Bridge Street Town Centre

After eating lunch today, Marc and I walked around Bridge Street. The place was pretty empty today, so we were able to check out all the buildings. Of course, I brought my camera along to play!

The carousel was right outside of Biscuits & Blues Cafe, so I took some pictures of it. 

As we walked around, I noticed all the beautiful buildings. There's some really interesting architecture around Bridge Street! (I wanted to be an architect when I was younger, but I was horrible at geometry, so it was never meant to be!) I can't wait to check out Connors Steak and Seafood!

The fountain outside the Monaco Theater was going full force, and it was an opportunity for me to try one of the settings on my new camera.

This gentlemen was keeping everyone entertained! (By the way, I love the way this picture came out!)

After leaving the fountain area, we headed around to check out the Westin Hotel. It is awesome! You can tell that they are not completely finished working on the landscaping, but what they have done is absolutely beautiful!

We also checked out the new Apple store on our way into Bridge Street. Marc showed me the Ipod Touch that he wants, and the nice salesman told us about how we could've gotten one for FREE if we would've only waited two months to buy our MacBook. Wasn't that nice of him? I promise I could see steam coming out of Marc's ears.

And last but not least, I had to take a picture of one of the famous PF Chang's horses!

Marc and I had a great time just walking around and getting out of the house! I'm sure we'll be back soon!

Biscuits & Blues Cafe

Today, Marc and I went to eat lunch at Biscuits & Blues Cafe at Bridge Street. This was the first time we'd ever eaten there, so we weren't sure what to expect. We purchased $50 worth of gift certificates from one of the local radio stations for only $25, so we figured we didn't have much to lose.

We went to the counter to place our order. After the girls who worked there quit complaining about how boring Huntsville was, they took our order. We ordered some fried pickles as an appetizer. I ordered a shrimp plate with mashed potatoes and biscuits, and Marc ordered the New Orleans Shrimp Etouffee with rice and red beans and coleslaw.  We also ordered two drinks, and our total came to $34.51. 

We got our drinks, found a seat, and I took some pictures of the restaurant. It was a small place with about 10 or so tables and some counter seats. The menus are on chalkboards hanging on the walls, but you can look at a paper menu which has all their items listed. 

We finally got our order after about 15 minutes. I was so excited to try the fried pickles, because I have never met a fried pickle that I didn't like. Well, I can't say that anymore. The pickles, all of about 15 slices, came on top of a pile of french fries, and they were sooooo soggy! Marc took them back to the counter and showed them to one of the girls. She told us they would "fix" them. About two minutes later, they brought us the same soggy pickles back! The poor girl came back to the table to tell us that she made a mistake and brought back the old pickles. She took them again, and another girl brought us out some new pickles. They were still soggy, but edible.

My shrimp plate was okay, but the mashed potatoes were awesome! The biscuit was old and overcooked. Yuck! Marc's etouffee was not good either and was really runny. He didn't like the red beans and rice or coleslaw, either.

We decided before we left that we'd give the restaurant one more try before saying we'd never come back. Maybe they were just having an off day. Good thing we didn't pay full price for our meal, or I would've been really upset!

Playing Golf

Marc and Adam met up this morning for a round of golf. It looked like a great day to play!

Marc is teeing off.

Chipping to the green...

Marc's not too sure about this picture, but he thinks he was walking to get his ball?

Adam is checking his shot...

and putting.

Marc said that he had a great time and made contact with the ball quite often. I'm not sure what that means, because I don't know anything about golf, but I'm assuming that making contact with the ball is a good thing! He came home and hit a few balls, so I think he's trying to make the pro tour! Practice makes perfect!

Happy Anniversary to Me!

Yesterday was my ONE year anniversary of having back surgery! It doesn't seem like that long ago, but boy what a difference a year makes! I went from being in excruciating pain every day to being pain free!

This time last year, I was just getting home from the hospital. I was very sick from the Morphine in the pain pump, and that is about all that I remember. After a few days, the pain pump had worn off, and I remember being in so much pain. I could barely move and had to rely on Marc and my mother to do everything for me. They had to feed me, walk me, and help me roll from side to side. (That makes it sound like I was a baby...or a dog!) Anyway, those were some really bad days, but even then it was much better than what I had to deal with before the surgery!

On Tuesday, someone asked me if I had it all to do again, would I still have the surgery. I told them I definitely would! Yes, it took a few months to get back to normal and it was a huge risk, but looking back now, I don't know how I dealt with the pain before the surgery.

So, happy anniversary to ME!

Botanical Gardens Pictures

These are some of the practice pictures that I took at the Botanical Gardens today. I kept the camera set on automatic and didn't use any of the settings. I think they came out pretty good!

Beautiful Blue Hydrangeas

These hydrangeas were a gorgeous purple color!

Sunny Sunflowers

We spotted a huge dragonfly!

Purple Petunias

The amazing part: All these flowers were in the parking lot! We never even went inside the gardens!

A New Toy

I'm so excited! My wonderful husband bought me a new toy today, a Panasonic Lumix TZ4 camera! I've been shopping around for an upgrade for a few months, and we finally found a great deal. So, I'm retiring my Sony Cyber-Shot, which was my first digital camera. It's been very good to me, and we've shared so many memories.

My new Lumix has 10x optical zoom and shoots up to 8.1 megapixels. It has special settings for fireworks and fast motion pictures, so it's going to be great for our trip to Disney! It also came with an SD memory card and a carrying case.

I'm still playing with all the settings, but we went to the Botanical Gardens to take some practice pictures. Stay tuned for pictures!

Sam & Greg's...Yummy!

So, Marc and I have been out of school a whole week, and we're already bored! Today, we were discussing what to do, and Marc came up with the idea of eating lunch at Sam & Greg's. One of my coworkers was telling me how good it was, so we ventured downtown to check it out.

After driving around for what seemed like forever, we finally found a parking space, which is not an easy task downtown. A few minutes later, we were standing at the entrance.

When you first walk in, there is a showcase full of different flavors of gelato. They didn't have the orange honey flavor that I have heard so much about, so we headed right to the counter to order our pizza.

We ordered a large cheese pizza and a couple of Cokes. On the downside, they only serve drinks in the can or bottle. Besides gelato and pizza, they also serve hot dogs, baked goods, and coffees. After paying, we headed over to find a seat.

This was the way right behind our table! Isn't it gorgeous? Even though Marc looks absolutely disgusted with me, he really wanted to be there! Remember, it was his idea! Anyway, the walls were brick and the ceiling and floors were both wood...all original to the building. There was also an upstairs seating area, which was getting full by the time we left.

Our pizza was brought out about 15 minutes after we ordered it, and Marc's mouth started watering as soon as he saw it! It had bubbles! Good ol' burnt cheesy bubbles! Marc thought he had died and gone to heaven!

 

Well, the pizza was definitely as good as it looked! It was awesome! Marc said it was the best pizza he's had since moving to Alabama, where he equates all pizza to cooked cardboard. So, maybe Marc has found pizza that will get him by in between visits to Pepe's in Connecticut! It was a good day!

Not a Good Week for Ice Cream

Tonight, my Bunco group got together for our monthly game. While we were playing, Marc and Adam met each other for dinner. After they ate, they went to Cold Stone Creamery, which is my new favorite ice cream shop...Sorry Brusters!

So, not only did Marc jack my ice cream the other night, now he has gone to Cold Stone without me! I am not happy, and I will get even!

Beautiful Reminders

The other day when I was outside, I noticed that the flowers in my grandparents' yard were in full bloom. My grandmother was always known for her green thumb and love of flowers. She passed that love to my mother who has since passed it on to me.

Since Marc and I live across the street from where they lived, I still get to enjoy her flowering plants, even though she passed away several years ago. Today, I decided to take some pictures of the flowers. 

These flowers are a reminder of all the days I spent at my grandparents' house when I was growing up. I'd play with my cousins, who were all older than me, for hours and hours. We had so much fun together, although there were the occasional fights. 

All of us girls would beg to spend the night at my grandparents' house. We'd all pile up in big bed that seemed a mile high off the floor, and they'd bribe us to go to sleep by promising us a "Yankee dime" when we woke up, which was really a kiss. We'd wake up to a wonderful breakfast of biscuits, sausage, and fried potatoes. Since I didn't like the chocolate syrup that my grandmother would make, my grandfather would mix honey and butter for me to spread on my biscuits. He'd also make me hot chocolate and let me drink it from a bowl, so it would cool faster. I thought that was so cool! 

After playing all day, we'd sit on the front porch swings and watch the sun go down behind Green Mountain, all the while smelling the beautiful flowers that my grandmother had planted along with the wild honeysuckle. Why can't days be that simple now? 

A Sad Ending

Update: I'm sad to report that I found the remains of my precious Moose Tracks shortly after 10:45pm last night. After interrogating the number one suspect for what seemed like hours, he caved and admitted that he had eaten my Moose Tracks. 

Warning: The picture below is graphic and should be viewed with extreme caution.

A roadside memorial service will be conducted on Wednesday morning preceding the weekly trash collection. Survivors include Mayfield's Snow Cream, Mint Chocolate Chip, Butter Pecan, and Banana Split. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Karen's Ice Cream Protection Fund.