Take me out to the ballgame!

I used to be able to say that I'd never been to a Braves game, but after this weekend I can proudly say that is no longer true. We were invited to go to the game with some friends we've made through the Spouse Alliance, Debbie and Molly and their husbands. 

 They are such wonderful people and Korey has loved getting involved with the alliance and I'm so proud that he will be the president of the alliance for MCG student spouses. He is such a supportive husband and thinking about our future in dentistry makes my heart smile.

As soon as we walked in the gate, we were offered free hats, and Debbie had brought peanuts for us.

I felt a little bad leaving the peanut shells on the ground.

And what's a baseball game without a hotdog?!

Our friends Jessica and Chad were invited to come too. Chad and Korey went to the Spouse Alliance National Conference together in Pheonix earlier this year. 

Debbie was hosting a few french dental students and they also came along. 

We had so much fun watching the game. Chipper hit a 3 run homer and someone else slid in for another run. 

The chicfila cow sure did get a workout. 

Since it was my first game, we took a minute to explore the stadium. I loved all of the coke memorabilia. 

There were the most random humongous chairs on the top of the building. The view of the city was amazing.

We had so much fun!

Sweet summertime

This weekend was full. Full of friends, and fun, and studying. One of our friends, Lindsey, is moving to Macon and we were able to go to a farewell cookout for her. We arrived late, so it was already dark. We played corn hole with lit up corn hole boards and laughed and played with sparklers.

Luckily, starting the grass on fire with the sparkler embers was an epic fail. If only he had stuck his tongue out a little farther...

I experimented with changing my shutter speed.

It was Korey's idea to try and write with the light

So much fun.

Then we lit the "real" fireworks and watched them from afar. Well, some more afar than others.

What is it about fire that is so beautiful and entrancing?

Some of the "real" fireworks were "really"big. It was amazing to watch them explode in the sky and feel the ash raining down on our shoulders.

It seems so poetic as I type it here but I guess that is because the screeching sounds of exploding color and screaming girls and a couple of boys cannot truly be captured by text. Most of the excitement was caused by the one or two fireworks that managed to tip over and explode on the ground. 

I only wish I had thought to turn and snap the reaction of everyone as they dove for cover like soldiers into a fox hole. 

At the end we burned the paper remains and laughed and talked about what we could do instead of going to sleep and said goodbye to a sweet friend who will surely be missed. 

All about the beef

So on the way back from the beach, we made a slight detour to Baxley, GA to visit Korey's grandmother. She wanted to go to this restaurant nearby called Benton Lee's Steakhouse. When we got there, she encouraged us to get the sirloin. She said they were famous for them. The sirloin on the menu was measured generically as small, medium, and large. I'll take any opportunity to stretch one meal into two, so I opted for the medium and Korey loves steak so he got the large. 

Well the motto of Benton Lee's is "Our customers don't leave hungry" for a reason.

Our waiter arrived at our table with the biggest steaks I have ever seen in my life. 

Please notice that it is not even on a plate but a huge silver platter, and that was the picture of my medium sirloin.

The large had an extra steak on top of it. Even in pictures it was hard to capture how large these steaks were, so Korey put his dinner roll on it to try and give the picture some perspective. The extra steak on top was the size of a normal steak.

The food was excellent. My only complaint was that they had generic A1, but since my medium steak that provided 3 days worth of leftovers was less than $20.00, I didn't even really care. There will certainly be a next time and don't think I'm too fancy to bring my own steak sauce. 

The view of the river from the porch was pretty spectacular too.

After dinner, I asked Korey's grandmother, "How come you didn't warn us about the steak?"

Her response, 

"You should have seen your face!"

Life in black and white

There is something peaceful about a black and white photo.

something still.

Something reverent.



I recently stumbled upon a blog that had several beautiful black and white photos. It inspired me to search through my own photos, seeking out the ones that would be enhanced by a loss of color.

I love the way it changes the look of people

places

and things

 My mom used to love the movie "Children of a Lesser God, " and would watch it over and over. In one scene, a girl is swimming and the movie is completely silent. It is as if you are seeing this girl as a deaf person would see her. It is beautiful. Black and white photography reminds me of that scene, as if the lack of sound and the lack of color are related.

One of the quotes I think of from time to time at night is one that I copied into my poetry journal years ago. It's from Donald Miller's first book. "Prayer and the Art of Volkswagon Maintenance." I bought it for a dollar at a thrift store and cherished it, even though it wasn't on any best seller lists. I still find myself quoting it every once in a while, although I never can seem to get the words quite right. I wish I still had it, but it wandered off long ago packed away with some boy's things and I am too cheap to buy it over again. I should have just given him the copy of "A Man, A Can, and A Microwave" and sent him on his merry way, but I was trying too hard to impress him with the witty notes I had written in the margins. One of the many moments in my life I wish I could get back is the moment I put that book into his hands.

"There is a solace in night travel that is absent in daylight. Daylight is broad and exposing. Gas stations, factories, and billboards are all brought to life under the sun. Night covers them. It is as if God has draped a cloth over the cares of the day, pouring them into our memories for meditation and reflection. There is much to think about, much we have left behind. The smell of freedom is as sweet as air through the windows. There is a feeling that time itself is curtained by darkness."

And on that note, I will try to get some sleep. I'm sure all of this will seem much less poetic in the morning.