How am I Still Alive?

Graduation went well, and I was successfully drunk for about a week straight. The festivities began on Cinco de Mayo when Roommie and I threw a small dinner party for some friends. I made Chicken Enchiladas, Guacamole, and this dank grilled corn salsa (I will post all of these recipes for Foodie Friday tomorrow). We basically had a great time, great food, and of course, some wonderful margaritas. Long story short, we started hanging out with a friend (we will call him “Tuck” for the purposes of this blog) that we hadn’t seen in a while. He also brought over one of his friends. I need to think of a nickname for this kid, but nothing comes to mind except he has a funny laugh – and does it all the time. But that is kind of hard to put into a nickname, so for now he will just be “Tuck’s Friend”…let me know if you come up with something better.

Tuck’s Friend had just broken up with his girlfriend of 4 years about a couple of days into our party bonanza. It may or may not have had anything to do with the fact that he was hanging out at our apartment for days on end. But nothing scandalous happened! I promise!! He is so not my type. So of course, this event just propelled more and more partying then graduation came and that didn’t stop anyone.

Finally Wednesday of this week rolled around and we figured we should probably clean up our act. There was no going out last night, but I can’t say the same for tonight. The local trendy outdoor mall here hosts a beach music night every Thursday. It is fun to go see all the pretty dresses (90% of which are Lilly Pullitzer), dance and drink.

I’m super psyched about hanging out with Tuck and Tuck’s Friend so much. They are funny and nice southern boys who like to have a good time. And they respect Roomie and I so it won’t get all weird like some girl/boy friendships do. Yay for new friends! Ha.

Anyways, got to get back to work. But I did talk to Navy boy a couple of times this weekend, and he should be done with the hard part of OCS this week and be able to have his phone and go out on the weekends from now on. Woo! Less than a month till he is done! I hope he gets to come back to NC so I can actually spend some face-time with him!

Updates and Oddities

I don't know if oddities is a word, but I like it and will start a petition to have it added to the dictionary if y'all feel the same.

Updates: Things with Dru are going great. I got over my obsession with having a title, and never said anything. Which now I am thankful for. I had a pretty good weekend, went to a football game and out with friends.

Dru had a work function down in Destin, FL. His boss takes the whole company once a year and pays for everything. Dru said the first night he was out with one of the senior managers and about 20 other people. After 4 hours of drinking their tab was...$6500!! Woah. Dru thinks the guy who owns the company (and pays for it) probably spent close to 3 million dollars.

I can't even fathom that.

Also, I talked to him Sunday. I am going back down to visit next weekend. My school has fall break so I don't have to go to class Thursday or Friday. Thursday is my mom's birthday so we are going to drive down to Atlanta. She has to do a little bit of work, but we are going shopping and out to eat. Dru is coming to pick me up Friday night (and go out to eat with my mom and I) then we are driving back to Birmingham. He mentioned on the phone that we could go SKYDIVING on Saturday!

I almost fell out of my chair. The one thing I have ever wanted to do is skydive. Always. I can't remember ever telling him this, so I guess it was just a coincidence. I don't think this guy could be more perfect!

It turns out he bought the vouchers for his dad and him to go for his dad's birthday one year. His mom checked the life insurance policy and noticed that if his dad died skydiving they wouldn't be able to collect life insurance. So...his dad never wound up going and Dru has these two vouchers that he has been meaning to use!

I didn't get to talk to him last night, but as of Sunday he was going to check into it and make sure everything was still a go! I really hope we follow through with this and actually do it! I can't wait to see him either. I wish I wouldn't let myself get so absorbed, but hey what's the worst that could happen?

In other news, this was the weekend that Ed was in town. I didn't see him once. I never even talked to him before he came. I noticed on Facebook that he had told a mutual friend he was staying with Gary. And this is without having talked to me about it at all! Which is nice, because we didn't have to have the awkward conversation and I guess he just kind of got the hint.

He came to town, they went out, I never saw him and then I get a text from him late last night that was kind of offensive. This morning he texts and (jokingly) says 'Glad I got to see you'. So I asked him about the offensive text from last night and he claims he doesn't remember because he was drunk. I refreshed his memory, and asked him a question about it to which he replied, "Jesus Sarah, it was funny at the time. F*cking chill."

WOAH.

I don't allow people to speak to me like that. I think it is completely disrespectful and tacky for a boy to cuss at a girl. So, I didn't respond, and I'm not planning on it. I don't know what the problem was, but I'm going to rid myself of any communication with him. I just don't see why I need him in my life right now. Dru is great and I just want to focus on the good things. I'm almost 100% certain that Dru would never speak to me like that.

But it did kind of motivate me. I think I'm going to start working out again. Why this motivated me? I have no idea. But I'm kind of glad it happened.

OK now that my love-life update is out of the way I thought I would share this with you in light of the Freaky Friday trend I miserably failed at.

I read this blog Dlisted, which is ABSOLUTELY hilarious. It is celebrity gossip by a fabulously opinionated gay man. If you shy away from bad language and crude topics, you may not enjoy this particular blog. However, I love all things racy and straight-forward. Anyways, he did a post today, It's Not Even Halloween Yet!, that reminded me of the Freaky Friday stuff. I hope you all read this post, laugh, then go check out the rest of his blog. It will keep you entertained for hours - I swear.

Sarah Goes To Alabama

I'M GOING TO VISIT DRU!!! He booked the flight and sent me the itinerary last night! I can't believe it! I am baffled by the fact that someone would spend so much money just to put me on a flight for a weekend visit! I'm flattered of course, but now I feel indebted to him. Oh well, he wouldn't have done it unless he wanted to, right? I mean I, in no way, asked him to get me on a plane. BUT I'M SO EXCITED!

After sending me the information, he called last night and we talked for a little while. I think I may have convinced him that I'm not a dumb blonde a little bit last night, because we actually had a fun conversation. He told me what the plans were for next weekend: my flight gets in around 4:30 then I think we are going to head down to Auburn for the night and either stay at their lake house (which is like 30 mins from the school) or stay with a friend. The next day we are going to the Auburn/LSU game! It's one of ESPN's game day games and should be out of this world. I'm psyched. It is also my first-ever SEC game, which are apparently wayyy better than ACC games - according to Dru. Then we will probably stay in Auburn that night too. Then I come home Sunday night. It's a short, but sweet trip and I couldn't be more excited and NERVOUS.

Auburn's colors are blue and orange. Yuck. There is no way you can put those colors together and actually look good. Well...maybe, but it is going to take some work. I'm thinking a blue dress with orange accessories. OR I have this orange dress, but it is silk and probably too dressy for a football game...oh the choices.

Another dilemma I'm facing is the packing situation. I have never just used a carry-on, I always check luggage (which I won't be doing because checking luggage for a weekend trip just makes me look stupid). This is troublesome because:

1. I'm a HEAVY packer (especially when I'm going to new places - a girl's got to be prepared, right?)

2. This whole put-your-liquids-under-3oz-in-a-bag thing really chaps my ass. I have certain items that go in certain bags, and putting them in a giant freezer bag just doesn't suit me.

3. I do not want to carry a bag around. Especially since I have to change planes.

4. I WILL NOT use a roller carry-on bag. Geeky.

5. (This one may or may not qualify as troublesome) I found a Jessica Simpson bag at our local department store named specifically, "The Weekender" which I now HAVE TO HAVE. It is $142...money I know I should not spend. But what other bag am I supposed to use and still look cute when Dru picks me up at the airport?

Soo I am completely nervous and the trip is still 8 days away. Good thing I have plenty of time to prepare. If y'all see any blue or orange clothes while you are browsing around let me know...I'm on the look-out.

Also, I wanted to thank everyone for the great advice. It really helps hearing back from everyone and it's good to know I can turn to y'all when my traditional in-person friends aren't enough (that sounds harsh but I mean it in a nice way). I have decided to let Ed know that he is welcome at our apartment, but that it is strictly platonic. I am going to explain that things with Dru are kind of developing and I don't want to do anything that he wouldn't approve of (even though we aren't technically dating). I'm pretty sure Ed will be alright with everything, considering we really haven't been talking much at all in the past couple of weeks.

I am so excited to see how things develop in Alabama! I am so nervous for the day to come, but at the same time I wish it were here already!

Blogger Advice?

Hi everyone! I hope all is well in the blog-world. I really don't like getting used to blogging only a couple of times a week. But it is what it is, right? There haven't been many developments in my real life this week. A few with Dru though...

Last week he texted me to see when I would want to come to his hometown for a visit! I was totally excited, but not looking forward to the 9 hour drive or $400 plane ticket. I told him this, and I'm almost 100% positive he will be getting me a plane ticket! WTF!? Gary, the ex, hardly even paid when we went on dates. I have never had anyone pay for my things and now THIS! I'm so overwhelmed that I don't even know if I can accept such a thing.

I finally got to talk on the phone with Dru for quite a while last night and that was fun. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm stupid though - like a dumb blonde. This is mostly due to the fact that I had no idea what I was doing in Columbia, and probably came off as an idiot. I realize that I have my shining blonde moments, but I happen to have a 3.8 GPA and consider myself pretty smart. I told Dru that I work in the investment banking field but was studying marketing. He got a kick out of this and told me they probably hired me because of my looks! I was actually quite offended and tried to defend myself, but his phone was acting weird and I don't think I properly got the point across.

Anyways, we had discussed me coming to visit this weekend, but there is a big game the next weekend that he thinks will be more fun. People, if this actually does happen, I'm going to be a mess in the days before. I am already nervous, and it's not even final that I'm going. I'm nervous about meeting his friends, spending so much time with him and just being out of my element. And the thing is: I don't really even know him! The two times we have hung out we have been drunk for the most part. I know he is a safe, respectable guy through other people (long story), so I'm not worried about that, but it's just so not like me to jet off to hang out with some dude I hardly know!

These days I'm all about 'living on the edge', as corny as it sounds. But I want to live my young life to the fullest and not have regrets. That is why, if he offers a plane ticket, I will accept. I am pulling myself out of my comfort zone and into new situations to force personal growth. If things don't go great, I will come home and get on with my life. If things go great, who knows, I might just be looking for a job further south come May. Haha!

As for Ed, he is coming the last weekend of September and I have agreed to let him stay at our place. And I also agreed to take him down to Wilmington (2 hour drive) for his flight home. Here is the hard part: I'm not really that interested in him anymore. I have a terrible problem of dropping anything, not thinking of who I might hurt in the process, for the next best thing.

I'm hoping that Ed has realized that things aren't going to go any further mainly due to the long distance between us. Also, we never really discussed what happened with us, so I don't feel like there is any formal commitment. So, technically, I'm out of the woods. But emotionally, I don't know where he is at.

I'm not really looking forward to him staying at our place anymore, I actually really don't want him there, but I don't think I can un-invite him. His visit might shape up to be the most awkward of all time. I'm going to wait on telling Ed anything definite after I see what happens with Dru.

Here is my ideal situation:

Dru flies me down to his hometown, we have a great time. Maybe even make plans for another visit.
When Ed comes, I have a legit reason to ask him to stay elsewhere. Explaining to him about Dru, and then everything is out in the open.

With my luck though, none of that will come true. If anyone has comments/suggestions I would love to hear them!

Road Trippin'

As I mentioned, I went down to Columbia, SC for a football game last week. The trip was a complete shit show. This trip proved to me why they invented planes. I will never take another road trip, if I can help it. The day started off great. Roomie and I were so psyched; we were both up at the crack of dawn even though we weren't planning to leave until noon. I got my packing done, ran some errands and then was all ready to go. I had even had the good thoughts the night before to go up to my parent's house and get my dad's car to take instead of my SUV to save gas.

12:30PM Roomie and I have the car packed and ready to go, I am waiting in said car for her to run into Hardees to get some lunch.

12:35PM Hardees is taking forever when I notice that the check engine light is on. Shit. I call my dad and he thinks it would be best for me to just take my car because we have no idea what the check engine light is on for.

12:38PM Cam (the younger brother of a good friend from home) calls me and asks if he can ride with us. This made me 10 times happier about the ride because Cam is a great guy...incredibly funny. And I knew he would make the 3.5 hours more bearable.

1:15PM Finally get back to the apartment with my car and pick up Cam. Already 45 mins behind schedule. This is irritating.

1:15-4PM Endless driving at about 90 mph. I was driving so fast for two reasons: 1) I had Dad's radar-detector and 2) I will do anything to get to my destination faster if there is ice cold beer waiting.

4PM We hit traffic on 95. We sit in traffic for probably 30-45 mins. WTF!? By this time I was so ancy, I wasn't seeing straight. All I wanted to do was get to the hotel, check-in and be on my merry way to tail-gate.

5:30PM We finally arrive in Columbia. Not knowing my way around, and having bad directions, I was freaking out. I wanted to cry. Sitting at a stop light to turn left (I was the first in line); I look down when the light turns green to find that my car has shut off. How did I not feel the whole car turn off? I can't even explain what was going through my head. I kept thinking, "What if the people behind me honk!?" Roomie was smart enough to tell me to turn the key to the off position and then turn it back on. Thankfully it worked. I was so stressed by this time I was crying.

5:33PM Sitting in traffic, scared at every second that the car is going to shut off again, we realize that our hotel is on the other side of the street. With the daunting game traffic we realized it was near impossible to try to check in before the game and still have time to tailgate. We called the hotel and they informed us, since we paid with rewards points that we could check in at anytime. Thankfully - one sliver of good news.
5:45PM Still in game traffic. Cam thought it would be funny to put school flags out of the window. Next thing we know, the whole USC band (probably like 20 buses) goes rolling past. All I can hear are horrible obscenities. I have never been yelled at by people I don't know in such a threatening manner. I had heard USC fans were relentless, but I had no idea it would be this bad. Only adding to my stress, I started to cry again. Here we are in this city we know nothing about, trying to see the opening football game of our senior year and we are getting screamed at.

6PM We finally get to what seems to be a suitable place to park. It happens to be a boy scout fundraiser, which made me feel a little better. Finally able to crack a beer, I was happy. The little kid who was working the parking with his dad was hilarious and entertained us for a short while.

7:45PM We start making our way to the stadium. I had heard from my friend Dru that they weren't going to make it to the game because they got a late start leaving home. Our quarterback got knocked out in the beginning of the game, and I was ready to leave immediately. The whole place reeked of BO because it was so hot. Finally I convinced Cam and Roomie to go back to the hotel so I could freshen up and they could watch the game before we met up with Dru and friends at the bar.

10:30ish PM We finally get to the bar. Dru arrives, and is as charming as ever. He bought drinks all night and we had a great time. Roomie, who usually doesn't get out of control, was 'getting low' on the dance floor and having a great time. It was so much fun I would relive it in a heartbeat. Definitely worth all the trouble.

Next Day: We wake up pretty early, shower and get out before check out time. I had to take Cam to another hotel somewhere outside of downtown so he could meet up with friends who were taking him home. Relying on my trusty iPhone to guide me I Google 'Hyatt' because that is where the other friends were staying. Because I am stupid and fail to look at the details, I didn't realize Google had thought I wanted to go to Hyatt Street in the ghetto of Columbia. After driving around aimlessly (and leading Dru on a wild goose chase) I realized that was not in fact the hotel, and the hotel was on the other side of town. Now is it 10:57AM and check out is 11AM. In my hungover state I didn't even think to check out when we left the hotel. We did manage to get checked out by phone in time, but only after we had called the wrong hotel and tried to check out.

Frustration. But all was good when I dropped off Cam, and went back to IHOP to meet Dru and friends for breakfast. They, of course, offered to pay, but I was in no mood for pancakes. I wanted real food. We sat with them while they ate and enjoyed their company. We said our good-bye's and Roomie and I were off to Kiawah Island for some much needed rest and relaxation.

It was sad to say bye to Dru, because I don't really know what is in store for us. I guess time will tell. Overall, with all of the mishaps and frustration, I wouldn't change the trip for anything. It was hilarious looking back and a good time had by all.

Oh and I got my car fixed yesterday, so now I'm not scared each time I turn it on. :)

Slackers.

I thought being away from my desk at work for two days (thus away from the blogging world) would put me so far behind that it would take the better part of the week to catch up. Well I was wrong. Apparently everyone is slacking, not just me. I guess everyone is jamming their vacations in before all of the schools start back? Who knows.

I am a slacker too though. I didn't run yesterday. But it wasn't completely my fault. My alarm didn't go off. I hate when this happens. I hate the few minutes where you can't tell if you are reading the clock right, and if it is actually a work day so do you have to get up, and 'am I dreaming this?' all kicks your brain at once.

I feel like I have also been slacking off on this blog. My posts don't seem to be that interesting. It is like I think of great things to write about all of the time, except when I am in front of the computer. I need to start writing them down right when I think of them instead of telling myself that my memory is going to start magically working again.

Random Alert:: I had a dream last night that was really weird. I dreamt I was in LA showing my friend around. We were having to climb over all of this construction on Hollywood Blvd and I fell into some plywood. It was really strange.

I am always intrigued by where I am and what I am doing when I remember a dream from the previous night. This morning I was leaning over on my bed stretching out my hammies when I remembered this dream. Maybe it was the falling sensation? Who knows. I wish I could remember more of the dream though. I am usually a pretty vivid dreamer. I always have a dream to report, but for the past couple of weeks I haven't been having as many.

Maybe all of the creative juices have somehow left my body. Maybe if you are living on the edge you aren't allowed to be creative? I am going to blame this on my slacker-ness on blog writing, dreaming and the occasional skipped workout.

In what aspects of life are you a slacker?

Living on the Edge

I haven't blogged in 4 days! This is a record since I started blogging earlier this summer. Work got hectic for a couple of days and then it was the weekend. I feel so disconnected. I have so much catching up to do in reading all of the great posts I'm sure I missed. But I am sad to report that I still have a lot of work to do today as well. So catching up will take some time.

I have adopted the notion of living life with no regrets, so I will recap my weekend to illustrate this point.

Friday:

It was a longggg day at the office. After I got off work, I needed something to relax me. I went home, worked out, then met my mom at the mall for shopping/dinner. I didn't actually buy anything (yay go me!) but did find some things I might just have to go back for. Mom and I ate at Cheesecake Factory. I usually have a problem with this particular restaurant because I have never found anything on the menu that I absolutely love (except of course the cheesecake). Well I found success this time around. Get the 'Romano Crusted Chicken' it will rock your world. Along with the chicken comes pasta in a 'light' tomato sauce. Warning: by light they don't mean healthy they mean like 2 tablespoons of sauce with a pound of noodles. I didn't care though because the chicken was soooo delicious. A slice of cookie dough cheesecake followed, all being washed down by a liquor drink I can't seem to remember the name of.

After dinner I went to another restaurant in town that Jan is a hostess for and had a drink with her at the end of her shift. We then joined some friends at a bar for a 21st birthday party. The girl who was 21? Is married. And has been for a year! Babies, babies I tell you...I don't even want to start in again on how many of my friends are already going down the path of no return. Or divorce. I digress, the bar turned out to be pretty fun and eventful.

Remember Gary and the girl he is now dating? Well turns out, we are on the deck of the bar (which is right next to a convenient store) when Jan looks over and says, "Isn't that Gary!?" Well yes it was, he was loading a keg in the back of his truck when Jan and I decide to yell and wave like idiots. Then, the girlfriend pokes her head around the car and withdraws it as soon as she realizes who is talking to her man. Jan and I bust into laughter, they leave and we talk about them (read: her) for the next couple of hours.

It is not over. A bunch of friends from home show up and Gary is with the crowd. And the girl. Boo. This comes minutes after I made a pact with Jan to "live on the edge." As I push her towards Gary and the girl she refuses to talk to them (obviously not living on the edge). So I go up to the two of them and give them great big hugs and strike up conversation. Go me! The night continued like a normal night at the bar with some late night at a friend's house and we returned home (after I mistakenly made a call to a coworker demanding a taxi cab - clearly hit the wrong 'Sue' in my phone book, oops).

Saturday:

I had to be at my cousin's house to babysit her 1 year old daughter at 8:30 that morning. Yuck. I was definitely feeling the night before. The day progressed as normal until 7:30 PM when my cousin, her husband and their two other kids returned (it was a longgg day). Jan was there to help so it was bearable.

Without missing a beat Jan and I go downtown to meet some friends for dinner and drinks. After that, the people we met up with wanted to go to another bar downtown, so we did this had some more drinks and shots then progressed onto yet another bar. This bar was different than most of the places we usually go (especially when we are with these people). It was fun, we didn't stay long though before progressing to another bar, at which we got one drink and then high-tailed it to the nearest strip club.

Yes. I said it.

Before you judge, let me just tell you that I have never been to a strip club before but after making the 'live on the edge' pact we couldn't refuse. It was hilarious. The particular place we went was pretty up-scale so I didn't feel too creepy or dirty (only a little bit). We had the best time watching all of the dudes and commenting on how in the world those girls walk, let alone dance, in those shoes! To add to the experience, Joe Rogen from Fear Factor was there apparently, although I didn't see him personally.

Overall, I consider this weekend to be a success. More adventures of the edge to come, as my life progresses.

Countdown till LA: 9 days