Thanksgiving Holiday in PCB!
Paul's parent's have some awesome condos right on the beach in Panama City Beach Florida, and we have the privilege of using them on various occasions, and Thanksgiving was no exception!
Paul and I headed down after work Wednesday, to sleep in, relax and prepare our bodies for an amazing Thanksgiving Dinner at the Boat Yard. It was pretty awesome as they prepare a family style dining experience for Thanksgiving where you get a 26 lbs Turkey, and all the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner dressings, of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, veggies, green bean casserole, and my favorite cranberry sauce! And of course they topped the meal off with some pumpkin pie! It was a great time, and they even had live music (a local saxophonist).
Also, on a very impressive note, they pack up the turkey carcass, turkey and any left-overs, so you can take it home and eat it for the rest of the week! How cool is that?? We actually took the carcass home, and Paul is making up some delicious Turkey Soup! YUMMM!
While that was the main highlight of the weekend, there was some more fun to be had! Following dinner, we all of course went back to the condos to chill, nap and let the turkey tryptophan wear off. Once we were able to get the energy back on, we decided to head over to the movies and were totally entertained by the movie Hugo in 3D, and while I believe it is geared for children, it was actually a very good movie, one I would totally watch again! It has a very intriguing and elaborate story line, and is good for the whole family! Of course I think it could be a bit much for children under five or 6.
Thanksgiving Day wasn't over yet, we headed back to the condo to hang out and wait for Midnight so that we could take part in the Black Friday fun, starting at 12AM!
Elizabeth (my sister-in-law) and I decided we were going to hit up some stores in Pier Park in PCB. Target was open at 12AM Friday, we decided that was going to be our first and "main" stop. This was the first time that Elizabeth had gone out for Black Friday, and I think she may actually do it again in the future. Of course it really is one of those thing that you need to do advance research on, as there seems to be either very specific deals in places like Target, and smaller stores have what you would be surprised to find, like 40% EVERYTHING!
When we got to Target, there was a line to get in, but by the time we walked to the front, the line had dissipated and we were headed in! We found a good amount of deals and were seeing people everywhere with LCD TVs in their carts. We weren't really looking for anything specific, so we got a mix of good deals and just stuff we had to have. And while we thought we would only be out for about an hour or so, I think we actually spent almost 2 hours in Target alone! We roamed around and as we were in the midst of our shopping spree, we noticed a line building around the entire store! It was INSANE. Ironically, we continued browsing, and by the time we were ready to check out, the lines were gone. Either time flies when you're having fun, or those Target checkers were moving in super speed! CRAZY!
Once we left Target, we moved on to some of the other shops in Pier Park, and were very excited to find that American Eagle was doing 40% off your entire purchase! YEAH! These are the times that we find more stuff for ourselves than others... but we did accomplish a good bit of Christmas Shopping too! ;) Other stops included Bath & Body Works, New York & Co., and Nike! Elizabeth and I were shocked when we finally got back to the car at 4:15AM! The couple of hours we thought we would spend out, turned into 4 hours of shopping... It was so fun!
The rest of the weekend continued with more fun, shopping (Paul's Mom really knows how to scope out the consignment shops!), eating great PCB Seafood (Bayou on the Beach and the Captain's Table), a Boat Parade and Festival (the 25th Anniversary in Downtown Panama City Beach), and just good old family fun!
We Did It!!! It's Our Photo Heart!
I've been wanting to do something with our HUGE accent wall in our bedroom for some time now, and to buy art or print large canvas photos for this wall would just cost too much money! I was torn because I wanted to be able to feature images that were meaningful to Paul and I, so I either wanted pictures of us, or photographs Paul has taken.
I found this idea on Pinterest, and fell in love, and was determined to make it happen! 
I calculated costs for frames, printing prints, and nails to hang everything, and it wasn't bad (about $120.00 total). Now our heart is about 5 ft wide at the widest point and about 3.5 to 4 ft tall from the bottom most point to the highest point. To purchase canvas prints to cover that approximate space, we would need at least two and at Paul's cost it would be a minimum of $300 (not including shipping)! So doing this cool and sentimental design, not only did we save probably $200 or more, we now have a very cool piece of art that is all about US!
From conception to completion, it only took us a few hours, not including the time it takes to purchase the frames and time waiting to get the prints in the mail. We bought the frames at IKEA ($1.99 a piece), and got the cool metallic prints through Paul's Photography Vendor Smugmug. We got a deal b/c Paul is a photographer and was able to get them at cost, but we did splurge a little for the metallic prints, so you could easily do it for as much or less than we did! And Paul, being very meticulous about design laid out the design on our computer with exact measurements. It was great for us to be able to visualize how it would look! He just took a picture of the bedroom and digitally put in frames with pictures so we could measure out how many frames would fit, based on the size of the wall and the 5x7 size I chose! With the upfront work that Paul did, it only took a small amount of time to hang! I think I spent more time putting pictures in the frames than he spent hanging them. Paul was definitely leery about putting 28 holes in the wall, but as you can see, it was totally worth it! It is AWESOME!
And you know what I love most about this!?? It can totally be a living piece of art.... as we get new pictures or grow our family, I can swap out old pictures for new ones. I absolutely love that!
Santa's Back! Get Your Santa Pictures with Our Favorite Santa
Last year we did a photo shoot with Santa (at our house) and he's back again this year! I'm definitely planning to get some family shots (Paul, Chunk and myself... the cats aren't really into pictures).
Chunk really enjoyed getting his picture taken with Santa, and I know he will be excited to visit with him again this year! Check out some of the great shots we got last year!
Paul is working with the REAL Santa Claus and they've got some great packages for your holiday photos! And if you just want to give your kids a great Santa experience, it's totally FREE! The only cost you would incur is if you want to walk away with photos. Either the sitting fee cost (for those that choose to bring your own camera) or you can buy photos, discs and holiday cards.
The atmosphere will be warm and cozy at the festive Perdue Mansion with great holiday sounds and complimentary Milk and Cookies! Oh YEAH!
Definitely check out the details at SantaShoot.com or contact Paul directly at 770-316-2812 or [email protected]
Also you can check Paul's photography out at PaulPerdue.com!
Join Me and Stop the Privatization/Expansion of Briscoe Field!
Greetings,
I just signed the following petition addressed to: Board of Commissioners Gwinnett County. I've lived in Gwinnett County for about 20 years now, and grew up in Lawrenceville, GA where Briscoe Field is located - There has been so much great development in Lawrenceville and Gwinnett it would be a shame for them to ruin all the great stuff with this new plan to privatize and/or expand!
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Stop the privatization or expansion of Briscoe Field
Don’t Land in My Back Yard
Join together and let Gwinnett County Commissioners know they need to care more about the quality of life of their citizen’s than making a buck.
There have been numerous article, commentaries, opinions, etc. about expanding the use of Briscoe field. We need to deal in facts and realities, no matter what they call it; this privatization will evolve into the expanded use of Briscoe Field.
What does that mean to the residents of Gwinnett County, more traffic, added pollution, noise and larger planes landing and taking off from Briscoe Field? The quality of my life over the last 18 years has been impacted with the rapid growth of Gwinnett. Growth is good if it does not also impact the value of your home as well as the quality of your life in that community. Real Estate motto, location, location, location try and sell your home with large and frequent planes landing 10 miles from your back yard. In my case I’m about five miles from the airport, less as the crow flies.
I did a search looking for the number of residences within a 20 mile radius of Briscoe Field. These are the zip codes I came up with 30011, 30017, 30019, 30024, 30043, 30044, 30045, 30046, 30052 and 30052. There are over 70,000 homes based on information from the post office in these zip codes. If you live in these zip codes your probably within about 20 miles of Briscoe field.
I can sit in my back yard and watch planes every 5 minutes fly over heading for Atlanta Hartsfield Airport. I’m over 35 miles away from the Atlanta Airport and the planes are usually fairly high but we do occasionally hear them. Try to imagine being 5 or 10 miles away from the run way.
You can say not in my back yard, you can attend meetings and get verbal or we can band together. There is strength in numbers and it has more impact than an occasional article or TV spot on the news.
Let your voice be heard, tell Gwinnett County Commissioner’s that we do not want Briscoe field privatized or expanded.
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Please join me and sign this petition today! Click here to SIGN!
Anniversary Weekend: Limo, Champagne & ARIA
The first evening of our wonderful anniversary weekend, started with an amazing evening on the town! We checked into the same hotel we were married at and stayed at our wedding night. We were married at Ventanas which was packed with great new exciting wedding events which others will be celebrating for years to come. And connected to Ventanas is the great hotel, HGI Downtown. We were lucky enough to get the Presidential Suite for our anniversary, and it is definitely worth the stay!
Following check-in we got ready for our evening out. Paul reserved our favorite limo driver/service James with .... and we were on our way, limo, champagne and now onto aria.
This was one of several dinner options Paul had thought would be great for our anniversary dinner. We made a reservation for 9:15, and got there in plenty of time to hang out at the cool bar and lounge. It was a very cool experience and moving from the bar area to our dinner table was like transitioning from one very cool space to another even cooler space. It was quite the experience!
aria's menu changes on a daily basis, so you never know for sure what you may be in store for, but every bit of the menu that we experience was extraordinary!
We started with several appetizers, the Thin Sliced Smoked Atlantic Salmon (with red onion, capers crème fraîche, and crispy potatoes), Lemon Ricotta Ravioli (chanterelle, shiitake, sage brown butter and parmesan), and finally the Pan Seared New Bedford Jumbo Sea Scallops (with white corn, bacon, and parmesan risotto). It was all AMAZING! We were absolutely blown away especially by the first two, the smoked salmon just melted in our mouth, and the Lemon Ricotta Ravioli was such a unique and amazing mixture of flavors with the lemon, ricotta and sage butter. You would think this could not be topped, but the entrees were even better!
Paul ordered the Slow Braised Colorado Lamb Shank (with soft polenta, swiss chard, garlic parsley crumbs, and natural lamb jus) and I ordered the Painted Hills Ranch Natural Beef Short Rib (with shiitake mushroom risotto, pea shoots, sugar snap peas, and tender carrots). AMAZING! The Lamb Shank was so tender and moist and HUGE! We needed a to-go box for that, and I cleaned my plate, with a little help from Paul. The Short Rib was absolutely delicious, and accompanied by the unbelievably amazing risotto, I was in heaven! FYI the Short Rib is something they have chosen to keep on the menu for a long time now, so if you aren't keen on change, it's still a restaurant you should check out if not only to try that Short Rib!!!
Before leaving this amazing establishment, we inquired about the very interesting chandelier and apparently it was a piece that was commission specific for the restaurant and has been inquired about by many. I don't know that I need to describe is so much as just show you...
Following that amazing mean, we hopped back into the limo for more champagne and limo photo fun!
And finally, back to the hotel for a fun little toast of the evening and our anniversary! SO MUCH LOVE!
Married 1 Year + Together 6 Years = Super Happy!
Happy Anniversary Paul Paul! Our first year of marriage has been awesome! I feel like this has been one of our best years ever, and I can't wait to see what is to come in the future!
You have been an amazing husband and best friend, and I am so in love with you! We have had a lot of fun this year with traveling, getting things settled in our home, our careers and our relationship and I think this first year has been the beginning of a lifetime of wonderful and amazing moments!
I love you more than words will every show!
Here's to an awesome first year of marriage and many more to come! I love you!
Anniversary Weekend: We Love You MacBook Pro
This is definitely a Happy Anniversary to US both! While I have been grovelling for a new Mac for some time now (since I have been working from a 12 year old Mac Power Book), this brand new MacBook Pro will be a gift that both Paul and I will cherish for years to come.
It will not only help me not to go bald (tearing my hair out with the PowerBook), but it will allow me to help Paul with his business sites, and me to BLOG which has become a new addiction of mine.
And of course I'm finding so many things to talk about, including this fabulous Anniversary Gift! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH Paul Paul! I love you and together with this awesome new machine, we will embark on our second year of marriage with excitement and pleasure! Hehe And I know we will do so many great things together for years to come.
You have to check this baby out, isn't she a beauty (yes, she is a she, because she is magnificent). Maybe Paul and I should give her a name! Maybe Anni - short for Anniversary?? I know it's cheesy, but isn't that what Anniversaries are all about??
Definitely stay tuned, cause we have a lot more to come with a weekend full of fun!
Loving My Pinterest!
So I've had an invite to Pinterest for some time now, but hadn't taken the leap cause I knew it would be another thing that I would truly become addicted to and I was right. But with the constant stream of COOL stuff that I find EVERYWHERE, I need a resource to hold all these cool things I would love to have, try, and do, so I'm in it and collecting and adding new things daily to my boards!
I imagine my account will be huge not too long from now, and it will be a great resource for any and all ideas I've got for our life! Not only that, but I imagine it could be a very good "hint" resource for Paul when it comes to knowing all things I'm into and loving right now! Couldn't hurt!
I've found several ideas I am ready to implement soon. I think my first project will be this one...
But another very cool one that both Paul and I are loving is this! I image this one will be further down the line as we don't really have a bar area for bar stools YET, but it will happen, and these puppies will be in the picture of our bar/living space.
But this isn't just a resource for home decor ideas, it's about anything and everything you can imagine! Whether it's a frame of mind, a frame to put on the wall, a frame you make, or a place to go so you can put it in a frame... you can pin it!
It's like the new "there's an app for that", but now it's "pin it!"
And to top all of the fun decor stuff we will be implementing hopefully soon, I'm also in absolute DIY mode, and Pinterest has totally been feeding my "to do" list of things I KNOW I can make, and they WILL be so cool you'll want to pin them. I think I may start with the Christmas ornaments... It is that time after all.
Either way check it out!
Vote for Sunday Alcohol Sales TOMORROW!!!
How many times have you gone to the grocery store on Sunday and picked up a bottle of wine or case of beer, gotten to the register and realized during check-out... "DANG IT it's SUNDAY!" Well it's happened to me more than once, and I'm not really absent-minded, I just don't think about those things all the time cause it's really unnecessary!
Georgia is one of only three states that does not allow alcohol sales on Sunday, and it's finally time things change! This will be the first year that we have been able to decide on this issue ourselves, and I am hopeful people will get out to vote! This is not a primary election, and I'm sure there may be more pressing matters on the ballot than this issue, but I personally get the impression people will care about this! And they will care more about this than the other random local votes on the ballot.
About 100 Georgia cities and counties are holding votes on whether to allow stores to sell alcohol on Sundays. The referendum is the result of a lengthy battle in the state legislature over whether municipalities should have the right to decide on the issue. This has been a very controversial issue, and you can rest assured that there will be as many people out voting against it as there are for it.
If passed the Sunday alcohol sale referendum will allow convenient stores, grocery stores and liquor stores to sell beer, wine and liquor on Sundays. I know it's not a primary election or anything, but there is definitely good reason to make the trip to the poles tomorrow! Read more about it here!
An EPIC Experience - GNR at Phillips Arena, Atlanta
So finally Guns n Roses came to Atlanta and you best believe I had my ticket as soon as they went on sale.
Guns n Roses is one of the most epic bands formed in the mid 80s out of Hollywood Los Angeles California. Axl Rose is the man behind what today holds the name GNR.
An american singer songwriter and musician and only remaining original member of the band Guns N' Roses, with whom he enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before disappearing from the public eye for several years. In 2001, he resurfaced with a new line-up of Guns N' Roses at Rock in Rio 3, and subsequently played periodic concert tours, before releasing the long-delayed album Chinese Democracy in 2008. Axl has been named one of the greatest singers of all time by various media outlets, including Rolling Stone and NME.
I could not believe that I was finally going to see GNR in concert. GNR has not played in Atlanta since 1987. I had attempted to This was not going to be just another concert but a once in a life time opportunity to see one of the greatest bands that ever lived. I had to make this experience one we would never forget.
I booked my good buddy James Garland of www.LimoJoy.com. I have been using James for several years now and he is an awesome guy as well as an amazing limo driver. It was our plan to dress up like Axl Rose and have James drop us off at the venue. Well we did not dress up but did bring a very recognizable bandana to add that essence of Axl to the accoutrement.
James outfitted us with Champaign and we brought our own various mixed beverages and classic american beers (Coors and Blue Moon). We were ready for this event and by God we were going to get right, before wading though the massive crowd of followers GNR would bring. I was joined by two of my best friends who asked to remain anonymous due to having corporate jobs and for some reason this always getting back to the wrong people. The other two friends who I should not even mention because they did not go, but am anyway because they, like me have a crazy love for the band. I was so pissed at them for not getting a ticket to potentially the one time opportunity to see this epic band.
If you know anything about GNR, they disappeared for several years and the last time they went on tour in the US, it
just so happened they canceled that tour just before we were supposed to see them. We were not sure that opportunity would ever present itself again. Well it did and I was not about to let anyone or anything stand in my way of being front and center stage with Axl Rose screaming his ass off.
James pulled the limo up to Phillips Arena where we jumped out and proceeded inside the venue. We were early because we did not want to miss a second of the show. We grabbed some beers and a slice of pizza and proceeded to talk about what they would open and close the night out with. It was our thoughts that "Welcome to the Jungle" would be the first song and then perhaps "Paradise City" for a closure. My "mystery friend" had looked at the previous song sets from other tours for GNR and these songs sounded like a safe bet. Either way I did not care because I knew whatever song they played, I would not have a voice the next day because I would be singing along to every word.
The only problem I foresaw was that "mystery friend" had purchased seats and we were not able to access the ground floor where you could genuinely get front and center. We had time though to plot our invasion and it was not long before we had accomplished said invasion, gained entry and blended into the ground floor crowd. There were 2 older black men guarding the access point and we had to time our entry with exact precision. We waited until both men were talking to other patrons of the event and simply walked with purpose right by them. Wow that was easy I thought and we were onto the next challenge of wading though thousands of people to make our way to that front and center stage where you could literally see the pattern on Axl's head bandana and DJ Ashba's swift finger guitar mastery.
When it comes to Guns N' Roses guitarists, Slash's iconic top hat and black curly hair will always be the first image that comes to mind. But in a Guns N' Roses lineup that has revolved around Axl Rose and a rotating cast of other musicians since the late '90s, that position has since been filled by such luminary axe men as Nine Inch Nails' Robin Finck, Buckethead and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. The most recent Guns' guitarist is DJ Ashba, whose previous credits include the BulletBoys, Beautiful Creatures and Sixx: A.M. with Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue (Click here for more about DJ Ashba). Most likely though if you are reading this, you already know a good bit about GNR. I just feel its necessary to fill you in on a bit of the details just in case.
After what seemed like an eternity (10 minutes or so) the lights dropped out and we knew Phillips Arena was about to explode with one of the finest bands to ever hit the stage. Axl Rose came in with a thunder that rocked the crowd like I had never seen. The music enveloped through my body and I felt as if I had no control over the direction I looked or the words that came out of my mouth. I was in a GNR trance. Suddenly everyone around me was like my best friend, all singing to the greatest written songs of our time. We would exchange nods of just pure mind blowing music mayhem. Axl Rose and DJ Ashba had everyone in their grasps and they did not let go for a second. We were in the jungle baby! Here is a few clips I was able to get on my phone. Sorry they suck but its all I have. The music was so loud, I am not sure any phone could process the amount of awesomeness that was emitting from the speakers
The show was a great one and not only that but they played for about 3 hours straight, over 30 songs! It was an incredible experience that I am not capable of describing to you in words because I literally do not have the vocabulary to break down verbally what had taken place that night. It was by far the best experience I have ever had.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTBMDj_TdQ0&w=732&h=600]
My favorite song of the evening and of all time was November Rain. Not only was this song one I held dear to heart ever since I had purchased the album back in 1993 but it was also what my groomsmen and I entered to at the ceremony of my wedding. I literally could not hold back the emotion when the combination of my love for the greatest band of all time coupled with the love for my wife and that incredible moment we shared tying the knot. The song sounded better then I have ever heard it and I just could not hold back a few tears of joy.
I really have to say that if you are reading this and were not at this concert, you will never know what you missed out on. I personally feel sorry for those who did not get to experience this event. I would have to say if you wanted a religious experience you will never get from any church or miraculous event, this was that event and you missed it! Thank God I was there and it was better than anything I ever imagined it could be. Sorry bout your luck but there is no going back or undoing what is done. Its over now and I hate that you missed it.
I will forever remember this experience and when I am 80 years old and my grand kids are asking me about my life and what I did with it, you better believe this old man will tell them about getting to see Guns and Roses in concert and its nothing like that flim flam garbage music that they are listening to today. Its real music, music with heart, soul, and as Axl would put it, "the best fucking rock band that ever walked the earth"!
