Saturday

Saturday was also excellent-- I went shopping with Sophia and got a ton of cute stuff! OK, maybe not a TON, but a handful or two :)

The GAP outlet in Tunica is probably the best outlet I've been to-- I always manage to find something I really like at a great price. You would think the great price part would be guaranteed at an outlet, but not so mon frere! The GAP and The Children's Place were the only ones having sales, so I picked up some stuff for me and some stuff for Violet, then a couple of kitchen items we needed for back home.

Sophia and I had a blast at the shoe store where not only did we find jellies, but Sophia decided she wanted to try on the most ridiculous shoes she could find!

CLEARLY we were having a good day! I went to Target afterwards and found some shorts for Jeremy, then got my toe ran over with a shopping cart-- people are so rude! After getting it to stop bleeding, someone spit gum on it on my way to Office Max! Unbelievable.

We got home, got ready, and raced over to see Charles and Krystal-- the older kids weren't there, but we had some amazing lasagna, got to hang out with little Felix and hear about Charles's newfound place at the police academy. We ended the night by watching some Top Gear; how awesome is that?

Felix!

Jeremy teaches Felix how to play Angry Birds

Felix tries to help Jack with his sound mixing

Me and Krystal-- so glad she's back stateside!

Krystal and Charles were stationed in Japan for a while, but I'm so excited they're back in the states and I get to see Krystal now and again. It's funny, we were never entirely close at Rhodes, but I guess we just always got along really well and bonded more than either of us ever knew!

Weekend

Friday was low-key, but really nice. We had initiation for our spring pledges (hoorah new Alpha babies!) and a little pizza party after with birthday cake for India. Unfortunately, Alison couldn't be there because they were still taking care of some things with her father's estate. She got back tonight during LC, and is doing as well as can be expected-- possibly better. She's an amazing young woman, it breaks my heart she has to go through this.

After the pizza party, Vicki, Becky, and I went out and signed our gifts for the girls being installed as alumnae on Tuesday. I really wish I'd had an alumnae installation ceremony, I feel like I missed something there. Initiation was nice, though, because it made me think of Natalie (my new member educator) and Lindsey Hughes, our president at the time who initiated me. It's a really nice ceremony and definitely made me tear up a little! On the way home, I made a wrong turn and ended up at Magic City. That would be the strip club they talk about in the rap songs. Ohhhh yeeeeah.

Saturday was lazy, but I did go see Arcadia at GPC, which Alexandros was in. It was really nice, it's only the second time I've seen Alexandros since I've been back (the other when Jeremy and I went with him to lunch and Slumdog Millionaire), and we went to R. Thomas in Buckhead for my (much belated) birthday dinner and it was aawesome. I had a coconut curry linguine with shrimp and salmon. So. Good. They do all organic and locally grown food, it was quite delish. But pricey, definitely pricey. Also, the chai was perfect! I'm super picky about my chai, so I was happy it wasn't an absolute loss.

Tonight was LC, where we discussed some difficult things and I prepared myself to be the hard ass. I also did an arrangement for Alison of some roses and carnations I picked up at the Farmer's Market that looked pretty nice, actually!

That's about all. Clare was married yesterday, and though I wish nothing but the best for her, I'm still not convinced her new husband and step-children are that best thing. I would not have been surprised at the outdoor ceremony if it weren't for the fact that it was a product of him insisting they not be married in a church, which I find strange. I know Jeremy and I aren't getting married in a church, but that's mostly a convenience for our guests sort of deal, not anything to do with religion.

Ah, well, c'est la vie. All we can do is hope and pray that her life is as happy as she deserves for it to be and that he doesn't continue to be as sketchy has he has been to know...

This week: work, hopefully Memphis at the end of the week, and if Memphis is in the books then I will hopefully figure out why Jan and Marc's internet isn't working!

Yeah, I know

So, here's my attempt at some better news since the last post was kind of depressing...

Yesterday, I went to go to Em's, but my car's doing something new so I came back home and took mom to David's to help him get his scooter over here, and went from there. We went to Macy's and looked at some china patterns and narrowed it down to about seven patterns (which I have now put down to 4).

Mikasa Cameo Platinum
Mikasa Parchment (I wish I wanted gold on my table, I love this version)
Lenox Opal Innocence
Lenox Lace Cotoure

I haven't gone through and done my pros/cons on all of them yet-- I like simple and clean and classic, something my daughter will like, or that my daughter-in-law won't hold with two fingers when I pass it on! I didn't used to think I wanted formal china, but I remember having nice dishes for holidays and special occasions and I really liked that. Plus, Macy's keeps putting this stuff on major clearance!

After the china hunt (and the turning up of our noses at "designer" china-- I love Kate Spade, but stick to purses, not china) we headed over to the American Girl store which was totally exciting. I'd never been in the store before! I found out a couple months ago that my Samantha is being discontinued, but I found out last night that Pleasant Company apparently hasn't owned AG in quite some time, so my dolls really are collectibles. Addy also is, and would be moreso if they put serial numbers on them as she was in the first batch ever made. I pulled out my stuff and found that there were a few things missing, but overall everything's in good condition and the dolls still look fantastic. I'm putting in for some of Sam's accessories (they're on backorder and being discontinued, so there's no guarantee I'll get them) and I'm going to start building up my Addy collection since she's my other one. I'm dying to get Analia the Josefina doll (since her genetic father was, correct me if I'm wrong, Hispanic) but obviously I'll have to wait a few years for that. We'll put something aside in the special "spoil the niece fund" since Aunt Meg is likely to be worse than most... I'm also eyeing some cute little rompers for Krystal since Cy's due in March and even though they won't need them for a while, they don't have many neutral colored things past about 8 months (they already have a little girl, Gwennie) and could use some. Good news? They're on a military base and Target should ship them, and if not, then I'll just ship it from here since I won't have to pay "real" Japan postage!

After AG, we ran through Target where I got a pepper mix and a pot in which to plant said pepper mix-- I'm extremely excited, I've wanted to do a garden for a while, and though I can't plant anything in the ground here, there's a porch with a railing wide enough to place small pots on, so I can at least have a potted garden. I won't know until they've sprouted, but it's a mixture of Big Red Cayenne Hybrid, Anaheim Chili, Ancho, BIker Billy Hybrid and Hungarian Wax seeds. The rest of the night was watching Bones season 3, so tonight I'm starting from the beginning and I'm about halfway through the second disc of season 1.

Anyway, that's about all. Hopefully, my peppers will sprout and I can put up some pictures of them. Jeremy's hopefully on the way to feeling better and will be on his way up this weekend! Yay! More soon, I'm sure!