Weekend in Maine

Wow did I need a weekend at home or what. I haven't been home since October, so 4 days in Maine was exactly what the doctor ordered. I flew in and out of Logan (and lucked out on both flights that the middle seat was empty) and took the bus to Portland, which gave me plenty of 50 Shades of Grey reading time. (Where is my brooding billionaire hiding anyway? The first book was awful, but the second was much better and I'm liking the 3rd so far. I'd recommend them. They are raunchy, and strangers will judge you if you are reading them in public. You've been warned.) And this is going to sound so Southern of me, but DANG Maine is cold! 63 degrees when I got off the bus at 5pm. It barely gets to 63 here at night!

View out my bus window

Wedding manicure - OPI Pink Flamenco

Trash can coolers in the hotel room. Classy.

me & the bride!

This weekend was a crazy whirlwind though. I only saw my dad for about 10 minutes Thursday night because every second of the rest of the weekend was booked solid. Visited with my grandparents, did a little bridesmaiding and a lot of drinking and dancing, spent a few hours with my salon girls (while getting beautified and a much needed haircut!), visited with Gina & Tyler and met baby Brody! While I am not a baby person AT ALL I am going to fully admit that that little baby is stinkin' cute.

Saturday night... oh Saturday. We stayed in a haunted mansion in Portland and hit up Foreplay - a much needed girls night out. We let loose and danced our asses off, and I only had to pull The Face once. I'm going to take the same route as Katrina and say that I am so thankful for all of the great women in my life. I had friends drive for hours in the pouring rain to come see me, even if it was just for a little while, and I could not be more grateful. The girls that I have in my life here in NC and the ones who are (too) far away in New England make up the best Net of Support I could ask for. Love you girls!

Went on a date last night. This guy seemed promising. Thirty four, good job, doesn't want kids. Winning, right? So we went out for drinks (and I had the best raspberry martini I've ever had) and the conversation flowed pretty well, he was very complimentary to me, things seemed to be moving in a good direction. I mention something about Bailey. He counters with the fact that he smokes pot daily and that his "last 3 shrinks have all agreed that pot is the only way for me to calm my OCD and anxiety." I'm sorry, what? Sir, that is a gross overshare of information and something you should probably keep to yourself until the 5th or 6th date. We call that "word vomit" around here. He walked me to my car, asked if I wanted to do dinner on Friday. I said I'd have to check if I was free. I woke up this morning to two text messages and a message on OKC. Done. Denied. Creeper.

Looking forward to a weekend of doing absolutely nothing except sitting by the pool this weekend - I am still exhausted from Saturday night's shenanigans (and my voice still has that somewhat husky "I drank too much and screamed/sang too much at the club" sound)!

Epic Weekend!

You  know those friends in your life who you go a while without seeing, and then when you do see each other, it's like no time has passed at all? I am lucky enough to have a handful of those girls in my life, and two of them came to spend the weekend with me! Katrina and Janira flew in on Thursday night, and we basically spent the next 3 days eating and shopping until we dropped.

Friday morning we started out with a stop at Dunks (obviously) and manicures for each of us - a month or so ago I found a Groupon for $12 manicures. I didn't look at the fine print and we actually got deluxe manicures - paraffin and sugar scrub included, so that was a pleasant surprise.  After, we headed over to Southpark mall, where we stumbled upon a Francesca's Collections. If you have one near you, you MUST go to this store. They have got the greatest little gifts and decorative items, and a bunch of cute clothes and jewelry, all at very reasonable prices. They've got this huge clock on the wall behind the register that I'm coveting - there's actually a Francesca's in the shopping village next to my new apartment, so I'll be spending a fair amount of time there I'm sure. I should probably look into getting a part time job there to fund the decorating of my new place.

Katrina and I both picked these up for our new places:

via

Magic Wand salt & pepper shakers!!!! OBVIOUSLY. I have a plan of glitter spray-painting a clear vase from Michael's or somewhere to keep these in.

Friday night Alexis joined us and we all got ready to head out for some dancing and some (read: a lot) of drinks. (I just stumbled upon this article Crashing A Girl's Night Out - pretty funny, and all true.) We had the coolest cab driver, even though she didn't ask us any Cash Cab questions. But we got in the car and she says, "I'm sure you don't want to listen to Biggie." "YES WE DO!" so we ended up calling her to bring us home too. We ended up at Suite, a pretty swanky club that had a surprisingly cheap cover, and stayed there for the entirety of our time out - this weekend has had the absolute coldest weather I've yet to experience here, so we were not up for bar hopping (freezing).

In the cab - yup, I rocked that glitter eyeshadow

Inside the ATM vestibule - told you it was cold out!

 "Oooooh hair up, how scandalous of you"
"I was going for pinup. Scandalous?"

"It's the 'it's Friday and I don't give a f**k, lets drink' look"

That pretty much sums up the night. Boys, sometimes they know what they're talking about. Not often, but sometimes.

A few tips for your next girls night out:

* Make sure your pants fit. I stupidly wore a pair of skinny jeans, and while they were comfortable and looked good, they stretched out REALLY fast and I spent the majority of the night pulling my pants up. Or make sure you have a cute belt in case this happens to you - I am not one for belts, but would've worn one because these jeans were driving me absolutely insane.

* Wear cute but comfortable shoes, or make sure someone in your party is willing to switch with you when your feet start to hurt. Alexis wore some smokin' hot glitter heels but they were killing her by the end of the night, and I had changed to flats right before we left. So while we were out on the dance floor we switched - I don't normally share foot sweat with anyone, but she was in pain and the shoes looked good on me. Even if they were a size and a half too small. I didn't have to actually walk in them, so I was fine. (That's how you know you have a good friend - you don't mind sharing foot sweat. This is an absolutely disgusting topic but its true.)

* Practice The Face - I know you have seen this video a million times, but it works if you commit to it. Or make sure someone in your party is wearing a huge engagement/wedding ring (fake or not) - that sometimes works. (Also, some guy said something to me out on the dance floor - "I want to ___________ your tattoos!!!" It was either "count" or "lick" - he got The Face, because I have absolutely no desire for anyone to LICK my tattoos, plus what a weird thing to say in general.)

* Leave a Nalgene full of water, a bottle of ibuprofen, and a packet of face wipes next to your bed before you leave. You will be thankful that you did that, because you will avoid the inevitable headache and face full o' zits the next  morning.


Yesterday morning I whipped up a feast of pancakes & coffee and we headed out for a little bit more shopping and to see The Vow. Now, the reviews only gave it 1.5 stars, but I love me some Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. I cried, because I'm a baby when it comes to mushy gushy love crap (who'da thunk, right?), but the movie wasn't amazing. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but it definitely wasn't The Notebook.


The girls are back in MA and Bailey and I are spending the rest of the day in bed, catching up on some ZZZ's and some shows. All in all, a very successful weekend with my BFFs - so glad they came down to visit me! Only 110 days until I'm reunited with all of my girls!

Truth.
via

Girl Talk

Do any of you follow HelloGiggles? They have some hilarious articles. Today's gem is "What Girls Talk About" - I was literally snickering in my cube on my lunch break, all by myself. 

What Girls Talk About

by Vanessa King

Last week, a guy-friend asked me, “What do girls talk about when they’re together?”

I thought about that for a minute.  ”Everything.”

“That’s impossible.  You can’t talk about everything. There has to be a topic,” he said in disbelief.

“I suppose sometimes we’ll talk about something, but mostly we talk about everything.”

He just couldn’t wrap his head around it:  ”In every guy conversation there is a main topic, there is a sub-topic and then there are the details,” he explained.  ”Main Topic:  Sports.  Sub-Topic: Basketball.  Details:  ’Can you believe Carmelo Anthony’…”

Now, I might be generalizing, but in the last 31 years of my life, that sort of methodical organization hasn’t existed in a single conversation I’ve ever had with one of my BFFs, ever.  For real.  I feel like conversations with my girlfriends are filled with digressions, randomness, complaints, experiences and then everything else unclassifiable that can conveniently fall under the heading “girl talk”.  That’s what I love about spending time with girlfriends.  The sheer level of our shared conversational-ADD is generally of epic proportions.

But what the heck DO we talk about?  After a recent evening spent with one of my BFFs, I decided to make a list.  This, guy-friend, is a chronologically ordered, topic-to-topic flow of four hours of girl conversation.

This is what girls talk about when we’re together:

Elastic waisted jeans

Forever21 selling maternity wear

Teen Mom

Eating too much and feeling fat

The hate we share for doing dishes

Dishwashers in NYC: do they exist?

Jewelry

Receiving jewelry

Receiving gifts

Receiving bad gifts

Unemployment

How to avoid unemployment

Christmas cards

Expired driver’s licenses

The DMV

Lines at the DMV

Coffee

The brand of coffee at my house

Dunkin Donuts Toasted Almond coffee

The yumminess of unsweetened, non-dairy coconut creamer

That creepy framed photo of my distant relative in my hallway

Coffee sweetener preferences

Time Warner Cable

My DVR list

Episodes of Mad About You

Our favorite types of pens

Our iPhones

Boys

Michael Buble

The amazingness of all Kiehl’s products

Our copious amounts of monthly bills

My amazing new mid-century modern wicker desk chair

Why we still like to write checks

Our families

Our crazy family members

Friends who visit

Friends who take advantage while visiting

Our shared desire to start canning jams & pickles

The gym and why we hate it

Eating disorders

The side effects of drinking too much sparkling water

Wine

The short-lived infestation German cockroaches I once suffered through

How to get rid of German cockroaches

Our boobs

Smelly candles

The Herp & other STDs we are thankful not to have

Back to wine

Friends

Shared friends

Flaky friends

Shared flaky friends

Addicts

Back to eating disorders

The guy across the street who stares into my apartment

The other guy across who I see watching porn while he’s on his exercise bike

Porn, in general

One night stands

What it was like when we were in our 20s

What it was like when we were 20lbs lighter

The South

Wanting a snack

Back to eating disorders

Ex Boyfriends

Friends who have affairs

Friends who have open relationships

My uncomfortable Ikea sofa

Why I should stop complaining about my uncomfortable Ikea sofa

Sex

When Ex Boyfriends want to rekindle a relationship

Condoms

80% cacao chocolate bars (aka gross chocolate)

Pedicures

The weirdness of foot fetishes

Twitter

Common Gynocological Issues

Los Angeles

The 405

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Unprotected sex

Prescription pill-poppers

Our love of tea

Whole Foods

Fan mail

Starting a fan mail business

How to become someone’s Ghost Tweeter

The Golden Girls

Bad sex

Good sex

Really good sex

Reality TV shows

Jobs

Moving

People we know who have recently moved

People we know who have recently died

Bar soap versus body wash

Why my having Celiac blows

Moroccan Oil and general hair care tips

Really wanting a snack

Friends who have babies

Having babies, in general

Commuting to work

Penis size

Periods

Our former bosses

Our current bosses

How our former bosses know our current bosses

Paying taxes

Expenses

Back to paying taxes

Buying new computers and claiming them as an expense on your taxes

Kittens

Our salaries

Having to call back my Dad

Making plans to see each other again

Wanting kittens

Main Topic: Girls.  Sub Topic: Many.  Details: Lots.

via HelloGiggles 

You know you relate to this article. I can't wait until the BFFs show up in February - its going to be nonstop talking, even though I literally talk to just about all of my BFFs every single day, whether through text or on the phone. (How many times can I say BFF in this entry? There it is again.)

hellacious day at work. By 4:15 I was so irritated with everyone/everything that I had to do, asking 5 questions and getting half an answer to one question, plus mind reading thrown in - I was cooked. So I came home, changed my clothes, and went to yoga. Charlotte & Raleigh people - check out Arrichion. (I think they're doing 20 days for $20 right now.)

I am so glad that I went. I almost went shopping instead, but the urge to sweat out my frustration won. And I just have one question - why are men so VOCAL about sweating? There were probably 10 guys in the class last night, and every single one of them made disgusting grunting sweaty noises the entire time. Can't you be quiet?! Suck it up dudes! Its 102 degrees in here for a reason!

Another random: (I know I'm all over the place lately but its my blog. So. And this is how I am in real life.) I just made a playlist of Lifehouse's "No Name Face" album and random Matchbox Twenty, and I suggest you do the same. Gabby reminded me how much I love that Lifehouse album (it came out in 2001!! Good lord!) over the weekend, and I've pretty much been playing it nonstop since.

One last thing - want to give a shoutout to my friend Jen who has taken on the 10 day challenge - she's a fabbity fab artist and all around awesome chick. Check her out!