Other January/February Happenings

I cannot believe I am now caught up on my blogging! Woo Hoo! I know will fall behind again, but for now, I will be happy that I am up to date!!

So, other January and February happenings!

My sweet hubby turned another year older on January 13th...

The Saturday before his birthday, we went to one of his very favorite restaurants - Kaiser's Chophouse...

A storm was coming that evening, so we left our house early to get to the restaurant. We made it just in time before the rain hit. The lights flickered a couple of time when we were there. The amazing food is totally worth driving in a storm for - LOL!

On his real birthday, he got a salted caramel and toffee cake...

And Bri got him a Starbucks gift card so they could have a daddy/daughter breakfast date soon...

On January 17th, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary (amazing!!)...

In February, Bri and I went to see Bri's friend Mary in her middle school musical. They performed "Madagascar ~ A Musical Adventure Jr" and it was so wonderful! The kids were so super talented...

Valentine's Day rolled around and I had dinner with my two favorite people (we ate at a Cuban restaurant)...

And then winter break was upon us. We decided to just staycation for the week.

Bri did have a great day one day that week with her friend Meredith...

We had a few plans around town during the week, but we didn't do much during winter break at all. And it was really nice. Except for all the rain. So much freaking rain!

Bri is back at school now, Doug is back at work and I am back to working on fixing myself. Mentally and physically. I am determined to get back to "me" as soon as possible. I'm definitely a work in progress! My blogging has actually been pretty therapeutic for me. Despite how crappy I have been feeling for the last few months, I still managed to go out and do things (and enjoy them). And I still strived to be a (hopefully) good wife, mom, daughter and friend. Blogging helps me remember that. Believe me, I have my down moments, but I haven't let those moments completely stop me. I want to branch out even more into life soon, but I'm gonna take baby steps.

Hope you all enjoyed my catch up!

Georgia Snow

The weather here in Georgia has been beyond wacky lately. We have had warm weather, cold weather and a ton of rainy weather.

I found this meme on FB and it wraps up the weather around here perfectly...

Doug and I went over to my parents' house on the snow day (on a Saturday). And I'm glad we did because they definitely got a bit more snow in their neck of the woods than I did in mine...

Here is the snow coming down...

Bri was supposed to head up to the GA mountains to stay in a cabin overnight for her friend Chani's 13th birthday party. Unfortunately the snow made that impossible, so the party ended up happening at Chani's house instead.

The girls still had a great time. They were disappointed they didn't get to go to the cabin, but they still had fun - especially playing in the snow together.

As you can see, the GA weather had been so warm that trees started blooming early. Then snow covered the flowering trees (pictures compliments of Chani's dad)...

Piles of snow...

Sledding...

By Sunday afternoon, pretty much everything had melted and life went back to normal. I wish it had stayed around a bit longer. And Bri wished it had happened on a school day. Heh.

Chattanooga Weekend Trip

The first weekend in February, Doug, Bri and I headed up to Chattanooga to stay the night so we could see one of my all time favorite musicals "Cats."

Briana has been hounding me to see the "Cats" movie. But, I've heard not so great things about it. I told her she had to see the real thing before I tainted her with the movie. I've seen musical "Cats" like 4 times now - my dad first brought me when I was a kid. I fell in love with it, and I used to sit in my bedroom listening to the album and memorizing all the songs. So, I wasn't going to let my kid see the crappy movie first.

Doug saw that the show was coming to Chattanooga (we missed the Atlanta run), so we jumped on the opportunity.

We stayed once again at the Westin in Chattanooga...

The lobby...

For some reason, there was a fancy Fiat parked in the lobby...

My sweet hubby got me a glass of wine while we waited for our room...

Our room...

View from our room...

We headed to dinner before seeing the show. The Old Gilman Grill was right across from our hotel...

Cheers!!!!

Ambience...

The food was so delicious. Bri devoured her hamburger...

My prime rib and charred brussel sprouts...

Doug's Cornish hen...

Apple crepe for dessert...

Then it was show time!

The Tivoli...

Cats!!!!

The stage...

We were 4th row...

Old Deuteronomy waiting for the second act to start...

Since you cannot take photos during the show, I swiped some from the internet...

The girl who played Grizabella that evening was actually the understudy (but she had been the lead a few years ago). Her name is Tricia Tanguy and she was phenomenal. People were crying in the audience when she sang "Memory"...

I found a video of her singing "Memory" on YouTube. Beautiful voice...

"Cats" will always remain one of my all time favorite musicals. Bri liked it, but I don't think any other musical will surpass "Phantom" in her mind.

Now I need to muster up the strength to see the movie version. I've heard it is so bad. Maybe it's so bad, I'll still enjoy it? To be determined!