Cirque du Soleil

Last Saturday was Damien's office party. For the celebration they took us to see Cirque du Soleil's performance of Ovo. It was absolutely fabulous!!!

Hand balancer (dragonfly)

We had VIP tickets that included free drinks and appetizers before the show started, third row seats right in the very front of the stage, and dessert during intermission.

Foot jugglers (ants)

Appetizers included orchids with chicken filling, lamb skewers, and crab and lobster nachos. For dessert they served brownies with caramelized bananas on top, strawberry smoothies, chocolate-dipped strawberries, and had small containers which you could fill up with candy for the second half of the show.

Acrosport (fleas)

The costumes and make-up were so elaborate and very creative. The performances were amazing. They had trapeze, acrosport, and trampoline artists along with foot jugglers, a contortionist, and a hand balancer. The acting and story were very clever. At one point they even pulled a few people from the audience to participate in the show!

Trampoline (grasshoppers)

If you ever get the chance to see Cirque du Soleil I would recommend going to see it. It was so entertaining and fun. Thank you Fast for such a nice treat, we felt like we were famous for the evening!

Contortionist (spider)

Sewing

I've finished a few sewing projects and thought I would share them with y'all.

I finally finished the baby girl quilt! It turned out so pretty. I am very happy with it. Two of my good friends here in Atlanta quilted it for me for free and they did a great job!

Front

On the single fabric blocks, I had them quilt the words that are on the fabric on the back of the quilt. (see below)


The back.


Working at the quilt shop is a great outlet for my creativity! I have the opportunity to make samples of various patterns for the shop, which I get to keep afterward. My first sample was this Oliver + S pajama pattern.


Isn't it the cutest little outfit you've ever seen? It's still on display at Intown Quilters!

Thanksgiving Atlanta Style

Thanksgiving was fabulous! We were invited over to one of Damien's co-worker's homes with a few other co-workers. They prepared two turkeys. One was deep fried and the other was smoked in a Green Egg. I had never seen a Green Egg before, but apparently you can cook, smoke, and BBQ in them. I want one now.

Deep frying a turkey is quite a process. First, you get a huge vat of oil and heat it. Once heated you strategically lower the turkey in it and cook it. You have to be extra careful not to burn yourself or have any incidences with the hot oil. Then you have to find somewhere to dispose of all that used oil (like the neighbor's back yard). This is what the set-up looks like.


While the turkeys were finishing up we sat out on the enclosed porch, had appetizers, drinks, and enjoyed the 75 degree weather. That's right, it was 75 degrees here on Thanksgiving. I love the weather here!

The smoked turkey was really good. I would like to eat that all the time. It had a really nice smoked flavor to it. The deep fried turkey didn't have any particular flavor (besides turkey), but it was nice and moist as well. Damien and I both ate way too much food, but it was delicious!

A Few Updates

We added a few more items to our apartment! Damien and I picked out some fabric and made curtains for some of our windows so we could have a little privacy.


The fabric has a paisley print on it. Here's the close-up.

My favorite addition is this beautiful piece of art. Damien took a trip to France, Belgium, and Italy right before we got engaged. While in Paris, he picked up this beautiful silk scarf. It has a detail of the famous Gustav Klimt painting "The Kiss" which I love. I refused to wear it because I didn't want to get it dirty and I wanted to be able to see the beautiful image on it. I decided I wanted it framed so we could all enjoy it. It turned out fabulous and is the perfect center piece!


Here is the full Klimt painting.

Halloween

Not sure why Damien's face looks green in this picture.

We dressed up for our ward's Halloween Party as Indians again. I love getting to wear my beautiful sari and it makes me laugh every time Damien pulls the pants out for his outfit. (I think it's called a kurta.) The pants are made to fit most sizes; that's why the waist is 44 inches wide and made to cinch up as small as needed.

We had a great time and were lucky enough to run into a family from Sri Lanka who we hadn't met before because they're in the other ward. The daughter was very helpful and offered to show me how to properly wrap my sari. That's why it looks so good in the pictures! Also, Rita let me borrow some of her beautiful Indian jewelry to complete the look! Thanks.

The Finished Product

I'm sure y'all want to see how the apartment looks now that we are all unpacked. We still have a bit of work to do but here you go!

Entry

Kitchen


Kitchen & dining area

Dining area

Living room

Office area and TV

Laundry room

Bedroom



Walk-in closet

It was a hot mess,

but we are finally all moved in! (A side note: "hot mess" is a southern saying meaning in a state of disarray.) Our stuff arrived on a huge semi on October 14. They unloaded everything and we were still missing three boxes. The truck driver was able to retrieve two of them from their previous delivery, but we are still missing one.


The day of delivery, Damien got work off to help me unpack. We had boxes and stuff everywhere. Our goal was to get the basics set up like the bed, shower curtain, kitchen table, and dishes that day so we could survive until everything was unpacked. Goal accomplished.

As the men were bringing in the boxes I noticed this one. I started laughing really hard. Clothes is spelled wrong and I'm still not sure what our pee blankee is.


The semi all our stuff came in. It was huge and they were trying to maneuver it around in the small parking lot and gate area. I was glad no ones car was damaged in the process.

We made it to the end of the day getting a lot unpacked! We still had a ton more boxes to go through. It took us a few weeks to get everything organized. We are now completely moved in!

Christmas in October

Our stuff is scheduled to arrive on Thursday and we are so excited! It will be like Christmas in October!

New Job

I got a job and it's my dream job. I am working at Intown Quilters here in Atlanta. It is a really cute shop that sells lots of bright colored fabric and other supplies to make quilts and patterns! I started Monday and am still trying to figure everything out so that I can be a great employee. I love it already!

Damien is happy that I have a job too. He's just a bit worried that I'll spend all the money I make on fabric. He told me I could work there as long as a have a budget so that I actually end up making some money. ;)

Damien

informed me yesterday that his favorite part of the day is when he gets back to the hotel and stashes the shampoo, conditioner, and soap in his suitcase. I'm glad he is so excited about living in a hotel!

For this to make sense, I must inform you that last Thursday we were kind of kicked out of our apartment. We had been living in our apartment through Marriott ExecuStay while we were here temporarily. That means that they furnished the apartment for us since our stuff was in storage in Salt Lake.

Last Thursday was the last day of Marriott's contract for the apartment, so they came and removed everything from the apartment. It was a crazy day! Marriott came in the morning and removed the linens and kitchen appliances. In the afternoon, the furniture company came and removed all the furniture. While they were there, the guy came to pick up the washer and dryer. Everyone finally left at around 3 pm and I was there in an empty apartment minus some of our clothes.

In the meantime, the company Damien works for is paying for us to stay in a hotel. This is great because we have a bed to sleep on and a kitchen to cook in. The only problem is that there were no hotels available in Atlanta because of some conventions going on. Thus we are staying in Smyrna, which is about a 45 minute commute to Damien's work and our apartment.

Our stuff was loaded onto the truck in Salt Lake City on Tuesday and should be arriving sometime between the 10th and 20th. Let's pray that it arrives closer to the 10th!

This morning...

on my way to drop Damien off at work it was 59 degrees out. A bit cooler than it's been so far. We saw a mom with her little boy waiting to cross the street. The boy was wearing a beanie, mittens, and snow coat with the hood up. He looked like he was ready for a blizzard. Who knows what he'll be wearing when it gets even colder here!

Our Apartment

The apartment we have been living in during our "temporary" stay in Atlanta has been very nice. We love the view of the pool, proximity to the club house, and smaller size of the building it's in. When we found out that we are staying here on a more permanent basis we decided we wanted to try and rent out this same apartment.

We found out yesterday that Marriott will end their lease tomorrow so that we can rent it starting the first of October. We are very excited that we get to stay! Now we have to figure out when Marriott is coming to remove their furnishings and when ours will arrive.

I asked Damien what he is most excited to get back from storage and he said his PS3, TV, and sound system. Of course, all of the electronics! I am most excited to get my Kitchen Aid and all of my cooking/baking equipment! I have so many recipes I've been wanting to try!

Great News

We found out yesterday that we will be staying in Atlanta for about the next two years! Damien's boss liked the work Damien was doing so much that he called corporate and asked if they could leave us here on a more permanent basis. They said yes! Damien's company just signed a new contract with the state of Georgia for two more years worth of work so we should be here for somewhere around that!

We are very excited because we really like living here in Atlanta and have made quite a few friends. The weather has still been nice and hot, low 90's in the day and 70's in the evenings, so we can still go swimming! Now we will be looking for an apartment so the moving company can send us our stuff!

Great Start to the Day

Our apartment complex is one of those gated communities. I know they have the gates so that we are "more secure". How am I supposed to feel secure when I've seen people jump the gate and let their friends in or drive through the gate right behind someone who lives here?

This morning as I was taking Damien to work the best thing happened. We were sitting waiting for the exit gate to open when we saw TWO cars sneak in behind someone entering the complex. The "resident" car stopped and out stepped one of the apartment managers. She wagged her finger at them and gave them both a talking to. That was the wrong car to follow in I would say!

GPS

Two weeks ago I was talking to a woman from the Atlanta area about getting around town and how confusing it is because there are no main roads. She told me that although she has grown up here, she uses a GP System to get around. It took me a few moments to realize that she was referring to her GPS.

The differences from Western talk to Southern talk are manifesting themselves everywhere.

Rock Climbing

Damien loves to rock climb and has been wanting to go for a while now. I wasn't sure if I would like it because I've never really been. He set up a basic lesson for us at an indoor rock climbing place just a few miles from where we live.

We had our lesson this past Saturday. It was pretty fun! I was a bit nervous at first because the walls were so high (60 ft.). After a while I got used to being way up there and it was pretty fun. I am even able to belay Damien without coming off the ground too much.


My favorite part was when I was belaying Damien and the top of the rope was secured on an overhang. Damien hadn't reached the overhang yet and he fell and came swinging out from the wall and hit a guy standing next to me who was belaying someone else. There was nothing I could do about it except push him back to the wall so he could hang on again for me to lower him to the ground. It was pretty funny though!

Now Damien is begging me to go back this week. We'll have to see. My body is still trying to recuperate from this first time.

Dessert

We are always looking for good desserts. Damien heard a friend talking about the banana enchiladas at Nava and how they were his favorite dessert. We decided we to try them because we've never had dessert enchiladas before.


Damien ordered the banana enchiladas. I ordered the mud pie. Both were delicious! Now we want to go back and see what dinner is like there. The menu looked pretty good.

Mom's Visit to Atlanta

My mom came to visit me a month ago while Damien went to training in Denver for his job. We had a fabulous time. A few of the fun activities we did:

1. Found an authentic Italian pizzeria Antico-pizza Napoletana and had a delicious capricciosa pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, prosciutto, and fresh basil) which is my favorite! This restaurant is very cool because they have communal seating right there in the kitchen area. You can watch them make the pizzas right in front of your eyes!


2. Spent 2 hours by the pool and my mom was burnt crispy! I found this very comical because every time we go somewhere warm she always gets sun burned!

3. Went to Alon's Bakery which is delicious, except this midnight cake we got wasn't too hot.


4. Drove around quite a bit.


5. Went to the farmers market.


6. Went to the Atlanta Aquarium where we:

- pet sting rays and sharks

- saw some cool fish
- walked through one of those tunnels where you can see all of the fish swimming around you.

That huge shark you see in the picture below is a whale shark. They had four of them in this tank and they were all HUGE. (Side Note: Damien's boss went scuba diving in this tank with those huge sharks a couple of weeks ago.)

Hello Hotlanta

We have been in Atlanta for three weeks now and we quite enjoy it! The weather is nice and warm and there is a lot of culture and interesting people to watch. We really like our apartment and it is only about 2 miles from Damien's work. Here are some pictures of where we live.


An apartment building.


Our entry way looking past the kitchen counter and into the living room.


The living room with our wall of windows. I like these windows a lot because I can watch all of the happenings in the pool and BBQ areas.


Our bedroom with a walk-in closet! Yes, this apartment has a bedroom unlike our last and I really like it!


The gym.


My favorite amenity, the pool!

My mom is coming to visit tomorrow while Damien goes for a week of training in Denver. I'm very excited to explore more of Atlanta with her!