Attacked by zombies!

This is a true story.

Once upon a Sunday (last Sunday to be exact) I was hanging out in Atlanta with my friend Red.

All of a dither, a bloody young man with weapons ran down the street screaming out a warning that zombies had invaded Atlanta. We thought it was a joke until we saw a mob of zombies lumbering up the hill behind him!

There were so many of them and we were so scared!

They began taking over the stores because there was no mall close enough.

There were all types of zombies stumbling through the city moaning, groaning, and hanging from trees. They were clearly extremely hungry.

So we did the only thing we knew to save ourselves--we fed them New and Improved Zombie Chow. "Improved" because it was gummy candy body parts instead of our own body parts.

Luckily, our feeding the zombies worked!

...but for only as long as the Zombie Chow lasted and then they were hungry again! Talk about a bloody mess we were in!

They moved in closer as our hearts quickened!

And they came closer still!

The sickening smell of putrifying zombies covered with maggots filled the air!

The zombies became hungrier and angrier and they started to come for us!

And even agrier as they began to chase us down!

Everyone was turning zombie right before our eyes! Even the children were dangerous.. The situation became grim for us.

And then as the zombies took to the streets, we saw our opportunity to escape.






So we got into our car and hit the road...but we were spotted!

And then the zombies attacked our car! So we ran them over (picture not included due to its violent nature) and escaped to the interstate.

And then we fled the city of Atlanta never to return.


The end.

True story. I swear!

Trick-or-Eat

As I have already said, Halloween in my favorite time of year and I like to celebrate it in many ways. I even like to celebrate it with food! Here are a few places I like to eat while keeping in flavor with the season.

I also already mentioned Six Feet Under as a very cool restaurant across from the historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. It has very yummy food, particularly good seafood. But I guess clever name and views like this are what makes it on my Halloween Eateries list.

This is a view of the restaurant from the cemetery.












And anyone who has ever read this blog knows that The Vortex is an all-seasons favorite of mine. Still, any place that you can walk through a skull's mouth is a must-do Halloween experience. Plus they do add some Halloween decorations to the year-round skeletons inside.






This year, I even dragged my parents here. Yeah, they don't exactly fit in here, but they did have a blast!

Quite possibly, the most exciting thing I found out as far as Halloween eateries go, was the the people who own the Vortex, have just opened a Mexican restaurant in mid-town called Bone Garden Cantina. My friends and I went there last night to check it out and I have to declare that it makes my Halloween Eateries List! As soon as I saw the Mexican skeleton greeting me from the parking lot, I knew this would be a great place!

There were motorcycle ridin' skeletons...

There was a mural of the skeletons celebrating Mexico's Day of the Dead.

And there were devil and angel skeletons who, apparently after throwing down a bottle of Tequila each, discovered that we can all just get along.

My friends didn't even need a bottle of Tequila to have fun together.









And here I am! Notice the skeleton of the Virgin Mary above my head. Is that baby Jesus skeleton standing at her feet?

Well, if Bone Garden Cantina is good enough for Jesus, then it is good enough to be added to my Halloween Eateries List.

'Tis the season to be spooky

Didn't you just love the chorus in the song?

Last year, Red and I went through a ton of horror movies while celebrating Halloween. We saw some really good and really bad ones. Our favorite discovery was Dead and Breakfast. It was a hilarious gore comedy spoofing a combination of horror movies! The best part was the narrator dude who sang the story of the six doomed friends who, weary from their drive to a friend's wedding, stopped in this one-horse town where the only place to rest for the night was a creepy bed and breakfast. He sang many (rednecky) tunes as the plot unfolded and became a fight against evil for their lives. The best song and scene of all is this one (complete with zombies doing the Thriller dance)!!!!

As if anyone couldn't tell, it's my favorite time of year again! Besides the typical reasons that people give for loving the Fall season--pretty leaves, cool, crisp air, college football (Go Dawgs!!), and Fall festivities, I would agree, but I have to say that October is the best reason. October is the month of Halloween!!!

Halloween rocks! It's the one time of year I can indulge in all the paranormal and creepy things I obsess about like ghosts, cemeteries, zombies, vampires, werewolves, horror movies, and just about anything else that is dark without people wondering what is wrong with me. It's easy to indulge without suspicions when all I have to do is flip on the TV and the History Channel is showing Haunted History, The Learning Channel has documentaries on the legends of Witches, Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies, and Mummy curses, and The Travel Channel is showing Haunted Travels all month long! Not to mention what the Sci-fi Channel does with horror movies!

Last October, I had some Halloween fun, but just not enough. I was preoccupied with certain things last year, but I plan to make up for it this year. Already, I've gone to a Halloween party at my brother's girlfriend's house last weekend. (It had to be the first weekend in October since it was the only weekend that UGA didn't have a game!) It was a great way to kick off the month. I went as a goth girl and I totally plan to use the whole goth girl costume again on Halloween proper--just gonna vamp it up a bit! (Pics. to be posted later)

This weekend's Halloween activity was a visit to Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta with Red. We topped if off, of course, with lunch at the wonderful restaurant across the street which happens to be appropriately named Six Feet Under! Mmmmmm! I love that place!

I think next weekend's Halloween fun will be going to see the latest zombie flick, Quarantine. No doubt, it can't be funny as Dead and Breakfast, but I think it will be good.

Jeepers! That's creepy!

Welcome to the little hole in the road called Hoschton, Georgia! (It's pronounced "Hoosh-tun" in case you are wondering). It's not too far from the redneck town that I grew up in, so when I heard about Hoschton's plan to attract more people to their fall festival, I had to check it out.



The town has been completely taken over by scarecrows! With 5,441 scarecrows hanging out, not only were curious people drawn in for their fall festival, but a record was set with Guiness--something a place like Hoschton is sure to be proud of forever.



Good for them, but I happen think it was a bit creepy. I mean, if you didn't know that thousands of stuffed people were hanging out along the streets, buildings, and yards of residents and you were driving through there at night, wouldn't that sort of catch you off gaurd? Maybe it's just me.

Or maybe it's the way they look like ghosts standing in the field with their old fashioned clothes blowing in the wind.





Or maybe because the "animated" scarecrows reminded me of the cheesy horror movies where the zombies take over.






Or maybe because these scarecrows, not only tried to take over the town, but they tried to start their own town--a wild west one at that!--complete with robbers. Hey, what's a town without a little crime?




Or maybe because Jesus even took on scarecrow form right in front of the church!






...and he loves all the little scarecrow children!







Or maybe it was because they tried to play football motionless!







Or maybe it was because they could take gigantic dumps!








Or maybe it is simply because there are so damn many of them!






Whatever the reason, they are creepy. So creepy in fact, that I couldn't help but think about the creepiest scarecrow of all times--the one from the Jeepers Creepers movies. That was one scary scarecrow! As I was thinking this and humming "Jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those peepers", guess what I came across? Yep, the Jeepers Creepers scarecrow himself!



I liked him much better than the Elvis, Wizard of Oz, Little Red Riding Hood, and definitely better than the scarecrows made to resemble the people of Hoschton. In fact, Jeepers was really cool.

Even if he was creepy.

Weddings, cameras, and emotional breakdowns! Oh my!

Usually, I keep my blog restricted to only discussing the great outdoors and cool places, but this time I am not filtering my mind and letting it all flow. Hope y'all will still be my friend after taking a peek into my busy, crazy little head!

I just got back Sunday night from a 5 day trip to Utah. It wasn't the typical fun Utah trip for me. I did indeed have some fun and happy times, but there were also a lot of emotional and stressful moments for me. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…

Take the ride along in my emotional roller coaster with me! Wheee! To make it more fun, I wrote the happy things in sunny orange and the bad in sad blue.

The main reason for the trip was for Best Friend's wedding! (Yay and Congrats to the newly weds!) The wedding was absolutely beautiful and she was a stunning bride. Everything went according to plan and even the threatening weather couldn't put a damper on the occasion.

Well, only one thing could have been better. Best Friend's grandma (and my adoptive grandma) has been very, very ill with cancer and is under hospice care. She was way too ill to make it to the wedding. I knew beforehand that it was going to be incredibly painful for me to see this woman who took me into her family and gave me my own room in her house--a woman whom I love very much in return and visit at least every six months-- in the last stage of her life. And it was the worst. I had to be brave like everyone else and smile, but I died a little inside and cried myself to sleep just knowing that I will never see her again.

Even getting to Utah was a worrisome thing. Flying standby is one thing when you are going on a leisurely vacation where time doesn't matter but it was completely another knowing that I had to be there. Then again, paying $1,300 for a ticket (Thanks Hurricane Ike!) wasn't a great option either. Plus, I have become reasonably calm even waiting at the airport to see whether I will be able to make a flight home or lose my job. I guess I was more on edge because I wasn't traveling alone and the friend traveling with me was traveling with one of Best Friend's buddy passes. I know that when I am flying with companion benefits, I am merely the gum on the bottom of your shoe. Well, buddy pass riders are the dirt on the gum on the bottom of your shoe. I knew the chance was great that my friend may not make a flight that I would and that disaster could strike. And struck it did. She didn't make the flight out of Atlanta when I did. I felt incredibly guilty that I got on the plane and she didn't.

But I had to swallow the guilt and get out there. I couldn't wait because there were many wedding-related events starting the very next day that I was to be a part of. Plus, it just wouldn't be cool to miss your best friend's wedding. Not only that was this Best Friend's wedding but I had an important role to play--I was her official wedding photographer! I was so nervous!

And I have to say, I feel like I did a good job (despite the minister's "help")! There are some really great shots that I am proud of. Here are a couple.














I have to admit that the photos were easy to take with my FABULOUS new camera! I bought it the first whole day I was in Utah. I couldn't be happier with it! It can do things that my old camera could only dream of.

I sold my old camera for cheap to a friend. That camera rocked and I loved it very, very much. There was not a thing wrong with it. It was a wonderful camera; it was just time for me to upgrade. So why is this a sad, blue typed paragraph? Because my emotional attachment to this camera caused me to shed tears while giving it to someone else. I mean, I don't even "allow" myself to become attached to people! And the few times I do really form an emotional attachment to someone and then things go astray, I block them out and don't allow myself to grieve or even think about them. Yet I literally shed tears over a nonliving object that did not have any feelings for me at all! Yeah, I think I have some issues.

Oh well, just like losing people, I am getting over this loss, too. It is so much easier now that I have this Nikon D90 as my new BFF.

Another great thing about the trip was seeing all my friends out there. I got to hang out with Mr. Grunty, which was a very nice surprise for me since I didn't think I would have time to see anyone not affiliated with the wedding. The best thing about seeing him (besides, of course, seeing a dear friend) was that I got to show off my camera! I didn't have all the features figured out by then. Therefore, there are no self-timer shots of us together this time. But I did get this one of him alone, which was good enough. By the way, I have since figured out self-timer mode, so I am back to doing my self portraits again.













I rented a car for two days so I was able to take a couple of scenic drives. It was exciting for me to see the leaves changing colors in the mountains because it was a reminder of what is around the corner in my neck of the woods. Not to mention that it was a fabulous way to try out my new camera's tricks! My friend that I had to leave behind in Atlanta was able to make it to Salt Lake through Seattle the following day, so I got to show her all the awesomeness of the mountains in Utah. On our first day, we took a drive up through Monte Cristo to Bear Lake on the Idaho border and came back to our home away from home via Logan Canyon. On the second day we began our day in Evanston, Wyoming and looped our way back down into Utah on the beautiful Mirror Lake Highway. It was absolutely breath taking and we saw a moose! (Check out my pics at the end of the post.)

It was wonderful to get away from all the ragweed in Georgia and to finally get a break from my itchy eyes, coughing and sneezing, if even for a short time. I loved the humidity free air my lungs were able to swallow. However, I did realize something that I never paid that much attention in the past. The dry air makes my lungs feel great and I am headache free, but Utah climate makes me not so pretty. No humidity=flat hair, cracked lips, and dry skin that reveals every single flaw of my skin. At least here in sticky Georgia, I have wavy hair, full lips, and plump skin. Yeah, so I look better in Georgia.

So why do I always meet the hottest guys out there in Utah when I am looking my worst?! There was one at the wedding, which happened to be the day that I discovered that even if I wet my hair to make it wavy, the bounce falls right out as soon as it dries. Bad hair day just in time for the wedding!

But the hottest guy I met on this trip was not even a Utah boy, but a Georgian like me. The second my eyes met his as I entered that plane in Albuquerque, I melted. And he was sitting right beside me!

But allow me to back up…By day 5, my final day in the dryness, my lips were cracked so bad that they would split and bleed when I smiled. I knew it was going to be a long day as I had to try to get on the plane from Salt Lake to make a connection to Albuquerque to make my way back to Atlanta. I had anxiety the night before worrying that my friend, who had such a hard time getting out there, would not be able to make it back to Atlanta with me (if I could even be lucky enough to make it myself), that I had only 3 hours of sleep, leaving blue bruises under my red eyes, which I didn't even bother to cover up with make up. I figured I would just let my lifeless, flat hair fall across my face and cover it up. I wasn't looking my best and I didn't even care…

…until I walked on the plane. My friend wasn't able to catch the flight and was worried she would be stuck in New Mexico until spring and was very clearly upset and angry. I felt like she was mad with me. After some stressful moments and angry words, I entered the plane almost in tears. It hit me all at once--the disaster with my friend, the acceptance that I would never see Grandma again, and feeling like all my future visits to Utah will be less and certainly different. I felt tears building up and knew I was about to break down. I had already made plans to hide my face once I settled into my seat and cry the entire 3 hours back to the ATL. Instead, I stumble to the back of the plane to claim my seat by this gorgeous man who met my haggard face with a smile. He asked, "You're sitting here?" pointing to the empty seat next to him. Once I nodded yes, he replied, "Oh good!" And then we began the epic conversation that lasted for hours. The number of things we had in common was uncanny. We discussed our adventures, travels, family, work, and UGA football! About 45 minutes into discussing the awesomeness of kicking Florida's asses in last year's game and how we hope to kill Tennessee this year, he holds his hand out to me and formally introduces himself to me. When my hand took hold of his warm hand, I became lost in his gorgeous blue eyes. I was mesmerized by his smile and golden skin. It took me a minute to be able to tell him my name in return. I felt like an idiot. He didn't seem to notice as he continued to talk to me before taking an iPod nap break. I read my book, unable to concentrate enough to comprehend what I was reading. Then all too soon, we were circling Atlanta. We talked even more as we waited to deplane. He got my bag out of the overhead bend and helped me carry it out and we walked side by side to the train. Then just as I was about to walk toward baggage claim to meet my sweet roommate, I said, "It was great to meet you. I really enjoyed talking to you and hopefully, I will see you at one of the games!" He smiled and looked into my bloodshot eyes with his deep blue eyes and said, "I will be looking for you!" I should have said, "Well, let's exchange email and I'll tell you where my brother and his friends all tailgate before the game and you and your friends can join us." OR "You should go kayaking with me next time!" OR something. Anything. But instead, I walked away wordless. Idiot.

Regret is an imprisoning misery.

Who the hell needs him anyway? I have my camera.

I did it again! (Kayaking, that is.)

Again, I joined some friends for kayaking along the Chattahoochee. A fog was just beginning to lift.








Yay! I got two chicks!

This time Movie Chick and I were joined by CM!







We think she did a fabulous job--despite the fact she tipped her kayak. That just adds more experience to her skillz yo!








SV (pictured to the right of Movie Chick) was with us again. You can see how happy he was to be with us. He is always such a joy be around.







The gang relaxing on the river.









Probably complaining about the guys right now.









Of course, I had to include one of me to prove that I really am losing that fear of river water.







So yes, most of this stretch of the river is easy to kayak, but every time I see how narrow the kayak is, I can't help but feel proud in a super-speshul kind of way, that I have learned to keep my balance and enjoy it. I even laid completely on my back to bask in the sun one time!



Another great trip! I think the next kayaking trip (yes, their will be another) will be on the Chestatee River.

By the way, thanks to JM who was our wonderful photographer on this day. He was a punk and refused to have his picture taken, but we were glad to have him along the way.