Birthday weekend

Hi friends,

I had a great (if not stressful regarding work) week last week in Chattanooga.  That is seriously becoming one of my favorite cities. The food, the people, the river. I love it all. I've spent time there once a month for the past 3 months--what am I going to do now without my Chattanooga fix? Fingers crossed i'll get to go back sometime for work again :)

I was really happy to get home from this particular trip because my love John's birthday was Thursday.  I hated being out of town for it, but luckily John isn't really big on birthdays, so he didn't seem to mind too much.  We celebrated on Friday night with dinner at our favorite Six Feet Under. The weather was perfect for rooftop dining with a gorgeous view of the city. So much fun.  The rest of the weekend was spent wishing we were at the pool (even though I was secretly loving the rainy days) and eating and researching tablets (John got the new Asus for his birthday).  It was a really nice, low-key Atlanta weekend. I needed it so much after the craziness of last week!

This week I'm looking forward to seeing a few friends (who I've been neglecting lately), doing some nighttime walking/running, not eating out, shopping and being in the office. I really just need to get back into my routine--I'm really looking forward to a regularly scheduled week of eating and sleeping and doing some things around the house and catching up with some friends over the phone. So much is going on with everyone, I can't wait to talk to all my friends again! Its been too long.

xoxo

On Living Alone

I just read this fantastic article from the New York Times about living alone. I have lived alone for almost 3 and half years now, and I love it. I firmly believe that everyone should live alone for some amount of time before you get married. It teaches you so much about yourself. I honestly find myself feeling almost bad for any of my friends who have already gotten married who never gave it a try.

The article talks about so many things I can identify with--specifically this:

"For people who are comfortable and even good at living alone, there is often another concern: a fear that the concrete has set, so to speak, on their domestic habits and that it will be difficult to go back to living with someone else. “It’s definitely something that worries me,” Ms. Kennedy said. “I can’t take the quirks back.”

The longer she lives alone, she said, the less flexible she becomes — and the less considerate of others’ needs. “If I go on vacation with a group of friends, I feel a little overwhelmed,” she said. “I’ve got to share this room with other people? We have to organize showers?”

Mr. Zimmer, the computer programmer, said he is also conscious of becoming too set in his ways, especially where sleeping is concerned. “I just do not sleep as well with someone else,” he said. “A lot of homes have double master bedrooms. I can really see the value of that.”

I've told a lot of my friends recently that while I definitely hope to get married one day, I worry about living with my spouse one day. John and I have discussed this issue a little bit (our biggest long term potential-living-together issue is location of where we live--either where in Atlanta or where in the world), but I think we would both have a huge adjustment to living together. I live in a 2 bedroom condo in the city, he lives in the 3 bedroom house in the suburbs. What the heck would we do living together? Neither of us knows the answers at this point. Its a scary (but good) problem to have I guess!

Have any of you lived alone? Are you against living alone? I'm curious!

Lifesavers

1. Vanilla Coke Zero
2. Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel
3. Sweet fresh strawberries
4. Fans (its 90 degrees here this week!)
5. Phone dates with friends! I put these off too much
6. Another trip to Chattanooga next week
7. Working from home

These are the lucky 7 things keeping me going this week. And its only Tuesday...hah! Any special things keeing y'all going at the moment? Its the little things in life :)

Breaking News

Kevin is returning to the Backstreet Boys! Yay!

In other, less exciting but still good, news, my life appears to be making a slow recovery back to normal! I had a great weekend. John and I spent some time wandering around Georgia Tech on Saturday, and I got a new, non-archaic tv for my bedroom. Very exciting things! Yesterday we were lazy and lounged around the house most of the day. Anything to avoid the almost 90 degree heat. I also got some new curtains at Bed Bath & Beyond. I think I'm really going to like them, and I got both panels for 20% off. I'll post pictures next weekend once I get them hung. It only took me one year exactly to get them!

Also, belated 1st anniversary to Will and Kate, and happy first home buying anniversary to me!

Happy things

I made a conscious decision a few days ago to no longer let work take over my personal/social life. Obviously, this is good for so many reasons! There is so much to look forward to in the upcoming months:

1. A couple of good work trips to Chattanooga and Nashville!
2. Another trip home to see my parents for a long weekend. I am missing my NC friends so much lately, and I can't wait to see them. I also can't wait to hear some live beach music!
3. Golden Girls reruns. How can anyone not be happy watching that? They have so much wisdom!
4. Shopping for home stuff. I've got my eye on some new bedroom curtains, master bath mats and a few other little things. I'm also on a quest for a large painting for my bedroom...I'm thinking this might be the time for my first major art purchase!
5. Festival season in Atlanta. There's something fun going on every weekend, and it's so nice to have the option to do more than just the normal weekend activities.
6. Catching up on your blogs! I've got about a month's worth of posts to read, and I can't wait to see what y'all have been up to!

Blog silence

Hi All! I hate that my blog has been so silent for the past, oh, month or so. I miss blogging and mostly I miss reading about all of your lives! Work continues to be ridiculous, so I unfornatuely haven't had any down time to write or read or enjoy. And Blogger has changed since the last time I logged in! Crazy.

I spent the last 2 weeks in middle of nowhere Tennesee near Kentucky working my little behind off, staying in a weird country hotel and eating mediocre food. Jealous? I didn't think so :) I'm so happy to be back in Atlanta for a few weeks, and hopefully visiting with some friends soon! I feel like I've abandoned my friends lately too, and I hate doing that!

Today is a bittersweet day for me. I'm saying goodbye to my cubicle of the past 3.5 years, and moving to a new one (same floor, different side of my building). So sad! I love my current cubicle and will miss it. The good news is, I recently found out I'm getting a window cube again, which is excellent. Its the little things in life, right?

So for now, I'm packing up my work life and attempting to do actual work at the same time. I'm so looking forward to this weekend. I'm thinking of going to a festival or doing some shopping for home items. Lots to look forward to (and none more exciting than 3 days off to rest and relax!). I hope you all have been great lately. I'm excited to be getting back to my normal blogging routine!

Parent's Visit

I'm so happy, it seems like I've finally been able to shut my brain off for a weekend! I'm loving having my parents here for a visit. Last night we went to the Colonade for dinner, which is an old school classic Atlanta restaurant. Some of the best fried chicken of my life, y'all. I wish I had taken a picture to share, but I was too busy devouring it.

Today we're planning on hitting some antique shops, the Talbots clearance outlet for Mom, and an estate sale this morning on Peachtree Battle. I've got high hopes for the sale. We just saw the sign last night on an after dinner walk. I'm so lucky to live next to such a classic Atlanta neighborhood! I love walking on Peachtree Battle almost every night. Maybe I'll do a blog post of some favorite gorgeous homes I see on my daily walk. You'd really be in for a treat:)

I hope you all are having great weekends so far! I know mine is helping me de-stress in a major way!