Rain+dark sky=extra caffiene needed.

Back in ATL after a fabulous Raleigh weekend. I purposely didn't make many plans while I was home this weekend, and that was an excellent call on my part. It was nice to be at home, run errands and shop with Mom, and just generally hang around town and relax. I always forget just how relaxing it is to be in my hometown. Home is peaceful and quiet and green everywhere. You can actually hear birds and insects and not the usual city noise I'm used to now. Atlanta is many things, but "relaxing" isn't really one of them. At least I haven't really discovered my relaxing places here just yet. I have very ambitious plans for exploring Piedmont Park and going to free concert Wednesdays in Centennial Park all summer, but as of right now the most relaxing place I can go around here is the mall (I know, I'm strange..the mall has always relaxed me). But, I really need a place to go where I don't spend tons of cash:)

Needless to say, I had a lovely time in good old NC and didn't do anything terribly special. The book sale was great (I fed my art history habit and got a ton of great/huge art history books...too bad I couldn't bring them back to ATL on the plane. oops) and I had an awesome dinner with Erin on Saturday night at North Hills. I did some quality window shopping by myself before I met her and soaked in a little of the place where I used to spend soo much of my time. It was really nice. The creme brulee cheesecake I had at dinner made me very happy too!

As great as the weekend was, I was ready to come back south yesterday afternoon. I take this as a good sign, considering how torn I've been feeling lately..missing home and feel lonely and whatnot. But I'm hoping that was just a little phase of the last few weeks. Something about May (the best month of the year, in my opinion) has given me a new lease on life.

Last night once I got back home from the airport, I went to A's house where he made me delicious fajitas, even though it was raining too much to grill outside, and we watched bad Sunday night tv as usual. I've been dragging this morning, despite my best efforts to caffienate with the extra bold brew. Tonight I'm looking forward to doing some laundry, unpacking from the weekend and going to bed early. I'm finally taking my work exam on Wednesday morning, so its like final exam cram time for me for the next two days. I feel like a college student again! If only..
I hope y'all had excellent weekends too and are having a happy Monday:)

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!

One of those days

I can already tell its going to be one of those days where I post about 15 times, because the internet is full of treasures and tidbits!

First: super shocking (or maybe not so much) story and photos from US Weekly. Jon (from Jon and Kate Plus 8, of course) leaving da club at 2 am with some mystery chick while Kate is away on a book tour. Uh oh! I must admit that I do watch the show (one of my guiltiest pleasures, along with Secret Life of the American Teenager and Tough Love on VH1), and although I can't blame Jon for wanting to get out of the house away from the kids and (very nagging) wife, what the heck is he thinking? Can't wait to see how this one pans out.

Second: The Hurricanes won their first series of the NHL playoffs last night in a crazy last minute win! Although I admit that I was out and didn't actually watch the game (shame on me), I'm so excited! Good for them, and I hope they can go all the way to the Stanley Cup this year! Side note: between my March Madness obsession this year, my recent foray into frisbee golf and this, when did I get so sporty??

Third: I was robbed of my NC BBQ in Atlanta experience last night. We drove to the restaurant only to find it closed (permanently?), but the sign said "visit our other location at XYZ address", which we obviously did. It was the catering headquarters which is only open for lunch on Fridays. WTF? I was so looking forward to a mountain of meat for dinner...sigh. We ended up getting some delicious Mexican food, so I was alright:) I'm pretty sure that I'm going to require a trip to the good old Barbeque Lodge in Raleigh this weekend though!

Fourth: Andrew is much more tech-savvy than I am, and last night he bought be a cord for my computer to hook into my tv. So now I can watch online tv shows and youtube videos on my big screen! Its so wonderful..who knew?

Fifth: Thank the Lord for Starbucks extra bold blend in the cafeteria downstairs. Not enough sleep last night=caffiene is my best friend today. Hopefully I can stay awake and get lots of work done today. I just hate days when that first thing I think of in the morning is "what time can I get back in my bed tonight?". Its just one of those days.

Sixth: My mood continues to be excellent, despite the extreme sleepiness. I think I was just a little crazy over the weekend, but that's nothing new for me. Overall, I'm lucky to be a happy, independent and generally not overly emotional person. Sometimes a little crazy spills out...it happens.

Seventh: Again, A. might be one of the best people ever. He has a free companion ticket from all of his Skymiles that he has to use before July, which means I might have a free ride to NYC to visit K one last time before she leaves the city. How perfect is that?

Coffee is my savior

Currently: hyped up on "extra bold" Starbucks coffee, and hoping I don't get super sleepy again before lunch. I'm definitely going to need to stay caffeinated all day, due to a serious sleep shortage last night. Tonight I'm reinstating old lady bedtime. Perhaps I need some tunes to keep me alert in the cube this morning too.

Looking forward to:
1. This weekend. Always Sunny in Philadelphia marathon, maybe some frisbee golf if the weather is nice, and hopefully making something delicious out of my new Paula Deen "Just Desserts" cookbook!
2. Raleigh, the first weekend in May,
3. Back to Tybee Island for Memorial Day weekend! Yipee!
4. Raleigh, the last weekend in May. And I get to be Erin's hot wedding date. So excited. I love going to at least one good wedding every year.
5. Sleeping tonight.
6. Friday off.
7. Some quality phone time with some faves soon (hopefully).
8. Pollen going away.
9. Getting my tax refunds.
10. Reading a new book--I'm taking suggestions!

Happy Hump Day

Currently: eating fried corn nuggets (I feel like I'm at the state fair) and listening to awesome 90s music in my cube while I work. Its a little dreary outside again...all gray out my window, but I'm definitely grateful that all the pollen is being washed away by the rain. Pollen is my mortal enemy in the spring.

I took the morning off work today, and I'm really glad I did. I got to the police station and picked up my report so I can finally file my insurance claim! I also went to the dentist--only the second dentist I've ever been to in my life, and it was great! The people were so nice and told me I have very pretty teeth:) I wish I could have slept in a little later...I set the alarm for 8:45 but woke up at 6:30. Grrr. That's earlier than I get up on a normal day. And last night was a late night, as date nights during the week usually are:) Andrew and I went to get my new tv (upgrade from my old one!), set it up, went to dinner and trivia and then came back to my place and watched as much bad reality tv as possible to test out the new set. I had a really great time. But again, I don't like interruptions to my sleep schedule, so I was dragging this morning. Tonight I need to go to the post office, pay my rent, and take back some library books. Something tells me I'll be so exhausted that I won't actually do any of those things, and I'll save them all for my Friday off (except the rent, of course). I probably won't be able to pry myself away from my glorious new tv!

Middle of the week...I suppose its time to start thinking of weekend plans again. Hopefully Andrew and I will spend some QT together since we haven't both been in ATL for a weekend in a while. I also might do some more outlet mall shopping with my new friend Leslie, or hang out at my other friend Sarah's house. I'm so lucky to have met so many great people lately!

Awesome link of the day: Kristin's latest blog entry. The Latin nerd within is rejoicing:)

Happy days

Last day of the work week for me! Tomorrow morning (too bright and early) I will be on a plane to New Orleans and Kristin! Definitely could not be more excited. Ok, maybe I could be more excited if I had gotten slightly more sleep last night...i'm really unsure how I feel about dating interfering with my week night sleep schedule. Trivia was really fun, although we were robbed and did not win, and we sat around talking for a long time afterwards which was great. But me in bed anytime after midnight on a weeknight is BAD news. I had to drink black coffee this morning just to function. Tonight my bedtime will be approx 9:00 pm, and I'm pretty thrilled about it.

Still need to pack, clean my apartment, take out my trash, pay some bills and many other mundane things I hate doing during the week. This never-in-Atlanta situation is a little rough, but at least I'll have most of Sunday to wrap things up before I head to the big city of Calera, Alabama next week for work!