Dinner in the Dark Ages.

Several months ago, Zack and I won a gift certificate to attend Medieval Times Dinner in a silent auction. The gift certificate was about the expire, so we needed to use it. We decided to go this last weekend because I was already going to be down in Atlanta and Zack was having to come down to work on the servers on Saturday....So, Zack got into contact with the medieval times we were going to be attending and made reservations.


Friday night, Zack came and picked me up from the hotel that Tammy and I had been staying at for a CME conference. We headed to the restaurant. We were told to get there an hour early in order to get a good seat, as seating was first come first serve. So, we had a little while to wait before the dinner started. Zack and I decided that part of the reason that they asked you to come early was so that you would have more opportunity to buy things. There were swords and shields for you to buy your sons and princess crowns to buy for your little girls. You could pay extra to be knighted before the show as well and there were lots of photo ops you could opt to take advantage of. Zack and I forewent any of those opportunities.



Once the seating started, they sat you according to color of your crown. You had now become a faithful citizen of some region/ kingdom of medieval times. We were seated at our table and we were attending a knights competition to honor the kingdom. We were served dinner in the dark and had to eat with our hands. Our server introduced herself as wench Kourtney and she proceeded to weave a tale of of kingdoms of old. We were told that the green knight was from the country that was our sworn enemy and we were supposed to cheer for our knight and whoever else we chose, but we were to BOO the green knight.





The show and experience was a lot of fun. Our knight didn't end up being the victor, but it was a lot of fun....and something out of the ordinary.

a little continuing education and a lot of fun.

Last week, some coworkers and I were able to attend a CME conference in Atlanta. So, Wednesday after work, Tammy and I packed into her car and headed down to our hotel. She has a GPS so we were following it to our hotel. We turned were the GPS told us to go and headed toward what looked like it could be a hotel. As we got closer, I turned to Tammy and said. "I don't think this is right. This looks like office building more than hotel". So, we parked and walked into the closest building to see if we could find our hotel. We made our way through the revolving door and headed to the front desk only to find out that we were not where we needed to be.



So, we piled back into our car and headed the way that the man at the desk told us to go. We stopped at a hotel to ask again where our hotel was. While I was trying and failing to find an open door, Tammy was calling our hotel to see if we could get some help. I ended up asking a man having a smoking break outside of the holiday inn if he knew where our hotel was. He told me some rough directions and I jumped back into the car to find out that the person at our hotel thought that we were about a mile away from where we needed to be. He was telling Tammy this as we rounded the corner and saw our hotel right in front of us...good thing 1 mile away actually ment right around the corner.

As we pulled up to the hotel, a man came up to our window and asked us if we wanted to self park or have valet parking. Being the cheap people that we are, we opted for self parking. Lesson learned...when given the option of valet parking when there are just girls involved always opt for valet.

Tammy and I pulled into the parking garage. The man we had talked to in front of the hotel told us to park on level 2 or 3. So when we entered the parking deck we did what any normal person would do....we turned and went up to the next level...ummm that was a mistake because we ended up on a level with a dead end. Apparently, the numbers went up as you went down...weird, I know.

So after I directed Tammy to a safe place to turn around we headed down into the bowels of the hotel. We secured a parking spot and headed up through the narrow corridors to the hotel lobby. We checked in and asked the front desk if they had any carts so that we could wheel our stuff back to our room. We were told to ask out front. As we were walking toward the front we saw 2 luggage arts sitting there and so we grabbed one and headed back down to our car. We had parked on the second level, but when we got off of the elevator, our car was no where to be seen. We got back into the elevator and went to the 1st floor...and there we found our car, parked on level 2...huh?!?

Once we got our luggage packed onto the cart, we headed up to our room. I was joking with Tammy as we got on the elevator in the lobby. I turned to her and said, "now all we have to do is find our room" I wish that I had known the irony of that statement before I said it. We got off of the elevator on our floor and had to weave through the maze of hallways to find our room. I was joking with Tammy that we should leave a trail of bread crumbs so that we could find our room again.



Once safely in our room, we called our husbands, freshened up, and went down to the front desk to ask if there was a place to eat within safe walking distance. We were told about a shuttle that could take us to the mall across the street. So, we took the shuttle over to the Mall and grabbed dinner at the mall food court. We ended up eating some oriental food. While we were eating, the mall stores started closing around us.

We headed outside to the entrance where the shuttle had dropped us off and called the shuttle service to come and pick us up. We then sat down on a bench to wait for our ride. we waited....and waited...and I REALLY had to go to the bathroom...I started debating my options....I walked back toward the mall, which was by this time locked....well, that's not an option hmmm. There were of course the trash cans out side the mall if things got desperate....bad option. There was a restaurant right next to where we were waiting...much better option. So, I decided to risk missing the shuttle and left Tammy to fend for herself while I ran to use the bathroom at the restaurant next to us. On the way to the restaurant, I spotted a porta potty. So, I changed directions only to discover that it was locked...ugh, but likely a blessing in disguise.


I headed into the restaurant and was searching for the bathroom only to discover that it was, of course, on the second floor of the restaurant. I rushed back out of the restaurant back to where Tammy was afraid that we had missed the shuttle. Nope....still not there. So, I called the service again. Apparently the shuttle that was supposed to pick us up had run out of gas....OUT OF GAS!!! They were sending another shuttle and it should be to there to pick us up in 10 minutes. We waited for a while longer and a taxi pulled up. Thinking that maybe this was what the hotel had sent for us, I went and opened the taxi door...nope, false alarm. As our hotel was literally across the road and we had waited for an hour by this time, Tammy and I decided to walk to our hotel. We had taken the shuttle to begin with because Tammy's husband didn't think that it was a good idea for two women to be walking around at night by themselves...but we decided that it was worse for us to sit at the mall all night waiting for a shuttle that perhaps would never come.


Tammy was on the phone with her sister and I was taking photo documentation of our journey so that there would be witnesses and evidence in the chance that we might fall victim to some sort of foul play.



As we approached the hotel Tammy asked me what I was going to say to the hotel management when we got back. I am NOT a confrontational person...So, I let Tammy know that I was probably NOT the right person for that job. Tammy and I walked up to the front desk and I let Tammy talk to the manager while occasionally throwing in my input. The manager apologized and gave us coupons for complimentary breakfast.

Yea!! One problem solved. We had been trying to figure out what we were going to do about breakfast and this solved our problem for us.

So, Thursday am, we got up, got ready, and then headed down to breakfast. They had a buffet set up with a fresh fruit bar and hot breakfast dishes. Tammy and I sat down at the end of a really long table and ate breakfast.



Once finished with our breakfast, we headed down to our first lecture of the day. Our friend and coworker Caroline who had been staying with family in town came and met us at the first lecture. The first series of lectures was about Autism and they were very interesting and informative.

After these lectured were finished, we took a break for lunch. So, Caroline, Tammy and I headed over to the Mall across the street to grab something to eat. We ended up eating at the food court so that we had more options. I had some chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, and broccoli for lunch from the farmer's basket. Once we finished lunch, we headed back to the hotel for our afternoon lecture series.






We were all signed up to go to the oral health lectures in the afternoon. Recently Georgia has started to reimburse pediatric offices for fluoride varnishes. This set of lectures was one of the main reasons that we were planning to attend this conference. We were really disappointed in the lectures. We were hoping that the lectures were going to be a lot more informative about guidelines for fluoride varnish, but that was sadly lacking. The first lecture was an interesting overview of oral health and seemed to be a really good set up for the last lecture about Fluoride use.



Once that lecture was over, we took a quick break for refreshments. They had yogurt parfaits and trail mix for us to eat. I chose the parfait while Tammy opted for the trail mix. So, as we settled in for the next lecture, Tammy handed me a long brownish/black piece of...something. I looked at it and handed it back to her asking, "did you just give me a scab?"Tammy started laughing...and crying...which was made funnier to me because the lecture was starting and she was trying to do all of her laughing silently.


Honestly watching Tammy try to keep her laughter in was the most enjoyable part of the last lecture. We were really disappointed with the second lecture. The Lecturer was monotone and cynical and seemed to be unhappy to be at the conference. He also had conflicting views on Fluoride and its benefits when compared to the lecturer before him. Making the oral health lectures pretty unhelpful for us.

With the last of our lectures done for the day, Tammy and I parted ways with Caroline and headed back to our hotel room to change clothes before going to dinner. We decided to go shopping at the mall for a little while before heading to eat. We live in a pretty small little town and so it was fun to get to shop at stores that we don't have at home.







After shopping for a little while, we decided to go to Cheesecake factory to grab dinner. YUM. We both got Chicken di pana and we got a slice of tiramisu cheesecake to share. We were so full after we finished dinner that we got our cheesecake to go.



We headed back to our hotel to call our husbands and then sat and talked for a while before digging into the cheesecake and then heading to bed...there's nothing like eating a few 100 calories right before bed.

Tammy's husband and she hide this little token in eachother's stuff and she found it hidden in her suitcase the second night that we were at our hotel.

After a day of lectures, you tend to get a little silly...I was trying to rock the 80's look.

Friday am we headed down to the conference for our second day of lectures. They actually had breakfast provided the second day which was really nice. We enjoyed several really informative and interesting lectures in the am before lunch.


There was a lunch awards ceremony that we attended. I was actually really surprised at how nicely it was decorated and how good the food was. It was not a lunch that you could sit and hit chat with those around you because they were having a presentation throughout the whole meal, but I enjoyed myself and the meal.





After lunch, we headed in for the last lectures of the day.For the most part these were really interesting. My mind went a little numb and my blood started to curdle a little when they were talking about the changes coming down the pike for health care...ugh....DO NOT get me started!! Carolyn was smart and left during this lecture. Tammy and I stuck it out until the end.

After the says lectures were over, Tammy and I headed down to her car so that I ould get my luggage. We had decided to just go to Thursday and Friday's lectures. So, Tammy was headed home. I was supposed to be meeting Zack because we were going to be going to Midevil Times for dinner.

Thankfully it was not too long after Tammy left that Zack showed up. We made it to our dinner and had a great time...I'll save that story for another post.

I did end up going back down to the lectures on Saturday, because Zack ended up having to go in for Jury duty on Saturday and there were a few interesting lectures that I wanted to go to.

It was a very informative and fun weekend....I'm sure that Tammy and I will always laugh about things that we experienced and shared that weekend.

It's an epidemic....

It seems like everyone that I know is getting called up for Jury duty...seriously everyone....if you know me and you haven't yet gotten that fateful little slip of paper in the mail, look out cause more than likely it's coming.

I realize that jury duty is part of my civic duty and it's an honor to serve, but really it is VERY inconvenient and at times of real frustration, I like to say that Jury duty is ruining my life. I started my stint with the legal system about a month or so ago and I have the joy of continued servitude until January...yep, that's right, I said January....you should have heard the collective gasp in the courtroom when they were swearing us all in and the Judge dropped that bomb on us. Great, nothing says celebrate the holidays more than a day in the ol' jury room. Cause those are exactly the types of things that I like to think about around Thanksgiving and Christmas (I hope that you are able to sense the sarcasm here!).

Zack started his indentured service more recently...and his sentence is linked closely with whatever case he is a part of...so who knows when that will be over....and side note...doesn't it seem a LITTLE ridiculous that 2 individuals in a household are called to jury duty at the same time?

We also have at least one friend in small group that is supposed to be serving time as a juror here in the next couple months.

On top of that, my coworker at work has been called to Jury duty...making things a little more interesting (also known as CRAZY BUSINESS) at work for me. I was absolutely SLAMMED today at work and had a very full morning followed closely by having to run grab some lunch to run to a lunch meeting only to run out of that literally half way through to start seeing patient's again. Then, after a full day of seeing patient's with ZERO notes finished, I got to try to finish as many notes as I could before heading to small group only to have to deal with the stress of being on call...so, I guess that I am telling you that today was not my idea of the ideal day....and thus, Jury Duty is Ruining my life! :)

Growing a Great Marriage., Marriage Conference

Zack and I went to a 1 day marriage conference today. We like to try to find one or two marriage enrichment/conferences to attend each year. So that we can find ways to enhance/strengthen our marriage. Because like they said today, "All you have to do is nothing" and your relationships can fall apart.

So, we signed up for the conference. We signed up last minute because until Friday it didn't look like we would be able to make it due to Zack's job. Thankfully, we were able to go and I think that we were both really blessed by it.

The couple that spoke at the conference is a couple that goes to our church and who are very involved with and passionate about growing and restoring marriages through Christian Counseling. It was really great to listen to them share from their experiences in marriage and to glean wisdom and some tools for dealing with some of the difficulties that come along with marriage. They had a fun way of sharing the principles that they were teaching. So it didn't seem like a boring lecture of highlighted bullet points to improve your marriage, but a fun interactive way to learn to apply different principles to your marriage.

The conference was divided into 3 sessions each with a slightly different point/tool to growing your marriage. Hopefully, Zack and I will be able to take some of these words of wisdom and apply them to our marriage to take it from a good marriage to a great marriage.

We also met a really nice young couple while we were at the conference that we would never have met otherwise. We enjoyed getting to know them over lunch.

Before the last session, they played this video that was made by a Central Christian Church, that I am sure that you will all appreciate! :) I hope that you all are finding ways to grow your marriages into the type of relationship that God desires! Hope you get as many laughs from this video as Zack and I did!!

Paula vs Yeast: Battle Pumpkin Spice Bagles.

About a month ago, I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Bagels. I have been wanting to try them ever since. So, yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making bagels....turns out that they are a lot of work...and that I need to work on my bagel making skills. The bagels actually tasted ok, but they were smaller than normal bagels. I am still not really confident with yeast doughs...and I'm not sure if I under or over kneaded these...or if you even can over knead dough...still learning. I also made a maple walnut cream cheese togo along with the bagels.

BBQ Baked potatoes.

Zack likes to get BBQ potatoes or nachos as a change of pace when he goes to BBQ restaurants. So, when I saw this recipe for BBQ hiken Baked Potatoes, I thought that it would be right down his alley. The recipe calls for a slow cooker, but it only needs to cook for about 6 hours. So, not really something that I could do on my typical work day. This past week on one of my days off, I tried these BBQ chicken Baked Potatoes. They turned out pretty good. Zack seemed to like them. ...good thing, because we've been eating leftovers from them for a few days now.

a new year and a new look

This week was my birthday and so I spent some time reflecting on the last year.

Realization that I came to, I am incredibly blessed!

I have loving friends and family that I have been able to deepen relationships and share memorable moments with.

I have the most wonderful and supportive husband.

I have a job that I enjoy and I am able to work part time.

I have been able to do crafty/creative things over the last year...and enjoyed every minute of it.

I have a loving savior who loves me wholly and who desires me to know Him as well as He knows and understands me.

In honor of my birthday this year, I took the day off of work. Last year I was on call on my birthday and was miserable. So, this year I stayed home and pampered myself. I decided that to ring in another year I should get a new look. My hair had been getting REALLY long, and very scraggly. So, I decided to get it cut. I think that this might be the shortest that I have ever cut my hair. I think that it was an improvement and I have gotten a lot of compliments on it. Whew...that's always good.





I also took some birthday money and went shopping. I got a couple of new items to add to my wardrobe.

I was also going to take myself to a movie, but for some crazy reason, our little town does not have a movie that starts before 4 oclock on weekdays. Zack and I had small group that night and so there was no way that I could go to a movie and be home in time to get to small group on time.

We had small group at Eric and Anna Lauren's house and my sweet friend Anna Lauren had made delicious triffles (pumpkin and chocolate) in honor of Jaclyn (her bday is the day before mine) and my birthdays. We each had to wear these little plastic birthday crowns throughout small group, and we even had candles to blow out in the triffles.


The night after my birthday, Zack and I went out to dinner to celebrate. We went to this awesome little local restaurant to eat. We ordered an appitizer of sweet potato chips with gorganzola dipping sauce. I LOVE LOVE these. I got pan seared pork tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, and fried okra for dinner and Zack ordered chicken fried chicken, cheese grits, grilled asparagus, and jalapeno corn bread. Everything tasted amazing.



Once we got home, Zack gave me the present that he had gotten me....a bike helmet. :) Zack and I got new mountain bikes last year and I have had the same bike helmet since my freshman year of college. The helmet was literally falling apart. When we would go riding, I would have little pieces of black foam falling in my eyes, sticking to my forehead, and getting stuck in my hair....not to mention that I accidentally dropped it the last time we went riding and there is now a big rack in it...hmmm, not sure, but I don't think that that would protect my head from injury if truely tested. I had looked several times for helmets, but never really found one that fit well. Apparently, I have a really little head. :) So, Zack's gift was really thoughtful. It's a helmet with a special adjuster to make it fit snugly to your head. So, now Zack and I an go riding and at least my head will be safe from injury...an't say that that will improve my bikin skilz too much though! :)






I hope that you all had great weeks and I wanted to thank you for all of the wonderful birthday wishes! They mean so much! Looking forward to seeing what this next year holds!