splitting time at christmas

being married, you've got to spend time with both sides of the family. especially if its feasible. since our parents only live about an hour apart, this setup is quite obvious.

we spent christmas eve at my parents house and were able to take part in the traditions i grew up with...roast beef, candlelight service, christmas music blasting, hot chocolate and french toast casserole breakfast, clemintines, gift exchange. rebecca's fiance michael was there this year, so jonathan had a lot of fun because there was a bit more of a balance in the house :). we spent christmas morning there and left for jonathan's parents just after noon.

as ususal, the day started late there...i think everyone was up and ready for christmas festivities by about 3:30 in the afternoon. we had yet another delicious meal and took part in the gift exchanging. we were able to stick around for a couple days while the guys enjoyed guitar hero on the wii and i completed a number of word finds that kept me occupied.

after a short couple of days back, we plan to drive back down and spend new years at jonathan's parents' as is tradition (this will be my fourth new years there!) and we'll spend a couple more days at my parents' house again. busy busy! i guess thats how we'll be working this time of the year out for quite a few years!

west coast adventure

so jonathan and i spent our first major holiday as a married couple not in georgia, in our beloved home state with either of our parents, but actually almost as far away as you could get from it.

we spent turkey day in oregon. that state seems to be popping into my life a lot lately. i had previously not been conscious of anyone in my sphere of existence having any connection to that northwest corner of the states. but within the past year, i've met two people who grew up in oregon and now know two couples who have made the cross country move from the peach state to the...beaver state? funny how that is.

of course, one of those couples is my sister-in-law, jessica, and her husband, brandon. since they have planned to return to georgia over christmas and couldn't make it for thanksgiving (plane tickets aren't cheap as we all know), jonathan and i decided to make use of the flying priveledges we have and purchase some discounted tickets for a thanksgiving vacation in oregon.

of course, travelling on standby isn't the least stressful way to travel, so we had made plans to fly out well before the influx of holiday travellers descended upon the airports. we booked our flight for tuesday morning at 6:40 am. we arrived at the airport well ahead of time, groggy of course. i won't go into all the details as i have in the past with all the drama standby travling causes, but as usual, we almost didn't get on and as late-comers kept making their way to the desk AFTER last call it was looking pretty hopeless until we finally got our seat assignments.

we made our way outside to board our tiny jet plane that would carry us from greensboro to atlanta. we settled in our seats and waited. but, of course, things can't go that smoothly. we wait and wait. then the pilot notifies us that there is something wrong with the cockpit chair and we must deboard the plane. already 25 minutes after scheduled departure, we were realizing that we very well may not make our 8:55 flight out of atlanta to portland.

after they wasted another 20 minutes or so, we all boarded the plane again and ended up making it to atlanta just as our connecting flight was taking off. of course, i wasn't suprised. we looked at a number of options, but in the end we decided to just take the next direct flight to Portland...8 hours later.

lucky for us, my parents were spending the day in atlanta anyway, so they picked us up from the airport and we spend the majority of the wait with them. eventually we made it to portland.
our first full day in oregon, we spent exploring the coast. i love sight seeing and seeing waves crash against big cliffs was at the top of my to see list. we had an unexpectedly sunny day. unfortunately on the way up the winding mountainous roads, a suv that was trying to pass us skidded across some black ice, swerved and srieked across the road and took a nose dive into the ditch and up the hill slightly into some trees. it was quite scary, being the only serious accident i've ever seen (hopefully the last) and the fact that none of us had a cell phone signal to call 911. jessica and i wanted to make sure they were alright and attempted to cross the road...we both slipped and fell on our butts in the middle of the road on the same black ice. some locals told us told us we should get back in the car and move on since it wasn't safe...they took care of it from there i guess. i think the driver was okay because i saw them open their car door and get out.

aside from that, we enjoyed the scenery...lots of green mossy trees and light shining though the trunks and branches. very pretty.


our first official stop was at the tillamook cheese factory. we indlulged ourselves in samples, tried to educate ourselves in the cheesemaking process, and guessed at what exactly the factory workers were doing down there. i'll tell you what, though. they make a heck of a lot of cheese!

after enjoying some delicious ice cream at tillamook, we continued our drive to the coast. We stopped at cape meares and i got to cross the whole waves crashing against cliffs thing off my to see list! it was quite spectacular and, of course, gorgeous. we were so happy to have a sunny day to get such a lovely view of everything! there isn't much more to say...pictures can do the rest for me.

next, we hit the beach. but not in the bikinis and flip flop kind of style. on our drive along the coast, we stopped at a couple of beaches to look at the scenery. rocky beaches are definately not what you see in your florida and southern beaches. but its a cool element to add to the scene for sure. this is our album cover for our next cd....
these next few are from canon beach...

jonathan claims this as his first true opportunity to watch a sunset. i'm a little skeptic to believe this, but its a romantic statement ;). of course, it was really amazing, as you can see. it seemed like everyone on the beach owned a dog. we enjoyed watching the dogs chase the seagulls...and eachother. we came across and adorable little dog that reminded me a lot of my childhood dog, maggie. he was a havanese, which is related to the bichon frise. i want one. :)

the true challenge of the trip was thanksgiving day. this was mine and jessica's first thanksgiving without our mom preparing all the yumminess we remember from years past. our first time preparing the huge meal by ourselves. now, i've been cooking some pretty simple things, but this was truly the first trial for that. jessica, with the aid of her mom on the phone all day, and i prepared the turkey, struggling with it as you would expect. it was heavy, huge, and akward to move. we didn't know where the giblets were, we didn't know how to insert the thermometer correctly, we didn't know a lot of things. but we certainly learned and all turned out okay. we made pies, sweet potatoes, cornbread, stuffing...you know, all the typical fixings. it turned out a success. since jonathan was in bed all day sick, i had to carve the turkey, too!


on friday we explored the river region. multnomah falls was by far the most intriguing of the falls we saw...it looked like it was straight out of a lord of the rings scene or something. a little further down the road we went onto a trail and hiked about 5 miles round trip to see about five other falls along the way. we packed a picnic lunch of turkey sandwiches and chips and enjoyed it while watching the water rush down the biggest of the falls.



on saturday we just spent the day relaxing and hanging out around portland. we checked out a mansion on top of a hill that overlooked the city of portland. it was a bit drizzly, so no such luck on seeing a view of mt. hood. but we were able to see a rainbow at least!

we took monday to drive up to seattle and check it out...we were on the west coast anyway, right? we ended up leaving pretty late...so we didn't arrive in seattle until about 4 pm or so. it was fun to check out a city you've always heard about...of course, we made it to the space needle (didn't go up because even though you couldn't see anything because of fog, they had no discounts on the $30 ticket). but it was a great chance to wander around and see the fish market and the bay.
and that pretty much sums up our west coast adventure! we had high hopes of skiing on mt. hood, but since the weather was mostly 60 degrees and drizzly, it didn't work out for us. hopefully one day we'll be able to make it back up there.

a new beginning...

i'm a tad late on marking the start of my new beginning, but at least i've gotten around to it. if you are one of the few who had visited my blog in the past, you'll notice that my lovely blog has gotten a facelift, as well as a new name.

"snippets of my college life" was good while it lasted. i had intended to keep a record of the day to day events of my experiences in college. this was all well and good, as I had some extra time on my hands. however, after meeting my husband (through this blog, true story) the extra time seemed to escape me and i indulged myself in other activities, such as spending hours into the night talking to him on the phone, starting my very involved interior design program, and scrap booking instead. so, obviously, as i've confessed many times before, my blog sat on the back burner for the last two years of my college life. it has been pretty pathetic.

but, new resolutions are not just for the new year. after graduating from the university of georgia in may, getting married in june, moving to winston-salem, and starting a job at a design firm, i've finally made myself sit down and do the tedious update. and i hope to, seriously now, at least do a post once or twice a month.

i figured since i had named my previous blog "snippets of my college life", i'd allude to it by posting my thoughts henceforth as "the grown up life". so, dear friends and loved ones, if you would like an update on my life as a newlywed, feel free to check in every once in awhile.

hello, i'd like a job.

beginning to write this post reminds me of one i wrote a couple of years ago in regards to finding a summer job at a camp.

with that job and a few more under my belt, i've been able to fill up the resume to be a little more presentable to prospective employers. i'm currently interning with a wonderful woman and helping her out with designing various spaces, picking out materials, filling out finish schedules...all the good things interns could want to do. sadly, i don't get paid.

but now is the time in life where i must find a job that pays. and not just one that gives me a little extra cash on top of my monthly allowance. that piggy bank hits the road when the wedding bells chime. well, actually the month before that when i ring the chapel bell on north campus for graduation. yes. i'm about to enter the big bad world of reality and that reality requires starting a career.

last semester, i spent hours working on developing my digital portfolio, refining it to present my best work. i worked on different layouts for my resume and generated a quality cover letter. i had high hopes to get the job search underway over christmas break. wedding planning kinda took over that. i reset the goal for the beginning of january. then school started and brought the business with it.

so february comes along and i begin to get stressed for my lack of diligence. i frantically begin critiquing my portfolio and resume, sure that it isn't good enough. after a few weeks of that, i finally had a great coordinated portfolio and it all written onto a cd and packaged complete with a ribbon. of course, this is a very expensive process, so i decided to give prospective candidates to receive my portfolio a call. i figured it would ensure that information i got online was up to date and give me a bit more of a feeling for what kind of company it is.

it was a brilliant idea. turns out, over half of the business phone numbers i had on my list had been disconnected. a good number of the others had moved locations and changed their number. and to my embarrassment, at least three of them had passed away. yes.

i had the pleasure of contacting my first deceased business owner and having a rather awkward conversation with a relative about it. i would always greet the person on the phone and tell them i am an interior design student searching for a job and that i would like to submit my portfolio. well, the poor man had to stop me in mid speal and inform me that ms. gibson had passed away about three years ago and, therefore, she is no longer in business. oh, i felt terrible. i apologized, he wished me luck, and i hung up the phone with the knowledge that my information is indeed quite out of date.

that was the only personal contact i had with anyone. but another company i called had their number disconnected. i found that a couple of other companies this occurred with had relocated and changed their number. so i searched the company name, which happened to have the person's name in it. i did not find another number. however, i did find the man's obituary dating back to 2001. it was then i really understood how old this information was.

but in the end, i got my resume out to about 20 businesses and i now sit on pins and needles as i await a phone call or e-mail from someone. hopefully before the end of the week.

parking isn't free

its my first and only year at school with a car and it has pretty much been the best thing of my four years here. a bit exaggerated, but not really. as soon as i knew that i would have my very own car to take to school with me, i signed myself up on the parking waitlist.

the only problem is that before i had my car at school, i was barely breaking even with my living expenses. toss another $75 a month for gas in the mix and my bank account is dwindling. i was able to select five lots to be put on the list for. i started off around 250 for about all of them and waited it out. of course, the first ones to be assigned (3 months later) to me were the $30 a month. obviously from my previous statement, i couldn't stretch my bank account that far. and the waitlist was a joke as well. i'd be as low as 12 one week, and the next i'd fall down to 78 or something ridiculous. its much like how georgia got cheated out of the national championship by the bcs this year.

so i made do. i would leave 45-50 minutes before class every morning to ensure that i could snag one of the last parking spaces at a church off lumpkin. 10 minutes to drive, 15 minutes of walking until i got to my class. i couldn't complain much because, hey, it was free. but that certainly does not make things easy.

it especially made things difficult when i had to get myself over to the intramural fields for my ultimate frisbee class. i know, i know. its like my favorite thing ever and yes, its a class. its impossible to get over there on foot in the 15 minute window we have. its impossible to get there by bus because basically all the lazy people on campus get on at one stop just to get off at the next. plus i'm not a fan of being shoved up against people i don't know...especially sweaty ones that need a shower. so, i've been trying to find the solution to my transportation problem. i've tried quickly trotting to my car (cut it down to about 11 minutes) and then driving to the back of the IM fields...i was late. i attempted the bus. no good. but finally, things went in my favor.

last friday i was notified via e-mail that i had won. i finally was assigned a parking pass. yes, it was $20 a month, but i've got four months of parking left and i've already saved all that parking money from last semester. its glorious. i drive 6 minutes. walk 4. it takes like no time at all. i actually arrived at my frisbee class early yesterday.

so all this to say, i have a parking permit. yay for me!

wanted: stolen tulip side table

the walls are seafoam and buttermilk and the air is filled that distinguished smell of fresh paint. the txmi department has finally, after many promises of "next semester", moved into our very own building. well, floor at least. since the beginning of my days as a furnishings and interiors major, we've had to share our studio with the messy drawing I class that gets charcoal everywhere, had professors prohibit us from completing our projects on time because we couldn't use the plotter, and have to climb up and down flights of stairs to leave the building. i know, they seem like major problems to you. please note the sarcasm. but even so, only half of my classes have moved to the new buildings and neither one of the CAD labs are fully functioning yet. yes, some construction is still taking place. but for some reason, the hall has not been properly locked after hours.

mrs. scheuneman came into class today rather flustered. she went on to tell us a story of the morning's events. our department owns a eero saarinen tulip dining room set. if that doesn't mean anything to you, just know that its true 1960s icon furniture. since the building has not been properly locked as of late, one of the side tables disappeared between thursday and monday. after realizing that it had indeed completely disappeared and had not just been relocated to a different part of the building, she filed a police report. they had come in this morning and began to ask questions about the said tulip end table.

"what exactly does this table look like?" questioned the officer, who had clearly, like you, never heard of such a thing as a tulip side table. scheuneman tried to articulate the wide base, smoothly transitioning to a narrow stem and then curving gracefully out again into a flat surface, but he could not imagine it. so she decided to pull up a visual via ebay, entering "tulip side table" into the search engine. she clicked on the first image that popped up to enlarge the image and realized that the table was listed for pickup only at a town about 10 miles from the university.

yup. it sounded suspicious to her, too. so later on, playing investigator, she called up the number listed to slyly question the seller. after all, they aren't all that common.

"hi, i live in the area and was thinking about coming by to see the tulip side table you have listed. do you mind me asking when you got the table in?"

"about 6 days ago." gotcha! that fell in perfectly with the time frame. so she called up the police and told them to go investigate...but she didn't seem hopeful when recounting the story to us that any action would be taken. alas, the bid would end in 6 hours and our tulip side table would go to the highest bidder for a price well over $100.

missing years

i'm afraid i've failed over the past couple of years to document my college life. freshman year i had this idea that i'd provide weekly or even daily updates on my journey through college...i'm not quite sure how much insight i believed i would have over the four years my test run as an independent would provide. i seemed more interested in having something to look back over, stories to laugh about that years from now i would never remember. those are the kind of things i've lost over the past couple of years by not blogging. in ways, its disappointing. i've had a few (and i stress few) people comment to me over the past few months about how they used to enjoy reading my blog.

i hope i could do those few people a favor by taking time out of my facebooking addiction, or evening hours tweaking my projects, or other small bits of time to produce an interesting story or thought every week. maybe people might still be interested to hear what is relevant or exciting in my life. after all, this little blog did play a major role in meeting my future husband :). i should treat it a little more lovingly.

the rainy season

yes. those of us in the state of georgia are suffering from a historic drought. for about two months now, we've been told to shorten our showers, refrain from running the water while we brush our teeth, and reminded that "every drop counts". i myself have tried my best to be conscious of my water usage and minimize where i tend to waste. you may see no relation whatsoever with this drought and flag football, but i will soon make clear the irony of it all.

in september, i signed up with a flag football team...for the most part, we all know eachother from RUF but were not technically associated with them this year. i wasn't in charge of the team name selection, but when i found out our name was a mouthful "we make it rain", i was a little puzzled. it wasn't quite witty or intimidating or relating to our association with one another like all other team names in our league. i was told it derived from some rap song where "making it rain" references throwing money into the crowd or something. okay. still doesn't make a whole lot of sense. but we went with it.

well, our first game it sprinkled the whole time. our second game it misted. our third game got rained out. our makeup game got rained out. we managed to make that third game up finally, and our fourth game was dry, but we lost that one. we made it through our entire fifth game before a thunderstorm broke out. we only had a little precipitation for the first game of the tournament. it began pouring halfway through our second game and they had to call it quits for the night. our third game of the tournament was the semi-finals, but no rain was to be had. we lost.

maybe you can see the pattern, but i'll make state it a little more matter-of-factly. despite us being in a severe drought, somehow it rained practically every thursday night for us. we thoroughly enjoyed the irony, and though through this post i've basically skipped over the juicy plays of the season, that is probably the best way to summarize. we played well, had some great catches, near misses, knuckles separated, bruises, scrapes and everything else related to a great football game. i somehow managed to rip the shorts off a poor girl in the tournament. that was entertaining.

jonathan came to almost all of our games and brought his camcorder, so he's planning on making a clip of the season and all. perhaps i'll be able to post it on here. anyway, all in all it was an awesome season of rain.

the postponed interview

so i spent my final precious days at home before classes started researching places to send my resume so i can get some experience before graduation. i worked on my resume, printed out cover letters, addressed and mailed them to about 10 different companies in the athens area.

turns out, only one really responded to me, which is still in itself exciting because it has potential. she got my resume the second day of classes and i called her for a follow-up. she seemed very friendly and wanted to set up a lunch interview...and me to pick the place. now i wasn't sure if she was leaning towards expensive italian or over-priced fast food mexican, so i went with the in-between sandwichy-lunch place called trans met. of course, she had never heard of it, so i tried to explain where it was without knowing exactly what the street names downtown are. i'm sure that looked great on my behalf. anyway, we got that nailed down and it was supposed to be august 27.

well, i spent the week trying to prepare and get things in order so that i would have something to impress her with. a portfolio of sorts. though i didn't have a trendy little folder or bound graphically designed booklet with my work in it. i went out shopping for a button-up shirt to wear to my interview. i got home sunday night before my interview and played model for the roommates as they tried to get my as professionally-trendy-and-grown-up looking as possible. we finally decided on an outfit and i was off to bed to get some rest.

i had a 9 am class and my interview wasn't until 11:30 am, so i had plans to go to class and then come home to get prettied up for my interview. but while in the midst of burning my tongue on some freshly nuked instant oatmeal, my phone began the annoying random i'm-not-sure-why ring of "hello moto" (i never even selected that as a ring tone) around 8:30 am. it was an unknown number, so i tried to pretend my tongue was less burned and like i didn't just spring accross the kitchen to my bookbag and dig through colored pencils, umbrella, wallet and ipod to get to my phone as i picked up to casually say "hello?"

well, it was the woman who i had my lunch interview with and she sounded a little distraught.

"i'm sorry, Jeannine, but i'm going to have to postpone our interview for today..." she kind of trailed off.

of course, i'm a little stunned...at first i thought of "postponed" as meaning "cancelled" which are two separate words, and when i came to that realization, i was able to tune back into the phone call. i quickly said that it wouldn't be a problem at all, curiosity most likely oozing from my tone. well, it was soon satisfied, but was certainly bad news. i could tell it was painful to tell me that her father had passed away unexpectedly over the weekend and that she needed time to take care of things. my previously curtious "no problem at all" was then replaced with a sympathetic one.

i guess at first, i may have been thinking that the last minute phone call was due to a double-booking or business issue...something that would push me back because there were more important things to do. but the fact that she had suffered a great loss made me wish that it was the reason...it would be better for me to get my feelings hurt than for someone to lose a father. i really felt sorry for her and told her she should take all the time she needed.

we re-scheduled for two weeks later. so, i sent out my resume in mid-august and don't get an interview until mid-september. i guess that gives me more time to get my outfit in order, more time to organize a portfolio, more time to practice my interviewing skills. of course, i haven't gotten much of that done, even though it is now less than a week away. i'm hoping this interview goes well...it looks like a really great place to work and get experience, she seems like a friendly lady, i just don't know if on an interview you should ask how someone is doing since they lost someone two weeks prior.

anyway, my interview is on monday. hopefully it will go well and she will see how much i want to work at an interior design firm.

the second era of summer

yet another month passes by with no word on the blog.

this past month has been crazy as far as life goes...and it has been the greatest summer ever by far. not only did i get to travel abroad in greece and italy and see so many awesome things, but now i'm engaged to the love of my life! when i was abroad, it felt like i was gone forever and i was so ready to get home. its funny now because now it seems so long ago, as if i've had two completely different summers.

well, to give you an update on things, jonathan and i have selected June 14th for our wedding. we hit the ground running trying to select a place for the reception and find a photographer, etc. it was pretty stressful trying to find a place, as june weddings are in high demand. i already knew that i was going to have the ceremony at my home church, which i'm a member of and have grown up in. a photographer was also an easy choice, since i worked at a photography studio last summer and they're great...though expensive. And for a reception, we were looking for somewhere that had a big room with a dance floor and was affordable. its really amazing how expensive it is to have a reception. jonathan and i have agreed to limit our guest list to 90 people each, which is quite difficult when you want so many people you love to be there and celebrate with you. but i guess everyone has to make cuts somewhere.

anyway, one place we considered was a golf course clubhouse that has an antebellum feel, a winding staircase, crystal chandeliers, and a big ballroom upstairs. this is a year in advance and yet two of the four weekends in june 2008 were already booked earlier that week. we had our appointment toward the end of the day and left thinking about it as we went to our next appointment. we drove for a good 20 minutes and the person who was to show us around never showed up. we then decided that the price at the other place was very reasonable and went back to make the deposit and sign stuff. of course, on a friday, people dip out as early as possible. i had to leave a message with the woman in charge telling her that we wanted the place and that we would drop off the deposit as soon as we could the next day.

well, my mom went in to drop off the check after she got off work. turns out, another bride had called that morning requesting our date and willing to come by right then. thankfully, the coordinator told them we were coming in and they couldn't have it until the next tuesday. if they couldn't get that date, then they wanted the last one in june. of course, we put down our deposit and secured the date, but its crazy how in just one week's time, june 2008 was booked up.

so that was God's blessing there. since then, i haven't made too many big decisions. i selected my bridesmaids! my maid of honor will be my twin sister, rebecca. my other bridesmaids will be my sister, kaitlin, future sister-in-law, jessica, two of my best friends from high school/roommates now, anna and colette, and my best friend from college/roommate now, amy. so i will have a total of six, which is a little big, but certainly do-able.

colors are still unknown to me. its an important decision and i just have no idea what i really want. i've been wedding dress shopping a couple of times and found a bunch that i really like. i really have to make a good decision because with everything i've already done so far (church, reception, photographer), i've already spent almost 3/4 of my budget.

so aside from all the wedding stuff, i've still been pretty busy. my girls and moved into our sweet new house on july 29 and we got settled in pretty quickly. i've been trying to find design businesses to send my resume to so i can get a job this year. i've also been back and forth to the lake with jonathan a few times. but, summer is dwindling to an end and i start classes first thing on thursday morning.

so long sweet summer.

the question

there are many stories to still be told of my two month travels abroad in greece and italy. but the story i have now trumps by far any of those which i have been intending to post when i got the chance.

jonathan had told me about a week or two before that he had a big welcome home date planned out for us when i got back home. of course, it made me very happy to know that he was already putting so much thought into a special date. he planned to pick me up at 8 a.m. on saturday and had tossed around some different ideas of going on a hike in north georgia or going to athens and sorts.

i was up for 24 hours traveling on friday and didn't crawl my jet lagged self into bed until about 1 a.m. so i called him up as i was going to bed and asked him to push it back one more hour so i could get some extra rest. i still didn't sleep well, anxious to see my boyfriend after not seeing him for months. when i finally got to hug him again on my driveway, he was just as handsome as i had left him, but 17 lbs lighter :).

we swung by chick-fil-a for some chicken biscuits...so much better than the rolls with chocolate spread i've been having for 50-something days in a row! we got on the road by 10 and started driving up i-85 north. i had no idea where we were going, so i just settled into my passenger seat and we talked the entire way. talking in person is so much better than over the phone. i had really missed that. we pulled of the interstate in north georgia and stopped at a publix to get some of our traditional picnic food: turkey subs, snapples, and chips.

as our drive continued, i realized we were heading for chattanooga. it was kind of drizzly, so jonathan casually asked me whether i wanted to go to ruby falls because it was in a cave out of the rain, or rock city on lookout mountian and hope it doesn't rain. i thought my indecisiveness just lead him to choose rock city so we didn't push our luck with the weather holding up, but it turns out that was the plan all along. we pulled into the parking lot and jonathan seemed pretty upset because there were a lot of cars there, meaning there were a lot of people there as well. i just couldn't understand why this would make him so annoyed when it was a tourist attraction on a saturday in the middle of the summer.

we bought tickets to both places and then began exploring rock city. it was adorable, with all the trails paved with stone and the paths leading between walls of rocks that you had to suck in and shimmy through sideways to get through. jonathan had a backpack on, so it didn't seem much easier for him. we wandered and took some pictures along the way-i was happy because i love being outside and doing these kinds of things. he knows me well :). our destination for our picnic was lover's leap, the place where theres an overlook where you can see 7 states: georgia, south carolina, north carolina, tennessee, virginia, kentucky, and alabama. the view up there is amazing, even on a cloudy day.

i was carrying some umbrellas in case the sky decided to break loose and jonathan carried the cooler and his backpack. we found a nice picnic table with an umbrella that could keep us out of the light drizzle and sat down to eat our turkey sandwiches. as we were eating, jonathan kept watching the overlook and complaining when groups of people would trickle in and crowd up the place. he had taken about 3 bites of his sandwich before declaring that he was full, while i was just taking my time enjoying the wonderful date we were having and being happy to be with him again. i believe i have picked up a bit of a european habit of taking forever to eat lately.

meanwhile, jonathan is telling me about how excited he is to give me my welcome home presents and is trying to jump at every opportunity for us to go over there as soon as people leave. he also keeps telling me that he is excited about it because one of the gifts he made himself and it was really special to him-its nothing really expensive or anything. because he was so anxious, he had me open a card he had written for me while i was still eating. finally, i decide that i guess i could be done and just wrapped up the rest of my sandwich and we walked over to the ledge. he had me put everything down, including my camera, and opened up his little shopping back that held my gifts.

he first gave me a t-shirt that he had designed for his youth group. he had mentioned it a while ago and i was excited to finally have gotten it. he had me close my eyes for the next gift. i did so gladly because this is how jonathan likes to give gifts. its more fun than wrapping paper anyway :). when opened my eyes, he had placed a car charger for my phone in my hands. he told me he wanted me to have it because, since i'll finally have a car at school, he wants to be able to be there for me and protect me any time i need him. again, he had me close my eyes and placed a journal in my hands. i flipped it open as he was telling me that it was a collection of his thoughts and prayers for me while i was gone. he prayed for me everyday while i was gone and was going to pray for me for the rest of my life. i loved it and gave him a huge hug and told him how i couldn't wait to read it. i thought that was it. i thought that was the big gift he was excited about.

but then he said "and the next gift i have for you" and went on to explain how much he missed me over the two months while we were apart and how he loves me and never wants us to be apart again, how he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, as he lowers himself to one knee and asks me to marry him!!! i was so overwhelmed and it was all such a blur after that- all i remember is that i immediately blurt out "YES!" as i lunged on him to give him a big hug...of course, the white bling of a sparkling diamond in the box he was holding caught my eye on the way! i gave him a good squeeze for about a minute, hanging on his neck mumbling who knows what along with "oh my gosh's" and all. after awhile, i heard jonathan say "can i put the ring on you now?"

it is absolutely gorgeous! he picked it out all by himself and there couldn't possibly be a more perfect ring for me out there! my hand was shaking from adrenaline i guess when he put it on...i was in shock and it was so surreal. i hardly remember what all went on in the minutes following, but i made sure i had someone take a picture of us right away and then we wandered around the park on cloud 9 just talking about everything.

but oh, the story continues! we later leave for ruby falls and enjoy that together. i was amazed that my ring could still sparkle in a dark cave! anyway, we finished wandering around and finally got in the car and started heading back. we stopped at olive garden along the way and picked up some chicken parmesan to go, i had no idea why it was to go. we had gone to olive garden for our first date. we end up at his sister jessica and brother in law's place where jonathan had them set up tea candles and 4 dozen roses everywhere with romantic music playing and everything. it was so beautiful. so we had a private romantic dinner. jonathan tried moving the vase of roses over a bit because he thought they were getting burned and accidentally spilled the water, but it was kind of funny in a way and it didn't spoil anything (just so jonathan knows).

we finally got back to my place and i had to drag my mom downstairs after she changed out of her pjs to tell her the news! becca and her date michael came home some time after that and she flipped out...it was the best reaction ever. the next day i had to keep it a secret at church so i could get together with the girls later that night and tell them the good news!

its been crazy the past few days trying to call everyone and let them know. we're working on a date and already checking out reception venues and everything. its funny how new this is all to me. i don't know how to be engaged. its one of those things you can only learn by doing i guess. as for now, its still sinking in. i can't believe that i am engaged to such a loving, wonderful man who makes me laugh and couldn't make me happier.

when bush is in rome...

i knew studying abroad this semester would provide me with many new experiences and stories to tell. but oh the stories i have to tell.

its been a busy week running around through ancient roman ruins, exploring cryptaporticos/underground dark tunnels (and being frightened by "bats") and seeing temples that were converted to churches, and so on. so after a week of this, we get the weekend off to enjoy all to ourselves. of course, we want to shop after wearing the same clothes over and over. plus, i was in desparate need of a pair of jeans...they'd be perfect for cool nights and going out.

first thing in the morning, becca and i woke up to head up to her church that she has to research for her presentation. there are typically a lot of cops, but this was just insane. i mean, there was quite an assortment of different branches of police, from the swat team, to army looking officials, to the snazzily dressed cops that always roam the streets. the streets were lined with armored vehicles parked one after the other, huge charter buses all in a row with cops on board, and guys standing in the street. basically, we were overwhelmed with it all and i don't think a description could quite describe it well enough. so anyway, we're walking along, knowing that president bush is in town and figuring that was the reason behind the madness. we soon ran into a photojournalist who chatted with us for a bit after offering us help when we looked like the confused tourists we are. he pointed us further up the road..."where bush is coming from". so indeed, it was confirmed, we were following the same route that bush would be coming down in a few minutes.

we continued on our mile and a half walk, in disbelief of the crowds and cops and protestors. anyway, long story short, we got to becca's building to find the walk was all in vain. we had stupidly worn shorts and tank tops which is a sure way to be denied to a church here. we sat around the gorgeous fountain out front waiting to see if bush would go by with no success. becca grew weary of waiting and we were anxious to get to shopping. we arrived back to the hotel around lunch time and reported to everyone how intense the atmosphere was out there.

we went out for our afternoon spree and soon we came to a road lined with pedestrians and cops yelling at anyone who dared to step off the curb. no one could pass. we knew something was about to happen, so i whipped out my camera and turned it to video mode. within a minute or so, motercycles and black suburbans with tinted windows and flashing lights were speeding by. we were trying to figure out which one he would have been in when we saw a black limo go by and a shadow in the window waving to those he passed by. everyone's conclusion as it went by was that it was indeed, president bush! we were all pretty excited about the casual run-in.



the shopping continued, though dampered a bit by the HIGHLY expensive shopping district by the spanish steps. on our way back, we thought we might get another chance to see bush. waiting again, we gave up and headed back. becca and i headed out again together nearby our hotel and i finally purchased a pair of jeans for a great deal of 15 euros. we continued around, and decided it was time to head back. we stepped out of the last store to hear tons of music and crowds yelling and saw flags marching by that consisted of communist red flags, cuban flags, italian flags, anti-bush banners, and a man on a megaphone yelling something about america quite often. needless to say, becca and i felt a little uneasy about the hostility towards our president and americans in general.

"if something goes wrong, jeannnine, we're speaking in french" were the words of becca as we walked on the sidewalk next to the chaos. i felt like we stuck out like blond hair, blue eye,d american twins amongst the punk, dred locked, baggy clothed, haven't bathed in a few days protestors. we are a block away from the hotel when becca squeezes my hand to tell me its time to move off the main road with all the protestors. then i see the group of girls we're always with sitting no more than 30 feet from the road just sitting down for dinner. we ran over to them and questioned their coolness about the atmosphere.

"these are just peaceful protestors!" carina reassures us. "plus we have front row seats!" we should have listened to our gut instict, but we did need to eat dinner and it would be interesting to watch. so we had a seat and placed an order. as i always do for security measures while eating out, i wrap the straps of my purse around my leg so it doesn't get stolen. not so good in light of what happened next.

within five minutes of sitting down, i suddenly see a look of fear on carina's face and jump up in a split second, and then i turned around to see literally a stampede of people pouring into the alleyway towards us. it all happened so fast. i try to grab my purse, but its tangled around my leg, caught on the chair, i'm reaching for my shopping bag, i'm hopping on one leg trying to get my purse, pushing through chairs to get to the restaurant doors, people are screaming, i'm shoving chairs into other people, i see carina standing at the door, the owners trying to shut the doors and roll down screens, i finally get inside and the doors close. i looked around and didnt' see becca anywhere, so i was freaking out yelling "where's becca??" over and over and very emotionally shaken at this point that i started tearing up and so forth.

then i see becca, sarah, and katie come bursting through the doors. apparently they had hit the ground when they saw us jump up, thinking there was gunfire or something and were hiding under the table laying on the cobblestone for a good minute. we were all scared and the waiters were telling us we're fine and seated us inside to have our meals. our apetite had left and we were ready to go within 15 minutes, but still worried about what was happening outside.

we try to walk casually back to the hotel, which was literally around the corner. it concerned me that protestors had made their way off the main road, but we hurried as much as possible. we reached the hotel doors when we heard loud banging, realizing it was the police on the next street lined up with their sheilds and banging on them with their batons. we ran upstairs to our room to see what was going on. we could see the protestors on the main road marching, the cops through the two buildings in front of the plaza lined up with their blue helments and sheilds, things were exploding, and sirens wailing. it was really scary. then we'd see people run up our alley from the main road. becca and i spotted our photojournalist friend from our window...he was right below us with his cameras and all. there were suspicious individuals who we tried to keep an eye on...of course, i got the majority of this on film.

after about an hour back in the hotel room, the police broke up the protest and things slowly went back to normal. the sun had set, people were sitting down to eat a candlight dinner, couples strolled by holding hands, and a man played a clarinet for change just below our window.

the tales of the tb man

so i'm sure y'all are awaiting updates of my travels throughout the greek isles and the stops leading up to my arrival here in rome (we arrived yesterday). but i have an interesting story to tell.
we've been island hopping for the past week and a half, enjoying the beautiful landscapes despite the dampening rain. that has been quite a tragedy. but not the point. once we finished with our travels throughout the isles, we took an overnight cruise on a ship to southern italy. however, once we arrived in itlay, we were out of connection with the world. this is becuase for three nights, both of the hotels we stayed at had 1. no internet connection and 2. no phone lines availible to us 3. in the middle of nowhere. they did have some nice views/ close proximity to ruins, but we felt a bit removed from society. we had to pay to have air turned on, our tvs didn't work, and so on. okay so enough complaining. i know, i'm in europe for goodness sake.
so anyway, point being that when we arrived here in rome yesterday, we were desparate for both laundry and contact with loved ones. becca and i hit the ground running and were first to locate the nearest laundry facility and get it going. when we finally got back, we walked into carina and katie's room to be in the middle of a story that confused me.
she was talking about a man who had tuberculosis that traveled on like 7 flights or something. it didn't really make sense to me at first why she was so animated about the story or why this mattered so much. i don't know if you have heard the news about the atlanta man who flew to athens, greece for his wedding and had a severe/rare case of tb, but it turns out that this same man flew on the same flight from paris to athens that carina and jamie had been on. jamie and i have been roommates the whole trip and carina, jamie, me, becca, sarah, and katie have been hanging out the entire trip.
so basically, this all broke out on our last night in greece and school officials, parents, etc. have been trying to get in contact with us because they knew they had been on that flight with him. we find all this out last night and they would have to use their first free day in rome to get tests in the hospital. fun, huh?
but this is not the end of the coincidental story. as we gathered more information about the circumstances surrounding the events of tb man, how he was from atlanta, how he just got married in athens, we make a very sudden and ironic connection. a random and rather unimportant conversation with an older atlanta man who shared a breakfast buffet with us at our hotel (which pretty much only housed our group of 30 and maybe 3 additional rooms) popped out of our blur of memories from the past 3 weeks. we had finished our week in athens, had enjoyed our stay in mykonos, and were wrapping up our stay in santorini when this man told us he too was from atlanta and he and his wife and the other couple had come to greece for their son's wedding which was that past weekend. the wedding was in athens, greece. so basically, not only did jamie and carina fly on the same airplane as tb man, but we ate breakfast with his parents a week and a half later! its just too strange to comprehend.
as for the testing today, their chest xray scans came up negative and they are still awaiting the tb test prick in the arm which they'll go back for on wednesday. so i think we're safe. we'll see...if you hear of an outbreak of tb amongst a group of georgia students, think of me.

a different sort of athens...

internet access here is not so easy...either i dish out about $1.50 for 15 minutes on the computer, or i sit and wait for the opportunity to borrow one from one of the lovely people on study abroad that had the guts to bring one along. one has finally fallen into my hands.
becca and i left about 9 days ago and headed for greece. the flight alone was interesting enough, but i'll just get to the part where we got to baggage claim and had no bags to claim. yes. becca and i in our heels and dress clothes (being "non-revs") after they were our pjs a few hours before, would have to remain in them for an additional 28 hours or so.
apparently, delta decided that the weight of the airplane couldn't hold an additional 84 pounds of luggage and decided to hold it in atlanta. we figure that after finding becca's bag had been searched by the asa, they simply missed the plane or something. so in a haze, we wandered around athens trying to find our hotel and later some flip flops to escape the pain of walking on cobblestone in heels. but of course, every plastic flip flop turns outto be at least $30.
instead, we had to use that money to go back to the airport the next day to pick up our beloved baggage. it was a one hour trip both ways, but so worth getting out of those clothes!
becca and i spent the rest of that second day getting acquainted with our next hotel's location. we mastered the metro with no problem and haven't gotten lost yet. we surprised some of our study abroad buddies by showing up at the hotel and explored the area. those extra two days really helped us get our bearings.
on monday we all headed to the beach. the mediterranean is a bit colder than we all anticipated and quite rocky. like most european countries, they don't seem to like swimsuits over here. we had some rather akward moments as topless girls in thongs decided to occupy the sand adjacent to us. it was even worse when a perverted man busted out his camera phone, as you can imagine.
we were bombarded with men trying to sell us a wide variety of items, from bouncing, light up sea urchins to magazines about jesus in greek to bikinis those girls don't want to wear anyway. theres a lot of that around here. but aside from that and not having any towels to lay out on, the view was beautiful.
later we met up with all the study abroad group that made it to the hotel on time. thanos, our professor, lead us to the top of a mountain right next the the acropolis that had the most amazing view of the city. there are buildings sprawling out just about as far as the eye can see...we could see the mediterranean in the distance, the acropolis, and a number of other significant mountains and landmarks. the view was amazing at the top. it wasn't so great on the way down.
becca, kaite, sarah, and i all stayed back to take more pictures and admire the view. the group was only about 5 minutes ahead of us. but somehow i guess we took the wrong path. we were just chatting and watching our footing on our way down the mountain path that was lined with trees and brush. suddenly from the corner of my eye, i saw more to a male figure than i wanted to see. we all quickly passed by this man, trying to continue our conversation that was being held moments ago, but words were mostly lost into studders. i don't know why a man in a blue collared dress shirt and dress socks would be standing on the side of a mountain without any pants, but it definitly wasn't what any of us were expecting or wanted to see.
tuesday kicked off our week of intense sight seeing. we took a long bus ride to mycenae to see the ruins of one of the most ancient pre-grecain civilizations. it involved a lot of hiking and beautiful views, like most of the days, but i think my favorite part was where we stopped for lunch. we stopped in the beautiful city of nafpoli, which used to be the captial of greece. it was right by a blue sea, with some sort of castle that appeared to be floating in the middle. the streets were packed with vedors of souveniers, but what i admired most were the flowering vines of pink flowers that crawled over the walkway from one balcony to the other. there were two mountains there, the tallest with a huge mideaval fortress on top and the other with an older one. we got some delicious gelato...it was a great way to start the trip!
the next day we began our tour of classical athens, visiting the agora and, of course, the acropolis. at the acropolis, the cheif architect gave us a behind the scenes tour of the reconstruction...we got to see how they are carving the new marble to fit with the ruins. its amazing how many pieces of various buildings they have and they pretty much know how it all fits together! so that was pretty cool.
our hotel is right next to the acropolis, literally a 5 minute walk to the gates. we're in the heart of the touristy district, which has its ups and downs. we always have a fabulous view of the city and the acropolis from our hotel's roof garden. the bad part is that whenever you step outside the hotel, the restaurant people are enticing you to "come! eat here! we have best food in athens" and "pretty girls, would you like something sweet? drinks? coffee?" and so on. i hate that as much as i hate the men trying to sell those bouncy sea urchins.
so on with the trip. thursday we did some more hiking around athens. THE longest day ever. we probably walked about 6 or 7 miles and i took about 15 pages of notes (which means pretty much the whole time). it was very hot. but despite the length, it was great.j
one fun story is when we were about to cross the street at the beginning of the day, a fat lazy dog awoke from his slumber on the sidewalk. well, when a group of about 30 people walked up, he woke up and decided to cross the street with us. its funny how all the dogs here know to wait for the people to start crossing. anyway, the lights are retarded, and only a few people make it barely two steps beyond the median before the light changes red for us to cross. so they turn back and all 30 of us squeeze onto a 3 foot wide median. but the dog was unaware of this, so when he got to the other side, he realized his new pack was not with him. he barked and howled at the cars and motercycles as they whizzed by, as if he were angry with them. it was pretty funny to watch and he did this the whole time we waited. when we all finally crossed, he was satisfied, but would bark at the stragers that passed by. so this dog followed us for a solid hour and a half...he waddled through the town, up the streets, didn't give a ticket to get through the gates to the acropolis, sat with us through lecture, climbed up the rocky slopes, you name it. he was our pet for the day.
we took a break for lunch and the most exciting thing about that was becca got pooped on by a bird. well, maybe not exciting, but it was pretty darn funny. but my bad event came later when we finally ended our day and we were all walking back from the other side of town. i was exhausted and weary, walking along the road when suddenly my vision turned sideways and i was catching myself on the ground and my ankle popped. i had stepped in a massive 4 inch deep pothole in thev middle of the freaking road! it hurt painfully bad and becca was kind enough to let me hobble home with her assistance. it was swollen pretty bad until about sunday (which is today).
friday was a fabulous break from the excessive walking of the day before. it was a 3 hour bus ride to delphi, where the gods were said to have lived. apparently, theres some kind of chemical in the water there that made people high, causing them to hallucinate and stuff like that. if you smelled too much of the fumes or drank too much of the water, you would die. anyway, it was gorgeous up there, the mountains were incredibly high.
i spent a lot of the time after the excursions rewriting my notes into a final journal. its very exhausting. but anyway, the past two days have been pretty low key. we went to the national museum yesterday and then dished out a lot of money for laundry. its been rainy, of course, on our days off, which sucks. but oh well.
we're leaving tomorrow morning at 6 am for mykonos. more updates to come!

yet another brief update

so resolutions are no good. i guess you can hope for the best, but that obviously doesn't always happen. of course, this semester has been just as chaotic as the last and at no point did i sit down and say to myself "i have too much time on my hands. i guess i'll blog."

i had a huge semester long project that i'm sure i'll be wanting to post soon. i designed a house for my boyfriend jonathan's parents and did everything from bubble diagrams and programming to picking out finishes and rendering final perspectives (and believe me, theres a lot in between). thats a pretty good summary of the semester.

the girls (anna, amy, and colette) and i are all living in a new house together next year. the plus side is its brand new (we signed the contract within a week of them breaking ground). the downside is its kinda in the ghetto. but we'll make do and have a wonderful final year (well...i might be the only one in my final year).

i guess i just wanted to summarize the semester before i study abroad for two months all over greece and italy. the plan is (as it always is) to keep everyone who wants to be informed on the adventures of the trip. i'm sure there will be some great stories to tell. lets just see if i'll be able to share them while away (may 12-july 7).

stay tuned in the midst of static...

its like riding a bike

i am not lance armstrong. i am not sweat proof. i am not a mechanical expert.

but after two and a half years of walking up and down the hills of uga's extensive campus, i have gotten my hands on a red "vintage" road bike.

why not until now? refer to line one. plus add that the idea of having a bike at school has always been just that...an idea. but after many occasions last semester when i had to walk a mile home in the dark by the cold moonlight (because i am a car-less junior), i figured it was time to make the dream a reality.

the benefits of having a bike? getting to an fro quickly. perhaps extending the boundaries of how far i can venture. exercise.

the setbacks? i mentioned that i'm not sweat proof. biking uphill for a few hundred feet with giant buses trying to pass on my left doesn't help that. secondly, i haven't ridden a bike in years, let alone having never ridden a road bike.

so the first week of classes i shied away from riding the new mode of transportation for fear of losing balance and falling off in front of a bus to meet my demise. so basically, i had to teach myself how to ride a bike.

side note. wherever the expression "its like riding a bike" came from, it should be scratched out of the cliché handbook. i always took it to mean that once you learn it, it comes right back to you...but no. i wouldn't say that the bike analogy works for me like that.

of course, the last bike i rode was magenta. it was smaller. i sat straight up on the seat...which was comfy. it had the gear shifts ON the handlebars. that was brilliant. those were the days when bike riding was easy.

i think what made this bike so hard to adjust to was the fact that i have to bend over and reach pretty far for the handlebars...plus they're curled. i don't think the seat and i were meant for each other. and i have to take my hands OFF the handlebar in order to shift the gear.

so anyway, the bike and i were just starting to get along. i was getting used to squeezing the crap out of the brakes to slow down and shifting as i'm starting up a hill has become quite a talent of mine. though i have bruises covering both my legs from having to carry my bike up two flights of stairs to my apartment because there are no more spots left on the bike rack, it gives my arms a little exercise. i get to class in the morning a little out of breath and breaking a sweat, but i can deal with it. and aside from the gears deciding to jump around while i'm pushing my way up a steep hill, things had been going just fine.

but like i said, i am no mechanical expert. i guess i should have taken the gears jumping around while i'm pedaling as a symptom of something much worse. last monday i hopped on my bike after a full day of classes and began pedaling my way home. i waited at the stoplight for a green light, and when i began to pedal again, there was no resistance and i was only moving because i was heading downhill.

i pulled over the the side and, embarrassed, climbed off my bike to analyze the problem. it just so happened that the chain had come off the gears completely. i spent the next 15 minutes trying to reattach the chain with no success. the only result was wasting time, getting black grease all over my hands, and having to push my bike all the way home.

in short: not fun.
i have yet to fix it. that would take me googling bike gears or something and trying to guess by looking at pictures. so that is the extent of my biking experience in the past few months. it hasn't been as easy or ideal as my expectations.

the blogging resolution

if my life only consisted of what was written on my blog, it would be proof that i didn't have much of one (be that a blog or a life). according to my blog, all i've done in the past six months or so is get a speeding ticket, get locked in a bathroom, and drawn a bunch of random things.

its a relief that i'm not required to record my life's events, though they do tend to disappear from my memories when i don't. i guess that was my intention when i began this blog back when college was a fresh beginning. i wanted to keep track of all the funny moments, random trips, and perhaps any insightful thoughts i had...though those are quite rare.

last semester, i figured it would be mundane to write about things that were going on because it felt like all i did was work in the studio. but thinking back now, plenty happened that was interesting...but eventually i won't be able to remember much about it at all. so i'm using this post to say that i need to be better at posting...for me and my future faulty memory a few years down the road and for all those who wish to keep up with the happenings in my life. not that there are many of you out there.

anyway, i guess you can say its like a new years resoultion a few months late...or maybe a valentine's day resolution that is not really associated with love or romance whatsoever.

so here's to being a better blogger...but you know resolutions are hard to keep.

rendering sketchbook

it was only one of many time consuming classes that i had, but the work from my rendering class is probably more interesting than drafting.

when the semester began, none of us in the program knew how we were going to be able to do what our professors expected of us. its amazing to see how far we came in just one semester.

i've tried to arrange the following pictures in the order i drew them. all of them were done with prismacolor markers and colored pencils.

granite sample

 

brick sample