Siblings Visits Part 1: Anna/Dahlonega

I feel like this is a Paul Beck-style post. See Paul's diary/blog here.

I decided it would be fun to have a weeknight slumber parties with my sister Anna and brother, Paul. Anna is a senior at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, and Paul is a sophomore at The University of Georgia in Athens.

(Oh, I'm starting a new job on Monday, which was the reason for my tour de siblings)

Dahlonega was my first stop. I met Anna at her apartment upon her return from student teaching. Since I didn't have a specific agenda for the visit (other than spending time together), we sat for a while and brainstormed our options.

This is Anna. Look how excited she is to hang out with me.

After much deliberation (and much watching of Bravo), we decided cooking at Anna's apartment would be more fun than going out somewhere. Adding to our decision was the fact that Anna needed to do grocery shopping anyway. We settled on this recipe for Asian lettuce cups, though we decided to improvise slightly by using cashews instead of water chestnuts — and adding carrots. We also added eggrolls and edamame to the shopping list. Mmmm.

Shopping at Super Wal-Mart in Dahlonega was as exciting as ever. I think we spotted a few mountain people and friends of Anna's (okay, those are two separate categories of people) during our "low prices" voyage. 

Fun at Super-Walmart (THE hot spot in Dahlonega)

After unpacking nearly $100 worth of groceries and making a second trip to Wal-Mart for something we forgot (whoops, Anna!), we were in business. Chopping, dicing, slicing, sauteing and mixing was tons of fun. The final result included the chicken mixture (seasoned with a special sauce), cut iceberg lettuce and two topping sauces (one spicy and one sweet/sour).

Yum-o! (Just kidding, Anna. I know you hate Rachael Ray)

Lots of special sauce(s)

The finished plate (Anna even set the table!)

The rest of the night was lots of fun, too. We went by the library for a bit, played a little dress up, watched more Bravo (love the Rachel Zoe Project) and talked about fun fashion blogs.

With Anna off to student teach again, I spent much of Tuesday catching up on e-mails and reading Water for Elephants. It was good to see Anna for a few minutes before I jetted off to Athens. We concluded our visit with an errand: Anna needed to pick up some donuts from a sorority sister for a fundraiser. She's quite the salesperson; within five minutes, she'd sold a dozen to a neighbor and a dozen (via phone) to Paul.

(Spotted on the sidewalk) Ouch. Apparently someone didn't 

REALLY want all of their donuts, Anna.

Tomorrow's post: visiting Paul in Athens!