Forgive me

I've been a terrible blogger lately. I've pretty much abandoned this thing for the last few weeks, but hopefully that means I've been out living life and having fun instead of sitting around writing about it? Hmm...maybe.

So, a little bit of a September recap is needed. Disney was lovely and wonderful, but definitely not relaxing. I think it took me a week of sleep just to catch up! I was in Birmingham all last week for work, which was also fun. I like the city. We stayed downtown near the Five Points area (does every city in America have a Five Points? I think yes), and went to some great restaurants. I had delicious BBQ--NOT NC style--one night, and we went to a fabulous place called Highland Bar & Grill to celebrate my birthday a day early. We split lots of amazing appetizers including baked grits and spiny lobster tails, but the best part was definitely dessert. I had a chocolate bread pudding which was to die for. I also tasted the creme brulee which was like velvet. Delicious!

Luckily, we left Birmingham a day early, and I got to come back to ATL for my birthday. Honestly, any birthday after 21 is not really exciting, and a little bit of a let down. I loved the excuse to get my friends together, play trivia and drink martinis (and go to a crazy 80s dance party with the weirdest people I have ever seen), but the day didn't feel that special. I enjoyed it, and hopefully 23 will have a lot to offer this year! Friday I flew to Raleigh and had an awesome weekend at home. Pretty lazy overall--the most adult thing I did was get my own cell phone plan...it pained me to split off from my parents plan, but you've got to cut the apron strings eventually, right? I can barely even use my new phone, which makes me feel like an old person! I guess I'll just have to read the manual..sigh. I did some shopping, went to dinner at the Angus Barn, as is the usual bday tradition, and then got to see my wonderful friends on Sunday for dinner and a movie. FYI for anyone interested in seeing Love Happens, the new Jennifer Anniston movie: its a total downer. Just be prepared. Monday I took the day off and visited SCD at her school and got to see her classroom. It was so perfect, but I'd expect nothing less from her.

And now its back to the work grind for a couple of days. I'm only in the office for a 3 day week (only 2 now!), then I flex on Friday, and leave for class in Minneapolis for a week before homecoming at Wake next weekend!! So excited to go back to Winston! And in the mean time, so fairly exciting stuff is going on in my personal life, but I'll leave that update for another day :)

I hope you all are fabulous and are having a lovely start to fall. It was 55 degrees here this morning when I left my apartment! I love crisp weather, and I was not at all sad to say goodbye to this summer and close that chapter all together. Fall is definitely my favorite season, and I'm so glad its upon us. Has anything exciting happened with any of my awesome blog friends out there? Don't be shy! xoxo

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.

Happy Friday-ish!

I'm so excited its the last day of the work-week for me. Tonight mom and I are going to the High Museum for some live jazz and we're going to make dinner--fresh scallops from Publix. Delicious! Last night we went out for Mexican food (I discovered a new place--new to me--on Ponce in the Highlands called El Azteca...yum) and lounged around on noodles in the pool for about an hour. Lovely. Its so nice to have her here! Since she had no plans for today, she's going to pick us up some cupcakes from this bakery called Matty Cakes right by my apartment. Supposedly the best red velvet in Atlanta. I'll be the judge of that tonight:)

Otherwise life is trudging along as usual. I'm trying to enjoy my time in the office during these two weeks, because I know I'll be gone so much for the rest of the summer. But honestly, its the middle of summertime and I'm seriously lacking in motivation. I'm getting all of my assignments done, but I have no motivation to go above and beyond to do things that aren't due for a while. Even though its the perfect time to do them. Sigh. I think procrastination may have finally caught up with me, and my brain is crying out for a summer vacay. Oh, to be in school again:) Scratch that--I will be for two weeks at the beginning of August in D.C. Yay!

This weekend at home I'm looking forward to: Friday night with Erin on Glenwood South (we both need a night out, let's be honest), lunch with Sara, dinner with the fam, and hopefully seeing Be and Emily, whom I have not seen in longer than I'd like to remember. So much to look forward to!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Teehee

Cartoon from msn.com

No comment on J&K+8 today, but I just had to share that:)

I'm pretty excited because my Mom is coming back down to Atlanta this afternoon! She'll be here for the next couple of days, and then we'll drive back to N.C. together on Friday morning. I'm looking forward to her being here, because I rarely have anyone to hang out with during the week. As much as I like my alone time, it'll be fun to have her here to go to Trader Joe's with me and to listen to jazz music at the High Museum tomorrow night! I also can't wait to go home this weekend and see some of my best friends. All that's standing in the way is a couple of busy days at work--I think I can handle it!

Hope you all have a happy hump day & enjoy the extra hot weather if you're anywhere near Atlanta!

As of late.

I had a lovely visit from my mom and Granny this weekend. We did very girly things, such as outlet mall shopping, visiting the High museum of art for the new Monet exhibit (disappointing...I'm pretty sure they could've gotten more than four freaking paintings to do an entire exhibit), and eating. I had a wonderful time and it was really nice to have company in my apartment for an extended period of time! I'm so used to hanging out there by myself, it was nice to have someone to cook with and talk to and go to the pool with for 3 straight days!

It was weird not to be with my dad on Father's Day for the first time ever. We had a nice chat on the phone, but nothing can really replace actually spending time with family. I love and miss all the mother's and father's days growing up when my whole family would come over and my dad would grill delicious steaks for us and my mom would make me wash all the dainty glass bowls in the house for a pretty salad bar on the kitchen counter. Ahh, the memories:) Regardless, I am happy to get to see my dad this weekend when I will be in NC!
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A few summer resolutions I have made as of late:

1. Cook often, and make a variety of things. I've decided that I'm never going to learn or get into the habit of cooking if I don't force myself to do it now. I'm even thinking of taking a week at the end of the summer and forcing myself to make a different meal 7 nights in a row. Think I can handle it?

2. Go to the pool after work. I have two pools in my apartment complex, and I need to use them while I've got them. I went the past 3 nights with Mom and it was great. I didn't realize how relaxing it was until I went 3 nights in Florida last week by myself, and then again all weekend. It does the body and mind a lot of good.

3. No turning down invitations. Parties, meals, just hanging out and playing games. Doesn't matter. If my lovely friends here invite me and I'm (shockingly) in town, I will go. Hanging out and meeting new people is excellent fun.

4. Read read read. I bought some new books last week, and we all know already how much I love the public library. I'm going to take myself back to the olden days of summer reading lists in the next couple months, except this time its going to be exactly what I want to read. Suggestions are welcome! (And thanks to Kristin for making me buy Why Men Love Bitches. Highly informative, fabulous and pertinent. I can't wait to finish it...every girl needs to read it. Period.)

Greetings from Cajun Country

Hello from Louisiana! I'm having a lovely Central Time afternoon. I was ravenous by lunch time (being an hour behind), so I just scarfed down a large Mexican meal with my cokworkers, and am ready for a nap. Travel work days are always hard, because my brain doesn't get into thinking mode very easily after spending the entire morning in the car or on a plane. Especially since I was just on a plane coming back from Raleigh yesterday. Ick.

My weekend at home was excellent. I love being with my parents and my kitty and my best friends. Something about driving around Raleigh and sharing meals with the people who know me best makes me unbelievably happy and at ease. I wish I could recreate that feeling here, but I'm not sure the comfort of home is something that can be recreated period. We all know how much I needed to get out of town for a few days, and I made the most out of my short time there. If only I could've stayed another week...sigh.

And of course, now I'm out of town yet again. I flew in yesterday afternoon, shopped a little with Claire (so excited to see her again--and *gasp* she might be roommate potential since she just bought a house and has extra rooms!!). You have no idea how thrilled I was at the thought of having someone to live with again. Eeek! And if the roommate thing doesn't work out, at least now that I've seen Claire again, I'll hopefully have somewhere to hang out when I'm bored and need a friend:) Also (hilariously), Claire and I came to discover that Andrew and Claire's dad are in the same all men's cooking club. Small world indeed.

So overall, I'm feeling a little better but still missing home. Its nice to still be out of town this week and away from my lonely apartment. And so much to look forward to when I get back into town next weekend: Claire's house, Sarah's cookoutpalooza and Andrew will finally be back in town! I've missed him a lot and can't wait to see him again..I hate to be sappy, but its true!

I hope everyone had a glorious weekend and a not so bad Monday so far!

Release.

Thank goodness for good friends. As I have said many, many times before and will say many, many times in the future, my friends help me so much and I am endlessly thankful for them. Obviously its been a tough week in a lot of different ways. I'm happy to report I am no longer on the verge of tears at the office--thank goodness. I called Erin last night just to check in to see what was going on with her and to hopefully schedule a date this weekend, and ended up totally breaking down and not even meaning to. Ugh. I felt bad to unleash everything on to her, but honestly felt about 100% better after I got it all out and talked about all my craziness out loud.

Now I'm just counting down until I get to go home tonight! I can't wait to get out of Atlanta and be away from everything here for a few days. Work is a little stressful, but hopefully everything will wrap up nicely before I go out on the road next week. Lots to do!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and here's to hoping that my weekend is the boost I've been needing all week!

Not so good.

Another day...still feeling so blah. Actually a little more than blah, just sort of sad and lonely overall. I feel like I've been on the verge of tears for the past 3 days. Why? I do not know. I hate feeling like this. Maybe its just a phase, maybe its homesickness that I didn't realize I had. Maybe I've just got too much time on my hands to think about my life, and I've just started going crazy. Ugh, I'm getting emotional just sitting here typing this, and I'm not sure how to make it better.

Everytime I've felt a little depressed or lonely since I've been here, its been shortlived. I'll have dinner with someone, hang out with Andrew or just come to the office and talk with my coworkers, and I feel better. I've never been on the verge of tears at work, and obviously don't want to be. This would be easier if I could pinpoint what is wrong. I have lots of people who love me. I love lots of people I can call anytime I need to. I have even made a few friends here who I think would be there for me whenever I needed them. I've got Andrew, who is wonderful and who I love spending time with. I get it--I'm lucky. But that doesn't make it any easier when I'm going through days like the last few. Sigh.

I'm so looking forward to being in Raleigh tomorrow, I can't even describe it. I want to see my best friends, hang out with my parents, and pretend like I don't lead a totally separate adult life in another state for a few days. And then first thing Monday morning I'm jetting off again for work. At least I only have one more night by myself--I like keeping busy and having lots of people to have dinner with, even if it is my coworkers on a business trip! And by the time I get back from that, my friend Sarah is having a big cookout and Andrew will be back in town from his vacay. I don't like the fact I won't see him for almost 2 weeks, but he deserves a nice vacation, and I know it'll be a good miss for us:) I'll just be really happy to see him when we both get back into town.

Ugh, ok. Enough with the depressing post for now. Thanks for continuing to read, my dear friends, even when my blog is boring and sad and doesn't really say much at all. I appreciate you all so much and am lucky to have you interested in my life. Hopefully this mood will improve later!

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!

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!

Long weekend--hooray!

I got to come home from Alabama yesterday after all! Yay! Unfortunately we didn't get to leave AL until about 5 pm Eastern time, but we booked it back home and made really good time to Atlanta. I was back in my apartment by 8pm. Awesome. I dumped my stuff off and went to dinner with A. He took me to this awesome Mexican place he had been to before--very authentic and everything is ala carte, so you can try a bunch of different things at once. It was very tasty.

Today I'm finishing up some work from the "home office". It was so nice to sleep in a little bit today. And my parents are coming down later this afternoon so that we can head to Savannah and Tybee Island for Easter weekend. Double Yay! I am so excited for some relaxation and I can't wait to stick my feet in the sand. Mmm, I'm happier already just thinking about it.

I hope y'all have a fantastic (hopefully) long weekend. I'll be back to the grind and back to the blog next week!

Where did spring time go??

Rainy, gray day in Atlanta. I just got back from a nice team lunch with my co-workers. Excellent food, and I really like my co-workers. Pretty decent day overall (plus: there is an ice cream sundae bar this afternoon!!).

Last night Mom and I made dinner and walked around my apartment complex. I finally found the tennis courts and "urban veggie garden"...I'm going to try to force myself to take a few laps around every night now that the weather is better. Its so nice having Mom here this week, and just having someone at home at the end of the workday. Its something that I didn't really realize that I missed when I moved in Georgia. She's leaving tomorrow though, so it'll be back to business as usual:(

Still not sure what I'll be up to this weekend. I'm not exactly looking forward to it--Mom will be gone, A will be out of town, and other than dinner on Saturday night, I'm pretty much on my own. And without my lovely tv. Sigh. One thing I DON'T need to do is shop...I hit the outlets pretty hard this weekend, so spending extra money is not a good option. Maybe I'll get some good extra sleep and do some walking around and exploring. Maybe I'll go to the High Museum too. That always makes me happy:) Any good weekend ideas, my friends? I miss you and wish you were here to hang out with me (hint hint:come visit!).

Feeling like myself again.

Its amazing what having my mom come to my rescue has done for my mood:) She got here last night and I instantly felt more secure. I slept well and actually woke up happy for the first time since last week. Not sure how long Mom is staying, but I think I'll finally be back to normal by the time she leaves. I need to make some fun plans for the weekend that I can look forward to for the rest of the week.

Things that make my happy right now:
1. My job and my work friends. Thank goodness I'm not alone in Atlanta.
2. My family and fabulous friends. Its nice to know I have plenty of people I can call when I'm scared or pissed off. Not everyone is so lucky.
3. Spring!
4. Fried chicken and sweet tea. They are as good as medicine for me and my spirits. Not that I had any doubts before.
5. A. He is sweet and takes good care of me.
6. Reading good books. Its amazing what turning off the tv can do for a person.
7. Wearing shorts.