Counting Down the Days

Despite the fact that there is nothing very exciting happening around this town, I've managed to keep quite busy. I guess I figure the busier I am, the faster it will be over with. While my favie has been working somewhere around 70 hours a week, I have continued to work my regular 36-40 hours a week on night shift. Needless to say, our schedules have not been matching up very easily.

I've been doing my best to stay on top of the household duties of cleaning, doing laundry, and grocery shopping during my days off. I've also been trying to prepare meals at the beginning of the week so that we can have leftovers to eat off of during the rest of the week. This has worked out pretty well for the most part, preventing us from eating fast food all the time. I had really gotten spoiled by Dave cooking a couple of times a week for us, and since he has been so busy and tired from working, that has not been happening.

At this point, I think we are both pretty much "over" this place, this town, and the crazy working hours that EMF has sucked away from my man. So what do I do when I am bored, tired of doing chores, and lonely? Shop! Last Tuesday I went on a shopping spree at Target, Macy's, and Old Navy. We both really needed some new clothes (especially since half of our wardrobes are still packed away in boxes in the storage unit right now.)

So for David I bought 3 pairs of pants and 4 shirts, and for myself I bought a skirt, 6 tank tops, a purse, a wallet, an umbrella, and 2 necklaces. All in all, I spent $299.17, which I felt was pretty good for what all I bought. So now that we have all these great new clothes, all we have to do is find time to actually wear them around each other.

Only 11 more days (and this one is about over)!

Table For One

After working Thursday through Saturday, today was the first day of my weekend. I came home from work this morning, changed into a T-shirt to sleep in, and literally passed out, before even taking out my contacts or brushing my teeth. I finally woke up this afternoon around 5pm, a little confused and with a serious need for hygiene.

By the time I finished showering and brushing my teeth, I was starting to get seriously hungry, especially since I had passed out before eating anything. I knew that my favie was not going to be home until late because of his run-out gig, so I would be on my own for dinner. We had next to nothing edible in the refrigerator. So for dinner my choices were: 1) fast food, 2) go to the grocery store and then cook something, or 3) go to a restaurant by myself.

After eating sandwiches and frozen dinners the past couple of nights while I was working, I really wanted a decent meal, but I really didn't feel like going to the trouble of grocery shopping first. Therefore, I was left with option #3. Dining alone is not necessarily my favorite thing to do, but I've figured out a few things that make it a little less awkward.

I ended up going to a to a laidback brewery and steakhouse called Liberty, because I knew they had good salads and good beer (two of my favorite things). It was a nice evening: not too hot or humid, so I also went there because they had a nice patio that I wanted to take advantage of. I sat outside at a small table with a local newspaper to read. Whenever I have gone out to a restaurant by myself before, I have found that the most helpful thing to have to entertain me is one of those free, local newspapers. That way, I can browse through it without having to be too involved in reading, and also be able to people watch and talk to the waiter or anyone else that might want to strike up a conversation with me.

I took my time with dinner, enjoying the nice evening and the opportunity for relaxation. Although I still felt a little silly, sitting and eating by myself, I was glad that I got out of the apartment and treated myself to a nice dinner. I figured I deserved it for my hard work of the week. (And plus, I'm pretty sure I'm starting to get a little stir crazy from sitting in that apartment by myself when my man has lately been having to work so much.)

Just Five Dollars More...

Speaking of getting my nails done the other day....

Click on this link to watch some hilarious stand up by Anjelah Johnson about going to the nail salon! (Ln I know you always skip the videos, but you will really appreciate this one.)

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.