Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Catching Up

Well, the last week has been pretty interesting and full of stories to tell! It didn't start until Thursday, obviously, but that night we had Strike Out which was a huge hit! The girls did a really great job organizing it (they did a bowling tourney) and it went off without a hitch. Lizzy and I went and hung out for a while, kept an eye on things, but bailed early since they obviously had everything under control and we had things to do in the morning.

Friday, I went out to Stone Mountain to meet with India, Becky, and Danielle to check out the potential venue for formal! I'm really excited, I can't say anything because we haven't announced it to the chapter (and I think some of the girls check my blog from Facebook, at the very least have the opportunity to!) but WOW it's going to be great!! I'll put up the picture of me, India, and Danielle with all the details as soon as it gets announced because I am super pumped. I do get the joy of checking names at the door, and imparting the severity of misbehaviour on our night of frivolity, but it should still be a blast.

We went out for lunch afterwards at Applebees (first time ever at an Applebees) where I had some not-half-bad hot wings. After that, I went to the PO and got all the rest of my baby presents shipped off and picked up postage for save the dates, which got dropped at the PO tonight. I also went by Target and found my wedding invitations! They're really cute, flat white invitations with a black ribbon that go in to little silver pockets. I'm very excited-- they're about $15/pack more than I originally wanted, but they're definitely the style I want. I'm really excited!

Saturday was the super exciting day-- it started with a Foundation breakfast at 9a (ungodly time for a Saturday breakfast, IMO) to which I drove in the pouring, nay torrential, rain that we got all day long. The breakfast was nice, and I met some really great women, and the food was tres magnifique!

After the breakfast, I went for brunch with some of my old high school friends who are still around. Emily (who went to Rhodes with me, we actually didn't get along at ALL in High School), Catherine, and Meg (who just had the baby) met me at Carpe Diem and we hung out for hours. Catherine and I got there first, and thought bottomless mimosas would be an awesome idea...

To the right, there is the regular mimosa Emily got... in the foreground, the first of mine and Catherine's drinks. We had four. And over at Carpe Diem, they make true to their name-- we probably drank at least a bottle of champagne each!! It didn't quite hit us until the third round that there was way more champagne in our drinks than OJ or peach (since I switched to bellinis) and we had about two to three times the drink Emily did! The food, of course, was freaking awesome. Carpe Diem's a little on the pricey side, but it's always worth it. I only had a biscut and some grits since I'd eaten at the breakfast, but I munched off of Catherine's french toast and Emily's head-sized omlette (Meg didn't have leftovers... that whole breastfeeding mom thing!) so I still had plenty to eat. We all felt like old ladies by the end of it because all we talked about was babies, birth control (Catherine's going to start trying to get pregnant in June!!), weddings, and toddler poop. We passed baby Vi around before she fell asleep, which she did quickly and quietly-- I know she's only a month old, but she's so easy, we were all impressed. Meg says she barely cries, just kind of chills out and eats like a good little girl! The waitress to a picture of us all for posterity, it's probably one of my favorite recent photographs!

After that, we went to Catherine's and met her puppy, Bruno, a miniature pinscher who is absolutely adorable. I mean, terrifying... yeah, terrifying, right Caq? She and Emily went to see her family and her old, sick cat, and I went home to take a nap.. thanks bottomless mimosas... I ended up sleeping for four hours and missing the staff meeting, but it wasn't that big of a deal. The only painful part was the champagne catching up to me... I don't drink it often enough to really remember that I don't get along with champagne... at all. Not even the really good stuff! Prosecco for me, thank you very much!

Sunday, I went down to Columbus, GA for a Foundation talk at the new chapter down there-- it was really exciting to meet a chapter who hadn't even taken their membership exam yet, I've never been to one that young! They also just had their first Strike Out and raised over $1100 for Arthritis Research!!! Gooooo CSU AOII! On my way back, I picked up an adaptor for my laptop plug so I could listen to music while I drive (since it's only $30 and a new radio/cd player is like $150+) and jammed all the way back up 85N!

Thursday morning, I'm leaving for Memphis to go to Heather's birthday dinner, and the hockey game, and see some of my friends up there. I'm really excited, as much as I dislike Memphis, I really do miss my friends a lot. Next Thursday, I head down to Florida to see Jeremy!! Yaaay! I'll have two good bottles of wine and I'm going to pick up some fish when I'm down there and make a delicious dinner for him.

Now, however, it's time for bed. I'm up about three hours later than I meant to be... I gotta stop snacking before I go to bed-- I spend too much time eating chips and salsa!

Ciao for now, dears!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Just FYI

I promise I'll update more tonight after work! I've actually been kinda busy this last week, which is good, so I'm going to briefly study for this beer quiz I know I'm going to get and then head to work... not entirely thrilled about it, but there's something to look forward to at the end of the week so I'm all for it!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Emma Kathryn Parry

Born Thursday, March 26 at 930a, 8lbs even! No pictures of her or Austin yet, but I'm so excited for Pat!

*adds to list of baby presents to send*

Baby Girl Parry!!

Wow! Pat's baby girl is here now, too! First Vi, then Austin, now BGP (who very possibly may be named Jane), Krystal-- you're next!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Austin Masters

My friend Kim (whose wedding we went to last summer) had her baby boy this morning!!

Born March 25, 2009 at 745a-- 7lbs, 7oz and 20 inches long.

Auntie Meg can't wait to meet him! I'm so very excited for them, I know Nick is just so excited he can't stand it!

In other news, my room is littered with baby things. I need to get Violet's stuff (oh, and Meg and Michael decided on Violet Genevieve) to the K's and Cy's stuff to Krystal and now Austin's stuff to Kim and Nick! WHOO Babies!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Yawn

Last night at work was really good, actually. I worked with Derek, a returning cook, and he's a really cool guy. We're a lot alike, literature freaks, stress problems, it was pretty awesome. Still makes Mondays my favorite day to work! Not that I don't like Ozzi, but Jon and Derek and I have more to talk about when it's slow.

Not much else going on, trying to figure out the travel plans over the next month since my calendar is quickly filling up! Next weekend I'll either be in Memphis or Daytona, the weekend after that will be wherever I'm not next weekend. After that, sisterhood retreat, then a free weekend, then we're in to May and formal week for the girls, Rhodes graduation, and all sorts of other stuff! I'm glad to have the distractions, but goodness gracious! I haven't heard back about the summer camp job yet, so I guess I'm going to start filling out applications tonight for other summer camps. I really like Palate, and I'd be sad to leave, but I really have to get something else going on.

Speaking of which, there's this really cool continuing education thing that Agnes has started up with Verb-- they have a course that's totally up my alley where you learn about writing critical reviews of food, wine/drink, and travel from the head critic at the AJC. It's $250, but when I hear about the camp job I may decide to go for it. It's Thursday nights at 6, but I might be able to work it even with the camp job. If not, I won't be working Thursdays, so it won't be a problem. Guess we'll see!

That's about all for now. I finished Six Feet Under (the finale for which was quite redeeming) and am getting my Dexter fix with season 2, and I'm about a season and a half away from finishing Angel. After that, thanks to Joe's magical number picking prowess, I start up with Desperate Housewives to see if it really did go downhill after season 1 (which was the only season I watched on TV).

Oh, and this week's waits: Role Models, The White Countess, NUMB3RS Season 2, Scrubs Season 4, Nick Frost's Danger! 50,000 volts!, Namastey London, Northern Exposure Season 1, Pineapple Express, and Quarantine.

Ciao for now, dear readers! With luck, more interesting stuff will come up later this week ;)

Monday, March 23, 2009

WHOOO ALPHA FAMILY!!!!

Just because I can't find my jersey (and haven't been able to for years-- I'm SO SORRY Martha!!!!) doesn't mean I can't show my pride for the bestest Alpha family around!! From my grand big Swiggett, to my big sis Martha, my AWESOME littles Lauren, Caroline, and Cate, and my grand littles Valisa and Jill! We're the John Deere Darlins and we ROCK!

I miss you girls! I can't wait to see you all again-- and to meet you, Jill!