Fun Times – Page 8 – ray+ashley+emery

July 20, 2008July 23, 2008

Ashley’s Birthday, A Success!

Thought I’d steal Ashley’s post title from the one she used for my birthday, she’s so dramatic! hehehe

So, we did have a lot of fun on my huney’s birthday.Â She was worried I didn’t have anything planned but hey come on, that’sÂ what I do all day.Â Here’s some pics of the weekend.Â It wasn’t all part of the birthday plan but it was all really nice.

Friday night we saw Batman, the Dark Knight.Â Good movie but Ash thought it was too violent and bloody.Â Guess she forgot it was Batman.

Saturday morning (the day before her birthday) we woke up early and volunteered at the local Meals on Wheels organization. Ashley has been doing a lot of volunteer work lately, I really admire what she’s doing and today I finally got to come along.Â So this morning, we delivered boxed food for many seniors in the northwest Atlanta region.Â Armed witha crumpled map, bad directions, music and a car load of boxed food we set out to help out.

That night, we had some great Korean food per recommendation from a local foodie.Â The restaurant was call Book Chang Dong, in Duluth, GA.

Spicy seafood and tofu soup which was sizzling as it came out!

Korean Short Ribs.

And a dish I now forget what it was called…

Sunday morning, we woke up early again and set out to do some hiking in Tullulah Gorge in northern Georgia.Â Tullulah Gorge, is only about 1.5 hours drive north of Atlanta and was a fantastic hike per recommendation of another friend.Â We only hiked for about 2.5 hours but we climbed a good many stairs up and down the side of the gorge for a solid stair master work out.Â The views were great, including water falls, swinging bridges and rivers all against the lush Georgia backdrop.

Here are some of my pics:

Later that afternoon, post our PB&J snack break we set out for the nearby town of Helen. What a strange place! The whole town was modeled after Bavaria except no one there was remotely German. It was like Disney Epcot Center, Americans with southern accents dressed up in lederhosen! Whacked out but still entertaining and we got a really fantastic Reuben Sandwhich from the “Old Bavaria Inn”.

We went tubing on the Chattahoochee River which ran right through the town of Helen, creating it’s main attraction aside from a fake German town. Tubing was awesome, though at times it was lots of work with Ash telling me every five minutes to watch out for the rocks! She’s so cute even when she causes trouble to me.

Helen was only an hour and a half away from Atlanta so the drive was pretty quick. We ended the wonderful weekend with Ashley’s birthday cake and a rare singing from me.Â Happy Birthday Ash!

July 4, 2008July 5, 2008

Concerts & Tang

It’s been a nice start to the summer. Ashley and I seem to have gone concert crazy in the past months.

Just recently we went to two concerts, Lifehouse and Colbie Caillat. We played Lifehouse’s You and Me song at our wedding so it was nice seeing them live. We didn’t get there early enough and were stuck at the back so the view was not as good but we bumped into my co-workers from Sapient Suyog and Anu.

Ashley likes Colbie Caillat’s songs a lot and although I thought it was going to be horrible with teeny boppers all over the place it turned out ok. There was teeny boppers all over but we got up close to the stage, I got some really great shots of her and the music was really nice and soothing.

Earlier this summar, we saw Stephen Marley at the Center Stage in Midtown thanks to Kirk who told me about it. Stephen was awesome, sounded just like Bob Marley. Then Arang visited earlier in June and we went to the Masquerade to see a few Punk Rock bands, one called the Bastard Suns. The venue was awesome a old factory. The crowd was definitely rowdy, I got punched in the back as I was right in front of the mosh pit. We had a great time though and it was very nice chilling with Tang.

May 12, 2008June 1, 2008

Boston for Mother’s Day

This past weekend, I went home to Boston to spend some time with Mom. It’s always so nice to go back, my parents treat me like a king and feel like I am in college again. Taking the train from the airport back to Newton reminded me of how different Atlanta is from Boston. The “T’ is a way of life in Boston, where MARTA in Atlanta often gets forgotten. Also I really miss Boston’s ethnic diversity.

A few great things about being home: Hanging with my parents, seeing Bean, eating my mom’s cooking, lounging around a real house, going out with old friends from college and high school. If Boston wasn’t so cold, I might be tempted talk to Ash about seriously moving back!

Here’s some pics of the weekend.

My favorite picture of Mom and Dad.Â This was taken on the porch steps in our back yard.

Mom looks so young in this picture.Â She has so much energy these days.

Steps towards our front door.Â Taken from our driveway.

Our house is so nice now.Â Since Dad did allÂ the work, it’s almost unrecognizable from what it was when we first bought it.Â It’s so comfortable staying home.Â Â Dad did such a great job, I hope I can take some really great set of photos one day to capture his handy work.

Ah, the food.Â This is batter fried carrots and onions.Â It’s awesome, sort of like tempura sweet fries.

My mom’s cooking is so good.Â See how happy Dad is 🙂

This is what I miss living away from the hometown.Â Â We hung out at Our House, Arang (left), Wan (Center), Simon (not in picture) and Marilon (not in picture) drinking and catching up.Â Proud to say I was the Connect Four champion that night.

January 2, 2008January 5, 2008

Sugar Bowl, New Orleans & A New Year

After Bean left on the New Years eve, Ash, the dogs and I drove to New Orleans. It was our first time there and we, (especially Ash) went there with great hopes that Hawaii would win the Sugar Bowl against University of Georgia. It was an important game for Hawaii as it was there first Bowl and they were coming in with an undefeated season in the WAC. So with great hopes along with almost 15,000 other folks from Hawaii we descended upon Nawleans.

We got there around 9 pm, it was about a 7.5 hour drive from Atlanta and we headed to Bourbon street. Man was Bourbon street something new for us. It was crowded, noisy, colorful and partying was everywhere. It’s like the the mother of all block parties. Over 16 blocks of bars, restaurants, clubs, and convenience stores, I can’t imagine how any college student does work in this city. Anyways there were a ton of Hawaii fans, all sporting the school spirit. We joined up with Byron and Johnny near a bar called Johnny Whites which seemed to be the HQ of the Hawaii fan base. The crowd was crazy, people throwing beads, shouting out UH and generally causing a scene. Of course there was plenty of drinking, street dancing, and the notorious flashing for beads. None of us did any of that. Plus no one wants to see me without a shirt. I doubt I’d get beads…

Here’s some pics from that New Years night on Bourbon Street.

The below is the street outside Johnny Whites, notice the Hawaii Banners.

People standing on balconies throwing beads at the crowd.

The next day was the big game. We slept in and made our way to the Louisiana Superdome. The capacity there was about 70,000 I heard. It was definitely huge and at first we thought our seats would be so high up that we wouldn’t feel a part of the game. However, upon arriving at the upper terrace seats, they weren’t so bad. Of course the game did turn out to be very bad. What a mismatch. Hawaii didn’t have very much of a chance and got their asses whooped 41 to 10. The game got pretty nasty as the Hawaii fans were pretty upset and the Georgia fans felt cheated of a good match up, at one point in the 3rd quarter a chant started going from the UGA fans saying “overrated”. That definitely hurt. They tried there best and fought to the end, and no matter what it took some hard work to get there. Anyways I am no College Football pundit so I’ll stop there and leave it to others. Here’s some pics. Ash and I still had fun going to the game and cheering on for Hawaii.

The photo below is my favorite photo of the trip, so appropriate and love the colors.

The day after the game, we took a bit of time to see the French Quarter in day light and grab some food before going. I really, really love the French Quarter. In fact if I could figure out a way to move there and convince Ash I would do it. New Orleans has so much culture and character. The very strong French influence, the old buildings, the balconies, the southern twist. Awesome. We only had a few hours to walk around but we definitely have to come back especially since I didn’t get to take any good photos.

Ash and I on Royal Street in the French Quarter.

We had lunch at Mr. B’s Bistro. Ash really wanted to have some good gumbo and I read a few good reviews from Chowhound. Ash got the Seafood Gumbo and I got the Gumbo Ya Ya. Unfortunately the Gumbo wasn’t that great but the Jambalaya I got was Superb. Really rich and full of flavor. It was more soupy than I expected and was mixed with Spinach Fettuccine. The Jambalaya had chicken, beef, and sausage, shrimp, tomatoes, onions, carrots.

For dessert we split a Brennan family special Bread Pudding. Pretty good though not amazing like the Jambalaya.

Our last stop before leaving was to check out the famous grocery store in the French Quarter called “Central Grocery”. It is home to the Muffuletta. I never heard of a muffuletta before but here’s a excerpt of the full Muffuletta definition from Wikipedia.

“The muffuletta sandwich originated in 1906 at Central Grocery, which was operated by Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant. The sandwich is popular with city natives and visitors, and has been described as “one of the great sandwiches of the world.”^[1] Central Grocery still serves the sandwich using the original recipe. Other variations are served throughout the city. The locals have differing opinions on which shop serves the best muffuletta.?”

So of course we had to try it from the origin. It’s very oily (olive oil) and loaded with Olives.

Loaded with Olives, Salami, other Italian meats and provolone. Especially good, if you like olives!

Ash and I had a great trip and it was such a great way to kick off the new year! Best of luck to us and all our friends and family in 2008. Thanks for all your wonderful Holiday cards and gifts! Happy New Year!

December 29, 2007December 30, 2007

Chattanooga Part 2: Rock City

After Ruby Falls, we drove westward along the mountain range to another Chattanooga attraction called Rock City. Located atop Lookout Mountain, just 6 miles from downtown Chattanooga, Rock City is a true marvel of nature featuring massive ancient rock formations, gardens with over 400 native plant species, and breathtaking “See 7 States” panoramic views.

Our stroll through the Rock City garden was a quite an interesting experience.Â There were narrow rocky crevaces we had to squeeze through.

There was a long wooden rope bridge similar to those in the Indiana Jones Movies which swung dangerously as if it was about to snap.

There were rocks and boulder which you could jump and climb.

All along the way there was signs pointing to the next attraction.Â I followed behind Bean and Ash taking pictures of our expidition.

The grand finale was the Look Out “Lover’s Leep”.Â A outward cliff which gave the panoramic views of 7 states.Â The view was to die for!

We all had a great time.Â It was really nice to take a road trip together and see some natural beauty.Â We had a lot of laughs and plenty of fooling around through the caverns, gardens and rickety bridges.