New Year / New Things

Remember my list of goals for 2011 (you could read about here)?  Well, it’s time to edit the list for 2012!

Here is what I was able to accomplish from my 2011 list.

• More homemade projects like the paper snowflakes we did for Christmas

I was able to make lots of decorations this year, almost for every holiday and birthday!

• Paint at least three canvas paintings
• Host a wine and cheese party
• Participate in a hot air ballon rally
• Spend overnight outdoors in a tent
• Continue to grow my hair and not cut it, only trimming allowed
• Get lost a few times while kayaking and find my way

Kayaked, but didn’t get lost… guess it doesn’t count then. Gotta try harder next year  =)

• Invest in great hiking boots
• Run in the Atlanta Thanksgiving 5k half marathon

Switched Atlanta’s 5k for Charlotte’s 5k.  Still going to keep this on my list for next year.

• Bake my own bread
• Dress as a zombie for the day and ride the MARTA for Atlanta’s Zombie Walk / Horror Fest
• Make/meet really awesome friends

This is a goal for every year, since everyone’s a stranger waiting to be your friend.

• Plan an outdoor picnic on a lake or in a meadow in the woods

We had an outdoor pre-Thanksgiving picnic in our courtyard.

• Tell Luis I love him everyday

I tell him too many times a day that I love him.  Another goal to keep every year.

• Go fishing on a river
• Join the local library to check out and read at least two books a month

I checked out books, but did not keep my two books a month goal.

• Re-take french classes
• Volunteer at PAWS Atlanta
• Give up sweets for 30 days
• Try durian
• Finish hanging our honeymoon pictures

According to the list above, I was only able to accomplish 3 items which is very interesting to me since I feel like I did so much this past year!

Now, to add to the list for 2012…

• Take sewing and pottery classes at Georgia Tech
• Explore a desert
• Don’t sweat the small stuff
• Visit 5 states that I have never been to
• Wake up each day with a positive attitude
• Go sailing

Southern Belle Farm @ McDonough, GA

Today we drove about 30 minutes south of Atlanta to Southern Belle Farm where we picked flowers and pumpkins from the vine, enjoyed my first hay ride, and got lost in my first corn maze.  If this is fall in Georgia, then I don’t ever want the season to change!

I was so in love with the kiddie train with the painted cow spots on them.  I think I will have to steal this idea for my future farm, so adorable.

As lame as it sounds, I have never picked flowers from the actual plant before.   Even more lame, I loved it.  Who knew cutting bright colored flowers into a plastic cup for $4.00 would make me so happy!  Luis had a good eye for finding dome shaped ones, which were my favorite ones.

Even with all the pumpkins whispering to me to take them home with me, we decided not to pick one, not even the cute tiny ones!  Unbelievable, huh?  Actually, I had already bought two little ones from the supermarket a few weeks ago, before I even thought of the idea of going to a farm, shucks!

The day was absolutely gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky and in the high 70’s.  A perfect Saturday to enjoy outside and watch a pig race.  A pig race with pig calling, another first for me.

This farm had lots of things to do, even though most of them were meant for kids, we were still able to find things to keep us entertained.

The corn maze covered 7 acres.  We started the corn maze in entrance number 3, but somehow exited the maze in number 2.   It could be because Luis talked me into cheating by leaving our paths and cross corn stalks into another path just to find our way out faster.  I thought the purpose of the maze was to get lost, not make your own path?  Oh well, it was still fun.

Before heading home we took a tour around the farm on a hay ride.  Actually, the hay ride was just around the corn maze, about 5 minutes. Hey! This farm is huge at 200 acres.  While on our hay ride we were able to see the newly hand planted strawberries; 45, 000 of them!   As soon as I learned about picking strawberries in the Spring, of course I added it to my Georgia list for next year, something to look forward to.

Today was a lot of fun, and one of those days that it hit me that I live in Georgia now.  A fun day, even though the Yellow Jackets lost their first football game of the season, boo!

Looking forward to the haunted forest tomorrow in Newnan, Georgia.

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure @ Charlotte, NC

Luis and I arrived at my cousin Cary’s house in Charlotte, NC the night before the race to decorate our bibs and have dinner with the family.

Sophia was busy decorating all the bibs.  She even helped Luis out on his since it wasn’t flashy enough haha.  She did an amazing job on them!

While Adan watched =)

After our belly’s were full and bib’s were completed with color and sparkle, we went to the hotel for night swimming and bed jumping.

The view from our rooms looked out to the Nascar Hall of Fame building.

We woke up on race day to a morning of  45°.  Luis nor I thought to check the weather for the race since October 1st usually is not a cold, cool maybe, but not cold.  The race was held in downtown Charlotte, which did not help as the wind whipped between the buildings, but luckily there were enough bodies around us to keep us warm while waiting for the race to start.

We stood next to this small band that kept us taping our feet while waiting for the race portion for the walkers to begin.  The ones who actually run the race start an hour and half before the people who are walking.

Don’t let this smile fool you. Standing around looking at everyone’s bibs and signs made me very emotional.  It was a beautiful, yet sad sight.  The little kids with bibs that read “In memory of my mom” killed me.  Just writing those words at this very moment get me teary eyed.  It was such an amazing and overwhelming moment, everyone standing around us was touched by breast cancer, whether themselves or a loved one.  I was so proud of those who have survived and felt the loss of those who hadn’t survived even though I did not know them.

Sounds odd, but I think it’s because I met my grandmother, Bea in my early 20’s thanks to my uncle Danny for tracking her information down in Marco Island through her sister.  It was also the same year she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I felt I had lost her when I had just found her.  A few years earlier I had lost my grandfather and mother on my mom’s side and I really felt empty not knowing my other grandparents; who they were, who anyone was on my dad’s side. I wanted to know who I was and where my face came from.  Thankfully she survived, and because of her bringing me into the family, I now know my father and the rest of my Chereshkoff family, and met the man who gave me my face; my grandfather.

Here is a flash back of my first time meeting my adorable grandfather and grandmother.

Back to the day of the race.

The starting line.

And the finish line… ta da!

After the race, we went to Cary’s house for a brunch.  Cary went all out and had an awesome spread of food.  Where’d she find the time to participate in a 5k and make the food for the brunch?  Amazing women!  Thank-you again Cary for everything, it was my first 5k and I will never forget it!

Cary bringing out more goodies in her race day brunch attire =)

My first ever Bloody Mary.  I have made them before when I worked at the bar, but never actually had one.  It was delicious with a pickle slice, olive, okra, lime, celery, and a spicy tomato mix.

The day was perfect!

I am already thinking about next year, and I am thinking tu-tu’s!

Happy October 1st!

Happy first day of October!  My favorite month of the year.  I love watching and feeling the city change; with more color and cooler weather.

October also means Halloween, and I have started to decorate.

I made the bats from black construction paper.

Simple spiders made from black construction paper as well.

I can’t have Halloween without my favorite gel window clings.

We replaced our Ikea flower lamp shade with a simple black chandelier for a more “dark” look, along with awesome 3D skeleton table mats from Target. I love to walk by the table and see the skeletons move along with me.

 Love these ghosts candles from Pottery Barn, which I will never actually light.

And of course you gotta add a little Halloween to the kitchen and…

the bathroom.

It took me all day of looking through items in my closet to find my skeleton shower curtain. I even made a help call to my mom to ensure that I really did pack them up from our move.  The bathroom stuff reminds me of my Halloween party a few years back, which is when I bought them.  I would love to have another party, but it wouldn’t be the same.

I even decorated our front door, hoping the others will follow.

The view from the courtyard outside our window.  You can see our flashing eyes in the window, pretty neat.

Today we participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure in Charlotte, N.C., more on the race tomorrow.

Race for the Cure

Number 9 on my list of goals to complete for the 2011 year, that you could read about here, was to complete 5k race.  Technically the Atlanta Thanksgiving 5k.  So, just in case we are not here in Atlanta for the Thanksgiving 5k, I am going to cross this goal off my list and substitute it with Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k, fair enough right!?

That being said, it’s official, we are racing! Our shirts and numbers just came in!

Only four more days.

I can not wait to spend this occasion with my family and Luis, to celebrate my grandmother surviving breast cancer.

Don’t forget to cheer for the Lovely Lady Lumps!

Number 16 on my 2011 List

During the summer, I took advantage of Georgia Tech’s library being less crowded and finally checked out the library. Yes, my first time stepping foot into the library even though we have been living here for almost a year already.

Number 16 on my goals for 2011 was to join a library and check out books. My other goal was to read at least three books a month, but that hasn’t happened.  I haven’t checked out a book from a library in years.  My Kindle just makes it too easy.  The library is free, so why am I wasting my money?  Or maybe I just wanted to enjoy an afternoon and browse aisles of books and skip through pages to see if a book catches my interest.  I love to read and I love the excitement (yes, i said excitement) of hunting for a winner to take home and read.  Finding an entertaining book out of thousands of books feels like a accomplishment or is it just me that feels that way? Oh, and another odd and nerdy fact about me, I also love the smell of libraries; yellow worn pages + old smell = love!