Sterling Hall

Today was the opening of the beautiful Sterling Hall Show House. My company was privileged to work on this magnificent 15,000+ square foot house, designing and building furniture and cabinets in nearly every room. Although I wasn't there early enough to have a part in it, I am quite proud of Karpaty's work!

Sterling Hall will be open until December 19 and the tickets' proceeds benefit Aflac Cancer Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The homeowners chose this charity because it is where their son underwent treatment for a blood disorder, and they want to give back to the place that saved his life. I was really touched when I found that out.

Tickets are available at http://www.sterlinghalltour.com/. Come take a look...when else will you have the chance to walk around a $10 million mansion?! I know I never had.

Parker is here

I just wanted to give a little shout out to the Jenneys! This morning Ashley & Travis welcomed Parker Hayes into their loving family. Here he is, weighing in at 8lbs, 9oz. I think he looks like a little Cabbage Patch doll; what a cutie! We Pi Phis are so excited to have Parker to play with...and he will be the only boy officially allowed at our girly get-togethers.Danny and I are babysitting a couple nights this week for the girls I've watched since I moved to Atlanta. I showed them little Parker's picture and they loved him too. The younger one started asking when we are going to have a baby (just like she did the very second I said "I do"...literally asked me AT my wedding when the baby would come). But the girls did assure me that they'll be old enough and able to babysit our child when we have one. Haha. Anyways, again congratulations to the Jenneys! What a great early birthday present for Daddy Travis!

Sound of Music Weekend

Girls' getaways are always so much fun! A small group of us ventured up to Helen, Georgia this weekend to celebrate Shannon's bachelorette party. We tried to keep our "Sound of Music Weekend" plans a surprise but the sneaky bride-to-be figured out most of it ahead of time.

Friday night was some low key fun at the cabin, making homemade pizzas, showering Shannon with some gifts, and playing the game of catch phrase. Saturday morning we lounged in the hot tub and enjoyed some eggs and fruit, then realized we had no running water in the house. Ahh! Unfortunately it was not frozen pipes as we first suspected, but ended up being an issue with the city water (we halfway believe the realty company forgot to pay their bill). After two visits from a plumber and us girls shuttling three at a time to a nearby condo to take showers, we rallied with some mimosas and started our day with some delicious North Georgia BBQ. Afterwards we headed to Habersham Winery to sample some of the local blends, then spent some time wandering around downtown and lounging in front of the tv. For dinner we dined at a delicious eatery called Nacooche Grill where I had the most amazing shrimp n' grits imaginable. They were so good! Our big night out was spent at Bigg Daddy's Tavern, having a blast watching the locals, singing along with a great band, and befriending the bartenders.

We are all so excited for Shannon and Randy! The two of them are a great couple and so much fun. We can't wait to celebrate their marriage on New Years Eve!

Having never visited Helen before, I thought the town was so cute and a perfect weekend getaway! Everything was festively German, a little cheesy but so quaint and fun. It would be neat to experience their Oktoberfest one year, or maybe just go with Danny for a relaxing weekend together. With the close hour proximity to Atlanta, I'm sure we will revisit Helen one day!

Jacksonville

We went to Jacksonville last weekend for our annual Florida vs. Georgia trip. It's rather funny that neither Danny or I really care which team wins this game, but it is our 4th year in a row to attend the "South's largest cocktail party." But even more importantly than the cocktail party, it's a great bonding time with our friends. Pam's parents have hosted the event since her first year at UF. Typically the crowd ranges in size from the low to high 20's, and it's always a memory making weekend.

After kickball on Thursday a big group of us caravaned down to Jacksonville. Friday morning we went to the beach. It was too cold to swim, but perfect for laying out. After a yummy dinner of baked ziti Mr. and Mrs. H shuttled us to The Landing, a mingling spot for all those in town for the big game. Just like usual, Saturday morning started off with a heavy breakfast, "to soak it all in" as Mrs. H says, and then we packed up and all headed to the tailgate. The afternoon was spent playing the game of "murder" and hanging out. Last year Mr. H had the brilliant idea of renting a private Porto Potty, and again this year we cherished the fact that we didn't have to waste half the day standing in a line with everyone else.

A small group of us usually head back to the Hendersons at gametime, as Danny and I did last weekend. They have a pool, hot tub, snacks, and a big screen, and selfishly Auburn is usually on tv during that time, so I enjoy that as well as the chance for a nap. When everyone returned from the game it was time for pulled pork (as you can see she really feeds us well all weekend) and then late night flip cup. This weekend was no exception to the run of amazing weekends in Jacksonville. The Hendersons are so generous to provide such a carefree and enjoyable weekend for us all.

I heard extremely unfortunate news yesterday. My favorite teacher of all times, Mrs. Bayrd from Brentwood High, was killed in an auto accident while vacationing in Greece. There are not enough kind words to say about this lady. She gave every class and every student 100%. She taught me AP History, of which I struggled immensely, but looked forward to the hour with her every day. She was entertaining, caring, and truly enthusiastic. A real legend of a teacher. I will always remember our trip to the Biltmore and her story telling us how hot dogs are made. You will be missed by many, Mrs. Bayrd. Thanks for serving the Brentwood community so well for so many years. http://http//www.brentwoodhomepage.com/obituary-sarah-bayrd-instilled-love-of-past-to-thousands-by-her-presence-cms-3664

What A Wonderful Week

I'm a little behind on blogging, a result of the new busy job. I love having real work to occupy my day, but that means that I have to do my internet gossiping at home now, and that definitely competes with Danny time. First, I want to share a few pictures from my friend's baby shower two weekends ago. Due in mid-November, Ashley will be having a baby boy, Parker Hayes Jenney. We celebrated with some of her work friends, our Pi Phi group, and her mother in town from Indiana. I had a great time helping plan the afternoon with a couple other ladies and we were all so pleased with the outcome. It was a beautiful day with fabulous people. Ashley was 'showered' with some great baby goodies. We can not wait for the little guy's arrival! Ashley & Travis will be amazing parents!

As I mentioned, our new jobs are now over a week underway. Both of us really like what we're doing and feel the moves were definitely for the best. Danny's new position seems to hold a better work-life balance as he finds himself home most days by 6:30! Mine has been an adjustment in nearly every way; more flexibility, casual attire, and so many new projects. I get excited for what I will learn each new day and hope to soon feel a little more confident, but I know that will come with time.

Here's a picture of our 1st Day...a friend suggested the photo idea, sort of like the manditory 1st day of school pic. Since we were in it together, it seemed appropriate. We probably should have followed it up with a 1st evening after work picture, which would have shown me passed out on the sofa from exhaustion.

Three cheers for The Parr's

This weekend we celebrated a few things. Our good friends, Annie and Andrew, got married. Annie is one of my Atlanta Pi Phi girls and one of the happiest ladies I know. After dating for six and a half years, we all knew The Parrs would have a spectacular marriage celebration. After a lovely ceremony at Peacthree Road Lutheran Church, we danced (and ate) the night away at Ansley Golf Club. Annie is absolutely amazing and actually baked some of her famous lemon cupcakes to add to their Cupcake Cake from one of Atlanta's favorite bakery, A Piece of Cake.

One amusing part of the evening was when Andrew proposed a speech to his beautiful bride and presented her with a Denver Bronco's jersey with PARR lettered on the back. The spirited person that she is, Annie immediately put the jersey on over her wedding dress, showing off her love for the Bronco's (and Andrew). The busy bride also made the guest favors, professional looking (and tasting) sugar cookies shaped in the letter A, and little Stetson hats, symbolic of their alma matter in Florida. It was very evident that everyone in attendance was so happy for the Annie and Andrew, their strong families, and their new family that is just beginning.

Pi Phi's with Mr. & Mrs. Parr

The following morning Danny and I hosted brunch for the Pi Phis and their significant others. It was a good excuse for us to put the finishing touches on the condo that we'd neglected since April. We had a fabulous time recanting stores from the fun night before and making plans for the next group gatherings, Ashley's baby shower and a haunted movie night taking place next week. It was a nice farewell to send Annie and Andrew on their honeymoon to Playa del Carmen, and also to send our girl, Jackie, back to Boston where she now resides.

Sunday afternoon Danny and I relaxed and enjoyed a Date Day to celebrate our upcoming new jobs and our 6 month anniversary. We ended the evening with fondue dinner at The Melting Pot, one of our favorite special occasion restaurants.

On with the new!

Adjusting to newlywed life has been great over the last six months [that's right, six...time sure has flown by], full of change, and many lessons in communication. And now that we are pretty sure we've got it all mastered [chuckle], new challenges are on the horizon! Both Danny and I are starting new jobs...on the same day, October 25! First of all, thank God for all the answered prayers.

After 4-1/2 years at my current job, it is time to move on. I've learned a lot since graduating from college and the great hands-on experience gained in this small company will serve me well. My soon-to-be company, Karpaty Cabinets, is also family owned. They design and manufacture cabinetry, mill work, and furniture in a variety of styles; modern, traditional, rustic...they do it all, and for every room of the house. It so happened that a designer friend introduced us more than two years back after she collaborated with them on a Holiday Showhouse. I was very impressed and dubbed working for them as my "dream." Recently I had been exploring other career options and the Lord knew exactly how to point me in the right direction. A few weeks ago, the owner of Karpaty called me up, we met a couple times again, and the rest is history! I am honored to join such a enthusiastic team who really strives to be creative in every application and stays busy sharing their talents all over Georgia. I look forward to a more flexible schedule, getting great field experience, meeting with clients, and submitting computer rendered designs to the workers who skillfully create the masterpieces we dream up. There is so much for me to learn about construction, I'm so excited!

Here are some examples of Karpaty's amazing work:

I was sitting quiet on my job news because we knew something was in store for Danny right around the corner and it would be awesome to announce it together. Just becoming official today, Danny's new position lands him a little closer to "home", continuing his 8 years with Home Depot, but in an entirely new field. Leaving finance behind, he'll be working in the Services division as a Sr Operations Analyst. Danny will be coordinating with contractors and government housing authorities all over the United States as Home Depot bids to rebuild low income housing. After spending so much time working in the stores throughout college, Danny feels that knowledge is a great asset at the corporate level. This position is a good step in connecting him closer to the stores, which has been his goal for a while.

Other good news to report is that we said 'adios' to Danny's Hyundai last night. There will be no more hubcaps rolling down Peachtree Road on our account. It's always a little stressful selling a car on craigslist. Fortunately the first people to test drive it purchased it after a couple days of deliberation. We are getting pepped up for a 16 hour road trip at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday to bring home a new car for Danny.

We Love Our Tigers

It's Monday again! There's nothing like looking through pictures and reflecting on a fabulous weekend. This weekend's plans were of no surprise. Everyone who knows us knew this was THE football game of the year! Clemson vs. Auburn, Battle of the Tigers, a.k.a. Battle of the Linengers. Since they are in different conferences, this was the first time these two teams have played in regular season since the '70s, and it was a little special to have our Alma Matters face off in our first year of marriage. Friday night we drove into Auburn and headed to Nifer's, a typical pregame tradition. Corn nuggets, fried pickles, burgers and tots! Danny's cousin, Lauren, who lives in NYC was with us and got especially excited for southern sweet potato fries. It was fun to catch up with her and show her one of our "Auburn places."

The next morning we were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of ESPN Gameday. Lauren took us in the production trailer, as well as the talent trailer. It was very cool to see the producers and staff in action in front of a huge wall of TVs, with everyone chirping commands to someone on the set through their headsets. We got to see Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard, and Danny's favorite, Erin Andrews, up close! I was excited to see Corso put on the Auburn helmet to predict our win, and I got to check off a box on my "wishlist" as Danny snapped my picture with Aubie, Auburn's lovable mascot. It couldn't have been a more exciting start to our day; we can't express how much we appreciate Lauren and all the VIP treatment we received!

We hiked back up to our tailgate and enjoyed hanging out with friends that came in town from Atlanta and Charlotte, while eating and watching other games on tv. We were lucky to set up our RV near one of my dear Italy girls, Ashley, so I was glad to pop over at their hoppin' tailgate and see old friends from college as well.

The game was so fun! We were blessed (again by Lauren) with fantastic seats just twelve rows from the field. After the first two quarters I thought Auburn was going to get creamed, but thankfully they stepped it up in the second half to make for a much more competitive game. It was an unfortunate loss in overtime for Clemson, but Danny truly handled it well and was a great sport. On the way home he saw that our teams are picked for the 2012 Season Opener at the Georgia Dome, which is definitely something to look forward to!

The time of our lives

Green Day's famous lyrics say, "This is the time of your life." I truly think that could be used to describe nearly every stage of life; your protected elementary years, or the carefree college days, and I've been told that when your children go off to college it is pretty nice too. And then who couldn't enjoy retirement? But I think this stage we're currently in, has got to be one of the best!

In the past couple years, Danny and I have had a ball celebrating so many friends' marriages (including our own), new jobs, first homes, etc. Sure, there are worries and obstacles in your late 20's, especially in these tantalizing economic times, but at the same time it completely feels like you've got the world on your shoulders. You're finally "friends" with your parents and siblings, and you've got different circles of close friends offering support in every area (not to mention great social activities left and right), and recently for me, the love and strength of a spouse. Some may beg to differ, but to me growing up is fun! I think the evolution we've experienced in the past five years is extremely amazing, and while life decisions are rather scary, it's pretty cool to really watch your life take shape.

I'm clearly not a philosopher, so where is this going? This morning I received some pretty exciting news! Some good friends just gave birth to their baby girl! I have had a handful of girlfriends deliver sweet little ones this past year, and I've been so excited for their families and have absolutely LOVED meeting each of them. However none of them live in Atlanta, so it's hasn't been as much of a constant. So this new baby kind of brings it a little closer to home for us, as I'm sure we'll see her nearly every week (our new kickball mascot), and get to learn so many valuable things for whenever Danny and I decide to have one of our own! I must add that I have friends scheduled to deliver in November, December, and January; all pretty exciting! Little November Man is local also, so we'll get a taste of both baby girls and baby boys. It's been interesting watching both mommies progress through pregnancy, and I use that word in a positive way, meaning informative. They've both been so open, and it's nice to have mentors lined up for the future. So, cheers to The Long Family and one more reason your late 20's is quite possibly "the time of your life."

Here is a picture of Brandi at her baby shower a couple weeks ago. I was shocked at all the "supplies" needed but how cool they all seem. I know I never had those things when I was little, and I'm sure they would have helped out my parents a lot.

And here is a picture of Greer Elizabeth Long, sent by her daddy, Adam. She was born this morning at 6:13 weighing 7lbs, 13oz.

Why I love shoes

Most people know about my little hobby called shoe shopping. I like to think it just runs in the Stallo side of my family; my Aunt Jerie's shoe collection was legendary, and even my dad is a little guilty with his side of the closet being much more crowded than my moms. It's only natural to have pairs of shoes counted in three-digits, right? (As a note: I was easily motivated to donate quite a few to Goodwill in order to free up space for Danny's clothes when we "consolidated," which is the term he uses to refer to marriage.)

After this past weekend's Linenger saga, also known as Danny vs. The Glass, I fully intend to pass on the interest in shoes as part of our lineage. All jokes aside, and to satisfy those of you who prefer to be practical, I realize that even one pair of shoes would have saved us hours of our cherished weekend. But my rationalization is that IF someone LOVES shoes like I do, they will always be excited to wear them.

This weekend was one of those very few weekends where we had absolutely nothing on our agenda! And with the crazy travel schedule we've been keeping up, we were really excited about it. Saturday we slept in, went to the gym and Costco, both to prepare ourselves for the rest of the day which would be spent watching college football! While I was preparing some tv snacks, Danny, being the great hubby that he is, ran out to take out the trash. Pretty soon I hear him calling from outside the door..."Jessica...." which is a little weird to hear my entire name, rather than just "Jess" from him. I open the door; he's holding his foot and asking for a wet towel. It was clear that he had stepped on glass by the dumpster. Then I realized he was barefoot, and a kind of mean spirited "serves you right for not wearing shoes through the parking lot to the dumpster" thought ran through my head. But that quickly changed. I felt so bad for Danny for the rest of the weekend. It was really painful for him. I tried for HOURS, literally hours, to get this glass out of his foot. Every time I thought it a lost cause, I'd spot the chunk of glass and keep on digging. Football seemed to be a good distraction for Danny, by the end of the night I had a mag-light, tweezers, a broken sewing needle, and one of our wedding present steak knives, trying my best to preform this little surgery.

The next day after church, we stopped in at an urgent care clinic and there were no seats left in the waiting room with a line out the door, so we then went to Walgreens clinic, where we were told they'd be able to take care of him, and also administer the tetanus shot he needed. Well, after three hours of waiting we saw the nurse. She said she didn't have the tools to get the glass out of his foot, but he did get his shot. And we got a long lecture about the disgusting bacterial infections, primarily a result of bird feces, that you can pick up on your feet when you're not wearing shoes. (Hah, you should have seen the shock on her face when I told her about me getting out the steak knife the night before.)

We realized it was going to be very costly, financial and time-wise, to take Danny to the ER, so he called up his mom, who is a nurse, and proposed a "dinner-in exchange for-surgery" plan. After enjoying a yummy new baked ziti recipe, we all sprung into action! His mom opened back up the puncture wound and starting digging, his dad held the light, and I ran around the house gathering gag-rags and anything else I could think of to help our poor patient. Just as she was about to give up (and Danny was about to pass out from pain), she got the idea of using an x-acto knife! I ran to my craft closet and fished out of my design school tackle box a fresh package of blades. Within minutes the glass, which proved to be fairly sizable, popped out, and everyone let out a huge sigh of relief!
This is a rather long story, and probably not very interesting to anyone else, but there is a lesson in it for all: Wear shoes when taking out the trash! And I'm going to add my two cents and say that you should probably consider a pair of shoes solely for taking out the trash, because according to the nurse at Walgreens, there are many disgusting things out there that should not come in contact with ones self. Hope your weekend was less painful than ours! :)

West Palm Beach

Friday after work we flew down to West Palm Beach for a weekend of fun in the sun, continuing this summer's slew of amazing mini-vacations! Saturday morning we woke up bright and early, rented scuba equipment, and headed out with Dayton's brother on his boat for a couple dives. The water was very smooth, the weather absolutely perfect, and the sea life bright and plentiful! Our first site was an old Greek ship wreck about 90 feet down, where we saw tons of angel fish, grouper, trumpet fish, and tangs, Dannny's favorites! Next we headed just a couple miles over to a ledge area, where the reef life was abundant. We saw tons of little puffers, box fish, wrasse, parrot fish, and lion fish hidden in the corals. At our safety stop on the way back up there was a huge silver jelly fish glistening nearby. Danny could give you a more detailed synopsis with his keen knowledge of all things that swim. However, I can say that we were impressed with the variety and size of the marine life we saw, surprisingly better than our latest dive in the Dominican Republic. After we'd used up all the air on the boat we parked it at The Old Key Lime House just in time to see UF's first kickoff of the season. While still being partial to Auburn I can say that this "gator bar" was one of the coolest places to watch a game! Open air, on the water, and everyone cheering for the same team! Great food, drink specials; it was a nice way to spend the afternoon and get us pumped up for the start of football season. After cleaning up and a nice steak dinner at the Demmery's house we met our friends Shannon and Randy downtown to enjoy the nightlife on Clematis for a few hours.

Sunday after church and lunch with Dayton's family we met up again with our Atlanta friends at The Marriott's Vacation Club to spend some time at the beach and at the pool. Shannon's mom hosted a cookout at her house for dinner, and we attempted to play Trivial Pursuit (copyright 1981) during the evening thunderstorm. Monday we slept late (and believe me, we needed it after two exhausting days) and then Dayton drove us around glitzy Palm Beach so I could drool at the spectacular ocean front homes, including Donald Trump's estate, which has a "gold room" where everything is in fact made of gold. Obviously we didn't get to see that in person but I believe our trusty tour guide's description, as there was in fact a gold tower visible to those passing by.

We thoroughly appreciated the long weekend to be able to explore such a beautiful city, as well as Dayton's parents for providing us with a wonderful all-inclusive stay! Once again we are so thankful for great friendships, and the opportunities God presents to enjoy this life He has given us!

Auburn Angels

Growing up I had this Mary Engelbreit picture framed in my room with the quote, "Ah, how good it feels. The hand of an old friend!" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And many times throughout the years I remember staring at it, curious as to what the quote really meant, and of course during those years in elementary school, wondered how someone got famous using a sentence fragment. But because I absolutely loved Mary Engelbreit I never took it down, and actually packed it away when my parents moved. Reflecting on this weekend, that quote popped back into my mind. I took Danny to Huntsville to meet some of my Pi Beta Phi pledge sisters from Auburn while we were all gathered to celebrate at our friend Hayley's wedding.

dancing Friday night at Mickey's

During my last year of college I took the status of undergrad alum because after returning from my semester in Italy I was busy catching up and working on my senior thesis design project. Because of the undergrad alum, I missed out on many of the '02 pledge class last college memories and regretfully lost touch with many girls I considered great friends at the time. My years at Auburn were packed with so many fun times...and seeing everyone this weekend made all those memories come to life! On the drive back to Atlanta Sunday, I enjoyed narrating countless stories to Danny about all the fun we Pi Phi "Angels" used to get into.

Hayley and Michael's wedding was absolutely beautiful! As president of our sorority, Hayley has always been organized and I knew that her wedding would be a product of her fine planning. One of my favorite touches was the milk "shots" and cookie cake served at the end of the night. Some of the groomsmen surprised the bride & groom with a tandem bicycle presented during the reception. And the couple were such good sports they rode it out (until the stairs) when making their grand exit to the limo!

We were blessed to have our friends Ben & Ashley (sorority sister and one of my "italy girls") graciously open their lovely home to us for the weekend. They have renovated a house in Huntsville and I was really inspired seeing the finished product. Danny made best friends with their two adorable maltipoos, and I'm crossing my fingers he misses them enough to get one for our family. Two other college friends, Aubrie and Joe, stayed at The Still's as well. They were just married last month, and it was really nice to catch up with them and hear all about their newlywed life in Asheville. After re-connecting with so many great people this weekend and hearing about the exciting new stages in their lives (engagements, jobs, babies, etc), I would really like to try and better keep up with the friendships that were started so long ago!

Danny, Sophie & Dakota

Kickball for Alzheimer’s

This Saturday our kickball team participated in PLAY KICKBALL to END Alzheimer's Tournament at Piedmont Park. And what a day it was!!! We battled through four long games in mere 99.9% humidity, but prevailed as the tournament Champions!

Members of "Just the Tip of Our Support"

Our good friend and JtT teammate, Shannon, is the Development Coordinator for Atlanta Alzheimer's Association, the beneficiary of the tournament. She organized the entire day and did a fantastic job with everything! She even managed to hold off the inevitable rain until after the games were complete.

With so many of our friends having loved ones affected by Alzheimer's we were all excited to help support such a worthy charity. A lesser benefit of the day was that our team got a great warm up before the Go-Kickball Fall League begins in a couple weeks. We laughed that we played half our season's worth of games on Saturday alone. After we finished, we went to Manuel's Tavern in Midtown, a sponsor of the tournament, to enjoy some good food and cheap drinks and quickly made friends with the second place team.

Danny and I could not believe how sore we were on Sunday. We had no clue that "growing old together" would happen so quickly, but took Sunday as a literal day of rest and enjoyed relaxing at home.

St. Augustine

This summer's "tour de Florida" is complete with this weekend's last minute trip to St. Augustine. Danny's old roommates were going down to Pam's family beach house and we were lucky enough to tag along. Friday night we stopped over at the Henderson's in Jacksonville for a late night of card games. Pam's dad introduced us to the game of doughnut and made the mistake of serving us his real Wisconsin cheese curds brought back from his recent trip...they were gone in about three minutes despite everyone's initial disgust when contemplating what a cheese curd really was.

After a great night's rest and a yummy breakfast by Mrs H, we were off to the sandy beaches of St. Augustine! We arrived just in time for an afternoon shower, but wanted our beach time anyways so we stuck it out. When some larger black clouds approached, we ran in for sandwhiches and some more card games up in the condo. Luckily we were able to end the afternoon with fun in the sun...laying out, swimming in the chilly waves, and even my horrid attempt to play sand volleyball.

We cleaned up for dinner and enjoyed seafood and the really great live band at a restaurant called Oasis. They played all our favorite tunes from high school and we totally belted them out as if we hadn't heard them in eight years. Sunday morning when we woke up it was already showing signs of being a true bright sunny day. We enjoyed a few hours at the pool then packed up and hit the outlet malls before the drive back home.

It was a quick trip, but totally worth it! We've been so busy this summer and this was a perfect couple of days to hang out with some of our best friends, which has been a rarity since Danny moved out of their Admiral Drive house in April. We have missed the frequency of our get-togethers and therefore we really enjoyed cathcing up this weekend, and what place could be better than at the beach?!

Pi Phi's at Lake Burton

Since returning from our honeymoon- quite possibly the best vacation ever- Danny and I have been fortunate enough to pack in multiple weekend getaways, all of which have been a complete blast! This past weekend was no exception to the fantastic summer, and it was also one of our favorites.

Friday we Linengers had the other Linengers (Sr.) over for dinner, our first time hosting them as a married couple. Danny dazzled them with his new margarita machine, and don't you dare think he didn't make that a pivotal point as we planned the menu and he conveniently decided on enchilladas. Mexican and margaritas, a perfect Friday night! We had a great time with them and they enjoyed seeing our work to the condo.

The next morning came early, but completely on purpose. We wanted to pack in as much lake time as possible! One of my Pi Phi girls flew in from Boston to host us all at her boyfriend's lake house in the mountains at the beautiful Lake Burton. Jonathan and Jackie greeted us with boat drinks upon arrival, and the excitement continued throughout the day as the other guests arrived. We gorged on a pot-luck lunch, enjoyed a pontoon ride, and a nap on the boat house deck. The boys kept themselves busy making up many water games (who isn't competitive in every thing they do?) and we all enjoyed dinner at La Prada's on the Lake. Saturday night was filled with Kat's cupcake birthday celebration and a little dance party. Sunday everyone slept in and awoke to a beautiful day once again. The boys did a little fishing before breakfast and afterwards we all spent the afternoon in the water. The boys were kind enough (or forced) into paddling the canoe while we all held on to a rope and formed a chain of rafts. It ended up with six girls in tow as they paddled way across the cove to let us jump on a water trampoline. I'm sure they're a little sore today as it was close to a full hour tour!

The story behind our Pi Phi group is pretty neat. We all went to college in separate states and ended up friends here in Atlanta because of our sorority connection. Each of the girls are really special in their own way, everyone adding something to the group. We don't do many things with the boys but after this weekend we will be sure to do more. They all got along so well and are each equally as caring and fun as their girlfriends/wives/fiancees. Every time we Pi Phis get together is full of laughter, and adding the boys to the mix provided even more entertainment.

We couldn't be more thankful for Jonathan opening up his family's house to us all, and we're even more excited to know that it's now referred to as the "First Annual" Lake Weekend, inferring that he's sweet enough to plan the same great thing again for next summer! Next time we hope that Julia and The Jenney Family (including little Parker, due in Novemeber) will be able to join us!