How to get to Cleveland, GA

Since the parentals live in the mountains of northern Georgia we on occasion have driven up there and have figured out a pretty good set of directions. We decided on the last trip up there (winter of 2009) that we should take pictures and document the trip.  Things that we have become accustomed to may be entertaining to those who don't see the wonderful sights.  (Or you may wish I never made this post which coincidentally made you waste time reading it.  If this is your feeling, I sincerely apologize.)

This is how you know you're getting close:

Pass the giant rocking chair sitting right by the road in an open field on a country backroad. (this has to be listed somewhere on the list of the largest in the US right - even if it's not #1?!)

As you drive into 'downtown' or the 10 square feet of Cleveland's square you'll see the Dairy Queen which usually has birthday wishes up for someone (who probably bought one of their ice cream cakes).  I guess this time it's Jesus' turn.

Another few feet down the road you'll see the Babyland billboard - where the cabbage patch babies are birthed.  Yes, there's a birthing room there.  You have to look closely at the picture but the stork is there. Babyland just recently moved to a bigger and better place - still in Cleveland.

See the courthouse right in the middle of the road.  Drive around it.


And then on the other side of the square you'll see this beauty-Bryce loves to quote it to me or very nicely tell me some reason why he does or doesn't buy me flowers....

And last of all you know you're close when you see on your right Yonah Bowl and Skate.  Bryce and I find it quite humorous and this is where are country bumpkin accents kick in (if they haven't already) and we like to see how 'hick' we can get in our speech and conversation for the next 5-10 minutes until we arrive.  "Yonah bowl?"  Yonah is pronounced Yo-nah, like Jonah but with a Y startin' it off.  We were not educated about it the first time we saw and thought it was yawna like a southern "you wanna" but it still works either way you pronounce it.  Besides, no one really pronounces anything correctly around here anyhoo.  Salmon with the 'l' pronounced is most definitely accepted and widely used.


So what Yonah do now?

Baby Season

No, this is not an announcement. :) We have several women in our ward expecting this month and in the next few coming. We had a baby shower today for two of these women - both are having girls. One, I visit teach. She's close to my age and it is their first child. The other sweet woman is having their 4th but had given their baby stuff away since their youngest is now 2. I did games and decorations - that seems to be my assignment each time. I found this idea and tutorial a while back and kept it for such an occassion as this. I used bigger flowers but think it turned out super cute. It was swagged above the table of gifts. Originally we were going to swag it a couple times in the middle of the room so we made the string pretty long - maybe 15 or so feet and the flowers would be further apart. We ended up just hanging it from the two air vents and it worked out great.

One game we played was Pin the Pacifier on the Baby. The baby was posted on the wall and the pacifiers were cute little pink ones. All-in-all, it was good. I just wanted to show my cute garland off. (Thanks DeLynne for helping me make the flowers.) Also, DeLynne did a great baby gift as a flower box She has lotions, and cucumber-melon baby wipes, a cute color coordinating outfit, (coordinating of course) hair bow, and some wash cloths...super cute. I'm going to throw it out there that I did the little card on the front. :) The one's last name is Wright so W and on the back it says, "What whirl...it's a girl!" and the other's last name is Seagraves so S and on the back it says, "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice..." Hold your applause. :)

"So give me wuch ya promised..." Dancing with Tyce Diorio

There are perks to living in Atlanta I guess. One of them would be Dance 101 a really cool dance studio a friend of mine and I discovered and enjoy going to occassionally. Another perk connected to this is Emmy winner Tyce Diorio. He is really cool and fun and a great dancer/choreographer. I feel priviledged to have gotten this opportunity. And to prove that I did it here are some pictures. The girl in the second picture you may recognize as Mollee from So You Think You Dance season six. There was another guy from season 4, but I didn't watch back the and he was pretty cocky so I didn't care much....rude? sorry. We did a broadway jazz number, but it wasn't all jazz hands and stuff. Pretty fun choreography. I have a video of the dance if I can figure out a better way than uploading straight to here... I'm so impatient with uploading. The song is "I gotcha" from Fosse. **CORRECTION: here it is on YouTube from someone else...I'm in the back, off to the side (waiting my turn) standing up on the bench recording with my camera. :)

It was pretty awesome and only $40 for 2 hours. Oh, by they way, he told me in front of everyone that I have great feet...only to say my arms could be stronger. :) anything you say Tyce. "Where's the redhead with good feet?" "Your feet are great, but if you don't have strong arms to go with the feet then the feet don't get the credit..." I was by no means anywhere close to being one of the best dancers and I realize I will never be that good but I enjoy it and I'll take a compliment and critique from Tyce Diorio any day. :)

Be a Winner - Not a Loser

We get invites to churches pretty often in our mailboxes or on our door with flyers. This one came and we found it particualrly interesting. On a side note, we have someone who just moved from Northern California and they commented about all the choices you have in churches down here - including the drive through churches. Only in the South. :)

It's all Greek to me

Bryce and I visited Athens, Greece for 2 days over the Valentine's Day and Presidents Day weekend. We flew out Friday afternoon, landing Saturday morning and flew back Monday morning, landing Monday afternoon.

The pictures you can link to (it's been updated and there're lots more along with comments) by clicking here: Awesome Greece Pictures!

A few videos we put on YouTube:

Guard Dance 2 of 5 and Guard Dance 3 of 5....the whole thing takes about 10 minutes. The two videos are 2 minutes. Just a taste. :) They start under the awning (sp?) and end up back at the same awning. then two guards in army uniforms checks them and make sure the two guards are in order and that their tassles are straight. :)

You can catch this sweet ride through town...

You can see some of the left over partying in the square. Live band. dancing donkey toys, and little girl in an outfit. :)

A 360 of some of the Acropolis grounds. The theatre you see - according to the plaque - went up the wall. I'm sure it was something to see.

Deal of the Day

It's that time of year again. Sales are abounding and Bryce is ready for new clothes (he's ripped the sleeves on a few of his shirts). I usually sneak in a couple looks here and there and found, might I say, the Deal of the Day.

Place: Ann Taylor

Item: Yellow three-button coat

Where in store: on clearance of course - with an additional 40% off

Unexpected: one loose button

Sale sticker says 79.99. Take 40% off and I showed the cashier the loose button and received another 15% off. $43 after tax for my coat.

Big surprise: Original sale tag is for 199.99. Original retail is $268.00 That's about 85% off the original price of the coat. Not to be out done, I did find Bryce some mighty good deals as well. Bass had $60 pants for $23 (50% w/additional 20%) and they had shoes BUY 1 PAIR get 2 PAIRS FREE (or get 1 pair 50% off). We received $5 dollar coupon toward Van Heusen from Bass and used it to buy a belt for $8 - originally $45 or something crazy like that (60% off w/additional % I can't remember and our $5 coupon). He bought another very nice pair of pants there as well.

Speaker Swap*

Before wires use template (comes with speakers) to position holes use hammer to beat wall - find stud in wall then move template over and beat wall with hammer. Repeat as needed. Use saw to finalize circle hole.

Patch holes and paint speakers to match wall.

*I, Cecily, do not claim to have any real knowledge of this speaker swap. (I left once the hole making began.) Thus said, please address any questions which are not answered in this post to Bryce. I'm sure he would love to tell you all about it. :)

We have a couch for our front living room. Its high back and sides mimics the hemp chair we have in there. The couch on its own is a bit fancier than we are, but we'll be able to cozy it down. We're now working on finding the right art to go above the couch to fill the tall empty wall. I may venture and do my own...I have this vision. We'll see if I ever get my shot at it. Thanks olystudio.

Sleeping Puma, Hidden Thread

Poor Battle Puma. Jamba got in a fight with a long piece of string.She has learned that the string always wins. Long story short, Jamba found some really nice black thread that looked delicious (and must've been) so she ate a long piece. It ended up getting caught on the back of her tongue, down into her intestine and into her colon. Needless to say she didn't feel well at all and we took her to the vet after a couple vomit episodes. They did an exploratory surgery on her belly and this picture I caught while she was sleeping to show her part of her battle wounds. The shaved leg is especially sexy in the cat world. This was a month or so back so she is back to herself and doing well. Her hair is growing in nicely. :)

Way back to Hallooweeeeeeeeeeny.

For Halloween I treated my YW presidency to some goody shoes. I made a "witch" shoe (high heel of course) out of black card stock and cute printed paper for the lining then sewed on some buttons since I don't own a hot glue gun. :) Filled with nummies, wrapped and tied with a bow, the note says, "You're such a TREAT!" I found the pattern online probably at sugardoodle.net or something like that. Someone said they used it for dorothy slippers too. I'm sure you could do lots with it. If I find the link again I'll add it (here).