Tap the Mic

Is this thing on?

Yes?

Just checking.

When the year comes to a close and I do my normal - LET'S MAKE ALL THE RESOLUTIONS - I peer back to this blog with a sigh and I must admit, I really do miss it.

My last post was in 2017. I had to transfer it here, because in typical fashion, I created numerous blogs that I could never maintain. Better to keep it simple. Better to bring it home.

It is a little hard to come back to. It contains a lot of the nitty gritty before the gals, the challenge to get them here, and the growing pains we had as parents when they finally arrived. But I can safely say, as I look back on it now, damn we were lucky, and that the trauma has passed. (Well except for that whole not wanting to have anymore kids because it was a nightmare process thing...)

I've had a ton of friends catch the blog bug again and it's exciting. I can't lie, I've fed off of the enthusiasm. I can't wait to support them and see their content. Platforms come and go, but the blog writing is cathartic, and I think we've realized that.

I realize I have a lot of updating to do here. I'm no longer the workout obsessed, hardly eating type in the left hand picture of your screen. Many of the links are broken, but I will fix that, I promise. Things have been really good though! New jobs, new house, new phone, who dis?

So Cheers to Us! Let's have an awesome 2019.

When you want to find a cute family pic, but this comes up in your Google Albums, and it just speaks volumes, as it just describes you so much better. 

Hotlanta Half Marathon

Yeah, don't get me started on the name. We know, we know. Don't call it Hotlanta...

Back to the point.

This one's all about Dave today!

He just ran his second half marathon, and is already planning more in the weeks and months to come. Back in November he got what he considered a "wake-up call" from his doctor. He needed to lose weight, eat better, and start being more active. He got to hear about all the things that could happen if he didn't change his ways. He started running after work, lost a good 20-30 lbs, and feels better than when he was a college athlete.

Yay! Go Dave!

For some crazy reason, however, he picked this nuts race in the middle of August. It was hot, humid, and full of hills.

To quote him "it sucked."

Suckage aside, we had a good day. After watching Dave start, the gals and I headed over to Centennial Olympic Park and played till the runners started to flow by.

They were at their 11th mile and the hill that passed the park was insane.  I sat with the gals next to some other people cheering on runners and patiently waited for Dave. I packed the gals lots of snacks, juice, and things to do (thank you My Little Pony stickers). They didn't complain a single bit! Finally we saw Dave and the gals clapped and screamed "Go Daddy Go!"

I ran back over to Underground Atlanta and was able to make it before Dave crossed the line.

Hooray!

Dave and the gals after the race.

The gals thought that Dad's medal was pretty awesome.

The gals also had their first train ride. Madeline was scared at first, but they both ended up loving it and screaming for the train.

Welcome Back!

Ah, it's been too long! Too long!

I've really just used this space as a place to update my family about the gals, but I hope to evolve it into something more.

I liked updating my blog with news about the gals because I've always been kinda anti-Facebook. More or less because I felt that some things just aren't meant to be shared. When I spent a month in the hospital hoping that the gals would stay put just a few weeks longer, I couldn't bring myself to post anything about it. Instead, I stuck by my family, friends, and my twitter ladies (who understood what I was going through more than anyone else). These people kept me hopeful. That's all I needed.

The gals came 9 weeks early, and again, all I could post on FB was a quick pic of the gals. I'm not a fan of searching for likes, for comments, and for prayers. I wasn't ready to hear the sympathy from a person I hadn't talked to in 10 years. I just wanted my family and friends to know they were okay.

However, over the past few years FB has evolved into something more and more of my "older" family members have embraced, so I'm gradually letting my guard down and posting more pictures there.  I must admit, I love it when the Grandmas get excited about the latest gals post.

I've been thinking that this place doesn't just need to be an "update" blog. I want to branch out a bit more.

So here's what I want for this blog:

Obviously I want to talk about the gals. I'm with them all day, everyday, and they are embarking on such an amazing part of their development. These enthusiastic 2 year old could fuel any blog for centuries.

I want to talk about ME! Me?!? Isn't that selfish? But of course!! What are blogs for? I'm pretty proud of my accomplishments over the past year and half. Mostly because I put my nose to the grindstone, lost 90 pounds, and have kept it off. Yea. Pretty proud of that.

My family. All of us. What we do, where we go, and what we enjoy in our fun town of Atlanta and beyond.

And anything else interesting. Captivated yet?

There I've blogged it. That means this will all totally happen right? I won't forget about this blog again will I?

Nope...no way.

Snow in the ATL

This winter has been nuts for everyone, but for Atlanta to get two snow storms in one year is insane!

Although we had cabin fever by the end of both storms, the gals had a blast playing in all the white stuff.

The cabin fever shenanigans had set in.

Hiked: Laurel Ridge Trail

This weekend we spent some time exploring the trails around our new house. We moved this far out of the city to be closer to the lake and to enjoy all the nature this area offers.

The Laurel Ridge Trail is just located beyond Buford Dam. It's a nice shaded path through the woods, and is perfect for taking the kids. We enjoyed a nice lunch in the picnic area at the trail head. After we ate, we strapped the gals to our backs and we were off!

The hike is about 4 miles long, and is perfect for any hiker. The gals had a blast checking out all of beautiful surroundings. You pass Lake Lanier several times and it made me excited about coming back here in the summer time to swim.

Towards the end, the trail opens up to the Lower Pool of the Dam. If you time it right, you can watch the water from Lake Lanier being release and into the Chattahoochee.

We had a blast and can't wait to come back during warmer weather!

Amelia loved playing in the leaves!

Hiked: Amiacoloa State Falls Park

Well the Tubbs were supposed to be at the beach this week.

**Huge Sigh**

We ended up cancelling our plans because of how our first offer on our condo was going. We were stressed, we didn't know if we should spend the money on a vacation, and we had no clue what the future would hold.

Everything turned out well with the condo & our move, but the beach trip was still cancelled. Boo, maybe we shouldn't have done that! Ha! 

So this week has been & will be, the Tubbs take on Georgia.

Up first: Amiacoloa State Falls Park. It's only a couple hours north of the city & boasts beautiful & accessible trails for all.  We were so excited to test out our new to us hiking pack! (major consignment store score by the way!!!)

Amelia got to ride in luxury while poor Maddie was squished to my back in the Ergo. Can you tell I'm jealous, and that I want my own pack too?!?!

The first part of the hike is pretty strenuous. It's stairs that go all the way to the top of the falls. Luckily for Dave, they had spots to rest.

The first overlook was beautiful! The Gals had a blast. They were constantly screaming "WOW" & "GO, GO, GO!"

The view at the top was even better!

We rambled around the rest of the park & hiked the long way down. We were really proud of how well the Gals did while riding in packs for a couple hours. I see many more hikes in our future!

Here's a video Dave made of our day trip! 

Real Househusbands of Atlanta

Y'all. Dave found the video camera and is at it again.

Property Virgins

So by the time that we figured Dave and I would be ready to buy a house, I was sure that we were going to call HGTV and Sandra to help us in our search. Instead, things turned out a bit different for us.

I would like to thank our neighbors upstairs for helping us get to our current situation. Their disco parties, elephant like stomping, and the flooding of their bathtub, made us want to move out of the hell hole that is our apartment complex. Not to mention the "Smith" like fire alarms at all hours of the day and night. In our search we thought we would continue to rent and stumbled on a craigslist add for "The Stacks." The rent seemed affordable & when I went to the company website, I realized buying a condo might just be a possibility there as well.

No matter what we knew we wanted to move back into the city. We were completely over Dunwoody and wanted to be in a place where we could walk or ride our bikes to everything - even to Turner Field!

The Stacks are condos converted from the old Fulton County Cotton Mill. There were apartments there first (not that great) but they are converting them all into nice condos. We are buying directly from the builder and our part of the project is the second phase. It took the builder a little longer than expected due to the Tornado in March 2008.

So here we are - under contract for a condo at The Stacks and we can't wait for everything to be finalized...fingers crossed!!

The Stacks Website

AJC Picture Gallery of the tornado that hit Cabbagetown