Bachelorette Recap

Hi Friends! Sorry again for the silence last week. I was in Tampa for work, and was either really lame and working and going to bed early, or out having fun and not remembering to blog! We had a good week with gorgeous weather (hello 38 degrees this morning in Atlanta...not appreciated) and really good food. But I was happy to be home Friday night, and actually enjoy a low-key weekend in Atlanta for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, I've been a little sick with either sinus issues or a cold, but I'm slowly nursing back to health thankfully. Must be healthy for the big wedding weekend in NC! I took it easy most of this weekend, but John and I did go to the shooting range with some Half Off Depot coupons yesterday. It was really fun! It was my first time ever going to a range or shooting a gun, and I enjoyed it. I had pretty good aim too!

Back up to the bachelorette weekend. We had such a great time! I think we all had a lot of fun at Dip n Dab making beautiful paintings and drinking wine. Saturday we shopped the day away, and then had a fabulous dinner complete with belly dancers at Taverna Plaka followed by a VIP table at the Gold Room in Buckhead. Needless to say, we made sure the bachelorette had a fantastic weekend!

In other news, I finally bought and iPad and I could not be happier. I wish I had done it sooner! It made my travel last week so much more enjoyable! And now I can play Words with Friends and Hanging with Friends (for any of you who might be interested). Yay!

Now just a few workdays to get through before I hit the road to NC to help my dear SCD tie the knot this weekend!

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.

Eating, sleeping and discount shopping

What a fabulous looong weekend! As I mentioned before, my long weekend started around 3:00 pm Thursday and lasted all the way through yesterday. Can I please have 4.25 day weekends every week? I was feeling so well rested and reading to take on some projects as of yesterday, but of course today I'm right back in crazy work mode. We've been having some very rainy (and sometimes scary tornado) weather in Atlanta for the past few days. I have loved it & am enjoying every moment. Rainy days are my favorite...especially after a long spell of blistering hot sun.

Here's a weekend recap:
1. Thursday--went to the Georgia Tech v. WCU blowout game. Tailgated, ate sausages and generally enjoyed myself (even though GT tailgating in the middle of downtown Atlanta is very weird).
2. Friday--Outlet mall trip, other errands and dinner with John. Tried out the new Tsunami Taqueria (Asian/Latin restaurant) near my house--very yummy!
3. Saturday--Lots of discount shopping in Fayetteville (John's local Big Lots is moving and everything was an extra 30% off, yes please!) and dinner at our favorite Ted's Montana Grill (the pickles are to die for).
4. Sunday--Rainy day. Bought a new mattress (heaven) at the JCPenney outlet (best place to buy furniture and mattresses in Atlanta, hands down). Dinner at a new pizza place near my house, Varasano's Delicious NY style cracker-crust pizza. We loved it!
5. Monday--Rainy again. Splurged on some fast food and lazed around the house again. I did get lots of painting done in my bedroom--hopefully more tonight!

As you can see, you can pretty much sum up my weekend in eating, sleeping and discount shopping. I'm pretty ok with that. Some of my shopping finds of the weekend include:

-Outlet mall: a skirt & new heels from Ann Taylor, a cardigan from Banana Republic, another cardigan from J Crew and a pretty fall sweater from the Gap. All for less than $150.
-Big Lots: So many things between the two of us. A set of 3 tool boxes, a few shampoos, bobby pins, a grill cover, 2 Barbies (gifts for the neices), full set of painting supplies, a coloring book, candy, duct tape, ziploc baggies, plastic cups, etc. All for less than $60!
-Penney's outlet: a $2000 retail price mattress and box springs for $600. Win!

(Still) waiting

Of course, I heard nothing from the realtors this weekend about any progress on the house/closing date. I'm used to it at this point, but its really starting to stress me out. I have a bad tendency to stress most about things I have no control over, and this is one of those things. I've had a lucky streak of no work travel for about the past two months (which is a long time for me). And of course, now that my travel will start up again soon (although not too much), its still starting again. And there will be weeks that I'm not in town at all. I've also got some personal things happening too--all good, yay! I'm going to Florida for a mini-vacay/wedding weekend, and then Kristin is hopefully coming to visit in early March. Ugh. I just don't want to stress about closing/moving while all of that's going on, but alas, I have no control. I'll just have to make it work whenever I finally do get some news. Le sigh.

This was a good 3 day weekend for me. Friday I went to the mall and picked up a lovely wedding gift for Lydia (wedding weekend officially starts in 10 days and I could NOT be more excited). I also broke my no-shop February rule (I know....already), but I only spent $7! I got a pretty black cocktail dress at Loft--for $7. Amazing find that I could not pass up. I'm still considering no-shop February a success so far. I had dinner with a co-worker on Friday night and discovered a great new Mexican place. With $15 pitchers of margaritas. Yes please! Saturday was mostly spent in Alabama at John's sister's house, hanging out and playing with her very cute little girls. We tried a delicious new restaurant in Fayetteville on Saturday night, and then did the opposite of fine dining on Sunday and went to Waffle House, which was very delicious. All in all not a terrible eating weekend. Sadly I didn't lose any weight at last Friday's weigh-in, so I'm feeling more motivated to eat better and do more exercizing this week. Hopefully it'll go well.

I also half-way watched the Super Bowl last night, which is more than I usually do. I saw a few commercials, which I enjoyed and the game was pretty exciting overall. I definitely did not enjoy the halftime show, though. Fergie needs permanent auto-tune. I did enjoy the dancers and the lights/moving stage. Very well thought out, but overall boring and off-key.

I hope you all had fabulous weekends! Happy Monday xoxo

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?

Excitement for today:

-Long overdue oil change appointment made.
-LONG overdue hair cut appointment made (my first time in Atlanta...baby steps).
-Long overdue hanging out with NOA (North of Atlanta) friends.

Are you noticing a pattern here? I do love checking things off my list.

Also looking forward to:
-mustache party on Saturday
-meeting more of John's family on Sunday
-weekend in general
-cosying up with my new library book (as if I don't have enough new books in my life already..)
-21 days until beach
-26 days until BSB

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!

Pollen, California & spring in the South

This week has been the perfect example of spring in the south. The week started out as hot as Hades. Seriously, it should not be 90 degrees during the 1st week of April. But, such is life. Today it was a mere 50 degrees when I walked out of my apartment to work. WOW it felt cold. Especially since I've been sweating to death first thing in the morning for the past few days. Thankfully, we had a little rain yesterday to help wash away some of the outrageous pollen thats been piling up all week. Yay! So now I'm looking forward to an honest-to-goodness spring-like weekend of 70 degree weather, sunshine, eating outside, sandals and shorts!

The week has been a busy one, but also a slow one too. I guess that's what I get for being out of the office living the fabulous California life for two weeks straight. And believe me, it was fabulous. Here is a little recap for you all:

My first week in San Francisco was lovely. I was by myself there for work related training. I had a glorious time! I met some great people in my class, and luckily had some free time to explore beautiful San Fran. I bought pretty jewelry at a street fair, went to a specialty cheese shop one night (and only had cheese for dinner..yum!), explored Fisherman's Wharf, ate amazing seafood at a restaurant overlooking the bay, toured Alcatraz (scary, but amazing views!), rode a cable car up the very, very steep hills, and even drove across the Golden Gate Bridge! It was a great week overall, and I feel lucky that I got to really take full advantage and see lots of things around the city.

For the second week, my parents flew out to meet me and we spent the week driving down the Pacific Coast Highway from San Fran to L.A., and stopping at all the fabulous little spots along the way. LOVED the drive down the coast. The road is literally on the side of mountain cliffs that drop right off into the ocean for a lot of the way down, and the views are spectacular. Northern California is a truly gorgeous place, and I highly reccommend it to anyone who gets the chance to go! As we made our way down, we stopped in Monterrey, Santa Cruz and few other surf spots. We spent a night in Santa Barbara, and then made our way to Hollywood. I really enjoyed Hollywood. We stayed in a hotel right off Hollywood Blvd, and of course we saw the handprints outside the Chinese Theater, the Kodak Theater where they host the Oscars, and all the stars lining the sidewalks. We saw the Hollywood sign, we went to Beverly Hills (heavenly!), I shopping on Rodeo Dr. (dream come true!), drove around looking at big, beautiful (and i'm sure celebrity-owned) homes. We did a tour of Sony Pictures Studios which was a lot of fun. I even had my celebrity spotting there--Jason Biggs from American Pie walked right by! Of course we also visited a couple of presidential museums and also the Getty Center while we were there. Lots of stuff packed in, but we had a great trip!

It was so nice to be back home last weekend and hang out with John. We went to the Dixieland Funpark in Fayetteville, GA. I'd reccommend this place to anyone who is a fan of mini-golf, crappy rides and 90s arcade games. We actually had a lot of fun there! We also made an Easter meal together on Sunday since we were both Easter orphans, and it turned out really well.

Hopefully this weekend will be just as relaxing and fun. I'm hoping to do a little shopping, maybe see a friend or two, and hopefully go to Park Tavern at Piedmont Park at some point. I'm just glad its Friday :)

Flowers are blooming!

Yes, you heard right.I've been seeing beautiful red bud trees and cherry blossoms and daffodils for about a week now. Hooray, I love spring! Unfortunately this weekend was not very spring-like. It was gray and dreary and a little cold. I actually love this weather usually, but I was really looking forward to some warmth and a little outside time. Oh, well. Hopefully there will be lovely weather next weekend!

Last week was full of work, and it was a 5 day week! Phew, i'm glad I made it. I'm not used to being at work for an entire week :) The weekend was really nice, though. John met me lunch at the Vortex on Friday while I was at work, and we only got mildly drenched from the rain on the way back. Friday night I lounged at home and enjoyed some rainy weather downtime. Saturday I had a great massage, then went down to John's house where we contemplated bowling, but decided we would rather go show shopping instead (his idea, not mine, but of course I wouldn't turn it down!). We ate some crappy BBQ (I have yet to go to an actual good BBQ restaurant since I moved to GA), and watched a movie on the couch. Sunday we went out for brunch (4 course brunch at Ruby Tuesday, very tasty!) and were lazy again. I hope next weekend we can use our tennis rackets when he comes over to my place.

I'm also incredibly excited because in a mere 6 days from now, I will be in sunny California! YAY! I am so thrilled I cannot even desribe it to you. I need to start planning some outfits and researching a few restaurants. If any of you has been to San Francisco or LA, send ideas my way! Let the countdown begin!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Monday, and survived daylight savings time (I detest springing forward...where did my hour of sleep go??). xoxo

Could life get much better?

Lovely weekend which included all of the following: a trip to my very first gay bar, courtesy of Acree, outlet mall shopping, seafood eating, hanging out with old friends and new, and talking to the ones who aren't here over the phone. And not that much sleep (unfortunately). Sounds pretty fun right? It was!

Although, I must admit I didn't accomplish my two main weekend goals:
1. Buy a new suit. Everything at the outlets was ugly.
2. Meet Ludacris at a liquor store meet-n-greet on Saturday at Green's. I figured my chances of seeing him in a random liquor store around Atlanta some time in the future are pretty high...

But, I did do a lot of quality Sex and the City watching! That counts for something, right? Plus, last night I did laundry and washed dishes. If only I could bring myself to actually vacuum. Very doubtful. Tonight I must watch my usual Monday night tv (plus Greek, yay) and possibly pop out to Urban Outfitters to pick something up. We'll see how motivated I am.

Exciting, wonderful, awesome things that are happening in the next few days:
-Raleigh on Thursday, hooray!
-BRITNEY on Saturday with Matthew.
-some good bbq eating at home, hopefully.
-DISNEY in 10

Could life get much better?

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 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).

On celebrities, etc

Good morning, my dears. I feel like there is so much to comment on since my last entry on Thursday. The world has changed so much in just a few short days. Farrah died. Michael Jackson died. Then Billy Mays, the OxiClean pitchman died yesterday...oh, the humanity!

Of course Farrah's death was sadly not a shock to anyone. But it is still so tragic that she lost her battle with cancer after such a hard-fought fight. Then, Michael Jackson--now that was a shock! I think it'll probably be one of those moments where I never forget where I was when I found out (which just happened to be by text message from Emily while waiting for the MARTA to take me to free concert night at the High Museum with my mom...I can attest that technology is an amazing thing, as everyone on the train seemed to find out the news simultaneously (by text, blackberry, etc) if that's even possible. Obviously there is a lot that can be said about MJ, good and bad, but I do believe that no one can refute what a huge star he was. The true King of Pop, for better or worse. I mean, there aren't many celebrities that everyone in the world knows. There wasn't a single person on that train Thursday night who didn't know Michael Jackson or his music, and that's saying alot. Lastly, poor Billy Mays the screaming pitchman. I just watched his show Pitchmen a few weeks ago, and I'm not ashamed to say that Billy could probably convince me to buy most anything. Sad days, they will all be missed!

As for me, I had a great weekend at home. As much as I love Atlanta (although its been more of a love-hate relationship lately), there's no place like North Carolina. Atlanta just can't replace the trees, the streets I've know all my life and running into long lost friends all over town. I got to see Be, Erin and Sara, three of the very best people I know in this world. Spending time with them and my family brought me back to life a little bit, as they always do:) I was even ambitious enough to clean out my closet at my parent's house, and I got my Bojangles fix. Excellent weekend all around! And the best part? I get to turn around and do it all over again this weekend! I never ever get to be in Raleigh twice in a row..I'm thrilled! Although I do hate this fact that I've abandoned my friends here for a little while. Maybe I need to strike up a trivia night this week.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, despite all the devastating celeb news. And extra congrats to Kristin for moving out of NYC this weekend--long awaited freedom! I can't believe she comes to visit in 2 short weeks hooray!

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!

Feeling better

Thanks to good friends, peach milkshakes, new shoes and 8 solid hour of sleep. Lovely. I'm having a nice weekend so far. Had dinner and spent the night in Marietta last night. Did some shoe shopping and sitting by the pool earlier. Tonight I'm hanging out with Claire and Hailey dog. Tomorrow, lunch with Sophia at Cheesecake Factory and shopping at Lenox, then dinner & some chatting with A. Sunday...one word: massage.

Happy weekend!

I hope all of my blogfriends out there are having an excellent Saturday. I just had a very successful morning of shopping, when I purchased a new fragrance & some cute new tops at Anthropologie on sale! Hooray! Now I'm just relaxing the afternoon away before the epic "cookoutpalooza" I'm attending tonight. Should be fun!



And now I'm currently enjoying a Chik Fil A peach milkshake--tastes like summer!

Scrunchies!

Hahaha this is awesome.
______________________________________________

Not a lot happening at the moment to update on. Except for the fact that I got accidentally drunk with my coworkers off of two strawberry margaritas at Chili's last night. Don't even know how it happened, but it was pretty awesome after this semi-stressful work week:) Then I passed out around 8:30 and didn't wake up til this morning. Nice.

Last day at the bank, woo! We may or may not be eating at the same cute little place for lunch for the 3rd day in a row. That's fine with me...I still haven't gotten my fix of "crawfish burger", whatever that is. Can't wait to fly home tomorrow afternoon and have a weekend-o-fun! On the menu: hopefully hanging with Claire tomorrow night and seeing her new house/potentially my new house if we decide to become roomies eventually--yay! Also, the cookoutpalooza my friend Sarah has been planning for months, and hopefully seeing Andrew on Sunday. Hooray! I'm also feeling like a little shopping is necessary. I might even get a haircut and do an at-home glaze to shine it up a little bit. I'll be a new woman!

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!

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!