with this blue color so we decided to implement the blue into the bathroom.  It's a cool faux finish that we came up with using plastic grocery bags.  VERY COOL!  Mama needs to start a blog and post pictures of that - hint, hint.

Thursday night Susan hosted a girls' dinner.  It was SO much fun!  Susan and I made homemade pizzas...YUM!  All my girls came over and we had a blast talking, eating, laughing, and catching up.  Earl the Pearl (plus two of his friends) was there and he even made us a seven layer salad!  AW!  Thank you Uncle Early!

Susan talking, cooking, and cheesing.  :-)

We had some YUMMY pizzas.  Four pizzas total - in no particular order:

Pizza #1 - Red sauce pizza with a six blend cheese, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and pepperoni.

Pizza #2 - Extra vegetable pizza with artichokes, spinach, peppers, mushrooms, and olives.

Pizza #3 - White pizza with pesto (thank you Sara J), goat cheese, Parmesan cheese, and feta cheese. 

Pizza #4 - No crust pizza made with marinara sauce, portobello mushrooms, goat cheese, and black olives.

In addition to all that, we had some yummy salads prepared by Sara Jackson, a seven layer salad that Earl made, and yummy brownies that Lindsay brought.  We had an all out feast I tell you!

Left to Right:  Me, Sarah, Susan, Sara, Rachel, Heather, and Lindsay.  

We missed you Gena-Bug and baby Ella!

Friday I drove to Gainesville to take my friend Alona out for her birthday.  She is 8 months pregnant so my gift to her was a pedicure!  

Very appropriate as she can't even see her feet when she looks down!  :-)

We spent the day having lunch, getting a few groceries, looking at baby pictures, watching baby shows on TLC, and relaxing INDOORS just because it is sooooo hot outside!

That night Lyuba prepared dinner and invited Alona & Dima too.

I think that Julia is going to be tall!  No - Alona is not having twins!  

Saturday I drove back to Georgia and did the finishing touches for the paint.
It turned out great!  

That night, everyone came over to Mama's house for dinner.
We had some really good quality family time together and decided that we should take more pictures as a whole.
YaY!  Pictures with Lindsay in September!

Nanny & Papa watching Susan play the Wii. 

Susan teaching Papa how to do Wii bowling - toooooo funny!

Papa was pretty good at it!

Nice action shot!  Good form, Papa!  Too cute!

He almost beat Susie-Q at bowling. 
Notice the score - Susan 168 and Papa 164.  

Not bad, not bad!

Sunday we went to church at Central then came home to load up my things and hit the road.  On my way home (well, to Birmingham) I met up with Aunt Judy in Columbus.  She was on her way to Callaway so it was a nice meeting spot for both of us.  We stopped and had dinner at Cracker Barrel and were able to catch up on everything.  That was so nice and I'm so glad we were able to work it out!  Wish I had a picture of that to post on here, but we were too wrapped up in talking to even think about pictures.  :-)

All in all, it was a WONDERFUL trip.  Very much needed!  I was happy to get back to my husband though.  It's always good coming back to his arms - that's where I belong.  :-)   I am already looking forward to the next trip though!  The next trip will be when we welcome baby Julia to the world!