It's OFFICIAL!

I am a timely, mostly prompt person. I am held accountable to the second with my occupation. When Tad and I went to The Fulton County Probate Court to apply for our Marriage License, we were told by the lovely lady that we would have the official certificate within 4 weeks of our wedding.

I don't like being lied to. SO, after the 28th day with no official certificate in the mail, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Part of the reason I had taken so much time off from work in November was to tie up loose ends after the wedding. I would be in charge of most of the combining of the two homes, returning duplicate wedding gifts and of course, changing my name. 4 weeks. I can't accomplish the last task without the official wedding certificate. I begin by calling. After a bit of governmental run around, I get my grimy hands on the phone number to the probate clerk. She won't answer her phone. She doesn't return calls as promised on her voicemail. Her sheer will to ignore is impressive. She had no idea what was in store for her. I was on a mission. I had to get to the bottom of this as I couldn't bear to hear my hubby ask every day "Did anything from Fulton County come in the mail" with anticipation and disappointment growing each day.

On day 31, I hopped in the car and decided to get to the bottom of things at The Fulton County Probate Court. This is what I encountered:






The woman behind the desk was clearly not impressed with my mission. She spoke in a tongue that only an ewok could understand. She was so large that moving from the desk would be an undertaking in itself. She truly didn't give a darn that it had been 31 days and we still didn't have our official certificate. She suggested that I "call back". I asked if 404.730.4685 was the proper number to call. She looked mortified that I had it memorized. It was the correct number. I asked if Bonnie had an ability to call out i.e. return calls. She did. I was told they were "backed up". They would get to me when they got to me. Then she said it. "We didn't get no license in the mail." Oh, the dreaded double negative. Had I taken the time to explain grammatically what she had just said I knew we would never get our certificate. I went home and decided to wait it out.

I called our wedding coordinator from the church, who assured me that she mailed the signed certificate herself from the post office. She also assured me that Fulton County is notoriously slow and that she knew getting the certificate could take over 6 weeks. Ugh. The probate court lady told us no more than 4!

I am dropping it. Combining 2 homes isn't supposed to be this hard. It gets to be when Fulton County is sooooooo slow.

Then it happened. On the 42nd day, 6 weeks to the day after our wedding our Official Certificate arrived in the mail. We are officially recorded. Now I get to go speak with the lovely people at Social Security. I will have my ewok thesaurus in hand.

We'll Take That One!

Tad and I are both shoppers. We see what we like, we make a quick decision and we hope to not have regret when we get the item home. We decided that we would purchase our Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend as my time at home the month of December will be somewhat limited. I found a coupon on-line and we set off to a local tree farm to find the perfect fir.





It only took about 5 minutes of looking at about 4 trees and we saw the one that was destined to come home with us. A beautiful 8.5' Fraiser Fir that had perfect symmetry and was grown in Northern California. That was all I needed to hear. Sold. Can we have 2?




After sweet talking the tree lot guy (me, not Tad) we convinced him to put it in the stand for us. I could only imagine what it would have been like trying to do that ourselves. Tad has a keen eye for all things perfect and can spot a fleck of dust a mile away. Not having a straight tree in our home between our pillars was simply not an option. I thank the tree lot man (Jimbo) for keeping my marriage in tact.

Off To The 'Noo 'Noo

Tad is originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee. That is about an hour and a half from Atlanta, so this year we decided to go there for the weekend to spend Thanksgiving with his mom, sister and her family. Whenever we talk about that city, a great debate inspires. I call it "The 'Noo 'Noo". Tad calls it "ChattaVegas". Whatever you call it, we climbed in the car Thanksgiving morning and headed northwest.

We had a great time and began our weekend with Thanksgiving dinner at a great place his mom found right on the river.

Content with full bellies after dinner.

After a great Thanksgiving meal, we headed back to Judy's home for some stomach recovery before concentrating on what we were going to eat next. After a little coercion, we got Brock (13) and Emma (10) to bust out their Baritone Saxophone and Clarinet for a private concert in the family room.

Easily mistaken as The VonTrapps, they are The Steeles!

The day after Thanksgiving, Judy had arranged a nature tour of the Tennessee River. It was a great tour and very exciting for us all to be on a boat that traveled at speeds of up to 50mph!!

With my friend Sam (5), trying to stay warm!

Sam got his hands on a pair of binoculars and was captivated.

Emma and I look a little different than we did the month before!

After our river tour, we grabbed Emma and took her for a much deserved treat. Clumpies Ice Cream! Clumpies is a Chattanooga creamery that no one in this family can pass up. We so enjoyed our afternoon with Ms. Bean and Tad and I can't wait for our next ice cream date with her!

Though the debate of what to call the city we were visiting continued, Tad bought me a t-shirt that said "Chattaboogie" across the front. It appears we were both wrong. No matter, a great time was had by all.

Happy Birthday To ME!

I LOVE birthdays! Everybody's birthday. I think that is the one day per year you should be entitled to do what you want, say what you want and eat what you want without penalty! This year's birthday allowed me to do all of that and more! Being that it was the day before Thanksgiving, I got to kick the holidays off with a bang!

Tad woke me up early in the morning and made me a delightful breakfast of gluten free chocolate chip pancakes and perfectly cooked crispy bacon! Yumm! He then bestowed me with incredible gifts. He is SO very thoughtful and pays attention when I am generally convinced of just the opposite.




My dear friend Laura took the day off from work and she and I had a wonderful girls day. We both had been dying to try the restaurant at Le Cordon Bleu's Culinary Academy in Atlanta so she made lunch reservations and made sure that my food limitations were accommodated. We had an incredible 5 course lunch (splurge!) and lots of laughs along the way.

Creme Brule for lunch!

After eating a million calories, we decided we should probably do something to burn off the calories - what a better place to do that?! The mall. I had a couple of coupons that were burning holes in my pocket so we went to the mall to indulge a little more. It is not often that I can introduce Laura to something, so I got tremendous joy of showing her the valet at Lenox Mall. Something she had never done but will probably never pass up again, especially when knowing that she will be hauling serious loot!

It's not often that Tad makes it home from work before I am done doing all things girly. This day was an exception and as soon as I walked in the door he was ushering me out to our awaiting dinner reservations. He surprised me by taking me to BLT Steak, which is in our neighborhood and we have been looking for a special occasion to try. We had an incredible meal for what shaped up to be THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!!