Goodbye, 2012

2012 was a fantastic year. While I'm not sad to say goodbye to it, there are a lot of things to look back on really fondly! I got engaged (eeks, still can't believe that's true), had a great year in my house, a good year at work and generally just feel like I accomplished a lot. A little recap of my side-bar resolutions:

-Lose 10 pounds to reach goal weight. I did it! I am about 10 pounds lighter than I started in 2012. I really want to lose another 5 or so!
-Exercise more often. Mix it up to keep it from getting boring. I did terribly. Joined a gym I never used. Bought the Tracy Anderson Metamorphosis, and didn't start it. That is my number one goal for 2013.
-Work on doing hair more often before work (use Kate Middleton as inspiration). Did ok for a while, and I did change up my haircut a little, but still calling this one a fail.
-Save more money each month. Definitely did this, and I am very happy about it! Paying more on my mortgage every month now :)
-Read more, at least 1 or 2 books per month. Use library more. Fail.
-Buy fewer clothes. Only buy things that I love and are unlike things I already have. Did much better! Still could use some tweaking, but on the right track with shopping.
-Buy quality. See above.
-Take a class. Took two painting classes, as long as you count the ones where you paint and drink wine :)
-Cook more. Meal plan. Didn't do so well on my own, but John and I cooked much more on the weekends.
-Take more photos. Did it, but am terrible at getting them from camera to computer.
-Be a better blogger! Did terribly. Also top of the list for 2013.
-Pay off (or down) car loan. Paid it off about a month ago! Very proud of myself.
-Be less of a consumer. I think I did ok, between shopping and limiting my previously excessive trips to Target. Still could always improve here.

How did you all do? Can't wait to brainstorm and share 2013 resolutions with you all!

Happy New Year's Eve!

Lately

Went to Nashville, got a new haircut, enjoyed my Christmas tree, did important wedding related research. You know, the usual.

Happiness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWEfszb9h8Q&feature=player_embedded

Christmas is here!

I finished my decorating last night while watching Eloise at Christmas on Hallmark. What a glorious night. Have I mentioned how much I love cheesy seasonal Hallmark movies? Because I do, a lot.

Also feeling better about wedding planning because I finally had a few calls answered and have four meetings set up for my trip to NC for Christmas. Can't wait to have a date and place picked out!

Breaking news!

Ok, so maybe it was breaking news yesterday, but William and Kate are having a baby! I am so excited. Also slightly disturbed by how open I am about my live for the royals...no less than 10 people texted or posted to my Facebook to make sure I had heard the news (of course I had). Whatever, no shame here :)


Also, I finally started on my decorating! I got my wreath up first, so at least the outside world can think that I have decorated. I got the tree up too, just no ornaments yet. We'll see how much progress I make tonight!

Behind Schedule

I am afraid to admit this but, I have still not put up my Christmas tree! This is incredibly late for me. Usually I have mine up and ready and the whole house decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving. This year I am procratinating for some unknown reason. Hoping to remedy this tonight and just power through to get it all done. Luckily, I have almost all my shopping done (only 1 more big gift to buy in-store, and a couple of restaurant gift cards to pick up).

I think the reason I'm feeling so behind schedule is also due to wedding planning/dreaming. I know some basics: the date we would like, a back-up date, ceremony location and a couple potential reception locations, but nothing is finalized yet, and I think its secretly driving me crazy. Once we get our date and places pegged down, I'll feel so much better. Also would love to have a caterer and cake and photographer booked soon as well. So. Much. To. Do. But still trying to remind myself that its good, fun stress that I'm lucky to have in my life :) Looking forward to an engaged Christmas, for sure.

Are you all on track with holiday preparation? If so, I am jealous! Trying to find ways to kick myself into gear today, but the 75 degree weather is not making me feel very Christmasy!

Thankful

These are all the things making my life better right now:

-Christmas. It's my favorite thing.
-Everything that goes along with it, including decorating, gift shopping, holiday get togethers and mostly Hallmark and ABC Family movies!
-Friends. I've been busy and antisocial lately, but I'm happy to finally see some friends this weekend, and hopefully more soon.
-Healthy food, to balance out all the carbs and sweets and yummies.
-Work. It's crazy sometimes, but I do love my job.
-Wedding planning. It us already more stressful than I expected (especially to plan something from 2 states away), but I am really trying to enjoy such a sweet process. Once I have the first couple big ticket items under contract and a date, I will feel so much better!

Xoxo

Lately

Between work and more work and wedding planning (!), there has not been much time for blogging! I'm not feeling bad about it though, just thoroughly enjoying the holiday season and (too much) shopping and eating and all the fun that comes with it. Hope you have been too! Here's a few snaps of life lately. Warning: it's incredibly random.

A little wedding planning, and trips to NC and TN.

Big news!

We're getting hitched! J popped the question at the Magic Kingdom on vacation last weekend. Couldn't be happier or more excited. Be warned that this blog may temporarily turn into a wedding blog :) inspiration and idea blog recommendations are welcome!

Disney!

Hi Friends!

Sorry again for the blog silence. Lots of things have been going on lately, and things are only going to get busier by the day with the holidays on the way! Can't complain though, it is certainly my favorite time of the year. To make it even more exciting this year, John and I are going on a Disney vacation starting tomorrow! I am so excited that I can barely contain myself at this point. I am seriously feeling like a 10 year old, but I'm ok with that.

We booked the trip back in the summer when Disney was offering a free dining deal when you booked park tickets and a Disney hotel. If you are considering Disney at all, I HIGHLY recommened trying to book when they have free dining. I am convinced it saves a fortune. Disney is already an expensive place to go, so knowing that all meals are paid for in advance (and free for us) is awesome. We even get to use our "table service" meals at really nice restaurants where some of the entrees are $30 or $40 per person, so obviously you can enjoy some really lovely meals that you might not otherwise spring for on vacation, too.

I will also make anothe recommendation if any of you are thinking of planning a trip: The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2013 has been the best resource. I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is insanely organized and gives great tips about everything. I mean everything...even how to avoid blisters. You heard it here first :) I'm planning on using their "scientific" Touring Plans for each of the parks, and supposedly they can shave up to 4 hours in wait times and wasted time off of your day. This makes my organized little heart sing. John thinks I'm a psycho for so much planning ahead, but I assured him that Disney is something that requires a ton of prep, and is not exactly a place you go to relax. I think he'll appreciate my over the top research once we get there.

I'll report back next week with photos and stories, I'm sure. Follow along on Instagram too if you'd like (bchappell86). xoxo

Election Day 2012

I'm not going to use this space to talk about personal political views (those of you who know me know who I voted for), but I want to encourage everyone to VOTE! It's such an important right to exercise. So, no matter who you are voting for, just get out there and do it!

NC State Fair

Week End Recap

Happy Friday friends! I had a really mixed week, productivity-wise. Started out procrastinating way too much, but I've had weird spring cleaning bursts of energy every night! It's like I cannot possibly clean or organize enough things in my house. I'm still trying to purge my closets too, so those are a work in progress. I will share at some point though!

Detox has still been going well. I have slipped up a few times and eaten more carbs than I would like (I confess to eating 3 pieces of cake at the office potluck on Wednesday...oops). Otherwise I've been doing well in the diet department, and I think I have lost about a pound. Very good news. Exercise isn't going quite as well, but I have gotten back into Just Dance for Wii and I went for a walk last night. Baby steps. It's also been 7 days without any unnecessary spending! All I've spent money on is food. Hopefully all these trends continue, because I'm feeling really good overall.

Since I've been taking a lot of things out of my life, I've decided to add something really important that I've been slacking on lately, which is phone calls to my nearest and dearest. Started the trend last night by calling BFF Julie, whom I had not spoken to I longer than I'd like to admit. So so good to catch up with her. Next up is my lovey who is in Denmark in grad school. I can't wait to hear how that is going, and when I can come visit :)

Happy Friday, loves! Hope you have an incredible weekend!

Diet 101

Don't make delicious Paula Deen chocolate chip pound cakes for your coworkers. You will be tempted to eat the whole thing way before it makes it to the office.

Life Detox

Happy October everyone! While I'm sad to see September go, I'm happy to welcome October. This month I'm taking advantage of the mini beginning of the month "fresh start" and detoxing a bunch of different parts of my life.

1. Diet
2. Exercise
3. Shopping/spending
4. Home

Diet: John and I both managed to reach some gross out point this weekend and have vowed to to some sort of "detox" diet for the month of October. Caveat: this is not a true detox. We're mostly just ramping up some healthy eating, and mostly limiting our carb intake. I think this diet will end up being a lot like the Paleo diet, but with dairy. I just need to stay away from the Halloween candy aisle!!

Exercise: I just need to start doing it. Period. Gym, Wii, dvds, running outside. Don't care what it is, I just have to do something. It'll probably end up being some combo of all the above just to keep it interesting.

Shopping: I've talked about my "no shop" months on the blog before. I haven't been keeping up with them as much as I should have this year. And after switching a lot of my spring/summer wardrobe out and my fall wardrobe in this weekend, I realized (again) that I have more clothing than any human being would ever need. Seeing a lot of it piled up on my guest bed just sort of put me over the edge. And saving money never hurt anyone! I'm on the verge of paying off my car (2.5 years early!) and making a really special big purchase I've been wanting for years. Noshop-tober will help with both of these things.

Home: Purging more of the clothes mentioned above. I. Have. Too. Many. I do love most of them, which makes it hard, but I seriously need to take about 100 more items out of my closet and to consignment. We'll see how this goes...

I'm planning a post later this week with some "truth" photos of all my closets and clothes piled on my bed, just to show the general clothes/shopping gluttony. Its bad, but its time to be honest!

Lazy evening

I am a lucky girl to have a boyfriend who makes beautiful chairs for me :)

26.

I turned 26 on Monday, and it was a really wonderful (grown up) kind of birthday. I spent the first half of the weekend in Winston-Salem at homecoming at Wake Forest. I got to see some of my nearest and dearest friends who I unfortunately don't get to see all that often. It was fabulous. Even though the weather was slightly scorching (read: sunburn) for the game, the Deacs won and fun was had by all! We did a little tailgating, a little going out and general reminsicing and enjoying beautiful Winston. I'll go ahead and announce via the blog that W-S has officially moved up to the #1 spot of where I'd like to be living. And I will live there again one day. Can't wait for that day :)

I spent the second half of my lovely birthday at home with my parents. I took two days off from work (hooray!) and was generally lazy at home, hanging out with mom and dad and my grandparents. I also officially entered the Land of Old People because I was thrilled that my parents got me a brand new Dyson vacuum for my birthday. Who is excited about getting a vacuum as a gift? This girl.

I've really been prolonging the birthday feeling, too. It all started last Tuesday when John and I went to the Ben Folds Five concert at the Tabernacle in downtown Atlanta as a little pre-birthday gift. We both had a truly awesome time at the show. I also plan to prolong through this weekend, because we've got big plans to hit up Six Flags on Friday night, and I really want to go to South City Kitchen for my "real" birthday dinner. So all in all, its more like a two week celebration of Brittany. And I love it :)

So far being old isn't too bad!

This week:

-Birmingham
-Too much eating
-A couple of workouts
-Haircut tomorrow (I have never been more excited...my hair is OOC long)
-GA Tech game and tailgating Saturday!
-Preparing for my first time teaching at work
-Tons of meetings
-Date with Jenn tomorrow

All in all, a good week. Looking forward to being back home and getting into my fall rountine. Can I move my boots into my closet yet??

Fall

So many good things, that I can't even discuss most of them right now. Tiffany is married, I got to spend the weekend in Winston-Salem (best place in the whole wide world, if you are unfamiliar) with Erin and other lovies from Wake Forest, I introduced John to said lovies and W-S...just so much happiness going on. I also informed John that we'll be moving to the dash one day. Maybe I should have asked him? I think he'll be happy either way :)

Work is going fine. Had a nice trip to Nashville last week and really enjoyed myself. The BBQ, the honky tonks...so much fun to be had in Nashvegas. Also sad that its my last "regular" work trip for a while. Aside from a short jaunt to Birmingham next week, my behind will be parked in Atlanta for the long haul. Trying to see the bright side of this! While I will miss traveling with my coworkers and getting out of the office, I am looking forward to enjoying Atlanta in the fall. Fall is always so busy for some reason. Between my birthday, homecoming, football and all the holidays, I always feel like I'm in a whirlwind with no time to enjoy friends here. I think this fall will be different!

Spending Money to Make Money

Interesting MSN article from this morning. I think most of these are true!

Weekend Happenings

It should be a pretty low-key weekend for me. I plan on doing some Major Closet Overhaul tonight. I've hit a wall with myself and my wardrobe, and I'm pretty certain we need a good cleanse. I really want to take a bunch of things to take to consignment to help round out my savings for a very special item later this year. We'll see how that goes. I forsee a lot of wine and random Pandora stations in my future to make this happen. Another Friday night living the dream...

As for the rest of the weekend, John and I are going to a birthday party for one of his friends, and we will probably spend the rest on the couch watching Mad Men. Do any of y'all watch the show? We are completely addicted and have been Netflixing fiends for the past couple of months. I think we're mid-season 3 right now. I'd love to discuss more if anyone else is obsessed!

I'm hitting the road to Nashville next week for work, and I'm really looking forward to that. Should be a nice change of pace from what I've been working on lately, and I always love a good trip to Nashville. Can't wait to eat bbq, hear some country music and spend some QT with my coworkers.

What are you all up to this weekend? Any fun plans you're looking forward to? I'm looking SO forward to Tiffany's wedding in NC next weekend and John's first trip to Winston-Salem. OMG I can't contain myself!

Good things

This week has been dragging a little at work, but its also been a really good week for a few reasons:

-Caught up on sleep last night after so many late nights in a row. Thank the Lord!
-Saw Jenn for a food coma/Pretty Little Liars party on Tuesday. We should do that so much more often
-My pool has reopened after being mysteriously closed for a couple of weeks
-Buying a wedding gift for one of my favorites (and getting SO excited to see her get hitched and to go to Winston in a couple of weeks!)
-Planning another trip to the dash for homecoming. Life is good.
-Realized that my birthday isn't that far away. Normally I love birthdays, but not so sure I'm excited about number 26...
-Also realized I'm almost done saving up for a big ticket purchase that is frivolous but that I have wanted for a long, long time

What's making you happy this week?

July & August recap

So, apparently July and half of August went by without me blogging. Oops. I blame this in part to my insanely outdated Internet Explorer software that cannot be updated right now for various reasons, and thus, it is about 100x harder to make blog posts, and I officially cannot post pictures. Sigh. I also blame this (mostly) on the busy-ness of life. In the past 30 days, I have been to Savannah, Canada, Birmingham, and Washington DC. And maybe a little Atlanta thrown in the mix somewhere? Just typing that out makes me a little tired. All the trips were good, and half were for pleasure, which is always a plus! Even the ones that we not for pleasure were still lots of fun, and I got to see a few WF friends here and there, and that always makes me happy. Things that don't currently make me happy: laundry mountains, getting my healthy eating back on track after copious restuarant eating, my condo pool being closed temporarily and of course, my lack of blogging. Also my Olympics withdrawals, which is a whole different story because I have never liked the Olympics until this year. Always learning new things about myself.

So, as I breathe a sigh of relief, I promise I am going to try to start blogging again on the reg. And I cannot wait to catch up on everything that you all have been doing! In the meantime, I'm going to attempt to work on my computer issues and hopefully get back up and running soon.

xoxo

Banks

Bank failures are totally fascinating to me (nerd, I know). In the work I do, we think about them a lot. And of course living in Georgia, the bank failure capital of the country, you hear about them a lot. This morning I was clicking through the front page of MSN and came across an article talking about the opposite--the safest banks in the country. Very interesting! Its kind of nice to think about the flip side sometimes.

I know I ocassionally post things referencing finance or money management, but I'm thinking of starting a weekly post on the topic. Either some good advice I've heard or a helpful article I've found. Hopefully this is interesting to someone besides just me!

Peachtree Road Race 2012

Happy belated 4th of July to everyone! Yesterday, John and I spent the morning doing the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. Its the biggest 10k in the world (somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 people participate), and it was so much fun! Considering my major lack of training (practically none in the past few weeks), I was really proud of myself! I finished in 1 hour, 24 minutes...much faster than I thought considering I was expecting to walk almost the entire thing. I ended up running way more than I thought I would. The atmosphere and people watching were pretty motivating! John did great too--he ran the whole thing in just over an hour. So awesome.

We did it! Any of you who know me personally know it is completely unlike me to do a 10k, but I'm so glad I did and so proud of myself. Can't wait to do it again!

Beach!

John and I had an amazing time at the beach in Destin, Florida last week. We didn't let a little thing like Tropical Storm Debby get in our way. Luckily, she only came by for one day, which we spent at the outlet mall and sitting in the hot tub through the drizzle. Here are some photos to enjoy:

Lots of sun, free happy hour drinks and seafood was had by all :)

Made it!

Finally made it through two long awaited meetings yesterday and another cubicle move, and it's my Friday off! There's nothing better than a three day weekend when you really need it. And not only have I just made it to the weekend, I made it to my Nashville trip that I've been looking forward to for so long! I'm hoping next week in Nashvegas with my work bestie will make up for a lot of the crap we've been dealing with for so long at work!

No big plans this weekend. Maybe doing a little shopping, a massage and a haircut, and going down to Augusta for a night. Actually, now that I think about it, that's a lot of good stuff going on!

Hope y'all have a great weekend too! Xoxo

Financial Advice

One of my biggest work-related passions is financial literacy. I know that I am fortunate enough to have a finance degree and a natural interest in money matters, but so many people do not--especially our generation of 20-somethings. So I always love when friends ask me for financial advice, and I love giving it! I espcially love when I can help someone understand something that they thought was so daunting and out of reach, and explain it in "real person" terms--not something out of a textbook.

I found this great article on MSN Money this morning that gives advice about some really easy things that everyone can incorporate into their daily lives, and save tons of money over time! Please read it if you have any financial goals that you aren't sure how to get started on, I thought it was really helpful!

Things

1. I find that I'm much happier when I have music on in the evenings (usually a Ben Folds Pandora station) instead of the tv in the background. Must do this more often.
2. There is nothing much better than a freshly vacuumed floor.
3. I feel infinitely more productive when I do at least one household chore in the evenings instead of saving them all up for the weekend. Tonight I washed dishes and put away laundry and I feel great!
4. I'm a little ashamed at how excited I am for the return of Pretty Little Liars tomorrow night on ABC Family. Just a little :)
5. The lovely Jenn notified me today that Lilly Pulitzer is sponsoring the Thursday night Botanical Gardens cocktails in the garden every Thursday night in June. If you show up wearing Lilly you get a special gift bag! This also excites me to no end.
6. Getting more giddy by the minute about my (work) trip to Nashville next week. Thank goodness for good (work) friends and getaways. Heaven knows we deserve it after the last few months!
7. I've lost 2 more pounds recently! There's nothing like seeing a little bit of progress on the scale to motivate a person. I'm happy that my extra effort has been paying off a little lately. Now just to get back on track for the Peachtree. Someone remind me why I signed up again?

Obviously that was a bunch of randomness, but that's what's going on here these days. Hope y'all had a great weekend and a happy Monday. I'm happy now that mind is over :)

The Longest Weeks

My coworkers and I all agree that the shortest weeks always drag on for the longest time. That's how I've felt this week, anyway. I loved having Monday off--the weekend at home was fantastic and everything that I had hoped it would be. There was friend and family time, lots of eating and mostly tons of relaxing. I can't tell you how long I sat out on my parents' screened in porch reading a real book! I had a little bit of a tv and ipad detox weekend, and it was great. I need to do that more often.

This week hasn't been too bad, its just been dragging for me. I cannot wait to leave the office today and start the weekend. Working on Fridays can be great for productivity, but the day seems long because its so quiet. All I want to do is escape and go to the mall and grocery store and run all of my errands and have some fun! Today in particular, I want to get home to my dog friend who has been staying with me for the week! She's the cutest.

So basically, if I wasn't in the office I'd be either at the Nordstrom semi-annual sale, I'd be out by the pool or I'd be hanging out with cute Dessa. All of those options sound pretty great, right?

Happy weekend! I hope you all have something fabulous planned! xoxo

Holiday Weekend

I am beyond excited to be flying home to NC tomorrow for the long holiday weekend. I can't wait to see my parents and friends--it really feels like its been forever since I've been home for a "normal" visit. The last two trips were focused on Julie's bridal shower and wedding. Don't get me wrong, those are very worthwhile events, but not exactly relaxing!

This weekend I'm lookinf forward to going to Beach Music at North Hills with mom, seeing SDB's new home (!) and spending a lot of time around the house and around Wake Forest. I can't wait to hear about Matthew's walk at graduation and Erin's trip to Tanzania. My friends do some pretty cool things, right? I'm just really excited to spend time in NC and maybe mostly, to eat Bojangles! Its been months since I've had any, and that has to be some kind of record for me.

Before I leave, I need to pack and wrap up a few work-related items. Other than that, I've been enjoying a pretty normal work week and not exercising! Maybe I'm enjoying myself a little too much... :) After this weekend is over, I think it'll offically be time to start thinking about summer. I've got a beachh trip in June, a trip to Canada in July, a work trip in August to DC with some quality friend time thrown in, and a best friend's wedding Labor Day weekend. Life is so good!

What are y'all doing for the holiday weekend?  xoxo

Great Art Museums

I saw this article on MSN this morning. I've been lucky enough to go to a lot of these museums already, but I'd like to be able to go to every single one some day! Especially the Egyptian museum in Cairo. Add one to the life goal list...

Have any of y'all been to any of these museums? Do you like art museums? I'm a huge nerd for a great museum. I've had a membership at the High Museum in Atlanta for the last 3 years!

Happy Friday xoxo

The Waffle Palace

Last night, instead of my usual plans of scrounging up dinner, going for a run/walk and watching tv, Jenn invited me to go see a play with her at the Horizon Theatre called The Waffle Palace. It was hysterical! It is supposedly based off of newspaper articles about all the crazy things that go on in Waffle House in Atlanta (which, believe me, is a bunch of weird stuff). What a great show! So much more fun than my normal Wednesday night. Jenn and I vowed to do more things like that--maybe even get season tickets to the theatre.

Today

-Lunch at Mary Mac's with some of my favorite co-workers.
-Getting in another good walk/jog tonight in my pretty neighborhood.
-Working away on a big new project.
-Having an adventure with Flat Stanley in my cubicle :)

New Curtains

It only took me one year, but I finally have some curtains up in my bedroom! I think they finish off the room really nicely, and I think they add some good neutral color to my blue/gray walls. I'm also, of course, obsessed with geometric prints--I just can't get enough. What do you think? Sorry in advance for the poor quality iPad photos:

Birthday weekend

Hi friends,

I had a great (if not stressful regarding work) week last week in Chattanooga.  That is seriously becoming one of my favorite cities. The food, the people, the river. I love it all. I've spent time there once a month for the past 3 months--what am I going to do now without my Chattanooga fix? Fingers crossed i'll get to go back sometime for work again :)

I was really happy to get home from this particular trip because my love John's birthday was Thursday.  I hated being out of town for it, but luckily John isn't really big on birthdays, so he didn't seem to mind too much.  We celebrated on Friday night with dinner at our favorite Six Feet Under. The weather was perfect for rooftop dining with a gorgeous view of the city. So much fun.  The rest of the weekend was spent wishing we were at the pool (even though I was secretly loving the rainy days) and eating and researching tablets (John got the new Asus for his birthday).  It was a really nice, low-key Atlanta weekend. I needed it so much after the craziness of last week!

This week I'm looking forward to seeing a few friends (who I've been neglecting lately), doing some nighttime walking/running, not eating out, shopping and being in the office. I really just need to get back into my routine--I'm really looking forward to a regularly scheduled week of eating and sleeping and doing some things around the house and catching up with some friends over the phone. So much is going on with everyone, I can't wait to talk to all my friends again! Its been too long.

xoxo

On Living Alone

I just read this fantastic article from the New York Times about living alone. I have lived alone for almost 3 and half years now, and I love it. I firmly believe that everyone should live alone for some amount of time before you get married. It teaches you so much about yourself. I honestly find myself feeling almost bad for any of my friends who have already gotten married who never gave it a try.

The article talks about so many things I can identify with--specifically this:

"For people who are comfortable and even good at living alone, there is often another concern: a fear that the concrete has set, so to speak, on their domestic habits and that it will be difficult to go back to living with someone else. “It’s definitely something that worries me,” Ms. Kennedy said. “I can’t take the quirks back.”

The longer she lives alone, she said, the less flexible she becomes — and the less considerate of others’ needs. “If I go on vacation with a group of friends, I feel a little overwhelmed,” she said. “I’ve got to share this room with other people? We have to organize showers?”

Mr. Zimmer, the computer programmer, said he is also conscious of becoming too set in his ways, especially where sleeping is concerned. “I just do not sleep as well with someone else,” he said. “A lot of homes have double master bedrooms. I can really see the value of that.”

I've told a lot of my friends recently that while I definitely hope to get married one day, I worry about living with my spouse one day. John and I have discussed this issue a little bit (our biggest long term potential-living-together issue is location of where we live--either where in Atlanta or where in the world), but I think we would both have a huge adjustment to living together. I live in a 2 bedroom condo in the city, he lives in the 3 bedroom house in the suburbs. What the heck would we do living together? Neither of us knows the answers at this point. Its a scary (but good) problem to have I guess!

Have any of you lived alone? Are you against living alone? I'm curious!

Lifesavers

1. Vanilla Coke Zero
2. Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel
3. Sweet fresh strawberries
4. Fans (its 90 degrees here this week!)
5. Phone dates with friends! I put these off too much
6. Another trip to Chattanooga next week
7. Working from home

These are the lucky 7 things keeping me going this week. And its only Tuesday...hah! Any special things keeing y'all going at the moment? Its the little things in life :)

Breaking News

Kevin is returning to the Backstreet Boys! Yay!

In other, less exciting but still good, news, my life appears to be making a slow recovery back to normal! I had a great weekend. John and I spent some time wandering around Georgia Tech on Saturday, and I got a new, non-archaic tv for my bedroom. Very exciting things! Yesterday we were lazy and lounged around the house most of the day. Anything to avoid the almost 90 degree heat. I also got some new curtains at Bed Bath & Beyond. I think I'm really going to like them, and I got both panels for 20% off. I'll post pictures next weekend once I get them hung. It only took me one year exactly to get them!

Also, belated 1st anniversary to Will and Kate, and happy first home buying anniversary to me!

Happy things

I made a conscious decision a few days ago to no longer let work take over my personal/social life. Obviously, this is good for so many reasons! There is so much to look forward to in the upcoming months:

1. A couple of good work trips to Chattanooga and Nashville!
2. Another trip home to see my parents for a long weekend. I am missing my NC friends so much lately, and I can't wait to see them. I also can't wait to hear some live beach music!
3. Golden Girls reruns. How can anyone not be happy watching that? They have so much wisdom!
4. Shopping for home stuff. I've got my eye on some new bedroom curtains, master bath mats and a few other little things. I'm also on a quest for a large painting for my bedroom...I'm thinking this might be the time for my first major art purchase!
5. Festival season in Atlanta. There's something fun going on every weekend, and it's so nice to have the option to do more than just the normal weekend activities.
6. Catching up on your blogs! I've got about a month's worth of posts to read, and I can't wait to see what y'all have been up to!

Blog silence

Hi All! I hate that my blog has been so silent for the past, oh, month or so. I miss blogging and mostly I miss reading about all of your lives! Work continues to be ridiculous, so I unfornatuely haven't had any down time to write or read or enjoy. And Blogger has changed since the last time I logged in! Crazy.

I spent the last 2 weeks in middle of nowhere Tennesee near Kentucky working my little behind off, staying in a weird country hotel and eating mediocre food. Jealous? I didn't think so :) I'm so happy to be back in Atlanta for a few weeks, and hopefully visiting with some friends soon! I feel like I've abandoned my friends lately too, and I hate doing that!

Today is a bittersweet day for me. I'm saying goodbye to my cubicle of the past 3.5 years, and moving to a new one (same floor, different side of my building). So sad! I love my current cubicle and will miss it. The good news is, I recently found out I'm getting a window cube again, which is excellent. Its the little things in life, right?

So for now, I'm packing up my work life and attempting to do actual work at the same time. I'm so looking forward to this weekend. I'm thinking of going to a festival or doing some shopping for home items. Lots to look forward to (and none more exciting than 3 days off to rest and relax!). I hope you all have been great lately. I'm excited to be getting back to my normal blogging routine!

Parent's Visit

I'm so happy, it seems like I've finally been able to shut my brain off for a weekend! I'm loving having my parents here for a visit. Last night we went to the Colonade for dinner, which is an old school classic Atlanta restaurant. Some of the best fried chicken of my life, y'all. I wish I had taken a picture to share, but I was too busy devouring it.

Today we're planning on hitting some antique shops, the Talbots clearance outlet for Mom, and an estate sale this morning on Peachtree Battle. I've got high hopes for the sale. We just saw the sign last night on an after dinner walk. I'm so lucky to live next to such a classic Atlanta neighborhood! I love walking on Peachtree Battle almost every night. Maybe I'll do a blog post of some favorite gorgeous homes I see on my daily walk. You'd really be in for a treat:)

I hope you all are having great weekends so far! I know mine is helping me de-stress in a major way!

Swamped

I can't believe its been so long since I blogged! I can't even describe my life for the last few weeks--especially my work life. Its been insane and hard and a little bit terrible. I just keep repeating the mantra "I am so thankful to have a job. I am so thankful to have a job". Not sure how much longer this mantra will work, but alas, it'll have to do for a while. The next few weeks are going to be really stressful, but I think by mid-May there should be a light at the end of the tunnel! Thank goodess.

In other non-work related news, Julie's wedding was fantastic. It was stressful getting things organized, but everything worked out in the end. I can't wait to share a few pictures with y'all--soon, I promise! I really enjoyed my trip home, too. Since then, everything has been a little bit of a blur. John and I have had some nice, relaxing weekends, but we haven't done anything terribly exciting. My parents are coming to visit this weekend and I'm hoping to visit some antique stores and eat at Fogo de Chao again. YUM.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'm hoping to try to shut my brain off as much as possible. I'm off to middle-of-nowhere TN next week, but hopefully will be posting more regularly. If for no other reason than to have a little something to look forward to!

xoxo

Busy

My life for the past 4 or 5 days has been consumed with:

-Blue Ridge, GA mountain trip (so needed)
-Food/eating/cooking
-Wedding planning for Julie (stressful/fun)
-Laundry
-Packing (flying to NC today!!)
-Pollen (record setting pollen levels in ATL...gross)
-Work, and more work
-Pretty Little Liars A Day (still in shock...can't wait for the next season)

So, life is busy but good. Can't wait to get home tonight to hang out with my parents and get organized for the wedding! I packed myself up last night, and packed 2 options for a rehearsal dinner dress. One is hot pink J Crew and the other is navy blue Lilly. I can't decide...love them both so much! I can't wait for more events to be able to wear them to this spring and summer. I need my friends to have more parties and weddings!

Happy Pi Day!

I wish I was celebrating Pi Day (nerd, I know) by eating some delicious pie, but alas, I'm trying to get back on the good eating track. Luckily, its been going well lately, and I have lost about 2 pounds lately without trying all that hard. Maybe it has something to do with starting to attempt to run? I'll take it no matter what! Its supposed to be 81 degrees here today, and I'm hopefully going for a neighborhood walk/run after work today. Definitely looking forward to that.

I'm also looking forward to lunch today. I'm meeting with a fellow Wake grad who contacted me because she is in the job market. I hope I can help her out, and I'm always excited to meet new Wake people! I remember being so thankful for anyone who would offer to help me or even just chat with me while I was looking for a job, so hopefully I can pass that on to her too, or maybe even make a new friend.

In other news, my spending has been slightly out of control in February and March. I think I'm going to attempt to make April my second "no shop" month of the year. J. Crew has been seriously killing me lately though. They do spring clothes better than absolutely anyone. My two biggest splurges of late were at the J. Crew outlet and the regular store at Lenox Mall. Luckily I managed to get most of everything I bought on sale, so for the amount I spent (too much), I actually ended up getting a lot of items that I'm obsessed with. I also finally splurged on a full price swim suit, but sometimes you just have to, right? I'm also jumping on the neon/bright color bandwagon...not that I haven't already been on it for practically my whole life. Those of you who know me know this is true. Here are a few things I picked up:

I only wear J. Crew shorts because I love the fit, and with long legs, a 5 in inseam is your best friend. Anything shorter just makes me look crazy. Now I just need to banish myself from the malls for a little while until I can control myself. Right now I can't :)