The Life Aquatic - Day 2

With more than eight million gallons of water, the Georgia Aquarium is the world's largest aquarium. And you guessed it, this is where we ventured to on the second day of "The Puppet Show."

It was an amazing experience. Aquariums to me are just a really peaecful place, I love swimming and being in the water. We were hoping that we would not encounter any large crowds and have the place pretty much to ourselves, however we failed to recognize it was mid-winter break for some schools = the place was PACKED.

MP and the extraordinarily large map. "We are here."

They had tons of interactive sites, a few where you could touch some creatures...

Here's Madge, about to touch the barb on a sting ray. I apparently was so excited that I totally disregarded the seriousness of that situation and also the "two finger touch" rule.

Didn't forget any rules this time!

Keith Johnson, the buyer-at-large for Anthropologie talks about how he is constantly looking for inspiration in everyday life. The aquarium was an excellent opportunity to soak in lots of inspiration. The colors and textures were amazing, and both MP and I commented on how it is interesting that fashion mimics nature.

The Georgia Aquarium is also the only institution (outside of Asia) to host whale sharks, which are the largest fish in the sea. The tanks they are housed in are awesome. It's really something to round a corner and see this...

There is a spectacular dome that you travel through, that actually has a people mover, so you can really observe all the fish in the tank-- instead of multitasking-- walking, looking, and run the risk of smashing into the lady with the three kids.

We were so lucky to be able to witness feeding time of the whale sharks. It was a sight to hold. A brave soul is dragged across the tank in a little raft and literally "spoon feeds" chum into these giant creatures' mouths.

We're enthralled!

After the aquarium, we took a leisurely stroll across Centennial Park and over to the CNN Center for some lunch. MP has never experienced the fabulousness of Chick-Fil-A before...needless to say, she's hooked.

And here I am with my fiesty friend...

I wouldn't mess with either of these blondes.

Nature Walk Interrupted

We have one of the most wonderful parks down the street from where we live. It runs right along the Chattahoochee River, it has an amazing "rail trail" where people flock to bike, run, walk, etc. The first time my husband and I went we could not believe this place was in metro Atlanta. We always divert off the rail trail and head for the miles of trails that wind throughout the park.



Yesterday I decided I would share this encrusted jewel of a park with our good friend from college, and his girlfriend...they just moved here, plus I needed to pick up some pine cones for a craft project. Now don't get me wrong--I LOVE the fact that they moved here, we are getting out much more, and totally love this friend--he's just a genuinely good guy. His girlfriend, not so much. I've been hanging out with her quite a bit lately, I've tried really hard to get to know her. But she's a whiner. I do.not.do well with whiners. Little background on the girlfriend--her father deals in scrap metal and apparently is very well off, she has never really had to work a day in her life, and now the father is opening a business here in ATL and she will be working for him. Here's the kicker, the business hasn't opened yet...and from what I gather, it won't for a little while. Soo she literally sleeps in until 11-11:30ish each day and then naps from 4-6ish. Now our friend, works 45 minutes away and also waits tables on the side. The girlfriend does nothing all day and their apartment is TRASHED. Dirty clothes everywhere, boxes unpacked stacked up, piles of junk of the coffee table...for someone who has a LOT of free time on her hands, she doesn't really utilize this time well.



I digress...I went to pick them up yesterday and the first thing she says is, "My legs really hurt, I didn't want to go, but I figured I would." Your legs hurt from what? Sitting on the couch and napping all day? Okay...so I figure ehh she'll be fine. Oh no, we literally walked at the pace of toddlers through this park. So I take them off the beaten path, and the Debbie-Downer begins complaining: "This is really inclined." "My legs hurt." "Eww, look at this mud." "How am I going to cross this mini stream." "It's cold." "I'm too hot." "These pine cones have prickers on them, I would much rather pay a $1 for a bag of three." At one point, when I was 50 feet in front waiting for them to catch up, I said to myself, never will I do this again.

On a more positive note, it was truly a gorgeous day! Great photo ops...

So Mr. MTM got of out work a wee bit later, and after hearing the story of the disaster nature walk, he suggested we go back. What a sweet guy.

We went off the beaten path and took a trail that we have not been on before, it wraps around the outer perimeter of the park, this side is surrounded by businesses. Soo we hooffing it up this hill, dodging large roots and branches, really feeling like your out in the middle of no where...and this is the scene we saw when we got to the top of the hill...






















Surreal right? It's the lobby of a huge building and from what we could see the statue seems to be a iron cast Native American with some sort of eagle costume on. A-freaking-mazing!!