A December walk though Memory Hill Cemetery

Tonight we took a walk around town and made our way to the local cemetery. Brad and I both share an odd interest in spending time in graveyards. To some, that may seem creepy but we appreciate the calmness and beauty that surrounds us.

We came across a map of all the local (past) celebs of Milledgeville and decided to take the self-guided walking tour. One of the most famous people of our area is Flannery O'Connor, "Milledgeville's most famous daughter" who was a well-known author of novels about the South. Beyond O'Connor, the cemetery included many confederate soldiers, college presidents, governers, state legislators, plantation owners, murderers, and even dogs. In addition to this, it should be noted that many Southerners do not acknowledge that Confederate soldiers fought in the Civil War, but rather the "War Between the States" or even more notably, the "War of Northern Aggression."

Even in death Flannery O'Connor still gets paid.

My attempt to show off the Magnolia trees.

The monument of a local plantation owner. It cost a measly $20,000 to design and erect for this wealthy individual who died in 1858. It stands at 37 feet tall.

OK, now for the weird and unusual...

The story goes that the man buried under this tree had actually hung himself and was directly buried beneath the very branch to which he tied the noose. Supposedly, he had pronounced his love to local woman before he travelled to Florida for business matters. When he returned months later she declared she was in love with another gentleman. His heart was so broken that he couldn't bear to go on with his life.

Tallulah-- it doesn't get more Georgian than that name. Actually, I think it's kind of pretty.

I can't say the same about this person's given name. Moodie? You can only wonder what her parents first impression could have been as she was delivered. Unfortunately, she doesn't come with a story.

Now I know that people have a devoted love for their dogs, but this goes beyond devotion. But, you know that saying, "All dogs go to Heaven?" This person really believed it to be true. Oh, it wasn't just Bruno that buried, but he also buried his other dog, Nick.
This was a fun one! This vault contained 6 family members of the Fish family. It is said that if you knock on the door and ask Mr. Fish what he is doing in there, you will get an answer. I knocked and politely asked, but I did not get a reply. (Later, we realized that hearing nothing was probably the answer.) However, kitty-corner from this grave lay the family of Brown-Butts (not pictured). This provided some comic relief for Brad, but I maintained respect for the family. Well...until now.

If you're at all familiar with Georgia (or the South), you've heard at one time or another of Milledgeville's finest Central State Hospital which was formally known as the "State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum." By the 1960s it was considered the largest mental hospital in the world, which lead to the phrase "Gone to Milledgeville" to indicate insanity.

The rest are just photos of different areas and headstones placed throughout the cemetery.

Wedding Pictures

Brad and I finally finished uploading and organizing all of our wedding pictures. It was a pretty time-consuming task and I don't know where the patience came from, but we did it with very few disagreements. Out of approximately 5,000 pictures located on 6 different CD's we narrowed it down to a mere 1,000 pics for all your viewing pleasures.

http://bradandlaurenswedding.shutterfly.com/

ENJOY!

Good news! Just what I've needed

So, most of you know that I applied to GCSU early last month to begin taking classes this spring semester. The ball got rolling when I first talked with an advisor in the nursing department. I was attempting to find more out about the program and instead was surprised to hear about how I could begin sooner then later. One thing led to the other and I was quickly applying to the school and filling out my FAFSA. It all happened in a weeks time and before I knew it, I was waiting to hear some good news that I was going back to school.

Today, I found out some excellent news. I'm officially a college student again! This coming semester, I will hopefully be taking Chemistry II(plus lab), Anatomy, Politics & Society, and a Psychology class. That's hoping there are open seats in all of these classes. My fingers are crossed. I will, then, be taking a few more classes either this summer or fall.

It is all very exciting right now!

My nursing program courses will begin starting January '11 (a year from now). That's also assuming I will be admitted into the program. I'm staying positive! From there, I have two years of intensive classes and clinicals. So, in approximately three years, I will rejoin the real-world once again. It will all be worth it.

I hope everyone is well. We will be in Los Angeles from December 23- December 29 to see the Koch's. We will all be staying at Kari and Ryan's place. We'll fly back and from there we will drive up to Indiana to stay with my family until January 3 or 4. We have a wedding to attend on January 2, but other then that we are open to see everyone.

One last thing, don't forget to congratulate Brad on completing his first semester as Prof Koch. I'm very proud of him. I can tell he is exhausted so we're looking forward to our winter break before the next semester begins.

Love, Lauren

Puttin' on the Ritz

We made a trip to the Ritz-Carlton located about 45 minutes northeast of Milledgeville. It wasn't bright, sunny, and warm on this day, but the food was good!

The Ritz is located on Lake Oconee.

Go Braves!

At an Atlanta Braves baseball game. It was extremely hot in the stands which made us a tad miserable, but the Braves won!

It was pretty empty in the stands around our section. We were there on Tuesday night.

are we boring?

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Brad and I have sort of run out of things to post. We don't want to bore you with the small details of our lives. We will try our best not to do that. Maybe I'll do a quick question and answer with myself that some of you would like to hear about ;) Can you tell I have nothing else to keep me busy? I mean, seriously, Brad has been watching something on the History channel about Beowolf. Did I spell that correctly?

OK first question to myself...

1.) In what ways has marriage and/or the out-of-state move affected our relationship?

I would say that we are so much the same, but I have found some improvements. For example, for the first time ever, Brad and I hung a picture together without arguing about how to measure! Yea! I mean, we still hung the darn thing crooked, but I'd say we improved on our team-work that day.

2.) What do I like most about Milledgeville?

It really helps to have the college here with all the young college students. Though I can no longer be a part of that crowd it's still nice to have around so it keeps our coolness in-check. Oh, here's something funny. Brad was walking through campus one day and was mistaken for a student. Yeah, he's still got it!

3.) What do I like least about Milledgeville?

Where is the Buffalo Wild Wings, Target, and a decent grocery store? I answered that with a question, but if I had those 3 extra things it would be a bit better here.

4.) Have we discovered anything fun and exciting around Milledgeville?

Well, there are the lakes which are all over the place. The closet one to us is Lake Sinclair. We wish we could spend more time on it, but with no boat we don't have much access. We recently made a trip up to Lake Oconee (uh - cone - ee) to the Ritz-Carlton and Reynolds Plantation. We ate a yummy lunch on the water. Reynolds Plantation combines very nice golf courses, houses, and rental units in close proximity to the lake. It never was an actual plantation.

Other then that, we haven't found anything too exciting. We're still on the hunt. Of course Macon is about 40 minutes away. We haven't spent much time there except to go to Target or the mall.

5.) Have I found a job?

Nope! But, I applied for my very first job this evening. It made me feel good. It's a position at Mercer University in Macon. I applied for a housing assistant position in the Dept of Residence Life. I'm happy to start there in hopes of working my way up and, in the process, taking some classes.

OK...I couldn't think of any more questions. I hope you enjoyed!

Georgia College and State University

We really love the campus. It's so inviting and the landscaping is beautiful. There is a mix of old and new architecture around campus. Brad's building is in the newer building known as the Arts and Sciences building. The original buildings are definitely reminiscent of the old southern lifestyle with the huge, white columns and large porches. They just make me want to sit in a rocking chair and drink sweet, southern iced tea and watch the sun set.

Brad's Office

Here is my office door. Yes, the sign does read, "Dr. Bradley Koch." As you can see, I need to find some informative and/or snarky posters to hang up. The switch on the wall to the right is labelled "override." Even though our chair denies it, I'm pretty sure it is used to administer electrical shocks, á la the Milgram experiment.

This is the interior of my office. Evidently, I'm the running department joke since my space is decorated sparsely. It's a work-in-progress. It's barely visible, but you can just make out my blackboard on the right. I was thinking of charting out some football plays there.

This is the interior of my office from the other end of the room. Note the empty diploma frame on the wall. What's the deal IU Registrar? Can't you afford stamps? Liberal arts colleges give their professors tables and chairs instead of desks so that they can have egalitarian meetings with students. I don't use it because I'm better than them.

This a picture of a picture. My friend photoshopped my face onto Lance Armstrong's and a Confederate flag onto his jersey as a going-away present. Not surprisingly, people have mistaken it as legitimate. (Interpret as you may.) It's also a picture of my microwave oven. Not pictured: my mini-fridge under the counter. In case you were wondering, we are a wet campus.

Posting Comments

Hey everyone! Some people have had trouble adding comments. I figured out how to change the setting so that anyone can leave a comment. Just find the link below each post that will say something like "x comments" and click. You'll probably need to say you're anonymous, but you can add your name to your message so we know who it is coming from.

Our apartment

Our bedroom.

We just got our new mattress. So long full-size bed! We still need bedroom furniture, but that will come in time. Luckily, we have a his and hers closet. Though, it's more like a hers closet and a his/hers closet.

My bathroom and mine only!

Brad's bathroom.

We no longer have to share! Hooray! Though, if I had it my way Brad would have a pretty shower curtain. He prefers see-through.

This is clearly an anything goes room. It's a bedroom, office, music studio, library, and exercise room. Not to mention all the storage the closet holds. We clearly need more space! But, for our future visitors, we now have a decent place for you to sleep!

Our balcony.

It's small, but we appreciate having nice outdoor space. Also, it's been raining a ton down here. We've been told that is abnormal for Georgia in August and September.

Our kitchen is way more functional then our one back in Indy. We appreciate matching appliances that work properly, including a stove that won't set the smoke alarm off every time we open it.

A view from the living room. Grandma's china cabinet made it safely to Georgia. We were all very worried we would find it in pieces upon our arrival. Someday I will reupholster the chairs, though I'm scared I'll take them apart and never get them back together again.

A view from the kitchen looking at our dining room/living room. The walls aren't as white as they look, but we'd prefer a little more color.

We are so happy how this chair turned out and want to share it with everyone. This used to belong to Brad's grandmother. When it was handed down to us it was dated and also broken. We picked out new fabric and Vicki took care of the rest! It's beautiful!

Look at our new couch! Our first piece of new furniture. It was an exciting day. We still need a coffee table and I think we're set for the downstairs.

The first post

So, here we are living our lives as newlyweds in Milledgeville, Georgia. Certainly not the kind of place I ever thought Brad would drag me to, but it's turned out to be a charming area. The little downtown is cute and bustling with college kids. The campus is beautiful. There are, also, several lakes surrounding us, which we hope to spend more time on in the future.

We've been here for just a short time and feel like we've met so many great people and already feel settled. The weather is unbelievably hot. We do not recommend visiting us in the month of August! I attempted sitting on our balcony the first week and came inside, having been defeated by the scorching heat, sweating from head to toe. We are looking forward to Georgia's fall weather so we can get outside and enjoy the outdoors.

Brad has settled in to his new job and is terrifying undergrads as usual. He's teaching a couple sections of an introductory sociology course and a section of research methods and will be adding his sociology of religion course to that lineup in the spring. He has some amazing coworkers and is revelling in his newfound status as a colleague and not a peon. Georgia College is a great place to work. Go Bobcats!

I am trying to keep busy and enjoying time away from working. Sleeping in is now the norm. Though, there is a continuous effort with job searching. I have actually joined a gym to keep from becoming a couch potato. The gym has always been a very intimidating place to me. I'm proud of my efforts so far.

Our next post will include pictures of our apartment. We can't wait to have visitors! We love and miss you all.