Holiday Weekend Fun

Saturday morning I went to my power yoga class. Earlier in the year, I was really good about going to yoga and I was going at least three times a week. Lately however, I've really fallen off the bandwagon. Rather than going all out (as I usually do) I decided to start out small and just commit to going every Saturday. I've been pretty consistent except for the weekends that we're out of town (or have guests). I love starting my weekend off with a good yoga class - it puts me in the best mood and gets rid of any lingering work-week stress. When I got home, Cary was hard at work raking leaves so I got to work cleaning up our house and vacuuming up puppy hair. The fun of owning a home... ;)

Saturday afternoon, our good friends, the Murphys came over for our second annual holiday dinner along with their adorable baby C. We had a great time talking and catching up, the guys watched football and we were all endlessly entertained by C who is just the sweetest, happiest baby. They stayed the night since they live almost an hour away from us. Sunday morning we decided to try the brunch at Atkins Park. No of us had ever eaten there as it's mostly known as a bar. The food was pretty good - not as good as Murphy's but a MUCH shorter wait, which means a lot when you're standing outside with a baby and it's 40-degrees and windy!


Cary and I spent the rest of Sunday finishing up Christmas shopping. We're pretty much finished now, just waiting on a few packages to arrive. I try to do most of my shopping online as I don't deal very well with the crowded craziness of the mall this time of year! Just four more days of work and then a much-needed week off! Despite the 8 hour drive, I'm really looking forward to being home in Richmond for the holidays and spending time with family and friends. Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday!

I would like to wish my beautiful, smart and sweet little sister a very happy birthday today!! I hope you have a wonderful day and I can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

Holiday Discounts

I'm sure your in box is full of discount codes and sales but I thought I'd pass these along in case anyone needs another excuse to shop ;) Happy holiday shopping!

Sara Langley Designs is offering free shipping now through December 19. Enter code FREESHIP at checkout.

Get 20% off any Bliss or Remede product through December 3 at Bliss Spa. Enter code 128911 at checkout.

Also at Bliss through December 2, get free shipping and 2 free tubes of body butter with the code 118915.

A. Tierney is offering free shipping and free gift wrap on all orders until December 25th.

Today only World Market is taking 20% off all online orders and has free shipping on orders over $50. There is no code so I assume that the discount applies when you checkout.

Polo Factory Outlets is giving $25 off every $150 you spend now though December 24.

Today only Pottery Barn has free shipping and free monogramming on selected items.

Owning a home is a lot of work!

There's been a lot of work going on around the Politics to Peaches house. Much of it is not very exciting, ie ordering a new mattress, organizing (my favorite!) and preparing for Thanksgiving. We are hosting both of our immediate families for Thanksgiving this year so it was crucial that we do something with our empty dining room, which is what we've been up to the last few weeks. We just finished up the painting last week and put the room back together and hung pictures this past weekend. I know everyone is just dying to see pictures so here goes....

The pictures came out a little dark, but the walls are a deep navy blue. We're thinking of adding chair rail and/or some sort of paneling or wainscoting to the bottom half of the walls - any suggestions? This is a whole new world for me!
Here's a better shot of the table and the rug we bought. I just love the furniture - thanks to my wonderful grandparents for so generously giving it to us! I still need to find curtains for this room but that will probably wait until after Thanksgiving.

Shop for a Cause

I really like A. Tierney for their cute, fun accessories and frequent sales! I wanted to share a few cute items they have now. First in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, A. Tierney is donating 20% of the sales from all "Think Pink" products to the Komen Foundation. This 'Boat and Tote' style bag is perfect for running errands or just heading out for a day of fun at the park. Besides, everyone can always use another tote bag, right? They also have pendants. I'm not sure I would wear this around my neck but it would be cute as key chain or hanging off of your bag with a cute, preppy ribbon. Unrelated to breast cancer awareness, but in the spirit of the season - more political wear! Again, not sure I'd wear this as a necklace but I think they are cute.

Happy Weekend!

Rockumentary

A friend sent me a link to the rockumentary 'Call and Response' today. (http://www.callandresponse.com/)
This documentary was made entirely through donations of time and money and 100% of the ticket sales go to organizations working to end the slave trade around the world. After looking at the website and reading a bit about the project, I'm definitely interested in going one night next week. The film opens today in Atlanta (Landmark Theatre in Midtown and LeFont in Sandy Springs) and nationally tomorrow. My friend has already seen it and highly recommends it. In her words:
"This film is an eye opening picture of how slavery still exists in our world and how we can do something about it. You can buy your tickets online even if the film is not out in your city yet."

I wanted to pass this along as I did not realize the extent of human trafficking worldwide and I think this is an important cause.

Our trip to the Carribean

Here are a few pictures from our recent vacation. We went on a cruise with Cary's family - parents, siblings, and husband/wife ( I hate the word 'spouse' so I avoid using it at all costs. It's just a quirk I have. Anyhoo...)

Carved watermelon greeting us the first day. I'd love to learn how to sculpt fruits and vegetables like the staff did - imagine how much fun that would be for parties!

The beach in Haiti. Unfortunately we got rained out of the exciting zip line excursion we had planned but we had a great time exploring the beaches and swimming.

Our next stop was Ocho Rios, Jamaica where we spent the day kayaking and climbing Dunn's River Falls. We all assumed that climbing a waterfall meant hiking alongside a waterfall, but no. We climbed up the rocks in the rushing water. A little scary, especially for someone like me who is not that coordinated and is afraid of heights, but it was really fun and we all agreed it was the best excursion of the trip. Alas, I don't have pictures of this because I was not about to try climbing over slippery rocks with my camera in tow.

Our third stop was Grand Cayman where Cary and I spent the morning boating, playing with stingrays on a sandbar, and snorkeling. The pictures from this day are on a waterproof disposable camera so I will post if I can - and if any are decent. Our guides gave us a mini lesson on stingrays, their habits, where to touch them, and where to avoid! Once I got over my fear, They were amazing - they are very friendly animals and we were able to touch them and feed them. I hope the pictures of this are decent - how did we live before the instant gratification of digital cameras??

The men, looking quite polished.

Us on one of the formal nights. Ignore my ghost-white face. I think the flash was a little close. I actually did mange to get a tiny bit of a tan during the week ;)

And finally, on the last night of the cruise, we celebrated the twins' big 3-0!

This is everyone, with our fantastic servers, just after they presented Cary and Peyton with birthday desserts and sang to them. All in all, a very fun trip and a fantastic opportunity to get to know my new family even better!

A bit of Paris comes to Atlanta

I got so caught up in the anti-wedding article I forgot what I meant to blog about!

Sunday, we had tickets to Bark at the Park, which is a special Braves game for dogs and their owners. (There I go with the dog obsession again...) Because of the heat (Pugs don't tolerate heat and humidity very well) and me still not feeling fantastic after last week's oral surgery (don't worry, it's nothing major) we decided against the baseball game. Instead we visited the High museum to see the last weekend of the special exhibit The Louvre and the Ancient World. The Louvre and the High are doing a series of special exhibits that bring exhibits from Paris to Atlanta. It is really interesting because many of the pieces of art have never left the Louvre. My favorite part of the exhibit was the collection of busts by Jean-Antoine Houdon. His famous busts of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, and Rousseau were just amazing to see up close. Not being artistic myself, it fascinates me that he was able to carve such realistic-looking sculptures from marble. Some of them look like they could speak at any second! I highly recommend this series of exhibits to anyone visiting Atlanta. The next one is The Louvre and the Masterpiece and it starts October 12.

I don't understand people like this...

I just read this obnoxious article in The Washington Post and now I'm annoyed with myself for wasting 5 minutes of my life reading it. Seriously, I understand that some people don't want a "Big Wedding". Fine. If you want a simple, no-frills wedding, go to the courthouse and get married. Or, if you want a trashy, no-frills wedding, go Brittney-style and elope in Vegas. Just because a huge wedding industry exists, does not mean that anyone is required to have a gown, flowers, a cake, or a big reception with fancy food. And now, I will step down off my soapbox....

My preppy pug is ready for fall, are you?

I must apologize that I've become "that person" who is obsessed with their dog. I can't help it. After spending time with two other fantastic dogs this past weekend, I'm ready to add another member to the Chandler family. (who just may have golden fur and end up weighing 70+ pounds!)

Happy Labor Day!

We just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Labor Day weekend. Enjoy these last few official days of summer. Here in 'Hotlanta' it will feel like summer for quite a while longer but there's no denying that fall is on its way. Last night was the first night of college football, stores are putting out Halloween decorations and I'm feeling the need to buy new school supplies (well, I guess it would have to be office supplies) - I love fall ;)
We're headed to Charlottesville for the first football game of the season and to visit friends who recently moved there! I don't know if other people feel this way about their college town, but for me, Charlottesville always feels like home and I absolutely love going back. Even if it will make me feel old to see the signs welcoming the class of 2012.
Anyway, happy weekend to all and safe travels!

Home sweet home?

After nearly a year (for Cary at least), we're finally settling down in Atlanta! It's funny how things work out - the whole time our condo was on the market, we casually looked at houses without much success. Everything was either way out of our price range or just not what/where we wanted. Somehow, just one week after closing the sale in DC we looked at this house And it was perfect ;) We put in an offer that evening (with the help of the best real estate agent ever!)

Just a few weeks from now we'll be ready for guests ;)

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by the lovely and always optimistic Kappa Prep at Manicures and Monograms! Here are the rules

*Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

*Share 5 songs you are embarrassed to admit to others that you like and tell why.

*Tag 5 random people at the end of post and include links to their blogs.

*Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


This was a really hard first tag so forgive me if it's not that great....


1. I Can't Wait to See you Again - Miley Cyrus. wow, I can't believe I just admitted to that! What can I say, the song is catchy - even if I don't agree with her choice of magazine poses/publicity....


2. Glamorous - Fergie. Again, it's a catchy song. I just can't help but sing along when I'm alone in my car. ( I'd never subject a friend to that!)


3. Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy - Big & Rich. At my wedding, the husband of one of my good friends requested this song. At the time I was furious because it was definitely on my "do not play" list. However, I now think about my wedding and smile any time I hear this song.

4. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper. Practically required soundtrack for sorority slide shows. Always reminds me of fun times at the sorority house and getting ready to go out with the girls.

5. Devil Went Down to Georgia - Another sorority flashback, there are alternate words that I always sing when I hear this song. It's especially embarrassing when other people are around.


It seems like every blog I read has already done this so if you haven't yet, join in!

busy, busy, busy

So given my lack of posts lately, you may think nothing much has been going on here in Atlanta. Quite the opposite though, here's a quick run-down of the excitement (haha) in our life.

1. I finally got a project at work - I've billed more hours in the past 2 1/2 weeks than I have in the past 2 months. good for my utilization, bad for my sanity

2. It's mid-year review time at work so in addition to working until 10 PM, I also have to re-assess my goals for the year and figure out how to get moving on them before the end of the year.

3. We finally got a contract on our condo in DC!

4. So now I'm frantically trying to coordinate movers, plane tickets, moving supplies, etc.

5. The house hunt is in full swing now since we want to be in a house ASAP.

6. The husband and I joined the UVa alumni kickball team - one more commitment for Saturdays.

7. I ran the Peachtree on July 4th! It was only my second 10K and the weather was MUCH hotter than the previous race. But I survived and came in with a respectable time - and the coveted Peachtree Road Race t-shirt. I feel like a true Atlantan now ;)

8. We spent the rest of the holiday weekend at Lake Lanier with friends. It was a much-needed break filled with jet-skiing, swimming, bbq-ing, playing with the dogs, etc.

9. Friday, the husband and I are headed to Richmond for my grandparent's 65th anniversary! I feel incredibly lucky to have such amazing, healthy, inspiring grandparents. We're also celebrating my mom's birthday with a lovely brunch before we head back Sunday afternoon.

So that's life in a nutshell!

Chattanooga

We spent last weekend in Chattanooga to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. I can't even believe it's been three years! Anyway, we stayed at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast downtown and spent the weekend relaxing and being tourists. There was also some delicious food and wine thrown in for good measure ;)
A few pictures of the fun....
The Stone Fort Inn, where we stayed.

View from the top of Lookout Mountain

This is me walking through "Fat Man's Squeeze". This is basically what Rock City is - a walking path through huge rocks and gardens. Part's of it are a bit cheesy but the view from the top is beautiful.

This is the Tennessee Aquarium. They have two buildings that look like this. One is the River Journey and the other is Ocean Journey. Both are great, although the ocean one is much shorter. Now maybe we'll actually visit the aquarium in our own town!

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Yesterday was Jackson's 2nd birthday. Our little boy is no longer a puppy....

Here's Jackson checking out his "birthday carrot"!

And enjoying said carrot. The dog is a freak for carrots, we usually give him baby carrots but for his birthday we decided to get him the real deal.

And here's his birthday dinner, inspired by Lucy's yummy-looking birthday dinner!

And now, off to Chattanooga for the weekend!

Happy Anniversary to us!

We made this last night to celebrate our 3rd anniversary

This was our first attempt cooking mussels at home and it was delicious! The recipe came from this very cute cookbook I found one day at Crate and Barrel.

If you like seafood, this is a great cookbook. Most of the recipes are simple and use fresh fish and vegetables - perfect for summer entertaining!

A low key weekend

Last weekend was fun but pretty low-key. We managed to get up for the Saturday 9AM yoga class (for the second Saturday in a row!) and then checked out the Green Market in Piedmont Park. I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the Green Market. We got some great fresh pasta but I was looking for more veggies. There's nothing like buying fresh produce from the farmer who picked it that morning!

Let's see, what else? I finally bought new running shoes in preparation for the Peachtree 10K in July, which I may or may not survive. And then we spent most of Sunday at the pool. I will say, looking on the bright side of things, that's the one benefit to still renting an apartment here. I'm hoping to convince the husband that we should buy a house with a pool ;)

It's Official....

There's no turning back now. After an interesting hour at the Department of Driver Services, we are now official residents of Georgia! Considering that just getting a driver's license took an hour, I'm not excited about the rest of the car registration process....

sleepy, spolied puppy

i had to share these...

he's spoiled rotten and i can only blame myself (well, i guess i can blame cary too!)

This past weekend was pretty low-key, but a nice change from being out of town, which it seems like we've done a lot lately. Saturday we met up with friends from college, Mr and Mrs I., for some yummy Thai food. After dinner, Mrs. I was kind enough to introduce me to Yoforia, which just may be my favorite new food!

I also purchased new golf clubs because the husband is convinced that "new technology" will help me be a better golfer. Well....on Sunday at the driving range I did hit the ball farther than I ever have in my life, so maybe he has a point. Just wait until I get a hole-in-one ;)

I'm a bad blogger....

So I've been a bad blogger lately. It's not that nothing is going on, just nothing exciting enough to inspire me. But I'm making an effort today anyway....


The condo selling thing hasn't been going so well so we decided to rent it out, which necessitated a visit to DC to host an open house and ideally find a tenant. Well, we had some decent interest but nothing concrete, yet. There's also a potential buyer so we'll see how this all works out.


The best part of the weekend though was Saturday night when we met up with friends for the Baldini's birthday celebration. Margaritas, mexican, all you can drink warm beer (gross, are we in college?), a trip to my favorite wine bar and a late night falafel run - that pretty much sums up my night. It was fantastic to see everyone though. Happy Birthday to the Baldinis!


Sunday, my sister-in-law was generous enough to host pretty much our entire immediate family for a Mother's Day celebration. We had my parents and sister, Cary's parents, his twin brother and wife, and his sister's husband's parents and brother - whew! It was a great time, despite the cold rainy weather that kept us inside.


Then we took an early Monday flight back to Atlanta, which still doesn't feel like home but I definitely like the weather better!

"Did anyone beat a 1?..."

So not often does a 19 handicapper shoot a birdie. Don't mistake, I am a 19 and have had my fair share of them.... and by "fair share" I mean probably 5 or 6 in the last six years. I played last weekend at Birdwood in Charlottesville, VA, along with TScott White, Jeff Hall and the illustrious Steven Evan Block. I did not shoot a birdie. Let me see if I can set the schene...

4th hole, downhill-downwind par-3, 151 yards with the pin up front. First up is Jeff Hall. Now, I couldn't put back spin on a golf ball if my life depended on it, this guy does on command! He'd have preferred a little less this day... in the drink. Next swung TScott White. A little directional retardation for a 7 handicapper left him wet as well. Steve had a nice swing, but aparently he isn't as long (with this golf clubs) as the rest of us. A few bounces on the bank and we're 3 for 3.

Up steps the high handicapper in the 4some to tee up his Nike "Mojo" recycled ball he bought, along with 11 others, for 14 bucks in the clubhouse before the round. A smooth 9-iron solicited a precurser from Jeff: "That's tracking". And it was. Two and a half feet left of the cup and a zip right made my Mojo disappear! What followed remains between the four of us (and some random dude who was hanging out in the woods by the cart path... weird). It was, I'll say, a most joyous occasion.

Later that night, we celebrated on my dime! Bane apparently had some other friends with aces that day...

...and poor Steven spent the rest of the weekend trying to figure out "how did he do that?"

Charlottesville!

We spent the weekend in Charlottesville for the Virginia Gentleman's 55th Anniversary weekend. Being back in c-ville is always a good time, especially with lots of good friends around! Here's a shot of the current group with the alumni. If you can see the white-haired guy wearing a bowtie up front, that's Sam who was a founding member of the VGs!

I also did some shopping in the cute boutiques downtown while the guys were golfing. Something pretty big happened here - but I'll let Cary tell that story...

My little sis made a last-minute trip up from Richmond Saturday night to hang out with us. It was fantastic to see her, especially since we live so far apart now!

All in all, a great weekend. It definitely made me miss DC, C-ville, college, friends, etc. But it was also nice to fly in to Atlanta last night - it doesn't quite feel like home yet, but I'm working on it!

Chicago (sort of)

I've been at training for work this week at the lovely Q Center. It's been awhile since I've eaten three meals a day from a buffet, carried my food on trays, and slept in a twin bed. I'm definitely looking forward to returing home to Atlanta tomorrow night (it's still so weird to say that!). Not to mention that while there is snow on the ground here, it's at least 65 degrees in atl.

Overall though, it's not been bad. If you ever get an opportunity to play WhirlyBall, give it a shot That was our social event last night and it's actually kind of fun.

Thank God for the Internet....

So I've been pretty busy at work lately. Unfortunately I'm busy with document review, which can be the most mind-numbingly boring task ever. To the rescue....the miracles of the internet (or internets, if you're GW).


Here's what's keeping me sane today:


* http://alltop.com/ - a fun, quick way to see top stories on pretty much any topic you can imagine.



* This recipe for Nutella ice cream. Seriously dangerous. I'm going to try it the next time I have a free day at home (ha!) or more likely after we buy a house and have storage space for things like ice cream makers.


* The latest undergrad B-school rankings from BusinessWeek. Not only does this make me even more proud to be a Wahoo, it makes my resume look better!


* and of course, my faithful friends at jcrew and bluefly - because there's no work a little online shopping can't help!

Weekend

So this weekend ended up being pretty fun - even if I did spent several hours Saturday and Sunday at work ;(

Friday we had dinner with a couple Cary works with. We went to Noche - a fun tapas restaurant in Virginia-Highlands. After an hour plus wait at the bar, we finally got a table but it was worth the wait. I love tapas- it's so fun and I like being able to taste dishes without having to commit to one. (plus the sangria, although Noche's wasn't the best)

Saturday and Sunday were mostly filled with work (me) and driving range (Cary). I also found this hilarious shirt for Jackson - any dog owners out there, check out the pet section at Target. The one at Atlantic Station had a ton of dog shirts for less than $2!

Spring in on it's way in Atlanta - the weekend was mid-60s and today in the 70s. As anyone who knows me can imagine, I'm very happy ;)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Welcome!

We started this blog as a way to keep in touch with family and friends and share our adventures in Atlanta. While we're really excited about our new city, it's also sad to leave behind such great friends. We hope everyone enjoys reading what we're up to and that it inspires you to make a visit to hotlanta ;)



love,

yevonne, cary & jackson