Feeling Inspired

I've been suffering through an abnormally long (seeming) workweek--its only Wednesday!--and I've been thinking more about something I can do to jazz up my house a little bit. After I moved in, I was really terrible about hanging pictures, but now I'm feeling inspired to create a small gallery wall in my bedroom. I have a bunch of 4x6 matching white Ikea frames, so I think I'm going to attempt something organized and symmetrical with them. We'll see what I come up with maybe Friday or sometime this weekend!

A few inspiring rooms:

Tonight I'm heading over to Sips n' Strokes with a few Wake Forest friends to do a pretty painting and have Mexican food for dinner! Sounds like a winning combo to me :) I'm having a hard time focusing at the office this afternoon, so I'm daydreaming about my painting and looking forward to having some social time with friends.

But seriously, is it the weekend yet? Does anyone else feel like this week will never end? I hope I'm not alone!

Bachelorette weekend!

I'm so excited that one of my bffs Sara and (most of) her bridal party will be arriving on my doorstep tomorrow afternoon for her bachelorette weekend! We have some very fun things planned, which I'll have to share later because Sara is a reader of this blog and I can't spoil any of the surprises. I'll just say that food, paint-penning and crowns will be involved. Yay!

21st Birthday Throwbacks :)

My house is officially clean and ready for visitors. Its amazing how much having a house guest will get your behind in gear to do things around the house. In the past three weeks alone, I finished painting my bedroom, moved some furniture around, hung some pictures, made a headboard, created an entire guest bed and shoved lots of extra things that had been lying around the guest room floor in a closet. My house is a new place!

I hope you all have fabulous weekends, and I'll report back on all the bachelorette fun next week!

Too.Much.Fun.

Hi friends,

I apologize up front for abandoning the blog for most of October, but I've had good reason! So many good things have been happening, that I haven't found myself in front of my computer with extra time to share. I'm going to try to get back on the wagon now though. Here's a few things that have been going on lately with me:

-Went to Alabama, and really enjoyed myself. I spent a week in Florence & Sheffield, and had a great time! I even remembered to take a few photos, so you all could go on a virtual walking tour :)
-Visited John's parents in Thomson, GA a couple of weekends ago, and enjoyed some time with his family.
-Flew home to NC last Wednesday and had a blast. One of the best long weekends in recent memory. Had an amazing day at the State Fair with my fam, and then a fabulous homecoming weekend at Wake Forest, the Best Place In The World. Pictures to come, but last night I was too exhausted to upload anything.
-Had lunch with childhood bff Julie while I was home, and I'm thrilled that she asked me to be the maid of honor in her upcoming wedding. There is so much fun planning to be done (including a shower hosted by me, so if you have tips, send them my way please!).

So, I've basically been eating and drinking too much, and have been having too much fun. There are worse predicaments to be in. Need to get back on the healthy eating wagon, and get my butt in gear to clean & fix up my house before the bachelorettes descend upon me this weekend. I'm excited about that, too!

In other news, the headboard is finally finished, and has been assembled into a real life bed in my guest room! Pictures/tutorial to follow, but really--it was insanely easy, and I'm really happy with the results. Huge thanks to John for doing all the hard work parts :)

I hope y'all have been doing well lately and having as much fun as me! I feel like i've been in a constant state of tired, but its been so, so worth it. I have the best friends in the whole world. xoxo

Good Things Happening

Greetings from the Quad Cities! I'm in Sheffield/Florence, Alabama this week for work, and I'm really enjoying myself here. I've been twice before, and I remembered having fun here, but I've really grown to like Florence on this trip. The weather is amazing (think 78 degrees and sunny), the scenery is gorgeous (I drive over a big bridge over the Tennessee river to get to work from the hotel in the morning) and the town is so quaint. Big trees and big old houses, very cute shops and a local university (UNA). I had a very long walk through the downtown yesterday, and its so pleasant to see an old downtown in a little town that's actually bustling. I'm looking forward to another walk today, and hopefully i'll get some pictures to share with y'all.

That's pretty much been my whole week thus far, just working and enjoying some small town life. Not looking forward to a 5 hour trip back to Atlanta tomorrow, but things could be worse :) I am, however, looking forward to a long-overdue haircut on Friday, and a trip to Raleigh and Winston-Salem next week! Oh, and a holiday from work on Monday (thank you, Christopher Columbus!). Homecoming, the State Fair, so many friends and family...it might just be too much for me to handle. Then after that, I'm hosting SCD's bachlorette weekend in Hotlanta and am taking another trip home after that for her wedding. I am so so looking forward to the next month's worth of activities. And on top of that, my best friend from childhood, Julie, and her fiance Michael just got engaged last week and have set a date for March 24! That's my half birthday :) I can't wait to be in both of these weddings. So much fun to celebrate my favorite people!

You know what else is fun? Eating at Bojangles. Yum.

And, something else? Seeing my fridge fill up with pretty invites (thanks, Sara :).

DC/Pennsylvania weekend

This weekend I flew up to DC to visit Sarina and to go to the Penn State v. Alabama football game with her! I was planning on hanging around DC and exploring a little on my own on Friday morning while Sarina had an appointment, but the major rainstorm kept me from doing any of that. Around lunchtime, we hopped in the car and drove to Altoona, PA where she is from and where her parents still live. I had so much fun visiting with the 3 of them and getting a guided tour of Altoona from Sarina. We even made it to Bendel's pretzel factory (side note: Altoona is practically the snack food capital of the US...they make candy, pretzels, chips and more there!). We spend all of Saturday tailgating and watching the big game! Unfortnately it was a loser for PSU, but I still had a fantastic time. The stadium holds about 108,000 people all wearing white for the whiteout game. Insanity. I was very overwhelmed, but it was an amazing experience. Once we got home we watched the WF v. NC State game on dvr and Wake actually won! We couldn't believe it.

A pretty view from the guest room at Sarina's parents' home. I loved waking up to a cloud hovering in the valley!

Alabama haters. Hehe.



The view from my seat. Amazing.

I flew home yesterday from DC without any problems (thankfully). I got sucked into watching an amazing documentary on the History Channel last night that used raw footage from people on the ground at the World Trade Center 10 years ago. It was heartbreaking and amazing to watch 10 years later, and sad to think some of the people in the footage lost their lives or lost loved ones on that terrible day. I certainly will never forget where I was on September 11, 2001. I was in 10th grade in Raleigh, NC, I can can remember everything so vividly. What I was wearing, where I was when someone told us what had happened..unreal. I am thankful that September 11, 2011 passed by quietly.

Kristin's Visit

KStew came to visit a few weekends ago, and we had an awesome time! We mostly shopped, ate, walked around Piedmont Park and went on the Red Brick Brewery tour (thanks Groupon!) on Saturday afternoon. Enjoy the fabulous photos:

Bff at the brewery

John loving life

And modeling.


K in the park




Evil ducks!

Too much good stuff

Lydia and Warren are married! And I had the best weekend I've had in a loooong time. Being around college friends is always the best, especially at such a happy and wonderful occasion (and being at the beach doesn't hurt either). Here's a run down of the fun:

-Emily and I have a fabulous road trip down to Florida on Friday, complete with McDonald's Happy Meal Barbies.
-I saw the ocean for the first time this year and ate some delicious shrimp and grits with my hot date.
-We made friends with some WF boys in the elevator, and were so happy we had someone under the age of 50 to talk to at the beautiful cocktail party on Friday night.
-Em and I got really, really sun burnt while over-zealously laying out all Saturday morning.
-Erin and Al arrived and we had the best night ever at the wedding, cocktail hour, reception and after party. Too much fun (and too many drinks) were had by all!
-We enjoyed a delicious brunch back at the Ritz Carlton on Sunday morning (dining at the Ritz 3 days in a row has really put a damper on my normal life now that I'm back home, fyi).
-Al left us, but Erin, Em and I had a lovely afternoon of Loop milkshakes, shopping in historic Fernandina and having a very romantic dinner on the waterfront. Bliss.

And then Monday morning arrived and we had to go home (SAD). But here's a few photos to reminiscence about, and for y'all to enjoy!

Thank goodness for Blackberry cameras.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have any pictures.

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

Horrible photo of me, but I heart Matthew :)

Snow wonderland in NC

Pilot's first real snow!

Me, looking like a snow gnome

Beautiful snow

Fabulous rainy day

I woke up this morning to thunderstorms! I love storms and rainy weather in general, and I submit that waking up to a summer thunderstorm on a Friday (when you get to leave work a little early:) is the very best way to wake up. I know, its even better on a Saturday with no where to go and nothing to do...but an early afternoon is the closest I can get today.

I'm very excited about going to the Emily Giffin book signing tonight with my friend Lauren. Ms. Giffin is one of my favorite authors, and she's also a WFU alum! There's going to be a meet and greet for all the Deacs, followed by the signing of her new book in the Buckhead Borders tonight. Any friends in Atlanta, you should stop by!

Otherwise, I think this weekend will be a busy, but good one. John and I are attending my friend Claire's birthday dinner party on Saturday, and then heading to Avenue Q. I'm so excited to see what the funny Tony-winning musical is all about. I think we'll also visit the High this weekend so he can check out the Automobile exhibit that I saw last weekend. I'm almost ashamed to admit that my most favorite part of the weekend will probably be when J installs my new ceiling fan for me! Heaven!

What are y'all up to this weekend? Something fabulous, I hope :)

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

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!

Friends

I apologize for the lack of blogging this week, but its been a pretty busy week out of the office. The good news is that we got lots of things done in just a few days, and i'm excited to be Atlanta-bound this afternoon. I can't wait to see my meat-n-eat group tonight. We're meeting at a cute place on the Marietta Square where the girls took me one night about a month ago. Its been ages since I spent any time with the girls--I hope we have lots of time to hang out this weekend before my marathon month-o-travel. I definitely want to get to see my friend Kate too, because she's moving back to Mississippi soon and I'll miss her once she leaves!

Right now I'm mostly excited for these reasons:

1. Kristin will be here in 4 days!! I am thrilled to see her. Although we talk on almost a daily basis, I haven't seen her since our New Orleans trip back in February. She is the best friend I could ask for, and she has been so wonderful to listen to me complain/be sad/be crazy on the phone in these last couple of months. I wish Monday night would hurry up and get here already!

2. Sarina will be here next weekend! Another one of my closest friends on the world, I am so lucky to have her. She is another person who's nice enough to put up with my insanity on the phone. I haven't seen Sarina since last fall at Wake homecoming...way too long ago.

3. Washington DC reunion with Ash, Katie, Kristin, Sarina and Emily in less than a month! This makes me unbelievably happy on so many levels. I can't even think about it right now, because I'll just want to speed up time and get to DC already!

I'm so thankful for my summer of reunions. My friends from Wake are some of my dearest friends in the world. They probably know me better than anyone else, and I feel like I can share anything with them. They have been so wonderful to me in the past couple of months when I've had lots of craziness going on and needed my best friends to get me through...and that's saying a lot considering they are all hundreds of miles away from me. I love them so much and can't wait to see them and hang out with them and just have fun. I don't say it enough, but I'm such a lucky girl. I have more wonderful friends in my life than anyone could ask for, and it seems like I keep making new ones in Georgia all the time. Hooray!

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 Holiday!

I can't believe its Thursday already. It's been a busy week at work and at home in the evenings, since I wasn't here last weekend to do all of the little things that seem to pile up. Same story this weekend! It's kind of strange, but very nice to be in NC two weekends in a row. I can't wait to see my friends and fam, see some fireworks, eat lots of delicious food, etc. Should be a fabulous weekend at home. Hopefully lots of fun plans on Friday and Saturday with Em, Be, and most importantly Matthew! Can't wait.

And then I get to come back here Sunday afternoon, just to turn around and pack again to go to Alabama on Monday. Should be a thrill. Thus begins the super busy but hopefully fun-packed second half of my summer.

Other good news: I've been meeting lots of fabulous (young) people at work. I didn't really think there were any more under-30s out there, but it turns out I was wrong. I met a really cool new girl (who happens to live across the street and is in need of a roommate in the fall...hmm), had lunch with a friend from HR I rarely see, and met a few cute new guys:) AND to top it all off, one of my dear old friends from Raleigh (who I went to school K-12 with) has just moved back to Atlanta. Can't wait to see her and meet her friends here hopefully very soon! Definitely lots to be excited about!

Oh, and really to top it all off, I got a raise at work! How thrilling. Such a good week:)

Have a lovely 4th of July weekend everyone! I'll post whenever I get a chance since I'll be on the road next week. xoxo.

PS. I finally bought the Lady Gaga cd and it's pretty fantastic (and totally uncharacteristic).

Summer-o-fun

Two weeks from today Kristin will be here in Atlanta--yay! And Sarina will be here just a couple of days after that! I'm so lucky to have friends who can come visit me...if only they lived here full time. I also realized today that in just over a month I'll be in Washinton D.C. for two whole weeks for work purposes, but also there over the weekends, and I'll get to have a reunion with some of the very best people in the whole world. I miss my friends from Wake so desperately sometimes...it will be better than wonderful to finally see some of them again.

There really is so, so much to look forward to. Seeing friends, traveling the country, visiting home. All so great. Plus, hanging out with my friends here in the (short) meantimes that I'll actually be in town. My goal for the summer is to actually go to a Braves game. I feel like I'm not really a true Atlantan until I do (and we all know that I'll be more interested in the hotdogs and beverages than actual baseball, of course:). I'm also planning on taking as much advantage of my pools (and gym...ick) as I can this summer. Might as well enjoy, on the few occasions when I actually have nothing to do in the evenings.

Other things I'm excited about:
-out to lunch today at a new Asian place, Silk, in Midtown
-my ugly grandma chair is being recovered this week in NC! I can't wait to see the finished product...my living room looks so naked without it.
-more cooking tonight on my GF grill
-pool time
-fireworks in WF on Friday night with mom and maybe Erin!
-finally seeing my beloved Matthew and Emily this weekend at home..its been far too long
-reading new books
-overhauling my closet space in my apt...its amazing how out-of-control my pantry, linen closets, etc have gotten in the past 7ish months

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!

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!