She Said Yes!!!!!

Hey People! I come to you today with great news! Terri and I are getting hitched! That's right, I dropped the big question last Friday! Friday the 13th to be exact!

I was off on Friday so spent the day getting ready. I blacked out all the windows to make it super dark in the house and laid out tons of candles and flowers, had some Etta James playing in the background and had a rose pedal trail leading to me on one knee. After listening to the rest of our "love tunes playlist" we made some calls and drank some wine and went to dinner!

We had dinner at Serpas True Food which is down the road from us. Dinner was really good! The company was ofcourse better! We had 6 apps and 2 entrees, we were too full for dessert! Seemed like the entire staff know about what had just happened. Our waitress was really nice and kept coming by to take random pics of us.

So life couldn't be better right now. We are super excited and looking forward to the big day! More on that to come ofcourse. Right now I just want my fiancee to come home from her business trip to Toronto.

I'm so looking forward to all of our new firsts babe. I love you so much and am so excited for this new chapter of our lives together to start! You have done so much to help me grow as a person and turn me into a better man, I love you so much!

Bling Bling

Candle Shot

Action Shot During Dinner

Meet the soon to be Brown's!

Early Bday Celebration

Last weekend Terri took me out for a little pre bday celebration. We went to a really rad dinner put on by Souper Jenny and her Underground Dinner Club. Terri sent in a E-mail a couple months ago to Souper Jenny to get invited to one of her exclusive dinner clubs. These dinners are by invite only and only 20 - 30 people get to go for each party. Just so happens that she got the invite to one right before my bday!

The location of the dinner was the Oakland Cemetary and the suprise chef was Richard Blais of Top Chef and Iron Chef fame. He is also the Creative Director at Flip Burger Boutique here in Atlanta. So the dinner was in a great pre hallowenn location and the chef is one of my favorites. To top it off we are "Required" to where black.....I think I have that covered.

Check out the pics below of the courses menu and what not. Again the dinner was super fun and REALLY good. Despite the 30 - 40 degree weather, we ate outside, Terri and I loved it. Thanks Cook, I couldnt have asked for more!!!!

Me, Richard Blais and Terri

Pic of the place setting and menu card

Opening Course....Corn, Crab, Black Garlic and Cotton Candy Soup. Really Good, my second Fav of the night.

2nd Course....My Fav of the night, Squid stuffed with Blood Orange Sausage ontop of Cornbread

3rd Course....Black Bass ontop of Groel (Risotto)

4th Course....Lamb with Cauliflower and Rosemary Fog

5th Course...Terri is holding up dessert for us.....Seaweed Cloud with Silver Linning

Why I Love Direct TV

For those of you that dont know Terri and I decided to cancel our comcast cable the other week. We got sick of paying alot for crap service, crap reception and a crap cable box that kept going out of service.

So we decided to trade it in for the dish. We got one of the basic Direct TV packages and added the NFL ticket. So I get to watch every NFL game in all its glory every week. That reason itself is more than enough for any guy in his right mind to love his new cable service.

But wait...there's more. The glorious antenna on our roof gives us much more in the way of sporting events. For instance I am currently flipping back an forth between 3 Hockey games and 3 College Football games. And if I liked Basketball I could be watching two NBA preseason games, but I dont. And just for good measure there are 3 College Football games and 2 Hockey games that will strt within the hour.......that said why am I on the computer........later!

Football Is Back!!!!

Well my friends.....Football is back! The College Football season opened up this week. As usual there were highs and lows for me as a College Football Fan.

The lows had to be my Ducks losing on Thursday to Boise State on the infamous Blue Turf and my Terps also lost in disturbing fashions to Cal. What made the Oregon lose even worse was the fact that one of the running backs, LeGarrette Blount, sucker punched one of Boise States players at the end of the game. Not very sportsman like. And the Maryland lose was pretty much embarrassing, 52 - 13......

Despite the loses of my favorite teams something else happened that made it all better.....That being Oklahoma losing to BYU. I really dont like Oklahoma, and pretty much never have. And them losing to a Non-BCS team made it all better. Despite the fact that I do not like Oklahoma I do feel bad for Sam Bradford was injured. I do realize that the injury was a big factor in the lose, but you cant take that away from BYU. As it may it's still as lose. This week 1 lose and a very tough Big 12 schedule hopefully means that they will not be in the National Championship picture come December.

Looking forward to a good season. Just a couple more weeks till NFL, Terri and I just got the NFL Season Ticket.....So it will be even better! I can now watch my Skins every week!

Stuffed!

Just got done eatin dinner. Im Hans Solo tonight so was pretty much just cookin whatever. I decided to go with Black Beans tonight. Took the beans and mashed them up some and added lemon zest, lemon juice, cilantro, dried blueberries, bread crumbs and egg white. Made the mixture into small patties and cooked each side to a crisp in some oil on the stove top. Then crumbled the patties up and put it on a tortilla with some green chilles and taco sauce. Good stuff........

Good News.....Bad News

Its been awile since I've posted anything about sports. So I figured this is as good of a chance as any. All I rally got for you is Good News.....and Bad News....

GOOD NEWS:

On Sunday my favorite Nascar driver Brian Vickers drove the number 83 Red Bull Racing Car into Victory Lane! This was Brian's second career victory and the first for Red Bull Racings Nascar Team. Well technically he didnt drive into victory lane.....He actualy ran out of gas after the race as he was driving to victory lane. The last few laps were nail bitters. Not only was Brian running out of gas, but several other drivers were as well. I wasnt sure he was going to have enough gas to make it. But sure enough he did. Way to go Brian!














BAD NEWS:

I dont think I really need to get into this one.........Yes that's A pic of Brett Farve...Yes he came out of retirement agian.....and yes he is now a Viking....

Long Time No Post

I decided to wipe the dust off the old blog today. The last month has been pretty busy with work, my parent visiting and Terri's sisters visiting. Im pretty much taking this weekend to do as little as possible.

When my parents came down we hit up the Aquarium, Botanical Gardens, and Cyclorama and should them some cool dinning spots in the city. We really had a good time. It was also great for Terri to finally meet them.

The next weekend Terri's sisters came into town. On Friday they went on a shopping bonanza. On Saturday we hung out all day and went to the Braves game in the afternoon. We had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed meeting Terri's sisters. They were a blast!
















The Williams Sisters and me
















Me and the rents

Cool little Scorpion Fish

Dad and his shirt twin

I just happened to take this pic as a hemmerhead

made a meal of one of the saller fish

Dad, Mom and a Frog at the Botanical Gardens

Relaxing Start To The Weekend

Terri an I decided to stay home over the 4th extended weekend to save some cash. But still tried to enjoy it as much as possible! Our Thursday started off by going to Marietta to play some golf, see Terri's Blog. After golf we hit up the Farmers Market to stock up on some groceries. After that we decided to use the new grill and make some pizza! We were going to make the dough......But didnt have the time or a bread machine. So we bought some premade crusts. We made our own sweet and zesty pizza sauce. Terri put basil and tomato on hers. And I had Hamburger and BACON! Using the grill to cook the pizza was alot of fun and added to the taste. After cooking the pies up we enjoyed our meal with some brews and UNO!

Time To Celebrate

The past two weeks have been full of some good times for Terri and I. Last Friday we celebrated Terri's birthday. We decided to keep it chill and go out to a nice dinner and enjoy each others company. So I took her to Restaurant Eugene. Instead of ordering of the menu we decided on a seven course dinner with wine pairing. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!! We both agreed that it was one of the top meals that we have had. Then we celebrated one year toghether last night at Zuma Sushi. If you like sush give it a try, we loved it! Very tastful and generous portion sizes. And to top it off we are going to IMAX this weekend to see....you guessed it.....TRANSFORMERS!!!!!

Thanks for a fun two weeks and one fabulous year Cook!!!!

What's New

Well nothing.....But it's been a while since I posted anything so figured I should.

May was a really tiring month for me and am so glad that it is done. As per the usually I worked myself sick with both of the groups I had this month. Which I must say is getting old.

Been working on getting Magnus's new digs all set up as well. Ben adding some plants (fake) and some trees (fake). Also got my heating problem for the tank solved. I ended up bying a heat panel and fastend it to the top of the cage

Neither of teams made it to the Stanley Cup. And I hate the Red Wings and eally dislike the Penguins....So the Stanley Cup does not really matter that much to me this year. Muh like last year since it is a rematch.

Well that's about it..

CROSSFIRE!!!!

Sports Update

Lots of good stuff has been going on in the wide world of sports the past few weeks. Atleast for teams and sports that I follow. Hopefully that will be a trend of things to come.

Lets start with some good ole auto racing. Team Red Bull Has had two good weeks in a row with their Formula One Racing Team. Last week Sebastian Vettel won Team Red Bulls first F1 race at the Grand Prix of China. He followed it up this past weekend with a 2nd place finish at the Grad Prix of Bahrain. Sadly I missed last weeks victory. But saw race ths past weekend, which was pretty exciting. This weekend the Nascar Red Bul team also had a good showing t a crazy race at Talledage Raceway. Both Scott Speed and Brian Vickers finised 5th and 8th respectivly. This was one f the better races I have seen in a while, lots of crashes and excitment. Hopefully both teams can keep it up the rest of the year.

The playoffs started the other week for the NHL. My Canucks got off to a really good start by sweeping the Blues in convincing fashion in the first round. Next up.....The Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are looking pretty good this year with a powerfull offense. Luckily the Canucks have good defense and one of the top goalies in the NHL. My home team, Washington Capitals, came back from being down 3 games to 1 to beat the Rangers last night in game seven. Next up for them is are the Penguins. This shold be a tough, hard hitting and star studded series with between two teams with a rivialry going back to the old days of the Patrick Division days.

The playoffs also started for the NBA. But I dont really care about that.....


And to top it off the NFL draft was this past weekend. My Redskins didn't trade up to get Mark Sanchez like alot of people thought they might. But they did get the guy they had there eyes on....Brian Orakpo out of Texas. Orakpo was a Defensive End at Texas, but might play as a Linebacker in Washington. ither way hopefully he will be able to contribute to a alredystrong defese that also added one of the top free agents over the offseason, Albert Haynesworth.

New Home For Magnus

So I finally got Magnus's new cage last Friday. It took freakin forever to get it. I placed the order for it back in JUNE! But I finally got it, granted the order was not fully correct, but thats another story. I got him all set up yesterday and he seems to really like it. As you can see he has PLENTY of space to move around. Im probably going to get him some more sticks to climb arond on soon. Once he got settled and went exploring he went back to his favorite spot, his water bowl (Kitty Litter Box).

Magnus's Favorite Commercial

Video of The Week

What's up people! It's video time....Which means turn your volume up! The name of the band is Whitechapel and the name of the video is Possession. I just heard this band recently, really like there riffs and tones. Check'em out!

Rad Dinner

Terri and I went out on Tuesday night to celebrate nine great months together at a nice little place in Inman Park called Parks Edge. We shared a ceviche like tuna and avacado appetizer as well as a smoked and spicey ceasar salad to start with. Both were great. We almost didnt order the Tuna app, glad we did, great flavors! For out our entrees Terri had Grilled Filet and I had a Spicey Sea Bass Filet. Like the appetizers both were great, we couldnt get enough. We finished it of with a Chocolate Molten Lava Cake. Yummy chocolaty goodness! After our meal we went to the bar and got to meet and chat with the head chef and the owner. Both were really cool and down to earth. The restarant was great and the company was even better! Check this place out if you have a chance.

Cancun!

Terri and I got back from our trip to Cancun late last night. We

had an absolute blast. As can be expected we didn't want to come home. We got up early Tuesday morning to drop off Trip and head to the airport. Our flight went out on time and were at our hotel by 11am on Tuesday. Our room wasnt ready yet so we headed to the bar, which was attached to the pool and right on the beach, and met our friendly bartenders for the week Louis and Gazpar. To the right you will see a pic of ourt hotel. We had a ocean view room so we woke up and went to sleep to the ocean every day! One of our favorite activities during the trip was snorkeling. We went 3 times during our stay. On Wednesday and Friday we walked over to Club Med, which was next to our hotel. for two of the snorkling adventures. They have reefs off of one of the sides of their resort. Its reserved for guest only so they have security on the look out for trespassers. But Terri and I were able to sneak over undetected each time. We saw alot of cool fish during our two dives there. The highlight was seeing a group of three large Parrot Fish on Friday. One of them was pretty big, maybe 3 - 4 feet. The midle one was probably 2.5 - 3 feet and the third was probably 2 feet. They were really colorful and let me get pretty close to them. We didnt have a water proof camera so I couldnt take any pics. But I was able to find a pic, to the right, on the information highway that looked kind of like the large on we saw. On Thursday we spent the day at Isla Mujeres, or the Island of Women as it I translated, for a day of snorkeling, exploring, a great lunch, driving a golf cart and holding a Shark. Thats right we held a shark, Nurse Shark. The little resort we went to for snorkling had some cool scenery and iguanas that were all over the resort. I wanted to try to catch one to play with. But didnt want to upset the wildlife, after all it is there turf. Then I would be the stupid tourist messing with the animals and ausing a scene. I was able to get some cool pics though to remind me of the little guys. There was one large one that we saw a couple times. He was pretty laid back until you got to 2 or 3 feet away from him, then we would run off. Leading up to the trip we were hoping to eat some really good food while we were down there. Our best meal by far was lunch on the Island of Women. Our dinner the fisrt night was pretty good aswell. One thing we were pretty happy about trying was a road side taco stand that a lady ran out of the back of her van. The tacos were great! And cheap! We got 5 tacos on Thursdy and Friday moring for $2.50 USD. We took a ton of pics. But didnt want to hog all of the pics and stories. Check out Terri's blog in a couple days for some more picks and stories. Terri....thanks again for perfect vacation. I had an absolute blast and can not wait to go on our next trip together!!!!!!!

Prom Party

I know Im a week late but between a busted computer and vacation I have gotten to post about the Prom Party.......So here we go! Last Saturday we had our 2009 80's Prom Party. We had a great shwoing for it! Lots of laughs, great outfits, 80's music and some good old beer pong! We had a excellent spread of little debbie's finest, which got pretty much cleaned out! Thanks to everyone that made it out. Congrats to King Sean and Queen Drver!



Your King and Queen

Terri and myself

Driver working her new crown

Party Pic!

Mac and Ali

Party Pic!

Savannah, Chad and Ladon. Gotta love the colors

Kevin and Erin

Kelly, Crystal and myself

A freak beer pong shot

Circus de Soleil

Last night Terri, her parents and myself went to check out the Cirucs de Soleil act in Atantic Station. It was freakin awesome! That was the frist time I had seen any of the Kooza acts and enjoyed every moment of it. It was actually the first time I had been to any circus since I saw The Ringling Brothers as a wee lil guy. This was no Ringling Brothers though. Lots of cool stuff like crazy tight rope walkers, a duo dancing with one unicycle, a dude balancing and making a chair tower that was prob 30 feet high, some cool contortionists and many others.

My favorite act by far was "The Wheel of Death". There were two dudes that were in this act. Each had there own hamster like wheel. The wheels were on either side of a long steel arm. They basically made this thing go round and round, vertically, in doing so they got major air inside the wheel and outside of the wheels by jumping around as the apparatus spin around. I was pretty freakin rad. My uncanny nack for bad descriptions does this act no justice. I had a great time, many thanks to Terri and her parents!

Since cameras were not aloud I couldn't get any pics, so I had to borrow these of the information highway.

The Contortionists. These ladies were crazy. One did something like the exorsism movie but with her whole body instead of her head.

The Wheel of Death! These duded were freakin awesome. I told Teri that I was going to try and be one. Dont worry, not goin to happen, not that bad a$$

Vday At The Aquarium

This past weekend Terri and I got to spend our first Valentines together, and we had a blast! We started off by going to one of my favorite spots, the Georgia Aquarium! Terri know's how much I love that place so she got a hook up on a behind the scenes tour. Well done Cook!

We started off with Lunch and took a look at some of the different exhibits. Then headed off on our tour.! It started off on some behind the scenes areas and offices. Then headed over to the Ocean Voyeger Exhibit. Which was totally cool, we got to see the Whale Sharks up close and personal via the catwalk that goes over the tank. Then we headed over to see Terri's favorite, the Buluga Whales. We didnt get to stand over the water at this exhibit but still got a good view of them and their surroundings. After that we got to go over the Coral Reef Tank and got to see something that not everyone else gets to see. Off of the coral Reef Tank is a area that houses a bunch of Zebra Shark babys. They were really cool, were so close we could almost reach out and touch them! then we got to see another holding area that had some baby Rays, Zebra Fish and some one of my favorite sharks, the Wobbegong Shark. Unfortunetly I couldn't get any good pics of them. Then we headed out!

Check out Terri's blog for what we got into that night.

Thanks for the great time Terri, I loved each and every moment!!!

Prom Picture Infront Of the Coral Reef Tank

Some Sketchy Piranha
















This Clown Fish Jumped Out Of His Tank To Get A Pic With Terri
















One Of My Fav's A Leafy Snap Dragon
















Terri with The Buluga Whales In The Background

Right On Top Of One Of The Whale Sharks

One Of the Baby Zebra Sharks

Jellyfish!!!!