Hello from back in the real world...

Coming back to work after vacation is always tough, right? Sigh. I wish I was still at the beach. From Friday to yesterday I was loving life in Jekyll Island, GA--a really lovely place that I highly recommend. After last year's memorial day trip to Tybee Island, I was sort of over Georgia beaches. I will forever think NC beaches are the best (because they obviously are), but Tybee was just sort of trashy and not that fun. Jekyll was about 100 times better though-yay! The sand was nice, the tiki bar was fabulous, and the place was practically deserted for being a holiday weekend. Jekyll is one of the few truly natural beaches left (that I have been too), and it was incredibly relaxing to be forced to just do nothing. (But thankfully if you get the shopping and/or sightseeing urge, St. Simon's is a short car ride away!). Please enjoy a few photos from my relaxation weekend. And I hope you all had a fabulous Memorial Day as well!

glorious beach

pretty lighthouse

dearest bf and moi

jekyll island club hotel (note the all-white-wearing croquet players!)

bf enjoying the pier

Out of the office

Good afternoon, dear friends!

I can't believe it--my beach trip is finally upon us! I feel as though I've been counting down for ages and ages. I just have to make it through another hour or two, and then I'm home free for 5 straight days. Hooray!

I hope you all have a fun filled holiday weekend! Enjoy yourselves & I'll see you back here next week! xoxo

And in the mean time, enjoy some photos of a variety of summer fun activities:

Hammock lounging.

Sailboats.

An ice cold Coke (especially in ATL!).


Margaritas (especially anywhere, anytime :)

A nice Braves baseball game.

Busy. Busy. Weekend.

So many things happened (pretty much all good) this weekend, I'm not sure where to start. I went to the Emily Giffin book signing in Buckhead Friday night. Even though she was late because she was in a slight car accidne ton the way over (eek), she was fabulous. And her books are fabulous. I cannot recommend her highly enough: start with Something Borrowed and Something Blue if you are new to her writing. I was also reminded of how much I love Jason's Deli and Lauren and I had a late dinner there.

Saturday started off with a trip to the new Nordstrom Rack in Buckhead (love). I got a Trina Turk very cute (and very beachy) dress for $60! I think the retail was $200. Can't wait to debut it this weekend at le beach. I followed that up with a lovely massage and an afternoon hanging out with the bf. We managed to squeeze in dinner at Six Feet Under (one of my faves in Atlanta, also highly recommended if you love seafood and great views and alcoholic blueberry lemonade!), an appearance at Claire's birthday party, and the hilarious Avenue Q broadway show. Very, very fun.

Sunday was more low key because, frankly, it was too hot to enjoy much of anything. I think this summer is going to be a rough one. John was amazing and installed my new ceiling fan for me (YAY), then we drove to Midtown to visit the High Museum--second weekend in a row for me. Its only a short 5 or 6 block walk there from my office, but it seemed like forever in the 90something degree heat! We made a pit stop at Panera and Target, and then lounged around until it was finally time to get ready for the week ahead. Sigh.

At least this week is only 4 (hopefully) short days! And then its time for...the BEACH! I'm obviously thrilled and cannot wait to go! There's lots of packing and organizing and grocery shopping to do between now and then. Can't wait for Friday!

I hope you all had a great weekend. Is anything fun happening this week?

Sunburnt!

I had a lovely weekend, and I hope all of you did too! I spent Friday night catching up on a marathon of The Hills and Say Yes to the Dress (love both of those shows...and I hadn't watched the Hills since college--major blast from the past). Obviously it was very busy and exhausting-not! Saturday I did even more lounging around because it was very rainy and dark outside. I woke up early and managed to get a nice walk around my apartment complex in before another downpour started. So, I watched tv and enjoyed the rain.

In the afternoon, I finally gave into my permanent Bojangles craving, and drove down to Forest Park to pick up a tailgate special on my way to John's house. Up until this point, it had just been raining. The moment I got into my car and headed toward downtown ATL, the bottom fell out. I'm talking monsoon--torrential rain. It did this for the whole drive. But did I let this deter me from Bojangles? Absolutely not. I drove approximately 40 miles per hour through Atlanta to Bo's, picked up my (phenomenal) tailgate special and drove it to the park in Fayetteville to have a lovely rainy picnic--my favorite! It was under a very nice covered picnic area, and the rain had subsided a little by the time we were eating. We had the whole place to ourselves (except for a possible drug deal that we witnessed...), and it was great.

Sunday was the day of the Renaissance Festival. Oh, yes. I had never been to one before, but it was actually a lot of fun! Highlights included: jousting, a birds of prey show, comedic acrobats, petting zoos, turkey legs, a museum of torture and truly some of the best people watching I have ever experienced. Unfortunately for me, I was burnt to a crisp...ok maybe no that bad, but still pretty red. Overall, Renaissance Festival definitely gets two thumbs up. If you're in the Atlanta area, I highly recommend it. The festival is 8 weekends in Fairburn, GA, and you can buy tickets at Kroger before you go and get $2 off! Photos of the old time fun will be posted later this week :)

And in other excitment, I have a few countdowns:

Raleigh for the weekend--3 more days!
Jekyll Island beach weekend--32 days
BSB concert!!!--38 days (Atlanta friends, I'm sitting on the lawn if you'd like to join!)

What are you looking forward to? Happy week!

Back to reality

Sigh. Back in the office already...I can't believe my beautiful holiday weekend that I had so been looking forward to is already over! I had a really wonderful time and wish I was still in the beach condo right now!

We got down to the beach late Friday night after lots of horrible traffic out of Atlanta. Driving trough Savannah and over the bridge to the island was heaven. I felt immediately happy and relaxed and great. Saturday was rainy all day long--pouring most of the time. I wish it had been sunny and nice, but I honestly kind of enjoy the rain at the beach. Its relaxing, and Andrew and I got to spend lots of time together just playing cards and eating seafood and driving around the island going to tacky beach shops. There were also lots of delicious frozen beverages to be had as well:) Sunday was luckily less rainy, but still very overcast. We walked on the beach and laid out by the pool for a long time, and of course, I got sunburned. Apparently we were getting a lot more sun than we realized--we were both pretty red by the end of the day. I think I got dehydrated too...I didn't feel so hot by the end of the night and we ended up just sitting on the couch, eating pizza and watching movies until bedtime. Monday morning we woke up to absolutely perfect weather--the day we were leaving, of course. We packed up, took one last walk on the beach and drove to Savannah. We had a really great lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Savannah river, which was beautiful. The drive back to Atlanta was nice and quiet, but I was so sad to see the weekend end so quickly. I loved getting to spend so much time with Andrew, and I hope he had a good weekend with me too. I think it was a good test for us--I didn't get tired of him at all, which is saying a lot for me. Being with him 24/7 was actually really nice and I liked getting to know him a little better and being away from everyone with him. I hope he felt the same way:)

Once he dropped me off last night, I got my usual little wave of depression that I get when I'm by myself again after having been with people for a long period of time. I still hate that I feel this way! I wish I could just be happy after having such a great weekend, but instead I just felt a little bit empty. I'm starting to wonder if I really don't like living alone as much as I thought I did? I do cherish my alone time sometimes, but after having someone to constantly be around and talk to all weekend, I just feel lonely when I'm by myself again. I have plenty of friends and family I can call, but sometimes its just not the same. I love that I can call Kristin anytime I need to, and she is always there for me and genuinely understands what I'm feeling. Maybe I've just got a little more homesickness going on...I don't know. Thankfully, this is only a 3 day work week for me, and I get to go home this weekend! I can't wait to see my parents, my cat and my friends.

Thanks for reading all about my craziness. Its kind of helpful to put this stuff out there sometimes:) Overall, I'm a happy girl this week. First grown up boy-girl vacay is checked off the list! And I get to be in North Carolina, the best place in the whole world, in 3 days. In the mean time, there's plenty at work to keep me busy. Although, I'll definitely be making time to post my feelings on last night's intense episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8, since I'm an official blog stalker for them now! Hope you all had a wonderful 3 days!

Holiday Weekend, Baby

Happy Friday! Today is finally the day--my beach trip with Andrew that I've been looking forward to for weeks! Can't wait for sun, sand, ocean, pool time, seafood and some quality time together:) I hope all my lovely readers have a wonderful weekend too. Any big plans? I'd love to hear about them! And if you're a regular reader out there and never leave a comment--I'd love to hear from you too! Drop me a line anytime:) xoxo

Don't these make you happier just by looking at them?

back in the land of the living

I'm back at work and finally feeling relatively back to normal again--hooray! Still not 100%, but about 3576x better than yesterday. Hopefully my nasty illness was just a short-lived virus, and I'll be totally back to normal by tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow: BEACH TIME! I'm unbelievably excited and cannot wait. I did a little packing last night...probably bring waaay too many clothes, considering it's only a 3 day trip. But sometimes I just can't help myself. I need to go to the grocery store for snacks and other deliciousness tonight, and pick up a special graduation present I ordered last week for my favorite cousin. Also, I'm going to bake my peanut butter brownies too! Hopefully I won't be too exhausted after work to get all these things done.

Good things about today:

1. Orange tea with Splenda is amazing, and can bring any person back to life.
2. Chik-fil-a lemonade has the same effect.

3. I like being back in the office and having human contact after my day in bed by myself.

4. Nice weather, although its looking a little rainish out my window right now.

four days until beach time!

Ahh, Tuesday. It's a nice and sunny day in Atlanta, but it was only 53 degrees when I left the house this morning! I had to wear a jacket for the first time in weeks and weeks! It was slightly refreshing, and I'll definitely take what I can get now before the extreme heat of summer sets in.

I have a lovely midweek frolf date planned for tonight, then something yummy for dinner. I've got to remember to pack a snack for the park, though. I guess I still haven't adjusted to some aspects of big city livin'. I like to eat dinner at a reasonable hour! Haha. Anyway, I'm excited to try out my new discs I bought this weekend. It's so weird that I actually am willingly playing a sport, and I really like it! Although throwing frisbees and walking around in the woods isn't exactly high intensity, but at least it gets me outside and moving around!

Not much else going on today. There's lots to do at work before I get to go to the beach on Friday! I hope everyone is having a great week so far!

I wish.

And here I am, posting again, with nothing new to discuss. I am so sleeeeepy today. I am already counting down until about 3:30 break time when I can go get some caffiene and candy. Tonight I must remember to: pay my rent, pack for home tomorrow!, and most importantly sleep. Early. Like, grandma-early. Oh my goodness, I can't wait.

Currently wishing I was asleep on the beach here:

Tybee Island Memorial Day vacay in 23 days and counting. So soon, I didn't even realize! Lots to get done and (hopefully) lots of fun to be had between now and then. Exciting!

Beachy weekend

Another deliciously long weekend is over, and I'm back in the office again. I feel really great today...something about a day off, seeing the ocean and spending a little time with my parents has re-energized me. I'm sure I have Spring to thank for some of the feeling too.

It's nice coming back to work today after having been out of the office for over a week. I really enjoy the travel portion of my job. Even though I'm still working (sometimes longer hours than I actually put in at the office), the change of scenery is so good. I don't care if I get sent to backwoods-wherever, its still nice to get out and see a new little piece of the world.

The weekend getaway was great. We got to Savannah Friday night, and spent all day Saturday riding trolleys all over town, walking by the river front, and eating. Highlight of the weekend (or of my life in general): eating at Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons. Holy hell, it was amazing. Some of the best fried chicken I have ever tasted in my life, and everything else was great too. Sunday we went to Tybee Island, the nearest beach to Savannah and where most Atlantans go to the beach. It was nice--very secluded, but lots of gorgeous, flat sand. Not a whole lot to do, which would be fine in the summer, but since it was still a little chilly this weekend, we couldn't exactly lay out by the pool or go into the ocean. Oh, well. It was still a great place to go to relax, and I hope I get to go back soon! Pictures to come later:)

This week is only a 3 day work week for me! Friday is my usual flex day, so I get to have yet another long weekend. Lucky me:) I hope everyone had a great Easter. I know I'm excited to wear all my summer whites and seersuckers now!

The South Should Not Be This Cold.

Quick update from out of town:

I'm in Clanton, Alabama this week on business. Its a small town--smaller than the last place I was in Alabama, and that's saying a lot. Yesterday afternoon I noticed that one of the biggest restaurants here is a Chinese buffet. In a barn. I don't think I need to even continue. Things are going well, and I'm here with a bigger group of my co-workers, so we've been having a good time. Last night we went out for Mexican food (to one of the very, very few restaurants in town) and I had a delicious pina colada. Hopefully we'll be able to forage for enough food to keep us going the rest of the week without having to eat at the same place every meal. Also, it was 12 degrees colder in Alabama this morning than in BOSTON. Snow flurries last night in ATL! Global warming is not real. Period.

I had an excellent weekend. Went out for dinner to Mellow Mushroom with some new girl friends on Friday night and ate way too much delicious pizza and cinnamon sugar pretzels. Saturday and Sunday I mostly hung out with Andrew. It was the first weekend in a long time that we were both in town and actually free. Saturday was glorious--shorts weather, I had Krystal for the first time, played skee-ball, won a stuffed animal out of one of those claw machines, went to the Aquarium and had dinner downtown at this crazy/tacky island place and split a giant fishbowl drink with extra long straws. Excellent day overall! Sunday I was mostly lazy...packed for my trip and cleaned a little. A and I went out for sushi and saw Fast & Furious. Seeing that movie took me straight back to early high school when the the first one came out. Back when I was hopelessly in love with Paul Walker...sigh.

I'm hoping this week will go by quickly--and it probably will, since I'm out of the office. It's already Tuesday! Can't wait for warmer weather, Savannah and the Beach for Easter weekend!!, hanging out with my parents and eating as many Reese's peanut butter eggs as possible. YUM. Hope you all had a great weekend too, and have a happy Easter week! I'll update about my thrilling life when I can this week:)

Sorry, come back tomorrow...my brain is full.

I have way too many errands to run this week, and random other things to remember. Post office, pay rent, mail off taxes, get new tv, dentist appt, police station....blah, blah, blah. I can't fit anything else into my brain! I normally enjoy running errands, mostly because it gives me an excuse to get out and drive around town a little bit. But this week is overload. Its my flex week, and yet I can't do most of these things on my flex day...grr.

Small rant of the day: this morning I tried to go to the City of Atlanta police station to pick up a copy of my police report so I can get my insurance claim squared away. I was so good--got there at 7:45 (assuming they opened at 8), just so I could find it, park, etc. Traffic was great and I found the place with no problem (Atlanta has the second highest crime rate in the country, so obviously the police headquarters is quite large). But when I finally get to the door, the hours are listed as 9-3:30 and closed on Fridays. WTF?! Could these hours be any more inconvenient? So I had to turn right back around to my apartment and get on the train...at least I left early enough so that I wasn't that late to work!

Now I'm thinking I'll just take a half day off work tomorrow morning to go down to the police station yet again and go to my dentist appt. It might be kind of nice to have a little morning time to run around and get things done in the middle of the week. Plus I need time to mentally prepare for my new dentist--I've only been to one dentist in my entire life. Ever. He was my next door neighbor when I was little. Its going to be so weird showing up for my cleaning tomorrow, and not seeing the usual gang! Just another step to becoming a real Atlantan and real adult...

SO excited for tonight! Not only am I getting my new tv (YAY), but its pop culture trivia night and date night all rolled into one. What a glorious evening. Also SUPER excited because my dad emailed me this morning with a hotel reservation for Easter weekend. A night in Savannah and a night in Tybee Island. Can't wait to finally go to the BEACH!

ocean breezes

Today is one of those days when I am desperately missing North Carolina. Not so much Raleigh or home, but the beach. North Carolina beaches are, in my opinion, the best in the world. I wish I was there right now--in the cold, wind, whatever. Beach memories are some of the very best from my childhood. I'm really hoping to make a few trips to the ocean this summer, even though it'll probably be Georgia sand between my toes. Beach trips, anyone?

TGIT

Happy Thursday! Luckily today is the last day of the work week for me. This afternoon i'm going straight home from work to throw on a tshirt and shorts, watch Gilmore Girls and get some lovely sleep that I didn't get enough of last night. Sounds exciting to me!

This morning I had my interview that I wrote about yesterday. I think it went well, but i'm not sure i'm quite what they are looking for (or that they are quite what i'm looking for), but you never know! Hopefully they'll make a decision by late tomorrow. We shall see. Otherwise today is pretty boring. Last night I saw the House Bunny and thought it was hysterical. I probably appreciated it even more than most because I definitely related to the dorky, unfortunate sorority (Kristin, you will laugh out loud at how similiar it is to what we've always talked about at Wake--go see the matinee). In a lot of ways, its very typical ditzy-blond-gets-a-life kind of movie, but I actually really enjoyed myself and had a good time watching it. It helps that I didn't have to pay:)

I'm off to the beach for the next 3 days! Happy wedding to Jessica & Josh. Hopefully i'll post some pictures once I get back. And hopefully i'll get reeeeally tan. Hah.