Happy Days are here again

Hapeville's annual Happy Days Festival was this weekend. It is essentially our founder's day celebration - the town is 117 years old. Oddly, it seems as if half the towns in Georgia have a founder's day celebration sometime in mid-September. It is as if all the town founders independently decided around the same time in September "Hey - the weather is not too hot, not too cold - it is just the right time to found a city so that future generations can have a nice anniversary celebration and not sweat to death in the process." So, from the future generation - "Thank you Dr. Samual Hape!"

The festival kicks off on Friday night with a concert and alumni night. Although I didn't go to Hapeville High, my mom and her sister did, my cousins did and my brother taught at the school. So pretty much anyone I come across knows someone in my family (which is sometimes good, and sometimes, not so much.)

The evening was nice, and I met several new Hapevillians, including Heather, a girl who's blog I have been following. She was very sweet and I enjoyed chatting with her and her friends. No photos from the evening as I forgot to take my camera.

On Saturday, they have an assortment of booths with sort of a homemade/home grown theme, as well as a local artists market, games and rides for the kids, a couple of bands, and plenty of good food. Our neighborhood association had a booth where we sold fresh churned ice cream and baked goods. I spent half the night making several dozen cookies, burning myself on the over door in the process. That says a lot about your cooking skills, or lack thereof, when you get injured baking cookies.
Here is Cheryl and Mrs. P. sampling the homemade ice cream - it was a big hit with the crowd.

Here I am with my neighbors Mindy, Katrina and Cheryl. We all worked the early shift at the booth. Looking at the picture, I'm wondering why everyone looks so nice and colorful and festive and I look like I'm still pushing the all black Goth look 20 years later.

This is my friend and former neighbor Dale. He is a wonderful photographer and artist, and I have a number of his beautiful photos adorning my walls. He designs museum displays for a living, but has recently started selling some of his own photography on the side. He had a couple of sales while I was visiting him, which made me really happy for him.

The great thing about living in a community so close to where you grew up is that you often run into people you grew up with. Along with several old high school friends, I ran into Lorrie (above.) Lorrie is the younger sister of one of my high school friends, and she and her twin sister Mary were my and my best friend Traci's "Mini-Me"s when we were younger. Traci and Mary were the sweet, innocent ones, while Lorrie and I were the cool, funny ones.

Well, that is about it for the day, as I headed home not long after the last photo. Since then, I've pretty much been napping. So, all in all, a good weekend.

12 of 12 - September 2008

Wow - is it the 12th already? Here we go for another round of Chad's 12 of 12.

9:00 a.m. - No prework photos today as I woke up late and threw on my clothes and ran (well, as much as I can run - probably closer to hobbling) out the door to work. So, the first shot of the day is after I'm already at work - it is my 'kiss up' background on my work PC - that is me and the Prez of the company at the unveiling of one of our new aircraft a few months back. Not likely that he will ever be in my office to see my effort at sucking up, but I like to be prepared, just in case.
9:02 a.m. - My birthday card from the team. How long after your birthday must you display the card on your shelf? I've worked with people that keep them up for years. I'm thinking a couple of weeks should be good. Anyone else want to weigh in on the appropriate work birthday card etiquette?

9:04 a.m. - Kind of blurry, but this is a corporate poster from a few years back that I was featured on. (See - I really am the 'Poster Child' for my company.) My Dad had it framed for me and I have it up in my office. Is that braggy? I don't mean it to be braggy.

12:50 p.m. - Leftovers from lunch with the team at Noodle. One of my favorite places.

12:52 p.m. - Railroad/Vegas poster from Noodle. Just sort of liked it.

1:15 p.m. - On the way back to work after lunch we passed by the church that I went to for a while when I was in high school and college.

3:30ish - Been pulling data all day long for an upcoming project, and I needed a break from the tedium for a couple of minutes, so I checked out Twitter for the updates from the Project Rungay guys who were at Bryant Park today for the showing of this seasons collections. These guys are so funny - it was just what I needed before diving back in.

8:00ish - Was invited to a gathering with some of the Hapeville ladies tonight along with neighbor Katie. That is Katie with Linda, the hostess of the gathering.

9:00ish - Still at the gathering. This is Cami. She's one of my favorites from around town. Sweet as can be and very funny. She has recently started focusing on photography, and I want to get her into doing the 12 of 12 as I think she would enjoy it.

9:30 p.m. - This is Zoe - Linda's puppy. I believe that she is thinking, "If you people won't drop some food on the floor for me, would you just please get the hell out of my house, cause you are all making me nervous."
10:20 p.m. - After we left Linda's, Katie and I stopped of at Perk Place Bistro and split a Death by Chocolate. It was yummy. (We were very nice and left a bite for the waitress to finish off.)

10:35 p.m. - I had a Diet Coke to offset the chocolate cake, but Katie had a glass of wine, which gave her what she calls "The Drunk Eye." Drunk Eye is apparently a trait that she inherited from her grandma, where any photo taken of her after she has had a drink (or 2 or 3) results in her left eyelid being almost shut.

OK - I think that is 12. I've counted them 3 times and come up with 11, 13 and finally 12. Sort of hard to focus after all that chocolate - I think I'm having a sugar rush. Anyway, I'm off to watch Best Soup Ever (tm MCB) then hitting the bed. Hope you all enjoy.

Happy Day or Two After my Birthday

Had a little birthday celebration at my parent's house yesterday.

My sister-in-law had one of her friends make this cake for me - it was sooooo cute. She was so thoughtful to do this for me. The airplane was perfect, and I loved the little fluffy clouds. It was way cooler than the Powerpuff Girls cake I had asked for.


Also took home some good birthday loot. A couple of books and a DVD (all sitting atop the scanner my mom gave me as an early b-day gift.) Can't wait to start reading the Outlander book, as BFF Traci has highly recommended the series.

Glad to know that even in your mid-40s, you can still get presents and fancy cakes.

Cuteness

Scanned another dozen today - little by little, I will conquer these 10 boxes of photos without giving up the rest of my life in the process.

This was my favorite scan of today - my niece was so little and cute. My sister-in-law too. (And they still are cute 10 years later.)

I believe that they are at the Renaissance Fair - which would explain the flowers wreaths in their hair. Or, it could have just been a fashion statement - you never know.