It's Spring in Atlanta!

Oh how I love Atlanta Spring. It has been in the 70s the past two days and I'm not complaining one bit. Yesterday David and I went out for a walk at Grant Park. I was testing out my new camera so I apologize if they aren't the most pristine photographs. (Yes, Mom, this post is for you. :) ) 

These pictures are what you see as you pull out of the parking lot area of our apartment complex. (The road also serves as an exit for a small strip mall. 

This were taken en route to the park. 

Leaves! They do exist!

Here is a sampling of the beautiful foliage of Grant Park. Hope you like the pictures. :) 

I blame the wind for the blurriness.

I looked out the window and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apricot tree!

Not everything was blooming, however.

I spy with my little eye, a cutie named David. 

And these leaves never did fall...

And last but not least, proof I was there. :)

The day our apartment flooded

On January 11th, a few days after we got back from our epic Christmas vacation in Utah, I woke up around 5:30 to the sound of water dripping. At first I thought it was a massive storm outside, but upon closer inspection it was not coming from the window, but rather the bathroom.

The bathroom! I hurriedly woke up David, he turned on the light and low and behold we see this (minus the sopping towel):

 Turns out the bathroom main in the apartment above us broke.  It soon becomes quite evident how serious the situation is and we break down and call 911. Because no one was home upstairs the firemen had to break down the door and shut off the water main.

Meanwhile we take out EVERYTHING that is on the right side of our closet and make our bedroom and living room a mess. I had no idea we could fit that many boxes, clothes, towels, ect in our closet. As you can see in the pictures above merely stepping on the carpet reveled how much water was collecting on the ground.

We could hear the water coming down the insides of the walls and seeping into the carpet as well as out of every vent/light fixture near the bathroom.

Yes, water was coming out of the smoke detector. I was plagued the rest of the day by it's cry of death (it had short-cirtcuited).

Can you see the water coming out of the vent? This is in the bathroom by the bathtub.

 For second time David and I were thankful for all of our towels (the first being when David's family stayed at our apartment for several days). You know how each couple manages to get an exceptional number of one particular gift? Ours were towels. Tons of them. My parent's was popcorn makers.

Here is what the sidewalk by our front door looked like. Our bathroom and closet are on the other side of the wall. I can't believe you can actually see water ON the wall, not just the floor.

The last picture I snapped was of the light fixture in our closet. Incredible.

Unfortunately we did not get new carpet. We did, however, get new padding under the carpet that got wet. We also had to endure loud industrial fans and a dehumidifier for 3 days. Boo.

Also, just for the record, it was this day that David fell off his bike on his way to school and had to get five stitches.

Valentine's day in Georgia

We unintentionally spread out Valentine's day over the whole week. However, I succumb to the belief that valentine's day is only an opportunity to show one's love for one another, and definitely NOT a once a year occurrence.

David gave me a single long-stem rose on Tuesday. He certainly knows how to make me happy.

By long-stem...I mean LONG-stem.

I cut it down to size. :)

On the 14th David surprised me with these: 

Quick backstory: I recently received an antique green brooch but lost it (it got thrown in the trash accidentally and by the time I realized what I did it was a month and a half later.) I was beyond devastated. 

It was SO thoughtful, and I LOVE them.

He couldn't decide between the two so he got both. :)

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On Valentine's day itself I suprised David with his requested pink frosted sugar cookies. His mom used to make the cookies, hide them, and send him and his siblings on a scavenger hunt to find them. 

Alas, I didn't finish all the cookies on time, but I did send him on a scavenger hunt for his other gift. 

Note, that it is not my camera that seems to have distorted the frosting color, it is my mad food coloring skills. Actually, it's not completely my fault...the red food coloring lid was on the yellow dye. So instead of starting with pristine white frosting, I started with yellow, hence the salmon colored frosting. 

His other gift was also "homemade." 

The idea was inspired by one on pinterest (naturally). David LOVES going out to eat, but I tend to drag my heels a bit. "It's so much money." So I gave him a bunch of tickets each with the name and basic information of the restaurant. The idea is that he can use these tickets at ANYTIME without my complaint or hesitancy.

I used information found online to narrow down my list to around 40. Most are rated quite high.

The gift also prevents the "where do you want to go? I don't know, where do you want to go?" syndrome.

Not all of the restaurants serve lunch and dinner. About a 6th of them are bakeries, breakfast, or dessert places.

Yum! And, yes, King of Pops only sells gourmet popsicles. 

On Friday we went to the temple and then out to eat afterwards. It was a lovely day--simple and perfect. 

(And ignore the incorrect spelling on the picture. I can not spell to save my life. I was one of those people who was forced to use another word in place of one I could not spell during essay tests. I learned it was better to use a simple word than to be marked down for incorrect spelling, especially if said word when I tried to write it down, looked nothing like the actual spelling.)