A couple weekends ago, my oldest asked for a drive to his ACT test. We originally thought the location was closer so I had made plans for a run and preparing for Orthodox Easter by cooking, but the unexpected change in plans worked out well. I looked up some free things to do in Rome, GA which I will share on Friday, but since the Darlington Campus was so pretty, I wanted to share a few pictures. Darlington is a day and boarding school in Rome, GA. The campus serves to children PreK through 12. Since the weather was so pretty, we decided to enjoy snack by the pond. As…

A few weeks ago, I accompanied my son on a school field trip. Of course, I didn’t read the email fully and ended up at the wrong place, but thankfully both locations were in our town so I only wasted a total of 30 minutes. I arrived at the nature preserve 15 minutes late. The children were listening to a presentation about animals that live in the preserve and nearby, about composting and how in the preserve, nothing was touched. Then the fun part of the field trip happened which was a hike of about 1.5 miles. The hike was somewhat hilly and mostly circled a large pond. There were…

If you missed my last two post about my recent visit to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, you can see the troll exhibit here and read about the orchids in this post. I love how much color you can see at the botanical gardens in the spring and I enjoyed seeing the tulips in bloom. They were in different spots than in the past so it took a little exploring to see all of the areas where they were planted. The origami Pegasus is now a permanent exhibit here and these two tones tulips made for a pretty scene. Bright yellow and red just scream spring! I wish the tulip beds…

On a cold day, the perfect place to be at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens is the orchid pavilion. Even better is during the orchid craze because there is such a variety of orchids displayed. This usually happens during the month of March and April. Today, I am sharing my favorite pictures of this year’s display. There are several ways to enter the area where the orchids are displayed, but my favorite is through the rainforest area because of this newly painted archway. I inadvertently matched it with my yellow sweatshirt and the pink and purples in my scarf. There are many areas perfect for taking pictures! This one mural is…

On a cold day last week, I met up with my friend and her daughter and we headed to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. It was chilly and hovered in the mid 40s that morning. I couldn’t remember which exhibit was happening and it was fun to realize that the trolls were out! I am excited to bring my boys during spring break. The large trolls by Thomas Dambo (6 of them) are folklore inspired range from 15 feet tall to 25 feet wide. They are made of wood and reclaimed materials. The traveling exhibition will stay at the botanical gardens till September 17. I am curious if one will stay…

The drive to Boone, NC is such a picturesque drive. It takes you through Ellijay and Blue Ridge in the North Georgia mountains and through the Nantahala Gorge. We often stop at the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) for the pretty views and to have a picnic by the river when we head to North Carolina. We’ve gone white water rafting nearby before (before kids) and have also taken a train ride that turns around there. There are many activities you can do and I am thinking we might make it a destination this summer since it is only 3 and half hours from our house. It also might be cooler…

Well, we technically were not snowed in at all! However, we were very excited that the ever changing forecast during our stay actually did stay true and we did get 3-4 inches of snow. The predictions kept changing and ranged from less than an inch to 8 inches. so we were grateful for what we got. For all of you Northerners, us Southerners do get excited when we get snow. The last time it snowed near Atlanta was 6 years ago and we drove 5 and half hour to Boone, NC in hopes to see snow on this short winter break! I went on 3 walks in the snow and…

I don’t always get up early enough to see the sunrises at the beach but I can always catch the sunset. When you go to the beach in the fall and winter, between the time zone and it being in the central time zone, sunsets come early. In fact, it is all the way dark by 5 PM. I have taken so many pictures of sunsets that this year I tried to focus on trying to compose the pictures with interesting pieces whether nature or man made. The picture above is my typical sunset picture. Beautiful sun and beach! The following picture is compliments of my oldest! I like how…