Hello from Alabama, yet again

Hi friends,

I've been in Birmingham all this week for work. Its been a nice week (a little too cold for my taste), but I'm definitely ready to go back home. Birmingham is nice--don't get me wrong. There are much worse places to go, but after being in AL a couple of weeks ago and then in NC last week, I feel like I haven't seen my apartment in a while.

I'm definitely looking forward to a nice weekend! Most importantly: New Moon is coming out in theaters! So excited. I'll be baking a cake and celebrating with my coworkers on Saturday. Then I'm going out to a great Greek restaurant with my out-to-eat group on Saturday night. Maybe even some hanging out with Claire on Sunday. Should be awesome!

AND I'm getting pretty excited for Thanksgiving! It'll be nice to see my family next week, even though I have to drive home (UGH). I suppose I can suck it up though, since this will be my first time driving back since I moved here almost a year ago. Sad for me :) And once Thanksgiving passes, it's officially Christmas season! I can't wait for Christmas music, food, parties, etc. Love love love. And I can't wait for some black Friday shopping too!

Unusual monuments around the world

I've seen two on the list: Crazy Horse (huge!) and Stone Mountain, an ode to the Confederacy right down the road from Atlanta.

How many have you seen?

NC Bound!

I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. I don't feel like I've really been that busy, but the time has been flying!

I made it home safely from Alabama (aka meth country USA) last Friday, and enjoyed a lovely evening of Sex and the City and leftover Halloween candy. Saturday was long, but really fun. I met up with my good friend Kate who was in town from Mississippi, and we went to the Wake-Tech game. We started tailgating around noon, went into the game at 3:30 and lasted all the way through the overtime game. Of course, it took another half hour at least to get out of the parking lot, then we went to dinner in the Highlands at the Original El Taco (amazing--maybe even better than Tin Lizzy's...dare I say?). Needless to say it was a great day, despite the loss, but I was exhausted!

Sunday was spent being lazy and hanging out with a good friend. And now its already Tuesday, and I'm about to head home to NC for 5 whole days! Its odd to say, but I don't think I've been there for 5 days since last December. How crazy. Before I know it I'll be celebrating my one year anniversary of being in Atlanta. Time flies.

As for the best part of my weekend: definitely bargain hunting at Old Navy! They were having a half off outerwear sale, so I got 2 new coats which I did not need, but I love.

Very cute, right? And half price! Unfortunately it was monsooning a little too much here today for me to get to wear the cute black one, but I know that soon enough I'll be so sick of the cold that I'll be dreaming of shorts again. Fun fact: Christmas is 44 days away! xoxo

Quad Cities, Represent

As you probably do not know, I'm in the lovely Sheffield/Florence/Muscle Shoals, AL area this week (Tuscumbia is the 4th city of the quad, in case you were wondering). It seems like kind of a shady place...lots of boarded up buildings and meth labs. They've busted two in two days according to the local news, and keep in mind there's maybe 10,000 people who live here. There's also a Chuck E. Cheese right beside the jail...freaks. But today I found two things that make me feel differently about this creepy place.

1. They have a Bojangles!

2. There is a recording studio here called Fame Studios. I made a lot of fun of it when I was here back in the summer, because honestly, why would there be a recording studio in Muscle Shoals? I joked about recording my own album there, of course. But it turns out this place is really legit. Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Carrie Underwood (along with tons of other celebs) have recorded big hits there. And who could forget the famous line in Sweet Home Alabama that says "Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers". Apparently the Swampers were a group of studio musicians who played on a lot of those great albums. And there's even a "Muscle Shoals sound". Who knew? Read more about it here.

So besides joking about meth labs and drinking in a bowling alley, the week has been pretty uneventful. Not much going on except work. I am definitely looking forward to being back in Atlanta tomorrow night, and hopefully going to the Wake game on Saturday when they play GA Tech in ATL! Hope everyone is having a fabulous week. xoxo.

Amanda Knox Trial

Read this fascinating news story about the Amanda Knox murder trial in Italy. I first read about this during my senior year at Wake..its been going on for so long. The jury will be making final arguments this week, and the jury will begin deliberating in December. Should be an interesting outcome.