Its the final countdown... for this quarter at least

Today and tomorrow I have my final exams. This was the shortest quarter that ATC has had yet, but it seemed to last forever. I've done so much that its almost unbelievable.

This quarter started off with me on vacation for five days. I missed two classes and numerous online posts for econ. Not worry, I made it up. The first week back from Florida consisted of two tests. Eek! But, I survived.

Furthermore, this quarter I have taught myself microeconomics (because Mr. Wisconsin is a terrible teacher. I'm sorry, but its true. Work on your feedback dude, seriously.) and I "started" a sole proprietorship, a general partnership, a limited liability company and a "S" corporation with Cakes by Mere. Are you tired yet, 'cause I am.

I spent 20+ hours on the computer in the library, coffee shops, and other random spots around town. I've spent hours in the Gardens slowly reducing my rented textbook to mush. Thanks humidity, couldn't have done it with out you.

I've made numerous trips to the big ATL, my folks, my sis's, made two birthday cakes, attended meetings for CAR, and never missed a beat with my friends here in town. I've gone running in the rain with Sarah, experimented with veggie substitutes, ate my weight in sushi, lost 15 pounds, three dress sizes, voted twice, gone to the lake more times than I can count, and countless other things.

I cannot wait for what all this upcoming quarter will entail. I already know that tailgating will be a big part of it since this may be my last opportunity to do it. I will be emerging myself into the world of the LSAT (if I get grumpy along the way, just humor me people, I'll be better by Christmas). I will probably be moving (for real this time, she just might have found an actual interested party) and downsizing considerably.

The one thing that I am looking forward to the most... my baby brother will finally be turning 21. Wooo, I cannot believe it. Its going to be a great time. Also, my bro-in-law will be 40. Its payback time, dun dun dun..... Hey Panya, I'm coming for ya!

So, cheers to a 20 day, not so free, freedom stint, and to the upcoming quarter. March and graduation will be here before I know it.

Another ever so busy weekend, with me!

That's right, I spent this entire weekend with me. Just me, and it flew by like crazy.

It started on Friday. I had called Mel to see if she wanted to join me for a little sushi. She did, but couldn't'. A friend was coming over to fix her ice maker. Oh well, sushi for one.

I have to say, it was kind of liberating sitting there by myself. I got out my books, studied and listened to the group next to me. They were all speaking Chinese and it fascinated me. Also, the toddler that was with them kept sneaking over to my table. Just to stare at me. "Why, hello there little guy." His mom would constantly apologize. "Don't worry, he isn't bothering me," I said each time that she would try to herd him back over.

Then, after finishing my food and laughing hysterically (inside that is. I know that I am eating alone, but I don't want to seem crazy too!) because "Happy Days" came on. Really, a Japanese place is playing American 1960's television theme music. It was time to head over to Jittery Joes. I had a test and a paper due that weekend, so I had to be prepared for it. I sat there for two hours, studying, drinking multiple cups of tea, and tried to get a start on my paper. Finally, it was time to head home.

It was time to watch my latest from Netflix. Woo, four hours of fun. Then I placed it back in the mailbox and headed off to sleep. Why so early? Well, it wasn't really that early, it was at least 12, but I had my adventure in the morning.

I got up at 8:00, had breakfast, cleaned, did the dishes and waited for my stomach to settle. I got my gear, phone, keys, and out I went. I started walking towards the front of the subdivision and then hit the gas. I was running like the wind, okay, may be not, but I was doing pretty good. As I was coming across the last part of the fire station a car pulled out in front of me and rolled down their window. "What is this joker doing?"

It was David. He just looked at me and said, "You look like Mere." "And you look like David." He asked how I was doing and stated that I must live nearby to be out running. Oh what he didn't know. He told me that he was on his way to see another friend of our's. Courtney is a really special lady and a real trooper. I mean that. Back in December of '07, she was stabbed multiple times while on duty at a local grocery store. The man took off and the police were chasing him down and eventually caught him.

Luckily, one of the shoppers nearby was a nurse. She started grabbing paper towels and anything she could off the shelves to help stop the bleeding. In fact, by the time the stabbing was over, she had almost already bled out.

When they got her to the hospital, she went comatose and was for a week if not more. Her recovery was a long one, but its amazing that she is even here today. She really is a huge role model for me. David told me that she has gone back to school to get her masters and is looking forward to coming back to work. Amazing!!

Anyway, after that little stop and chat, I kept on going. There were so many people out that morning. I finally came to my normal stopping point, East Campus, but this time, I kept going. I crossed the RR tracks and started making my way up the hill towards the stadium. I ran into a few detours here and there. Because football season is upon us, they were all in a tizzy to get the facility ready, pouring new sidewalks, which meant that I had to dodge traffic to cross the street. All was well.

I cannot describe to you how amazing I felt when I reached an old spot. So many times I had driven there to drop off Matt for school on my way to work. Now, I was running past it and my heart was about to jump out of my chest. Then I saw sitting on top of the hill, the Georgian. One of my favorite buildings here. I had tried once to move into it, but the rent is simply too high.

I made it up the hills of downtown and then I ran straight to my office. Never had coming to work felt so good.

What do you do when you accomplish something like this? You call your mother of course! As I was talking to her and drinking water, I kept on looking down and finding pennies. I made three cents off that trip. The real significance, to me at least, is that it made me feel like someone else was telling me that they were proud.

When we were kids, and even into her adulthood, my sister, Tara, would always hand someone a penny when they looked upset. "A penny for your lots." To this day, people leave hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of pennies on her grave. So, every time that I find one, its like a little "hello."

Well, then it was time to head back. I then realized that I shouldn't have called my mother until I got home because she then preceded to call me almost at every mile. "Where are you now? Call me when you get home."

Each time I stopped to answer her call, my stomach would cramp up. And she called about five times. Once, it was my dad. "Where are you?" "About fifteen from home, I promise, I will call when I get there."

What should happen when I did finally reach home? They didn't answer. I called three times while I was stretching, and trying to kill the mega cramps in my legs. Finally, they picked up. Geez, people.

I ran a total of 10.2 miles and I think that might be my limit. For now anyway. That last mile really did hurt. My legs felt as though they were ready to give way and tighten up like a board all at the same time.

I laughed to myself when I was heading back and crossing the bridge. As I was getting down from it and was getting ready to run again, I saw a man run down to it and then turn back around. Why stop there, why not keep going? I did. It made me feel really good about myself. That I am willing to push myself further than others will.

The rest of the day was spent at the coffee house. And I mean that literally. I was there for six hours straight. Lots of tea. I finished my test, and then looked and discovered that I had gotten them backwards. The test was due on Sunday and the paper was due that night. Okay, time to get cracking. Considering that it was absolute, slopped together crap, I'm pretty impressed that I got a "B' on it. Woo. It was golden crap I guess.

Sunday was my lazy, time to recuperate, and take spin class day. After spin, I went home, cleaned the grill, killed some spiders with the water hose (yes, I am evil) and did a little painting. I saw this article in a magazine of mine about things you can do to spice up your space. One suggestion was to add metallic accents. I started thinking about it. I have a pretty neutral base going on throughout the house. Everyone tells me how comfortable it feels when they walk in, but there really isn't anything visually stimulating. So, I fixed it. I painted this metal tin I had (originally pink) with this sliver metallic paint and placed it on the coffee table with the remotes inside. Then, I glanced over at my garbage can. I have had that for three to four years. It is the most basic beige trashcan that Wal-Mart has to offer. It simply blends in with the wall. Let's fix that shall we?

The scratches on it actually made it look like brushed steel. Its really kind of cool looking. I might think about painting my table next. Not silver, but a more industrial darker color. Who knows, we will just have to wait and see.

Fashionable + Popular= Punk

This past weekend I was speaking with my mother. It started out as just a friendly little "catch up chat." You know, check in on the empty nesters now that the little one has finally flown the coup.

"Can I say something and have you actually hear it and listen?"


Oh boy, what did I do this time?


Apparently, and my parents have always had opinion on my hair and overall appearance, my mother thinks that I am in some way rebelling. "Okay, how do you figure?"


"Your hair always looks so good long and blonde. When everybody saw you at Workshop, they just 'ooh, and ahhed' over how pretty you looked. That hair cut you have now just looks so punk. It seems like there should be a pink or orange streak through it or something."


Really? I told her that I did listen and appreciated her honesty, but, honestly, I didn't agree with her. Its a bob, an angled bob. People have been "bobing" their hair since the 1920's. I can't recall anyone ever referring to those individuals, flappers I mean, as punks. Nor did they have mutli colored hair.


I just love how old fashioned my mother is. I really mean that though. She was practically raised by her grandmother. A person who was alive and could vividly recall the sinking of the Titanic. Although my mother was born in the 50's and raised in the 60's, you wouldn't think it.

Many times I just have to give her simple explanations to pacify her. "Well, Mama, its just too hot right now to have long hair, and it will grow out." I also pull this one too. "Its my head, its been my head my whole life, and unless you are willing to drive up here every morning and style it, I shall do what I want with it."

She then proceeded to scan and email to me a picture from Southern Living. When I asked her what that was all about, she told me that the girl in the pic was so beautiful, was a beauty queen and she looks just like me, but with long curled hair. In the back ground I could hear my dad yelling, "Its you, its you!"

She didn't like what I had to say. And I had to, just to be a jerk. "Mama, her hair is so big because it has to distract people from her wide nose and ugly face." Snap, crackle and pop.

She had just pulled a chord with me, and I had to retaliate.

Please don't think that my mother is a negative person. She is constantly telling me what an inspiration I am to her and that I am her hero for everything and that she is constantly talking about me to the ladies at work.

I love my mom, I just wish that I could bring her into the 21st century, or at least the latter half of the 20th. I am planning on having her come up soon, and when I do, she promised that I could take her to Republic and let them do her hair.

Muahahahahaha.

Imagine that

I took another quiz by one of my favorite blogs, How About Orange.

This one is a fashion quiz, and to my utter astonishment, I got 5 out 6 correct. Ha, I am current with today's fashion. Crazy to think.

The funny part was that while I was taking it, thoughts would enter my head like, "Boots are in right now, oh and leggings."

So, just how fashion knowledgeable are you?

You wanna go where everybody knows your name...

I was recently surprised when I last visited the local jeweler downtown. You see, when I could not successfully sell my ring and was further encouraged to keep it as a badge or trophy, I headed over there for their creativity and skilled craftmanship. They did a terrific job and I receive numerous compliments on the item daily.


Now, due to my significant weight loss, my great grandmother's wedding set no longer fits. I am constantly (and obsessively I might add) checking to make sure that the tiny symbols of love are still adorning my slinder digits. They are continually sliding around and are never positioned correctly.


Well, in an effort to remedy this and further reward myself, I decided to have a new piece made from some already existing jewelry that I no longer wear. Each time that I walk in the door to check on the progress and make another payment towards my prize, I am greeted, by name, first and last, as I walk in.


"Come on back Mere, let me show you what is going on." Each time that I see it, I am pleasantly surprised at their apparent ability to read my mind and know my tastes, exactly. I cannot wait to proudly display this work of art once it is finished.

Mulligan

As I do towards the end and wind down of each quarter, I reflect back on my past educational experiences. Such as today when I was chatting with Sarah N. She asked me why it was that I did not have the grade point average that I have now, then. My only, and honest, reply I could give her was that I simply did not apply myself. Far too many times was I out running the halls the dorms or the lawn of front campus when I should have been inside, studying for the test that I would have the next day. Or perhaps outlining that paper due within a week's time.


My freshman year, I dropped all but two classes my second semester. Why? I allowed the car accident to get the best of me. Rather than push myself, I laid down and rolled over. That phrase, the one now that just the mere hint at it makes my skin crawl, "Its too hard," was my one and only excuse.


Although kicking myself seems to be more practical, there are many times that I wish I could scream "mulligan!" The safe word, the one that would turn back time and give me a fresh new start. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work that way. Oh, but how I wish it would. I would go back, tell that little blond headed teen to turn away and walk back in the opposite direction. I would reach down and turn off her TV, and put the mini Reese's cups back into the freezer from whence they came.


I would tell her that one day she would regret her actions and that there were plenty of opportunities in the future to mingle. The world would not stop turning if she skipped that one night at the Brick or the local pizzeria. That her friend's fight with her boyfriend (and her co-worker) was not that big a deal nor did it take priority over studying for that econ final the following morning.


Pushing my wishful thinking aside, I told Sarah that I just had to place my focus on the future and accomplishing my goals. Instead of taking the easy road like before, I now push myself everyday with even some of the simplest of tasks.


Even just running on the treadmill. If I make it to four solid minutes with no break, "Mere, you've gotten this far, keep going, it'll be over before you know it." Same thing when it comes to weight lifting, "You've done this set twice already, what's one more?"


At this moment, I am sitting in class preparing to turn in my final project for Corporate Law, and the room is full of talk and gasps at just how large my final product is. I could have settled for the bare bones, but I didn't. I didn't. I have traveled down that road, more than my fair share, and I know exactly where it leads... no where. I plan on never revisiting.

I understand that this means that I will be at constant war with myself and the need to procrastinate. I will be fighting my natural instincts and the belief that "tomorrow is another day."

Well, yes it is. Rather than waste it by doing what I should have done today, I plan on embracing it with full and open possibilities. My "mulligan" days are over. I never really liked golf anyhow.

Athens' Got Talent

My co-worker, okay he really isn't my co-worker, but he rents the office downstairs to start up his own practice. Anyway, he has auditioned for Athens' Got Talent and here is his video.

See, he does have talent. Anyway, please vote for him here. All monies collected go to Women to the World.

Votes are only a dollar peeps, just $1.oo.

Now, do it. Please. K, thanks.

Brain Food

Not that's intentional, but lately I haven't been eating nearly enough. I just don't feel hungry, ever. Sarah S. even made the comment the night we made the squash, "Mere, I am going to have to go out and eat after this aren't I?" "Why?" I asked. "Because you never eat, you eat to live, not the other way around."

I started thinking about it, particularly after my incident in spin, and she is right. I have noticed that I have a really hard time focusing too. It was all I could do to stay focused and read my econ book while at the Gardens. I can't read at home, too many distractions. And I have noticed that the usual 2:00 crash at work is significantly more difficult to overcome.

While I was out in the Gardens, walking back to my car, it hit me. I remember when Dante said that your brain needed at least 200 calories to function, and who knows how many I burn in a day. I am starving my brain. That is why I am so tired all the time. Not physically, but mentally. That's why when I go running, its so easy to just "check out."

Also, another brick onto this pile of discovery (and it was a big one), I had a bad night Saturday. Some stupid little thing that I found on my stepmom's old iphone triggered it. I found a picture from the night that I won those tickets to NY. That was probably the happiest day or night of my adult life. I had never won anything in my life, ever.

Well, I had talked to a few friends about it, and they did offer words of comfort, but it was Frannie that really gave me a kick. "You are too hard on yourself! You are a strong person, you have done so much with yourself when others in the same place would have just given up. You have come so far and don't get mad when you have these moments. You fight them off for so long, and then you have to deal with them for a minute, and then you keep fighting."

Then she told me to take it easier on myself, but not too much. "Don't lose this Mere, I like her." Why is it that siblings know exactly what to say? Furthermore, its great that they can be completely upfront with you and tell you what they mean and not worry about crossing any lines. There are no lines.

Well, Sunday night, after this discovery, I headed over to Kroger and loaded up on some foods with more protein and a little more calories in them. Its just so hard to stay away from all the sodium and sugar though. It use to take the "old Mere" less than an hour, maybe even 30 minutes to shop. Now I spend an hour just picking out a basket's worth of food because I look at each label and make sure that I am getting what I need to.

I also need to praise myself a little more. I have already reached the goal that Dante set me for to reach by December, and I did it in the half the time. That's got to count for something, and I have to let it. I need to focus more on the great things that I have done, rather than focus what I haven't done yet.

I am going to make a more conscious effort though to buy foods and eat more to give my brain the boost it needs. And for the love of God, get that candy out of the office, or at least away from my desk!

Weekend of Solitude

Okay, the slow weekends tend to go by faster apparently, because here I am on Monday morning wondering where all that time went.

I took Friday off from running and the gym because I was still in large amounts of pain from training, and I had big plans for Saturday. I just chilled around the house and watched movies and cleaned. I even spent enough time with Mo that he was sick of it after a little while. Saturday morning came, and I jumped out of bed with such enthusiasm. I got on my workout clothes, tied my shoes, got my keys and phone, I opened the door..... RAIN!!!! What the crap? It can't rain today, I have plans for my most excellent adventure.

All right, I decided to chill for an hour and see what would happen. An hour passed, I thought I had heard the rain stop and I could hear my neighbor mowing his lawn. I open the door and bullets are falling out of the sky, but I did hear the mower. Was it only raining over my house?

I did that for the whole morning. Stuck my head out and saw that the rain coming down just as hard as before. When it finally stopped (as if it was planned this way) I had no time to go run and be back in time to get ready for my visitors.

Well, time finally came and I got a ring at the door. My dad and stepmom came into town to had dinner with me and to experience the town. One big problem though, very hard to pick out a good restaurant when my stepmom is allegoric to garlic. We did fine though. I took them to my favorite downtown eatery (as of yet) and we had wine and pizza and salad and caprese. YUM!

She also gave me her old iphone 3g. Now I can finally upgrade. Finally. I am very appreciative. Now what do I do with my old phone? I might see if Kev wants it, but he probably wouldn't be able to afford the hefty AT&T bill that comes with it.

Sunday was a very slow day for me. I just chilled around the house. Did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, watched roomba (still no ninja knives Frannie, sorry) and watched a few movies. I mostly snacked on carrots and grapes all day and didn't think anything about it, until I went to the gym.

I went into spin class, had my bottle of water ready and hopped on the bike. Did fine through my warn up, did fine through Rich's warm up, however the first sprints got me. My stomach starting feeling emptier and emptier with every rotation of the wheel. I made it through the mountain climb and back down, but it was the heavy intervals that got me. Each time that I would sit back down, my head would feel all fuzzy. I was really afraid that I wasn't going to make it through the class, but I pushed myself and did it.

I got in the shower, and stood there for a good five minutes trying to get myself together. I ate a clif bar (whoever said that was suppose to taste like banana nut bread lied) and downed more water. After leaving the gym, I scurried over to Planet Smoothie and had one made with lots of stuff in it to sustain me until I got home.

Then I was off to the Gardens for a little reading. I trekked out to the great lawn, sat down in front of the retaining wall and spread my blanket out. I was out there for about two hours and didn't realize how humid it was until my papers were getting all flimsy and the pages of my book would tear when I turned them.

Later that night, I just took it easy on myself and ate a pork chop to fill in the gaps of food that I hadn't consumed that day. I really need to start watching myself, I don't want to ever do that again.

What will I blog about today?

Yesterday I had a classic Mere moment. I left my phone at home. Not really an issue for me because I am not attached to it like some people I know who wear them on their hips. That's right, I'm looking at you! The only real problem was that I told Sarah S. to call me when she got to the gym to meet up with me. Not to worry. I e-mailed Sarah N. explaining to her what had happened and asked that she simply text Sarah S. to inform her that I still planned on seeing her at the gym after work. See, no harm, no foul.

She came running up to me while I was on the treadmill and she hopped on the one next to me. Gossip commence. So, it was time for my person training. While waiting for Jenna to get my workout card and things together, she informed me that she saw me running down the road the other day. Caught red handed. She said that I was doing very well.

Then it was time for torture and pain. This was our first session together since she had left for Russia. Although two months had past, it was like it was yesterday. We were cutting up and laughing. I probably burned more calories doing that than the actual workouts. During some of my exercises, I would look over at Sarah and she would be laughing at me. Glad that I can bring joy to so many people. Ahhh. Moving on.

She taught me this new exercise where I lay on my back, grab hold of her ankles and swing my legs up to her face (not kicking her in the face, that is) and then she pushes them away and I cannot let them hit the floor. That made my stomach hurt in places I didn't know I had. Geez. She also commented on my necklace, as she always does. She told me that if she had that necklace, she would wake up everyday with a smile on her face. (This is the one that I made out of the ring). I will admit that it is very pretty and it is a constant reminder of how far I have come.

When our time was up, I told her that Sarah and I were about to do spin class. She looked at me like I was crazy and then made me lay back down and we did some leg stretches. "You will cramp up, trust me. We can't have that." Then she told me that even though she had been gone for two months, I was her little trophy for having done as much as I have.

I told her that I was sitting on top on the goal that Dante and I had set and told her that I wanted to push it and she agreed.

Spin class was awesome. I had sweat dripping from everywhere. I couldn't wipe down with the towel enough, and he even shortened the class because his friend was having their grand opening at this new bar downtown.

After working out, Sarah and I just couldn't leave the night at just that. Nope, I told her that I had a spaghetti squash that I was dying to try out. So, she went home to take out her dog and then headed over to my place. Apparently I must have a tiny microwave or abnormally large casserole dishes because we ended up making it in a 500 degree oven.

It was really good though, and it was the first time that I had real pasta sauce in forever. Sarah said that she was willing to try new things with me, but that my palette is just a little strange for her sometimes. Oh well, can't please everyone.

I liked it so much that I am going to have to make this a stable. Health spaghetti, who would have thunk it huh?

Journey to the Twilight Zone

This past weekend seemed like the longest weekend of my life, but yet, flew by so quickly. Dududu dududu, how does that happen?

Friday Sarah S. and I had plans to go running after she returned from the hospital and check on her friend who was in labor. (He name is Berkley and he is soooo cute). So, I get to Sarah's house, change clothes, and we are out the door. Yay, we are running out of her subdivision, crossed the road and we are a few blocks down the road. We had a deer popped out in front of us at one point. Then, our ever so magnificent plans were thwarted by ever increasing water droplets falling from the sky.

We then begin running back to her house. With a new plan in place, I chatted with her new roommate (who happens to be a sorority sister) while she packed for the night ahead. We reach my house and remove the furniture from the living room. Why, because its Turbo time! Shake your body, come on now and groove it!

We did the all too familiar cardio party and ab jam. We use to do them all the time that we have the monologues memorized. "Step it to the back, come, and step it to the back." At one point, back in the day, Sarah tried to do the videos listening to different music, but was unsuccessful. The timing gets all screwed up.

Afterwards, it was like 9 and we showered, got dressed and headed off to dinner after finally making a selection. We were urbanspooning trying to find somewhere new or somewhere we had never been to. None of them were open that late. Oh well. We both got the big Zack Snack. We were so hungry and exhausted that we cleaned our plates. That never happens.

One our way downtown and trying to find a place to park (why do we ever circle, just go straight to the parking deck and call it a night) we found out some pretty amazing news. Lindsay had just gotten engaged that day! Wooo, its about freaking time y'all.

Our first stop was to our favorite place, the Winery. Femme Fatal for two please. Then we headed over to Allgood to check out this ring. We saw an old familiar face. Michael, who's wife recently had a baby was out. Apparently his wife, Carey, was asleep and he woke her so that he could bring him out. Okie dokie. I can just imagine how that convo went. "Hey, hey, wake up, I wanna go out." (I can just him poking her in the head).

I gave him a great big hug. The last time that I saw him, it was at his place, they had not yet announced the pregnancy, and we were playing cranium. He got all mad because Lindsay were kicking butts and taking names.

He just started looking at me. "You've cut your hair, and its lighter, and you've lost weight." Wow, very observant (no sarcasm here, believe it or not.)

After drinking half of Lindsay's and my own "Plan B," yes that is what it is called, we ran into Jamie. We were on our way out and I couldn't finish mine, so he did, in less than five seconds.

Then we headed over to see another friend while he worked our other usual place. He made me another kick you in the butt drink.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, particularly since I couldn't sleep. I think that I went to bed at 3:30.

Saturday morning was an early one for me. I woke up at 5:30 unable to sleep anymore. So, I cleaned the house in prep for a viewing and went to the store for more food for Mo. I left it out and then I was on my way.

Every time that I drive to Atlanta, I get more and more shocked at how well I know my way around. I use to, just in the last few years, get so scared there, but its like I finally woke up and all this usual navigational knowledge came back to me. When I got off the highway, I remember and knew exactly where I was. I almost turned down a road thinking that I was going somewhere else instead of my actual destination because I had done it so many times. Serious déjà vu. I past the grocery store where I use to go shopping with a certain individual. I went down roads that I would travel almost every weekend. Crazy.

This was also the weekend that my baby bro was moving in to his new college. When I went over to see him, I had another flood of memories. Like the first time that I moved into my first apartment. I was so scared. I remembered waking up in the middle of the night, and not knowing where I was.

His place was a little cramped though with all the boxing and such. I asked him to stop for a minute and come out and hang with Sarah N. and I. He said "no" because apparently he had so much to do. Dude, you have all weekend to do this.

Oh well, I got her all to myself. So, we went to Lenox for some of my very special and expensive makeup. It lasts forever though. In fact, I just now finished off the powder that Matt gave me on our first Christmas together. (See, told ya).

After that, and a little people watching, it was time to go elsewhere. We were going to try to watch this competition that was going on in one of the parks, like those stupid obstacle courses where people get hurt, but were worried about the weather changing on us. So, after a few unsuccessful stops at a few stores, we went home for a quick nap.

After which, I dove into Sarah's closet looking for something for me to borrow for the night. Yep, this one will work. I was shocked to see that I actually own more shoes than her. Then we headed for dinner at this great place called Tap. It was so cool. I want to go back. YUM.

Then it was time to hit midtown. We went to this place that is two stories tall and has like five bars there. There were people everywhere. Then we met Tony and Kenny. Tony came up and starting telling us this story about his best friend and started talking to Sarah. Then, a few minutes later, his friend Kenny (das German) came over and started talking to me. Man, you can't fake that accent. Apparently he works for BMW and is only here for two more weeks. He is also an amateur photographer and runner. He had pics on his iphone 4. I was more interested in the phone and playing with it than I was the pictures, but they were really good. Plus, the phone's apps were in German. It was really weird looking at it.

Finally, it was time to head home. We woke up the next day feeling kinda crappy and decided that we needed some brunch. I finally met the infamous Dale. He is so cute and he bought me a white mocha. Already on my good side.

On our way back to the car, Sarah and I both kind of cocked our heads to the side and noticed that there was this giant dent in her car. CSI Sarah was on the case. We called the police, they came and examined it and found only one explanation... the valet.

Stay tuned for that story wrap up.

Shiny & New

People have been saying it, and I have just been dismissing it, but I started thinking about it last night.

I was mowing the yard, and there isn't a whole lot that you can do other than the old familiar back and forth, and round the corner. My brain has no alternative other to wandering about.

Last Friday night, I made a comment to Sarah S. about how I desperately needed to get some more solution for my nasal cleansing thing. She asked why I was still doing that and I responded, "Because I am allegoric to Mo and the outside." She stated that she had no idea that I was and that I had never shown any signs of such. Well, I looked back in my blogs and it has been since May that I have had any problems regarding my sinuses.

Then I started thinking about what other things have subsided since my expanded efforts to improve my well being. I no longer have acid reflux (thank goodness), my feet never cause me trouble anymore (unless I fall off a platform and sprain my ankle), the arthritis in my knees is either gone or no longer bothers me, I have less back pain, I'm not nearly as tired (sleep wise) as I use to be, I've dropped three dress sizes, and the final blow... the cherry on this magnificent and decadent masterpiece, I'm two pounds away from the goal Dante set for me way back when.

I am still no where close to where I want to be though, so I am going to aim for ten more pounds. Which, if I were to do that, would mean that I would be smaller than I was in high school. Right now, I am actually one size on top and another on the bottom. The top is smaller (obviously) and my bottom is in fact the same size that I was in high school. Ta da!

Furthermore, my mother I and I have the same build, and if I keep going, I will be smaller than she was when she was my age (let's do it). Not to sound bias (which I am) but my mother was a knock out (and still is for someone her age who had four children naturally).

So, perhaps Ari is right, and do look and feel like a completely different and/or new person. She saw some pics of me from one of my runs (I take a picture to mark each time that I make it somewhere far off) and said that I looked nothing like I did when she left our office to return to Atlanta. That was back in February.

I cannot wait to see what all possibilities lay before me. I am just estactic about my progress so far (even though I am still hard on myself). Plus, I've got a new Spin buddy. Sarah S. has been joining me the last couple of times that I have gone. I think that she just might have talked me into taking up kickboxing as well. Look out bag, I'm coming for ya.

Eli

I met Eli during his freshman year. He was a resident on my hall, but I was not his direct RA. I went over to visit his room for the first time and some how ended up breaking his dry erase board. Sorry.

The first time that I came into his room, he and a few of his friends and myself and a another RA played Rummy together. I had never played it before and they were teaching me. My first game I won. Imagine that. He offered me a coke during one of the breaks and I said, "No, no, I can get, don't get up." At that point, Eli jumped up, dove over the card table and landed on the fridge door. Apparently he didn't know that I was a "cool" RA and really didn't care what he had in there.

Eli was actually the one who corrupted me in the ways of alcohol. Sad to say, but true. I was 19 and a freshman was teaching me how to drink. We had some great times in that building. For Halloween, he and his buddy Chris dressed up as inmates, but Eli went a step further and got a mullet wig. Awesome! That night at Capital was a fun one, I'll tell you what. Well, except for the walking back part, that pretty much sucked.

When I moved into my first apartment during second semester, he and Jason (another one of my residents) would come over and have dinner with me every Tuesday. We would trade off each week as to who's turn it was to cook. One night, it was like two in the morning and I woke up hearing my name being called out over a pa system from outside. I got up, opened my door and walked out on the back porch. It was Eli in his jeep. He told me to get dressed and that we were going out. "And just where are we going this time of night?"

He took me to a friends house and we went out for a late night joy ride on the lake. It was so cold, but it was so much fun. I learned so much about the lake that night too. Apparently there is this drive up (in your boat) dock gas station. So cool. And there is this one guy who turned his pontoon boat into a weird Frankenstein monster of a boat house. Really odd to look it.

He and I would also go swimming a lot at other people's apartment complexes, usually not even telling them that we were there. "Hey buddy, what's up?"

When Eli moved into his house, he was waiting for his roommate to come back from a summer in DC. While Eli was getting settled, I helped him decorate and put together most of his furniture. We then discussed ways of kicking out JD (his roommate) and how to move me in. Muahahaha. Yeah, but that didn't happen. I stayed with the evil Russian. I did spend a lot of time over there though. He threw a lot of awesome parties, many times they would lead to Waffle House to late night sobering up. I would crash on his sofa and when I would wake up, he would be making us muffins (usually blueberry) for breakfast. Geez I love him.

He would also let me do my laundry over there so that I wouldn't have to drag it all the way to Atlanta to do it at my boyfriend's house. I think that it use to make him mad though. He would call and ask what I was doing and before I could even answer, "Let me guess, you are either at Eli's, out with Eli, or you are out with the gang." Do I sense tension?

My favorite memory was the bond fire. That was so much fun. We dug a hole, but some rocks around said hole, and threw a bunch of crap in. That whole night was so funny. Billy was so drunk and jumping around the fire or on logs that I was chopping for the fire. Sarah and Eli were hanging out (I tried to hook them up) and Sarah N. was talking to Eli's buddy from Atlanta. He was such a cutie.

I partied a lot with him. Every time that he moved, there were new neighbors to get to know and home warming bashed to be thrown.

My senior year, he and his girlfriend (also my friend) came with all of us to the beach. It was Sarah and Ben, Eli and Amanda, Mike and I, and my oldest friend from growing up, Darcy. Darcy being the odd man out got the couch. Mike and I had the room with the twin beds and he started calling me his 1950's wife. Aren't you funny?

That was a great trip though. All we did was drink beer on the beach, eat sushi and pizza and hang out in the hot tub. Mike did leave early though. He had a meeting with an advisor in regards to the seminary. See Mike, you could have stayed that extra day and wouldn't have had to drive back by yourself. Oh well, shoulda coulda woulda, right.

I was so sad when I left Milly. Although I did visit him a time or two, and he did make the trip up here a few times himself.

Now, my dear friend Eli is married to Amanda. Their wedding was so much fun and they looked so happy. Gosh I miss them. Okay, that's it, I'm calling them!

My Inner Bob Ross

I have been wanting for a really long time to find a good pic of New York to hang in my house. Then I decided that it would be so much more personal, if it were one that I created myself. So, soon hopefully, I plan on getting into my "zone" and using that space in the garage for something useful. I will have a whole month off from school, and I am still going to study for the LSAT, but I must do other things as well. No wasted time, remember.

So, I found this picture while surfing the net. It is just the thing that I am looking for.

Rachel

Rachel and I had a pretty interesting beginning. In fact, she hated me. When I first came over to visit the girls when they moved to Bobcat, Rachel was one of their roommates. I had just come from work, so I was dressed as such, plaid dress pants and a cardigan. I was just hanging out with them while they cooked dinner and then I left to head home to make my own.

Later that week, I was informed that Rachel thought I was stuck up. Me? Noooo. "Who does she think she is?"

Well, late, during the year, we got really close. We didn't actually start hanging out one on one until after she graduated though. Everyone had left for the summer and she was staying at the apartment by herself. So, I rounded up my super Nintendo and headed over there for some good old fashion fun.

We played into the wee hours of the morning. This was also the same weekend that Gerad and I really starting talking. That's right, Rachel is totally to blame. If she hadn't gone to bed, I may have never answered that phone.

After she left to go back home, we would see her every now and then. The infamous wedding crash, Sarah S. and Ben's birthday party. She made them cupcakes and ate about half herself. This is significant because she is lactose intolerant. Guess who had to take care of her the next day? Fun!

She also got us amazing tickets to the Braves Game through her dad's company. We were sitting right behind the dugout. Hey batter, batter, batter!

Shortly thereafter, she decided that she wanted to go abroad. And boy did she. She lived in South Korea for two years. Each time that we would have our annual Holiday Dinner, we would video it and send it to her and speak with her via skype.

In fact, just one second [searching the interweb here, ah ha!]

Here, and here , and here are the videos of dinner, and here is the other that we shot of our last dinner in Milly. The last one is of Billy, Me and Sarah S. taking the Christmas Ham out of the oven. Awww, our house was so cute.

Anyway. While Rachel was away, she sent us all kinds of cute greeting cards in Korean, I still have most of them filed away, waiting to be scrap booked.

We haven't seen her in a few years though. The last time that I did see her was at her father's funeral. My heart absolutely broke for her and her sister. The really sad thing is that where they buried her father is the same cemetery where Billy's father and my sister are buried as well. Kind of a morbid connection, but unless you have been down that road (and trust me you don't want to) you really wouldn't understand.

Anyway, I do miss my peanut thumbs. Perhaps we could all get together soon for a hockey game.

Melissa

Half of the dynamic duo of Lin & Mel, I met her the same night as Lindsay.

I thought that she was such an interesting person. No fear of letting people know what you though about them. "You are stupid. Move on."

We really got closer during my senior year when we were in History together. It was one of those classes that if you took it, you could be exempt from that portion of the Regent's Exam, and let's face it, it was a silly test to begin with. Although, when we signed up for, we had no idea what was to come.

Our teacher was this crazy lady from Boston who tried to be more eccentric than she really was. She always wore inappropriate outfits and would hop up on the desk. "Cross you legs lady!"

We had a great time in there, working on our project and making fun of the instructor. During this time was also when she and her bf at the time, now her husband, got their first dog. Little Tux. He was so cute. I remember the first time that I saw them with the little guy. It was right before class and they were sitting on the front lawn. I walked up to say hi and Tux peed all on my leg. "Well, hello to you too!"

It was so funny, nothing a little dip in the fountain can't handle. Especially if that weird barefoot guy with the cane and dreads put bubbles into it again.

Moving on.

She would accompany us to the Brick on numerous occasions and of course for Thursday night pizza. Geez, we had a routine, huh? She also came along for my 22 bday celebration at Little Tokyo where this guy in a fish hat sang "Mary had a little lamb" to me. Hmmm, okie dokie then.

When she and Lindsay moved into an apartment together, I loved going over there. Not only to see them, but also because the Grove had this awesome hill that you had to come down. During that time I had the Sportage and it was great putting the car in neutral and cruising through. At the bottom of it, there were several grooves that had been cut into the pavement from people doing it in low riding cars. Those dodos.

I remember when she first told me that she was engaged. I couldn't believe. Then I remembered when she set the date. I thought that sounded so far off, but, its already come and gone.

Right before her wedding, a few weeks prior I guess, she and I would Turbo Jam in my living room and then talk for hours. Then we got in the habit of going and getting sushi every Friday, but now that someone has a fancy job that requires them to work really long hours, its hard to get together.

She really pulled through for me during the first few months of this year. She has been a great friend and I cannot express how much she really means to me, and what all she has done for me.

I am so proud of her and Nick. They are just steadily moving along and following their path. I love it, just not the fact that she lives so far away now. Grrr.

Creativity Quiz

One of the blogs that I read, What about Orange (here), posted this quiz to see just how creative you are. Here are my results...

Creativity enriches you

Creativity is separate from the real world for you. But it’s a magical world in which you like to immerse yourself. When you’re involved in it, you get the wonderful sensation that there are no limits, that anything is possible. What you are really looking for is harmony — you want to feel you are a part of what you create. Planting flowers, writing poetry, embroidery or putting together a photo album, these are all suited to your sort of quiet creativity. You want to fall in love with what you create. You also think of creativity as a part of you in which you can take refuge and feel protected. As the psychoanalyst D Anzieu explained, creativity acts as an ‘encouraging parent — loving, enriching and supportive’. You would love to use your creativity to retreat into a world that is kind and reassuring. For you, being creative means having the chance to become one with what you create, bathe in the glory of it and allow yourself to be taken over by it. This is why you seem more suited to the sort of creativity that calls for gentleness, subtlety, harmony and patience. • To find out about how to tap into your creative side, see our feature in the August issue out now.

Sounds about right.

Lindsay

I first met Lindsay during her freshman year at GCSU. She was this cute, blonde, bubbly little girl, and I like her instantly. (Not much as really changed)

She just got engaged too. Wow! I cannot believe it, and I am so happy for her.

Anyway, because she was so serious about her studies (we are talking about college right, hahaha) we didn't see much of her during the week. She and Melissa would come ever so often to Tuesday Night Wing night and partake in the delicious deals.

She would also join in on the Thursday trips to Luigi's for pizza and garlic knots. Those things were the best, and incredibly bad for you.

We really didn't start hanging out a lot whole lot until after I had graduated and moved up here where she was finishing her education. So, since she is still in school, this post totally counts.

She took me to my first tailgating party. I had never done anything like this before. My first game was with my ex from college, but we never tailgating. We were just lame and actually went to the game and got there on time, not five hours early for beer, dogs and fun games.

That day was so much fun, and I didn't even get burned.


Her 21st birthday party was a blast. She had just moved, and she moved down the block from me, it was great! Sarah N. was staying the weekend with me and we had gone to a friend's house to pick roses for her on her special day, and then of course, the necessary bottle of legal booze.

When we got there, the place was packed. I had so much fun that night, and I didn't even get drunk. Although people to this day will still swear up and down that I was, but I'm sticking to my story.

The main reason was that I had fallen down. We were playing pong on the back deck and I was wearing a pair of flip flops that lacked proper tread. Well, I was chasing after a renegade ball and slipped and smacked right down on my butt. Ouch. Sarah N. was trying to help me up, but she was laughing too hard. I think that it was actually Dustin that grabbed my hand, and I was laughing so much that I wasn't any help either.

Later that night, I decided to look over the edge of the balcony to see just how many balls have gone overboard. As I was doing it, some of her friends (Eva and Eric) came over and thought that I was about to fall or something, and they were the drunk ones. Oh well, like I said, I was fine.

This year, I think that we have spent more time together than we have in a long time, which is impressive considering that she is in pharmacy school now. Last year and the year before, I use to go to her house and watch True blood with her and her man, Dustin. They had HBO and, well, yeah, I'm cheap. It was always a great night.

This one time, we went over to a couple that we know, Michael and Carey, for some board games. We, Lin and I, were on a team and it was my turn to draw and her's to guess. I had barely finished making a "bubble" like body under some waves when she screamed out, "Sea Monkey!" We won. It pissed Michael off so much. "How do you get sea monkey out of that? How? What? You guys suck."

When we were already meeting up at my place to carpool out to Ben's wedding, it was so funny. She showed up with curler's in her hair and a scarf wrapped around them. She finished doing her hair on the way. She was soooo cute, I just couldn't stand it.

During the reception, she and Mel were going on and on about what Mel's wedding should look like. They were just going a mile a minute and it was difficult to follow them have the time. Billy just looked at me and said, "They have literally been like this since high school."

I had dinner with her the other night, and although we have matured some (I said some) she is still just as cute and energetic as she was before.

I know that I have said this in the past, but Lin, thanks for making me feel so welcome when I moved here. I really appreciated it.

60 Sec on the Tufted Couch

Beware, you are about to enter the deep dark depths and regions of my subconscious.

Sunday morning I woke up crying, and I don't mean that I was crying in my dream (which I was), but I woke up and my face was wet and my eyes were swollen. Sarah said that she had heard me and thought that I was awake. Nope, sound asleep.

Now, how terrible does a dream have to be in order to make this heartless monster cry? Pretty bad.

I was in a room, like a conference room, and I was surrounded by just about everyone that I knew. There were people from work, people from the gym (including my trainers) and people from school. They were all criticising me for things that I had not done, or telling me that I was lazy or complacent, or that I wasn't doing well in school. I kept retorted back, "I have a 3.9, I've lost 36 pounds, I never sleep. What more do you want from me?"

I walked away and some how ended up in the copier room. One of the attorneys here walked up to me and just placed his hand on my back while I cried. Geez, even in my dreams I can't allow others to seem me cry.

On my drive home last night. I was trying to think it through and figure out what was bothering me. I know that something is because Friday night I went to sleep at 3:30 and woke at 5:30. Two hours of sleep is simply not sufficient. But no matter how much I tried, I just laid there starring at the ceiling and glancing at the clock every few minutes. Time almost seemed to just stop.

I think that I have it all sorted. I have worked so hard for everything that I have and continue to still do so much. Sarah N. is constantly asking me to take a rest. Jacki tells me to stop being so hard on myself. "You are a full time employee, you are a full time student, you work out everyday, and you are a full time daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. Breathe once in a while."

I think that I get scared sometimes that if I stop, someone might take all that away from me. I lost myself once, and I am so afraid that it will happen again, that I fight it, aggressively. I get home some nights and don't feel like doing a single solitary thing, but, I won't even pop in a movie or sit. I make myself change into workout clothes and get a move on. I don't actually sit down at home until I am ready to eat. I make myself be in a constant state of motion.

Even last night. I went straight to the grocery store before going home first. I cruised the isles and battled the students, who were doing their first shopping trip, for the last box of cereal. I patiently (okay maybe not) stood behind them while they blocked the entire isle debating over what kind of peanut butter they were going to purchase. Finally, after checking out and listening to the u-scan attendant explain things six times to one guy, I made it out of there and was finally on my way home. I opened the door and I did not sit until I had unloaded the car, put away the groceries, unpacked my bag, started a load of laundry, put away my shoes and got out what all I would need in the morning. I fed the cat, watered the plants and fertilized them, and set roomba out for a stroll. When I finally did sit, it wasn't for long. Just a hour later it was time for tea and bed.

This morning was just as bad. I got up, fed the cat, took my tea cup to the dishwasher, turned it on, started another load of laundry, picked out what I was going to wear, ate, set roomba out again, put the cat out, showered, made up my bed, got dressed and got my lunch items together and was out the door. I think that I might have even checked my e-mail during all that. I can't remember.

Could I be right though? Am I over compensating for fear that it will all just stop one day? Am I going to just run myself into the ground?

Mike

Mike and I were probably the closets out of the guys. He and I got along so well. I was closer to him than Josh, and we dated, for a minute.

I met Mike back during sophomore year, but we didn't start hanging out until they moved to Bobcat. I can't remember how or when we started talking, but we just hit it off. It seemed like we were always hanging out. We would go grocery shopping together and everything.

In fact, I was with him when I found my cat, and he subsequently named her. Just the day before we had seen the movie "The Omen" and he named her Damien. Mostly because she was solid black, but she lived up to it. She was the demon cat.

Anyway, most nights I would be at his place or he would be at mine or we would be at the Sarahs'. We would watch tv and I would scratch his head and he would scratch my back. Most of the time he wouldn't even say anything. He would just walk in, point at his head and sit down. In fact, the only condition in which I was allowed to sit in his most comfy recliner was if I was scratching his head.

When I would clean the boys' house, Mike was the only one to make critiques. He knew that it bothered me, and nothing made him happier than to get under my skin. Mike and I would have our fair share of fights, but we usually got over them pretty quickly.

When he lived at Bobcat, I was the only one who was allowed to sit in his bed. Ah, take that. Although, I don't think that anyone really tried either.

When I was dating Virlyn, he loved to tease me about his name. Apparently, he, Billy and Sarah N. sat down one day and came up with a new nickname for him. They started with Merlin (often times playing the Sorcerer's Apprentice soundtrack while I was on the phone with him). Then they moved to Tim from the Holy Grail, and finally Timmy from Southpark. Everytime that I would get a text message or phone call from him, they would yell it out. "Timmay!!!"

I remember his room always being cluttered with lose change and ear plugs. He was just a light sleeper. He would always have weird dreams too, and felt compelled to tell me about them. "Yes Mike, that is strange. Hahahaha."

Once I took him and Eli to the lake with me. My cousin BJ was driving the boat at the time and Mike and Eli were tubing. All of the sudden, Mike hit some debris and fell off. When he climbed in the boat, he had a busted nose. He played it off though, and had a great time the rest of the day.

The next time that I took him to the lake, he broke the tube. He took on too much water and went under and the tube broke free from the boat. Not only did the rope break, but the rung holding the rope to the tube ripped completely off. Just can't take him anywhere.

When he decided that he wanted to go to seminary, he asked me for a letter of reference. It was eloquent and slightly embellished. I got entirely behind him though. I even went to Mass with him. It was almost as if they knew that I was coming, the whole message was about why its bad to be a protestant and, in particular, a Baptist. "Do I have a stamp on my head or something?"

While he was away at school, he would get lonely. I would keep him company by watching shows with him while on the phone. When he would come in town, I would take him out to dinner. Usually Red Lobster. This was before I became allergic.

Once we decided to go kayaking together. While we were traveling down the river, we came across a rope swing. We beached our boats and decided to give it a whirl. During our climb up the bank, he noticed that his hand was in a mess of poison ivy. All I heard was the yelp behind me and the next thing I knew was that I was flying through the air. I grabbed hold of the rope and swung out and landed in the water. I hit my tail bone unfortunately because the spot where I landed was only three feet deep, if that.

That was also the time that I had gotten the worst full back sunburn of my life. (Guess who was in charge of putting sunscreen on it?)

Now, Mike is married, I haven't seen him in about two years. We still talk via email, facebook and phone. (I forgot to mention that he left the seminary didn't I?)

Billy

Oh Billy. What can I say about Billy? I knew that I was going to like him the second we met. Sitting there, quite, you just knew, whatever he did chose to say it was going to be freaking hilarious.

I was so excited to find out where he grew up. Finally, someone from my neck of the words. Whenever I would fall asleep over at Billy and Mike's place, they would always try to pull a prank on me. I would wake up with a bowl of water next to me, and once, a single blue dot in the middle of my forehead.

Billy was also very compassionate. One time, it was like three in the morning, and I had fallen asleep on the couch and Ben had been drinking as well. I woke up with Ben lifting the couch and flipping it with me still on it. I was so pissed. I was ready to take him down. That's when they started calling me an angry drunk. Well, I wasn't drunk, I was asleep. Right after that, Billy offered me his bed, which I gladly took.

One time over at Eli's house when we were having a bond fire in his back yard, Billy tried to "help" me chop wood by trying to jump on the limb I was sawing in two pieces. He completely missed and rolled over on the ground. Good job Billy, good job.

When Billy, Mike, Ben and Josh all lived in the same house, for extra money, I would clean for them. It started because I was dating Josh at the time and could not stand how nasty it was over there. While I would be cleaning Billy's room, he would be playing warcraft and talking to someone over the internet. His favorite thing to do was to get me to talk to whoever it was. I don't know why, but he loved it.

Later, I learned that it was Chandler, saying absurd things and most of them inappropriate. Wow, let's not do that again. Many nights, I would make 4th meal runs with Billy and Mike. They would buy my dinner so long as I drove them since they were in no state to drive. It was a pretty good system we had worked out there. And can you imagine, me being actually awake to enjoy 4th meal? Crazy.

Billy also loved to throw cards around my room whenever he came over. That and bottle tops. When I moved, there were so many under my bed it was ridiculous. He would be in my room when I wasn't even home doing it. I would walk in and he would be watching tv while Mike was on the computer.

The worst was, no matter how mad I got at him, I couldn't stay that way. He would flash that ear to ear grin and it was impossible to yell at him. He was just too cute.

Billy was the one who got me into hockey. On most Thursday nights, when most college students would be hitting downtown, we would travel up to the big ATL. My first ever hockey game was exciting. He spent the whole time trying to explain to me what was going on. All I really cared about was banging my "thunder sticks" and wooting and hollering at the fights that broke out.

The last summer that I lived in Milly, Billy stayed with Sarah S. and I in Sarah N.'s vacant room. We hardly ever saw him. He would play warcraft until 3 in the morning. I would wake up and he would have just gotten to bed or would be making a trip to the bathroom completely dazed. I would come home for lunch and he would have just woken up and making his famous spam and eggs breakfast. [Vomit]

That was also the summer that Billy and I had our famous "just one drink" night. I will never forget how he tempted me with sushi and the promise that we would only stay out for a minute. Four hours later, I had chugged four full beers, consumed numerous others, and was escorting Billy and Alison home. I remember how fast the room was spinning as I put my head down that night. I immediately had to get up and make a run for the bathroom. Those cold tiles felt so good. The next day at work was a rough one.

I was so sad when I had to leave and helped him move into his new apartment.

Billy, I miss you and you need to come around more, and actually call when you do come into town.

Update: I found this video of Billy. Its a classic Billy moment.

Joey

Joey started late freshman year. He didn't start until Spring Semester, which I didn't know you could do. He moved into one of the vacant rooms at Terrell with his friend Josh. I remember the first night back. I was looking for Sarah N. and someone said that they had seen her on the second floor. Off I went. I found her sitting on Joey's bed sandwiched between Joey and Josh watching the Goonies. I walked in, introduced myself, and later on because Joey's surrogate big sister.

Ben, Sarah S., Me, Rachel, Mike, Alison, Her Friend (?), Lindsay, Melissa, Joey, Sarah N, and Deanna. (Billy took the picture and surprised everyone. That's why the smiles look fake.)

We would sit and talk for hours on end about life, Virlyn and his girlfriend, Joanna. She was in Japan doing a study abroad program for her dance school. I quickly learned that Joey was incapable of keeping a secret though. Such a girl when it came to gossip. Geez.

Joey would often been seen walking about campus wearing his Florida Gator shaped hat with either the theme song or the game blaring out of his book bag. "Hey Joe, Gator fan are ya?" If you valued your sanity, you would never get into a debate with him over sports. He even ran a pool once on the football season and got written up by the RA's for "gambling" or encouraging it or something.

I didn't see Joey much after sophomore year sadly. Now, he is married and with two children and I only see him or communicate with him via facebook.

Ben

I met Ben, like Sarah N., on my first day of college. He was a CJ major too. I remember seeing him walk up to the group getting ready to take a tour. He was walking kind of bouncy like and had an empty cup of tea in his hand. I remember because he kept on slipping out of the cup and was making that awful slurping noise. "Enough already!"

He lived in Terrell Hall too and we immediately clicked. I would run up to his room the second that the co-ed restrictions were off in the morning. We had most of the same classes and would walk to them together. If I didn't get up in time, he would usually walk down to the lobby and wait. I remember our first test. He came to my room about 30 minutes before. He started quizzing me and I wasn't doing so well. My roommate later told me that she swore up and down that I was screwed. Nope, got a "B." Ha ah! But Ben did make a better grade.

We would always be out cooking in the grill on the front steps of Terrell or playing frisbee on the front lawn. For some reason, he would love to sneak up on people, girls mostly, and smack them in the leg or butt with his flipflop. It was a hard echoing smack too. The kind that leaves bruises. I screamed at him once for doing that.

Once, Ben was doing laundry on the first floor and I was in his room hanging out. While he went down to change the loads out, I fell asleep. Apparently he came in and saw me, then went downstairs to tell everyone. I woke up with about three faces staring at me. Ahhhh. To wake me up, he gave me a donut. I had to heat it up, cause I'm weird (I know, nothing new). Evidently, ten seconds is more than enough time because shortly after taking it out of the microwave I blistered my lip.

Sophomore year, we climbed Stone Mountain together after Joey's bday party. This was right after my wreck and my feet were still in pretty bad shape. Every few minutes I would say to him, "Ben, you see that rock up there, I'm going to sit on it." The top steep part was the worst. When I reached the top, I had my shoes in my hand, because going up barefoot seemed to feel better at the time, and when I walked in the restroom, my face was bright scary red.

We stayed up there for a minute, looked around. No, Dad, you were wrong. You can't see the smoke stack in Milly from Stone Mountain, sorry. Then it was time to head back down for the lazer show. That was also the same weekend that Ben got his new mustang convertible, and while we were backing out to head over to the mountain part to go on our climb, someone backed into him. Bitter moment for him. He handled it well though.

While I was living in my apartment, so far away from everyone else, Ben was the one who really pulled through for me. He always came and visited. I would get a knock at the door and would see him through the peep hole. Always a pleasant surprise. He would also come over and cook with me. One night we were making chicken and noodles with a cream sauce. Right as I was pulling it out of the oven, my hand slipped and it turned upside down into the oven and started smoking everywhere. Sorry, my bad. We were able to salvage some of it though.

When Ben got his dog Apache, we took my car since it was bigger and went road tripping to Valdosta to get him. That was a great trip, except for the fact that Mike was sick and sneezing everywhere and he was sitting in the front with me. Yuck! "Keep your tissues on that side of the car."

When my friend Eli was playing on the intramural softball team, the "Dysfunctions," Ben, Apache and I would make the trip out there to watch them. I even made a sign. Wooo, go team!

Ben was the first person to drag me to Athens for a night out on the town. Originally it was just going to be him and Sarah, but he called her and told her to come and get me and pick out something appropriate to wear to Country Rock. Yeah, baby. Not really, that place is disgusting, but I had a great time though.

Then Ben took me back to his parents' place with him to stay the night and on to Milly the next day. Also, while I was living with the crazy Russian, I would stay on Ben's couch a lot. We would cook together so much other there too. (Did I mention that Ben and I like to cook?)

Ben was also the one who got us all to go see Bill Engvall live. What a great night. We all had never laughed that so hard in our lives. All of our faces were bright red and our stomachs were aching.

Our senior year, Ben and I would stay up until the crack of dawn working on our Research Methods projects. We literally stayed up until 4 and the class was a 8. Those were some rough nights. Ben and I would also have our fights. I got mad at him one time for getting to noisy and digging through things on my desk. I asked him to stop, and he didn't. I asked him again and he freaked out. Sarah S. had to play "Dr. Phil" and smooth things over.

I hate to say it, but that year is when we lost Ben. The second that he got engaged, V-day `07, we saw less and less of him. Even when he graduated, there was a big party at the house, and he just drove by with his family and furniture in tow. That was it. By Ben. Since then, I have only gotten him to attend two Holiday dinners in four years. Each time was its own disaster. It has never felt the same with him.

Its sad when you see your friends drift apart from you. Especially when they were so close.

Sarah S.

What can I say about Sarah S.? When I first met her, she was this shy little preacher's daughter from a small town in middle Georgia. I use to watch what I would say around her.

She will never, to this day, never let me forget the first thing that I said to her. "God you're white." I was so shocked to see someone who was a fair skinned as I was. It was no insult dear, surely you most know that by now.

Anyway, like I was saying. We spent so much time together in good old Terrell Hall. We would travel in a group or pack to the dinning hall everyday. On many days, I would be working, taking a class and would barely have time to run in for lunch. I was always gone on weekends too for CAR and ADPi related events. This is when Sarah coined the phrase, Mere Jelly. She said that I was spread so thin. She would sit there and look at me with such sad expressions as I would force food down my throat for ten minutes before leaving to head back out. (It might have also had something to do with the way that she eats her food. She smacked Billy in the head once with a piece of lettuce. I'm just saying, look out.)

Then there was the summer that she came to visit me while I was a CA for the Housing Department at school. That summer, I don't know what happened, but she completely broke out of her shell. I was shocked to see her wear a shirt without sleeves. What? Who are you?

Sophomore year, right after I had moved into my apartment, she broke, no shattered her arm. She was playing tag football. How do you shatter your arm playing a non contact sport? It still gets me. I made her this huge, gianormous get well card and took it down to Napier to await her return. She ended up dropping that semester and joined my boat of late graduates.


I remember once I asked her to dye my hair for me. It was the first time that she had done it for me. Usually Deanna would. While I was waiting for the timer to go off, she, Sarah N., Billy and Mike were sitting down for dinner. I walked in and asked her if I was suppose to feel heat. She freaked out and slammed my head under the water and rushed to get the dye out. Since that day, she has refused to do my hair.

When I moved into the house that they later joined me in, she helped me spackle an entire wall. She further joined Rachel and I on an adventure to Auburn. We crashed a wedding there. It was great. We had champagne, cake, and danced all over the place. It was awesome. We slept the entire car ride home to Rachel's house and her mom drove us back to Milly the next day. We were flying by the seat of our pants that weekend.

Then the time came when she did move in. That first night, we had crab legs for dinner and white wine. We finished off that entire bottle ourselves, which was crazy for us. We were light weights then. We were trying to hang her curtains up and I kept on slipping on the ladder and she kept dropping the curtains as she was handing them to me.

Later that night, we got a call from Josh to come and join him and his buddies at trivia night. Okay! So, on top of the wine we had two pitchers of beer and we lost at the game. Probably better off that way though. The winner won two free pitchers. Needless to say, we stumbled along that sidewalk back home that we would get to know so well over the next year.

Our senior trip to Myrtle Beach was great. Granted, it was March and it was freezing, but we had so much fun. We actually got Sarah into a Hooters. Can you believe it? Furthermore, one night while we were chilling in the hot tub, I saw Sarah take a big puff from Ben's cigar. I had to do a double take. It was the first and the last time that I ever saw her smoke.

Soon after that, it was time for us to move up to here, and well, the rest is history.

My college sitcom

I recently got an online movie rental subscription. Every two days, there's a new DVD sitting in my mail box. Since I don't have cable service, I decided that I would rent my favorite shows from over the years. To start, Friends. The show about 20 somethings living in New York trying to make something of themselves.

Now, in college, we were 20 somethings, but basically we were just trying to graduate on time and really didn't worry too much about the whole "making something of ourselves" aspect.

For the purpose of this post, I decided that there is far too much to tell in one single entry, therefore, each will focus on one person.


Sarah N.
I met Sarah on my first day of college. It was the "Week of Welcome" and to get us more acquainted with college life, they broke us down into our majors and we all spent that week together and freshman seminar.

I remember the first thing I thought about her. "What do we have here?" She came walking up where a "theme" t-shirt that she had gotten from Spencer's or Hot Topic. "Hi, I'm Sarah." Those golden blonde locks of curls swarming in the breeze and her wide-eyed expression.


I don't remember how we started talking or how we even really started hanging out. I just remember that we were living in the same dorm building. I went up the third floor and saw her room and met her roommate, Sarah S. She is a completely different story, which I will get to.

I was always in their room though, or out in the third floor common area. My mom would call my dorm room and my roommate would answer and try to cover for me. "Uh, I think that she is upstairs studying." "Shannah, don't lie."

My favorite memories of her from that year would have to be the sprinkler run at midnight, the "mudslide" that was created from the giant inflatable water slides, or cruising up and down the hill at Centennial Center. We use to cruise up and down 441 too listening to her music. Yep, we were special.

I was so sad when we didn't live in the same building sophomore year. Halfway through, I got my first apartment. They came to visit though. I have a picture of the Sarahs after they had tried to sit on my bed at the same time. I slept on an inflatable mattress during most of my time there because I couldn't afford to buy an actual bed. The came over to visit and they both tried to sit at the same time, on a corner no less, and they went bouncing right off and onto the floor. Hilarious.

Then there was the time when I came over after my crab legs experiment. I was so hammered after the benedryl and beer, that she could not believe the state that I was in. "What did you do to my [Mere]!" she exclaimed.

She was also a party to my first night out on the town. She also took me to Athens for my 21st birthday. That was a great time. On the way up there, it was starting to get dark and while we were on 441 a deer stepped right out in front of her car. I screamed deer, and she said "where." Luckily we didn't hit it, but geez, that was scary.

One night, after one of our late classes, Ben and I rushed home to get a head start on cooking. Mike distracted Sarah N. on the stairs while we got things cooking. Why the distraction? Since we had been eating hamburger helper so much those days, we decided to try something different. Something a little healthier. Turkey helper. Ben and I were trying to brown the meat before Sarah saw it and knew that something was up.

Successfully we finished cooking and we all sat down to dinner. After everyone had finished and we were just sitting around and talking, we asked her. "So, Sarah, what did you think of dinner?" "It was good." "Ah ha, we made it with turkey, and you didn't even notice!" "You tricked me!?!"

Yep, that's all she could focus on, the trickery of it all. Not the fact that she tried something new and didn't die from it. Oh well. Sarah and trying new things is still such a battle to this day. She would order the same thing every time that we would go out that it became known as the Sarah special. Chicken Parmesan. Yep, that's all she would eat. Not the wings on Tuesday night special, nope.

One of my favorite memories of when she first moved in with me. She didn't own a bed either and was sleeping on a futon until she went out and bought one. One night, after watching a movie, Mike decided to do a swan dive onto it. I was already in the next room when I heard, "bang, snap, clunk." I came running in and Mike had busted the whole thing. She had to sleep on the floor for the next two weeks. It sure did encourage her to buy a mattress though.

Our senior year, she would take walks with me around Milly to get some exercise. This was when my feet were still hurting pretty bad on a regular basis. Then I found a cat outside the front door. She would attack Sarah all the time. The cat would be hiding under my bed or someone's and when Sarah was in the kitchen, it was pounce time. I heard all kinds of screams come out of there. It was so funny.

Also, since I am hard of hearing, Sarah would scream out nonsense until I came into the room to see what she wanted. Her reasoning, she said that she was tired of repeating herself.

That house was a complete circus, I tell you what. But it was a great year. I just wish that Sarah had stayed in the house over the summer with Sarah S. and I while we finished up our semesters.