Forgive me

I've been a terrible blogger lately. I've pretty much abandoned this thing for the last few weeks, but hopefully that means I've been out living life and having fun instead of sitting around writing about it? Hmm...maybe.

So, a little bit of a September recap is needed. Disney was lovely and wonderful, but definitely not relaxing. I think it took me a week of sleep just to catch up! I was in Birmingham all last week for work, which was also fun. I like the city. We stayed downtown near the Five Points area (does every city in America have a Five Points? I think yes), and went to some great restaurants. I had delicious BBQ--NOT NC style--one night, and we went to a fabulous place called Highland Bar & Grill to celebrate my birthday a day early. We split lots of amazing appetizers including baked grits and spiny lobster tails, but the best part was definitely dessert. I had a chocolate bread pudding which was to die for. I also tasted the creme brulee which was like velvet. Delicious!

Luckily, we left Birmingham a day early, and I got to come back to ATL for my birthday. Honestly, any birthday after 21 is not really exciting, and a little bit of a let down. I loved the excuse to get my friends together, play trivia and drink martinis (and go to a crazy 80s dance party with the weirdest people I have ever seen), but the day didn't feel that special. I enjoyed it, and hopefully 23 will have a lot to offer this year! Friday I flew to Raleigh and had an awesome weekend at home. Pretty lazy overall--the most adult thing I did was get my own cell phone plan...it pained me to split off from my parents plan, but you've got to cut the apron strings eventually, right? I can barely even use my new phone, which makes me feel like an old person! I guess I'll just have to read the manual..sigh. I did some shopping, went to dinner at the Angus Barn, as is the usual bday tradition, and then got to see my wonderful friends on Sunday for dinner and a movie. FYI for anyone interested in seeing Love Happens, the new Jennifer Anniston movie: its a total downer. Just be prepared. Monday I took the day off and visited SCD at her school and got to see her classroom. It was so perfect, but I'd expect nothing less from her.

And now its back to the work grind for a couple of days. I'm only in the office for a 3 day week (only 2 now!), then I flex on Friday, and leave for class in Minneapolis for a week before homecoming at Wake next weekend!! So excited to go back to Winston! And in the mean time, so fairly exciting stuff is going on in my personal life, but I'll leave that update for another day :)

I hope you all are fabulous and are having a lovely start to fall. It was 55 degrees here this morning when I left my apartment! I love crisp weather, and I was not at all sad to say goodbye to this summer and close that chapter all together. Fall is definitely my favorite season, and I'm so glad its upon us. Has anything exciting happened with any of my awesome blog friends out there? Don't be shy! xoxo

Best last words spoken

"I wish I had drunk more champagne." -John Maynard Keynes. An economist, of course!

Last day of 22!

Tomorrow I'll be a birthday girl! For tonight, I'm enjoying my lovely hotel room in Birmingham, am slightly tipsy from the huge blackberry cosmopolitan, and am loving my last evening of being 22. Maybe tomorrow I'll be inspired to write something profound about getting older, or maybe I'll just be inspired to eat chocolate cake and talk to my friends all day and play trivia tomorrow night:) Either way, I'll hopefully get back on track with the blogging, as I realize I've been pretty slack lately.

Happy early birthday to me...best day of the year :)

One of the best days of the year:

Bought the first package of reese's peanut butter pumpkins! Yay!

Plus, tomorrow is my flex day, which I will be spending hopefully shopping and hitting up the planetarium with Acree :) Later in the weekend, a movie and lunch date with Lauren, a party on Saturday with Jenn and maybe hanging out with Claire and Haley dog on Sunday! Lovely weekend ahead. I just need to recuperate a little before I have too much fun...I think I'm nursing a cold. Boo hiss. Hopefully I'll just load up on meds and be much better. Especially since I have some serious birthday shopping to do this weekend.

Since I've pretty much forgotten about my birthday all together this year, I decided today that my gift to myself would be a weekend of guilt free shopping. I might even purchase the Tory Burch shoes I've been wanting forever. We'll see :) Only one week left of being 22. I have a feeling this week will be a good one, especially in comparison some of the weeks earlier along in 22. Monday morning I leave for a lovely week in Birmingham...somewhere exotic to turn 23. Should be fun!

Back home

Disney was fabulous, wonderful, delightful and exhausting! The trip was so, so much fun and definitely needed! I'll post some pictures tomorrow hopefully. Today I'm trying to catch up on things at work and hopefully make it to a happy hour with my co-workers later this afternoon.

I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation today. I've got so much to do, but I'm so tired from all the walking around the parks that we did! Now I know how old people feel, I suppose :(

Disney Bound!

I'm heading out to the happiest place on earth today! Hooray! I haven't been since early high school, so I think that I am looong overdue for a visit with Mickey, Minnie, and the rest of the gang. How exciting!

So, alas, I'll be taking another blog break, but hopefully I'll have some fabulous photos to share when I get back. And, you've gotta love two 4-day weekends in a row. I'm a lucky girl.

09/09/09

Maybe today is a special day because of the special date? Perhaps. Mine hasn't been particularly fabulous, but not too shabby either. I can't believe its already Wednesday...tomorrow is my Friday, too. Talk about a short week. Maybe that's why I've been a lazy blogger. Plus, I guess I've had better things to do :)

Home was excellent. The highlights include: eating too much of my mom and granny's food, seeing Be & Sara & Erin, going to the Britney Spears concert (2nd row!!!) with Matthew, seeing my cat, sleeping in my own bed, taking naps and generally enjoying life in NC. Oh, and I shopped for an entire day. Sigh...so wonderful.

And now I have something even more excellent to look forward to: Disney World tomorrow!! I'm really excited & can't wait to get out of Atlanta for a fun girl's weekend! Lord knows I deserve it after this summer.

And on that note: I had a very happy Labor day. Even though I know it isn't the official end, I was not at all sad to say goodbye to this summer. Too much going on, too many "learning experiences", and just too much in general. Looking back, obviously I'm glad it happened, but it was not easy to get through. At least at this point, I finally can say that I've turned some kind of corner and am well on my way to being totally back to normal. That doesn't mean 100% happy all the time...I don't think anybody feels that way. But, I am happy most of the time, which is more than I could say for myself about 2 months ago! I definitely feel ready for a change, though. Not sure what it will be. Maybe getting a roommate when my lease is up? Picking up a new hobby? Meeting new people or really throwing myself into the relationships I already have? Who knows, but I can definitely feel some kind of shift, and I'm really excited for it!

Have a happy hump day everyone! I'll be spending my evening gathering supplies for the trek to Orlando tomorrow night! Thank goodness for Target.

Peace Out

A sampling of two local news stories from around ATL this morning:

1. A Spelman college student was shot and killed early this morning on a college campus. Horrific.
2. A man was arrested for slapping someone's toddler who wouldn't be quiet in Wal-Mart.

So ready to get the hell out of Georgia. North Carolina tonight! Hooray!

EDIT to add: I can smell the college football in the air! GO DEACS this weekend! :)

Raise Up

Unbelievably excited about:

-going to sleep tonight...I've been tired for two days after the unwelcome fire alarm at 11:30 on Monday night. I just can't survive like I did at Wake.

-(hopefully) finally hearing some good news from S regarding the job prospects in ATL. Hurry up people, I need to make life plans over here.

-Britney. And seeing Matthew. Who hopefully does not have the swine flu.

-eating Bojangles.

-being in NC.

-seeing my CAT!

-college football. Go Pack and Deacs this weekend!

-4 day weekend.

-Disney in 8.

-birthday month!

-shopping.

-seeing my bffs.

yay!

What a freak

I'm talking about myself, course. As I'm sitting here freezing to death in the office, while enjoying a Frosted Orange (aka milkshake) from the Varsity, I came across this photo of a simulated car wash from Copenhagen Design Week (and photo courtesy of the NYT):

It reminds me of a memory I haven't thought of in years and years. In the late 80s and early 90s (the heyday of my childhood..sigh), my mom drove a gigantic white Buick. Whenever she took it to the carwash, there would be little pieces of the rubber carwash brushes like the ones above, stuck in the cracks near the windows and mirrors. I--for some obviously unknown reason--called those little pieces of stuff "information". That's right, little broken off pieces of carwash material was "information" to me. I was, like, four years old. Who am I? It took my parents months to figure out what I was talking about when I talked about finding "information" stuck to the outside of the car. Who knows what I was thinking...

They still laugh about it sometimes, but I hadn't thought about information in years. Its funny how one picture of something so mundane can take you right back to childhood. For me that means small town North Carolina in circa 1990. A little slice of heaven.

Sometimes nostalgia just starts to take over my brain like that...I don't really mind, either. I just cannot wait to go home and be surrounded by the best people I know this weekend. I don't care how old I get or how long I live away from NC, it'll always be home and I'll always get homesick if I don't go back often enough.