It's me... is anyone still out there?

Wow-can't believe it's been since June since I last updated.

FYI-The NKOTBSB concert was beyond my wildest dreams.  I've seen the Backstreet Boys about 4 times and this was certainly the best.  Potentially the best concert I've ever been to.  It was about 3-1/2 hours long and it was song after song after song.  Ugh- I want to go again.

Anywho...

Everything else has been just chugging' along.

• I've been working a lot-we've been having some changes at the store, but it's been fun.  Keeping all of us on our toes, that's for sure!

• I've gotten to see a lot of college friends this summer, which is always fun!

• USC, my alma mater, won the College World Series Championship AGAIN this year.  Makes me so proud to be a Gamecock!

•  The final Harry Potter came out.  Super sad, but super amazing.  We had such a good time!

So yea, that's what's been going on around my neck of the woods!  I've definitely been reading all of your blogs still-just the worst commenter/blogger ever!

Go on-be jealous!

Guess who I'll be spending my evening with tomorrow?

Oh yea!

I can't wait! 

MLB in Myrtle Beach!

In Myrtle Beach we have a Single-A baseball team called the Pelicans.  They've been here for around 8-9 years and were a division of the Atlanta Braves.  This past year, they switched ownership from the Braves to the Texas Rangers.

I'm not quite sure how it all went down, but they set up an expo game to play the local college's baseball team here-Coastal Carolina. 

It was a pretty big deal-the game sold out in like an hour.  The Rangers had their normal starting line up play against college kids.  It was so much fun to be a part of!

Josh Hamilton was signing autographs before the game started.

It's hard to see, but I got his autographs on my dad's hat!  Kind of silly that he had to sign it with a BLUE sharpie on the BLUE part of his hat...

Coastal's mascot-Chauncey. 

My friend Antonella's son is the bat boy for the Pelicans.  He got to be on the Ranger's side for this game!  He ended up getting all their autographs on a bat and ball after the game!

Still can't get over how cool it must have been for the Coastal students.  Imagine looking back and telling their kids "Oh yea, I played first base with Josh Hamilton my senior year!"

Family Vacation!

The last week of February & the last week of April-South Carolina was graced with the New York Sherrills!  We went to Charleston both times, sat on the beach, and enjoyed each others company.

On December 12, my grandpa passed away. He was 92 years old.  He was an amazing man-in every area of his life-father, marine, friend, grandfather.

When I was little, I'm not going to lie, he was pretty intimidating.  He was about 6'4" and a big guy.  I was very shy and quiet.  Any time we sat down to eat dinner, I would pick at my food, and be the last to finish.  He would sit at the table and say "Eat!  Eat!  Eat!" 

One time, while visiting my grandparents-I remember I was at their house with just them (I have no idea where my parents were).  My grandma was going to church and my grandpa had just had some eye surgery.  I was in her room as she was getting ready to leave and she told me to take care of him while she was gone, and when she came back, she'd bring me a present.  She brought back a book from church-something about having good manners.  I don't know why that's something I've remembered, but I feel like after my grandma passed away-I've always remembered her telling me to take care of him.

My grandpa sold his house in northern Virginia sometime around 2002-2005 (can't really remember) and moved into an apartment on the campus of a senior living place.  A few years after that, he fell and broke his hip-after that he was able to stay on the campus-but moved to a more hospital-like setting where he had access to doctors and nurses if he needed them.  About a year after being in that room-he moved to a cozier-more apartment-like-room in the same building.  A few months there, he got pneumonia and about 2 weeks later, passed away in his sleep. 

I was lucky enough to get to see him in October on my way up to visit Natasha.  

I'm trying to talk to my dad into writing everything down about my grandpa.  Over the years, he's created a timeline-esque story of my grandpa's life.  He also wrote the eulogy that he read at the funeral service. 

From L to R: Back Row: Aunt Maureen,  Grandma Frieda, Grandpa Ray, Back Row: Uncle Brian, my Dad, Uncle Dennis

In this picture-my dad looks JUST like my grandpa here.  Twins-I swear. 

Although it was a rough day-it was nice getting to see all my family at one time.  With everyone living in 3 different states-it's not often we all get together!


I know this is a choppy post-lots of thoughts all over the place.

Calling All Gleeks!!

I love Glee.  Love Love Love it!

And you guys know I love me some Gap-duh.

How much FUN was this?  For about 3 minutes- I wish I lived in LA and worked at the Gap at the Grove!  A couple lucky of Gap employees got to be in the clip! 



And if you guys watched the show-the guy who works at the Gap says his boss fired him...doubtful-if anyone (especially Darren Criss) came into Gap and busted out into song, all of us would be up on the tables with him! 

So much fun to watch!

What I've Learned...

On Tuesday I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection.  Bummer.

Since then I've learned:

• I hate being sick.
• I eat a lot when I'm sick/bored.  
• I also have saved money by not seeing the light of day.
• Except for buying this and this on amazon.
• I think it may have been a combo of flu and upper respiratory infection.  
• I also hate shots.

I also have been doing medical research online-never a good thing.

For the past year or so, I feel like I've had something (food) stuck in the back of my throat.  Last year, when I saw the Dr. she said it was probably an allergy.  I took the medicine (something like Zyrtec or something) and it got better.  Since then, off and on, I have had the same feeling flare up.  I know this is gross-sorry-but every now and then, when I sneeze, sometimes little pieces of food comes out, so I know it's not just an irritation in my throat. 

Also-super random-but relevant-my friend's dad actually had surgery on his esophagus because he had something similar going on in there.   

While at the doctor on Tuesday, I told her about it again (along with some other problems I've been having) and she said it might be a bit of acid reflux.  Even though I don't have frequent heartburn or anything, she recommended I take Prilosec-OTC. 

Have any of you taken Prilosec?  (Probably not for the same reason I'd take it but still...)

Back to the research-

So I googled "food stuck in throat" and of course the typical-do the Heimlich comes up.  I'm not choking, I just know somethings not going all the way down.  Home remedies also come up-gargle with salt water, drink hot tea, leave it alone-your saliva will break it down eventually (which is probably what's happened in the past), but still some comments and message boards with people suffering with the same thing is a little comforting. 

This is probably the most random blog post ever.  And if any of you have made it down here, congratulations.  I am going to blame the random on the medicines. 

So yea-that's what I've learned and been up to.  Jealous?  Don't lie.

Playing dress up!

My friend Natasha flew in town for a super quick weekend.

Her sister is in town from TX for two weeks with her family.  Last night I got to join Natasha and her family to celebrate her sister's father-in-law's 70th birthday!

I always love spending time with Natasha and her sweet sweet family!

What have I been up to?

These my friends.














After reading the the buzz all over the blog world about this series, I picked them up from my local Books-a-million.

Wow.

I know these are "Teen Fiction" but guess what?  I'm still a teenager at heart.

These books were so hard to put down.  In fact, I've stayed up til midnight the past two nights finishing them!

I love when I can become fully immersed into a world created by an author.  When I dream about the characters-creating my own stories with them- or wondering in my daily life what would they say or what would they be doing?  Any body else ever do this?

Anywho- if you want a fun, quick, exciting read-pick up The Hunger Games!

Rumor has it they are going to be making these into a movie-you know I'll be first in line!

Food Blog!

A few new posts over at the food blog! Check it out!

Christmas in Savannah 2010

Ok so get ready for photo dump 2010.

The second weekend in December, I headed down to Savannah (aka-the best place on earth) to celebrate brithdays and Christmas with my besties. My birthday was on the 20th and Rena's was on the 21st, but there was no harm in starting the parties a little early!

I got down there on Friday afternoon and Sarah and I spent the day downtown. We hit up the cutest fresh bistro and had an amazing lunch!

After eating, we hit up a few of our other favorite places-Paris Market, Gap, Urban Outfitters, etc.

Rena got in around 9:30 and we pretty much just hit the bed.  Saturday we got up to some pretty rainy weather.  We met Matt for breakfast, then came back and stayed in our PJs allllllll day.  We ran a few errands before heading out to do the Christmas Tour of Homes.

After the tour we ate dinner at this amazing Tapas bar downtown, then came back to Sarah's to exchange gifts!

On one hand, I wish we all lived in the same town so we could see each other more often, on the other-it's fun to have different places to visit!  I love these girls so much and I'm so thankful for a safe, fun and restful weekend with them!