a.t.l.a.n.t.a.

So... I have been a traveling woman for the past week. I am happy to be home, but loved the memories I made in atlanta. 

My first reason in going to Atlanta was to attend the nation RID (Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf) Conference. I went to represent the Troy University's Interpreter Training Program - which is the BOMB btw! :) We were able to take 6 students - their registration and hotel being funded by the ASL/ITP Club!! It's a great program with a ton of innovation ideas and amazing experiences. I'm fortunate to work there to experience them as well.  The program director, Lynne Wiesman, has done a MORE THAN fabulous job developing the program in the past 2 years. 

This is the hotel we stayed at. It was gargantuan!! It had 47 floors. When you looked up, you felt like you were in a human rib cage! The elevators were glass, so going up to the top and then plummeting to the lobby was a past time for me. 

We had a booth and gave out tons of info about the program. Pretty exciting!! 

We also had a student, Chaeney (cool name huh?) be chosen as an RID Student Representative = she had lots of important things to do and we are proud of her!! :)  

Then... THE GIRLS ARRIVED!!!! 

Even though I was POOPED from the long week of attending workshops, networking, advertising for Troy, and chatting lots I was BEYOND excited for 2 of my favorite people to be in the same state/city/room with me!!! :)

Here we are... we are lovely and I love US together... it just feels right. 
The one in the middle with the white hair is EMILY. 
On the right is LINDSEY JO.
I love them. Maybe you are wondering what we did in HOTlanta. Well.. we laughed and talked a lot. We sun bathed a bit, ate a lot, shopped (we love IKEA), cuddled, and we US! And it was good. I know I say this a lot but it's SO GOOD to have people who GET YOU. They GET ME and still like me. 

Lindsey Jo is preggo! We are excited to be aunts - Auntie Em and Auntie Ann are ready to spoil the heck out of lil' Hank.  His formal name will be Issac Henry but we like our love name - HANK! :) 
One perk about shopping with a preggo lady is the up close parking so we definitely took advantage of that and took pictures of it as well because... that's what we do! She is due in 2 months! AHH!! Her and Brybear will be wonderful parents... THE BEST actually. Me and Em always joke know that we can never let our children go to Lindsey Jo's house to eat because they will  know what pitiful cooks we are and refuse to eat our hamburger helper and chicken fajitas forevermore. I like Emily's order to LJ - if we do bring our husbands/children over LJ has to burn the dinner 1/3 of the time so they won't know she's PERFECT! (She's crafty too!)


Our second night there we went to the CHEESECAKE FACTORY - YUM!!! 
We were pooped from shopping (IKEA IS HUGE), so the cheesecake was EXTRA exciting.

Aren't they beautiful??

Well.. they are - inside and out. Their friendship is so important to me. They are the sisters I run with and I would be lost without them. I know they pray for me. I pray for them. They are my encouragement and I hope I am theirs. I know them and understand them and still like them around. We were missing our other two amigas, Becky and Ami.

One day when we are old widows (because men are the weaker ones and die off or maybe we kill them slowly) we are gonna take over a nursing home!!!! Looking forward to wheelchair races, spend the night parties, and lots of bingo! 

YUM! I got Oreo Cheesecake! 

This is a fun thing we did while there. We stole the idea from another blog. 

These are LABOR SOCKS. We tie dyed them. Lindsey Jo will wear them when she births Hank. When someone else in our friend group gets preggo, LJ will pass the labor socks to them. She will probably have them for a while if the rest of us have anything to do with it. So... she will have them as long as she's popping them out... then the socks will go to whoever is pregnant or is adopting a baby.  It's TRAVELING socks - with the babies' names being added to the socks as the travel along!!! :) I can't wait for pictures of her in a hospital gown and tie-dye socks!! 

Loved the week in Atlanta!