Happy birthday to me!

This past Saturday was my 33rd birthday. 33...I have no idea how I got to that age. Time has flown WAY too fast! October is a crazy month for us because Mike's birthday is 10/2, mine is 10/13, my dad is 10/14, my mom is 10/16 and my sister is 10/18. I've always been on the fence deciding if I ever want to try and have kids in October. Part of me doesn't think I have the energy to add another date to the October calendar and the other part of me says screw it, just get all the birthdays done at once.
Since the weather has been nothing short of gorgeous here lately, Mike decided to surprise me with a little day trip to Helen, GA. It's north of Atlanta, about an hour and a half drive. Supposedly, Helen is supposed to be one of the best places to see the changing of the leaves in the Fall here in Georgia, and it definitely did not disappoint! A few people we ran into there said to come back in a few weeks when the leaves are mostly all red and orange and it's even prettier. We may head up there early to mid November and check it out again.
In addition to walking around Unicoi State Park, we hung out at Helen's famous Oktoberfest. Helen is a quaint, little German town. I seriously felt like I was in Epcot - all the buildings look like something out of Germany, but almost in an over-the-top way. Every year, they host an Oktoberfest that goes on for a few weeks - lots of crowds, beers and food. It was a fun time - I'd definitely go back. And no, I felt no shame in talking my way into free birthday beer when the bartenders would ask for my I.D. And yes, it worked :)

Changes!

Hello, friends! So, I've been giving a lot of thought to my blogging life lately. For those of you who didn't know, I had another blog that I had started just after Mike and I got married. It was just a personal, every day blog. When we were planning our wedding, I had started a blog on our wedding website and after the wedding was over, people had asked if I would continue writing. I thought it would be fun so I began a blog called The Tall & the small (played on the fact that my husband is 6'3 and I'm 5'2. I know, I know.). Once I began this blog in January, I had all intentions of making this blog solely about photography and the other would be personal. Well, not that running 2 blogs is hard to do or anything, but I noticed that I started writing more entries on this blog in addition to my pictures. In doing so, I wouldn't write on my other blog since I didn't want to be repetitive. The result of that was some neglect to my poor, little Tall & small. So, I decided that I would call it quits on the other blog and combine them both into one blog - this one. I'm still going to post tons of pictures as usual. The only difference is that I'm going to do more writing in addition to my pictures. I really do enjoy blogging, I just figured it would make more sense to have one, not two, since they're so similar. Lately I've been toying with the idea of starting a food blog...I love to cook and bake (I even bake for my dog now), so I thought of maybe turning that into a new project. We'll see...I'm getting off track. One thing at a time :)

Anyway, that's the little change that will be taking place. Still lots of great pics, but also some more writing, more posts. Some might have pictures to accompany them and some might not. You'll get to know me a little better and you'll have some more things to read when you're at work but not really working (don't lie - you know you're nodding your head "yes" at that!). Hopefully that's cool with all of you. I really do appreciate each and every one of you out there in the blog world who reads this. Every time I log into Blogger and see that I've gotten more hits, it makes me smile. I don't know who you are but I do want to say thank you! I also added the link on the side of my page in case you want to follow my blog. No pressure - I know you still read it :) 

We're going to some Fall festivals this weekend (hooray for Atlanta and this AWESOME Fall weather!), so I'll have some new pics and posts coming soon. Last weekend, we went back to Tampa for my sister-in-law's baby shower on Saturday and my friend Stacy's baby shower on Sunday. Two hours into our trip, I realized my camera bag was sitting on the bedroom floor. I seriously asked Mike if we could turn around and he looked at me like I had eight heads. He was behind the wheel, otherwise our 7.5 hour trip would have turned into an 11.5 hour trip. I was beyond bummed out but made the decision that I will now always pack my camera case first. If I forget other things like shampoo and underwear, that's nothing a quick trip to a Target can't fix. My camera, not so much. 

It's getting late so I'm off to bed, my friends. Mike and Penny are both snoring on the couch, so this is my cue to head downstairs and put my pajamas on. Hope you're on board with my little changes and keep an eye out for some new posts soon!

xo,

Brie

My love affair with Atlanta

I have to say, I just LOVE living in Atlanta! The city is beautiful, the people are so nice (true "southern hospitality" DOES exist!), and there always seems to be something to do. Seriously, every time I open my email and read one of the 153 Atlanta newsletters and discount sites I've signed up for, they are pushing some sort of event, exhibit or festival. Don't even get me started on the festivals. There is one every weekend. Especially in the Fall, this city just seems to love their festivals. No complaints here! We had a few back in Tampa but most of the time they were hot, crowded and overpriced. There are also farmers markets everywhere and one just happens to be across the street from our place every Saturday morning. I have yet to check out the one at Piedmont Park, but I heard it's great! Maybe this weekend...

Anyway, another thing there seems to be plenty of here are parks, including my beloved Piedmont Park. Attached to Piedmont Park is the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. We've only been there once before. Back in December, we went at night for their Holiday Lights display (which was beautiful!). We had yet to see it during the day, so we strolled through last Saturday afternoon. Here are a few pics from our visit. My favorite are the bumble bees. Oh my gracious are the bees here huge!! I risked getting close enough for the sake of good shots, and it was totally worth it. Surprisingly, I ended up with no bee stings. Just some really cool pics. 

As Summer Ends...

In my previous post, by "last week" I really meant "a month and a half later." ;) I joined my family on our annual trip to Sanibel Island, FL at the end of July. We've been going since I was really little. Unfortunately, once I hit college, I wasn't able to make it a regular thing. Between summer classes and jobs, I was sometimes able to squeeze in a few days at the most (they go for a week) and there were a few years when I had to skip it entirely (and then I start to question why I never stuck with my original plan to become a theater teacher. Summer vacation in my 30s? Yes, please!). Anyway, it's a pretty relaxed week - there's not much to do on the island and we've been going there for so long that the most exciting thing to explore is a new shop that might have opened up since the previous summer. It's mostly just beach time, bike riding and making sure to enjoy fudge from their general store (yep, that's what it's called). They also have a little village that gives a glimpse into what life was like on the island from the late 1800s to the 1940s, with actual structures and items from back in the day.

Before I get to the pics, I will explain the hiatus. We are now Atlanta residents!! Long story short, my husband was offered a project up here months ago and, like everything else in the construction world, things get delayed for one reason or another. Well, I am happy to say that we are finally here and so far, so good! I'm still on the job hunt, but there is a lot of opportunity up here, so I'm confident that I will find something. My next venture is to hit up Piedmont Park and the Botanical Gardens and take some pics there. I absolutely LOVE both of those places and you bet that I'll be going nuts in about a month once the leaves start to change (we actually get all 4 seasons up here! Yay!!). In the meantime, enjoy these pics as summer comes to an end.

This is why I don't swim in lakes in Florida...

Out in Captiva (the neighboring part of the island), there is this super old cemetery from the 1800s. There are a few new gravestones from recent deaths, but the majority of them are really, really old. Some of them, you can't even read the tombstone anymore. 

This cracked me up. I have a KitchenAid mixer that I am obsessed with since I love to bake. It's come a long way since this!

Help the pups!

UPDATE: Thank you SO much to all who voted for Penny! She had 670 people vote for her! She ended up coming in a close 2nd place out of 10. I was just psyched that she was chosen as a finalist and reading the sweet comments from people who voted for her through Cesar Millan's site who don't even know us, made me smile. I'm very proud of my pretty little girl!
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I'm not even sure who reads this out there in the blog world, but for those of you who do, can you please do me a teeny little favor? Penny Lane was selected as a finalist in Cesar Millan's "Your Dog's Best Feature" contest in the category of "Best Eyes." How cool is that?? For those of you not familiar with Cesar, he's the guy on TV called the Dog Whisperer on National Geographic. Anyway...I entered Penny and was shocked that was chosen out of all the other dogs who entered! The contest runs until July 26th and the winner of each category gets a basket of dog toys and supplies. Since Penny has more than enough toys, I've decided that if she wins, she will donate her basket of goods to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. That's where she was adopted from and it also happens to be my favorite charity.

In order to vote, you have to have a facebook account. Simply log in to your account and click on the link below, which will take you to the contest page. Under her picture, click the "like" button and that's it! Currently, she's in second place out of 10. You only have to vote once so pretty, pretty please click on her page and vote for her! Penny and her fellow pups at Humane Society would be very grateful :)

Have a great weekend, all! Heading out of town on a very much needed vacation this week with the camera in tow. Stay tuned for a ton of new pics when I get back!

Link to contest page: http://www.cesarsway.com/skin-care-awareness/Your-Dogs-Best-Eyes-Beauty-Contest-10