Bitching & Rafting.

I was thinking today about just how many pessimistic people there are in this world. Today as we all woke up to learn that Osama Bin Laden has finally been given justice, all the people in the City of New York are practically dancing in the streets with joy-- while so many other people are running their mouths about how "it's not really him, blah blah blah"--- I just want to run around screaming

"GET OVER YOURSELF, DEBBIE DOWNER! & LET THE REST OF US ENJOY THIS DAY FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH!!!"

uugh. for real. Some people just want to ruin everything for everyone-- & today those people are totally pissing me off.

Okay, enough of that-- NEXTTT:

I went white water rafting for the first time this past weekend! & in all honesty, I thought I was going to die more than once but after the fact-- it was a LOT of fun! 

11 of us went camping, rafting, ziplining & drinking all weekend. We sang campground-karaoke, we cooked campfire pies. We ate. and ate. and ate. and ate. and then drank some. WHEW. I think I gained 7lbs in just the last 48 hours. But it was a BLAST!!

Photo evidence below:



one of the few pictures where my face didnt register sheer terror. haha




shortest to tallest. classic. I would be far left. haha




our group after the adventure!



This trip was so much fun! I can't wait to do it again!

<3k*

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Coca Cola Classic

Welcome to Coke Country! literally.

I grew up in West Virginia where my whole family drinks "pop", Pepsi, to be exact. I went to college and picked up the saying "soda" instead. Okay, so now I've moved to  Georgia and EVERYTHING is referred to as COKE & this weekend I learned why:

• I live in Columbus, Georgia -- where the inventor of Coca Cola, John Pemberton, was from & where he began inventing this new "cola".
• I live 90 miles away from Atlanta, Georgia -- where the Coke Head Quarters are located.

I went to the Coca Cola Experience on my birthday on Saturday (happy birthday to meee) and had an absolute blast! I learned about the history of it; about how it's bottled and made; and also got to tast 70 different kinds if it from around the world! (I don't suggest the "Beverly from London, it tastes like a cleaning solvent).

This was such a neat experience-- I highly suggest it for anyone who's in the Atlanta area & has a morning or an afternoon to kill!

Here are some photos from my little trip:

outside the World of Coke

me with a bottle comemorating Fashion Week 2006

a statue of the inventor, John Pemberton

I had the best birthday ever, thanks to a certain someoneee. Literally, I think we did everything Atlanta has to offer in a span of 1.5 days. :) -- i'll recap the itinerary soon!

<3k*

Super Super Sundayy!

Mini Weenies .... Check!

Apple Slices .... Check!

Doritos .... Check!

Yuengling .... Check!

Steelers Tshirt .... Check!

TERRIBLE TOWEL .... Check!

everyone needs one of these..

Today's the day! We've been waiting ALL season for this day!! In t-minus 5 hours I'm gonna crack open the first beer of the day and get ready!


On another note, yesterday was a fantastic day. I woke up early to homemade apple pancakes and coffee, then watched the movie Phenomenom & spent the morning being lazy. Then Boyfriend and I went to TJ Maxx where I found an awesome white serving platter for $10 (I'm going back today to get another one..) Then we went to the IMAX theater and watched Inception. That movie is amazing. I have seen it before but fell asleep at the end of it and I'm so glad I watched it once before I went to the theater because it is soooo confusing. I really enjoyed being able understand what was going on. So if you haven't seen it-- I highly suggest watching it! After the IMAX we came home and made pizza then went back out and hung out at Spicoli's and drank a couple pitchers of beer-- where I am almost positive I saw WILLIE NELSON... haha for real.

I saw him, seriously. But I was drunk-- so there's a little room for recognition error, right? haha
& p.s. i didn't take this picture.

Okay ya'll I'm goin back to TJ Maxx.. Have a good Superbowl SUNDAYYY!!


GO STEELERS!!


<3k*

Stairway to SEVEN!!

okay, so that was cheesy and kinda dumb for a post title

but I DON'T CARE because:

PITTSBURGH'S
GOIN TO THE
SUPERBOWL!!!

I have been trying really hard to learn the game of football. I've always watched it and was a cheerleader my entire school-age life but I never grasped even the simplest concept in the game. --for example: I'm one of those people who thought the yellow first down line was actually on the field. (I know better now though!)

And now I have for you a bunch of pictures I didn't take but make me smile a LOT:


count 'em 6!!... shootin for 7!



this is from the Post-Gazette --last play of the game

Mike Tomlin.. he's not even 40!

if Brett Michaels likes them, they MUST be good!

Okay, back to work.

Have a good week, lovies!

<3k*

New Orleans Service Trip

Holla Holla!!

I got home last night from a fantastic 4 days in New Orleans! & let me tell you i had ZERO desire to come to work today-- which might be why I slept in until 8am, rolled into work at 9am, took a long lunch (for new fingernails and gel pens haha) & now I'm blogging. I just can't get back into it!!

All in all this year's trip to NOLA was a success! My group of friends has been going down there since as early as 6 months after Katrina hit the area. & As a group, we've been going for the last 3 years. Every year we go we're still shocked by the things we see and the progress that's not been made in some parts of the city.

photo: realworldhouses.com

I'd say the biggest shock for me this year was the realization of how different parts of the city can be. We went to see the Real World New Orleans house since it was somewhat close to the Hostel we were staying in and I came back surprised to see that there are parts of NO that look like they were never touched by disaster and then there are parts of NO, like the Treme Charter School [where we volunteered] that are still battling Katrina like it was yesterday. It really makes me sad. But at the same time it reminds me why we continue to go to New Orleans every year-- because the JOB ISN'T DONE. These people and that city still needs OUR HELP until things are put back into their places. It's finished for some parts of the city, but in others it's still too early to stop working. There is unbelieveable disarray in huge sections of NO that the government and private and public and so many other entities are giving up on.

But this post really isn't intended to be political or persuasive or anything like that. This is just how it is. I guess my servant heart is speaking to me today :)


Okay Okay-- enough of that mushy, heartbraking, serious stuff!! I haven't uploaded my camera pictures yet but here are some fun DROID pics I snapped this weekend!

 The Joint
This is an AMAZING little BBQ restaurant that my group has now visited twice. They have the BEST smoked macaroni and cheese!!

This is right down the street from The Joint, saw this sign last year and it's just as hilarious in 2011!

This is a mural on the wall in the elementary school we worked in. There were 8 children killed in that school during the last school year.

We spent Sunday wandering around the French Quarter! I got new glasses last week and I'm still trying to get used to the look of them.

& YOU KNOW we had to go waste some money at Harrah's right? haha.

Apart from all the seriousness, we really did have fun! We tutored children. We served snacks. We built a garden. We learned. We saw. We remembered. We praised. We laughed. We ATE and ATE and ATE. We drank. We danced. We sang. We drank some more and then we danced some more. Ohhh & HEY WE FLASHMOBBED BOURBON STREET TOO!! haha. [video will come soon!]

New Orleans 2011 = SUCCESS!

I hope ya'll enjoyed this one, I certainly did! :)

Happy Tuesday!

<3k*

Loserssss

Okay, so my team didn't win the Office Decorating contest yesterday -- but we really did do a fantastic job!! We were all so crushed when the Sr. VP didn't say our names but we sucked it up like true champs and were sincerely happy for the Health Services Department and their winning Bandaid tree. (..but budgets are tight, we shouldn't be wasting Bandaids!!.. haha jk jk, they did a great job) After the luncheon we went back to our office to re-group and discuss our loss. My boss felt so bad that all of us were so disappointed she told us we could go ahead and have the 4 hours of PTO that the winners got! Wooo Hooo!! This girl left work at 3pm yesterday & plans on doing it again next week too.

Anyway- while we were discussing our loss, we realized some really important things about our team and all the hard work we did. When it was announced that there was going to be a competition among departments, our team got together and everyone naturally played a role in the organizing, planning, and set up of our decorations. No one had to tell us what to do. We all knew our own strengths and weaknesses and used them in the best way possible. Then when we actually began putting up the decorations, everything went so smooth you would have thought we had a literal action plan or something! We worked like a perfectly oiled machine to get the task done-- & considering the task was outside of our usual scope it's amazing that we did exactly what we needed to do. It's heartwarming to think that our team is all so professional that without missing a beat, we can quickly move from one thing to another and get the job done! I guess that's a sign of a good team, huh?. It is certainly something we need to keep up!  I'm so proud of everyone :)

Okay, so enough mushy, deep corporate things -- onto fun stuff:
I AM IN LOVE WITH JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT (#2 behind boyfriend of course!)

I recently watched (half of) Inception and I didn't realize how freakkin hot that guy had grown up to be! He was such a dork on Nickelodeon shows when I was younger but man NOW he is beautiful!! I want to share his photo with everyone -- so we can all have some eye~candy today!!

...um, yes please?

..i'll take one of these too.

i mean look, he can even rock a slicked back hairstyle.. mm, love.

Okay, speaking of eye~candy, I can't forget this one --

okay, this one has me in it too, but there's MYYYYY eye candy <3

Alright alright.. that's enough for now.. I need to go do something productive.. & probably brush my teeth. haha


Have a good weekend ya'll!!

<3k*

It's been a while...

That's what he said. .. haha jk :)

Anywho, it has been a while since I sat down to write on my blog. Woops!.. I wonder where my time goes?

I have absolutely no idea where my time goes. In the month of December I have been to 2 holiday parties (to include my company event which = AWESOMEEEE) & I suppose I've been going out a lot-- every Friday and Saturday to be exact and spending my Sundays recouperating & watching the Steelers.

I've spent WAYY too much money recently. What makes me think this is okay? I don't know but it's happening. Still. I've bought some awesome presents for my lovies and some awesome stuff for myself as well. haha I have one more thing to pick up for Daddy sometime this week and a few things coming in the mail so I'm about to get busy wrapping!

I have been attending Body Bootcamp for over a month now and I'm really starting to feel better about myself. I haven't been paying attention to weight because I don't really think that's what's important. The body image is my biggest problem. and I love the workouts a ton but the 5am wakeup is really hard sometimes. & to make things even better I started Triathlon training yesterday!! The Iron Girl is only 6 months away!! --so I got my swim on at Chattahoochee Scuba after work yesterday. I did the distance + some, now I just need to focus on speed and strength. --I should probably schedule that out, huh?

I CAN'T BELIEVE CHRISTMAS IS IN JUST 11 DAYS!! HOLY FREAKING CRAP.
okay, i feel better with that off my chest. but MAN I'm really behind. I just ordered my Christmas cards last night so my family and friends might be extending their holiday cheer into 2011 when they finally receive my card. hahah Who cares about timing, it's the thought that counts right? haha


aren't we just the cutest?

.. & tons of thanks goes out to my great friends Nate & Jenny for taking our pics on a freezing December day!!

Okay, back to work for meeeee.

--I've kinda missed this little blog :)



<3k*

Halloweenieeee

Hi all!!

I hope everyone had a safe and superfun weekend! I am still on my candy-high this morning and am so excited to share this weekend's events!! [once I get the pictures uploaded]...

Here's just a little preview of what's to come:

<3k*