10 Things: Update Edition

Woohoo! Gonna start this blog thing again... alright! Yay!

Ummm... yah. About that. Trying to find time in the day is pretty much not happening. I do way too much as it is - blogging on top of everyhing, well, that just makes it that much crazier! I want to blog! I want to share all the fun things I'm doing, but I forget about it :( I suppose if I had a large following and there was some expectation or reward for doing it (like comments and people waiting on me to post) then I'd do it. Alright, I'll shut up now. Here's your 10 things :)

1. Mr. C and I are going to Europe in a little less than 3 weeks. Holy. Crap! I'm stoked about this!! We're headed to London for a Chelsea v. Manchester City soccer game, Amsterdam for the Heineken Experience and a few museums, Cologne, Germany for the Christmas Markets, the oldest pub in Germany, and the Chocolate museum... and, finally... the love of my life.... Paris :) for only a day but I'm sure it will be amazing. Ten absolutely stunning days await us...

2. Work has been crazy, crazy, crazy stressful. I've been pushing it to the max and somehow (I have no clue how!) been meeting all of my deadlines!

3. I've got a new roommate - and she's from the Netherlands. It's been a bit awkward getting adjusted between cultures, but I'd say we're getting along alright. I maintain that I'm just not a "roommate" kind of person... but I also can't fathom driving an hour to work where there's cheap rent in east bumble... or paying double. Since neither of those options work, I'm stuck with a roommate.

4. I finally purchased a few bookshelves from Ikea for my room. They're absolutely fantastic and they look exactly how I want them to. They're fit for boxes for all of my art stuff - and I can't wait until I have a house and can turn a room into an art studio.

5. Today, we spent half the day putting together a catering order and delivering it to a children's hospital nearby. It was an amazing experience. Sad, but so rewarding!

6. I've been listening to Parachute recently. They rock!

7. I'm patiently waiting for Black Friday to get here. On my list of things to find good deals on: Camera, flat screen TV, and luggage. The first and last are the most important, but the middle is the one I've wanted for the longest. Let's hope for some amazing deals!!

8. I'm meeting the parents on Wednesday. I'm anxious about it a bit, but I think it'll be fine :) Not just the parents... but the entire extended family. Yikes! Let's hope this goes well ;)

9. I have found pinterest. It consumes a lot of time. Perhaps if I blogged instead of pinning, I'd make more progress. But, then there's the whole picture-taking thing. I dunno. We'll see!

10. My mom turns 50 this year. I'm kind of excited for her and I want to do something super awesome for her... but I have NO idea!! Maybe a Red Hat Ladies party or something? Hmmm... we'll see.

Off to... eat, rest, relax, and possibly get into something crafty this evening!

;)

10 [minus 1] Things On A Monday

What a Monday.
1. A roommate I had lined up to move in this past weekend just backed out. Now I've got to come up with $600 extra by Saturday. Great!
2. The boss-man is being extra moody today. We're already all stressed and under tight deadlines, not sure I need this today.
3. Art night with Ms. Artsy was canceled because of some stuff she's got to deal with. Would have been nice to chill with her and do art, but I'm almost somewhat relieved because of how stressed out I am.
4. On a better note, my ex roomie got engaged last week. Happy for him!
5. Things with me and the boy, we'll call him Mr. C, are amazing and I couldn't ask for anything to be better :)
6. Our offices flooded with sewage (yes, you read that right) last week, so everyone is just now getting back to it. Doesn't help with the already crunched timelines.
7. Was just in San Francisco last weekend/week. I went on an amazing bike ride around the bay and in to Sausilio and Tiburon. Met some amazing people there. Here's a pic:

8. I absolutely, positively LOVE my graphic designer. He is frickin amazing at what he does and somehow deciphers what I mean when I verbally tell him all the crazy stuff I want to do. :)
9. I've also been going to dance classes with one of Mr. C's friends. We've been having a fantastic time with it and I'm sore for the next day after (which is a GREAT thing!)


That's all I've got... gotta get back at it!

PS - It's been, uhhh, interesting to start this whole blog thing again. Just so you know :)

Hippity Hop... and you don't stop...

My, oh my, where does the time go?

DC was a lot of fun... I went to see the Allen Ginsberg exhibit and I was really glad I did. Such an amazing collection of photographs. One thought while I was looking through the gallery, we don't typically see the way people lived - in reality - during the 60's thru the 90's. We think of things today, like packaging, and other consumer goods as very vibrant with lots of colors to catch your eyes on the shelves. Cigarette packages, cereal boxes, even mugs or chinese takeout - everything was so plain, so simple. I enjoyed that aspect of the shots he took.

I also really enjoyed his take on life outside his kitchen window. His thoughts on the world, written below on the photographs above, were interesting.

I also went to the sculpture garden, the National Geographic Museum where the DaVinci exhibit was displayed, and a few other places. I only had a half day on Sunday to check anything out because I worked so much. I literally got 4-6 hours of sleep a night because I was at the office or in the hotel. Crazy busy with my project.

While in the hotel, I rented a few movies, one of which My Sister's Keeper. I cried. Sobbed, actually. I can't remember a time where I've cried that hard to a film. I could completely relate to Cameron Diaz's fight for her daughter's life. That's how, I have a feeling, I'll love my children one day... with such a passion.

The project was a success, and frankly, I'm burnt out on PR work. I've always known that branding and marketing for one brand has been my niche, but I didn't really have a choice with this project and the Consulting company.

Speaking of, I did have a talk with my boss and accepted one of the offers - for a chain of sandwich shops. I'll be the Marketing Manager and focus on Local Store Marketing across the US. August 9th is the day :) Super excited about it!

Last night, I went to a book club meeting (my first, ever) and we discussed The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It was a good book - and I was only halfway through (was invited to read it only a week and a half ago!) but it was a really intense, awesome book. The next is A Reliable Wife. We'll see how this one goes!

My family comes to town tomorrow - it'll be good to see them! I just don't know what I'm going to do with them quite yet. I know we'll go to the zoo, and we have a painting class lined up for Monday night. I'm sure we'll hit the pool and do a little exploring for them... I just hope they don't get bored! My little sisters will probably be fascinated with all that Dallas has to offer... but I haven't done any of that yet. You know, explore those things.

I'm pushing away a friend who recently got her third strike. I've known she's been a questionable friend for a little while now, but I really think she's shitty now. It's hard to do - especially when my friend base is not huge... but I'm ok with that. I'd rather surround myself with no one at all than someone who acts the way she does.

C'est la vie, right? ;)

Anyway, that's the 'me' update now. There's more, but you'll have to wait for that...

Decisions, decisions

This week is a week of seismic proportions when it comes to decision-making.

3 job offers
An awesome trip to DC for 10 days

I think the job thing takes the cake. I really hope I'm making the right decision with this.... and I hope everything works out well. The worst part will be to tell my boss I'm leaving. I'm not sure if she's going to be happy about it. She'll be happy for me, but I doubt she'll be happy for herself, if you know what I mean.

So, I'm going to DC for 10 days with work... and my mom and sisters come out here for a week after that. July is pretty much done for me :)

It's decision-making time! Wish me luck!!

10 [minus two] Things.... another update

It's been a while since I've written. I know this. So many whirlwind things have been going on... 10 Things, shall we?

1. Carrie came last week for a week. I didn't want her to go - we had SO much fun while she was here. We didn't get to go to Austin, but each night was a success anyway. I can't wait to hear if she decides to move here or not.... it'll be great for us to live in the same city again.

2. I have come to the conclusion that boys are weird. Not just weird, weird. But SUPER weird. They'll be ALL about you one minute, then drop off the face of the earth the next. I know I'm not supposed to be in a relationship right now (otherwise, I'd be in one) but geeze. Boys are just super weird. That's all I can say.

3. The job thing is really starting to ramp up. I have now had 2 interviews and am waiting on two more. I got a call yesterday saying there is a solid offer in the works with one and I should see it in writing next week. I don't know which direction to go... and it's a HUGE career move with whichever one I take. *sigh* hopefully I'll make the right decision.

4. I did end up going to the Greg Laswell show, as mentioned in the last post. It's a long story, but I'm glad I did. He's such a great singer. You should really go check out his music.

5. I have been SO super stoked about Kaskade and the Electric Daisy Carnival this weekend. I'm not going to get to go now, and that's a HUGE bummer. I know he'll be back, but I'm still sad I'm missing an opportunity to see him.

6. I'm going home this weekend. There is some family "ish" going on that needs me there. I'm not really telling anyone (friends) I'm going because I'll feel guilty for not hangin out.

7. It's hotter than hell out here in D-town. It's only 8:30 and it's already 81 degrees. My tan looks nice, so that's the up-side. But geebus, it's hot!

8. I was reconnected with Sam last week. I ran into his sister on a patio out here, really weird. After THIS incident, I thought I'd never be speaking to him again. I got a phone call from him about an hour later, apologizing for the way things were left between us earlier. I talked to him for a minute, then told him I needed to go because I was with my friends. He text and asked if I would forgive him. Eh, not so much. I brushed it off.

That's all I've got - and that's a lot.

Independence

There comes a point every so often that I just need a break. A break from the world, a break from people pestering me for this and that, a break from my friends. I just need to be me - go somewhere, experience something, do something - all on my own.

I have been working non-stop. I volunteered yesterday (amazing experience, by the way) and want to do more. I want to do my Rosetta Stone and become fluent. There are a lot of to-do's on my list and they don't involve the random shit I've been occupying my time doing. Being social has its disadvantages.

My mood has changed to include some bitterness. I don't understand the need for constant contact from friends. I feel you should be an addition to someone's life, not center yourself around it. I feel like that's how a few of my friends want me to treat them right now and I don't have the time or energy for it.

I want to go back to Italy and just be. I want to roam the streets, meet the friendly people, and soak in the sunshine.

As much as I'd like to work for the CC full time right now, I feel like I need to get out of the country, explore, and take an international position I've spoken of before.

I suppose the real question is why do I feel the need to get away so much? I felt the need to get out of Atlanta and move to a new city. I now feel the need to go bigger.

It's all part of my independence. It's all part of who I am.

I don't think that's going to change.

10 Things in Austin, TX this weekend

Fran and I decided that we'd take a little jaunt down to Austin this weekend. Saturday evening, to be exact. It was an un-planned, fly by the seat of our pants-type trip. And it was hella amazing.

1. Austin is weird. They were right about that.
2. Ate at this FABULOUS restaurant called La Condesa for dinner, delish!
3. Had a shit ton of alcohol. Not sure how we didn't die on Saturday night. I believe she and I both were 8 shots and 3 drinks deep. And, no, I don't drink girlie drinks... Jager and Redbull and Captain and Ginger Ale. And went to at least 6 drinking establishments.
4. Met yet another Dallas Stars hockey player... Random!
5. Stayed with one of her friends in a ridiculously nice house.
6. Ate brunch at a european eatery... had a Croque Madame. Delish!
7. Sat on a rooftop patio sipping on frozen margaritas for several hours - basking in the sunshine! (and now have an awesome sunburn from it. ouch!)
8. Bought an extremely cute picture frame made out of recycled bangles.
9. Had a nutella and strawberry crepe, made by a dude that (from all appearances) was straight off the boat from France at this place.
10. oh, and, we didn't have a hotel or anything, so we got ready in this hotel's bathroom. HILARIOUS!

So, yes, I had an AWESOME weekend this weekend - and I see more Austin trips in our future - such a great city!

Randomness

Well, I haven't heard anything back from the company I'm "supposed" to start at on Monday. My thoughts... I probably won't start ON Monday. I'll probably work my 20 hours for the week maybe Wednesday thru Friday or something - cause of the delay in getting all of my stuff through HR. Bummer, cause I was hoping for a fresh Monday morning. I have my outfits for the week picked out and everything!

I went for that interview at the pub yesterday and met with the Training manager from Corporate. She said that the GM was sick and not able to make the interview but "loved" my personality and thought I would be a great fit at the pub. (Me too, duh!) So she re-scheduled my interview with the GM until today at 3pm. I went in to meet the guy (SUPER hungover from last night's shenanigans nonetheless) and the guy was 20 minutes late. Decided to make a 3pm run to the bank. Who does that?

Anyway, I wait for 20 minutes for him to come back and make me wait another 10 minutes for him to get ready for me. Our conversation was approximately 6 minutes long. He did the same thing the other people I talked to did and basically confirmed everything I'd written on the application when I filled it out. He wasn't thrilled about my "nights and weekends only" availability - so that might cost me the "you're hired". I am not a full time restaurant-er anymore, so sorry...

He said he'd call by the end of the week but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

I still have the meeting scheduled with the marketing consulting company on Monday about project work (which will hopefully start next week). It'll give me something fun to do and be a part of. Also, I met with a guy about a company he wants to start and he needs marketing help. I'm not sure I fully believe in what he wants to do - or, let's say, I'm not SUPER passionate about it, but I might be willing to help.

Other than that, I watched the top 10 bridges in the world and stared in awe at the Sydney bridge. OMG that thing is beautiful! I think I want to take a trip to Australia... definitely want to climb the bridge!! Putting that on the list of to-do's one day.

Ok - so random. But that's how life goes! Hopefully I'll get started working soon enough and everything will be a-okay. Or at least somewhat okay! ;)

Viva Italia!

Ahhhh... I have wanted to write in this blog SO badly... just as much as I'm sure you're curious about my travels. But, getting to a computer has been somewhat challenging. Between the endless days that allow for at most 4 hours of sleep... to the crazy adventures I've been having, it's just not been happening. I have to write a blog for my class - and I haven't even been able to keep up with that!

There are SO many things I've experienced that I want to share and I'll probably just have to sit in front of the computer when I return and write all about them. Luckily, I've been writing bits and pieces on paper to jog my memory.

At this point, I've got over 400 pictures on my camera and have a week and two days left of this trip.

*sigh* I wish I had more to leave you with right now, but I'm exhausted... and we're leaving for Milan in like 8 hours. Yikes! (PS It's after midnight here right now...)

Anyway, I look forward to sharing my trip :)

Hooray!!!

Visitors and Anonymity

Carrie is definitely here :) We're having SUCH a girl-time. We went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic today (which, I did not like her outfits, but thought the movie was great!). We went to get mani/pedi's (I have not done this in at least a year). We got Panera (Yumm!!), shopped a bit, and came home for dinner and delicious bottle(s) of wine. We each got one... and I'm about 3 glasses deep in mine at the moment.

We're about to head to a favorite bar of ours that we haven't been to in FOREVER, it feels like. Blaire is coming to pick us up and be the DD tonight. We're going to have a BLAST!

I dropped Michael off yesterday morning... he's headed to a month-long business trip far, far away from here :( but I'm going to visit him the weekend of the 20th. That's only 2 weeks away, and we get to tour the city together.

I have been contemplating, with all the cities I've been traveling to, revealing to you where I live. I know, I know, this has been my greatest fear - someone I work with, in my oh-so-professional life, will find this blog and read all about my personal life. This is something I hold sacred in the professional world. I don't think co-workers should be allowed into your personal life, unless you let them.

SO - I'm THINKING about writing about it... but for now, you'll just have to read about my newest "Review of a new city" :)

Oh how I love cheap wine.

10 [exciting] Things about this week...

1. You know that study abroad program I've been talking about for, like, ever now??!? WELLLllllll... I had an interview (impromptu, might I add) with the sponsor of the trip and he wants me to go!!! So that means I'm accepted into the program and I get to go to Italy for Maymester!!! This also means other great things for my school stuff. I only have to take ONE class this summer and I'll be done! Which means I'll technically be able to start working as much as I'd like and that'll be fabulous! I'm going to need it to pay off the cost of this trip, but it's so worth it! I got the good news yesterday and I couldn't be more excited.

2. Carrie comes to see me in exactly 27 days. OMG, it's finally here!! I cannot WAIT!! We're going to go see Confessions of a Shopaholic (I'm so glad she's waiting to see it with me - you have NO idea how big of a deal it is for her to actually wait to see a movie!)

3. Michael invited me to go HOME with him to meet his parents, etc. (yes, HOME is a different city and state and timezone...) This just happened today. Ummmm I kinda freaked out for a second but I'm really excited! We had actually planned this for the Christmas holidays but it didn't end up working out like that. So, he wanted to go for a short weekend in two weeks for his son's birthday and wants me to come. That's $180 round trip for a plane ticket. I feel like it's worth it, though. :) This is a huge step in our relationship, by the way...

4. I called my credit card company (the one I have with the whopping almost 6 grand in fun money on it) and had my interest rate lowered from 18.9 (who the fuck has an 18.9% interest rate with my credit score?!) to 3.99.... fabulous!! I don't know why I never thought to ask for a lower interest rate before. I just thought that's what you had to pay. I've been hearing from other people that they've called and now have been able to pay off their card - instead, I feel like I've been paying them a shit ton of interest these past few years. :)

5. Blaire is moving back to the city THIS WEEKEND!! I'm SO excited for her! She'll be closer and I'll be able to see her more often :)

6. Rae moved out a week ago and I'm still looking for a roommate. I've posted an ad on craigslist but haven't found anything just yet... gotta keep looking!

7. My Nutrition class was supposed to have a test on Tuesday. My teacher sent an email (that I didn't get) and said we were going to have it next week instead... this means I get more time to prepare for it. MUCH needed, thank you! I absolutely LOVE this class. I give Carrie the good scoop every Tuesday once I get out.

8. I start my nanny job on Monday. I'll be making about 300 bucks a week for about 20 hours (FABULOUS!!) and then I have Thursday mornings and Saturday nights at the restaurant. That should make up the difference for all of my bills. :) I can't wait to start this nanny job - I'm going to have so much homework time - I'll actually be caught up with all of my classes.

9. I finally have all of my W2's and can go get my taxes done. I'm a bit timid about it because of the work I did for one of my marketing projects over the summer. I made about 3,000 with them and didn't pay taxes on it at the time - I hope it's not a huge whammy this time!

10. I went to my small group thing (DEFINITELY going to love it... not what I thought initially) on Tuesday night. The girls are really nice and I think I'm going to connect with at least some of them. I volunteered to host the next one on Tuesday at my house, so hopefully that will go well! :)

Wow. It's been such a great week... I love it! I can't wait for all of this fun stuff to happen! I've got to go ahead and get my passport (yep, almost 25 and don't have a passport yet...) so I'll have it for my trip. That's another hundred bucks right there!!

I hope you all have had a lovely week and have a fabulous weekend! :)

Hawaii

Oh, heavenly Hawaii. We had SUCH a blast with Carrie and her husband. I couldn't have asked for a better time, and no, I didn't want to come back just yet. It was nothing short of a wonderful trip.

Here are some of the pics...


This was on the North Shore from a cliff... it was astonishingly beautiful!


This was a small waterfall that we hiked into. You can't tell from this picture (but from those that we were in) that this thing was ginormous...


This is the view of the ocean if you turned around standing at the waterfall.


And a HUGE turtle :) They were EVERYWHERE. Along with little sand crabs. I'd post the picture of them but you wouldn't be able to find it!

Michael was the sweetest thing ever while we were on vacation. It's like nothing mattered in the world except for us... no work or friends or anything... just us... and I must say, it was a really good feeling. :)

Hawaii bound...

In the morning, Michael and I leave for a mini-vacay in Hawaii!! I can't WAIT to get on the plane... :) We're going to see Carrie (and she LOVES that we're coming) so I'm sure it'll be a FABULOUS time!

I shall write all about my travels when we return.

C'est la vie!

PS - I start with the Project Management job next Thursday ;)

We on Fi-ya!

This weekend was quite a good one. Carrie came in from Hawaii to see me on Thursday and I shipped Michael off to see his family in Dallas. We had a FABULOUS time out on Thursday night at a bar here in my city and then packed up to go to Florida for the weekend on Friday.

Some of her friends (whom I've also met and hung with a few times) met us there and we did a lot of awesome things. We went to bars and watched Sex and the City at the theater (with mini bottles of wine)... went to the beach, shopping, and hangin out. Overall, we just had a really good time.

We stayed at a friends house (well, a pretty distant friend that I haven't seen in years) who was going to be out of town for two weeks. Friday night, we decided to grab some things from the grocery store to make fajitas for dinner instead of going out. We got back to the house and I started chopping the peppers and onions and chicken (I know, i'm a good friend to make chicken even though I'm vegetarian) and cooking everything.

Apparently, the people that live there don't use the stove all that often, or if they do - they don't clean out the things underneath the eye of the stove and it was kinda caked on. This posed a problem for the cooking I was doing. There was some smoke, which I thought was odd because the things in the pan weren't burning - I was standing over it, stirring. As I lift up the pan, I see a flame UNDERNEATH the cooking eye.

Oh lord.

I pull everything off of the stove and call the girls in. As we're watching this flame grow, we're discussing what we're going to do about it. The flame is unreachable. This isn't my house. This could be devastating.

I grab a dry dish rag and start beating the flame with it. To no avail, the flame is still growing. We try "smothering" it with a lid from a pan but that didn't work either. We're all looking through the cabinets to find a fire extinguisher... about a minute later, we find one. The fire alarm is screaming at this point, we thought for sure the neighbors were on their way over and my friend was going to find out. One of the girls steps back... aims... and shoots the fire extinguisher at the flame - putting it out. (thank God!)

There was white dust all over the place, but thankfully no damage to any part of their house - and unless they somehow find this blog and can connect the dots to me - they're never gonna know. It was pretty scary.

So that was that. Saturday night, Carrie and I brought mini liquer bottles to the bar with us. Buy a soda for $1.50 and put our $1.50 shot in it... and there you go. A $3 drink. Huzzah. I usually drink Captain and Ginger with a little bit of lime (captain morgan rum, ginger ale, lime... delish) but they didn't have mini bottles of captain... so I bought another rum... bacardi gold, I think. Definitely not the same. I only got 2 bottles, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I drank part of a drink and was over it. I was going to leave the other bottle on the shelf for the taking - but a "security" guy came up to me and shook his finger in my face.

I laughed at him and handed him the bottle saying that it was gross anyway. I'm obviously not that stupid if I wanted to keep it, I would have been more stealth. I suppose they usually get the lushes who aren't so bright trying to do all of that. :) Carrie and I got a good laugh and moved on.

There were plenty of other stories from this weekend but those are the most interesting. We got a kick out of bringing the mini bottles of wine into the theater with us for our Sex and the City viewing and were all pretty giggly for the time being.

Reviews of a new city. Part 3: San Diego

Ah... sunny San Diego... or not! Gotta love that there's better weather in my home town than in sunny San Diego, and I don't even live in a "beach state"!!! I doubt it got over 60 something degrees the whole time (a bit chilly for So Cal, don't you think!?) and it was overcast for the most part.

There are a few really cool places here, though. Carrie and I stayed in Oceanside with M. Moon and ended up going out in Carlsbad (eh, not the best place, but it worked) with aspirations to go into the city and go out in the Gaslight district. Since I was wearing a tiara for my birthday, everyone kept telling me happy birthday (or mistakenly telling me 'congratulations' on getting married... hahaha!) and were really nice.

Carrie and I ended up having some DELICIOUS pizza at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza. (it was sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, goat cheese, etc. and was fabulous!!) Their shopping isn't too shabby, either. I got a pair of pants for myself and a shirt for Michael on sale at Banana. Yep, that's right!

Anyway, overall, the weather was crappy but the scene was alright. Everyone dresses the same around here... that "So Cal" look. There are a lot of military around because of all the bases near, so you've got a lot of that. Carrie was in heaven because that's her thing! (she's married to a marine, go figure!!)

Weather: 5
Sites/Stuff to do: 9
People: 8
Location: 7
Food: 9
Overall: 7

"No Cell Phones, Please"

This weekend, I'm in San Diego with Carrie and M. Moon - we're going to Vegas for my bday celebration. Also this weekend, Michael is in Dallas with his family - going to an all men's church retreat.

I think I got the better end of that stick.

But it doesn't mean I don't miss him. In fact, I miss him terribly.

This morning, we talked for a few minutes when he was on his way to pick up his new car. The paper (from the church retreat) said "no cell phones" but he assured me he'd have it anyway. Wrong. He was told this morning that they're pretty serious about not having cell phones there. For obvious reasons that I certainly understand.

Doesn't mean I like it any better. I'll be in Vegas and San Diego living it up... and he won't be able to share it with me until Sunday. He's absolutely the sweetest thing to me - and I think he's incredible for it. But he said something last night that got me in the gut.

"Just know that you're taking a huge part of my heart with you"

*sigh* he's the best and I MISS HIM!

Reviews of a new city. Part 2: New Orleans

New Orleans was alright this time around. I've been there before (for Carrie's wedding last year) but this time it was for Mardi Gras. While I was there for the wedding, I had the absolute worst experience in the airport I think I've ever had. But that's besides the point.

Because of my new-found vegetarianism, I am somewhat limited to what/where I can eat. Most of the places to eat during Mardi Gras are hot dog stands on the side of the street that carry nachos and cheese along with some gumbo or something like that. None of which I could eat.

The parades were awesome, especially the Endymion ball that Carrie's dad was a part of. We got some awesome beads. (including boobs that squeaked!) But I don't think I could live there. Ever. The weather was great - the people were just alright (I understand that most of the people there were tourists) but they shut down every street so you can't move about the city.

Eh. C'est la vie. It was a good Mardi Gras, that's all that mattered!!

Weather: 8
Sites/Stuff to do: 7
People: 4
Location: 5
Food: 2
Overall: 6

Reviews of a new city. Part 1: Orlando

Ah, yes. The new year brings even more travels for me than last year. I thought i'd be able to chill out and not travel so much in 2008 (14 new places last year alone) but it doesn't seem the case.

Right now, I'm in Orlando. A nice, warm city, by the way. It was cold when I got here but yesterday and today was great. I went out to a few places, had drinks at a few places, saw a lot of the attractions and even was able to ride some rides at Universal Studios.

As for the people, they're cool. Just about as cool as those in my city. The weather's warm. But there's literally no "city"... it's all suburbia and the place they call their nightlife is in a mall. Hmm.

Weather: 8
Sites/Stuff to do: 7
People: 7
Location: 8
Overall: 8