Stranded In Athens

I've been homeless for the past seven days! On Saturday I packed up all my suitcases, hit the road and never looked back...until I had to look back when I came back to Athens and go to class on Monday! Too bad The Summit doesn't care when its tenants have final exams!

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to spend some QT with Daddy and Laura. I got over to their house Saturday afternoon and they showed me around their gardens! Laura's garden is completely organic and absolutely amazing! She has some huge tomatoes and cucumbers which she was about to make into pickles before I had to leave them on Monday morning!

Daddy's garden is not organic but he did show me how he gets rid of all his weeds with the tractor!

After gardening for a while, they took me out for a fabulous dinner at California Pizza Kitchen! Even though they eat there about 3 times a week or more, I always secretly hope they'll want to go just one more time and take me with them! Everything there is delicious and it's always hard to decide what to order, but finally I settled on a salad.

Sunday came too quickly! We decided to skip church and go for a leisurely hike at Vickery Mills. It was really beautiful and the shade made it a little cooler. We went to downtown Roswell for some Mexican food and a little window shopping. I'm a huge movie buff and later that day they took me to see Public Enemy (I'm in love with Johnny Depp now) which was really really good (I might go see it again this weekend with Lance and Sonny)! I sure do get my love of popcorn honest! All through the movie Daddy and I kept bumping hands as we were trying to get more popcorn and he kept saying, "I sure do love popcorn! Do you love popcorn?" haha!

I'm so lucky to still have friends living in Athens because after I left Daddy's house on Monday, I did not want to drive an hour and a half twice a day all week! My friends Anna, Meg, and Lauren actually live in the same apartment complex I just moved out of! Anna was at the beach with her parents until Wednesday, so Meg let me bunk with her for Monday and Tuesday night! We had tons of fun staying up late and giggling about old times! I sure am glad my finals wouldn't determine if I passed my classes or not because we didn't get much serious work done while I was staying with her! Even though Anna wasn't home we still had me, Meg, her dog Millie (a pug), Lauren, her dog Bentley (a lab), and Lauren's boyfriend Chance who's also homeless at the moment. It was slightly crowded but tons of fun! We tried to relieve some stress on Tuesday night be getting margaritas at Mexicali's.

On Wednesday, my Mom came to stay with me. We got a hotel room for Wednesday and Thursday night. There are so many places up in Athens that I've still never been to before. One place is a restaurant called The Grit and tons of people have told me how amazing it is! I can't believe I've never been there before because they serve all vegetarian dishes! I got a sandwich with chick pea fritters, carrots, cucumbers, and cabbage. Mom tried three of their vegetable side dishes and it was amazing! Lance is totally jealous he didn't get to eat there with us!

Tonight she took me to eat at Last Resort. It was kind of for sentamental reason because when Mom and I came up here to look for my first apartment, we met up with my first roommate, Alisabeth, and her Mom at Last Resort! Mom's heading out first thing in the morning and I have to hang around and study until my Spanish final starts at 3:30. I would probably be more worried except I only have to make a 20 on the test to make a B in the class! Mom's afraid because I'm not studying but I informed her that I only asked God to help me make a C in the class and that I shouldn't get stingy and ask for a B! haha! Goodbye UGA! Goodbye Athens! Hopefully I'll be able to come visit often!

I guess being homeless isn't so bad if it means you get to spend time with people you love!

The Fast Food Blues!

Being a vegetarian is hard when you're about to be homeless! The good news is that I haven't really eaten fast food in I can't remember how long! The bad news is there aren't many places where you can eat healthy for cheap! Sure, I could go to a fast food restaurant and order a salad but haven't we all done that and paid twice as much as the nasty greasy food only to realize that our lettuce is wilted and mushy! Yuck! Lately I've been going to one of my favorite places almost every day! Panera Bread has the most amazing salads and soups! If you ever need a quiet (but not too quiet) place to study alone, go to Panera! My other go to place is Barbaritos! They have some wonderful choices for those of us opposed to meat! Some of my favorites are the California burrito (it comes with avocado instead of meat), the bean quesadilla, and their salads aren't half bad either! Last night my friend Meg brought home a salad from Chick-Fil-A that I might have to give a whirl! It look delicious! What are some other great choices for people who don't eat meat and don't want to spend a ton of money?

I just can't wait to be able to cook again! It saves so much money (which is something I'm quickly running low on)! Thankfully I have some pretty amazing parents who are willing to look after me for a little longer!

Moving On Up

Whew! This has been one busy week! For the last two years I've lived in the same apartment and after that much time...stuff starts to pile up! Months ago I decided I did not want to have a huge move out day along with everyone else at The Summit and so I started slowly moving my things back to my Mom's house. Trust me, if you ever have the ability to slowly move things home, DO SO! It has been the best decision I've ever made!

Our home is starting to look so disorganized and sad! My roommate Jessica came up here with an entire house full of adorable furniture and now it is so sad to see everything being packed away!

I'm also feeling a little bitter sweet about finishing school. Yesterday, Lance asked me what I would miss most about Athens and after thinking about it for a while, I decided that I would really miss starting new classes and forming bonds with people in those classes. Everyone asks my why I chose this major and what I can do with it after college. At first, those questions really disturbed me because I had no answers for them and for a while they made me regret choosing this major instead of a more focused one. Now that I am finishing up, I could really care less what people's opinions of my major are! I absolutely LOVE reading novels, poems, and plays! I've been in classes with some of the brightest and most interesting people! I've had the most AMAZING professors and also some of the most difficult to please! No matter what other people think, I have done what I love for the past five years and although there might not be a direct route between my degree in English and what career I will choose, I have no regrets!
Even though there have been moments of loneliness here in Athens, I will definitely miss the school atmosphere and the few friends I'll leave behind!

Blogging The Time Away

Last Wednesday, I made a trip to visit my very favorite Daddy and stepmother! They kindly allowed me to come and help them celebrate 19 years of marriage by going with them to a very fancy restaurant! We all enjoyed a variety of different fish entrees (I broke my no meat rule again) and some delightful wine at Chequers. Then Daddy and I went to Total Wine to purchase some bottles of the wine we had a dinner! Unfortunately, I had a Spanish test the next afternoon, but they allowed me to entertain them with my vast vocabulary skills after dinner!

The test went well (I made an 84) but sadly I ended up driving a total of 9 hours last weekend due to my trip to Tifton! I made it home on Thursday and was able to see off my other set of parents before they headed down to St. Augustine on a much anticipated sailing trip with some of their friends.

On Friday night, I decided to surprise Lance by making him dinner! I searched on Paula Deen's website for a delicious vegetable lasagna. Lance is always nervous whenever I mention I am making something without meat, but to his surprise, it was very very tasty! I was actually a little nervous too! The recipe called for things like carrots, squash, cottage cheese, and cream cheese! Although it had some unexpected ingredients, I'd say it turned out wonderfullly! Thank you Paula! So good in fact that Lance ate off it for the next two days! He thinks I'm trying to torture him or force some new type of diet on him, but then he always has to admit that the things I eat meatfree are just as good as dishes with meat! muahahaha!

I decided to wait until Monday morning to drive back to Athens due to Mom and Sonny still being gone and me not wanting to leave the precious Dixie alone all night long! Even though I left home at 5:45 on Monday morning, I was still about 2 minutes late to my first class! Who would have thought stopping at Chick-Fil-A to go to the bathroom and order a butter biscuit for breakfast would have taken 10 minutes! Darn that butter biscuit!

It's going to be a busy week and weekend for me! I suddenly realized that a ten page paper for my English class is due next Monday (I've had the topic for about two and a half weeks now! Oops!) and I have a test in that class on Thursday! I also have one Spanish quiz on Friday, another one Monday, and an in-class composition on Tuesday! Wow! Plus, I'm going home again this weekend!

The only good news is that I plan to see Harry Potter! I just hope I finish my paper before going home and I'll never do that if I don't stop procrastinating on my blog and go do it!

Happy Birthday America!

This year, I spent the 4th of July celebrating with my family for what feels like the first time in 10 years! At the last minute, Lance and I changed our plans from spending a boring day lounging in his backyard to driving 3 hours to St. Augustine to be with my family!

Mom and Sonny left on Wednesday for the beach and were shortly followed by Eddie and Lauren.

Lauren and "The Boy" before dinner.

Friday classes were cancelled for me and so I made it home with Finn on Thursday night. Fortunately, Lance did not have to technically take call this weekend and when we found out about the beach, he opted out of carring his pager and spending the weekend in the cath lab. If we go out of town for any other holiday to follow he might have to miss out though. It's the breaks for the newest member of the cath team when it comes to being on holiday call!

Lance and I loaded down the car with bags, toys, and a puppy early early early on Friday morning and made it to the beach by 11:00 am! John and his girlfriend, Amber, were also off work and came down late on Friday night!

Going without suntan lotion is not such a great idea as I soon found out! I guess you could say I was slightly burned on Friday night, but it soaked in by Saturday morning!

We watched the most spectacular fireworks show on Saturday night! They have an entire display set up on a barge near the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine which goes along with Independence Day music playing on loud speakers! I have never been to such a long and beautiful firework show! The hour and a half we spent in the car on the way home was well worth the show, if you ask me, but Mom and I decided it might be fun to be on a boat in the water next year!



Happy Birthday America!

My, What Big Feet You Have!

Today was a really fun day with baby Finn! He and I have settled into a nice little routine everyday and I am going to miss having him here (even though he wears me out everyday)! We've been waking up at 6:30, getting ready, and then going on a 30-45 minute walk around my neighborhood. I try to get as much energy out of him as I can first thing in the morning. He's used to Lance letting him out every day around 6:30 and staying outside until around 4:30, so this is a huge adjustment for him! We come home after our walk, I take a shower, and get ready, and then he goes out one more time after finishing his breakfast.

My classes are really spread apart and I have about two and a half hours between them which is really good with Finn here. I can come home, eat lunch, and take him for a little play date. Since Monday, we've been going over to Bear Hollow to play in the dog park. He's such a social puppy but for some reason he loves to play in the water bowls and get really really muddy! I learned my lesson from yesterday and brought a towel to dry off his gigantic feet with before letting him get in the car!

After our outing to the dog park, we come home to rest for about 2 hours and then we got on our final long walk of the day. Today we went over to a secluded little neighborhood nearby. There is a pond and only about 5 houses off Barnett, so it's really quiet. As we were walking back around the neighborhood we heard a sound about 15 feet in front of us coming out of some tall bushes that extend from a forest area. It really scared me until I realized that the sound was a deer! She immediately saw us and jumped toward the woods and then I saw another deer standing off in the distance. I grabbed my phone, took a picture, and sent it to Lance. We stood there for a few mintues watching the deer watch us from the edge of the woods until it finally blew out a loud breath and I took that as a warning sign!

I'm so sad that Finn won't be here anymore for us to continue our routine, but before you know it I'll be back in Tifton and I can kidnap him from Lance anytime I want!