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Monday, July 29, 2013

A Break

Hello, minions. Thank you for bearing with me over the past few weeks. My stomach pain and misery went unexplained for two weeks, but I seem to be more or less back to normal now. My only lingering symptoms are still having a small appetite and not feeling totally myself, but compared to the pain I was in, I feel like a million bucks.

While I've been in absentia, I've made the decision to take a hiatus from blogging. A lot of things are happening that are affecting me emotionally and mentally and I think it is in my best interest to focus on regaining my mental health. Without going into too much detail, there are personal/family matters, work matters, hip matters, and the pitiful state of NC public education {as of last week}, all of which have made the past few months - and especially this summer - the most trying and difficult times in recent memory. I start graduate school in a little less than a month, and as such have decided to spend the rest of my 'summer' getting my head on straight in preparation.

Thanks for your patience. I love this little blog, but I'm finding it challenging for the time being. I hope to be back here soon to share with you my journey of becoming a teacher.... which hopefully won't end with me having to move out of North Carolina to be able to support myself {again, see the new NC budget and the utter destruction of the public education system. I really love NC, but in political decisions, I tend to really hate it.}

In parting, here's a video of minions singing the banana song.


Enjoy.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

My Favorite Smells

- air conditioning
- the inside of an ice cream store
- gasoline (just in general. not, like, huffing it, people.)
- new books
- new cars
- sleepy puppy smell


I love them all, but the last one's my favorite.

Woof.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Medical Mystery

Like I mentioned yesterday, I went to see my doctor this morning about my stomach pain. After I finished telling her my story and she did a short exam, the conversation went like this:

Doc: Huh.
Me: {Laughs hesitantly}
Doc: Well, I don't know what's wrong, to be honest.
Me: Oh, great.

I'm a medical mystery.

After some more examination/thought-forming, she decided that it is probably a result of my hip. There is a ligament that connects the hip to the stomach, and she said that maybe it was strained, or somehow irritated with the exercises I was doing last week at therapy. The diagnosis is to continue taking Advil, and hopefully I stay ahead of the pain and it goes away.

We'll see. I hate my stupid hip.

If the pain continues, I likely won't be blogging for the near future. The pain is pretty miserable when it's around, and it makes me not want to - and not able to - do much. Hopefully I will be back up and running in no time and able to tell you more about summertime in the South.

Happy Friday!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Under the Weather

Hi, readers! {I'm looking at you, SRK.} I'm sorry I've been a little bit MIA this week. Since Tuesday evening I have been dealing with some intense stomach pain that I can't seem to kick. Last night I was up from 3:30-5:30am doubled over and misreable. I'm not sure what the cause is, or how to get rid of it, but I have a doctor appointment tomorrow so hopefully we'll be able to get it sorted out and gone. Boo pain!

{source unknown}


In the meantime, here is a video of a baby goat attack. I very much want to be this lady. {Thanks, WB!}


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The Big News

Yep, you guessed it. I am the proud new owner of an iPhone! It has been a whirlwind of a few weeks in terms of technology for me. I've always been a little slow on the technology front... but I took several giant leaps in the past couple of weeks. From nothing to a lot of things. Yikes!

So this is where I upload some of the pictures I've been taking with my brand spankin' new phone... but, as expected, I can't figure out how to make that happen.

So you'll have to wait a little longer..... Though I can share this one with you from our mini-friend reunion this past weekend in Chapel Hill, because it was already online. And I am good at the internet.


As a side note, go Andy Murray! I am so ecstatic that he won Wimbledon. Hurrah!

Monday, July 8, 2013

#Natitude

Last Monday night, SRK and I went to Nationals Park to see the Nats take on the Milwaukee Brewers. I grew up an Orioles fan, and Nats Park is still fairly new, so I'd never been to a game there before! I was happy to have SRK there for my first experience.


We got downtown about 1.5 hours before gametime, so we spent some time at the Bullpen, an outdoor area right next to the stadium that has beer, mixed drinks, music, and cornhole {I heard someone call it 'bags.' Shame on northern souls.} It was a neat place!


The weather forecast made us a little leery - okay, a lot leery - predicting scattered storms throughout the evening. The rain was fairly constant during the day, but stopped around mid-afternoon and luckily held off for great weather at the baseball game. Clouds be gone!


Our tickets cost $2. Yep, two bucks. The service charge for ordering online cost more than the actual tickets. Our seats weren't bad, and it was a beautiful day. Definitely worth it! I was surprised at how empty the ballpark was. Maybe because it was a Monday night, or because it was a holiday week?

obligatory selfie


Bryce Harper - the 20-year old phenom - just returned from the DL, and this was his first game back. He is a fan favorite, so it was fun to see his return to the lineup! He didn't disappoint the crowd - he bats third, and on his first pitch in the first inning, he hit a solo home run. Bryce is back!


The game wound up as a 10-5 Nationals win. There was a lot of action and scoring to keep it interesting, so it was a great game to be at! It was also Dollar Dog night, so SRK took advantage of the $1 hot dogs. The beer was pretty good, too. :)


I will always be an Orioles fan, simply because I'm from Maryland and grew up with the O's {and Cal Ripken!} and the Nationals didn't exist until I was in high school. But, I could totally get on board with the Natitude movement. The stadium is beautiful, the fans seem loyal and fun {despite the shallow turnout}, and I love that the team continues to grow and improve. Plus, Natitude is a pretty super pun. And I am a big supporter of puns.


I see a Nationals t-shirt in my future!

Questions of the day:
Have you ever been to an MLB game?
Do you root for your hometown team?

Friday, July 5, 2013

Five Thumbs Up Friday

I have some exciting technology news that I want to share with you guys... but it's going to have to wait until next week {I'll try not to forget!}.

In the meantime, I've rounded up five fantastically patriotic pooches to celebrate today's five thumbs paws up Friday. Have a great rest of the holiday weekend!

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Now please excuse me while I go play some more Candy Crush... {hint!}

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! I hope you are all taking time off work, celebrating, and enjoying this day {preferably with barbeque and beer in hand!}

{source}

I know that politics and personal feelings often get in the way, but despite everything I am always proud to be an American. I love this country and am proud to be a part of it! Thank you to everyone who works hard to protect these freedoms that we hold so dear.

God Bless America!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Life, Lately

Hello people! I've been in Maryland for about a week now, and some exciting and fun things have been happening.

Georgetown Cupcakes awaiting my arrival

Dog man, also... awaiting my arrival

Complimentary dessert at mom's birthday lunch

Working in mom's office & feeling important for an afternoon

Dinner at O'Donnells for the last time before they close
Rum buns to-go, also from O'Donnells

Playing with this adorable fuzz ball

Transferring data from my old computer to the new one

Babysitting these two munchkins

Visiting with our psuedo-grandmother
I hope you're all having a wonderful short week! Work has been extremely slow lately so I'm looking for some different ways to keep myself busy. So far... no ideas. Have a happy and safe 4th of July holiday! Happy birthday, 'Murica!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Touring Around Chapel Hill

On SRK's second day in North Carolina, I wanted to show her my favorite place on earth - Chapel Hill. The day started out pretty rainy, but it stopped by mid-afternoon {sort of} so I took her over to Chapel Hill for the grand tour of UNC's campus. Turns out... the rain hadn't stopped. We took our tour in the rain and got caught in a downpour on the way to dinner, so it's a good thing my campus is always beautiful!


I showed her some of the places I frequented while I was in school, and made sure to take her by the landmarks for which we are famous: our bell tower and the beautiful Old Well. In the springtime, the Old Well is surrounded by scores of pink flowers and it is one of the most gorgeous sights! The legend goes that if you drink from the Old Well {the fountain actually works} on the first day of class, you'll have good luck for the rest of the year.


I treated SRK to dinner at Top Of the Hill, a Chapel Hill staple and a town landmark. It's both restaurant and brewery, so both the beer and food are great. The restaurant is on the third floor of a building overlooking the center of downtown Chapel Hill, so it really is at the top of the hill. {Chapel Hill itself, including the campus, is on a hill. If that wasn't obvious....}

#twinsies
 After dinner, we headed over the boys' house to get ready for the evening. Several of our friends met us there, and we had a lovely group head out to Franklin Street to Goodfellows. Goodefellows is our favorite go-to bar, and I figured if I was going to show SRK Chapel Hill, we might as well do it right.

waiting in line
We ended up having to wait for about 20 minutes to be let into the bar - they have a one-in-one-out policy - which was annoying, but worth it once we got inside. We had a great time! {Though we're always really bitter, because when we went to Goodfellows during college, there was never a line. We loved it, but I guess it wasn't that popular yet or something. So basically what I'm saying is that we are cool and started a trend.}

SRK left on Sunday afternoon after a fantastic breakfast at the Flying Biscuit {raspberry french toast, anyone?}. It was so wonderful that she came down for the concert and for a visit to my adoptive state. We never got a chance to exchange visits while we were in college, so I was so happy to still be able to show her my beloved Chapel Hill - and introduce her to all of my friends!

Needless to say, it was a fantastic weekend. So much so that I have a serious case of the Mondays and spaced out and missed my work conference call with my boss today. Luckily she wasn't mad and it got rectified quickly. Whoops...


In closing: Go Heels, Go America.

window of the UNC student stores

Questions of the Day:

Do you still visit your college town?
Have you ever been to Chapel Hill, NC?

Monday, July 1, 2013

Life Is Good Today: Zac Brown Band Recap

Good morning! Happy short week!

A few months ago, a big group of my friends bought tickets to see Zac Brown Band, and the night finally arrived last Friday! SRK drove down from Maryland to join us, and my friends were all able to get off work early to meet at my apartment around 3:30pm. We got over to the venue a little after 4, and got our tailgating area all set up!

me & SRK
One of our friends has a portable grill, so we grilled burgers, dogs, and chicken for dinner. We set up cornhole as well as table games, so there was plenty of opportunity for activities for all! This was truly tailgating done right.

my favorite people
We got into the concert a little after 8:00, which turned out to be perfect timing. The opening acts had finished {we'd heard they weren't worth seeing, and it took a while to gather our group and put away all of our stuff} and it was only 10-15 minutes or so before ZBB came on.


And, as usual, they were fantastic. Ever since I first saw them, I have not been able to get over how truly talented the band members are as musicians. When they play instrumental solos, especially my favorite of their covers - The Devil Went Down to Georgia - it is just unreal.

fiddler/violinist
Their concerts are always so fun because they play a wide selection of their own songs, but they also do several covers. They regularly play the aforementioned Devil Went Down to Georgia, as well as Sweet Emotion, but on Friday they also did a couple of metal songs. The crowd went nuts for these songs {and it was cool to see how versatile they are!}, though I didn't appreciate them as much as most everyone else. {Apparently one of the songs was Enter Sandman by Metallica. Whatever.}

during The Devil Went Down to Georgia
I love Zac Brown's beanie. Absolutely love it. My most favorite man with a beanie in the whole world.

After the concert, several of my friends came back to my house to spend the night. It was fun to have a little sleepover! The concert was amazing and I would recommend that even if you are only a casual ZBB fan to go see them live. It is so so worth it. Our group has gone two years in a row, so it looks like it's going to be an annual tradition as long as ZBB keeps coming here - and I am very, very excited about that!

Question of the Day:

Have you ever seen ZBB in concert? 
Who is your favorite act to see live?