Tonight is one of those nights I just want to drive around with the windows rolled down listening to music. Recently I found a station that plays 90s music which these days is what 80s music is to me. Love singing along to the songs I cant believe I know or still remember the words to. I grabbed a short one pump mocha, one pump white mocha, one pump peppermint non-fat no whip hot chocolate and set out with the plan of driving around. Then my gas light came on, such is life. So, I took the city route home in exchange for a night drive around town. The lights off the building against the dark night sky is one my favorite things. Maybe a Sunday drive will show itself instead.

Its very clear that I am such a Southern California girl at heart when it gets cold. Im not here to complain, Im here to go on and on about silly things about the cold that only a girl not from here would go on and on about. I left my soda from Chick-fli-a (Ive been there more times in the past three months than I have since I met Chick-fli-a in 2003. A lot of my high schoolers work there, I like to visit them. I dont really care for chicken, I go for the kids.) in the car over night and it was hard as a rock the next morning when I got in. Now Ive frozen many of things over my lifetime, but never in my car. Im not used to using my car as a freezer. And the snow is still on the ground! Two days later! People who I work with at the church mock my delight over this little piles of “snow” since they are from up state New York. Well, I am not from there, Im from a beach! This new and so exchanging to me! Even when its 18 degrees outside when I have to go to work. Im happy to be enjoying the winter weather, though a little snow in this cold would be really nice. And I could live if a place where once a week we get a good snow and it sticks around for a little while and not mess up the roads. So please winter, stick around a little bit. I will love you even more if you bring nonthreatening snow around more often.

Weekend began early Saturday morning as I mixed together the beginning stages of Pioneer Women’s Cinnamon Rolls. I headed over the Emily’s house few hours later when the yeast was warm and happy. We chatted and tried not to think about the amount of butter that was going into these cinnamon rolls we were so excited to be making.

Told you there was a lot of butter.

This is Emily putting on the cinnamon. Lots and lots of cinnamon. She was brave and rolled the first rolls that spilled out the sides every which way. We learned and better luck on round two. Thicker the dough the better.

This is me rolling up them round two. Less messy and you feel a bit like a pro at this point. Round two, this is such a piece of cake. Why was this ever something we had trouble with? Silly us.

After spending a lovely morning with Emily I headed to Starbucks for some tea. Brian was drawing coworkers as part of Starbucks ‘Cheer Party’. He is so stinken good. I could of watched him draw all day. I then came home to help prepare our home for a late brunch with friends from work. Its funny I say friends from work since none of us really see each other at work anymore. We had our brunch at three in the afternoon over good conversation and of course venting. Jason and I then had dinner a short while later with Brian and Sarah. I got to met the new kitty who likes to give people hugs. Such a sweet cat. It was good to visit my first home here in North Carolina.

Sunday, today, I slept in for the first time in quite a while. Ive been working lots of hours in helping the load while Im gone, so its been early mornings for me. I joined Mike and Kari for burgers at Natty’s. I havnt been downtown in quite a while, since is sad since you know live there. Theres a little Christmas tree lot covering up the ugly wall. A copy cat of Natty Greenes have moved in next door to Natty Greenes. I will have to talk a walk down there again soon. Straight from lunch I went to a birthday party for an 8 year old. The guest list was mostly women 20 years older than her. Its a tradition their family has done with their children. Asking for the older and wiser to share their life and experience with them before they hit their teen years. To encourage them in the characters we already see in her as a girl and how to keep blooming as an amazing women. It was a very sweet time to be apart of. After that I was at the Core again for a much better of a night then last week. I just love being there, even if I miss 514 as Jason and I swap stories after our evenings are over.

We are days away from leaving for California. Ive started to pack. Last minute errands to do and people to see before our early flight on Thursday morning. My weekends might not be as full of plans when I return. I may not know what to do with all that time on my hands.

There are three girls and myself who got to know each other at work. We got a long really well and between our crazy schedules never see each other. Even when we work. So we try to get together once a month to grab dinner at somewhere a little fancier for a girls night out. This night has been a long time coming since we planned it a month in advance and then one of them got sick so it got prolonged a week. Sadly, even after all that, one of them had to bail at the last minute. It was sad without her, but the amazing food we had helped ease our pain. I didnt plan on getting dinner, just a drink and a treat. But I planned poorly with my meal choices and needed something besides alcohol and sugar. Dana and I both got a bowl of Chicken Curry Sweet Potato soup. Oh my damn. It was really really good soup. So good that I even thought about licking my bowl. Dana didnt finish her so she handed her bowl over to me. This place is within walking distance from me, its dangerously close for another bowl to be my future.

Karen and I spilt a Flirtini, which made me feel a little bit like JD on Srubs who loves ordering his Appletinis. Its a silly drink with a silly name but man it was good. What a Flirtini is made up of is pineapple juice, volka 9(flavored maybe), champagne. Thing is, when it was brought out to us, the cocktail part of it was in a highball glass and the champagne in a champagne glass. No instrutions where given. We checked the menu for some. Nothing. We werent sure what to do. Do you drink it one sip from each? Do we mix it ourselves? They both were good enough to drink alone, I could of had 10 of the cocktail part no problem (it was sweet). So I poured some champagne into the cocktail. I have no idea if that was the correct way to drink a Flirtini or not.

For desert we decided to order something very different each so we could take bits of each others. Dana got a Italian Cream Cake which is a rich yellow cake layered with coconuts and pecans with cream cheese. Karen got a Turtle Cheesecake, which is a simple turtle mix of caramel, pecans and iced with fudge. I went for the fruit route to balance it all out with a Cherry Crumb Pie, a classic pie with a semolina crumb topping. Im having the rest of that yummy pie for breakfast this morning. Best part about our deserts? They were free. When the waiter brought us our checks he told us he took care of the deserts because he felt he ignored our table due to a large party downstairs. We did not feel ignored, but were very thankful for the free treats!

I love how some friends it doesnt matter that time has gotten away from us and our relationship is built again on a one night conversation over yummy dinner. We share our struggles and our praises in our current life. Talk about topics that make you think deeper and encourage you. Those are the girls nights out I wish I had more often.

Oh, hi. This past weekend I went on my churches first retreat of any kind with six other women (well 7 if we are counting Baby Emma). It was a nice little get away that gave us time to get to know each other and talk about all sorts of things. There was food, homemade and BBQ. Had delicious pumpkin ice cream and a bite of pumpkin fudge (never mind it was 86 degrees out, I was getting into the fall spirit!).

Last week I spend good part of the day with my pastor’s family. They are in the process of trying to adopt a child from China. This weekend when talking about it, we referred to her as “China Baby” which sounds so un-PC. I took pictures of their family for their application process, along with their home. Since their kids are home school I took their “school” photos. I dont know if I took what they were thinking or not. Guess we’ll find out when I deliver their photos this week. You’d probably know about the photos Im speaking of if you followed my flickr stream. Im not here to guilt you into checking it or anything. I just tend to update that more than my blog these days.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, some news. This is a full week for me, working an actual 40 hour work week along with having plans with friends and the return of The Office on Thursday. Ive been watching this place being built for weeks, maybe a month now. A Chipolte on my side of town! There was on where Jason used to live, but now that he lives over on the good side of town (my side) I barely go over there. So I have missed Chipolte, so think my excitement when I saw them building one! There were men in with Chipolte shirts on at work and I asked where my burrito was. They said that they were fresh out but on Thursday it would be a day of free food all day Thursday. FREE CHIPOLTE?! On my day off and the day The Office returns? Thursday can not come sooner, burritos for breakfast lunch and dinner!

The other day, my coworker told me that her boyfriend and herself were digging a trench to their neighbor’s home since their well had gone dry. A well? The image of Snow White’s wishing well at Disneyland flashes through my head. “Wait, you get water from a well?”, I ask They explain to me its not a well where they have to put a bucket down and pull it up and thing bring water to the house. I understood that and also the water the well collects is from the ground. Their well apparently only had 6 inches of water left in it and they couldn’t take showers or anything like that. This is what send me over the edge,

“So, wait a second, you have no water running at your house?”

“No, we have running water. The well is just dry.”

“Yeah, I got that. But you cant take showers becasue there is no water.”

“Well, theres sorta drought becasue of lack of rain.”

“I understand that too but wait, its 2007, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And we live in the United States of America, right?”

“Uh huh.”

“It just seems really strange, as in, I can not wrap my head around why in this day in age in America, you are without water.”

“We cant get city water in the country.”

You can see how this conversation went. Lucky for me, they thought I was funny to bring up that in 2007. In the United States. They have no water. I apparently am really a city girl becasue I never would of thought someone would be without water who lives, oh, 20 minutes from me.

This past weekend Jason and I traveled to the Washington D.C. for the first time. Not just together, neither one of us had been to DC before. People at work call my a world traveler, being Ive driven across the country a few times and been to handful of countries. Im a stranger to most of the east coast though. Jason, well, he has no excuse really. Our drive up was really quite nice, its always nice to start off with a nice road trip to an action packed weekend. Being that neither of us had been to D.C. before, we wanted to be tourists all weekend. Our wonderful hosts really let us indulged us in that. After a great meal at Chilpote (their current favorite places to eat and quickly becoming mine) we headed for downtown D.C. Best part of being a tourist is being show around by a local. I highly recommend seeing the monuments at night. Not only is it much cooler but the small number of people who are around is what makes it worth it. I cant even think of those places during the day. Actually, I can, we drove by them on the way home and man that is a crazy amount of people! We drove past everything and anything you could think of in downtown D.C. then headed over to Georgetown. Theres a city that never sleeps, well the mail stretch. That street had every store you could think of. H&M especially catch my eye and we put it down on the list for us to visit the next day. Our night tour ended with Graham showing us the Exorcists stairs. Where the pope falls down the stairs? I haven’t seen the movie so I didn’t make the connection, but fun none the less.

Saturday we slept in from our late night of walking around and had pancakes. I cant remember the last time I had pancakes, and it was so over due. We headed for American History Museum, which we sadly learned was closed till 2008 for renovations! I was so sad becasue it was the one places I really wanted to see while in D.C. (besides the monuments). Our second choice was the Air and Space Museum. As we walked across, literally to the otherside of the mall, we kept seeing signs for Dorothy’s shoes from the Wizard of Oz. I dont know if it was just the heat, but I never took the time to read the sign, I just thought they were taunting us that the museum that had Dorothy’s shoes were closed. Thats when Jason told me Dorothy’s shoes are on display at the Air and Space Museum! I got very excited because, next to Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz is a movie I watched all the time growing up (the third would be Annie). We went to the Air and Space Museum, got some expensive lunch from McDonalds and hit up the planes. And more planes. I guess Im not a plane person becasue it all sorta blended together for me. Though it was neat to see the Wright Brother’s airplane (I am afterall living in NC now). Then, THEN we headed over to Dorothy’s shoes. Not only where Dorothy’s shoes there, but 150 of the top pieces from the American History Museum! The wound that I had felt earlier in the day of them closing the American History Museum was a little bit healed by that. By far, that room was all of our favorite part of the Air and Space Museum (tee hee). The many things we saw… Abe Lincoln’s hat, the first light bulb, the sit in chairs, Mr Rogers sweater, Julia Child’s hand written recipes, George Washington’s uniform, R2D2 and C3P0 to name a few. Oh and Dorothy’s shoes is a lot bigger than I thought. I always thought they’d be small.

Sweaty, and a bit tired we headed to Georgetown becasue that was the plan. I think, looking back we all had enough at that point, Nicole and I poked around H&M a bit but didnt want to wait in line for a dressing room or to check out so we headed to Ben and Jerrys. That is a pricey place to get ice cream as it is, but apparently since we are in Georgetown, they can charge more. We decided calling it a day and getting groceries to cook out with sounded like a great idea. While at the store we rented a DVD from the redbox – The Breech I believe it was called. Its based on a true story that took place in 2001 about a guy who worked for the FBI and spied on his boss who was sneaking government secrets. Perfect movie to watch after a few days in D.C. Jason brought the projector from work down, which was a lot of fun to use.

Sunday morning the boys went to church to do soundcheck while Nicole and I went to Starbucks for some breakfast before church. Always fine it interesting how different Starbucks are around the country. This one was a two story one and had breakfast sandwiches. Been wanting to try them for a while, and man those are good. I dont even want to think about the amount of calories in them, but they will be dangerous when they do hit the stores here. Graham and Nicole’s church was really sweet. Mostly I loved the worship. With my new church not even starting yet, worship has been Jason and his guitar. While thats nice and all, I dont think Ive had a worship experience like I did on Sunday since probably college group. Theres just something about a band who knows what they’re doing but not trying to get attention that makes worship easy to slip into. Hard to say I haven’t been apart of such a worship service in such a long time. Thats probably a whole other post. After church we had leftovers with Graham’s parents and the packed up and headed home, via IKEA. We said we wouldnt spend hours in there, but we did. It was good time though since the last times Jason and I went to IKEA together was in San Diego and we didnt really want to drag things across the country with us. Jace got some things he’d been eyeing for a while and I got some fun things along with useful kitchen stuff. That place is crazy but oh so wonderful. They have this non-fat yogurt Jason cant stop talking about – which when you think about it, says a lot about the yogurt.

As busy as it was, it was a really good weekend. Fun people in a fun city. Being it isnt a far drive away, Jason and I already planning our next trip back in a few months (this time maybe write our congressman about getting us inside of the White House). Its one of the cheapest vacations I think we can take. We have very giving friends who said we can stay with them whenever we want and everything up there is free. That is my kind of trip! Photos will follow soon, we shot in RAW this weekend. While the photos are really crisp and full of color, they are not flickr friendly so after they are converted they will be up to see!

So, I had all the intention in the world to share with you all everyday all the fun filled activities that I did with my parents this past week. The days were so fun filled that there was little time or energy in the evening to post about it. Though I did post the photos from each day before moving onto the next. Usually if Im not over here blogging, Im uploading on flickr, which is part of the reason I started to post photo of the day here. All of that is beside the point of this blog post, which is to share with you the past fun filled days with my parents!

Day 2: Biltmore! SO. GREAT. I mean, I didn’t think it wasn’t going to be great, I just really enjoyed it. My parents loved the gardens (the was a game all week – pointing out flowers and their names and origins…). We took the behind the scenes tour, which was great. See, I cant stop saying great. If you haven’t been to the Biltmore, go!

Day 3: After a long but really fun day in Ashville, we took it easy and stuck around town exploring the parks. It was neat to explore places I had been too but haven’t really taken the time to get to know. Id love to go back and just sit in those parks, taking photos, reading or people watching. My dad was very much into getting to know the history of the Guilford Courthouse Park – which actually was neat. Love the history my city holds.

Day 4: We hung out in downtown for a little bit, bought some gifts for people back home. Then headed over to Replacements, LTD and checked out all the amazing dishes they have. Dad took a little nap in a chair while mom and I explored. I got a neat old coffee pot which I will have to take a photo and post. I hope to find more information on it sometime. I cant believe that is only 2% of their inventory. 2%! We later went to Mike and Kari’s for good old fashion North Carolina BBQ. It was so good as always and it was fun to introduce my parents to my friends here.

All and all it was a really good time that went by really fast. It was sad to see them go, which talking with friends who lives states away from their family whom they are close to never gets easy to leave. Im trying not end on a sad note, but its hard since they left early this morning. Im so thankful that I was able to show them my new city and why I love it here.

They actually landed last night, but we just had a few salads and a late night of walking around downtown. I didn’t bring my photos for the tour of downtown sadly. Today we went to church this morning to which my parent got introduced to many people. Fun to show them off, feel like I know a lot of people when I really don’t. After church I drove my parents around town showing them some nice houses that were twice as big as their home and half the price. They just might think of moving here after seeing that (not really but thought about it). Then we went to a Grasshoppers game and then got some desert at the Melting Pot. Enjoy some photos from the game!

My parents are coming tomorrow! And there is a 20-30% its going to rain a few days while they’re here. That’s not my idea of a good time, but Im gonna look on the bright side that it wont be too warm for them. Im looking forward to being a tourist around town. Showing them my town and my favorite places and people that make me love it here. Also checking out those restaurants and places I just haven’t checked out becasue I do live here, now I really have an excusable reason.

Scott made me a few years ago Ed on DVD. For whatever lame-crazy reason NBC wont release Ed on DVD. I have made up with they them a little since bringing into my life, The Office. Last few days Ive been watching Ed while Ive been home getting ready for my parents to come. Why is it they always cancel the best shows? I mean, Ed had a great few seasons and the story really couldn’t go on forever, but of course we all wish we it could. Ive missed Mike and Nancy, Carol, Molly, Warren, Phil and of course, Ed. Im a sucker for a show in a small town I guess. Just really been enjoying Ed now that Gilmore Girls are gone (forever) and Office is gone for the summer.

Summer is officially here. I went to a graduation. Humidity is a live and well. The bright crisp colors of spring have toned down a bit. I hope this summer will be good, by that I mean, zero car issues. Im all for a tune up or oil change but no more of this leaving me on the side of many of roads like Gwen did last summer. Jason and my three year anniversary will be coming up soon too. With my parents coming, all planning has been focused on that, so we haven’t really talked about what we want to do to celebrate. Surprisingly, Im happy summer is here and look forward to what it might bring.

Friday night I went out to celebrate Kelly turning 25 at a baseball game. Maybe Im just old or not a parent to understand, but Friday was my first time sitting in the lawn. I do not like the lawn so much. So many kids and rude people. Where as sitting in our seats people are friendly and get into the game with you. Just a little harder to do in the lawn. Plus Im not into yelling at the outfielders, which seems to be the only way to get into the game out there. We had fun taking some goofy photos just the same:

Saturday evening Mike and Kari invited me to go with them to see M. Ward in Asheville. Ive only been to Asheville once before for a quick dinner on a drive back to NC from Nashville. We got there a little early for dinner and so we got to walk around a little bit allowing me to see another street of Asheville than I had before. M. Ward was great. Ive seen him once before with a full band before I was really a fan and it was amazing. This show he played solo which was also amazing for a totally different sound.

Sunday was a day full of friends and catching up. I introduced Kelly to the Wii, which is living at my house currently. Jason returned from a weekend in South Carolina. We catched up with each other which I really like. As much as we want each other in our stories, we love sharing them with each other. We had plenty to talk about before the Amazing Race came on. Sadly, no photos from Sunday – Owen needed a little break. I loved having a weekend full of friends and plans since a lot of time my weekend comes and goes with nothing really note worthy. Not that everyday off needs to be note worthy, but it was one of the more enjoyable weekends in a long time.

When I returned home from the retreat I saw the trees had green leaves on them. Its so great to watch winter fade away into spring. Some friends of mine are having a hard time with spring due to allergies. I cant decide if I’m having a hard time with spring or not. Not because of allergies, I feel fine. Its the heat that has already started to come upon us. Its nice, but the humidity oh the humidity, how I forgotten about you. This might be why I love winter here so much, I’m one of those people who’d rather be cold than hot (the whole there’s only so much you can take off but you can always put more on). This morning I woke up and notice the porch being a little dirtier but didn’t clue into what the line cover of dust was till I saw Gwen. She was covered in this musty yellow green pollen. At first I thought it had been a build up on my car of not washing her (my dad would be very sad to her she hasn’t had a bath all winter), which I really wanted to do but the threat of rain has made me hold off. As I drove through downtown I saw most of the cars shared the same musty yellow green color as Gwen did. The daffodils are being replaces by clovers and dandelions. I forget how much I love flowers, especially ones consider weeds.

Whats so amazing about living here instead of visiting, which I had done for two years, is all the details you miss. Ive been here in the spring time, but I didnt get to watch day to day this city slowly change from winter to spring. When I was inside for two days to shake my cold (leftovers are still here but I feel worlds better) when I drove to work, I couldnt believe how much spring had sprung. Mainly in trees sprinkles through out the city in an amazing white blooms that pairs so well with a pretty blue sky. It rained a couple of days ago, making for some pretty puffy clouds as great background of their white tree friends.

Also, Ive known wild flowers in my time, but Ive never seen daffodils grow quite as wildly as they do here. During the fall I watched the leaves cover a green stub of some kind but forgot about them as winter came. The leaves blew away and you saw the leaves start to pop up, not just in my yarn but all over. Its as though someone took seeds a sprinkled wherever there was soil. But daffodils grow from bulbs, so I dont get how they are found everywhere you turn, but I love celebrating spring with them.

Quarter till 2am is the perfect time to drive though downtown. Its that time where the clubs and bars are calling last drink. People are pouring out into the street. Did you know that at almost two in the morning you can get a hot dog? Feels just a little bit like New York (says the girl whos never been to New York) with hot dog stands on street corners. I just like knowing that if I wanted a hot dog at two in the morning, I am able to get one. Just one of reasons why I love living downtown.

Dana, Owen and I took a little walk around our neighborhood today. Cant believe how great my neighborhood is and I just now taken advantage of a nice walk around it after all these months. I didn’t make resolutions or really goals this year, just a thought process of living life a little fuller. Which includes eating better and walking, because really I’m not going to diet or exercise, but I enjoy eating good food and taking walks. I’m doing something good for my well being all around really. Besides that tingling feeling in my butt, I didn’t feel really tired after my walk like I thought I would. It was really enjoyable and could be playing tricks in my mind, but I felt great all day despite the fact I’m fighting a sore throat.

With having my own place, Id love to have guests over more than I have since moving in. The set up is there is no real living room, we each have couches and big enough rooms to hang out in. But I have yet to completely unpack and organize my room, thus creating a big mess of piles. After my walk today I tackled most of said piles and got my room along quite nicely. Now I just need some art and photos to put on the wall to give it a more homey, moved in feel.

I havnt share with you all this neat little corner of internet that some friends of mine have started an online magazine on. Its called Cornertableonline.com and I just posted an interview with the one and only Tara Leigh Cobble . Be sure to add Cornertableonline.com to your bookmark or RSS feeds.

Also, I took some photos of our new downtown park. Enjoy.

In the years I traveled back and forth from California to North Carolina, it was always the cheapest to fly Southwest. My family had mostly grown up on this airline, because they were the lowest fair in the sky. There’s a photo of my brother and dad holding up their group “a” tickets because we rarely got them. But this trip to California (which is very backwards… a weekend trip to Cali? Its usually to NC) thanks to Grandma I flew on Continental out of Greensboro rather than Raleigh. It is thanks to this new airline experience I have come with the newest (yes these happen fairly often) pros and cons list.

Whos got the seat power?
Pro for SW: You get their early enough or check in online early, it is up to yourself to nab a good seat.
Con for Continental: You can pick your seat when your buying your ticket on line. But if you get your ticket last minute (like I did) you don’t have choices like that.

This by no means any airlines fault, but I always seem to get those older men who want to chit chat or have no scene of personal space that they kinda spill over into my seat. I want to remind them how they did not paid for that part of my seat, if they have to please hand over my refund. Yes, I am a small petite girl, but this gives no one sitting next to me the right to lean into my spare room! That’s my spare room! I usually go for a window seat, but I may just go for the isle from now on. Since I avoid airplane bathrooms at all cost, window seats are great because I don’t have to get up. I’d gladly get up if only that means I get my seat all to myself.

Id also like to note that my favorite plane ride in a very long time was on the flight from Houston to California. I was given the middle seat (boo!) and sat and prayed no men would sit next to me (they are always creating problems. Women tend to mind their own business and stay to their seats.) and Jesus answered my prayers. Two girls about my size sat on ether side of me. Neither one of them tried to chit chat with me or get into my seat. All of us fell a sleep a one point and even the continued to stay in our own seats. We were polite to each other when turns to the bathroom happened. They just seem to get there wasn’t much point to the ‘What do you do for a living” chit chat and entertained themselves with a book, writing or sleeping.

The Food:
Pro for Continental: Actually food! One flight I got crackers with salami and spread, trail mix and M&Ms. Other flight was in the morning so they offered us Cheerio’s with the perfect size carton of milk and a banana. Although they do offer pretzels instead of peanuts. I don’t understand this switch but I did rediscover my love for pretzels this weekend. And when I asked for another bag of pretzels, I was given two.
Con for SW: Snack pack. They are fine and all, but never give me an ounce of fullness. I always brought on my own meal to get me through the long flight. But they still do offer peanuts, good peanuts too.
Both airline use coke products, so both get big points for me on that. Although I’m half tempted everytime to say “Can I please just have the whole can of Diet Coke? I’m gonna ask for more the next time you come around anyhow. Saves you some steps.”

Layovers:
Pro for Continental: Both times my layover was in Houston. The layovers where not long at all. First one was enough time for me to get across the airport (had to take a train, but that was kinda cool) use the bathroom and grab another snack or magazine. And then off I went to my gate where I didn’t sit very long at all.
Con for SW: I always seem to get the flights that stop at least twice (once to switch planes and then just a stop to get more passengers at another). Or I only have one stop but its for about two hours. Airports can be the neatest place to hang out in (people watching) or the worst, depending on the wait of the layover.

Now this was a toughie. I’ve always liked how its always sorta a guess where my layover would be. Visited lots of different states in one flight thanks to SW. I like to travel so I like the accept of the layover, but not enough to give it full pro points. And then again, SW has never made me travel completely across the airport to get to another terminal. But then again, the people working the desks in front of the gates for SW are much nicer than Continental. Oh what a great segway to..

Customer Service:
Pro for SW: I guess I have never really had issues with the people who work for SW. I’ve seem most SW flight attendance be overly nice to a man whos wanted 5 bags of peanuts with his can of coke. Also SW has a song that everyone once in a while you’ll have a flight attendant who knows it and sings it over the speaker system in the plane (always a lot of fun). Also the staff on the plane always seems happy on SW. Have a bit of fun with the safety speech the poor guys have to give out who knows the number of time a day. And whenever I’ve called SW about redeeming free flights, they are always so helpful and nice.
Con for Continental: I know I have only flown with them once, but this one employee set my mind on their customer service. On the way to California the service wasn’t unpleasant (this is where I got the extra bag of pretzels) but wasn’t anything noting (other than the pretzels, very important). But this one girl who was being the desk in front of the flight from Houston to Greensboro was just unpleasant. The flight was delayed and so another flight boarded before ours. This was very confusing to a lot of people but it is no reason to be rude. She wouldn’t even look up at them and tell them the plane wasn’t there yet. How do we know? There are no windows to watch for our plane so we rely on you for all information. And we know its not your fault the plane is delayed but with a sour attitude like that, we are gonna blame it on you. Also, I had a very heavy bag of mugs and curtains (that’s another story) that was under my seat on the little commuter plane from Houston to Greensboro but bothered the man (another story) sitting next to me. So I brought it forward seeing if they could store it for me safety someplace else since their tiny overhead bins didn’t fit it like the last one. Desk lady was there and was so rude. Thankfully, not nicely but nice enough the flight attendant put it with the crews stuff in a closet on the plane. I could rant all day about how bad customer service is, but I shall leave it at that.

Bag space:
Pro for SW: I have never had a problem carrying anything on (even three smaller items on the plane where it should only be two) or fitting anything into the overhead bin.
Con for Continental: I still don’t get why we took one of those tiny planes from Houston to Greensboro but we did. And the overhead space on those planes suck big time. They are smaller than under the seat for crying outloud! So here’s the heavy bag story. I was moving back (still on strike with the post office) a box of kitchen items, along with my bag stuff to the brim as my check ins. As my carry on, my mom and I carefully wrapped all my mugs and glasses along with one of my couch covers and curtains. It was in a duffle bag that I have had since I think Jr High, but still does its job well. As you can imagine, this thing was heavy. I had nice fellow passengers on a plane help me get my bag up and down in the over head bin, mostly them feeling bad for me that I had to carry such a load. Through the Houston airport I drug the bag because I was hurting from carrying (come to find that I have a rash on my shoulder from the bag.) giving the other travels a site to see for sure. But when a normal size bag wont fit on the plane, that is not my fault! And when asking for help and getting a rude face and comment doesn’t help ether! The guy who sat next to me on the flight from Houston to Greensboro had long legs so he was not excited about my bag taking put part of his leg space, nevermind he had the isle seat but I understood. But then he later had his legs in my leg area and we all know how I don’t like that (and always kept leaning into my seat to look out the window). I finally put my tray table down, which slapped his knee and he moved his leg over (if only I had thought of that sooner!). And then I closed the window so he’d stop leaning over me to look out! He smelled funny too, which never helps someone case.

So after this carefully analyst of the two airlines, we can see that Southwest is the clear winner. They are cheaper too, even with the drive out to Raleigh, Southwest is the way to fly. (Also, on my flight from Houston to California…the window seat girl next to me took out a water bottle towards the end of the trip and drank from it. I did not fear for my life since it seems that you’d want an isle seat if you were to pull anything. But none the less if she was allowed a water bottle, why shouldn’t have I been allowed a water bottle?)

After a few trips to Atlanta, I never really saw outside of my friend’s home or a church were Derek and Sandra played. Not the “real” Atlanta. For sure my past trips counted as I had been to Atlanta but didn’t have the true Atlanta experience. I don’t know if there really is such a thing, but I feel that I had it this past weekend.

Its been a while since probably too many people in one house had happened. I for some reason love times like those. Sure there are times I get annoyed if someone takes too long in the bathroom or something but nothing major. The idea of being that close with good friends for a weekend just makes it that more fun. All 14 (I believe) of us went to a Braves game on Friday evening (and of course they played the Mets. New York is everywhere!) which I was really looking forward to. My family went to Dodgers game a lot for two season growing up. For some reason between the 4th of July Grasshoppers game and the Braves, I’m getting back into baseball again. Turner Field is also this famous stadium so it was fun just being there. Sadly we didn’t make it to the Coke Museum which was the only disappointment to me of the weekend. I’m sure there are many more Atlanta things I need to experience for the complete Atlanta experience.

We did however go to IKEA on Saturday which was probably more fun that appropriate with a large group of people. We sat in the fake rooms and modeled how it should be used and took lots of pictures. Atlanta is also one of those places that’s so big (described to me as a puddle of water, spreads out everywhere) that it takes a while to get anywhere. Which means we got to ride the famous Marta. Marta was no ones friend by the end of the evening (we all were very tired from walking and heat) but riding a subway type transportation was fun. Also feel we walked a lot, but I sweated a lot. I think my southern friends who grew up with the humidity do not have the same problem as a I do, but part of me is thinking of growing out my bangs. They just might work on me in the humid south if my forehead cant keep up with the heat.

As with being with a large group of friends, you never seem to have enough time with everyone. You’ll get bits and pieces but nothing ever seems like enough. Wanting to bounce from person to person to get in all that you can without cheating anyone. Remembering things about people you hadn’t seen in a while and wishing we all lived closer to one another. All and all, a good weekend that seemed to go back so fast. Now its time to get back to “real life” and get some rest from the whirlwind weekend.

( Photos are on flickr too.)

Anyone seen this billboards? In the south they seem to be just about everywhere. Seen the most different ones (the most popular seems to be “I pooted”, which is just fun to say so I cant blame it for being popular) around Greensboro. Apparently they are connected with the Cartoon Network for their summer line up or something. A really fun way to market something, get people talking on the silly phrases they put up all over bigger cities.

Unsure to what exactly posed me, but when I purchased my latte today, I also handed over a dollar for a copy of the New York Times. I’m not much of a newspaper reader myself, but again New York seems to be taken over my mind. I will let you know how I feel how things are going on in New York later.

Anne Taylor Loft is a place that’s sophisticate normally. In my mind at least because the price tag is not one I take seriously unless its on sale. Well, unknown to me, I walked into a sale. My mission was to find some capris for summer since I’m not a huge fan of shorts. Little did I know that this sophisticate place to shop is a battle ground when there is a sale going on. I was in my section looking at a shirt and a lady comes up almost pushing me to get the shirt behind it. Let me just say she was not the same size of me so she must be kidding herself as she tired to take me out.

I rarely wear my hair up when I am not at work. Not sure why this is, maybe for the same reason I don’t like wearing collared shirts when I’m off work. Those things I associate myself to work and when I’m off work I want to be done with it. The other day I left my hair up after work and actually liked it. Seems to me I don’t give much effort to what I look like when I go to work. This is probably why I put my hair up to simply to keep it out of my face when I’m running around, not because I think it looks cute.

Driving up my street today I got a little teary. Listening to Peter Bradly Adams (half of the no longer eastmountainsouth) thinking one of these songs would be good for Carla and my road trip cd. Thinking of the last time I will drive up my street is in my near distance future. Okay not the last time ever but moving away from it. Which we are not going to think about too much about that, instead, check out Peter Bradly Adams.