Flying Biscuits & Monkeys

I was hoping to catch up on some blog posts today but at this point, the past few days are mostly just a blur anyway. So today you get a cornucopia of random thoughts and pictures from Atlanta.

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~What's with me and my 'Big Themed Things' lately?? This is Pierre de Coubertin,
Founder of the Olympics....



I found him when Tammy and I were at Centennial Olympic Park
for Jackson's photo shoot.



~Here is the big 'ole chew toy I got for Pete from IKEA.
Ahhhhhhhh, IKEA.



~This was taken in one of Atlanta's crazy little art shops. The shop owner let Randy
pick out a rubber duck because it was his birthday.



~The Flying Biscuit is one of Atlanta's fabulous food joints, and Randy wanted to eat his birthday
brunch there.



We had been sitting at our table for several minutes before I noticed the print on the wall next to us. ****You guys know I just LOVE spotting things that make me think of Grandma, and remind me that she is always around.****
Of COURSE the title of the print was 'Nana's Love'.



What's even crazier is that I went to SCAD with the artist-Ptah- he is a good buddy of mine and actually gave me the same print a few years ago, it is hanging in our guest room!
I had no idea he had one hanging in The Flying Biscuit! How random we were sitting right under it!

~Then we went over to The Alcove Gallery to see another artist friend, Chris Warner.
This huge monkey canvas was hanging by the entrance to the gallery.....
I was immediately in love.



And very excited that Chris had a much smaller version for sale...



How perfect that it's titled "Come Together" and represents the balance of good and evil...
just like me! HA!

~ This is just a random fun wall. I love Urban Pie.



~A VERY old tag- The Atlanta Crackers.



~ Pete!!!


Hang Tight- Atlanta SNOW pictures coming soon.
YEP! I leave Iowa and get snow in Atlanta in March.
Go figure.

I'll Be Dancin' On A Pony Keg

I am so sad that I have had no time to update my blog while I am in Atlanta!
Well, sad that I have no time... but thrilled that I am busy taking pictures and making some CASH money. Word.
Even saw this random brick today!



"Go play your hand you big-talkin' man, make a big fool of yourself....."

Yesterday was my big corporate shoot, then today I had 2 little people shoots.
This morning I took pics of Tammy's boy Jackson at Centennial Olympic Park.
Here he is hanging with a 'local' Sax player.



OMG.

I haven't even had time to look through all of them yet....but I am in love with this shot.
And with Jackson.

My second shoot today was of my good friend Mel and her new baby Ava.....
I'm hoping to have enough time to look at hers tomorrow.

P.S.- stay tuned for the story of how I tripped over the hose pump and busted my a** at the gas station today....CLASSIC.

"When I breeze into that city, people gonna stoop and bow. (Hah!)"

Over Stimulated

Today I got to meet and photograph my cousin's new baby- what a perfect doll!!!!
I haven't had a chance to look through all the pics yet- but I loved this one. Baby Dean's Grandma came up with a pretty funny caption for it too.



"Someone just told me I was going to be responsible for Obama's stimulus package!!!!!"

I know, a few of my friends tell me I am not allowed to talk politics, but you have to admit that is pretty funny.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Today was a very low key day of rest for me.
Sandra and I did manage to walk Pete over to the neighborhood groomer, so he could finally get his 'corn chip nail tips' clipped.
They had gotten PRETTY BAD!
(This is BEFORE)



Along the way, we happened to notice this very interesting phone pole message:



Leave it to me to find only the best graffiti, I just can't seem to help it.

Here is a closer view for ya.



Really?
Of course it made me laugh.
And laughing reminded me of one of my favorite quotes:

"Laughter is the sunshine of the soul."

It was a good day.

Goodbye Goats And Quiche

How nice is it to wake up on Saturday morning to this?



Pretty dang awesome if you ask me.
God I LOVE visiting relatives who feel obligated to treat me like a queen because I am just that cute.
HAHA!
Seriously, thanks Aunt Bonnie, you shouldn't have--but glad you did :)

The only thing better than that was getting to visit with Bonnie's neighbors- Durbin & Thumper.
This is Durbin.


And THIS is Thumper.



Thumper and Pete meeting.



Durbin posing.



Pete & Durbin.



Pete being a freak and pissing off Durbin.



Sorry Durbin, you know how those silly TN. Curs can be!



My friend Chaney came down from Charlotte to visit me too-
this is her dog Deacon meeting Thumper.



And Chaney pretending to like goats.



They really scare her though-which cracked me up.



And this is T-Bow- Bonnie's sweet 10 year old girl wearing the scarf I had made for her.
I crack myself up.



Trying to get all 3 dogs to sit still for a pic. Once again the TN. Cur screwed up the photo.



Bonnie played a fake sh*t prank on Chaney- f-ing hilarious. Check out Chaney's Blog for more pictures.



Had to take a pic of this random building in the middle of a tobacco field.
Because I love it of course.



The weird cloud thingie that appeared Saturday night....supposed to be a snow cloud or something.



Yep-guess that's what is was because we woke up to some snow flurries Sunday morning.





Bonnie presenting her beautiful quiche for Sunday breakfast.....



Seriously, kind of hard to leave all of this spoiling- but I have to.
So after I inhaled some quiche, said goodbye to Chaney, tried to steal a wine glass from Bonnie but got caught, I hit the road to Atlanta.

Goodbye beautiful, peaceful, mountains.



Hello dirty, chaotic, city.



Can't wait for some weird stories from The Big City.
YeeeeeeeeeeeeHawwwwwwwwwwwwww.

G'night Y'all.

Bona Fide Tennessee Mountain Cur

I ended up getting about 2 total hours of sleep yesterday-fun times.

My first stop in Metropolis was the Giant Superman:



Isn't he handsome?



Yep, HAD to get a giant crotch shot.



Incognito.



Drugs? No thanks, had my fill of those yesterday.....



Which is why I looked like this.



Metropolis is also home of 'Big John'. He is a giant bag boy I think.



My past week has been kind of full of random giant things for some reason.
First Albert The Bull, then Giant Mad Girl, then Huge Superman and Big 'Ole John. Weird.
Well, I am a weird magnet after all :)



So after I finished all my big fun I hit the road- only 8 more hours to Asheville.
After a couple of hours we stopped for some gas, then I noticed two men staring at Pete in the truck. I politely smiled at them and they proceeded to come over and started telling me how handsome Pete was. Now, keep in mind that we were in the hills of TN at a tiny gas station that was so old, the pumps didn't even take credit cards. Those two men were straight out of 'Deliverance'- I seriously could almost hear the tune of 'Dueling Banjos' as they approached me.

It went down like this:

"Now I ain't never seen a Cur from Iowa!"

"Well, we found him in Texas and brought him to Iowa with us."

"Well I'll be damned- a Tennessee Cur living in Iowa. He looks to me like a full blooded bona fide Tennessee Mountain Cur- they are born and bred right her in Tennessee. I have 2 of 'em. Best hoggin' dog I ever did see. And very smart too."

"Really? I just thought he was some strange mutt-that's so cool!"

"oh no, he's a Cur alright. And if you have coons in Iowa he would love to chase them too."
(Sorry, I found that extremely funny sounding.)

Anyway, I was so excited to learn that Pete wasn't some random no name dog!
And extremely relieved that they didn't tell him he had a "purdy mouth" and ask him to squeal like a pig!!

So we got back on the road and headed down the highway with only 2 hours left in our trip.



It was a gorgeous day. The Blue Ridge Mountains were on the horizon. I was almost to my Aunt's house. AND I had my very own Tennessee Mountain Cur. Life was good.

I called Bonnie to tell her I'd just found out that Pete was a Tennessee Cur, and she busted out laughing, promptly grabbed her dictionary and read the definition of Cur below:

{Cur refers to a mutt, a dog of mixed ancestry, typically characterized as one who tends to growl frequently rather than maintain calm.It is also a derogatory term in American slang to insult someone by calling them a dog. Particularly, a mixed-breed dog.}

WHAT??? Pete is a bona fied purebred mutt?
Of course he is.
Awesome.



I did research a little more after I got to Bonnie's house, and found there really is a breed called the Tennessee Mountain Cur.

So as far as I'm concerned, from now on he's Texas Pete, the Tennessee Mountain Cur.

I love it.

What Would Superman Do?

Pete and I covered some serious ground yesterday, we drove almost 12 hours before I decided to call it a night....when I saw the exit sign for 'Metropolis, IL- Home of the Giant Superman Statue!'
And OF COURSE I rolled right on into The Metropolis Inn, and was thrilled when the clerk told me I'd gotten the last room! Imagine my joy in landing the last room AND being only 1 mile from Giant Superman! Golly Gee I am just so lucky sometimes!

I was so beat I collapsed into bed 10 minutes after I'd checked in.......
um...but...that was 6 hours ago. It's now 4 am Friday morning and I can't sleep.

Why you ask?

Well let's see: the shower in my room won't stop dripping. The toilet runs a swishy cycle every 4.5 minutes. The smoke detector on the ceiling has a tiny green light that blinks off and on and off and on and off and on and on and on. There must be an ice machine right outside my door because it dumps a new load just about every 10 minutes...usually right after the elevator dings and screetches and vibrates my wall.

Oh, and that family of giant ELEPHANTS above me are very talented cloggers indeed!

So what would Superman do? I'll tell you what he wouldn't do-
he certainly wouldn't go on a roadtrip and take these:



...and expect to sleep anytime within the next 12 or 20 or so hours after taking them.

Nope. He sure wouldn't.



You guessed it.

Super jinky pills + shithole, noise infested hotel = you aint sleepin' tonight.

It's times like this when I'm painfully reminded that the Mensa gene skips a generation in my family. My parents are Mensa smart, I am not. I used to tease my mom when she would attend her annual 'Mensa Gathering'- I called it the 'Nerd Convention'. Mom told me that her Mensa friends referred to us common folk as 'Densans'.
That's pretty funny.
Regardless, I bet those nerds weren't lying awake in their hotel rooms with the caffeine jitters staring at the moving walls either.



Boing.

Boing.

Boing.


Hey, Mr. Elephant.....your ice is ready!


There had better be one helluva Superman statue on my way out tomorrow today.