What a weekend.

After Jeff’s car incident on Thursday we spent most of Friday dealing with paperwork and other business to speed along the process.

But not the whole day. After all that nonsense we needed to unwind, big time.

This may or may not be the third pitcher of margaritas we’ve gone through in just this month alone.

Don’t judge me.

We spent the rest of that evening just relaxing and talking and munching.

Jeff and I love that car, we were both pretty stressed out by the wreck. I’m just glad he’s ok.

Saturday was a bit of the same. We were determined to enjoy the weekend despite the car problems so we decided to walk into Decatur for drinks and snacks to lighten our mood. We ended up at Leon’s, as usual, and just enjoyed the breeze sweeping in from the patio.

I had a Hitachino White. I love Hitachino’s beers and I was sad to hear that their sake distillery was severely damaged during the earthquakes.

Jeff and I snacked on some fries before splitting a sandwich and zucchini casserole.

That casserole is so insanely good. It sits in a puddle of thick onion jam and is accented nicely by the fresh arugula dressed with lemon and coarse salt. I could eat a few of those and call it dinner.

We didn’t go too heavy on the alcohol that day though because I had to get up really early Sunday to volunteer with Decatur’s Mile 13 hydration station for the Publix Georgia Marathon.

I woke up at 4:45 and got myself clean and dressed and snuck out the door while Jeff was still sleeping. I chomped down a Larabar while I walked into downtown Decatur to be there by 6am. It was so peaceful and beautiful walking through town in the quiet of the early morning when no one was around.

I got there and helped set up tables and move boxes, then all 35 of us divided into teams of 3 and spent the next hour lining up and filling cups of water or gatorade while others sliced oranges and tidied up the place.

I had so much fun helping out with the hydration team. It was exhilarating to wait anxiously for the first runner to make it down Clairmont Rd. He reached us just after 8am with a time of 1hr and 14 minutes for 13.1 miles! We didn’t see anyone else for 10 minutes or so after him, so he must have been flying!

I really enjoyed handing out water and cheering on the marathoners. Seeing them out there made me really want to be one of them some day. After my 5K this weekend I’ll officially be in training for a 10K. I haven’t selected one to run yet but I really want to get one under my belt so I can push ahead to possibly trying a half marathon later this year!

Check out the schwag I got for helping out.

This past weekend may have started out poorly, but it really turned around for us. Now I’m ready to finish up my last few training runs and rock it out for my race this weekend. Wish me luck!

March 21, 2011 Alayna Discussion 8 comments

While visiting the vet the other day we learned two very interesting things: One – That our vet lives in generally the same neighborhood as we do and passes our apartment on her way to work every day, And two – That there is a very nice little park and walking trail less than a mile from us that we’ve never even known of.

We spent an hour or so in the afternoon earlier walking along the streets in our neighborhood on the lookout for said park and really enjoyed just taking in the sunshine and all the blooming blossoms around us.

We spotted it down below the street we were on but couldn’t seem to find the entrance.

There were signs, but we still couldn’t find our way in. I guess they don’t call it Hidden Cove Park for nothing!

We did eventually find a trailhead that we hoped would lead us there.

There was a nice trickling stream that ran alongside the trail that we got to enjoy the sound of as we walked.

Lots of nice vantage points to take in the scenery.

Oops! Someone lost a bike tire down there!

We sat and gazed at the rippling waves for a while then headed on.

The trail runs straight into an elementary school playground and the school has definitely made use of the natural setting. We ran into this cute outdoor classroom area. I can imagine being a kid again and eating my little crustless sandwich on spongey white bread while my teacher reads a book aloud to all the sun-drowsy students fidgeting on the warm benches.

We passed lots of beautiful pieces of nature.

I snapped a shot of these pretty little clusters of flowers on a weeping tree just before a gust of wind blew and shook them like bells, ringing out with a small swarm of fuzzy-necked bees!

We had so much fun on our little walk, even if we never did figure out how to get into that park.

It’s nice to know there’s so much beauty in our own backyard!

March 12, 2011 Alayna Discussion 2 comments

Ahhh! Weather is back to feeling good, as evidenced by these two blissful sunbathers!

This morning Jeff and I got dressed early and headed over to Decatur’s outdoor farmer’s market. There weren’t too many vendors out today since spring hasn’t officially sprung, but we were still able to snag a few special items.

I’ve been wanting to get my hands on some farm fresh eggs for a while now! These were so beautiful in their varying colors and shapes.

You can really feel how much thinner and more delicate the shells are since these chickens haven’t been fed a bunch of crushed oyster shells, bone meal, and calcium tablets like the factory farmed chickens are.

Can’t wait to eat one of those nearly raw tomorrow morning over rice for breakfast!

We also got some awesome granola full of candied ginger. I’m such a huge ginger fan, this is going to make me very happy sprinkled over a bowl of chopped fruit and drizzled with almond milk.

And when we saw a vendor selling fresh tamales, we had to restrain ourselves from buying more than one pack! These will make a delicious dinner for tomorrow night.

After we got home and put everything away it was time to meet up with Emily and John for brunch at Java Jive.

Jeff and I had never been here before, but I heard about the charming 50’s diner decor and antique kitchen appliance memorabilia online.

We waited in a cute little area surrounded by old pastel-colored stoves and rusty old oscillating fans.

Everything was so cute! I loved all the silly knick knacks and charming collectibles.

I did quit snapping pictures long enough to eat. I started out with a latte and the garden scramble.

I loved all the fresh veggies, and that biscuit you see there is easily the best I’ve ever had! It was the perfect flavor, texture, doneness, butteryness, flakiness imaginable!

Jeff got the gingerbread waffle with lemon curd. Oh yeah, it was amazing!

It had a great spicy flavor and was perfectly crispy on the outside while soft on the inside. I kept sneaking little dollops of lemon curd to put on my biscuit, it was delightfully tart and not too sweet.

We loved Java Jive and will definitely be going back. Now what to do with the rest of the day?

Tonight’s my blogger meet-up with other fellow Atlanta bloggers, some that I haven’t had the chance to meet yet, so that should be a good time. Tell you how it went tomorrow!

March 12, 2011 Alayna Discussion 3 comments