Decatur Beer Festival

Mike got drunk.

Brette got drunk.

Dave cried.

Good times!

The Great Decatur Craft Beer Festival whooped our ass last year. We live less than 1 mile from downtown Decatur, so fortunately we were able to stumble home. Being the newbies at this festival, we learned a lot of techniques in order to stay on top of the game this year. http://decaturbeerfestival.org/

First, you need to absorb the endless amounts of pints with something.

Pretzels are always a good choice...

Remember to be polite to the volunteers serving your tastings...even though they understand they are serving drunks, they tend not to like vulgar comments. Also remember to make new friends...

When offered a sample of hops, dont lean into the persons hand and eat it like a bird,
grabbing a pinch from the person's hand is the most sanitary method.

Also, don't drink and drive, hail a cab instead...

Don't forget the tender moments...

when a stranger mistakes you and your brother as gay lovers,

which breaks the ice for him to ask you to be his best man,

and in turn makes you cry like a baby...

Overall, it was a great Beer Festival !

I'm On A Boat!

On the Carnival Glory ship, Dave and I were able to relax for an entire week! Usually we stay sane with our occasional 3 day weekend going camping in the mountains, or to the lake or Savannah. However, it was time for a full week of absolute hedonistic exploration.
    On the cruise ship, we checked into our cabin. After a previous cruise we took together, we decided that we at least needed a window to know when the sun was up so we made the most out of each day. So I knew that we were getting a window, but when I walked into the room, there was a door leading to what else? A BALCONY!!! Dave suprised me by upgrading our room and now we are totally spoiled and will never do it any other way! We spent more time on the balcony than we did at the pool. And what really made it was Dave's Eno hammock which swayed from beams while we would watch the sunset drinking a cocktail...

      The first stop through the Western Caribbean was Cozumel, Mexico. We did not book any excursions. We thought we would just wing it and do whatever we wanted. So we rented a convertible Zip car and drove the whole island....once we filled the gas after narrowly making it to the only gas station.
     We had lunch at a genuine Mexican restaurant where we got salsa, guacamole and jalapeno poppers. Margaritas were just the beginning....we had sex on the beach (cough..)...I mean "Sex on the Beach", and Bahamaritas, and many other tropical drinks before stumbling back to our rental car. I know....we shouldn't drink and drive. But we were the only ones on the road and we enjoyed the ocean for a while before escaping to another beach where we enjoyed playful swimming.

    After Cozumel, our next stop was Belize. Belize is still a very poor country, but they have many beautiful rivers where you can do cave tubing. Cave tubing must have been invented by Belizians, because I have never seen it anywhere else. Basically you float on a river tube down a dark cave with only a coal miners flashlight on your head.  Sounds scary, but was totally fun! The second tour we did in Belize was zip lining. Dave had already experienced zip lining in Costa Rica, however I thought I was going to vomit before my first time. But after that I couldn't get enough of it!

   Our third port of call on our trip was Costa Maya. Let me just say that visiting this beautiful country and meeting the people that we did made Dave and I want to just sell everything we had and move there. Did I mention they make this yummy dish where they put chili powder on pineapple? Just try it and you'll know what I am talking about! After visiting the a few Mayan ruins which were very fascinating, we separated from the rest of the tour group to visit a blue lagoon. It sat on the edge of a small privately run hotel and campground. It was ran by a German couple that just decided one day that they wanted to get away from their everyday life in the big city. So they bought the property, added a restaurant, learned Spanish and look like the most content couple I have ever seen. So yeah...when you meet people that do this kind of thing and not just talk about it, it makes you think.  We ate a delicious meal with yet another margarita and grabbed a kayak. It is an amazing feeling when you are the only two people on the entire lagoon. In a selfish way, you begin to imagine that the fantasy is yours.

The Best Concert of Our Lives

So when Dave and I heard the Flaming Lips were coming to Chastain Park, we knew we could not miss this concert. It has been a summer of concerts for us, but if this one broke the bank - we were still going. They have been notorious for their over the top performances. I can't really describe them, but Wikipedia tried to.....

The band is known for their lush, multi-layered, psychedelic arrangements, spacey lyrics and bizarre song and album titles. They are also acclaimed for their elaborate live shows, which feature costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections, complex stage light configurations, giant hands, large amounts of confetti, and frontman Wayne Coyne's signature man-sized plastic bubble, in which he traverses the audience. In 2002,^[update] Q Magazine named The Flaming Lips one of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die". As of 2007 the group has collected three Grammy Awards, including two for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

A typical night with The Flaming Lips


In da' bubble...


Lead singer, Wayne Coyne, riding atop a Monkey Man
(unfortunately, not our pic but had to include it since it's such a great shot)


It's not uncommon to see a collection of costumes, from both the audience and the band. Up on stage were a diverse collection of yeti men and women, captain catfish, a sunflower, butterfly and god knows what else. In the audience we caught glances of fairies, chicken costumes, astronaut outfits complete with helmet, iguanas wearing sombreros, and complete body paint suits. We can't wait to partake the next time we track these guys down in concert again. Yes, you heard that right, we vow to see this band again. And yes, we will be decked out in full garb just like the rest.
I promise you. :)

The thing about these performances The Flaming Lips put on can't be described without going yourself. It's just a completely new level.. The energy that night was just unbelievable. On top of it all, there was a huge storm brewing above the outdoor venue all night. It sent beautiful breezes with out a single drop of rain. It was perfect. Several times you could catch lightning crackling above our heads. There was one specific time when a huge bolt just fingered throughout the sky right above the stage. Everyone died in silence and after a few seconds, once it disappeared, everyone just screamed at the top of their lungs in enthusiasm. Just simply wild.

Enjoy this video of the infamous space bubble suit :)
*Please do not watch if you are prone to epileptic attacks*



The release of confetti and balloons
which the crowd bounced around the venue all night.


And if you're dying to see other videos that aren't ones we recorded that night, here's a youtube link of other recordings from that night for anyone interested...

To sum it all up, Brette got a t-shirt that had an illustration of the band with the following text below:
"I saw The Flaming Lips in concert and it made me a better human being"
and this ladies and gentlemen, is nothing closer to the truth...

Longest Yard Sale

The 127 Corridor or otherwise known as the Longest Yard Sale was one hot, three day marathon of digging through junk and treasures, eating homemade ice cream, and meeting interesting folks. The yard sale runs 654 miles from Gadsden, Alabama to West Unity, Ohio. However, we only covered half starting from Gadsden up until Crossville, Tennessee. Here are a few photos of items for sale that were captured along the way.

Chandeliers

This entire table of boxes are salt and pepper shakers.

Silverware

Tarnished Silver

Colorful Glass Bowls and Vases

Lots of old cars for sale.
Too bad I didn't have a way to get home a motorcycle side car for Dave.

Night shot of Chattanooga from our hotel room...
The Bavarian Inn, a nice quaint motel close to Ruby Falls.

Willie, John, and Bob

Long fans of Bob Dylan, this concert was not one to miss! We thought we would never have another chance like this again...especially since as of 2 months ago we thought he was dead. After disappearing for a while, and then seeing the movie "I'm Not There", well...who wouldn't think the same? But Dylan was not always keen about being in the public eye it seems, so just another reason to appreciate the great experience!

But Willie Nelson and John Cougar Mellencamp were very cool too! Willie had everybody singing along while he strummed his guitar and pointed to the sky. Mellencamp had lots of energy and everyone sang along "Little Pink House for You and Me"...

It was incredibly hot and Dave sported a new fashion!

Dylan was last and he didn't sing many oldies but goodies that we all know. Mostly new stuff from his latest album "Together Through Life". When the show was over and the crowd dissolved, Dave turned to me and said:
"Could you understand a single lyric he said?"
So it was a little disappointing that we couldn't sing along. I think we got to hear "Like a Rolling Stone", (again, I think). However we wished that he would have played one of Dave and I's songs "Buckets of Rain"....sing along!

Buckets of rain
Buckets of tears
Got all them buckets comin out of my ears.
Buckets of moonbeams in my hand,
I got all the love, honey baby,
You can stand.

I been meek
And hard like an oak
I seen pretty people disappear like smoke.
Friends will arrive, friends will disappear,
If you want me, honey baby,
Ill be here.

Like your smile
And your fingertips
Like the way that you move your lips.
I like the cool way you look at me,
Everything about you is bringing me
Misery.

Little red wagon
Little red bike
I aint no monkey but I know what I like.
I like the way you love me strong and slow,
Im takin you with me, honey baby,
When I go.

Life is sad
Life is a bust
All ya can do is do what you must.
You do what you must do and ya do it well,
Ill do it for you, honey baby,
Cant you tell?

Black Rock Mountain

Our camping weekend out of town up in the mountains of northern Georgia was a total escape from reality. But first....

We had to deal with our favorite store Walmart in the hopes of getting a sleeping bag for our trip which was suppose to come in before we left...but did not. Thanks Walmart!

Our idea of obtaining food from a local produce stand did not work out because of waiting on Walmart's super friendly and most intelligent staff. So as we got closer to our destination, the only place around to buy food was...of course...Walmart.
That total bill of $24.59 is all they are getting from me for a very very long time.

Once at our walk-in campsite, we pitched a tent (no, not in that way-dirty minds!), and started a fire? Oh wait! We forgot the lighter. Let me remind everyone that we do not camp very often. We are really kind of novices at this still. So having forgot our lighter, we had to go to...where else?
Good ole WallyWorld.

Back at camp, we made great veggie hotdogs with baked beans. We had a great cider beer from France. Very refreshing for a hot night. Actually it was very cool in the mountains, but we worked up a sweat pitching a tent (insert dirty mind here).

The next day we had a nice drive into Asheville about 2 hours away. We ate at a delicious vegetarian restaurant called Laughing Seed. After strolling Asheville we went to a coffee house and bookstore called Malaprops. And after being totally exhausted, we decided to start our drive back through the Blue Ridge Parkway. We always missed out due to it being closed on our way to to Smokies every year. It was a beautiful drive to say the least.



After our return we started cooking our shish-kabobs over an open fire with a bottle of wine. After dinner, I cleaned our dishes at the faucet near the restrooms while Dave took a shower. A nice couple about our age came by and asked "Have you camped here before?"
"No, how about yourselves?"
"No, but we were wondering if you heard anything in the woods last night. We couldn't tell what it was and haven't found tracks."
"Well, the rangers have mentioned that this is bear country, so just be safe and leave your food in the car and they shouldn't bother you. There has not been any sitings this year yet."
And so the couple seemed reassured and said good night. By the time I cleaned up Dave was still in the shower and I decided to go up to the camp site and prepare the smores.

With just a flashlight in my hand, I strolled up to the site and noticed that of course the fire was dying out. I bent over the fire and gave it a couple of blows. And then there was a growl. The next thing I knew, I was running down the mountain. Dave heard me scream and came butt naked out of the shower and saw my flash light bouncing down the hill. I told him what happened and after I calmed my nerves, we went up together and checked the site out. The only evidence we found was our bag of food tipped over with our english muffins carried into the bushes. We stood scanning the bushes, meanwhile I am ready to sleep in the car. Then I saw it! A pair of little beady eyes peering from behind a tree. I was so relieved that it was a raccoon and not a bear! I still didn't sleep though.

Fun weekend! So relaxing!

Foster Kittens

Four little grey kittens needed to be fostered for a couple of weeks until they were ready for their shots. These two girls and two guys were quite a hand full, despite how small and cute they look. The first few nights, Dave and I got absolutely no sleep. I thought that I was going to die by 4 cats curling up on my throat and smothering me in the middle of the night. One bit both of our noses at 3 am, most likely with the anticipation of milk. Our legs looked like we walked through a thorn bush.

The littlest and cutest runt of the litter turned out to be the Alpha. Her markings made us wonder if the mother had mated with a racoon or ferret. She looked like a hyena and acted like one too.

The other little girl we started calling Peach because of her sparse peach markings. Soon to be called "Rotten Peach" because she was Dave's favorite and was spoiled rotten.

The males were the most docile and one, "Little Man" or "Blue" had the expression of an old man and seemed as if he has seen the whole world.

The other little guy just could not seem to get up in bed no matter how hard he tried and cried when all of his siblings had found their way up.

Overall, it was a great experience taking care of these little ones. It was hard to give them back, but we are hoping that whomever decides to take them home gives them a loving one.

And Peach....please don't pee on their towels.