Hey there! It's Katie.
So the past few days for us have been incredibly fun-filled.
Saturday we made our way up to the wonderful Athens, Georgia to see our wonderful friend, Joy. We got there and went to the Memorial Zoo. I love that place! I guess it's not really a zoo, but if you live in Athens and haven't been, you need to go. We still missed the baby bears, but they'll be out soon. And we got to see all the owls, the opossum (which was surprisingly cute), the turkey (which really took a liking to Joy), and many other wonderful animals. After the zoo, we took a lunch break at (drum roll please) my favorite, Doc Chey's. It was really great. Then, we headed to the State Botanical Gardens, which I had actually not been to yet. And other than simply being the ridiculous sauna that Georgia has become, it was quite enjoyable. Lots of pretty plants and flowers. Overall, we had a wonderful day with Joy! I miss her a lot and can't wait to be back in Athens. After our visit with her, we headed over to a friend of mine's apartment. His name is Jaideep, or Jai for short, and we met at International Coffee Hour at the beginning of last semester (p.s. shameless plug here, international coffee hour is where it's at. If you haven't been, or don't go on a normal basis, you need to. it's amazing). Anyway, we hung out at his apartment, and met his room mates, and just had some really great discussions. I have really missed him, and again it made me really look forward to being back at school. So Saturday was a really busy day for us. We came home from Athens (after stopping by the Taj Majal and EarthFare for some yummy vegetarian cuisine), and went straight to Suwanee Towne Park for the drum circle. It was a pleasure to have Abbey, Kelly, and my parents join us. The drum circle was surprisingly tiring, or maybe that was just after the rest of our day, and I was just a little restless, and kept changing instruments. It was still very fun, and I got a good tastes of some different instruments.
So, here are some pictures from our Saturday.





Sunday was mostly a resting day. We got together Sunday night, and made some samosas, which turned out pretty decently for our first attempt. We still haven't mastered the shell of it yet, but the filling was very good (thanks to Adam (=). Also, just a note in case you ever try: Samosas are not healthy. Do not try to bake them. It doesn't work. Just suck it up and fry them; they'll turn out much better. We actually baked them, realized our mistake, and then fried them, so they were a little hard, but like a said, they turned out decently, and it was a learning experience.
Now Monday was yet another day of adventures. It was the day we had planned for our trip to Providence Canyon. It was a solid three hour drive, and a quite rural one at that. About twenty minutes away from the canyon, we decide that we should find gas. But the closest legitimate (by legitimate I mean that there's not just one pump in a sketchy parking lot) gas is about twenty minutes away from our destination; so a forty minute loop later (and a random gas station at the middle of that loop), we were back on our way to the canyon. We get there, and there are absolutely no cars and no people. Fortunately, we ran into an older couple just coming out of the canyon as we were about to begin, and they gave us their map and their advice, which was very kind. From there, we began our journey down into the canyons. There are 18 canyons total, but only 9 are easily accessible through the trail that we took. We went down into canyons 1-5 and 8 (we looked for 9, but it seemed to be nonexistent), and they were quite impressive. Very pretty, and kinda hard to believe all this is in Georgia. Apparently, they were all caused by bad farming practices back in the 1800s.
After we went into the canyons, we took a nice trail back up to the top and then circled around them all. Along the trail were a lot of these really old rusted cars from a homestead that was there before the park came along. It was really interesting. Overall, the view from the top was the best at the park, and I think everyone should go see it. It's kinda sad because the park needs a little upkeep, but because of budget cuts and all, nobody is there and it's not being taken care of very well. Although we were burning up (it was only 100 degrees), the hiking was very fun, and the scenery was beautiful. The hiking was a round trip of about 5 miles, and it's definitely something I would recommend. Just make sure you bring lots of water. Other adventures for the day included driving to Roosevelt State Park, the Little White House and Warm Springs (which were both closed), and saving a turtle off the highway. Here are some pictures:










Past ourselves though, there's a lot going on in the world. I just found out this morning that Athens has a Daily Grocery Co-op. I plan on volunteering there some when I get back to Athens, and it seems like the perfect place to get some great produce! On other news, the World Cup is fantastic! The few games that I have been able to sit down and watch have been really great. Of course the England/US game Saturday was something I will certainly settle for. And the Spain game this morning I hear was a great game as well. Adam and I will probably watch the rerun tonight, and I must admit, I am very happy for Switzerland. I watched the South Africa/Uruguay game just a little while ago, and overall I was a little disappointed with South Africa. Oh well, I guess. I'm just crossing my fingers that US wins Friday. I am honestly a little nervous, and I am just really hoping we'll pull through. Today is also Bloomsday, for all of you James Joyce's fans out there. Adam informed me of this this morning, and was telling me all the exciting things we'll have to do one year in Dublin. Until that time, I guess reading Joyce will have to suffice..although I may have to skip out on that. On other news, tons of other stuff happened on this day:
1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill (actually it is Breed's Hill)
1775 - Liberty Bell rang for the 2nd Continental Congress
1779 - In support of the US, Spain declares war on England (maybe I shouldn't be excited then that Switzerland won, but oh well, it's more than 200 years later)
Man. Also, I am sure sometime in years to come, today may also be noted because today the closing remarks on Perry v. Schwarzenegger are being made. I didn't hear about this until this morning, and did some reading up, and the case honestly still has a long way to go (hopefully all the way to the Supreme Court). For those of you who don't know, this case is to overturn Prop 8, and allow equal rights to gay couples.
So, lots going on. Adam and I are looking to take a nice bike ride later this evening at Little Mulberry Park in Auburn, Georgia. I had never even heard of it, but it is supposedly the second biggest park in Gwinnett County. Who knew. Anyways, hope all you readers are enjoying your summer. Feel free to comment and let us know what's up. Until next time,
Sunshine and Windbear

Biking to America

I would first like to start off by saying, that I'm not sure how this taking turns talking (TTT) way of posting on our blog is working out. Changing the narrarator in the middle of the post seems a little clumsy, like a blaster, when I think I would prefer something elegant like a light saber. But it seems to work for now, and it lets both Katie and me have our say on things. Anyone who objects to this way of blogging, voice your objections in the form of a comments.

So, today Katie and I biked. We went to Alexander Park off of Sugarloaf parkway (you know) and decided to give the paved trails a try, thinking the scenery would be nice. We eagerly started riding only to realize that we had already reached the end of the trail, and had actually done two laps around without knowing. But in all seriousness, unless we took the wrong way, those paths were really short, maybe not the best for biking.

We then went back on the Suwannee greenway trail so that we could go to Suwannee elementary's playground (which disturbingly enough lies at the end of the Suwannee Park Greenway, open to anyone who gets on the trail). Of course, ignoring the potential creeper problem that Suwannee elementary faces, we rode to the playground. Our goal was to get to a large, colorful map of the United States painted in the ground in the playground. Katie and I rigged a really tall tripod, which consisted of a picnic table with a bike placed on top, to take photos of us standing on various places in the United States which we wanted to give a shout out to. The photos will be included for your edification.

So, this is Katie now. I will begin with some of our map pictures



This is our dream vacation to Colorado. You know, biking around, hiking and all. Enjoying beautiful Boulder, Denver, and all the mountains.


This is our "Angry at the oil spill" picture. If you didn't already know, we are very upset and hope to go help with the Gulf sometime in the near future.

Chicago. We are going to live here one day. I am in love with the place (I haven't really yet discovered if it's just in my mind, but I have suspicions that it isn't). There just aren't words to express my excitement about this place.

There are several more pictures that I didn't post, one dedicated to our wonderful friend who is in school up in DC, one with 'Georgia on our mind', but alas, this blog cannot hold all of our randomness.

And other exciting news, I have a new love. It is a wonderful old AMF road bike. It's a wonderful blue, and although not too fancy, I love it. It rides really wonderfully, and shifts like a charm. The only thing right now is the breaks squeal like no other, but that's easily fixable. Adam and I had a nice time shining him up today, and he looks so good. I will have to post a picture later.

Anyways, the World Cup starts tomorrow (well, today technically), and we are super excited. We're getting up semi-early to catch the first game with some good friends. Hope you all enjoyed.
-Katie and Adam

wow, an update

So, as you can see by our lack of updates on this blog out initial foray into the world of blogging has been somewhat of a fail. I feel a little guilty, not only because I have betrayed the readers of this blog, who may or may not exist, but because the blog has become, figuratively speaking, the hamster we really wanted for a while, but then forgot to feed for a week. We thought we could handle the responsibility. But letting bygones be bygones and keeping in mind that no metaphorical hamsters were actually hurt by our negligence, Katie and I will try really hard to update this blog and atone. First off though I will quickly recount our recent misadventures of the summer:

Drum circle- so fun! It was supposed to be really rainy but turned out to be a really beautiful day. Anyone who will be in Gwinnett this weekend, I really encourage you to come to another one this Saturday at Suwanee Towne Park. It will start around 7pm. You can see a picture above.
We have also done our fair share of biking over the last few weeks. It started out one night just riding to Chik-fil-a. It actually turned out to be a little of an adventure as the sidewalk ends before you get there, but it definitely showed us how fun it was to get around on two wheels. So from there, we decided to take off to downtown Lawrenceville. Hearing there was some kind of music festival, we arrived at about 4, only to realize it didn't start until 8. So we rode to Rhodes Jordan, Metro Thrift, and then tried the Italian place across the street. It was very delicious. Funny story about this ride though is as we arrived back downtown to hear the concert, we hear thunder. So, being on bikes, we decide it would be in our best interest to go ahead and head back. About half way, it starts pouring. I, Katie, loved it. It felt so nice. Although, I must admit it was probably not the safest thing, and as Adam couldn't see anything, it was not the most pleasurable ride. Luckily, Abbey came to the rescue and drove us home, soaking wet. And then our most recent ride was on the Suwannee Greenway, which is a really really nice ride. Only about 8 miles, and a little muddy after the rain, but perfect for an afternoon bike ride. This should be obvious, but there are no pictures of our biking adventures. Mainly because I forgot a camera.
This mentioning of events is a nice marriage of thoughts of both of us, and the next event, I just love Adam's wording, so for the past week we have officially been "Schmoozing with Atlanta's elite". Now, if you know us you are probably laughing thinking, "WHAT?! How in the world?" Well, let me explain. Adam, while listening to the wonderful WABE 90.1, hears an invitation to call and win tickets to the Modern Atlanta Home Show. So, he leaves a message, and a couple hours later, we get a call. And we got two tickets! I had never even heard of this Modern Atlanta Home Show, but we were more than excited to participate in the festivities. So Tuesday, we get in the car and ride down to WABE to pick up the tickets (see pictures above). Then, we decide to take our first visit to Trader Joe's. Holy Cow. That place is fantastic. I appreciate it more every time I make a trip to Ingles. It is a wonderful store. In fact, it even inspired us to cook dinner that night. We went home and made ourselves some delicious vegetable curry and couscous.
So that Thursday, was this crazy event for MA (Modern Atlanta) about the environment, and so Adam and I thought we would go and see what they had to say. It was..interesting. I did learn some stuff. Such as: I never want to be a realtor in Atlanta (too snobby), If you want fancy people food you should just show up at a modern showroom (we were offered wine, grapes, cheese, etc.), and these showrooms also have fantastic cupcakes. Adam and I actually probably took a few too many, but like I said, they were really yummy. There was another discussion after the environment one, but we decided to head out early, and went to Fernbank Science center, and saw Saturn and three of its moons. It was really beautiful. And again, I haven't quite figure out how to put pictures where I want them, so for now, you'll just have to scroll back to the top.
And then, Sunday, was the Modern Atlanta Home Show itself. Man. We'd walk in one, and just look at each other with mouths open, like WHO IN THE WORLD NEEDS A NIGHT CLUB IN THEIR BASEMENT? And then there were those that we thought were nice, just not quite our style. And then, there was one or two that we absolutely loved. It was a really nice tour, and we felt really fancy. The first house we walked in, we were the only people touring it because it was pretty early, and the woman that owned the house was telling us about this great fixer-up house down the street, perfect for a young couple. Not to stay in forever or anything, but it's a nice starter. Told us that we should look into it, and that it would only be selling for $600,000. You read that right. SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. Adam and I just laughed and said we'd have to go look at it. I think it's fair enough to say we experienced our couple of hours in elite Atlanta, and decided we would be completely happy without any of it. After all, there are many things I like more than modern design.
So again, check out our pictures for most of these things up top. Sorry for not updating in so long. We promise we'll try to be better.
-Katie and Adam