I miss my friends

OK so this is not a crazy weepy sad post...at least that is not the original intent...but who knows?

As you are aware, or should be aware, I moved 2 hours away from home and everyone I knew a year ago and it has been great. (I actually did move down with two friends but I think you get my point.) Anyway, I am in this new place, starting a new job, and basically trying to start a completely new life - all at the same time. Because of said life altering events, over the past year I have been neglected many of the relationships from my old life. That fact was brought to light tonight when I had dinner with two friends that I have known since 1st grade...FIRST GRADE!!!

Although there have been times when we have been apart, 4 years in elementary school when I switched schools, but they soon joined me and we picked up like we were never apart throughout middle and high school. In college, I happened to live with one of the girls 3 out of the 4 years at Carolina and the other was just in Raleigh and for 2 years we basically saw each other at least once a week. All this is to say that I love the girls a lot but over the past year they have been totally and completely out of my life (and me out of their's) and I realized that I miss them DESPERATELY!!!

We had dinner tonight and it was like nothing changed. We laughed really loud and got some funny looks. We stayed and talked for over 2 hours. WE HAD A BLAST! At the end of the night while saying our goodbyes it was mentioned that a year is really too long to be apart - comments strictly directed my way - to which I completely agree.

All of this to say...I miss my friends and I need to find a way to mix my new life with my old life even if I live an eternity away.

Music

Do you ever hear a word or see something and it reminds you of a song? I get that all of the time. Last night it was the word inspiration which ALWAYS make me think "You're the meaning in my life, you're the inspiration." I also saw a commercial advertising a sale that said "you don't want to miss a thing" and immediately Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" popped in there. And these things don't just pop in my head, I generally tend to belt them out at the top of my lungs for the enjoyment of all of those around me.

I love to listen to music and ask any of my friends and they will tell you that I have playlists that go from Backstreet Boys to Jason Durulo to Jason Aldean to Miley Cyrus. Life - and my playlist - is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get!

I think that I can probably think of a song for just about every word, phrase, cliche, what have you. I would love a challenge or maybe we can play a game back and forth!

Summer of Adventures - BEWARE it's a long one!

OK so no more whinny, woe is me posts about my summer. I have decided that this summer will be a compilation of adventures of all shapes, sizes, and companions. So...let's back up and start from the beginning.

So after the kiddos left on the last day of school, I began the packing and moving process to my new classroom on the 6th grade hallway. It provided me lots of time for reflection and fun with my coworkers - most of whom I will see a lot less of next year. At one point I took - I mean RODE - my rollie desk chair from my old classroom on the 7th grade hall over to my new classroom on the 6th grade hall. About hallway over there, I realized how unprofessional and ridiculous I looked so I stopped, left my chair there, went and got what I needed, and the rode my chair back to 7th grade! It was REALLY fun and definitely helps work out the leg muscles on the back of the upper leg (thigh?) and your calfs. I also got done with my ginormous checklist early and twiddled my thumbs/hung out for a few extra hours.

Next adventure...

HIlton Head con mi amiga Laura! You can read a bit of her thoughts on the journey down on her blog but one of my favorite quotes occurred during a stupid traffic jam on the way down - "Ha, and only Brandi would say this: 'Alright, we're going 13 mph! That's pretty good if we were in a horse and carriage!'" Needless to say - the trip as a whole was fun. If you don't know anything about Hilton Head, its basically a place where really rich people go for vacation or what we did - crash her dad's work conference :)! Anyway, there was a cocktail hour (or longer) each night that included talking to people about concrete - sounds SUPER exciting right?! Although Laura thought so, I did not. One day we took a ferry boat to Savannah and met up with 2 people from the Anderson family that I like very much and hope to visit again soon. OH and major development for the weekend - I finally got to meet Laura's parents gah what took so long? Oh and Laura got to test out her new B&N Nook while I read on my Amazon Kindle - a battle ensued - she may have won with its capability to get online with WiFi access but, mines better because I got it first! Whatevs! Anyway, it was really fun to get dressed up each night and hang out with adults and not have to worry about anything for a few days.

NEXT...

I did have to spend two days working :( booooo but, I got paid for attending a two day workshop where I actually learned some good, new stuff so it was definitely worth it. I also got to spend time with a couple teachers I didn't really get to know this year and a few I got to know even better!

And den...

ECLIPSE!!!!! AT!!!!! MIDNIGHT!!!! So I made my mom watch Twlight and New Moon the day before so she would be caught up. Jody and 6 year-old Sydney also joined us for the show. It was really good and right afterwards my comment to my mom was that I couldn't wait for the next one. I am really sad that I have to wait a long while for it to come out. Now my mom bought all of the books, including the addition of the one about Bree, and I hope that she actually plans on reading them and not just adding them to her bookshelf.

And den...

I spent a few days at Kerr Lake where I LOVE celebrating "lake time". Lake time is a concept I have where it doesn't matter what time it is because I can do whatever I want. Case in point - many days I wake up around 10ish and proceed to make a ham & cheese sandwich for breakfast. Now you may think that sleeping late is bad but what you didn't know is that many nights I stay up until 2, 3, even 4 in the morning reading whatever book I just started. It may seem sad to you but it is like my "zen place" if I really believed in that junk. The lake is also the place that I have celebrated my birthday for the past 3 or 4 years so thats exciting. I'm 23 now and I feel the same as I did when I was 22 - we shall see what the new year brings.

And now...I am at home - at my apartment chillin' for the week until my next adventure - maybe the beach tomorrow - and then Charleston with my mom. Although I very much appreciate Christina letting me borrow/use her computer while mine is being worked on, I will gladly take my PC back when it is done being worked on. The mouse usage on the Mac still baffles me a bit but I am starting to get the hang of it.

My summer is also dotted with SUPER exciting World Cup and SwampDogs games.

Hope you made it through all that. I guess that what I get for being "silent" for a while! Come back for more updates soon!