Things I've learned in Georgia...

We have now been in Georgia a month and I've come to learn a few very interesting things about this place. It has been quite an adjustment for our family and I think of all the moves we've done the last 4 years...this one has by far affected Andrew the most. Although he's only 3, he certainly misses his friends in Texas....as do Stephen and I.

So here is my Georgia Top 10 list of things I've learned this past month while living here...

1. Accents. I thought I'd be bombarded by huge southern accents that I wouldn't be able to understand. Come to find out, Atlanta is really a melting pot of people and cultures. Most everyone has moved here from somewhere else and there are very few native Georgians in the Atlanta area. I come across one every now and then, but so far we really haven't had too hard of a time deciphering through the southern accents!

2. Rain. I have NEVER seen so much rain in my ENTIRE life!! It's a rare day that it doesn't rain. Umbrellas are my new best friend. Went and bought one for each car and a compact one for my purse...never get caught without one. It comes quick and it comes hard. Then it's gone and sunny. The 90% humidity however seems to always stick around, but my curly hair has never been curlier!

3. Apartments. Apartment living with a toddler is harder then I thought it would be. I knew it would be different and I knew it would be a challenge, but having no backyard and very little space inside has certainly been an adjustment. Sooooo we've had to be creative!

Picnics on the front porch 

Go on walks

 Sensory play on the back deck

Swimming at the pool in the complex

Feeding the ducks at the Chattahoochee River close by.

Boxes have also become endless entertainment

We try to venture out as much as we can...while I still can. :)

4. Location. One amazing thing about living in the city in an apartment is everything we'd ever need is in about an 8 mile radius. The proximity is awesome! I LOVE it!! All of Andrew's doctors are at the children's hospital about 5 miles down the road. My doctors are just across the street at another hospital.  The Atlanta temple and our ward building is literally 5 blocks away. So many different shopping areas, I'll never be able to hit them all up or keep them straight. It's awesome! We used to drive over an hour to Fort Worth for all Andrew's Neuro-stuff and almost 45 min just for his pediatrician. I'm going to get real spoiled really fast with this new convenience .

5. Fireflies. I've decided that my new favorite past-time is to watch fireflies at night. Tried to catch some the other night, but didn't have much success as I was getting bitten by many other six-legged creatures! 

Awesome picture courtesy of google. 

6. Hills and Trees. The first thing I noticed when we got here was how many huge green trees and how there are hills there are everywhere. When you drive down in interstate it's just walls of trees on either side. Sometimes I get claustrophobic because I can't see out, and as big and beautiful as they are it makes finding things even harder and frustrating. You can drive right by your destination and not even know it, because so many trees block your view. So as beautiful as they are, I find them to be a bit frustrating. 

7. Bugs. Bug spray is a must! With all those trees and woods and of course the warm weather comes lots and lots of bugs! I thought I knew bugs living in Texas, but it's way different out here. Those college students who sell pest control in the south during the summer...well, it is a NECESSITY out here!  The nighttime symphony outside my window each evening with all the different bugs and critters is fun though. 

8. Grits. Grits is for breakfast. Everyone tells us you have to try grits and you have to have them for breakfast not for dinner AND you must put lots of butter and cheese!  So I bought some at the store and tried it this week. I'm not a huge fan, but maybe I'm just not making them right...I'll have to experiment more.

9. Moss grows everywhere. Moss and mold. Some people wouldn't think this is a big deal. But for a Utah girl. This is crazy and weird to me that moss will just randomly grow on trees, sidewalks, railings etc. We actually have to run our air conditioning more for the fact of reducing the humidity in the air, then really cooling us off. It really hasn't gotten much hotter then the low 90's, but the humidity makes it seem much hotter than that. Everyone warned us about how hot it would be, but honestly I'd rather take this weather than 3-4 months of 100+ degree weather in Texas.  

10. Atlanta Driving and Roads.  Navigating in a new city is always  a fun adventure. The Roads are CRAZY out here. First of all traffic...of course all big cities have traffic...it's just apart of life. And I'm pretty used to it after living in Chicago and Dallas. But the roads in Atlanta were not planned to handle the amount of traffic this city has. What would be a 2-3 lane road each way in Dallas is a single lane road each way here. I learned the hard way to not leave my house between the hours of 4:30-7:00 pm. It took me almost 45 minutes to get home from the grocery store, just 4 miles away.

You can come to a light and each road at that intersection has a completely different name. So even if you go straight through the light you just might be on a completely different road. It makes no sense to me.

Georgians are also not very creative when it comes to naming streets. There are many variations of the same name.  Peachtree is a popular road name down here. Just to name a few, we have Peachtree-Dunwoody, Peachtree Village Way, Peachtree NE, Peachtree Pkwy, Peachtree Creek Rd, Peachtree Memorial Rd, New Peachtree Drive....etc Yes. I heard there are over 70 variations of different "Peachtree" streets just in Atlanta city limits, plus countless others across the state. 

All I can say is after a month of driving in Atlanta,  I am so very thankful for my GPS.