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

Nostalgia

I've been having a couple of very nostalgic/sad-for-no-reason-except-missing-things days. It all started the other night when I went to a Stella and Dot jewelry party (love!) with my friend Jenn, and her friend Caroline who I had never met. Caroline is a music teacher, and told me about an adult singing group she's in called Collegium. Collegium is the choir I sang in all 4 years at Wake! I told her that I had sung in a choir non-stop from 6th grade through every semester of college. She encouraged me to look into joining, and I'm definitely thinking about it! I just hope my traveling work schedule will allow.

Yesterday I was trolling around facebook, as I so often do to waste hours of my life, and I saw that one of my friends had recently connected with Dr. Gorelick, the music professor at WF, and director of the Collegium choir I was in all those semesters. It was so fun to see his profile and befriend him online! Also of note: Dr. G is Kenny G's brother. The G stands for Gorelick. Fantastic! So anyway, both of those things added up to me being very sad and missing my former singing life, and mostly my Wake Forest life. Ugh.

I took Collegium every semester during my 4 years at Wake--every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:30. It was an hour of my life that was not consumed by business school or writing papers or much thinking in general. Pure fun! I miss that. The last Collegium class I went to right before I graduated was when all the sadness of leaving college hit me for the first time. The rest of the class got little gifts and flowers for the seniors, and I remember hugging Dr. G and crying all the way back to my dorm room. Thinking about that day right now still makes me sad, and makes me long for those Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Today at 4:30 I'll probably be getting ready to leave work, go home and make myself some dinner, and get ready for another work day tomorrow. Then, I would've walked home after choir, talked to Erin about her day, eaten dinner at the Pit and hung out with my friends until a late(r) bedtime. I miss it!

Alright, enough reminiscing about that. I am excited for homecoming in the fall, and will be content dreaming about moving back to NC one day! As for other excitements, John is running a 5k this weekend at the Green Bean Festival in Blairsville, GA in the mountains! I can't wait...you all know I love a good festival. Then we're going tubing on the river. So excited.

Any fun weekend plans, friends? Any nostalgia for a time gone by that you'd like to share? Just curious :)

Homecoming in W-S

Beautiful Groves Stadium. Too bad we lost...boo.

My loves at the game!

Tailgating somewhat successfully.

Yay Homecoming!

Sarina being a tourist.

Having a seance over the grill.

Bff & me at Finnegan's.

Matthew!

Bigs at the sparkly bar.

I had the best weekend in a long while. I always love going back to Winston and seeing all the people I love the most! W-S is the best :)

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 :)

Graduation Day 2010

I can't believe I can say that I graduated from Wake Forest 2 years ago today (actually two years ago on the 19th, but it was a Monday). I feel old! But I want to offer my congratulations to all the new Deacon alums. My graduation day was so special and great--I actually felt like I had achieved something that day. And then I cried all the way home. :) I love and miss WF, but I hope everyone is having a fabulous grad day today!

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 :)

Greetings from (almost) the Great White North

Hello dear readers from Minnesota! I've been here all week for work, and I've been freezing my butt off. Its in the 30s and 40s here this week, and we all know that I don't deal well with cold. Especially not in the first week of October. Minneaplois is definitely a nice place--I like the downtown, the art institute and the Mall of America (I even got to see where Mary Tyler Moore threw her hat into the air on the show!). But I know that I could never survive the cold.

I am SO EXCITED right now for one very special reason: homecoming at Wake this weekend!! I haven't been to Winston since last November. Something totally unthinkable while I was spending a lovely 4 years of my life there. I can't wait to go back to campus, see the football game, cheer for the Deacs, and hang out with a few of my nearest and dearest. I can't wait! If only all my favorites could be there...sigh. Maybe one day when we all have tons of expendable income we can come and go for reunions as we please :) Now, all I have to do is not miss my plane and get myself back to NC!


And in other news, I'm feeling pretty good about life for various reasons. Sometimes it takes a totally new person or situation to be able to kick the past to the curb. I've been having a great time meeting new people and seeing that there really is more out there than I let myself believe sometimes. Like K and I were talking about on the phone last night--we're both finally getting little tastes of what we deserve, and its giving us faith that something really wonderful is on the horizon. How exciting! All we have to do is not let our crazy brains take over!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and hopefully I'll be back to more regular blogging next week!

WF is the shiz

Yet another reason why I love/miss Wake Forest with all my being.

two things.

1. I am so proud to be a Deacon this week--congrats to all the football boys who were drafted this weekend. In particular Alphonso Smith, who lived in my dorm freshman year and who I actually considered a friend of mine. Its so crazy and wonderful that he is going pro!

2. WTF is up with the swine flu? Honestly people, if you don't want the swine flu, stop hanging around pigs all the time. Its pretty easy. I just read that all schools in Mexico are closed today because of it. I don't think less than 100 cases over the entire continent really constitutes a national epidemic.

The most wonderful time of the year...

Atlanta has been invaded by ACC basketball and I couldn't be more pleased. I just read online that the WF team is staying at the W Midtown hotel, right near my office! So many Wake people so close by, its great! Again, I'm getting used to the fact that everyone here is not nearly as obsessed as myself. If I were still in high school, we wouldn't be doing anything today. We'd be sitting in our classrooms with the lights off and the games on tv. Gamecasting from my cubicle while everyone else is working just isn't quite the same atmosphere... Wake plays tonight at 7 versus Maryland. Should be an excellent game. I was also happy to see GA Tech win over Clemson yesterday. The ACC tournament is nothing if not full of upsets.

Enough about sports..its almost the weekend! I'm only working about a half day today, then I'm heading home to get myself organzied to go to Chicago next week for work! Can't wait for my first trip to the windy city, even though I know I won't have that much time to see anything and I'll be freezing my butt off. Travel is probably the number one reason I was really excited to get my job, and I'm very lucky to get to see new and (not so) exciting places on a regular basis. It should be a really fun week.

Tonight is date night with A, and we're going to a club he belongs to for dinner. I'm excited to get a little more dressed up than usual! Then we'll probably sit around and play wii for hours...the usual. Tomorrow I've got plans with a couple friends here in ATL, and of course plenty of bball viewing in between. Sounds like a heavenly weekend to me!

Tournament Time!

Go Deacs!!

Today is the beginning of one of my favorite times of the year: it's the first day of the ACC tournament, right here in my very own city of Atlanta. March madness is in the air...again, I don't have to tell you because you already know. I'm from North Carolina; I love basketball. Sadly, my plans to actually go to the Wake game tomorrow night fell through. I'd LOVE to be there in person, but honestly, I'm sure I'll have just as much fun watching somewhere in a sports bar while eating and drinking lots of yumminess. The WF alumni club sent me a message that everyone is gathering at a big sports bar/restaurant in Midtown to watch all weekend.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Hopefully I'll get to hang out with A and do something interesting. I'm also going to see a couple of my new Atlanta friends, which should be fun too. Sunday I'm flying out to Chicago for the week (for work, but its still my first time going, so I am excited)!

Tomorrow is my bff's birthday, and its the first time in more years than I'd like to count that we won't be together to celebrate. Even throughout college, it always fell between our spring breaks, so we always got to have birthday time together. I'm a little sad and nostalgic that she is halfway across the world for this one. I'm hoping it will make all the special occassions once she returns that much more special. Two years is a long, long time to be away from a person who has been a constant in my life since I was a child. Its definitely not easy. I can't wait for her return when we can go out to dinner and watch bad teen movies and talk about all the adventures we've had apart. Happy early 23rd birthday Julie!

Le Sigh

Tuesday=pop culture trivia night! I love getting back into my trivia routine from college. And one day, we will win. Maybe tonight is the lucky night:)

Day two of my online class at the office. Everything is going fairly well. Its nice to be in a conference room with a couple other people...any change of scenery from my cube is welcome. Although, now I have a perfect window view of Midtown, and all I want to do is go outside. Its been 80 degrees in Atlanta for about 4 days now, and I'm addicted. Thank goodness Spring is only 10 days away (officially).

This time of year always makes me nostalgic. When I was at Wake, I would be nostalgic for high school right about now (or, more like in April). Now of course, I am missing Wake with a passion. Spring is the absolute best time to be on campus. I miss the gorgeous trees, boys in seersucker and bow ties, laying on a blanket on Davis field, swinging by Scales, Springfest concerts outside and in Wait, Shag on the Mag and just that overall feeling of wonderfulness. To me, thats Wake in a nutshell. Thank goodness I am still in the South in general. Atlanta definitely has lots of preppy goodness to offer:) I think the biggest change is just the lack of free time to get out and enjoy. In college, everyone would flock outside all day long in the beautiful weather, but now I'm stuck in the office until 5, at least. I really miss my middle of the day free time.

Not sure how this post turned into "I love Spring and miss WF", but I guess thats how I'm feeling today. Overall happy, but a twinge of nostalgia for my former life:) That's not so bad, I guess.

Official Day of NC Basketball

Tonight, there is not only a Wake vs. NC State game (not televised=not happy), but there is also the UNC vs. Duke game. Basically the equivalent of an unofficial holiday at home. Today is one of those days when I really, really miss North Carolina.

My job in downtown ATL is finishing up today, so I'll be back in the office for the rest of the week. It still warm here today, but really gray skies. I've got a nice view of the capitol building from the room I'm in, and the huge dome looks especially gold against the dark gray sky. A very pretty and sort of unusual sight in the skyline. Its little things like this that make me love big city life. I would not see that in good old WF, NC.

Last night I went to Best Buy and was pleasantly surprised that they had the most amazing chick flicks on sale for $4.99 for Valentine's week! I got When Harry Met Sally (classic), You've Got Mail (another classic...seriously, where is Meg Ryan in the romcoms these days??) and Pride and Predjudice (sigh). And all for $15. I heart Best Buy. Tonight I might need a serious chick flick evening.

Nothing much else to report. I'm hanging out with Andrew tomorrow night..not sure what we're doing, but I'm hoping for a trivia night somewhere! I really miss my Thursday nights at Foothills in Winston, and I really need to keep my trivia brain waves flowing--I can't risk losing my expertise! Also, I got the J. Crew catalog in the mail the other day and finally started looking through it this morning. GORGEOUS! I want everything, as usual. I can't wait until shorts weahter is here!!

Fresh Face

So, I decided once again to change the blog around. I thought it would be a good idea if I took my own advice and lightened up a little. At least now I get to see the ocean every day:)

A friend of a friend from Wake invited me to join a big group of people for dinner next Friday night. They have a little supper club where they invite new people, try different restuarants around town, etc. I haven't met anyone who will actually be there, but I'm definitely going. Its all about stepping out of the comfort zone! I think its funny that all of these things seem to be falling into my lap once I made the conscious decision to put myself out there. Coincidence? I think not.

Nothing else to speak of today. Wake plays Duke tonight in basketball--GO DEACS! And I am so looking forward to New Orleans in a month with K. I like to always have something worthwhile on the horizon, and I think this trip will be a perfect mid-winter pick me up for both of us!

Go Deacs!

Happy Monday! I stayed up much later than usual last night to watch the Wake v. UNC game--so classic. I am SO happy that Wake beat the Tarheels.

Last night while I was watching I couldn't help but remember this exact same weekend my freshman year, when all of my friends and I camped out at the coliseum before the Carolina game and checked in all night long for great seats. Granted, we put the seat down in my jeep and watched dvds on our laptops all night, so we weren't exactly roughing it. I am proud to say that's the closest I've ever been to camping:) Its a sweet memory that I hadn't thought of in a long time, and it makes me really nostalgic for that time in my life. And I miss all my Wake Forest friends even more--even those I didn't keep up with much after freshman year. We had such great times together, and its a little bit of a shame to know that we'll never get to camp out at the Joel together again.