Where in the world is Julie?

Friday, January 01, 2010

Catching up on 2009 - fall adventures

After several years of drought, Atlanta caught up this fall, resulting in record floods at the end of September. There was no major storm - it just kept on raining steadily. The Chattahoochee is mostly dam-controlled where we are (although the dam in question is a long way upstream), and though we are within 20 yards of the river, it generally stays nicely within its banks and our place has never flooded. On that Monday, when I left for work, the river was at the top of its banks, and when I came home that night, I was greeted by the sight of all the neighbors out on their decks watching and the river almost at the edge of the decks. Our decks and condos are just to the left of this picture, and the light post is about where our place is.

This is Jeanie on her deck, which adjoins ours.

Ed's response to all the craziness was to put on swimming trunks and water shoes, grab and beer, and go explore! :)

Even after the water started to retreat, it was a soggy mess, with silt, water plants, standing water, and tree trunks lodged in odd places, and parts of the bank washed away. (taken from our deck)

In mid-October, we took a long weekend to hike in the Smoky Mountains, out of a cute little town in North Carolina called Maggie Valley. Ed and I did a 13.5 mile loop in under 7 hrs - it was overcast and drizzly lost of the way, so it was muddy, but overall made hiking conditions easier.

There are a few remaining massive trees. While it lived up to the "Smoky" part of its name, with lots of clouds, occasionally we got a break in the clouds and a great view. After the hike, we took a drive a saw elk and a black bear, and on the way home, a bald eagle.

The weekend before Halloween, we had the Harts and Ellisons, and their kids, over to carve pumpkins.

What artistic gourds!

Georgia Tech and Vandy played at Vanderbilt on Halloween, so we road-tripped to Nashville for the game, and stayed with two friends from medical school, Raj and Sonal, and their two gorgeous little girls. I still don't have any Georgia Tech gear, but I did cheer for them. :)

For Thanksgiving, we went to Florida to be with Ed's family. Here's a very content Ed: munching a sub, on the beach in a t-short at the end of November. :)

We went to Cocoa Beach after Thanksgiving for the Space Coast Marathon, and visited Cape Canaveral, which is rather amazing in person! Since we didn't see everything we wanted to on Saturday afternoon, we came back after the marathon and I hobbled around. :)

Speaking of which ... marathon pictures! The weather was in the high 50s and low 60s, the course flat and beautiful, and while I hadn't trained as well as I had hoped, at least I wasn't injured. My first marathon was 4:56 (goal was to be under 5 hrs), and this one was 4:28 - (goal to be under 4:40) - 28 minutes less than the first!

I even had a little bit of energy for a finishing kick!

Very satisfying!

Catching up on 2009 - kayaks!

I absolutely love living by the river - I love watching the water flow by, checking how high it's running, and in summer, the variety of objects and people that float by. We see pool toys, huge party rafts, and all manner of inflatable rafts.

By mid-summer, I had convinced Ed that we needed to join their ranks, so we started "shooting the 'Hooch'"in a little inflatable canoe/kayak I had bought during residency, and had a great time for several weekends.

However, Ed wanted to be able to paddle upstream over the shoals rather than just enjoy the mild whitewater going downstream, so we determined that we needed hard-sided kayaks - he he he - just part of my plan. ;) I have wanted to own a kayak for many years. For the next couple months with every available weekend, we threw ourselves into research - reading about, borrowing, and renting kayaks to see what worked best for us. We even took lessons! Finally, we settled on the Pamlico 100 from Wilderness Systems. For anyone else out there who is interested, we think it's the perfect cross-over kayak - great length, great tracking and maneuverability, lets us paddle up over shoals as well as enjoy up to class II rapids, has a very comfortable seat, terrific dry hatch and access to it.

The maiden voyage of our brand new kayaks!

The kayaks have been living on our back porch - here we're trying to gently introduce some young friends to sitting in them so they'll be comfortable in them next spring. We love that the cockpit (opening) is big enough for a small child to sit in front of you!

When my parents visited, Ed was excited about taking my dad out on the kayaks, and made sure he got plenty of land-based instruction before they took off.

No worries, though - my dad is a natural on the water and had a great time!

The boys setting out on their paddle - hopefully there will be many more of those to come!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Catching up on 2009 - late summer

My cousin Stacia, who had just spent 6 months teaching midwives in Kabul, got married in Princeton, NJ in August, and Ed and I were so glad to get to go. We enjoyed seeing the family and meeting new cousins-in-law. Doesn't she look gorgeous?

They had both a western and more traditional Korean ceremony, which was by far more colorful!

Since we were in the neighborhood, we spent the next day roaming around NYC, enjoying a jaunt on the High Line, and a rest under trees in Central Park,

and lunch with some dear friends I couldn't wait to introduce!

For Labor day, we went down to Seaside, FL, to catch up with Lee, HilaryAnn and Shawn, and their daughter Jacquie. With the diet Coke w/ Lime can in her hand, Jacquie is a girl after my own heart! What a cutie!!

My kitchen was also completed, organized, and I finally started remembering how to cook again. :) I love my kitchen!

Our next door neighbors Ted and Sarah got married on a beautiful late summer day, and Jeanie and I went. Jeanie has now gotten both of her confirmed bachelor neighbors (Ed and Ted) married off to great women. :)

Catching up on 2009 - Anniversary and birthdays in July/August

Our birthdays and anniversary cluster together at the end of July/beginning of August. We took a trip down to the Florida Keys the last week of July to celebrate our first anniversary, and stayed on Key Largo, where we had a fantastic waterside seafood dinner.

We also took a kayaking trip off Big Pine Key, in and around the mangrove islands. The water was beautifully calm and we saw a lot of rays and nurse sharks, as well as water birds.

We paddled through a few mangrove islands

And we got hooked on kayaking!

We took a snorkeling trip off Key Largo, and had gorgeous weather!

Back home in Atlanta, we had a joint birthday on our deck overlooking the river.

Happy Birthday to us!!

Catching up on 2009 - Family in town during the summer

Over the summer, my sister Christy, her husband Paul, and our niece Jessica and nephew Casey visited from Cameroon. Ed's parents timed their visit to coincide with Paul and Christy, and his brother Warren came for a visit a couple weeks later. So grateful for a finished guestroom! (Oh that's right, shortly after we finished the kitchen, the same contractor redid the paint and carpet upstairs - yay!)

Aunt Julie is such a sucker - but the kids have so much fun playing in the Chattahoochee in their play clothes!

They all loved the Atlanta aquarium.

Jessica posing in front of the piranhas - hmmm...

Casey, who is eyeing whom?

Paul and Christy and the kids enjoying the massive tank with the whale sharks

Jessica and Casey at the zoo, learning about a lion skull

I love my sis!

Ed and I took Warren too a Braves game during his visit

Catching up on 2009 - Sherstin's wedding

My dear friend Sherstin got married this spring, giving me an opportunity to travel to Naples, FL for her bachelorette party and Chapel Hill, NC for the wedding.

The parents of another bridesmaid hosted us for the bachelorette weekend at their beautiful home on the beach in Naples.