Overgrown

Welcome to Georgia in the spring, where it rained for 9 days straight this month.  No wonder our backyard is a bit overgrown!  The good news is that the irises I scavenged from a fellow stitcher's yard last summer are blooming all over the place.  I thought they didn't survive the transplanting process when the leaves all shriveled up in the heat last year, but fortunately I was wrong.

Positivity Challenge: Day 4

Oops, I appear to have skipped a day!  I'll pick up where I left off with day 4, so here are my three positives for today:

1. Making new friends with the Jamberry Nails ladies at the consignment sale I'm working through next Thursday.  They kept me awake during a slow afternoon!
2. Mid-afternoon naps.  They are awesome.
3. A few hours relaxing on the dock at Lake Lanier with my husband, my sister, and my brother-in-law.  We saw lots of fish and a few ducks.

Spring Sprung Early

The sun on the horizon at work yesterday morning

Flowering bushes at work (anyone know what they are?)

Happy pansies in the front yard--still waiting for my irises to bloom

Clouds behind the cherry blossom tree in the front yard

The neighbor's dog who has destroyed most of my daffodils in the backyard

Happy Hibiscus

I know I've been a blog-slacker lately. Here are some pictures of by hibiscus plant to cheer you while I get my act together and find some blog fodder!

Good Morning, Gorgeous!

The first of my non-purple irises made its debut this morning!

Snow Funnies

In honor of the "Snowpocalypse" in the Atlanta area this week, I am posting these funnies that are going around Facebook. I'm so happy that the temperature made it up into the 40's today so everything can finally melt away!

Prettiful!

This rainbow greeted me when I turned in my subdivision after work yesterday. What a nice way to start the weekend!

Fall Flowers

HistoryDiva dropped by last night to pick up the decorations from her party.
She'll have enough fall flowers to keep her happy all week!
My fall flowers are happy because it's been raining the past few days!

Hiking in the Fall

I know this seems like a long flashback since we jumped from Thanksgiving into the Christmas season in the blink of an eye, but in reality, it's only been two weeks.

The day after Thanksgiving, Dave an I went for a hike. That was just before the weather turned from "brisk" to "freezing my buns off". Our wanderings in North Georgia took us out to Duke's Creek...
I apologize for the tiny low-resolution pictures, but my ancient digital camera has been having battery issues lately, and this was one of the days that it chose not to work. But never fear, there is always the cell phone camera that works as back-up!

Tallulah Gorge: The South Rim

Dave and I planned a Labor Day weekend hike to return to Tallulah Gorge State Park after our brief visit in July. The friends we recruited to hike with us had to cancel for various reasons, so it ended up being an impromptu post-engagement hike with both of our parents. Pictures begin with the end of the North Rim Trail (under the overpass) and crossing the bridge over the dam to the South Rim Trail.





The parents made the executive decision to go from the South Rim to the North Rim because there were less stairs going up from the suspension bridge on the north side of the gorge. Then we all argued about whether or not the stairs at Amicalola Falls are worse.

Tallulah Gorge: The North Rim

On our way home from Highlands back in July, I convinced Dave to stop at Tallulah Gorge State Park on the way home. We had already hiked Glenn Falls earlier in the day, so we checked out the Jane Hurt Yarn Interpretive Center (aka the Visitors Center) and walked the 3/4 mile North Rim trail. At the first viewpoint, there was an old metal tower that was used to hold up a tightrope across the gorge in 1970. My only comment about the tightrope walker--only a guy would do something so stupid.





The views were pretty, and we decided to come back some time to hike the South Rim Trail and the stairs down to the suspension bridge that joins the rim trails on opposite sides of the gorge.

Whales, Rings, and Other Things

Dave took me to the Georgia Aquarium for my first visit this past Saturday. They have four whale sharks in their big tank--which happens to be the biggest aquarium tank in the world.

My favorites were the sea otters. However, they don't stay still long enough to get a clear picture!

Dude!

The sharks in Dave's favorite tank, the tropical reef.

Dave and I in front of the tropical reef tank--our last picture as boyfriend and girlfriend since he proposed after we got home from this trip!

Wacky Weather

It's now hurricane season, which means the atmospheric pressure is wreaking havoc on my sinuses. It also means that there are random thunderstorms. Dave and I thought we might end up victims of a summer downpour at the G-Braves game this past weekend...



Fortunately, the unpredictable weather decided to hold off so we could enjoy the game.

Waterfall Hunting: Glenn Falls, Part II

Glenn Falls has several stops on the trail down. This is the lower portion of the falls. Dave had fun watching the little creatures thriving in the puddles.

We trekked all the way down to the very bottom of the falls. I joked that this was where all of the bad trees go when they die because there were logs and uprooted trees everywhere.

Dave found a salamander chilling on a branch, and I was impressed that my camera took a clear picture zoomed in that far.

Then the came hard part... hiking all the way back up.

At least there was a nice mountain view once we were back on level ground!

Waterfall Hunting: Glenn Falls, Part I

On our way out of town, Dave and I stopped to hike at Glenn Falls. According to a website dedicated to the waterfalls of the Nantahala National Forest, several injuries have occurred this year as a result of disobeying signs and guard rails at the top of the falls.

Below is a picture of Dave watching me from the *wrong* side of the guard rail. I got the shot above seated behind the guard rail on the *correct* side...

A short hike later, we were at the upper portion of Glenn Falls. See the guard rail at the top of the falls in the upper right corner of this picture?

Waterfall Hunting: Bridal Veil Falls

I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Yes, those are a bunch of bikers under the falls. If they hadn't parked there, we could have driven underneath and given Dave's car a much-needed wash!