Happy 2011!

I know i'm one day early, but Happy New Year to all my blog friends! While 2010 has not been too bad overall, i'm hoping 2011 has even better things in store. I personally am looking forward to close friends getting married, being reunited with some close friends from Wake (at said wedding), buying and moving into my new home and having another year with John! There is so much to look forward to, and I hope y'all are as excited as I am!

xoxo

A few accomplishments

1. Bought the perfect hat (really a birdcage-style, feathery creation) for my upcoming Royal Wedding Viewing Party while in Raleigh. I am very excited about this--most likely it will be the first time I have people over to my new home (in case you are wondering, no news yet on closing or moving in). I plan to make tea other British confections. If we are friends and you live in Atlanta (or want to make the trek from elsewhere), you are invited!

2. Started my new healthy lifestyle eating yesterday! I went to Publix and came out with so many delicious things. I'm really excited about this. Yesterday started off with fruit for breakfast, salmon for lunch, and a turkey burger on the George Forman for dinner. Of course, I ate various and sundry other things throughout the day, but I'm on the right track.

3. Made dinner reservations for New Year's Eve at a restaurant in Buckhead called Coast. I've heard excellent things about their seafood, and am really looking forward to trying it. Doesn't hurt that I have a Groupon too :) After dinner, John and I are going to see The King's Speech. Maybe not the most exciting NYE, but it works for me. I've always thought New Year's was a lot like the Prom--too much hype and you never have as good a time as you think you will. So i'm happy to have a fabulous meal and drink some champagne at home while everyone else braves the crowds!

4. Started really studying for my upcoming work exam. Its amazing how out-of-shape I am regarding studying. Obviously, I haven't been enrolled at WFU for at least 2 years.

5. I started putting the Christmas decorations away. Scratch that--I didn't do that at all. And I don't really want to! I love Christmas...but I think putting everything away this year might be a little more satisfying than usual, because I'll really be packing them up to move to my new house (hopefully) soon!

Thank goodness for Blackberry cameras.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have any pictures.

Julie and I at the St. David's Christmas Party!

Horrible photo of me, but I heart Matthew :)

Snow wonderland in NC

Pilot's first real snow!

Me, looking like a snow gnome

Beautiful snow

Back from the land of snow!

I finally made it back to Atlanta on Monday afternoon after a one day detour being stuck in the snow in NC! We had 8 inches, starting on Christmas night, and finally finishing off around noon on Sunday. It was glorious and very pretty--also, my first white Christmas! Very exciting.

I loved spending the holidays with my family and friends (I hoped to see a few more, but they will have to wait for the next trip). I ate plenty of good food, had great conversations and went lots of fun places. It was a great trip. And now I'm back in the office, feeling pleasantly refreshed. My body actually feels like it had time off! But unfortunately I go right back into intense work mode, studying for a big exam I have to pass for my job. Wish me luck please :)

I hope all of you had a fabulous holiday, and are looking forward to New Year's Eve. I'll post pictures soon.

xoxo

Teen Mom 2

Y'all know I'm excited about this.

Freeezing

Today was ridiculously cold. As in, a record setting low of 14 degrees in Atlanta. We had snow flurries on Sunday--in Atlanta. All before Christmas. Its weeks like this that make you question global warming. In protest of the cold, I wore my Uggs until lunch time at work (they are black, and semi-blend in). I so wish I could wear them 24/7 from November until March. Uggs are my favorite.

Other things I am thankful for this week:
-Delicious leftover crockpot roast from Sunday night. I love not having to think about dinner when I get home. Why do I not use my crockpot every weekend?
-Cute Dessa, who I am dog-sitting this week while John is away. Actually it was just for the last two nights. I'm going to miss her tomorrow morning!
-Library books.
-Online shopping for gifts that are shipped directly to the recipient. Although I still need to hit the post office for some Christmas stamps. Sigh.
-Paid time off. Friday cannot come soon enough.
-Lydia's bachlorette party on Friday!

Not so thankful for:
-My complete lack of study motivation.
-The soreness/tickle in the back of my throat. I don't want to get sick!!

Christmas Treat

I forgot to mention I treated myself to a beautiful bracelet from Tiffany as a Merry Christmas To Me gift. I highly recommend starting that tradition, if you don't already do it :)

Merry week-before-Christmas!

It is officially almost Christmas, and I have been thoroughly enjoying the holiday season so far. Or, at least trying to when I have a free moment. So much has been going on in the past two weeks, its a little bit crazy:

-Went to Philadelphia for a week
-Finished my very last training class for work!

And, oh yeah, saw a townhouse I loved, made an offer on it a few hours later and beat out two other people who made offers in the process! I am so excited to have found my new home, I can't even describe it! No more looking at sketchy places and trying to find a good spot. I absolutely love the new place. The location is perfect, and its a two level, two bedroom, 1.5 bath with new hardwoods and a big patio. I'm in love. Its a short sale (which means extra time and paper work), so I won't get to move in for a little while, but I'm pretty happy still. Can't wait to move in and make it my own, and most importantly, leave my apartment!

Other than that, I've been enjoying my December. I've (almost) finished Christmas shopping and am really looking forward to NC for the holiday. This weekend I have Lydia's bachlorette party to look forward to, and Erin is coming down to stay with me for the weekend and accompany me back to NC for the drive! I've also got some work holiday parties to attend, and some friends to see before I leave town. Better yet: I've got some baking to do in my brand new Kitchenaide mixer--my gift from John (one of the best gifts ever, if I do say so myself). I'm a lucky girl.

Picture time

Here are a couple of recent pictures floating around my blackberry camera:

Georgia Tech-Duke game in Atlanta a few weeks ago. I managed to score these great seats off stubhub! We had a great time (even though GT was not playing up to par for most of the game). We even got to see a couple of amazing playing happen just a few feet in front of our seats!

My beautiful Christmas tree! Complete with a new (slightly tacky) light up tree topper. As far as i'm concerned, you can't have too many lights on your Christmas tree. I just can't wait until next year when I am hopefully out of my apartment and living in new condo! A prime Christmas tree spot is a must.

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups

I make this delicious recipe from Bake or Break for my co-workers occassionally, and they all love these. There are a fabulous, salty-sweet treat, and very easy to make (no lie!). They are also very portable if you need to bring them to any holiday parties. I bring mine to the office on the Marta train, so obviously they are pretty durable. Enjoy!

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon water
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup peanut butter chips plus about 1/3 cup more for garnishing
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips plus about 1/3 cup more for garnishing
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray or grease 12 muffin cups.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine sugar, butter, and water. Microwave on high for 1 minute or until butter is melted. Stir in 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips until melted. Stir in egg and vanilla extract. Add flour and baking soda, stirring until blended. Allow to cool to room temperature. Then, stir in 1/2 cup each peanut butter chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Spoon batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into muffin cups.

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out slightly wet. Place pan on wire rack. Centers of brownies will fall upon cooling. If not, tap centers with the back of a teaspoon to make a hole.

Place peanut butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds, then stir. While brownies are still hot, spoon about a tablespoon of peanut butter into the center of each brownie. Top with semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Cool completely in pan.

Currently

So many good things (and maybe 1 or 2 not so good things) happening lately. Thanksgiving was wonderful. It is always good to visit NC and see my friends and family. It seems like there is never enough time, and I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, but alas. I'll be there next month for Christmas! I also finally got to meet SCD's fiance, which was great. I am so looking forward to the wedding next year!

Other good things include:
1. Shopping here and there, for myself and gifts for others. I love Christmas. I also love Black Friday (although I'm definitely not a 4am shopper).
2. Eating delicious, not good for me food. I baked a sweet potato pound cake for Thanksgiving which was a big hit, and tonight I plan on making my special peanut butter chocolate cups for everyone in the office. Recipe to follow!
3. Condo searching. Its a lot of fun, but sadly not over yet (see bad things below).
4. A little surprise cash flow came my way this week, and I have always been a firm believer that found money is meant to be spent on frivolous things! I have been craving a Burberry coat for a while now but have since concluded that's not a smart purchase at the moment. But I took it as a sign from the gods when the Tiffany & Co. catalog showed up in my mailbox yesterday. I think I will be making a special purchase for myself for Christmas, and still managing to save about 2/3 of my windfall!
5. Christmas, in general. My tree is up and I bought the cutest set of 12 Days of Christmas ornaments from Crate and Barrel last week. Love. Soon I will be baking up a storm and singing Christmas carols and sending out Christmas cards. My favorite time of the year :)

Bad things..or one bad thing in particular:
1. I am a Property Virgin (shout out to HGTV, my current addiction), and of course that makes me more emotionally attached to my upcoming condo purchase. In short, I found the perfect place. I adored the location, the size, the price. My parents and John saw it last weekend and of course liked the 2nd place I showed them more than my favorite (and it was supposed to be for comparison sake ONLY). So, it took me a few extra days to make an offer becuase I had to convince the haters that it was the right place. Last Tuesday rolls around when I am prepared to make an offer, and BOOM--realtor calls and says someone put a contract on it on Monday night. WTF? It had been on the market for a year.

I figure if its meant to be, it will be. I put in an offer in case the other contract goes bad, but otherwise I've moved on and managed to dig around for 5 new places I really like. I'm going to see them this week! Wish me luck for speedy find and that the right place will be mine!

As for life in general, I am currently loving:
1. Lists, obviously.
2. Peppermint everything. Today it was the peppermint chip milkshake from Chickfila.
3. Balsam woods candle from Bath & Body Works.
4. Groupon. I can't wait to use my $50 to Nordstrom Rack that only cost $25!
5. John, for being sweet and always picking me up from the airport so I don't have to ride Marta with the sketchsters.
6. Sugar free instant apple cider packets. Yum.
7. Party dresses. I'm searching for the perfect one for Lydia's wedding, and I think I may have found it at the Limited. Let's just hope the one I ordered online fits!
8. Weddings in general. I just found out yet another friend is engaged--yay!
9. Being home for 5 mintues...although the travel starts back up next week.
10. Uggs. They are the miracle of footwear.

Engagement! (Don't worry--not me!)

One of my nearest and dearest, the lovely Sara, is engaged! I got the call last night and am beyond excited. This is the first one of my closest friends to get engaged and get married. So crazy! Can't wait for the wedding and maybe a trip to Klienfelds :)

Enjoy a few blasts from the past of the bride-to-be!

Things to be excited about:

1. Going to a football game tomorrow! I'll be cheering for GA Tech (because let's face it, WF football sucks majorly this year).
2. Groupons. They are just wonderful.
3. I think I have found my dream condo! But, I also found another one I really, really like. Always good to have options and/or backup plans.
4. Thanksgiving in 6 days.
5. Black Friday in 7 (this counts as a holiday to me).
6. New black suede flats with a pretty ribbon from J. Crew. Original price $188, my price $40. I win!
7. Eating healthier--I feel so much better. It might be short lived though (see No. 4).
8. Hopefully seeing friends at home next week in NC.
9. Seeing parents this weekend in Atlanta.
10. New Kanye West album comes out next Tuesday. I can't wait.

Enjoy your weekend!

Teen Mom, etc.

Amber from Teen Mom will be arrested on felony charges according to CNN. So scary...but that show is still absolutely one of my guilty pleasures. Very, very embarassing, I know.

I've spent today working at home and enjoying spending some time at home on my couch. Sometimes it amazes me how much more productive I can be at home rather than in the office. Its great! Plus, I didn't have to dress up in office clothes today. Win.

I did see my last (hopefully) three condos at lunch today. And I actually loved 2 of them (same layout, same complex). I'mpretty excited about it, even though I have already had my heart set on a certain place for a while now. The parents are coming down this weekend, and I'm excited to have more than just one option to show them. Having something to compare to is very important. And I am getting really excited about the prospect of getting closer to actually buying a place. I'm a real grown up!

Prince William is engaged.

And I am in mourning.

photo from people.com

But I do promise to my friends to have a fabulous wedding viewing/mourning party whenever the big day comes! Get excited!

Update: She got Diana's engagement ring, too! I am green with envy.

Staycation

I had the most fabulous staycation this past weekend--and I didn't even have to take any days off work! I was lucky enough to have Veteran's Day off, and then Friday was my normal flex day. Four days off in a row was quite a treat!

Excellent things that happened this weekend:
-Saw Jenn for the first time since she moved back!
-Has a special surprise on Friday and saw Kate too!
-Ate delicious Mexican food
-Went to a great antique market
-Slept. A lot.
-Grocery shopped at Trader Joe's
-Spent lots of time with John
-Outlet shopped
-Had a cookies and cream milkshake at a 50s diner
-Watched lots of good/trashy tv
-Cleaned & did two loads of laundry
-Condo shopped--and I think I've found the ONE!

All in all, productive and awesome. I am really, really excited about the condo. I'm trying not to get too exctied because I haven't made an offer yet or anything official, but the parents are coming down this weekend to see it. Sounds so promising! I don't have any photos, but a small sneak peak: its 3 levels and 4 bedrooms. Yes, you read that right. Love!

I also went to Vegas last week for work and had a fabulous time. Everything was as beautiful as I remembered and this time I was old enough to gamble (and lose $25 on the slots)! I stayed at the Mandalay Bay and would highly recommend it. There was a tv in the bathroom...enough said. The food was great and I generally had an awesome time. I'll post a few pictures soon.

I hope all of you have been having a great November so far. Thanksgiving is in 10 days. Not sure how that happened, but I'm looking forward to a little time in NC. And I might start putting up my Christmas decorations tonight. Don't judge me!

xoxo

OMG!

I am so excited about this I can barely even stand it!

Election Day!

I hope everyone goes out and votes today! I'll be voting for the first time in Georgia. Still unsure who I'll be casting a ballot for in the governor's race. Neither candidate is particularly appealing. But remember, if you don't vote, you have no right to complain!

Election day summary.

Spent the weekend....

Doing as close to nothing as possible. Still not sure I recovered from my epic travel day on Thursday (included: paying $50 for an earlier flight that ended up being delayed 35 mintues later than the original flight...GRR & having my hair patted down in the security line at the airport. Not cool. I hate you, KC airport.)

I did nothing on Friday. Well, not nothing. I bought a cute new coat at Old Navy on sale for $40, and picked up a few things on sale at Banana Republic that were on sale with an extra 30% off. Then I did nothing for the rest of the day. Saturday, I finally got lots of errands done including mailing some birthday gifts to my dears and grocery shopping since I had no food in my house. I felt very accomplished! John and I grilled out one last time before it gets too cold. We made delicious turkey burgers with a little onion and jalepenos mixed in, and a little sausage added for flavor. These were amazing. And still very healthy compared with regular hamburger, but the small amount of sausage gave the burgers so much flavor. Highly recommended.

Sunday we walked around the historic Oakland Cemetary in downtown Atlanta to get in the Halloween spirit. I also baked a pumpkin pie and watched Hocus Pocus :) Very successful Halloween overall!

H-A-double L-O-W-double E-N spells Halloween!

Please enjoy this blast from the past that I remember singing in middle school chorus in honor of Halloween tomorrow! Happy trick or treating!

Updates

As you already know, I've been a busy girl lately! As we speak, I am sitting in Kansas City and will be en route back to Atlanta a little later today. I absolutely cannot wait to get home. I usually enjoy work travel, but this has been a little bit of an overload this fall. I think this two week trip including a weekend away has put me over the edge a little. I'm looking forward to a 3 day weekend and being in the office all next week. I may even take Friday off to treat myself!

Things that have happened recently:
-Toured my first 3 townhouses! Very exciting, even though I'm not sure any of them were "the one"
-Toured every possible tourist attraction in KC.
-Made plans to go to Las Vegas for a work trip in a few weeks.
-Ate waaaay too much red meat...but alas, i'm in the land of BBQ and steak.
-Found out a good friend is moving back to Atlanta and only a mile away! Yay!

Things I hope to happen soon:
-Catch up with pretty much all of my friends. I feel like I haven't spoken to or seen any of you in so long. I promise it was my fault completely! Life on the road and on another time zone has not been very condusive to keeping up. I miss all of you!
-More condo shopping. I'm ready to move!
-Healthier eating and more gym going. Asap.
-Cleaning, erranding and enjoying a little bit of home life for a while.
-Seeing John...going for two weeks at a time without him can be a little rough :(
-Fall baking. I know this doesn't go with healthier eating, but I am dying to bake a pumpkin pie.

xoxo

New Hair!

I just went from this:



To this (pardon the self-photo)!

I like it! I feels super short right now, but I was getting so tired of my long blah hair. What do y'all think?

Homecoming in W-S

Beautiful Groves Stadium. Too bad we lost...boo.

My loves at the game!

Tailgating somewhat successfully.

Yay Homecoming!

Sarina being a tourist.

Having a seance over the grill.

Bff & me at Finnegan's.

Matthew!

Bigs at the sparkly bar.

I had the best weekend in a long while. I always love going back to Winston and seeing all the people I love the most! W-S is the best :)

24th Birthday & Washington DC

Me and Julie, reunited after 2 long years!

Me and John in the beautiful Library of Congress

Gorgeous building

Our nation's capitol!

John and the Ninja Turtle!

Me and the White House

It was a great trip! I always love going to DC, and it was an especially great way to spend my birthday with John and some very close friends.

Shopping news

I finally broke down and bought Tory Burch flats. I managed to find these beauties on a 70% off last pair sale! Hooray for me!

State Fair Foods

I am still in mourning that I will be missing the NC State Fair again this year--the second year in a row! and I had never missed it up until 2009!--but alas, I can still look at pictures of deep fried goodness from other fairs! Enjoy!

Back!

I realize that it has been forever--almost a month!--since my last post. I apologize! Life sort of got in the way, and it doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon. Not that that is a bad thing. Lots of wonderful stuff has been happening and hopefully will continue to happen in the next couple of months. Here's the breakdown--

In the past month I have:
-Spent a week in Nashville, TN
-Spent two weeks (and a birthday!) in Washington, D.C.
-Spent a weekend in North Carolina
-Turned a year older
-Saw 5 very close friends in the District
-Toured lots of wonderful Smithsonians and the Capitol
-Saw 3 other close friends and various family at home in NC
-Received lots of wonderful gifts for my birthday including a Wii from John. I'm a lucky girl!
-Went to Six Flags
-Had a one year anniversary :)
-Started seriously condo shopping

As if that wasn't enough...in the next 3 months I hope to:
-Have my first leadership role at work
-Pass a very important test related to my job
-Go to my first conference (in Las Vegas!)
-Buy a condo and move!
-Travel, travel, travel

My life is a little insane, as you can see, but I'm really hoping to keep up with it on the blog! Lots of excitement is happening and even though I know I'm going to be insanely busy, I am unbelievably lucky to have all these opportunities. And to top it all off, homecoming at Wake is this weekend! I can't wait to see my friends yet again and eat lots of yummy NC food (read: barbeque). My life is wonderful.

I hope you all have been doing great! Fill me in on what has been going on please :)
xoxo

Nerdy Saturday Night

This is what the bf and I do while we watch football on Saturday nights. I love nights in :)

Randoms

1. Wishing for a vacation really, really badly. To somewhere fabulous like London or New York City or Hawaii or Disney World. Hopefully my work-paid weekend in D.C. in a few weeks will suffice!
2. Feeling better about my eating & energy level already. It is amazing what a few consecutive days in the gym will do for a person. And not to mention to filling my body with crap. I think this is the start of something good.
3. Wanting so badly to start The Great Condo/Townhouse Search of 2010. I've been bitten, and have not been able to stop looking for new places online. The in-person search will just have to wait until October though. I can't wait to have a place of my own!
4. Missing my great friends and family, but luckily by the middle of October, I will have seen many of them in person!
5. Thinking about turning 24. Another year older...when did birthdays become something I dread (only slightly) instead of a week long party? I think its a sign of maturity?
6. Looking forward to the weekend, for no particular reason. There will be Wake Forest football on tv (I think), and hopefully some healthy grilling out at John's house. Oh, and there's a massage in my future. I am excited.

What are you all looking forward to this weekend? I'm not sure why this short week has been so exhausting, but it has. Hopefully the next two days will be relaxing. Next week I'll be coming to you from outside Nashville, TN!

xoxo

This week, so far:

-I have worked out once (hopefully tonight though!).
-I've eaten well (multiple salads, fruits, bowls of oatmeal and a very yummy Weight Watchers taco soup that I made Tuesday night).
-I used a Groupon for a favorite clothing store.
-I've been very productive!

Current obsessions:
-Scoutmob.com. For any of you in Atlanta, this site has 50% off coupons every single day to awesome restaurants all over the city. Occassionally they have clothing stores and furtiture coupons too!
-Condo shopping online. Ziprealty.com is one of my favorites, because I think I know which particular area of ATL I hope to buy in.
-Going to DC in a few weeks! Can't wait to see some closest Wake friends and celebrate my birthday in style. And John is coming!
-Birthday...although I'm not too sure about turning 24. We'll see.

Goals

I've been floundering on being healthier and losing weight for a while now. I will give myself credit though--while I haven't really lost any weight yet, I have turned my eating habits around. I've eliminated almost all packaged foods from my grocery shopping, and pretty much buy only fresh fruits and vegetables, yogurt, and cheese for during the week. I've also pretty much eliminated any mid-week dining out (hello, Target personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut). The problem is, I'm still a little bit of a couch potato and I haven't seen any weight-loss results. Ugh. Week before last I went to the gym 5 days in a row! Last week: once.

In order to make my weight loss goal (which happens to be 10 pounds by Christmas, very do-able) I have to be better about making the gym a routine. I'll be going tonight, and hopefully having another 5 day gym week!

I'm also working on eating better at lunch and dinner. I've got breakfast down--usually a bowl of oatmeal with raisens or fruit and yogurt. Lunch is usually alright too--I've been eating a lot more salad lately, but sometimes I still splurge in the cafeteria at work. Dinner/night time can be bad too. I might be eating healthy things, but I tend to eat a lot of them. Yogurt and cereal and fruit and cheese...all at the same time. So I've created a little bit of a meal plan for myself for the week, and I'm going to make a weight watchers soup tonight! I'll report back on how it turns out.

Hope you all had a great long weekend, I know I did! I ate a whole lobster for the first time, went to Callaway Gardens, did some shopping and spent a lot of quality time with John. It was fun :)

4 Day Weekend

I'm taking a long blog-free weekend. 4 whole days off from work! I'm going to celebrate Labor Day by doing as little as possible. Perhaps some cleaning, maybe some shopping (the shopping hiatus is over!) and a day trip with John to Callaway Gardens in Southwest Georgia. I have been loving our day trips lately, and am excited for this one. Hopefully there will be pictures to come next week! Apparently he also has some sort of coupon for a lobster dinner for two at a restaurant near his house. I've turned him onto coupons--I'm so proud!

Speaking of coupons, I have some birthday month coupons calling my name. Victoria's Secret, Ann Taylor Loft and BCBG may all get a visit from me tomorrow. I might as well treat myself to some presents after a month of no shopping (and saving lots of money in general).

Happy first day of college football (Go Deacs!) and Jersey Shore night. Enjoy yourselves.



Just over a month until homecoming!

xoxo

Food overdose and some pictures

I just had a gigantic lunch. I'm talking barbeque, corn, green beans, Texas toast, a dessert and sweet tea thank you very much. Too much food. I'm dying of exhaustion and can barely keep my eyes open. And it actually makes me want to go the gym. For a long time. I'll take this as a good sign that I've actually become much healthier and more conscious of how I feel when I put certain foods in my body, or when I don't exercise. I skipped the gym last night because John called me in the afternoon to inform me that he got some free Braves tickets right behind home plate for last night's game. Of course I said, what time should I pick you up! We had an amazing time sitting in great seats and watching tons of balls fly into the crowd all around us (even a shattered bat too!). But alas, the exercising didn't happen, and I actually missed it. I'll definitely take that as a good sign.


And just for fun, here's a few pictures from my Braves adventures on Saturday and Monday nights:

Saturday night's game:

Monday night's game:

Huge upgrade!

Best and Worst Dressed of the Emmys

In my opinion, Emmys fashion was bad this year. Really BAD. It took a lot of effort just to scrounge up the first three lovely ladies.

The Best

Kelly Osbourne made my best dressed list...something is wrong.



The Worst

Trash bag...ick.

Put some clothes on please, Stephanie! I've seen you wear better outfits on The Hills.

The same goes for you, Lo! I'd wear this to my office.

Lorelai Gilmore would not be proud of this number.

Just bad, in general.

O.M.G.

The bad fashion just goes on and on.

All photos courtesey of usmagazine.com.

Eat, Pray, Love packing tips

I loved this article on Glamour about all the packing lessons we can take away from Julia Roberts as Liz Gilbert in the movie. The more I think back about the movie, the more I like it! Its also given me a major itch to travel. Maybe next year I'll get to go somewhere I really, really want to go like Disney World, London, Italy, the beach (in NC!) or the mountains. I hope so!

Happy Thursday!

I am feeling pretty rejuvenated after working from home yesterday. It was nice to sit on my couch and watch Sabrina the Teenage Witch while doing my work, and to wear shorts :) I swear, I am more productive when I wear shorts. I'm just sayin. And it left me time to run an errand up to the dealership where I bought my car to pick up another temporary tag, because apparently when I buy a car, it is a 3 month process. Let's hope next time goes much more smoothly. And let's hope it doesn't happen for a loooong time. I also got to swing by Bojangles on the way back home, which always makes for a great day! All in all, it was very pleasant. And I went to the gym last night for the third day in a row. If you know me, you know how much of an accomplishment this is. I am so proud of myself, and I've felt so much better in the evenings after I get some exercise, and am actually tired from working out, rather than just being lethargic from being a couch potato.

Sarina and I were texting this morning about how excited we are for the fall. Yesterday was in the low 80s here for most of the day. After about 3 months straight of 95 degree weather, it felt a-mazing, and has me wishing for fall. As soon as she mentioned the season changing, I thought of 5 wonderful things that I am so looking forward to, all of which are happening in the fall! They are:

1. Football season/homecoming at Wake!
2. Cooler weather.
3. Wearing boots.
4. Our birthdays.
5. My upcoming trip to Washington, DC and reuniting with lots of my best friends!

See, fall has so much to offer. I hate wishing the time away, but I'll definitely say I will not be sad to see summer leave (although, its been a great one). I think this weekend John and I will do a quintessential Atlanta summer activity, and go to the Braves game--our first one all year. Should be a lot of fun.

The office is absolutely dead today, which will definitely be helpful in meeting my goals of finishing up something I've been working on for a few weeks. My other goal for the week: go to the gym today, tomorrow and Saturday. Whew. Wish me luck!

Great day!

Today has already started off wonderfully:

-Well, really it started yesterday with a trip to the gym. I always find that if I can start on a Monday, I'm more likely to keep it up all week. And I felt so good about myself afterwards!
-I won a (yet-to-be-determined) prize at work!
-I had the most delicious Chobani pineapple greek yogurt for breakfast (again, I feel great about myself when I start the day eating well).
-I've had a productive morning.
-I'm wearing my favorite white pants (have to get in the wearing white before Labor Day).
-You already know about the www.restaurant.com goodness.

And its only 10 am..let's hope it gets even better from here!

New obsession: restaurant.com

As if you couldn't tell from some of my previous posts, my new obsession is restaurant.com, where you can buy tons of restaurant gift certificates (usually $10 for a $25 GC). Its a pretty sweet deal anyway, but last week I discovered the coupon codes. Oh, the coupon codes. Here is a total of all the certificates I've bought and the staggeringly tiny amount I've paid:


$25.00 A'meritage at Dogwood
$10.00 Uncle Frank's BBQ
$25.00 Fontaine's Oyster House
$10.00 Piola
$25.00 Amedeo's North Italian
$25.00 Baci Italian Cuisine

Grant total of GC amounts=$120.00. Total paid by me=$16.75. $16.75!!! I would pay more than that for one meal at one of these places.

I am converted forever. And as you can see, these aren't crappy places either. They are places near my work and apartment, and near John's house (and Amedeo's thrown in for my parents). Places I would go anyway! Please give the website and the coupon codes a try if you have not already. Right now they are offering 80% off when you type in CLEARANCE at checkout. Enjoy!

Photo Update

Some photos of the trip to Helen, GA:

John, the King of the playground

A Buick, 2 big trucks and a jacked up Jeep. Pretty descriptive of the clientele.

Terrible picture of me, but I had fun!

Alpine Helen, hah!

Last but not least (and totally unrelated): the BSB concert with Kelly! Notice the t-shirt circa 2000.