Pollen, California & spring in the South

This week has been the perfect example of spring in the south. The week started out as hot as Hades. Seriously, it should not be 90 degrees during the 1st week of April. But, such is life. Today it was a mere 50 degrees when I walked out of my apartment to work. WOW it felt cold. Especially since I've been sweating to death first thing in the morning for the past few days. Thankfully, we had a little rain yesterday to help wash away some of the outrageous pollen thats been piling up all week. Yay! So now I'm looking forward to an honest-to-goodness spring-like weekend of 70 degree weather, sunshine, eating outside, sandals and shorts!

The week has been a busy one, but also a slow one too. I guess that's what I get for being out of the office living the fabulous California life for two weeks straight. And believe me, it was fabulous. Here is a little recap for you all:

My first week in San Francisco was lovely. I was by myself there for work related training. I had a glorious time! I met some great people in my class, and luckily had some free time to explore beautiful San Fran. I bought pretty jewelry at a street fair, went to a specialty cheese shop one night (and only had cheese for dinner..yum!), explored Fisherman's Wharf, ate amazing seafood at a restaurant overlooking the bay, toured Alcatraz (scary, but amazing views!), rode a cable car up the very, very steep hills, and even drove across the Golden Gate Bridge! It was a great week overall, and I feel lucky that I got to really take full advantage and see lots of things around the city.

For the second week, my parents flew out to meet me and we spent the week driving down the Pacific Coast Highway from San Fran to L.A., and stopping at all the fabulous little spots along the way. LOVED the drive down the coast. The road is literally on the side of mountain cliffs that drop right off into the ocean for a lot of the way down, and the views are spectacular. Northern California is a truly gorgeous place, and I highly reccommend it to anyone who gets the chance to go! As we made our way down, we stopped in Monterrey, Santa Cruz and few other surf spots. We spent a night in Santa Barbara, and then made our way to Hollywood. I really enjoyed Hollywood. We stayed in a hotel right off Hollywood Blvd, and of course we saw the handprints outside the Chinese Theater, the Kodak Theater where they host the Oscars, and all the stars lining the sidewalks. We saw the Hollywood sign, we went to Beverly Hills (heavenly!), I shopping on Rodeo Dr. (dream come true!), drove around looking at big, beautiful (and i'm sure celebrity-owned) homes. We did a tour of Sony Pictures Studios which was a lot of fun. I even had my celebrity spotting there--Jason Biggs from American Pie walked right by! Of course we also visited a couple of presidential museums and also the Getty Center while we were there. Lots of stuff packed in, but we had a great trip!

It was so nice to be back home last weekend and hang out with John. We went to the Dixieland Funpark in Fayetteville, GA. I'd reccommend this place to anyone who is a fan of mini-golf, crappy rides and 90s arcade games. We actually had a lot of fun there! We also made an Easter meal together on Sunday since we were both Easter orphans, and it turned out really well.

Hopefully this weekend will be just as relaxing and fun. I'm hoping to do a little shopping, maybe see a friend or two, and hopefully go to Park Tavern at Piedmont Park at some point. I'm just glad its Friday :)

Home again (finally)!

I'm finally back in Atlanta after a week long trip to Florida, followed by a lovely long weekend in NC. Here's a short recap of life lately with a couple of photos. More to come soon, I promise!

I barely made my flight connection to Raleigh on Friday afternoon (and my bags did not). Thank goodness I ran through the airport and got on the plane with 5 minutes to spare! Sarina picked me up at the airport in beautiful Raleigh, and we headed to Winston!

Highlights of Winston-Salem include:
-4 course dinner at Village Tavern for $25!
-BBQ sandwiches at Little Richard's
-Hanging out on campus and ransacking the Deacon Shop for new merchandise
-Going to the Joel for the first time since senior year (even if we did lose. badly.)
-Mindless driving around Winston, and wishing that we could move there
-The Jewel Box!

Sarina dropped me off on Sunday and I stayed with my parents until yesterday afternoon, when I flew back here. I hate that I only had 1 day to spend at home, but at least I'll get to see my parents again in 3 weeks for California vacations--you heard right! In less than 3 weeks, I'll be on my way to San Francisco. I. Can't. Wait.

Enjoy a couple of photos from last Sunday. The weather was perfection (sunny, clear, and 70 degrees), so John and I climbed to the top of Stone Mountain! Yes, you read that correctly too. We had a great time, and the city views were incredible. If any of you non-Atlanta friends come to visit while the weather is good, I'll take you there! And of course we finished off our day of excersize with a large Hawaiian pizza from Mellow Mushroom...typical.

The whole skyline view

And the pizza :)

Homeward bound!

SO excited about flying back to Atlanta today! I should probably be outside enjoying my last bit of Florida sunshine right now, but frankly its too hot and Florida sunshine isn't all its cracked up to be. Plus, I don't want to get completely burnt before I get on the plane.

Week one of my 4 week travel marathon--check. Next week, Alabama. Then DC for two weeks straight. I have to admit that I love traveling for my job. Especially weeks like this when I get a fabulous hotel suite all to myself. Its almost as big as my apartment, and I don't have to worry about cleaning anything. What could be better than that? I'm pretty sure if you were to ask me again in three weeks, I'd tell you I'm totally sick of hotels and never want to go anywhere again. We'll see.

I hope you all have something fun planned this weekend. Have a fabulous time doing whatever it might be!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Here's a quick update for all my lovely readers:

The weekend was fabulous. Sarina arrived Friday morning, while Kristin and I were still too lazy to have even gotten out of bed yet. Thursday night we went out for dinner at Tin Lizzies in Buckhead with two of my friends from Marietta--we had so much fun and the food was delicious! Friday, once Sarina arrived, we went to Lenox, where I decided to get my makeup done for the Singles Mingle at the High Museum that night. Note to readers: never go to the mall in the middle of the afternoon asking for a "subtle" smoky eye at Sephora. You will come out looking like a drag queen. I had soo much BLACK eye makeup on--it went up to my eyebrow, and she piled on about 18 days worth of mascara, all at once. I wiped half of it off in the store, and another chunk off at home. It looked pretty fab once I did that--but goodness knows what I looked like in the mall that afternoon. We went to dinner at Mary Mac's Tea Room--the girls loved it. Delicious Southern cuisine at its finest. YUM. Then of course, we went to the High for the singles mingle party, where almost everyone was approx 15 years older than us (or more!). Luckily, we maanged to find the one other young person there--a guy named David who was really nice, and we ended up hanging out with him at the museum for the rest of the night.

Saturday was so much fun. We spent the morning being lazy and sitting by the pool. We also walked up to this coffee ship right across the street from me--so cute! Plus, they have live music at night, as well as wine and real food too. I can't wait to go back! In the afternoon, I successfully navigated MARTA (train and bus) to get us to my very first Braves game! It was hot as Hades, but we sunscreened up before we left, and somehow all of us managed not to get burned! The game was lots of fun--our seats were awesome. I had a delicious hot dog and a funnel cake, and probably looked ridiculous wearing a big straw hat (pics to come), but I had a blast. Which is saying A LOT for me at a baseball game. We managed to stick it out until the 8th, and then we went home because the hometeam was losing anyway, and we had had enough of the heat. Back at my apartment, we all collapsed on the floor for a while, and of course, I managed to get emotional about my last night with my friends there (who am i these days?!). Luckily I recovered and my wonderful friends reminded me that I'll see them both again super soon when I go to DC. They're the best. So, we went to the club Opera, where the line was completely out of control. Being the sneaky ladies that we are, we just mosied up the front to ask the guys at the door a "question", and they let us completely cut the line! Inside the club was fantastic--awesome music, tons of people (awesome people watching!), and lots of bad dancing on my part. We danced with lots of crazy guys, and eventually met up with David from the night before, and his friend Kyle who went to Wake. Small world! We danced until it wasn't possible to sweat anymore, and finally got home around 3am...felt like freshman year again:)

Sunday morning we shared a lovely meal at Waffle House, working on not much sleep at all. Then we sadly sent Kristin off to the airport:( Sarina and I spent the rest of the day roaming around downtown. We went to Centennial Park, walked by the World of Coke and the Aquarium, caught some live music in the park and went through the CNN Center. By that afternoon, I sent her off to the airport as well, and I was alone again..sigh. I miss my friends so much, but luckily didn't have time to mope around too much, because I had to pack for Tampa, which is where I am now.

I barely made it to the airport in time on Monday morning, thanks to MARTA issues and long lines, but thankfully made it in the nick of time. We made it to the bank, which is nice enough, but I'm really not crazy about Tampa. I don't know what I was expecting, but not this. There's tons of construction and its really, really hot. Maybe just not as pretty as I would've liked. Ehh, whatever. I'll be more than ready to go home on Friday.

I hope you all had great weekends, and we're already halfway through the week! There is a slight chance my parents will be visiting this weekend, which would be lovely. We'll see. Happy Wednesday!

Almost weekend!

What a quick day its been--almost time to go home! Tomorrow isn't exactly the weekend--I'll be working from home, but at least I won't be in the office. Today is my last day in the office for quite a while, actually. I'm looking forward to my travel marathon and seeing lots of new places.

Tonight Kristin and I are having dinner with a couple of my Marietta friends, then hopefully going out to trivia! Its the first time I've been in a long while, and I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Tomorrow night there's a really fun singles mingle (lame sounding, I know) at the High museum. Lots of live jazz music outside, cocktails and meeting new people at the museum, which is one of my favorite places in Atlanta. I'm pretty excited about going and being able to drag K and Sarina with me! That's another part of the great news--Sarina arrives tomorrow morning! What a lucky girl am I to have two of my best friends here at once! So, I'm sure we'll do the museum, do some shopping and hopefully get to a Braves game too. Should be an awesome weekend before I leave for Florida on Monday.

Happy weekend to you all! I can't wait to update with lots of fun stories and pictures from my lovely guests' visit:)

Happy Day

Today is lovely for a variety of reasons. I just met K for lunch in Midtown right across from my office, where we had delicious breakfast food and then sat outside on benches and chatted for the rest of my lunch hour. The weather in Atlanta is perfect today--warm, not hot, and a little overcast. Gorgeous. Perfect day for a picnic...maybe we'll eat our dinner by the pool this evening?

We had lots of fun last night too. We met my friend Kate at her cute house in the Highlands and went out for Thai food. We sat there for much longer than I realized, talking about everything from politics (don't get me started) to law school (where K will be come August) and, of course, all of our boy troubles (plenty to go around at this table, let me assure you). We had the best time, and it made me more sad that Kate will be leaving me soon to move to Jackson. Boo hiss. Maybe i'll get to visit her for Mardi Gras though!

The past 3 nights of staying up late have started to catch up with me--I'm an old lady, I know. I'm hoping tonight I'll get to bed earlyish, even though I feel bad since I have a guest! Oh well, only one more day of getting up early this week because I'm finishing up my week working from home on Friday. I still need to come up with some fun things to do with my friends this weekend. Maybe a Braves game? Maybe shopping or the World of Coke? We'll see! And if any of my Atlanta friends are reading, suggestions are welcome!

Greetings from Bama

Hello from the deep south, lovely readers. I hope you all had the best 4th of July weekend! I had a wonderful time in NC with my wonderful friends and family.

Friday I finally got my haircut--3 inches off and lots of layers, and no one can tell a difference except for me! Oh, well. Friday night I also went to the fireworks & beach music show in WF with Mom and Erin. So much fun! I didn't realize that beach music was such a Carolina thing until I got to Georgia, and people just don't do beach music here. Sigh. It was great to enjoy the gorgeous weather and watch people shag dancing all night! Plus, I even got a little tan laying out at the pool in the afternoon--no burn!

Saturday was also spent by the pool with Be (still no burn--hooray!), and I finally got to spend a lovely evening with Matthew! He is one of my favorite people in the entire world. Being the un-festive people that we are, we spent our 4th of July eating French food at North Hills (yum) and seeing the Hangover (hilarious, and very realistic...it kind of made me want to go to Vegas). He is just fabulous, and I can't wait until we go see Britney together! He's the best concert-going partner ever.

Sunday I was sad to say goodbye to the Old North State, I realized that I won't be able to go back for pretty much the rest of the summer..sad. I really do love going home. Seeing everyone there always makes me feel more alive and better about life in general. But alas, i'll be traveling so much in the next few weeks, I probably won't even miss it. This weekend will be the first in a month where I will be in Atlanta with no one visiting and no real plans yet. I can't wait to spend some quality time in my apartment, by the pool, and catching up with all the friends I haven't seen lately. I'm even going to try to fit in a massage appointment and a trip to Bojangles. Can't wait!

For now, I'm working in Alabama all week. I suppose that calls for me to say "Roll Tide!" or something like that, but frankly, I don't really know what that means:) I'm just enjoying small town life that reminds me of home for a few days. And hopefully we'll finish up early and get to leave on Thursday--fingers crossed. My out-to-dinner club is meeting Thursday night and I obviously don't want to miss out!

Only one week from today, Kristin will be in the South again! I can't wait to see her and have my bff to hang out with for a whole week. Too bad work gets in the way...oh well.

Mixed feelings

Today is officially the one year anniversary of my graduation from Wake. A whole new crop of freshly minted diplomas are being handed out today, and I can no longer say "Oh, I just graduated last May." Getting older...le sigh. While of course I'm a little nostalgic and sad--I can't believe its been a solid year since I've spent any large amount of time with my best friends in the world--I'm mostly just happy to say I have survived my first year of adulthood. And I've turned out pretty damn great if you ask me! As much as I've complained about feeling lonely/anxious/whatever about being on my own lately, I have so many wonderful things and people in my life. This first year "on my own" could have gone a whole lot worse than it did. And for that, I am grateful!

Weekend recap: Friday I was a complete bum. Since my class and my test were finally behind me, I felt like a kid getting out of school for the summer. I slept late, layed out by the pool and didn't do much else. Friday night I went to dinner with a big group of people to Lola--yummy Italian food and a Bellini bar. Mmm! After dinner we went to Opera in Midtown. That's right, I officially had my first Atlanta night out in the club. Haha. It was really, really fun. AND, I feel very special because I was watching a Samantha Brown special on Atlanta this weekend on the Travel Channel, and she went to Opera too! She even called it the hippest nightspot in ATL. Since when am I that hip? Who knew! There was lots of fun dancing and delicious beverages:) Saturday and Sunday I was as lazy as humanly possible. It rained the rest of the weekend, so no pool time. But I watched some awesomely bad movies I rented from the library and did some odds and ends shopping yesterday before my massage appointment. (Quick note: it is unbelievably hard to stay awake in a massage when its pouring rain outside...practically impossible).

Now its back to Monday at the office. I should be fairly busy this week, which is good, but I know I'm still going to be restless because I can't stop thinking about my beach trip this weekend! It got here so quickly! I'm going to attempt to pack a little every night so I don't forget anything. Otherwise, here's a few things to be happy about today:

1. A very green banana for breakfast.
2. Not being tired at work--for the first time in a few weeks it seems like!
3. Getting cards from my sweet coworkers.
4. Looking forward to my crockpot meal tonight for dinner!
5. Perhaps attempting to make something about of the ground bison meat I bought yesterday?
6. A normal work week!
7. Beach beach beach.
8. Frolf tomorrow night with my new discs.
9. A couple good phone chats this weekend.
10. Sunny weather is here again!

Teehee

Watch this!

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As for the weekend: it was awesome. Sara got here on Thursday night and we finally went to a restaurant within walking distance of my apartment I've been wanting to go to for a long while. It was yummy. Friday morning I came into work for a few, then we spent most of the afternoon having coffee and chatting with one of our former teachers/friends from high school. It was pretty great to see two familiar Raleigh faces in the ATL, and we had a good time catching up. We were dying of starvation by the time we left, so obviously we went to the Varsity for dinner. Nothing is better than Varsity onion rings. Nothing. We also popped over to Atlantic Station to check out H&M (shockingly my first time since moving here) and a couple other stores. Saturday was spent at the World of Coke, where I tried every. single. Coke. product. I'm not going to lie, that was probably the most carbonation that has ever been in my body. Especially considering I don't really drink soda period. Then we went to Lennox for more shopping, and finished off the evening by going to Gladys's Chicken and Waffles!! We couldn't go to the gangsta-fab one downtown because it was packed, so I don't think we really experienced the full atmosphere. BUT, the waffle was awesome and it was actually really good with fried chicken wings on top. Who knew? I finally feel a little more ATL now that i've been! Sunday, Sara and I ventured up to the outlet mall to spend even more money (I bought myself a treat at Coach for passing my exam), and then I sent her in her merry way back to Raleigh. After she left, I went over to A's for our usual Sunday night hangout. Lots of fun.

I am so happy Sara was here for a few days. It was beyond good to see her and talk to her all weekend about everything imaginable. There is nothing like a visit from an old friend to lift the spirits and put life back into pespective a little bit. I'm excited that she got to meet Andrew as well, because its always nice to be able to introduce the people who know me best to the new, exciting people in my life here. Needless to say, I'm a happy girl and can't wait for more visitors. If you are out there reading this, you know that my door is open!

As for this week, I'm in a class at work. Luckily, its in my building so I didn't have to travel for it. The topic and activities aren't my thing, so I'm not really enjoying myself that much (yet, hopefully). But, its nice to be out of the cubicle and meeting new people. And the class is only through Thursday at lunch time, so it doesn't interfere with my flex Friday--crucial. Let's just hope I make it to then:)

The sweet smell of weekend in the air.

Its Friday, hooray!

Sara got here yesterday afternoon right after I got home from work. I love having her here! She is wonderful and I've missed her like crazy. Also, its awesome just to have someone with me 24/7 after living by myself for a few months now. I love constant girl talk. Especially with Sara, since we have literally known each other since the beginning of time. Its going to be a fabulous weekend!

We have the following awesome plans:
-coffee with one of our former teachers/friends from high school who is in ATL now too
-plenty of shopping
-Gladys' restaurant with Andrew tomorrow, obvi
-other laziness including reading Cosmo by the pool
-perhaps the World of Coke (an ATL classic) or maybe even the High Museum

I'm so happy! I hope everyone has a fabulous, awesome weekend. Have fun!

SCD arrives tonight!

My quality of life has already improved so much since I got my test out of the way yesterday...I think it was adding more anxiety than I realized. But now I feel fabulous and carefree again! Lots and lots of good things to report on:

1. Sara is coming to Atlanta today!! I am so excited for my first official visitor. I'm taking a half day off work tomorrow so we can be lazy by the pool, shop and eat to our hearts' content. It will be so wonderful to have someone to hang out with all weekend too...none of my usual boring routine of trying to entertain myself. One downside: I probably should've cleaned my apartment before her arrival since its been very neglected this week, but alas, didn't happen. Oops.

Maybe we can recreate this amazing photo from my 21st birthday party this weekend? Hmm..

2. Fabulous meal at Roy's last night. A and I are making it our personal goal to dine at as many island themed restaurants as possible (weird, I know). Last night we had delicious Ahi tuna, Mahi Mahi with some kind of lobster butter sauce that I would like to swim in, and the official most amazing molten chocolate souffle of all time. I also had some type of pineapple martini that was so good I can't even really put it into words. Oh Roy's, I heart you.

3. This weekend I will finally be visiting Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles restuarant. I think I've mentioned this place before (because its one of the reasons I love ATL so much, and I haven't even been yet). A and I tried to go a couple of weeks ago, but the line was out the door and it was late. Sigh. This weekend we will for sure be making an appearance...hopefully at the downtown location, but we're willing to drive to the burbs for the other location if its too packed. I have to introduce SCD to the very best the city has to offer, obviously.

4. I will hopefully be getting in some solid pool time this weekend. I am in desperate need of a tan and I want to get a little color before the beach weekend (only two weeks away!). There's nothing worse than burning like a lobster on the first day at the beach.

5. Ok, so maybe this isn't really a good thing to report on, but I have become mildly obsessed with reading about the Jon and Kate Plus 8 cheating scandal! Its all over US Weekly--there's even video!--and I find the story very sensational. Still not sure if I believe it (I never believe anything until its on people.com, the only legitamite celeb site), but that hasn't stopped me from reading all the stories. One of the more shocking tidbits I picked up from one of the articles: Jon and Kate make an estimated $50K to $75K per episode of their show! Holy crap, thats a lot of money for not really doing anything except their daily routine with the kids. Wow.

6. Its Thursday, which is always a good thing.

7. I didn't go clothes shopping yesterday like I wanted to...hooray for me! I still do want to buy myself a little gift for passing my test, etc, but I'm going to try to think of something memorable that I can get/do. In theory I need to be saving up for all the lovely foreclosed/discounted condos I want to buy one day. If I ever complain about being bored, remind me to start doing some real estate research. No sense in renting when I can buy.

I love hip hop music

My love of rap has been renewed (not that it ever really went anywhere, I do live in the capital of crunk for goodness sake) by the Ludacris song "One More Drink". It is hilarious, and I love it. I've been telling my co-workers lately that I'm not going to feel like a real Atlantan until I spot a rapper out in town somewhere. Numerous people have told me that if I start hanging around Lanox Mall (right down the street from me) every saturday, there is no question that I'll run into someone eventually. I can't wait to start my rapper-stalking! I figure a few other good places to go: Diddy's restaurant called Justin's, Gladys Knight's chicken and waffles restaurant, and Jermaine Dupre's Cafe Dupre. I love Atlanta.

Tonight I'm supposed to have a date for trivia yay! I am so excited to get back in the game! I discovered an awesome website yesterday called teamtrivia.com that lists all the different places you can play trivia on different nights of the week in a bunch of different cities. One of the places has pop culture trivia on Tuesday nights. I'll have to go, because I know I'll dominate. :)

I'm hoping to work from home tomorrow, so today may be my only day in the office for the week! Sometimes I love to work at home--I can keep my pjs on as long as I want, eat whatever I want and actually get a good amount of work done with no distractions (except maybe a little daytime tv for background noise:). We'll see if I get my approval...otherwise I know I'll be stragling in here in the morning since I'll most likely be up late. And we all know how much I love going to bed early...

Change of scenery

I'm out of the office all this week, which makes for a very nice little change of pace. Luckily I'm on an in-town job, so I get to be out of my cubicle, but still in Atlanta. No packing and no hotels! Even though I love what I'm doing this week, and the weather is gorgeous, I was sad to see the weekend end! I broke all the dating rules and not only went out with this guy on Saturday morning for coffee, but then I agreed to hang out with him again on Sunday afternoon. What I thought was going to be a couple of hours at the World of Coke turned out to be all afternoon and all evening. We went to the Coke place (very fun first date), then we watched the entire Wake basketball game and had an early dinner at a sports bar downtown. When we left the restaurant, we walked around Centennial Park and saw a light/music show at the huge fountains there. We sat around and talked about music forever..it was so much fun. I also discovered that we share a deep love for Rob & Big, so we went (unsuccessfully) to Target to buy it, but they didn't have it. Now, of course, all I want to do is watch the show, so maybe i'll go by Best Buy tonight and pick it up. So, a short date turned into six hours, but it didn't seem that long at all. Good sign I guess? No awkward silences...no awkwardness in general. Crazy. I guess age 22 is finally the time to learn how to casual date. This is a new thing for me.

So, excellent weekend between the new friends, new date and the Zoo on Saturday! I'm a lucky girl.

Happy Hour

Last night I forced myself out of the house to a WFU alumni happy hour at a bar right around the corner from my office. As I walked to the train, I gave myelf a pep talk about surviving the awkwardness. But, alas, there was no awkwardness! As soon as I walked in, I saw someone I recognized talking with a bunch of girls. It turns out she was in my sorority at Wake--a senior when I was a freshman. She has recently moved to Atlanta after graduating from law school. I think I actually have a new friend! Not only her, but her roommate/friend from Wake and law school goes to the church I had already decided to go try out this weekend. So, now I may have 2 brand new friends AND I hopefully won't have to go to church tomorrow by myself. Last night was a good night.

This only reinforces what I guessed about stepping out of my comfort zone. I took one chance going to a party by myself, and it worked out. Not only this, but I have dinner plans with a whole different group of people next Friday night. And I have a new contact--friend of a friend--who lives literally right across the street from me. Things are looking up. with just a little bit of effort from myself.

Happy weekend! Today i'll run errands, perhaps hit the mall for some fabulous boots I found online at Nordstrom, and make the trek to Marietta for Bojangles and cheap Walmart groceries. Detox starts tomorrow, so I've go to get mentally prepared!

New Year, Day 2

Farewell 2008! The year I graduated from college, got my first job, moved out on my own and discovered a new city. As far as I'm concerned, that's a hell of a lot to happen in one year. Too much. Still adjusting, still learning, but overall enjoying life and surviving being an adult. In 2009 I hope for new friends, more fun, less stress and just taking it easy.
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I have to admit that day 1 of 2009 was a pretty lazy one. And I don't even have the excuse of staying up late and partying all night long the night before. Claire was sick, so I stayed in and watched awesome movies and made dinner for myself. Not a bad New Year's Eve. Yesterday I went grocery shopping, drove around town aimlessly just to see what's around, watched more awesome movies (on Lifetime, I admit) and went to the gym. New healthy lifestyle is going awesome! Oh, except for the pizza I ordered last night and will finish eating today or tomorrow. Oops.

Tonight I'm having dinner with Lydia and Warren and some of her fam. So excited to see my new newly engaged friend--eek! And we ditched the French place, and now we're going somewhere called 4th and Swift in the trendy area called Virgina Highlands. One thing I really like about Atlanta: interesting names for different areas of town. This weekend I'm planning on buying my membership to the High Museum of art and checking it out on Saturday. I'm pretty excited about going.

bye bye 2008

Today is a very exciting day in my new career: I got my first box of business cards! I feel very official and will probably send them out in the mail to everyone I know just because I can.

Last night I went out to the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Atlanta. It was my first time taking the train by myself to really go out at night, and it was surprisingly fun. I was meeting a friend from Wake and some of her friends, but I got there about a half hour before they did, so I sat at the bar and had a "purple haze" drink--pretty amazing. I love the fact that I've gotten comfortable enough to hang out like that by myself. Once the group got there we had dinner and hung out watching the awesome music videos around the restaurant (including: Will Smith and the Cranberries. Awesome). I feel proud of myself for navigating my way there and back by myself and for getting out of the apartment on a weeknight. Progress!

Friday night I have plans to go out for a celebration/engagement dinner. I am so excited! I also can't wait to try the french brasserie that we're going to. Should be delicious.

Still no real plans for New Years Eve. It is one of my least favorite holidays. To me, it's like going to the Prom. Too much anticipation and too high expectations--no one ever has as good a time as they expect. I may call my one friend in Atlanta and see what she's up to. She was talking about going to the Peach Drop (gotta love the peach obsession) downtown, and I may go with her. Otherwise I'll be having a low key night by myself, which actually might be preferable. Definitely more relaxing and warmer!

Back to reality

I flew back to Atlanta last night--about an hour delayed, so I didn't get in until about 9:30 (this is late for a person who is usually in PJs by 9:30!). But the traveling was safe and easy, so I can't complain. It wasn't easy to come back here yesterday, nor was it as hard as I expected. I loved being at home. I can't explain how good & comforting & natural it felt. But at the same time, I didn't dread coming back to Atlanta. I looked forward to getting back to my job and my apartment and my new life. It's strange how things become normal so quickly.

NC was fabulous. Five wonderful days of seeing friends and family and all the places I love. As you already know from the past couple weeks, I wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit this year, but I was excited to get home for Christmas Eve--my official favorite day. I have to admit, even while I was sitting at my grandparents' house that night eating (tons of) amazing food and opening gifts, I still didn't feel it. I was happy, to be sure, but not giddy as usual. I think that there was just too much happening this year for me to focus. But, I still had a wonderful time.

Christmas Eve and Day, I spent time with my parents and other family, eating way way way too much. The day after Christmas, mom and I braved Crabtree mall for the sales. It was a mad house. Probably waited 15-20 minutes for a parking space, and then even longer than that to leave the mall once we were done. Insanity. I got some great clothes and shoes (spent too much money again, but at least I didn't pay full price for anything!). I ran into Jess and her husband there too--blog shout out! I love seeing people I know around town. It's something I took for granted until I moved to a place where I know practically no one. I got to catch up with a friend from high school, and with Erin, my old roommate. So good to see the people who know me best. I also received some very nice gifts for Christmas: my washer dryer from my parents (early present, because I already have them, thank goodness), some scarves, Twilight books (K!), a george forman grill, a crock pot, a necklace from Tiffany's and a great new wallet. I'm a lucky girl.
This week should be a quiet one in the office--there's no one here. Maybe 4 people total on my side of the floor. Hopefully this means getting lots done, plus some relaxing. It's sunny today, so I'm hoping to walk outside at lunch! Tonight I'm hopefully having dinner with one of my favorites who is still at Wake. It'll be nice to go out in the middle of the week--a rareity for me!

Christmas week, for real.

Today is the end of a lovely weekend. I was secretly sort of dreading the weekend, because that's the time when I have more than 48 hours to be by myself. Totally. And while weekends are nice, its hard to enjoy that much alone time, without being face to face with anyone. But, alas, I didn't have to worry about that this weekend:) Friday night Claire called me and we went out for dinner at this great bar/restaurant in Atlanta called the Vortex. Really weird place--blaring music, tattooed and pierced waitress, and any kind of crazy hamburger that you can possibly imagine. One was called the "double bypass burger": 2 fried eggs, 3 pieces of cheese, 5 slices of bacon, the hamburger patty and instead of 2 buns, its held together with two grilled cheese sandwiches. EWW. Also, the "Elvis burger": peanut butter, bananas, mayo and the hamburger patty. Just, wow. We had something less exciting, but it was really good. Afterwards we walked around the neat little area of town and went into a couple crazy thrift shops. So much fun. I can't wait to go back there in the day time some weekend so I can actually get into all the stores before they close.

Friday night my parents called me to tell me they were coming down for the weekend too. I was really surprised that they wanted to drive all this way--especially when I'll be home in two days for Christmas. But, they are great, and they drove down early on Saturday morning. Even better, they showed up at my door with takeout from the Varsity for lunch. Yummy. I finally got my couch on Saturday, too! Now I have an actual living room. My parents helped me put up my giant photo of Paris from Ikea behind my couch, so everything looks really great now. I'll have to take a couple new pictures to post.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store for supplies to make my chocolate chip pound cake for my coworkers tomorrow. Also, we braved the weekend-before-Christmas crowds and went to the mall. It was pretty packed, but not as bad as I would've thought. It was even better because we took the train and didn't have to fight for a parking space. I got some really pretty Christmas decorations on sale at Crate and Barrel, so now my place is slightly more festive. I can't wait to go back to mall for what I'm hoping will be great after Christmas sales. I've been so good--no clothes shopping for over a month! So i'll definitely deserve some gifts for myself after the holiday.

Time to get back to work. Only 2.5 days in the office, then on a plane back to NC!

I suck at blogging

My new city: Atlanta!

So, I know it has been absolutely FOREVER since my last entry. I apologize. Lots of craziness has been going on in the past month, which I will now quickly recap.

1. Worked at that bank job in Raleigh (that I was so thrilled to get) for all of 1 month. 4 whole weeks of my life, and then I quit my very first real person job to accept my very second real person job. Bigger and better things. I like to think of this as sprinting up the corporate ladder.



2. Uprooted (fairly abruptly) from the only city, and the only state I've ever lived in, to move 7 hours away by myself. Scary!



3. Managed to move into my new apartment and get settled in about 4 days while my parents were here. Then started my new job the very next Monday (a week and a half ago now).



Luckily i'm really loving it here so far. I ride the train to and from work everyday (i'm a city person now!), and my commute takes all of 15 minutes. I've met so many new people in my co-workers, a couple of my neighbors in my apartment complex and friends of a friend from Wake. It has definitely been a somewhat lonely adjustment to living alone, but it has gone surprisingly better than I would have guessed. Maybe i'm more brave and independent than I like to give myself credit for? I like to think so:) I love working in the city, and looking out my high up window view to see the tall buildings all around me. I love eating in the cafeteria in my building and grocery shopping just for me. And, although I haven't ventured out to the amazing malls here by myself yet, i'm pretty positive i'm going to love that too. Next on my to do list: buy a membership to the fantastic High Museum of art so that I can go whenever I want and see all the special exhibits anytime. Art museums make me happy, and I really think that's something i'll enjoy doing on my own.



Now i'm enjoying some delicious apple cider at my desk and taking a quick break from my work. Sorry it took me so long to update, but i'll definitely be more regular about it from now on!