Memorial Day Weekend

Over the last week and a half, I haven’t posted because I have not had anything truly groundbreaking or specifically significant to post about. I returned from Orlando on Wednesday evening, and had some girl time with Lisa before she left for Houston for the summer. Thursday and Friday both, I went to my parent’s house for dinner, and after dinner Friday, I went over to Ken’s place to celebrate his birthday with him. He had a bunch of other people there too, mostly classmates from law school, and after hanging out for a while, we decided to go out. We decided on a gay bar. It was my first time going, and I was really excited. I got there, and it was like a really bad tech party. ALL guys. There were about 10 girls in the whole place, and hundreds of men. I guess it’s a good thing, a bit of eye candy, but unfortunately, it’s really hard for a girl to get a drink at the bar =)

During the weekend, my mom came over Saturday for the battle of the century – Us versus my yard. I had bamboo growing and spreading like wildfire all over my back yard. We spent about 4 hours in the grueling heat trying to take it down. We cut, chopped, snipped, sprayed, and eventually, it looked like we’d made some progress. Not enough to plant the new flowers though. That would have to be taken care of another day. That night, Leah W. was in town, and we hung out for a while and caught up. It’s always nice to see her, and it sucks that she lives so far. At least her family lives here, and so she has some incentive besides me to come and visit =)

Over the rest of the long weekend I went to a couple BBQs, swam in a few pools, hit Piedmont Park for the Jazz festival, and cooked a great lunch for Jess and Jordan since they too, were in town this weekend! Having the day off was nice, but that one day is always such a tease. At least the week is shorter. Meanwhile, school is out for the summer, and so I don’t have the battle against the school busses in the morning anymore for a while. That’s a nice change.

Mom’s coming back over tonight to attempt round two on my yard. We’ll see how it goes.

By the way, Thank you all you servicepeople for all you do. It goes appreciated, even if we don't say it, though we should. Thank you for allowing us to have the blessings we do every day.

A whole year??

Today marks one year since I left on my 2 month trip to Europe last summer. I can not believe that it has already been a year. it feels like I just returned. Ever since that trip, I have pretty much not kept in touch with almost anyone I traveled with. Jacob moved to Baltimore, and I have seen him just a couple times since our trip, and honestly have not even spoken with him much more than that. Miles moved to CA to go to UCSB for his Phd. Also, only seen him a couple times since then. Austin and I were never too close before the trip...I pretty much just knew him through Jacob, so it wasn't like we are more out of contact now than before. and My dad can't lose contact with me because he's my dad.

I had a whim recently to take a trip out of the country, but couldn't get it together in time. I really want to go to south america - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay. I also want to go to Croatia. Those are two trips I'd love to take if people would like to go with me sometime either later in the summer or later in the year.

Emotional Rollercoaster

no, I am not talking about PMS. For the record, I have been told that apparently people don't like reading about my daily activities. Unfortunately, those are the only things going on in my life, and I guess the way I view the world is not so inspirational that I have a good post all the time.

I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Orlando, FL, at the ubiquitous desk they put in every hotel room on the planet. I am facing my computer screen, and behind it, a huge mirror. Glancing up into the mirror reminds me a little of the scenes of Carrie, from sex in the city. I have a bit of a perplexed expression on my face because 1) I am not sure exactly how/what to write about today, and 2) I am not sure how I am feeling.

As of last weekend, officially, Josh and I are not together. The problem here though, is that because we weren't in the same city to begin with, I am not sure how to approach the difference. We developed together on the phone, a great friendship within our relationship, that I feel like I can't just drop like the title "boyfriend". The problem lies there - if we still talk all the time, how is it different? Josh, you probably hate me for even writing this post, but this is what I do. Usually, when relationships end, or even while they exist, there are things that get on your nerves about the other person. With me, as a Type A personality, pretty much everyone in the world has characteristics that get on my nerves - some more than others, but somehow, Josh didn't. He is a great person all around, and I am glad Leah, that you thought to introduce us.

I guess from the beginning, we both knew the relationship was doomed. The problem, was that we both were too excited about the other to let the obstacles get in the way. Josh lived in a different state (still does, for that matter, just a different different state), and is not Jewish. Those are TWO of the hardest things in a relationship - keeping it long distance, and mixed religion...Even though Josh probably thinks that it's the marine reputation too. It's a strange thing, relationships. One day, you hardly know someone, and 6 months later, you feel like there's a part of your life pulled away when you can't talk to them and tell them a funny story about what happened that day. No mom, I am not talking about when I call you and get a busy signal...

At least we got to spend time together last weekend, and breaking up was no surprise to either of us. I would've thought though, that knowing it was our last weekend going into it, it would be a lot easier to get over it afterwards - but it's not.

And no, boys, this doesn't mean I am "back on the market" just yet. I need some time. And also, it is not the beginning of a "date goyim" streak. It is the end of one. I'm just glad that since I broke my "no dating non Jews" pact, at least I picked a good one to break it with. Josh, you're great.

At risk of being too sentimental, here is are a couple of choruses that came to mind during that last part of my blog. This set of lyrics is for you, Josh:

(chorus 1)
You're the top! You're the coliseum,
You're the top! You're the Louvre Museum,
You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss,
You're a Bendel bonnet, a Shakespeare sonnet,
You're Mickey Mouse.
You're the Nile, You're the Tow'r of Pisa,
You're the smile on the Mona Lisa.
I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop,
But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

(chorus 2)
You're the top! You're Mahatma Ghandi.
You're the top! You're Napolean brandy.
You're the purple light of a summer night in Spain,
You're the National Gall'ry, You're Garbo's sal'ry,
You're cellophane.
You're sublime, You're a turkey dinner.
You're the time of the Derby winner.
I'm a toy balloon that is fated soon to pop.
But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

Wedding #2 - Chris and Kevin

Note: this weekend was in Houston because that is where the wedding was - for those of you who missed that.

I stayed home from work Thursday, and instead worked from home in the morning, and actually had a pretty productive morning at the same time. Mid-day, Scott’s mom came over and took the two of us to the airport to Houston. Scott came prepared for the ride with food, entertainment and liquor – apparently, the things necessary for a flight. Upon arrival in Houston-Hobby, we only knew that we had the address for the hotel we were going to. An $80 cab ride later, and we were there! Yes, you read that right. If we’d only known where it was, we could’ve saved some money and just rented a car, but we weren’t so lucky. The rehearsal dinner was that night, and after checking in and getting ready, we headed over there. It was a nice dinner with probably 50 people. They’d rented a restaurant, and served Mexican food for everyone. There was a huge showing of the GT friends, which was really nice. After dinner, we hung out for a little while at Chris’s family’s house, and then went back to the hotel and went to the hot-tub to kill some time. In the morning, the guys got up to play golf, but one of the guys, Jake, didn’t go, and we went for a great run. It was about 4 miles, so I was really happy and satisfied with it. When we got back, the rest of us hung out by the pool, and that afternoon, Josh came too. At night was the wedding. The wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was outside, and the weather was perfect. After the ceremony, we all had these little cards that we opened, and inside were butterflies. It was beautiful. Inside there were cocktails for about an hour and then a dinner. I think everyone had a lot of fun. The next day, after attempting to see the (non-existant) Davinci Inventions exhibit, and not finding the Art-Car festival, we watched a bit of TV and hit up the REI spring sale, had lunch at a BBQ place, and then made our way into town for the ballgame. Chris’s family and Kevin’s parents and some of the friends all went to the game. We started out in the upper deck behind home, and then joined them on the lower level right field line. I couldn’t believe that after hosting this wedding all weekend, and planning to leave for California the next day, Chris and Kevin came to the game. It was nice seeing them a little calmer, and out of the wedding mindset. After the game, we drove back to the hotel with a few of the other friends, and then went out to a diner to eat something. All I wanted to do upon returning to the hotel was sleep. I needed it. But I didn’t get too much sleep and my flight left again from Hobby today, so I had to be up and packed in the morning. All in all it was a really good weekend, and I had a great time. I think most other people did too…

Congratulations Kevin and Chris!!

I AM Kevin Bacon.

ok, So I like meeting people. Apparently that is an understatement. My friends think I know everyone in the world. I denied it for a while, and still do a bit, but I will give you a couple examples of funny stories:


1)Jeff is on his honeymoon in Ashville. He calls me today to tell me that the store owner at one of the stores he and Laura went into somehow knows me. I have no idea how my name came up to begin with, but ... Random.

2)My cousin owns a company in FL. One day, my mom emailed her a picture of me, and one of her employees walked by and saw her computer. He said "I know her! I went to Tech with her"

3)During my trip to Europe, five different instances I ran into people I knew. All over the continent.

Please comment with your stories if you have any.
This is it.

Update.

Moshe told me the other day that he was disappointed in me since I hadn’t updated my blog recently. To which I say... I can’t write about my life if I don’t take a break to have one! Last week I had lunch on Monday with Stephanie B., who I hadn’t seen since she graduated Tech (almost a year before me). She had since married her long time boyfriend, Shane, and they now own a house in the outskirts of Atlanta. We spent a little while joking about how now since we both own houses and are supporting ourselves, coupons are our friends. I used to make fun of my mom for cutting coupons for everything, but now I am always armed and ready with one, no matter where I go. It was nice to catch up with her.

On Wednesday, Matt F. sent me an email to see if I was going dancing. I hadn’t planned on it, but since Matt lives in Austin, and apparently was in town, I decided to go. It was pretty fun to be out dancing, and meanwhile, I found out that Matt has since moved back to Atlanta because he got a job here. That’s exciting. I knew he was interviewing here, but hadn’t followed up on the results. It’s always good to have friends move back in town, and it helps that it adds one more lead to the dance scene!

Thursday I went to the JCC with Amanda to see a play “Chopped Liver in Paradise”. I’d gotten free tickets from taking a survey a while back, and it was a pretty funny play. It was nice of course spending time with Amanda too, and giving her a short break from finals.

Friday, Cinco De Mayo, we had a party at work. We started with an operations meeting which we have every couple months to update everyone on new employees, progress towards our yearly goals, etc., and afterwards we all had Margaritas and chips and just hung out together. Straight from work I went to my parents in Decatur, and took a run around Decatur. I’ve gotten to the point that I can tell how far I’ve gone by seeing how long I’ve been running. I had a nice run through downtown Decatur and through the neighborhoods. It was nice to have a change of scenery. Then I went back home for Shabbat dinner and to catch up with the ‘rents. After dinner, I headed over to Jenny I.’s for a graduation/ Cinco de Mayo party she was throwing for fiancé George. Meanwhile, I was expecting a call from Greg & Rachel or Paul since they were on their way into town for the weekend. Once I heard from them, we all met up at Jeff’s old Apt, and when I walked in, ALL the out-of-towners were there! All the old AEPi’s I hadn’t seen in a while! It was so great to see everyone! We ended up going next door to a restaurant/bar for a few hours to hang out.

In the morning was Jeff’s wedding, so Greg, Rachel, Ben N., Paul M. and I all carpooled out to Chateau Elon after a French toast breakfast. The wedding started at 11:30 which was pretty early after being out late the night before, but it was nice. There was an open bar, but for the first part, most people were just ordering “orange juice, on the rocks”. It was a bit early to drink. But eventually, people put the bar tenders to work. I was sitting at a table with all AEPi guys. It was like old times. The wedding turned out nice, and afterwards, a few of us went to my house, and Rachel and I baked cupcakes for everyone, and once everyone had changed and rested up a bit, we met up to eat some BBQ for dinner. During dinner, it was planned (though I suggested it, it wasn’t me to follow through on it) that everyone would come to my house after dinner. A few cases of beer, and 30 guests later, we had a party Saturday night. It was totally unexpected, but a lot of fun. Eventually most people left, and the few remaining slept on my couches, and in the morning, Rachel made breakfast for everyone before people cleared out. I had lunch with the family because it was my sister’s b-day, and dinner at Rock Bottom for Lisa’s b-day, so all in all, I didn’t have a second alone all weekend. I came to work Monday exhausted, but thrilled to have had such a fun weekend.

Now I’m in Augusta having lunch before heading to the plant for a meeting at 1:00. Moshe, I hope you’re satisfied with this update.

Air Show

I went this weekend to the Air Show here with Scott and some of his friends. It was a lot of fun, and even though it started out a bit drizzley and overcast, and though it was very windy and chilly the whole afternoon, the show went live as planned, and the Blue angels even did the high show. There were a lot of amazing performances in all sorts of different aircraft.

Here is a picture Josh took at another air show a few months ago. But I love this picture. If you want to see some more of his pictures, click on the picture: