Long Time

Well, it's been a long time since I actually posted something on here...mainly because my life is generally pretty boring with nothing too exciting to type to the 3 people reading this. But, Sally called me out on not updating, so here I am.

Grown-up life has been crazy the past couple of months. Kate got married and her wedding was beautiful and so, so fun.

Hard to believe one big girl got married ANDDD the other one got engaged! Anna and Will get married April 2 and I'm also super excited for that event. Their wedding will be epic in the sense that they share all of the same friends from high school, so it will be a giant reunion of sorts. Craziness will ensue, I'm sure.

Obligatory Throwback Pic:

It seems like in the past couple of months a lot of people have returned to Athens to visit. I wonder how many people would come back to visit if the Dawgs were actually good. I love visitors for multiple reasons. First, there's the obvious having fun and hanging out factor. It's so fun to have everyone back in the city where we spent our "glory days." Next, I love having visitors because it typically equals a Sunday Brunch opportunity. Mama's Boy is cropping up on my bank statement quite frequently these days. We branched out this past weekend and had Last Resort Brunch and it was beyond delicious. Solari and I had 1 and 1/2 breakfasts and it was a fabulous decision. And finally (people make fun of me for this, but it's true), I love having visitors because I love having spend the night parties like old times (Kotsko, you fail on this one because you never spend the night at my house). I also have an absurd amount of towels that I've collected over the years (way too many for just myself, but I can't throw away a good towel), so when I have visitors in town it gives me a huge sense of accomplishment to be able to provide everyone with towels.

Our house is decorated for the holidays complete with stockings for Davis and Colby. Despite the fact that I won't be in Athens for Christmas, I feel very strongly that my house needs to have a real Christmas tree. I'm all about Frasier Fir Christmas Trees. This is probably because that is the type of tree I grew up with...but clearly they are the best tree. Strong scent, sturdy branches for ornaments...no contest against the Douglas Fir. If you feel led to visit Athens in the month of December, just drive towards the Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation looking house. Our front porch is a colorful wonderland.

Happy Holidays to my 3 fabulous readers!

Love,

A

List of Reasons Why I am Not Yet an Adult...

1) I don't like coffee. I want to like coffee, but I just can't stand the taste. It just seems like flavored water to me. Oh wait, that's all it really is. Instead of coffee, I drink cran-apple. Every morning, never fails. I might as well be 5.

2) I don't read the newspaper. Major flaw. Wish I did...but a) I don't subscribe and b) Let's just be honest. I don't actually read it online.

3) Sometimes, I oversleep. It happened once last week (for the first time) and it was horrible. I managed to turn off not 1, not 2, but all 3 of my alarms* and woke up at 7:15 (side note: I usually try to arrive at school by 6:45). Somehow...I made it to school by 7:30 (and school is 10 minutes away). I may or may not have brushed my teeth at school. I was later told that in that situation, you are just supposed to call and say you'll be 15 minutes late. An adult would have known that. But an awkward 23 year old scared of being late to a real person job...clueless.

3*) I have to set 3 alarms to wake up in the mornings.

4) I don't make my bed anymore. Last year, when I lived in my giant and wonderful house (see below), I did make my bed every morning. The West Lake Court house just had an aura about it that said "Abby, you live in a fancy house, you must make your bed." I love my house now, but it definitely does not have an aura telling me to make my bed. So I don't.

5) I lock my keys in my car. It only took me 3 times of locking them in my car and 3 phone calls to AAA (one of the many reasons my mother says everyone should be a AAA member) to learn that I need to have a spare key accessible at all times.

6) Speaking of my mother...I call my mom all. the. time. I feel like there is a point in life where people/adults don't call their mom everyday. But I just have so many important life questions. Bank statements that I don't understand, insurance that I don't understand, retirement money (what?! why, why, why now?!) that I probably will never receive because I don't understand and most likely filled the form out incorrectly, TAXES (to which she told me just to hire someone), questions about bugs that I swear invaded my couch and are biting my legs (how to get rid of them?!), suggestions for why I can't sleep, what to cook for a particular event, etiquette for the aforementioned particular event, gift ideas, craft ideas, school projects (how to make play-doh and bubbles), how to return something that I'm not even sure is returnable. The list is literally endless....

7) I cannot cook a legitimate meal without calling my dad for help. Having an executive chef for a father has it's perks (including delicious meals) so I frequently call him in panic mode regarding ounces, quarts, ratios, and what on earth are scallions and why can I not find them anywhere in Publix?

8) My car has a name. Maxine the Maxima. I don't think people actually refer to their car by a name when they "grow up."

9) At the moment, I am 100% too selfish to be an adult. I love that I only have to think about myself and what I want to do.

10) In order to combat actually becoming an adult...I keep traveling all the time. People keep telling me that I have to now or I never will. This is not real life though.

Here's to just being a grown-up but not a REAL grown-up:

Some Things Never Change

After thinking that I would quit this blog I think I've changed my mind. Here goes nothing...

This weekend I fled the crazy, game-day atmosphere that is an Autumn Saturday in Athens and went to Atlanta. The true purpose of this trip to Atlanta was to celebrate a lifelong friend's engagement, but I was also able to do so much more. On the way from Athens to Atlanta, I couldn't help but think of all the crazy stories Kate and I have shared through the years. Starting all the way back to 3rd grade with Stricter Richter and not being in TAG. We were proud little girl scouts with the token ugly green vests and random patches for completion of a babysitting course, trip to the nursing home, and 'camping.' Along with Anna, we somehow managed to carry on Camp Hundred Acre Wood (CHAW) at the age of 13. Despite mis-pronounced phone calls to "Coopie" and "The Pinifke's" we managed to have about 20 campers a session. I still wonder to this day why any parent would trust 3 teenagers with their children for four hours a day during the summer time. We went on college visits with our crazy and wonderful mommas, numerous beach trips with family and friends, and magically both ended up as special ed. majors at UGA. During our time as special ed. majors we made hilarious videos about self-motivation, how to make a sandwich, and how to get a coke from a vending machine. We fell into a routine during student teaching of honking the car horn at exactly 7:05 to begin our journey to OCPS, home of the Little Chiefs. We both managed to graduate and while I stayed a Little Chief, Kate became a Sope Creek Chief. Even though Kate is engaged and has a PRECIOUS little carriage house to start her married life in, some things never changed. Being true Big Girls, Anna, Kate, and I ate at Chick-Fil-A (sitting in OUR booth, of course) and chatted the day away. This weekend brought back so many wonderful memories and I am so happy for Kate and David. The months to come will bring many exciting events, but more importantly- many exciting opportunities to hang out just like old times.

Congratulations Kate and David!

I was so lucky and got to see many, many friends this weekend. It brought back lots of memories of our days at good old RHS. I pretty much loved everything about high school. But, I especially loved our tight knit group of friends. We dominated homecoming floats by building massive purple paper-mache dinosaurs, we ruled PowderPuff football, we ate at Chick-Fil-A every Wednesday morning, we were eco-friendly before it became cool because we carpooled everywhere, we hung out in parking lots (specifically Bruster's) attempting to make decisions about what to do next (but usually just ended up spending hours in a parking lot), we had fabulous pool parties, we had intense car wars with saran wrap, ham, and mustard (too far, too far), we rallied together humongous groups of people for prom pictures, we loved a good spend the night party at The Bell's (complete with movies, dressing up, and eggs in a bag for breakfast) and most importantly, we all loved to just hang out and enjoy each other's company.

This weekend we just had a plain old fun time. I think it's amazing how you can pick right back up where you left off with some friends. And that's the way I feel about these people. I could have put thousands more pictures up, but I got tired of searching because it's late (slash 9:00). Enjoy these pictures and there will be more to come....

Needless to say, I am still nowhere near being an adult. Even with friends getting married all around me, people living all across the country, and everyone having "real" jobs....I still feel like it was yesterday that Mr. Echols sang the Class of 2005 that crazy graduation song.

Love you all, and miss those of you that I did not get to see this weekend.

Love,

A

Welcome to the Grown-Up World

A good friend once told me that you are not actually an adult until you stop referring to yourself as a "grown-up." Think about that statement...how many people that are my parents age (around 50ish years old) actually call themselves grown-ups? Nobody. That being said...I have found myself in this super awkward phase of life where I refer to myself as a grown-up, I live in an adult world with a full time job, yet I still live in the town where I spent the most fun four years of my life in college.

I have no idea what I am going to write about on this blog. I loved having my Germany blog SO MUCH that I decided to take another dive into the blogging world. But this time, I have no kids to be responsible for 24/7, no cool stories about living in a German city, and no funny/awkward German language barriers. This could either result in a super boring blog or a blog filled with ridiculous stories about life in the grown-up world while still living in a city flooded with memories of college. Here goes nothing....