That's right!

[Perez Hilton]

That's right...if it's one thing I can't stand...it's people dishing out $1000 on a "purebred" dog or cat.  Shelter animals are so awesome!  Seriously, the best pets I know of (including my own) are from shelters.  Now this obv isn't to say that all shelter animals are awesome.  I can understand if people have allergies to pet hair and whatnot...but there are always rescue agencies.  Just think of all the animals that die every year, or how many you could have at least helped, when you're dishing out the bucks for a purebred.  

* And of course, no real offense to those reading who have purebreds...but I do judge you.  And there is no way that you can convince me that it is better or smart to dish out that much money for a pet when there are so many available in shelters.

Dreams of wedding RSVP's and middle school kids.

Seriously.  Last night I dreamed that I got a slew of wedding party RSVP's (on our website) saying people couldn't come.  Upon closer look, I realize these RSVP's are from people who I did not even invite.  Thank goodness they weren't coming.  The stress is getting to me.  Also, someone did RSVP that they couldn't come (uh...thank you to all those who have RSVP'ed in some form), so I imagine that's where that part of the dream came from.  Another part of my dream was going to some weird activity at the middle school where I am going to be teaching.  For whatever reason, D was with me.  In the dream I remember thinking that these kids were younger than I remembered middle schoolers being.  In reality, I emailed back and forth with the teacher I am replacing today.  She says the kids are really excited to meet me and have a 100 questions for me.  I can't wait to enter the new world of middle schoolers (...well I can wait, but I'm excited for something new).

[Google]

I am slowly trying to mark things off my ever growing to-do list.  I had a mini freak out on Sunday night about how much stuff I had to do before we leave for Aruba on March 6.  I made a handy iPhone list (for easy accessibility to mark off and add on wherever I am).  I'm trying to focus only on things that need to be done pre-Aruba.  The party stuff will just have to take a back-burner.  The list is definitely grounding me and keeping me clos(er) to sanity.

This weekend is my BACHELORETTE PARTY!  I'm definitely excited.  My friend, RR, is coming in town from NYC.  I haven't seen her in so long!  I was kind of bummed when some people bailed on the weekend.  I'm slowly trying to get over it.  It's just so funny how boys and girls are different.  I have a small group of girlfriends that I consider myself to be close with.  Those are the girls I invited to my weekend get together.  D, on the other hand, invited like 15 guys or something to his party.  I have come to realize that I also just guard myself from getting to close with girls.  When I do open myself up, the second someone does something that hurts my feelings, I shut down.  I've been reading Odd Girl Out (more on that later) and realizing how terribly girls and women handle conflicts.  It's terrible for me to be all passive aggressive and stop talking to them.  How is it beneficial to not discuss the issue?  This should be a separate post in itself.  Anyway, I'm excited for a chill weekend in a cabin with a hot tub, wine, and some of my fav girls.  I'd much rather have a smaller, more intimate get together.  I hope it's a wonderful weekend of "single" debauchery :)  This is the cabin we're staying in

And SO SO SO grateful for CAP and KD who arranged this awesome weekend, reserved the cabin, and are certainly not bailing on me!  Even if it ended up being just the three of us, I'd be happy.  Yay!

Perfect Sunday.

...well aside from my dog shitting in the house for a second time this
year. Seriously. But on a much happier note, we slept in today. D
made a kick ass breakfast as usual. Roasted potatoes and egg,
mushroom, onion, & black bean breakfast burritos. I went to yoga at
the Y. I forgot how much I really love yoga. It stretches you in all
the right places while centering and relaxing you. I'll def be
hitting up some yoga classes at the Y in Raleigh. It was an hour and
a half long, which I wasn't expecting. It gave me just enough time to
come back and shower and head to the Taste of Athens. In short, it an
awesome event where local restuarants and drink companies come
together and give samples of foods and drinks. An easy way to get
full AND drunk ;) oh and to taste amazing food. It's probably one of
my favorite Athens events. So I got deliciously full. They also have
a silent auction in which the proceeds go towards helping a local
community agency. And we (meaning D) bought our first official piece
of art! It's a beautiful sketch that reminded D of one of our fav
bars in Brugge, Belgium. It's framed and matted. They said the
retail price is $250 (which come on we would never be able to buy in
at least 5 years time), but we got it for $80 total. I'm so excited
to one day make it a focal point in our living room. Pretty pleased
with my day...except being reminded that the weekend is over and it's
back to work. My busy life resumes, but trying to take in the small
things to keep me grounded. Here's our art...

String cheese? No string photos.

[deisgn*sponge]

I had considered the idea of stringing photos and clothes pins somehow for my wedding party.  The idea never occurred to me for using them in my house.  I adore this idea.  One reason I particularly adore it is the ease of changing pictures.  The thing that is annoying about picture frames is the time it takes to print a picture (since we all run off digital these days), find a frame, hope it fits, cut and trim if it doesn't, etc. etc.  So my pics in frames stay in the same frame throughout every move.  I love the ease of the string photos because you can just change the pics around every so often.  Plus you can add in cool stuff...such as some cool postcards or coasters we picked up in Europe?  I'm definitely taking this inspiration.

Ginger vs. Punky Brewster.

Please go read this in your spare time.  And if you haven't check out Una's blog, it's wonderful.  I wish I was that good at finding humorous occurances to blog about.  My life is so boring and I have the worst memory ever.  Here's a preview of what you'll get from Una:

Kick ass stories and pictures of her childhood. [here]

Shopping tips...like where to find a felt bowl which is extremely useful for your am cereal [here]

Posts about family ties [here]

Seriously check out the blog.  The one I mentioned earlier is hilarious (and will also make you better understand my blog title).  I am wondering why I am advertising a blog other than my own?  You will thank me though.

One day.

We're going to buy a house.  It's sort of a scary idea to me.  The idea of committing myself to a place to live long term.  The financial commitment to actually buying a home.  Add in the fact that we will be low-budget home buyers.  All of Sarah's posts about interior decor really got me thinking.  I've never been a decorator.  I have a hard enough time putting together trendy outfits everyday.  Decor is not my forte by any means.  As is fashion.  I like to just steal outfits I see.  I guess I don't have an eye for these things.  Anyway...this deisgn*sponge post really got me excited about re-doing rooms in a REAL HOUSE.

Here's the before kitchen:

[design*sponge]

After:

[design*sponge]

I love the new kitchen!  It's so simple and really reassures me that you can have a wonderful, small kitchen.  Love the stainless steel appliances.  Love the colors and chalkboard.  Definitely all super simple and makes me feel more confident about my lack of a "decor eye."  I love it.  Looks like we may start searching for houses sooner than later :)

Is it possible to love a celeb that you have never met...

...because if it is, I LOVE Gaga (she prefers that her little monsters call her Gaga).  Perez posted these Gaga pics on his fashion oriented site, CocoPerez, earlier today:

OMFG.  This is Gaga in London.  I die over the hair.  The Chanel sunglasses.  The leopard.  Wow.  I want to be good friends with her so I can ask about the inspiration behind the hair.

Next, the BRIT Award red carpet.  I personally think that would be a perfect dress because it would totally hide my belly and hourglass figure.  A perfect drinking dress.  I'm sure Gaga had much better inspiration in mind (because she is definitely a much deeper and profound thinker than myself).  

I literally just stare at these pictures and am in awe of her.  She is just so amazingly creative.  Obv my Gaga obsession is different than my Khloe Kardashian obsession.  I just want to hang out with Gaga for a week.  We'd be best buds.

Top 5 reasons.

I'm not going to lie...after our recent trip to Raleigh, I am getting SUPER EXCITED about the move there.  Seriously, I have only heard great things about the area (although don't misunderstand that to mean that I am welcoming negatives about the area).  We signed a lease on a little (and I mean little) house in a really cool area.  We're so close to everything...downtown, the Y, Whole Foods, the mall, etc. etc.  Now the house is totally a downgrade (in luxuries and size) from where we are now, but we figure it'll do for a bit while we save up money for a house (ahem...did I actually just say that?!).  Some of the items in the house that sold us on it...gas stove, washer and dryer (which he threw in with our discounted rent), fenced in yard, driveway, eliminated pet deposit!  It doesn't sound like much but those are major ticket items for us.  Considering that continuing to pay rent on our Athens house and planning a wedding party and tripping it to Aruba, a security deposit, pet deposit, and first month's rent is a shit ton of money to come up with quickly (thank you government for tax returns?).  I'm not sure where we are going to fit all of our stuff from our three bedroom in Athens (with a huge living room/dining area and tons of storage) to a two bedroom with a much smaller living room and very little storage.  Considering the fact that within the next year or so we want to upgrade back to a larger house of our own, I don't necessarily want to throw away/donate all of our stuff.  Ugh things to do and think about!  Anyway, I'm happy that we got the NC housing marked off our list!

So I wanted to do a list of the top 5 things I am looking forward to about living in Raleigh.  They're pretty general things, but after growing up in Athens all of my life, they're amazing novelties to me. 

 

5.  BBQ.  Now Georgia has some good BBQ, but NC is where the BBQ is.  I promise you, this whole vegetarian thing will be left on the doorstep at least once/month for some barbeque.  I don't know what it is about barbeque that make me love it.  I love some vinegary sauce (not sure if that's the "NC style") and top it with some coleslaw and a sweet tea on the side.  Ugh...I guess I am really southern at heart.

  

4. Crabtree Valley Mall.  Don't get me wrong, this mall is nothing amazingly spectacular.  Trust me, when Georgia Square Mall is the closet "good" shopping center within 30 minutes, Crabtree Valley is like a dream come true.  I've never been a huge mall shopper, but I would certainly guess this could be attributed to my crappy experience with my hometown mall.  D and I ventured in Crabtree Valley before we headed out of Raleigh, and I about fainted.  J Crew.  Omfg...H&M is coming this spring.  Wow.  Banana Republic. Dippin Dots. Forever 21 (um, I need some cheap deals in my life).  Bobbi Brown. Sephora. PF Changs.  Dying.

 

3.  WHOLE FUCKING FOODS.  I am not even kidding...this could possibly #1 on the list.  Whole Foods is actually like a thing of fiction...a celebrity...to me...something I've only ever seen on Top Chef and on TV.  I can't wait to just go in there and soak it in.  The isles of organic goodness.  Perusing the isles of Whole Food branded goods.  I almost feel high just thinking about it.  I just signed up for their newsletter.  I am officially obsessed.  Let's just hope this poor girl and her husband can afford the Whole Food luxuries. 

 

2. YMCA.  That's right.  The YMCA is like a freaking block or two from our house.  I'm a dork and checked out their group fitness class list today....it is fucking awesome.  Seriously.  Athens YMCA has the crappiest class list I have ever seen compared to theirs.  My hopes for the YMCA are for 2 things...1) D and I will join together and make working out more of a habit and 2) I can utilize it to make friends in the area (although I hope they aren't all stay at home moms).  My appeal of the Y is that it is not the gym that primarily consists of rich, skinny, blonde college students.  Go YMCA!  I am officially a grown-up.

1. "City Life."  I'm using this phrase very loosely.  We all know Raleigh is no NYC.  We all know Raleigh is no Atlanta (thank goodness).  But Raleigh has some kick-ass restaurants, pubs, and bars.  It has a sweet downtown area.  I'm looking forward to being able to show my Georgia friends around Raleigh.  I'm looking forward to getting to know the different roads and "hip" places to be.  I mean I know I'm not going to be in a big city by any stretch of the imagination.  Coming from Athens though, this is big for me.  I'm moving to a city where I really know no one other than my husband and pets.  I like to think Raleigh is welcoming me with open arms.

My feet are numb.

It's been a long day and a half. For real. We made our way from
Athens to Raleigh last night arriving at about 10:30. I drove the
whole way. I never realized how much longer the trip seems when you
don't read and browse mags and surf on my iPhone the whole way.
Fuck. It felt long. I passed out.
I got up early (ok not that early) this morning to head to my school's
board of Ed to sign paperwork. I'm officially going to be a teacher
on March 15! And have health insurance still and etc. etc. I have a
badge! That must make me official.
Then on to the house search. Ugh, it's been extremely long and
tiring. It's frustrating that we don't have another day here to shop
around a little bit. We have our last viewing at 5:30. We'll be
between that place and another apartment that we found on a whim.
We'll see. We're leaving with something locked in, no doubt.
Ps. it's cold here and again I packed inappropriately. I was trying
to look a little nice to sign my paperwork. I brought some dark jeans
and a nice blouse and cardy. Well I also only brought one pair of
shoes. My Tory Burch flats. FML. My feet have been fucking cold and
numb all day. If we go out tonight, I'm fucked. Where are my uggs
when I need them?!
Sent from my iPhone

Sorry! I'm just overwhelmed at the moment.

So my wonderful friend, CAP, pointed out that I have been a bad blogger lately.  I realize!  I just feel like I have 5 million things on my plate right now.  Speaking of CAP, she surprised me with a wonderful necklace closely resembling this one:

[Forever 21]

The necklace she actually got me is much cuter though (wtf!  Why wouldn't Forever 21 have it on their website??).  It has little "pearls" on the belly and "diamonds" for eyes.  I love owls :)  But many thanks to CAP for making my day!  Apparently they're really trendy right now because Forever 21 website had like a million of them.  

Anyway, D and I are in the process of apartment/house hunting.  This is really a stressful process in general, but add in our VERY TIGHT timeline (I need to have a secured home by March since we leave March 6 for Aruba and don't return until March 14...um I start my job March 15), along with paying double rent since we don't know when/if we can sublease the Athens house, and limited budget (again, double rent, plus elopement, plus wedding planning).  Ok...just mentioning all this is actually starting to overwhelm me again and bringing on the migraine.  That's just one thing on my plate.  

So I neglected to mention that we're moving to Raleigh.  I'm actually REALLY excited about Raleigh.  I'm hearing so many great things about it.  People tell me that it has a "small town" feel with the benefits of living in a city (um, Whole Foods here I come).  I'm just ecstatic to finally be moving out of Athens.  I'm really thrilled about being able to explore and discover a new place...with my new husband ;)  Oh and can I please tell you how happy it made me to go to the Visit Raleigh website and see that they have an entire section on GLBT travel.  OMFG!  They love the gays in Raleigh!  And so do I!  Maybe I can find a fabulous gay, lesbian, or otherwise friend!  Love.  And I'm finally slowly coming to the end of my current job.  Love even more.

Ps. doing a terrible job maintaining my workout regimen.  Let's face it, I have no motivation whatsoever.  I should start rewarding myself.  Ideas & tips that help you stay on the work out track?

Pps.  did actually reward myself for nothing other than a hard, long year at my current job.  With what?

These Hunter boots that I've been longing for.  Got them for almost half price on ebay.  Finally.  I didn't want regular ole black.  Purple wasn't my first choice...but the best I could do for now.  I'm content.  They're cute. Looking forward to rocking them on snowy (haha maybe) and rainy days in Raleigh :)

My kind of night...

Eating my homemade veggie quesadillas and finally watching Lost!
Sorry for the poor quality of the pic!