Tuesday Things & Weekend Work

Slowly but surely I plan to decide on a theme for this blog. For the year I've been writing it (6 months if you discount that tinyyyy sabatical) it's basically just been a random jumble of thoughts-- and that's most likely what it's going to stay. :)  I don't really "specialize" in anything cool that people would actually want to hear about. [you need resume advice? HR advice? interview advice? -- I'm your gal] But my twitter does all those things, so why focus all my energy on that?



Anywho, last week I mentioned my NEW JOB! I am now a College Recruiter! Wooo hoo! I've been working in this capacity for almost a year, but I've only formally had the title for about 6 months. Yesterday I had the pleasure of working at Wofford College, interviewing their students. It was about a 4 hour drive from home, but it was worth it! Such strong, smart kids!



Luckily for me, my amazing fiance was able to make this trip with me. So I decided to make a teeny pitstop on the way to Wofford to add Clemson's Death Valley to this list of footbal stadiums he's visited. MEGA Bonus points for me!



AB's Droid photo from the car...


So here I am, back at my lovely little desk. Trying to get into the week's work.OBV that isn't working too well yet, since all I've done so far is drink coffee, read email and blog. woops :)

Okay, time to be productive!

Toodles.

<3k*

Panama Citaayyy;; Random Day trip

Yesterday, a couple friends and I decided to make a little journey down to Panama City Beach, Florida. It's only about 3 and a half hours away (3 or less if I drive!) and it's the GULF. So here are some pictures from my phone to tell the story:



This would be me.. sitting in the back seat of a BARBIE Car!!



my view for most of the day...



Panama City Beach, the view from the back seat of the car.



the pier. across the street from Pier Park shopping center.

me & my beautiful friend Kristina, this was her first time seeing white sand & the Gulf!



we saw this on a van outside of Sharky's. How cute is this name for a Salon? LOVE IT.



&& Then I came home and found this little ball of fur hiding in my duffle bag..

sorry for the horrible lighting, cell phone was almost dead.

Sorry for the crappy quality of these pictures--  they're all from my phone.

I hope everyone has a great week! I know I will, it's a short one for meee!

<3k*

Atlanta Adventures

So I'm sitting in a hotel in Atlanta watching Tosh.O reruns & thought I'd write a post :)

I came up here today because I have to be at a SIFE competition at 8 in the morning & didn't want to drive through rush hour traffic. && I don't have to get up as early, since I'm already here!

...support it.

Anywho, I checked into my hotel and was happy when they told me I'd be on the 33rd floor. I was absolutely amazed when I looked out my window and saw this:

Wow. I am just in love with this view. Imagine how gorgeous it would be if my room were on the next side of the building (to the left) and I could watch the sunset/rise over the rest of the city-scape. God sure did create an amazing world didn't he? & so many talented people who can create such an infrastructure like this one.

I really think Atlanta is a beautiful city. I've been to quite a few large cities now, and I can safely say that Atlanta really is one of the prettiest. I think I would rank Pittsburgh, PA & Jacksonville, FL at a close second/third... I must have a thing for cities with lots of bridges. :)

okay, bedtime for this girl!

<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*

NOLA

I am leaving for New Orleans.



RIGHT NOW!!

See ya later, taters!!

[with photos, of course! :)]

<3k*

Birmingham, AbaLAMa.

No, i didn't spell that incorrectly. That's how we say it. :) AB-A-LAM-A.. much more fun that the normal Alabama. And much more obvious that you're a drunk-out-of-towner when you say it like that too.

We went to Birmingham on Friday night to meet up with one of our best friends from college and to go to the Compass Bowl on Saturday. && Let me tell you-- this weekend was a MESS!!

Pictures tell the best stories & excuse the blurriness-- that just means we had a good time!

my whole heart. <3

a moose & a drunk girl

glad we got ONE picture looking normal.

there's those antlers again.

at the PITT bar with Eddie, I'm not a PITT fan but I'll drink anywhere. haha

normalcy. right here.

i've got the 2 best friends that anyone could have.

Softy. love him.

With Soft-- stupid sunshine ruined a good picture!!

At the PITT bar with Alan & some random dude who wanted in our picture.

Has anyone else been out in Birmingham? I think we got lucky when we ran across Nana Funks downtown. It was the perfect scene for us. A little dancing, a little mingling, and stools! Why is it so hard to come across a barstool these days?!?

This Thursday we're off to New Orleans for some volunteer work and a little Bourbon Street action!! My liver is going to fall out by the end of January.

Our 2010 NOLA volunteer group!

Have a good week everyone!!
<3k*

2010 Recap

Before 2010 I had never...

biked before. I picked up cycling as a part of my triathlon training and now I love it!

done a triathlon. I completed the Aflac Iron Girl as a relay team with my girrrl Lu last year-- but 2011 I'm goin solo! :) fingers crossed!

driven 14 hours alone-- in a blizzard. And probably never will again.

seen a PGA Golf tournament.

drank Landshark. Now it's one of my favorites!

known much about myself. I learned so much about myself as an adult in 2010. I think last year was a turning point.

had ringworm. EW. gross. EW.. don't pass out fall asleep on the sidewalk on Bourbon Street. It's dirty.

fallen off a bike. I spent 6 hours in the ER after a leisurely morning bike ride that ended up with a sprained shoulder and bloody face, arms and ears.

played on a co-ed soccer team. LOVE YO MOMMA!! Summer Champs 2010!!

been to Hilton Head Island, or Savannah Ga. Love them both & can't wait to go back!


okay, that's enough. I'm pretty pleased with myself. :)


<3k*

I finally replaced my camera..

with this little gem:

The Sony Cyber-Shot, model HX5V

I wanted to invest in a larger, nicer DigitalSLR camera but I decided to wait until I could actually afford one of those before I bought one. But this new camera is NIIIIICE!! I love it. I went around my town the next day and took about 150 shots of our beautiful brick buildings and the camera definitely pulled through some good shots. Of course I don't have those loaded on my work computer so photo updates will follow!


....so you say you want an update on my life???

YOU GOT IT!

Last week I traveled to the Mountain State & oh what a glorious vacation it was! I got to see my fabulous parents, my best friends, some family & lots of snow flurries!

There was plenty to drink and plenty of laughs and stupid pictures and completely unhealthy food and aboslutely no sleep --but all in all it was a great trip. [those photos will come soon also!]

..short update.. haha oops :)


What did ya'll do last week?


<3k*

1600 miles in 2 days

Wow did I really just do that? Yes. I did. The BF and I made a 1600 mile round trip journey last weekend!  We needed to go to Maryland to pick up his new car and didn't want to take time off work to do it, so we flew to Baltimore Saturday morning (5am wake up-- YUCKKK) then drove an hour to his parent's home. Then hung out for like 5 hours (maybe) then hopped in his new car and started our trek back to southwest Georgia.

Our little adventure started at 5am Saturday with an EXTREMELY early wake up. We rushed to get ready, stuck the dog in the back seat & then dropped her off at daycare, drove an hour to Atlanta and were there right when our plane was boarding! (We probably should have set the alarm for 4:30 haha) Took an hour and a half nap on the plane, and greeted Alan's super happy parents outside of BWI airport.. & all of this was before 11 am! whew, I'm exhausted just re-thinking all this!

Anywhoo, we left to drive back to GA on Saturday night.. and lo-and-behold but right at the point where the BF and I were both too exhaused to drive, we happened to be in the midst of EVERY COLLEGE'S PARENT'S WEEKEND!!! It was freakin VMI's parent's weekend, some stupid little other college's parent's weekend and then of course it was Virginia Tech's HOMECOMING. It took us 2 hours of calling and continued driving to find a place to sleep!!

The good news is:  we got 2 hours farther than we anticipated driving that night.
The bad news is: we had to sleep in a $60 Econolodge (smoking!!) room. ew. ew. ew. ew. ew.

Then all was well with Sunday even though it took us 11 hours to make a 8 hour trip.. [Hey, when the Outlet Malls call, you MUST stop!] and we safely arrived in our new car back in Georgia.

So that's the story of my jam-packed weekend of travel!

p.s. I cut my hair and learned how to do something different with it!!-- finally, after 23 years of the same ol' thing..

Anyone else do anything rediculous this weekend? I'd love to hear!

<3k*

Country Roads

This girl right here is a born and bred West Virginia girl.



I grew up my entire life in West Virginia --and even chose to attend a small private college 45 miles from home. But when I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to GET OUT ... I took it and ran.

But don't get me wrong, WV is amazing and beautiful and has perfect weather and nice people. --but other than that there's not much to it. It's literally a place to live a simple life and being 22 years old, I was not ready to just live a simple life. So I moved. 11 hours from home to be exact. to a little town called Columbus, Ga to work for a wonderful company that treats me right and keeps me happy.

So there is a little background for today's post:

*RANDOM WEEKEND TRIP HALFWAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY*

For some absurd reason, last week I was very, very homesick. My boyfriend was going to be busy all weekend with school and I was just not all about sitting alone (with my dog) in my house all weekend.

So on Thursday, I bought a couple plane tickets and was home in WV by Friday night.. (thank the Lord for planes!) and here are a few pictures from my wonderful (less than 48 hours) at home:

Me & Aunt Kathy, literally standing in the center of my little "city"

with my daddy

with my baby girl.. not literally, but i LOVE this kid.

with my momma <3

let's not forget that on that beautiful day in north central West Virginia,

WVU STOMPED the Maryland Terps!

woot woot, go team!

Happy Friday to my few, but fabulous readers!!

<3k*