TGIF?

(this was supposed to go up last night but the internet stopped working as soon as I was done with it!!)

Soo, back to my Memphis trip, which was more action-packed than I give it credit for... and Friday it is!

Friday morning I was supposed to go see Amy (Career Services) to look over my extended resume and pare it down so that I could go see Sandi on Monday and start looking for jobs. Since the lights had come on in my car the night before, I decided to cancel the appointment until I'd talked to Jeremy or Marc about what could have gone wrong. I kinda figured it might be the belts since I knew they were getting worn, and Jeremy confirmed my suspicions so I took the car up to Jiffy Lube where they were shocked and awed that I was able to make it there because apparently it was the belt that connects to the alternator that had been ripped. to. shreds. Now, as much as I like this Jiffy Lube in Southaven, I'm a little irritated that nobody mentioned that I might want to charge up the battery as it had taken a SEVERE draining getting me the last mile home and the five miles up to the Jiffy Lube for reasons that will come up later...

After that, I went back to the house and tried to get organized a little bit, then ended up leaving late for Heather's birthday dinner so I just met them up there. We ended up going to Majestic Grille downtown, and it was really good! I met some girls I hadn't yet, and met one in particular who was... very unique. Melissa, you know who I'm talking about. I sat with Melissa and Allie, I hadn't met Allie except for a couple of Facebook messages about the Strikeout Shirt I ordered-- she rocks my face off. She's SO funny and outgoing! Yay for new AOIIs! Well, she's not a "new" AOII, but I haven't met her so she's new to me ;)

Melissa and I split the calamari, which was a totally new take on it to me. They have a cornmeal breading and fry it up with jalapenos! It furthered my spicy food kick for the weekend, which started with Buffalo Wild Wings and finished with salsa at Los Compadres! But, I'm getting ahead of myself... I had a bacon bleu cheese burger and it. was. aaaaweeesome. Highly recommend it. Everyone else seemed pretty happy with their dinner, and the only complaint I had was that the waitress seemed like she'd never had a big party. She did her best, and the unique girl gave her a little bit of trouble (for which she got put in her place by a waitress who also happens to be someone she needs to respect a little bit more), but things were a little slow and two plates had to be sent back to be re-made which weren't delivered until we were all ready to go. Probably better to go in a smaller group.

Afterwards, I ran Melissa by Joe's in Midtown to pick up a bottle of wine for Heather (they sell McWilliams, our tier 1 wine at work!) and pick up something for myself for going to Ashely's (which proved difficult as Memphis liquor laws say that you can't sell anything under 5% alcohol in the same store, thus nixing my usual search for the elusive 420) and when I got back out to the car.... it wouldn't start!!

Ugh.

So, I'm thinking who I can call at this time of night (as it was after 10p at this point) and I remembered that Ashley (who was going to meet me for a drink and instead had some friends over and invited me to come out) told me that Wayne was at her place, so I called Wayne to come give me a jump and see if we could get it all together. Heather came and picked Melissa up to head back for Rites, and I waited. Wayne showed up, hooked up the jumper cables and everything lit right up! Of course, as soon as we took the jumper cables off... not so much.

There was a minor panic attack.

Oh, and my phone died.

And there was a big theory floating around that it was the alternator. After I'd spent $130 on the starter. And $140 on the belts.

Then there was another minor panic attack.

I managed to have a little fun. And another minor panic attack (regarding our roadside assistance program which, by the way, DOESN'T COVER ME apparently). Ashley's friends were a lot of fun, and even though we have differing political views, we're all very moderate and open to discussion so it didn't turn in to a hate fest which is the whole reason I stay away from political discussions these days in the first place. It evolved in to a trivia contest regarding presidential knowledge and the parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy assasinations. There are quite a few and they are all pretty creepy, look it up. We stayed up way too late and I fell exhaustedly asleep at Ashley's since I didn't have a way to get back to Southaven. Thankfully, one of her friends had a compatible charger so my phone was sufficiently charged for me to try for a tow, talk to Jeremy, talk to Marc, and get everything set to get the car back down to Southaven.

The good news is that it was just the battery, in case you haven't figured that out yet. Marc charged up my battery and replaced the leads and it worked good as new and just in time for me to hit up the hockey game!

The Kings played a great first period, but after that they totally wussed out. They did, however, beat OKC in the next game and so they're on their way to the semifinals! They actually don't even play until the end of the month, so if it looks like there are two games in a row I may go back. I forgot how much I miss the games, and the other off ice officials-- they're my own crazy little family!

I went right home and talked to Jeremy for a while, then went to bed! I'd intended to get up and go to church with Marc and Jan; while I'm not much on church, I know they'd like me to come meet everyone. However, I was so exhausted from Friday and Saturday that I slept in waaay late.

That's all for Saturday, and in to Sunday-- coming up, I get another hamburger, Sophia and I go to Target, and I practice public speaking.

Wonderful night

Went to the wine tasting at Palate tonight which was an absolute blast. It was a dueling distributors kind of setup-- Leslie, Craig, and Jeff were there so entertainment was endless. Emily came and joined me, and we met a couple of nice older gentlemen (Bill and Steve) who joined us and taught us a little about wine and provided good conversation. Bill works for the Nat'l Park Service, which was interesting since he seemed to be OK with parks land being exploited for oil exploration, but he was very nice and there seemed to be a mutual move past the point and on to something more interesting so off we went. Craig ended up with the best wine, a Spanish varietal which was almost extinct. It had the nose of a sweeter wine, like a muscat, but an interesting, tangy, tart kind of finish to it. I can't recall the exact name at the moment, but it was really great.

Not much else going on. I took the battery to get checked and charged and that's not the problem, so it means the starter is gone. Thankfully, my tax refund should be in tomorrow or Monday, so I can get the starter taken care of this weekend. It'll be about $140, which isn't too bad in the big picture, and it's only the second original part that's been replaced that didn't have anything to do with the accident-- the other of which was the alternator two years ago. I went by Target today and picked up some new socks, though I was really sad about the clearance St. Patty's day knee socks-- they didn't fit at all! They were soooo soft, I was excited, but sadly it was not meant to be. There were some other little ankle socks like the kind I wear that were on clearance, so their softness will suffice for now. I'm considering getting some of the little knitted slippers they had on clearance, too-- I just want something to wear around the house/in bed. I still have the monkeys Jeremy got me, but they're not really bed-worthy slippers.

That's about all for now, off to watch some Angel and fall asleep. Ciao!

To quote Paula Abdul

Two steps forward, two steps back.

I decided today that I would start looking at jobs for summer camp counselors-- I loved summer camp as a kid, and I love kids, I think it would be a lot of fun! I started by e-mailing First Baptist, where I went to pre-school and summer camp and was a junior counselor to see if they still had openings, and then went on to check out a lot of the Girl Scout camps since that was my other experience. I remember hating a couple of my counselors, but I loved the rest-- the ones that actually cared about us and weren't there (we found out later) just to steal all the a/v equipment... apparently they didn't do such great background checks 15 years ago!

Well, I got fantastic news-- First Baptist (which is right up the street) hasn't filled all their positions yet!! I'm going in probably Thursday morning for an interview, and I'm hoping that I'll totally ace it and they'll hire me straight up. I know you don't make tons of money as a counselor, but since most camps generally pay $7-10/hr I'm sure FBC will meet that standard and it'll land me $250-400 a week depending. I'm really excited, it would be a challenge since I've had a pretty sedentary life for the last nine months or so, but it would be a good challenge. There would be a good chance to get some physical activity in and make some new friends, and try to make summer camp as awesome for some of these kids as it was for me.

Of course, after this great news, I went out aaaand my car won't start. The starter is dead. Now, it's something David thinks he can fix, but it's still something else that I have to buy and even though I'm not quite rolling in it, I was getting to a point where I was managing things quite well! I shake my fist at you universe!

Work was actually good, even though I only made $1. Derek stopped by, who is really quite awesome. He works at Palate right now, but he's had a pretty varied history. Got his BA in English, went through and got his Masters and PhD as well, so we talked a lot about literature and different classes-- it was really awesome. When he taught, he did a class on literature and film, and he specialized in American Lit, specifically Faulkner who is one of my favorite American authors ever. Most nights that pull so low don't have such great company, but I really loved just hanging out with Jon and Derek.

Anyway, I'm off to try to go to bed. I have to get up and clean the stove, do some room stuff, dress up my resume, and get some festive socks for work....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!! Erin Go Bragh!

So much to say

Jeremy left a few hours ago to head back to Daytona after a very fun-filled week, the greatest accomplishment of which is that my car is finally legal!

He came in Wednesday, and we went and hung out at work (which was a total loss, with two tables) and after work went out to pick up the exhaust manifold from an AutoZone in Lilburn which was an adventure in itself... It wasn't just in Lilburn, it was out in like NORTH Lilburn (which is a big haul, for those of you who don't knwo) and we ended up getting home at like midnight. We were home around 1230a and went straight to bed.

Thursday, I had to go out Ptree Industrial to the Hyundai dealership to pick up the last gasket we needed and then ran all over the place on the way home to pick up other stuff. I spent so much money this week, and even though I needed to do it, I'm just still kind of in shock because it was a great feeling having a cushion! But, I won't have to pay any tickets, so I guess it evens out :D

Thursday night, we went and got Jeremy fitted for his tux and got the wedding party set up after a trip to Sears to look at tools and multimeters; I got an idea of what I can buy him for birthdays and Christmas and Valentine's for the next few years, which is kinda nice since he's so hard to buy for. I'm hoping I have enough money left to get him a gift card to Target for the webcam-- he misses talking to Valerie, and I know he's dying to talk to Ana, too! After Sears and Men's Warehouse, we came back in to town for a Single Malt Scotch tasting at Palate. I'm not big on Scotch, so it was more for Jeremy. I had a glass of wine and a snack. The tasting was a lot of fun, our distributor (Bill) is very educated on the industry and has been doing this for years. After that, we went to El Tesoro to try and catch Bo and grab one last snack before we went home, and had the Oaxaca with serrano peppers and other spicy things-- I was very happy Jeremy said it was the spiciest thing he'd had in a *long* time! He loves spicy, but he's still stuck on this green chile pizza he had in India, so I keep trying to find something that has comparable spice! We came home and watched the season finale of Burn Notice, which wasn't quite as action-packed as I'd expected, but it set up a really interesting premise for next season, which thankfully starts in June! This is why I love watching shows on USA!

Friday was a little less hectic. I went to register the car, where I dealt with this woman who wouldn't give me the sticker for my plate because I didn't have the same address or the same last name as my mother! GAH! I've been doing the registration for both of our cars for the last seven years, and never in my life have I had the same last name as my mother. We went through this ten minute thing about how I needed to be her power of attourney or have the same last name and address or get this paper notarized saying I had permission before she finally admitted I could pay for the tags, get the receipt, and they would mail out the sticker on Monday-- yes, this means that the car is registered. The sticker is a formality so that the cops don't have to bother with looking it up if they have better things they can do. I was waiting to get pulled over so I could say, "Sorry I don't have the sticker, officer, but I don't have the same last name as my mother." Ugh. You would think by now, people wouldn't be stuck in that mode. I mean, there are women who don't change their last name when they're married (like my mother, who was a published author and poet at the time), there are divorced parents, there are parents who have re-married after a divorce or death of a spouse-- it's just not uncommon to find a child who doesn't have the same last name! Plus, does that mean if I found someone with the last name "Sizemore" I could waltz in there and take their registration?

When I got home, we killed a few minutes, and then hopped on the bike (Jeremy brought up a helment for me) and went to lunch with my godmother, Gail, who's going to be doing our wedding service. I hadn't seen her in a while, so it was really great not only to have her meet Jeremy, but to hear a little about the old neighborhood and how everyone's doing. We went to Top Spice, which was sooo yummy-- they do Thai and Malaysian food, and the lunch is way more affordable than dinner. Jeremy had, I think, the Spicy Basil Leaf, and I had the Beef Rendang which looks a little unappetizing, but was very good. Plus, we got to knock off another restaurant in town for Jeremy!

After that, we came home and got in the car and went to little Fernbank, where we briefly went through the exhibits (they're pretty old and kinda small-- they do have one of the Apollos, though; I think it's VII which was the last unmanned mission?) and then out in to the Forest and Nature Trail which was greatly expanded from the last time I was there with Dill! The chickens are still there, and they have a beautiful black and white rooster who looks very French countryside and prances around, and the old rust-colored hen was still there chatting to herself. We went on about a 30 minute walk, which was very pleasant and quiet and it was very beautiful outside! Post-Nature Trail, we hopped up the street to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History where we saw their cool new exhibit on fossils and the dinosaurs, which included fossils you could touch and moving models of how they think the dinosaurs would have moved! The exhibit was really cool, especially if you're a geek like us!

Around 7, we headed out to the ASO for the first time in I don't recall how long! I used to go with Gail all the time, but when I started having my own performances I stopped being able to go to theirs. I said something to Valerie that night about how happy I was Ana liked music so much, it reminded me of the ASO for Kids program they used to do (still do!) on the weekends. We went to all of them, even right after my mom had Casey. He was about seven weeks old and she'd tried to get rid of the tickets but couldn't, so she went thinking that since it was a kids concert, she'd just step out if he started crying. Instead, when the first violin started their warmup note, he turned his head around and watched the entire thing in complete awe. I think babies and small children are naturally drawn to music, possibly because of language, and if you really encourage that connection they'll grow up close to music. I played an instrument, but I was always more of a dancer-- Casey can listen to anything once and play it.

Anyway, we went to see Jennifer Koh, who is a really extraordinarily talented Korean violinist-- apparently she's being billed as the Korean Midori. The ASO was as fantastic as I ever remember them being, and we were second row orchestra right, so we were right in front of the low strings (which was kinda cool since Jeremy plays cello). The first piece was absolutely perfect, they played the intro to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and it was just stunning. The second piece, which was the one written for Koh, was... interesting. She was stunning, the orchestra sounded fantastic, and the ASO singers (several of which are church friends of my mother's) sounded great, but I just don't take well to choral pieces written for music (if that makes sense) especially when it's modern English poetry put to the music. The third piece was another special commission, more poetry to music, which was supposed to be "celebratory" according to the composer and ended up more like a joyful dirge. Thankfully, there was a solid turn-of-the century piece at the end and we all left feeling good about the night. We went and got some late night snacks and then went home and finished Lucky Number Slevin (which was fantastic, by the way) and hit the hay.

Saturday, we rode the bike up to North Georgia and rode through Red Top Mountain and Kennesaw Mountain, and through part of historic Marietta. There was a little confusion on the way back, and we ended up halfway to South Georgia, but we weren't too far gone before Jeremy finally figured out I was trying to get him to turn around because he'd missed 20E! It was a nice day out, though, so neither of us was too put out, it just took a while to work my shoulders back in to place after nearly five hours on the bike!

Last night, we just went and picked up a pizza at Kroger, and ran through Krispy Kreme, and then came back and packed and watched some HGTV and FoodTV. Oh, we also watched The Relic, which was supposedly based on a Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child book and pretty much NONE OF IT was related to ANY book I've read by Preston/Child, much less Relic or Reliquary. It was also made in 1997, but looked like it was made in '91, with Tom Sizemore and Penelope Ann Miller looking all sorts of mis-dressed and running around yelling and screaming. It was good for cheese, but nothing terribly special-- I wouldn't recommend it.

Yawn

I've been bad the past couple nights and stayed up late, which I really can't do tomorrow since I made enough money to head to Savannah and back! I'm really excited and though I wish I could trade cars with mom (my radio is busted and I have no CLUE which fuse it is that needs to be changed!) I know the panda can make it down there and back. She's good for the highway driving, didn't give me any trouble on the trip to Morrow, and I probably won't do too much driving when I get down there, so I'm not too worried. Next week is supposed to be warmer than our current subzero week, so maybe I'll get a chance to work on the exhaust and look at the MAF sensor, see what I can figure out-- for Jeremy, it's a $20 part. For me, of course, it's a $150 part... if it has to be replaced, it has to, but I'd rather not fork over another week and a half's worth of pay! Same deal with the exhaust-- David could probably help me replace it, but it would be SUCH an enormous project.

In other news, the Kellys invited me to go with them to the Charleston Food and Wine Festival and stay with them on the Barrier Islands. Bobby Flay will be there, so if I go, Em and I will have to go heckle him. It would be SO much fun, but it's the week I'm supposed to go see Jeremy. I guess we'll see if he has a job that he'll be working, and if so then I'll go another weekend. I mean, if spring comes and business picks up, I can drive down there Friday and leave on Monday which is the entire weekend, so I'm trying to talk him in to a job. He's not quite as bad as I am about getting fidgety and frustrated with nothing to do, but he's getting there!

I got my postcards for the save-the-dates today, which is super exciting! They're even prettier than they were online, so we just have to get the printer upstairs, get the template figured out, and print 'em out! There's a LOT of addressing to do, so that should keep me busy. I'll catch up on my tv shows and write addresses! Since it'll be a couple days, I'm going to go ahead and start addressing them on one side to be printed on the other side, that way I can just stamp and go! Yay!

As sad as some of the Cold Case episodes are, I absolutely adore the period music. It's pretty awesome. Especially the ones from the 80's and 90's.

Not much else going on, still trying to settle in to the new place, and still getting used to the fact that I actually have a place to put my stuff now! It's still mostly in boxes, it's kind of a strange feeling to have adequate space after living in compact, crowded space for five or six years... I miss my friends, even though Em's close, I just don't see her that often because of our schedules. I also don't really have the money to go to lunch with Laura every week like we'd like. As much as I loathe Memphis, I miss being so close to my friends. Oh, well, less than a year now and I'll have my own household.

Now-- more early 90's Law and Order. Oh yeah.