Hangin' With My Peeps

Well the good news is that my car is fixed, after being in the shop for a week. The bad news is that I had to return the nice, new rental car that I've been enjoying driving for the past seven days. The rental car I was given was a 2006 Hyundai Sonata. While it is not necessarily a car I would buy, it was still way better than my poor, old 1997 Mistubishi Galant. Nine years makes a huge difference in a car. And now, I have the "I want a new car" bug pretty badly. Alas, I have been trying to hold out as long as I can. When I do finally break down and buy a new car, it's going to be sooooo nice.

Anyway, at least I was able to keep the rental car over the weekend, as I drove back to Atlanta to visit some more of my peeps. I arrived late Friday night to Virginia Highlands and met up with two of my close friends to celebrate the fact that one of them was having a birthday. We had a lovely and relaxing night at Apres Diem, where we enjoyed the summer night, as we sat on the porch lit up with Christmas lights, ate some delectable food, and sipped on some delicious martinis. We had a great time chatting the night away until closing time. I would definitely go back to that place again.

Saturday, after waking up around noon at my friend's house, we went and had lunch at Treehouse, another place with a great patio. It is located in Peachtree Hills and has a large patio with trees and flowers planted all around it, tables with large umbrellas, fans in between each table, and little water sprayers that spray water into the fans so that you are lightly misted while you eat. It was cool, relaxing, and the food was delicious. (Also another place I would definitely go back to.) After lunch, we went and had our nails done at a place nearby. I gotta say, it's hard to beat a good foot rub.

After my feet and toes were renewed and made pretty again, I headed out to East Bumblef*ck (a.k.a Buford, GA), where a friend of mine that I went to nursing school with lives. Along with two of my other friends from RN school, we were having an emergency nursing girls meeting to lend some support to the one that lives in Buford. Her husband has recently moved out, and it is looking like they are probably going to end up getting divorced. After I hugged everyone, we all grabbed a beer and headed out to the back porch for some serious girl talk. As it turns out, hiding inside my friend's husband, was a real creep, who has only gotten meaner since he moved out. From all of the things she told us about him, I have a new respect for her as a person who had to put up with all of his crap. He is a seriously twisted person, and even though I know she is going through a lot right now with all of the stuff she has had to deal with, I know that ultimately she will be a much happier person without him.

As is the norm with my RN friends, we usually get wasted and end up doing something crazy by the end of the night. This time, we hitched a cab ride to Wild Bill's, a humongous country western themed dance club. Although this is not usually my first choice of a place to go, it was the closest place to go out dancing around where she lives. (It was still like a 25 minute cab ride from where we were.) We danced, we ogled the hot singer and guitar player in the band, and we drank a lot. By the end of the night, I just remember yelling at one friend not to get in the back of some dude's truck, as we were absolutely not going home with them, and then making everyone get in a cab to head back to Buford. (At least I didn't do a wet T-shirt contest like someone convinced me to do last year.... I usually just try to block that memory out.)

After we all stumbled out of bed late the next morning, we said our goodbyes, gave everyone hugs, and headed our separate ways, promising to talk again soon. I then made my way back towards Marietta for some glorious hungover Sunday pool action. We only got to hang out at the pool for about 45 minutes before we were rained out by a torrential downpour. But I was just as happy to laze around on the couch for the rest of the afternoon and evening, chatting and watching TV.

Monday morning, I got up early (for me) and headed back to Greensboro. I got home just around the time my car was ready, so that I was able to take care of the exchange as soon as I arrived in town. Poor little Bean car.... don't worry, I won't retire you yet.

All in all, it was another wonderful summer weekend, spent doing the things that I enjoy most in the world: eating good food, drinking good drinks, being outside in the warm weather, relaxing, laughing, and hanging with my peeps.