Things you don't see from a car

I walked to class today. It was great!! It felt really good to use my body to get me somewhere. I know that sounds strange. We use our cars so much that we forget that we can use our legs to actual take us someplace that a car usually does. The morning was mild and there was a great breeze but I still got pretty sweaty. I am hoping as the weeks go on I will not get some yucky. I am going to try a messenger bag on the next walk and hope that my shirt does not look like that when I get home!! I saw some really cool stuff. I'll take more pictures next time but the one I took today was is super cool!

Killer Weekend

Aaron and I had such an awesome weekend and I thought I'd share it with you ;-) Friday started off with me cleaning a clients house then heading to Athens for a tattoo. I've been thinking about this one for a while and when Lindsay found David Hale on Facebook I knew he had to be the artist to do it. His approach it so different and he comes from a more artist background. I've included a picture so you can see how it's coming along. It was so incredibly painful that I punked out when it came time to do the color. He barely got started and I felt like I was going into shock and about to pass out. I go back in November to have it finished. That evening Aaron and I went to the Righteous Room and enjoyed a few drinks and had some great conversation. On Saturday we walked up to Grant Park for the Summer Shade Festival and took in the festivities. We ate at the WoodFired Pizza stand...Aaron's authentic pizza is way better. He's thinking of starting a mobile pizza business in Chattanooga so it was "priceless market research" he said ;-) On the way out of the festival I got a YumYum cupcake. Texture was killer but I was wanting a more rich flavor...I've gotten so picky with my gourmet treats!! Saturday afternoon we ran errands for a while then hit up the Little Azio's for pasta then took in a movie at Midtown Art Cinema. We say "Our Idiot Brother" with Paul Rudd. More of a chick flick than we thought but still enjoyable. After a solid nights sleep we got up Sunday and took a walk to the GSU campus. I was wanting Aaron to walk with me so I could scope it out and see if I felt safe about walking to my morning class twice a week. It was a great walk with the cool breeze and we hit up the Grant Park Farmers Market on the walk back. Aaron scored a fresh BLT with pimento cheese and I have some yummy peach fried pie. Both were very yummy. We are really excited about how cool the farmers market is. We will be going back next Sunday!! After we got back and showered we went to Phillips Arena to see Cirque du Soleil's Dralion. It was just okay. It was a smaller production. I wished that since it was Aaron's first show that it had been more dramatic and larger. There were of course still some cool parts. We came home and Aron fixed the hot water heater while I cleaned the house. Had to get a few chores done ;-) Sunday evening we went and tried Delia's Chicken Sausage on Moreland then went over to 97 Estoria and enjoyed the patio. The weather was amazing this weekend! SO that was our weekend!! It was killer right!?!

Today is my first day of Fall Semester. So far I don't care for my art history teacher but it's just the first day. We will see how that one goes. I am home right now because I have a three hour break between classes. It gives me a chance to come home and walk the dogs, eat lunch and get some extra stuff done. I got up at 6:45am this morning and had a nice walk/jog. It was so nice out. There was a killer summer breeze and no humidity. I can feel fall coming!!! This is my favorite time of year starting with my birthday. Whoot whoot!
Coming home from the beach kind of sucked but it does feel good to get back into the swing of things. My next mini vacation will be at the end of October. Aaron and I have rented a cabin for a long weekend. It's part of my birthday gift from him. We spent a weekend at a cabin last fall and it was so much fun we decided it was something that we needed to make into a yearly tradition.
So I am embarking on a journey to let go of the past. I had a great frozen yogurt date with Autumn yesterday and she brought it to my attention that I keep holding on to too much stuff from my past and that's affecting my present. Keeping your mind in the present is kind of hard...think about how many times you think about the past or tell stories about past things that have happened. I'm talking about things that need to be let go of and not talked about anymore, not thing that are positive. It's hard to try and let those things go but it's important for moving on and creating a positive mindset. So per Autumns advice, I started the day telling myself that I will be thinking about today and only today. On my walk/jog this morning I went through all the things that I am thankful for today and that put me in a pretty darn good mood. It might not work everyday but it sure worked today!!

End of Days

Today is our last day at the beach. It's been a very wonderful and long two week vacation. I highly recommend two weeks for vacation, it feels like a month. The past two days were great. We took and little trip over to St. Augustine. What a beautiful little town. Aaron and I found this great gourmet popsicle place called Hyppo on TripAdvisor. I dare say I liked it better than King of Pops! Better texture. They flash freeze the pops. Yesterday was spent in the sun. Aaron and Kile went on an early morning fishing trip and Mom and I laid by the pool. Then we met up for lunch and after that Aaron and I spent the afternoon on the beach. The waves were huge and rough so playing in the ocean was exercise. I was taken out a few times. Last night we all went to the movies and saw The Change-Up. Better than I expected. Lot of laughs. Be careful taking anyone too young or too old as it's pretty vulgar in language and context most of the time.

Adventure!!!!

Yesterday was awesome!!!! Aaron and I drove the hour over to Orlando and went to Universal Island of Adventure. The ticket price is steep but it's totally worth it. We had a blast. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is worth the trip alone. Thankfully I had read several reviews on TripAdvisor and got some good inside scoop info. We got to the park early and headed straight for The Three Broomsticks over at Harry Potter World and ate an early lunch, 10am! Fish and Chips brunch! We did not have to wait and we got a great table right in the middle of the Three Broom Sticks and I got my first butter beer ;-) After "brunch" we hit up all the rides. As the day went on the lines and wait times got longer and longer but it all ended up being pretty easy and not too bad. Splitting up into the single riders line made things go faster but you did not always end up together on the ride. I highly recommend that you save The Hulk and Dr. Doom for last as these were terrifing rides and take a toll on the body too. Super scary. Check out these videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBGdqa7GIlE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsjdYQJc748 I was happy to be alive after these two. All in all it was a great great great day of fun!!

Daliiiii

Yesterday Mom and I got up nice and early and went to St. Petersburg Florida. It was about a 2.5 hour drive. I had looked up on Trip Advisor to find a wonderful place for lunch and boy did I. It was called Mazzaro Coffee and Italian Market. The reviews on trip advisor were spot on. It was amazing. If it were not so far away I'd go back. Here is the link Please check it out!
After lunch we headed down the road to The Dali Museum. What an incredible building. I thought the architecture was the highlight. The collection was pretty extensive but as I am not a Dali fanatic I don't think I appreciated it as much as some of the other people there. Mom and I saw a whole group of green parrots nesting in the top of a Crepe Myrtle. It was neat to see then flying around. Had no idea they were native birds to Florida.

Monday Monday...da da da da dadada

Entering the second week at the beach. I don't think one week will ever be enough again. Those seven days went by way too fast so it's wonderful that there are seven more! My sun poisoning has gotten worse, it's just spreading and spreading. I'm headed out to get some better sunscreen since we are kicking it on the beach today. I have, however, found a great concoction for sleeping with sun poisoning. It's one part skinny girl and one part benadryl. You'll sleep like a baby!! ;-)
Yesterday the guys went fishing. Aaron was the big winner with a total catch of 1 whole fish ;-) Mom and I just laid around the pool and continued to read. Last night we went and ate at this place called Crabby Joe's. Typical beachy place. It was on this pier and we ate over the water which made it really festive. The food was okay. We are still on the hunt for a great seafood place down here. Not sure we are ever going to find it.

Sundaes Rock

Yesterday was a nice day of relaxing by the pool, reading and eating ;-) Aaron and I went to this great little ice cream shop and had us a sundae. Chocolate peanut butter ice cream with crushed up reese's cups, chocolate syrup and whipped cream. AMAZING! This place also had two, count them, two, Ms. Pacman tables. Afterward I insisted we take a walk on the beach as to "eat" away at the guilt that sundae left behind ;-) Aaron then cooked us a nice dinner of rosemary chicken, grilled veggies and lemon butter rice. It was killer! The whole group gathering around after dinner for a 2.5 hour game of phase 10. That was a lot of fun! Phase 10 was introduced at last years family beach vacation by Autumn and we now consider it a tradition. Mom ended up winning with her beginners luck. I took a good dose of allergy meds for the sun poisoning and went off to lalaland. My rashes seem better this morning...haha "my rashes seem better" I sound 80! Well the guys have left for a day of fishing so Mom and I are going to dive back into our books.
Side note: We heard about the stage collapse at the Sugarland concert in Indy last night. Four people dead so far and many injured. Pretty tragic. Here is a link to the story

Here come the boys

Aaron and Kile rolled in yesterday afternoon and the "fun" began. We all went out to dinner at this place called the Beach Bucket. Daytona is not known for their fare. Never ever go there. Our meal was close to $100 and I think I would of rather chewed on my finger and thrown my money out the window. After dinner we did a little shopping to stock the fridge and then we returned to the beach house to relax. Kile and Aaron must really like each other because they were up until the wee hours. Mom and I are up and a little cranky and the party animals are both passed out. I drug myself out the door for my jog and now I am headed to nap by the pool.

The Help

Mom and I went on a ladies date last night. We went to see The Help, which was just as good as the book. The book of course has more details but the movie does a great job of telling the story too. Afterward, we had a late dinner and then came back to the beach house and cut up for a bit and then went to bed. It was a very fun evening.
I've started today with a nice walk/jog, a cold shower and a warm cup of coffee! It's now time to put my bathing suit back on and head out to the pool for some sunning and reading. I'm almost done with my third book since classes ended!! I love the leisurely reading time.

Check this box

I was reading a friends blog just now that got me to thinking...Jenn was talking about how when you are at the doctor filling out paper work they ask you: Single, Married, Divorced or Widowed on the form. What effing difference does it make?! This never matters if your single or married but if you're divorced or widowed it just pours some salt into the wound and reminds of you of how awesome you're feeling about everything. I've gotten to the point that I don't even check the box because I'm so pissed off at it. Checking the divorced box just makes me feel like a failure and checking the single box feels like a lie.
I feel very alone when I start to think about being "divorced". I don't have any friends that are divorced and it makes me feel like an outcast. I just want a friend to talk to that really knows what I'm feeling. Not that I wish this on any of my friends but if one could just fall from the sky that would be great ;-) I really do feel like I did something wrong. That I made a wrong turn somewhere. It doesn't help that I am constantly reminded of that wrong turn on a daily basis. The radio, magazines, TV, the Internet all serve to haunt me. I've often thought of retreating to escape it all but I would have to live under a rock!! That friend that I need to fall from the sky needs to have been married to a semi-celebrity too ;-) That seems to be the one thing that people really cannot relate to. Seeing your ex on TV while eating dinner or hearing him on the radio while having your blood drawn at the doctor is not something most people experience. It's very weird and bothersome.
Ahhhh life...isn't it fun!!! It actual can be when I get away from the crap swimming around in my head!! Let's get back to this vacation!!!

Sweat suit

I rolled out of bed at 6:40am due to the fact that the three dogs sleeping with me thought it was time to get the day started. Not a great way to start the day. I headed on out to the beach for my morning walk. I saw a lady walking the beach in one of those plastic sweat suits. It was pretty entertaining to watch. It was all stuck to her and making this horrible squeaking noise. Good for her I guess ;-) It was so humid out that I was uncomfortable so I cannot even imagine how she was feeling in that thing!
Today's goal is to continue to read and maybe catch a few cat naps while sun bathing. I have not been sleeping very good and it's taking an effect on my mood. Mom and I have plans to go see The Help later today and I am looking forward to that. The book was very good so I am hoping the movie will stand up. Until then...

Ha!

So this morning while I was walking on the beach I saw a lady wearing a shirt that said "I'm smiling because you've all finally made me loose my mind"

No carb blues

So evidently being on a low carb diet can cause depression, mood swings and irritability in certain people. All these things I've been for the past week!! I have been on the Atkins diet phase one for well over a month now and have not moved onto the other phases as I was suppose too. My bad. Looks like I'll be jacking up the carbs so I can stand myself again.

Lifes a Beach

Day two here at the beach...I took a nice long walk this morning. Watching the sun rise with all the old folks is something else ;-) I slept like poo poo last night. I kept flying up out the bed gasping. Not sure what all that was about but it's left me exhausted. I see a poolside nap in my future.

Gillian Welch

Saturday was a fun day!!! Aaron and I decided after a full month of strict dieting that we would splurge and splurge we did! We went to La Fonda for lunch where I chowed down on chips and queso followed by a cheese quesadilla with rice and beans. Dinner was even better...The Vortex. Bluemoon, bacon cheese burger, fried pickle spears and sweet potato fires!! It's now Monday and boy am I paying for that splurge. It's going to take me all week to get back down to the magic number but it was worth it. After our amazing dinner we went over to The Variety Playhouse to see the one and only Gillian Welch, oh and her sidekick Dave Rawlings. I don't think he gets enough credit. He is a BA!! The show was absolutely amazing. It was hands down the best live performance I have ever seen. We stood right up front at their feet and I sang along the whole time. Singing along is evidently something people don't do at her shows because as I looked around every one's lips were sealed. Boring!!! It was uncanny how quiet of a show it was, the audience I mean, the respect in that room was overwhelming. I have never considered following a tour around but this one I would. I could watch these two every night and not get bored.
So I am at the beach and this is day one of my two week vacation. I hope to god I can chill out and get some good relaxing in. This past week I have been an emotional basket case and the mood swings are enough to make me was to scream. There are some other things going on too and I am starting to wondering if I am either A. Depressed or B. Have a hormonal imbalance of some sort. I'm going to give it a few weeks and see what happens.

Creature of Habit

These past few days have all been wonderful and all about the same. I get up, take the dogs out and feed them, head out for my walk/jog about 8:15am, come home and kiss the ground because I made it back, call my Mother for our morning chat, read for an hour or so then either run errands or do chores/work then return to more reading followed shortly by a nap. The evening consists of a little more working out and much more reading. I don't want it to end!! I've got two and half more weeks (two of those at the beach) before classes start back up and I am hoping to drag it on through then.

Oh boy was yesterday a nice day. Got started with a jog/walk, then cleaned the house, started packing for my beach trip, read a lot and had a great lunch with my friend Jennifer. She had a baby about five months ago and has been out of pocket so it was nice to catch up with her. I finished the day with a little elliptical and stationary biking while watching Weeds and reading a very good interview with Gillian Welch...multitasking is my game while working out. Then I read myself to sleep. This break from school is awesome and I'm really trying to take advantage and decompress as much as possible.
This morning I went out for my jog/walk again. Sorry to say it was little more walking and less jogging than I would have liked. Some days it's as if my body just doesn't want to work for me. But none the less I made it through and feel better for it. I've exercised everyday for the past three months I think maybe even longer than that. I'm at that point now where I feel guilty if I don't use my body for something each day.
Well I've just made lunch plans with Autumn and I know we will talk more about her wedding!! I'm so excited for her and Travis. We have one year until the wedding so there is plenty of time to plan. I'm off for more leisurely reading until lunch. I've got seven books to read before school starts back up!! It's awesome!!

Alone Time

This past weekend was full of what some of us cherish, "alone time". Is it that we love ourselves so much or just hate the company of other people that makes alone time so awesome!?! Ha! I soaked it up to the fullest and bathed in the solitude. Don't get me wrong, I love being with my friends and family but sometimes it's nice not to have to consider another person for a while. Is that selfish? I personally think that something is wrong with you if you can't entertain yourself ;-) My big thing is talking. Sometimes I don't want to talk. I know that must shock the majority of you considering that I talk ALL THE TIME! Saturday I played "Man of the House" cleaning and staining the decks as well as riding the driveway of some mildew. While doing this I listened to NPR which I never do on on Saturday. There were some pretty good shows and I did a lot of laughing.I suggest NPR on the weekends. Sunday I did get up and take a jog but then I played "Couch Potato" and managed to take two long naps and watch three movies. I of course watched my Sunday staples, CBS Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes. At some point I found myself in the kitchen cooking myself dinner and listening to vinyl...thankfully, 45 minutes later I was back under the covers. I have to say, all and all I was very pleased with my weekend. I think it was long over do as I sometimes don't know when to stop. It was a great follow up to the end of summer semester and the best way to prep for my beach vacation ;-)