Lorielle's Georgia Getaway

Pictures like this have made many recent appearances on this blog : )

Here is Shane snacking on some swedish fish during our long trek back down to GA

Lorielle stayed happy with her Gardettos in the back seat : )

Her bed away from home. She's in there somewhere.

Lorielle thought it was only appropriate while she was visiting to do a famous "Lorielle and Michele Cook Off/Bake Off" So she decided Brownies would be the item we competed over.

Why is it that Brownies always seem to look so......gross.

2 identical plates with two very different brownies to be tested.

Shane was so bummed he had to be the taste tester : P

It looks like we are torturing him. . . . but I promise he was not harmed in the process of judging

Right Brownie

Left Brownie

The Winner!

Shane made sure to finish his testing samples and some.

In our attempt to go to the "city" we took Lorielle out to Yeah Burger in Virginia Highlands.  We had never been to this location before on the other side of the city, and it was great to check out a new part of Atlanta.

Hungry and waiting. ...

Enjoying the outdoor patio before we devoured our food!

Afterwards we hit up the Yogli Mogli across the street for some refreshing Frozen Yogurt.

Shane was very excited..hahah

After Fro Yo we took a walk around the surrounding neighborhood and we fell in love with all the amazing houses that each had such distinct character. I loved this one! Now if I only had half a million dollars to buy it (It's for sale!!!).

House Dreaming.....

I had to be quick with pictures because I was afraid people sitting at home eating dinner would feel stalked! We loved this neighborhood! Its so secluded and cozy with amazing houses that are just a quick walk from a cute ecclectic downtown as well as being right near the actual city!

Lorielle hasn't had a working microwave at home for some time now so she was overjoyed at the thought of some good ole homemade microwave popcorn : )

Everyone always asks Shane and I if we have visited Stone Mountain, so we figured with Lorielle in town to visit we should finally make a drive up so we can finally say we've been!

Here we go-not knowing what to expect!

Trying to figure out how to get out of the touristy amusement parkesque section and get to the walking trail.

Map Check, Camera Check, Phone Check.

We hadn't felt like were in the South more than in this moment.

Confederacy pride runs deep.

A pole on our way up the mountain covered in gum-it was pretty disgusting.

Sisters

On the way up there were all different types of carvings people had made in the stone. 

We made it to the top just in time for the sun set. It was an amazing view that we struggled to capture on camera.

As the sun set in front of us we turned to find a full moon rising behind us-again the camera did no justice.

The beginning of the famous "Laser show spectacular" they project on the side of the Mtn.

Sweaty and exhausted, we geared up for what was supposed to be an amazing show.

The Full Moon!

One of the many projections of GA schools and sports teams accompanied by music. Not quite what we had in mind. The show started with a firework or two which got me excited, but soon it turned into a strange tribute to the confederacy and the civil war-needless to say we snuck out before the crazy traffic (the place was PACKED) during the laser shows tribute to GA music, and said goodbye as they played "The Devil Went Down to GA," an appropriate ending to an interesting night!

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Lauren recently sent me a new Gluten Free cookbook for my birthday and I was eager to try one of the recipes! I picked the Texas Pecan Banana Bread with Cream Cheese Icing.

The recipe called for roasting the bananas first, which I had never done. . . .

But Lorielle seemed to approve : ) It turned out amazing and with the icing it is definitely worthy to be called dessert!

Thursday night Lor and I decided to make dinner together and made homemade Lasagna bake (with little mini gfree lasagna noodles instead of the traditional large noodles). We put together a salad and some garlic bread as well and enjoyed the last meal the three of us would share together on her visit.

It was good!

Friday Shane had his last day of running Youth Camp and a coaching retreat til late into the night so Lorielle and I hit up a local ceramics studio and spent some time working on projects. 

My tedious plate. . . . (Shane grew up using a "special plate" on birthdays, so we decided I would make one for our family to start the same kind of tradition). All in all we were there for 4 hours! The time really flew and it was a nice relaxing afternoon (minus some nerrotic kids that came in to work on/ destroy things in the shop)

Lorielle's icecream cone jar

Can't wait to pick these up at the end of the week and see the finished product!

It was so great to have Lor become a part of the Woodward family for the week. We already miss her, but are greatful for the memories we made in the past week.  We flew Lorielle home on her first trip on an airplane (alone!!) and she did an awesome job. I know my parents are glad to have her back and hopefully we will make it back soon too to visit!

-M.W.