It has been a long, long time

Hello dear friends.

It has been quite a while since I've blogged on blogspot. I got lazy/noncommittal (which is a reoccurring theme) and slacked off for a long time, and then I found out about Tumbler through a friend. I've been blogging (if you can call reposting pictures/quotes and occasionally actually writing something blogging) through that website as of late, and I must confess, I do enjoy the layout and ease of mulimedia posting. I'm floundering back and forth recently though, because it seems most of my friends (who don't have commitment issues) are quite content with their blogspot blogs. It's much harder to actually keep up with all you people when I'm not even posting anything here myself! :) So... for now, I'm thinking about giving blogger another shot... it's got big shoes to fill though, because Tumblr will not be easily trumped. What should I do dear ones? Return to my blogging roots, or forge ahead into undiscovered tumblr's? Thoughs, comments, and concerns are appreciated. :) Be Blessed. KW

someone always wins

and then they write a book... or in this case a song.

there may be those "exceptions" out there.. but i'm not one of them.

i'm the rule... always the rule.

new lyrics so far:

If you're ever discouraged,
ever tired and weary.
If you're wandering aimless,
there I will be.

When you're running for cover
and you're tired of fighting,
just reach to the heavens
and you'll find me.

C: When you call my name
I will come to you, I will heal your pain.
When you need a friend,
I will carry you till your spirits mend.
When you're all alone, know you're not alone.
Cuz I'll be.

You're wise beyond your years,
shed one too many tears
...
and that's all i have so far.

mental ipod shuffle

someday somebody's gonna make you want to turn around and say goodbye. (say goodbye). till then, baby, are you gonna let them hold you down and make you cry? did you know? did you know? things'll change, things'll go your way, if you hold on for one more day. if you hold on for one more day, things will go your way. hold on for one more day.

this song just popped into my head... and like i've always said, my brain is an ipod on shuffle. no matter what i happen to be thinking about, my brain selects a song that either has a word i was thinking of, or a "theme" that describes how i'm feeling. it's kind of like having my own soundtrack to my life... except other people can't sit and listen to it with me.

i've been a bit of a wreck lately, so this song is pretty appropriate. i'd like to be able to say goodbye to certain people at this point, and i'd honestly like to move back to a few more and say hello again. but that's not happening anytime soon. sorry. :/ for now, i'm being faced with me. M. E. there are lots of things that i need to face within myself, and living here is presenting the opportunity for me to realize what i need to change, and accept what i cant.

please pray for me to find direction and fortitude from God. Lord knows I need it. love you all.

le oscars

I have to say, I was so quite pleased with the Oscars this year. I think this is the first year that I've sat down and watched it start to finish. It was quite lovely, and I thoroughly enjoyed the different feel they went for this year... with the stage, the intimate seating, the orchestra on stage, the crystals, just everything. oh, and hugh jackman was loverly. i had no idea anne hathaway had THAT much of a voice in her. i was a little sad not as many original songs were performed. they were all clumped together in one performance (which was cool albeit). I've made it a new life goal to see all the oscar nominated movies (besides shorts and documentaries) from this year. They all look exceptionally good. I've seen some of them, but since I'm a poor starving college kid (and not living at home where my brothers work at a movie theater and see stuff for free), it's been a slight problem. haha. I'd already heard great things about Slumdog Millionaire, and I knew it would do well, but I still havn't seen it. That whole cast/crew just won me over. They were so cute. Best Actress... best group of women ever. Kate Winslet = my favorite actress of life, so I was really happy about that. Obviously, it was very touching to see Heath Ledger receive an award, especially because that makes him only the third posthumous oscar awarded. All in all, a glorious night for Hollywood. It made me miss california. Lets see, I also had my first choir concert with North Georgia today. It went well on our part. It was a choir "festival" with a few other church choirs which consisted of very sweet older men and women... so there wasn't much to be said for the level of excellence, but they sang their hearts out, which was sweet. Unfortunately, I had to deal with "dress debacle '09"... I don't feel like getting into the whole story, but lets just say my dress was too small in several places... including 10 in. too short.....
yeah.
she'll be remaking that in a jiffy.
other than that... just another week in the life. i should definitely go to bed though. you know it's late when your contacts are fighting to stay in your eyes.
furiously reading until next time...

The High Museum of Art

If only I had a digital camera that wasn't broken...
Today, my roommate Ashley and I went to metro Atlanta to the High. I'm taking an Art History Survey class, and we have to write a 2-3 page critique on a work of art. We got extra credit for going to the High, and I love it and hadn't been in years upon years anyway. Needless to say, I took the offer, paid $15 for entrance, $8 for parking, and $10 for food later... whoops. Anyway, it was amazing. They had an exhibit from the Chinese Teracotta Army, an exhibit from the Louvre, and some really fascinating permanent collections. I was able to take a few pictures, and I'm trying to decide which one to write about. Opinions? oh, and yes... the 2nd one is an ORIGINAL Monet, one of two they had. :)
it was so much better in person... and is definitely one of my favorites of his.

this last one i've seen before several years ago when it was part of a traveling exhibit. it's an homage to a painting by Whistler called "Symphony in White" i believe. it's actually the small thumbnail picture next to me. i had so much fun... good day in atlanta. good day.

in other news, i have new tires... merry christmas kristen! hooray. good thing too, because it's been raining for the past few hrs. i love the sound of the rain. it's one of my favorite sounds. i probably love it more than the sound of the ocean. yep. i think so. well, i have a looong day of class, break, class, class, and inventory at eddie bauer ahead of me tomorrow, and i should have been asleep hrs ago. i get credit for being in bed though right?

sweetly dreaming of rain drops and paint drips until next time...

adrianna...

this is just for you. well, ok, not just for you. everyone else can read it too. :) you just called me out on the fact that i havn't blogged in a while, so i figured i'd go ahead and give you a shout out. well. i've been pretty busy lately. i don't even remember when last i blogged. i've been trying to be good about working out. it hasn't worked out aaas well as planned. um what else. i gave blood yesterday, but didn't feel the affects until today when i almost fell asleep in both of my classes (granted one was world civ... and the room was unnaturally warm.) haha. my friend patrick was kind enough to film zak and i playing two of the songs i wrote last friday, and as of tonight, the video is on youtube. i'm too cool for school... what can i say. haha. i've also recently finished a 3rd song, and i have a 4th lingering in the sidelines, just waiting for me to feel clever enough to finish it. :) classes are generally good. choir is great. it's so nice to sing in an organized group again. i almost forgot how much i loved it. brandi told me that VSB is going to Colorado for their s.b. tour. My choir is going to Scotland, but I will sadly be staying behind... thanks to the fact that I wasn't a student here last semester and missed the deadlines... sooo, i'm thinking maybe a little trip to C.O. would be in order. eh? One of my roommates, Jennifer, is actually going to be in denver and colorado springs at that time, so maybe i'll just hop on her flight real quick. that would be the MOST amazing thing ever. it would be sad to not get to see my family or other friends not in VSB though... stupid schools across the country having different schedules but the same spring break. who even does that? haha. bands i've been listening to as of late (thanks to zak): wilco (looove them), radiohead (not a huge fan of the experimental techno phase, but as far as techno goes, they've got some skills), Fiction Family (Sean Watkins from Nickelcreek, and the lead singer of Switchfoot... very intriguing), Nathan Angelo (saw him in concert at school... Jamie Cullum meets Gavin Degraw), and Caroline Herring (saw in concert at the Crimson Moon... very good live... learn to love the CD). I don't think there's much else to say really. just livin the dream. haha. sort of.



Here's two of my songs, "Changed" and "Our Separate Ways"... if you didn't see them everywhere else. ;)
rhyming until next time...

so far so good.

school's been pretty good so far. i have two asian teachers, and a teacher from argentina, so the language barrier is always a joy... but other than that, i'm just happy to be a student again. i've been working a fairly good amount at eddie bauer (plus my measly 4 hrs a week at steamers), so i'm staying pretty busy... which i love. i almost tried out for Bye Bye Birdie at the Holly today (an old historic community theater in town), but I realized if I got it, it would be like working another part time job, and would be cutting into hrs that I desperately needed at work. So, hopefully I'll be able to audition for something this summer, because I would love to get back into acting again. It's something I've always loved doing, but it's been put on the back burner as of late. Something that hasn't been on the back burner is singing. I always sing, but being back in an organized choir is especially nice. Plus, Patrick is going to film me singing/playing a few songs this weekend that will eventually make their way to youtube per request from my mother and her friends (who hardly know what youtube is). haha. According to them, "I'm going to get famous." we'll see about that. ;)
In other news, I've found the study abroad program I desperately have to be a part of. It's a trip specifically for Art majors through UGA that goes to Cortona, Italy. Cortona is a picturesque Italian village located on a hilltop in Tuscany, that has been home to said study abroad program since 1969. The second I saw the website, I knew I had to go eventually. There are still some pre-reqs I have to get out of the way since I'm so far behind in the Art major (color theory, and 2 & 3D design), but I'm hoping to be able to go atleast by Fall of '10, since it'll be a while before I graduate. haha. well, I have world civ and art history in the morning, and I'm supposed to be reading Huckleberry Finn for amer. lit... so I should probably stop blogging at 2am and be a student. :)

Sipping Chai until next time...

i forgot the best news

I also, through an amazing friend and connection at the school, was able to be granted a waver for the out of state tuition for this semester... and actually until I graduate. I basically just saved $4,000 a semester, and now I don't have to go to all the trouble to apply for in state tuition next semester after I've gained my year of residency.... I can't even tell you how excited and Blessed I am. Also, Erin gave me the book "Captivating" by the authors of "Wild At Heart" the other day for christmas. I havn't have a chance to really dive into it, and it looks like my amer lit class probably won't allow me to for the time being, but what I've read so far, and what i've heard about it makes me so excited to read it. I'm pretty sure I can safely reccomend it to every woman already. Seriously.

There can be miracles, if you believe

Wow. That's all I can say about this last week. God is so good. I went from being completely stressed out and uncertain to almost completely worry free in a matter of days. It's amazing what can happen when you let God handle things. I find myself always trying to control situations without God's help, and I end up carrying unnecessary burdens. I am now a student at North Georgia College and State University. I'm registered for 12 credit hrs. and I have a surprisingly good schedule for registering the day before classes started. Today was the first day of class. I never thought I would be so happy to be a student again. Actually having more than one thing scheduled in a day is an amazing feeling. I love to stay active and busy, and this last semester has basically been one big veg fest. I'm taking two choir classes, one a combined choir (like CC), and the other a small women's chamber ensemble. I'm also taking american lit, world civ, art history 2, and an aerobic dance class. I'm most excited about the dance class, because it's basically a mixed cardio class that i'm taking with my roommate jennifer. It's the first class of my day MWF, and I have an hr break afterwords to shower if needed. I'm really hoping that this class will help me get back into shape so I can be happy with my body. We also have a brand new rec center at the school that's basically a free (minus the mandatory student fee added into school costs. haha) gym for me to attend any time i please. I think this is going to be a good semester... no, I know it will be.
Welcome back Kristen Weller, welcome back.
content until next time...

lots and lots of crafting

crafting: what one does when one's bank account doesn't supply funds for Christmas gifts.
that's the definition... check websters... scouts honor! haha.

so i've been feeling pretty crafty lately. and not in the sneaky sense. jennifer and i went to starbucks recently (a rarity when living in dahlonega), and we saw the world's cutest wreath.
we thought it was so cute that we decided to make our own interpretation. so, after 4 trips to walmart for styrofoam balls, a wreath base, green yarn, and red sparkly ornaments we created this.somehow, ours ended up more substantial. probably because we were working from a base and not attaching them to eachother. also, we only had one size of ornament, which didn't help. needless to say, we love it... but now we have to figure out who gets to keep it...

last week, i also did erin's hair for a wedding she was in. she was just going to hot roll it, but at the last minute, the other brides maids said they were having theirs put up.. so she frantically called me and asked me to do it the next morning. she came over that night, i played around, and ended up with this. these are pics from the practice round, but it looked pretty similar... just more polished. oh, and the funny thing was.. when she got to the wedding, everyone's hair was down. haha. atleast her's looked the best. ;)i was pretty happy with the end result. :)
other things i've been making... several scarves. i'm on number 4, and i've decided it's for myself, because i've never made on just for me. plus i'm also in love with this particular yarn. i've also been painting and making some top secret christmas presents for my roommate's christmas exchange... it's tomorrow... i'm not going to finish in time. oops. haha. here's the painting i did for jennifer.
she was in the room while i was doing it, but i saw the one she made for me the night before, so we're even. we were watching mona lisa smile and feeling very inspired. :) also, it's supposed to be crooked. haha.

let see, what else. i'm making something for erin. and right now i'm actually working on hand made christmas cards for friends and family. they're a tad time consuming, so i won't be able to give them to everyone, but every little bit saved helps right?

well, that's about it for my craft update right now. i'm going to try and get some sleep. much to accomplish tomorrow... too much.

the little things

I'm missing the little things. well, and the big things, like my family and friends... but every day, something little hits me. Like the fact that it's weird for me to see pictures of the new kids in Concert Choir, VSB, barbershop and beauty shop, etc. It's weird to see MY friends in pictures with people I havn't met... and they look happy, which makes me sad. It shouldn't, but somewhere deep down, it does. I think it's because everyone's moving on but me. I came back to the same old people, but everyone else is moving forward, and now not everyone in choir knows my name, or at least my face. And it's not just choir. I think I'm having a harder time than I realized with the fact that I wasn't in school this semester. I accomplished nothing while everyone else around me was busy working towards graduation. All my friends will be second semester Juniors, but with the semester I missed, and the classes that didn't transfer, I'll be a second semester sophomore.... a whole year behind. I'll graduate in 2011 instead of 2010. I thought that didn't bother me anymore, but I guess it still does. I miss the comfort of passing a exorbitant amount of Starbucks in 5 miles down the same road. I miss the ocean and newport church. I miss living on campus. I miss driving through 3 cities in 10 minutes. I miss funky places to hang out like the Gypsy Den. I miss silly photo shoots at the park and stealing bread from the caf to feed the ducks. I miss Office parties in Carly's room. I miss seeing a krochet kids shirt or hat on every other person. I miss trendy slouch boots, skinny jeans, v-necks, scarves, and slouchy beanies... even if I didn't wear them. I miss my digital camera. I miss singing. I miss worshiping. I miss seeing my friends lead worship. I feel like I'm floating, and like everyone else is moving along in a straight line. I'm so proud of all my friends who are RA's, worship leaders, members of VSB, members of dboys and entourage, frontline leaders, etc. They're all accomplishing their goals and achieving their dreams. But what am I doing? Staying up till 5am writing this sad blog? I'm sorry this is so cumbersome and depressing. I'm not depressed... I'm happy I'm here, I'm just in a slump. I feel kind of unmotivated, and I guess I'm second guessing myself. I worry so much about the future and how my actions affect the outcome of my life. I really just need to put it all in God's hands and trust that he's taking care of me. It's just so hard to do when you have no idea what lies ahead...
I can't go back for Christmas...
time to grow up Kristen.
until next time...

SNOW day

ok, ok. so it wasn't a snow day, but it did snow today... all day! nothing stuck to the ground, but they were predicting that it would ice over tonight, and i think it's a sign that the first snow of the season happened on december 1st. i'm so excited for christmas. actually, i think i'm just excited to be here for christmas. the square is so beautiful this time of year. i would put a picture up, but i still don't have a digital camera here. i've taken pictures on my phone, but i don't know how to get them onto my computer. if anyone wants to help me out there... i don't have a memory card in my phone or a iphone nor do i pay for the internet on my phone. any great ideas? although, i do miss my family and my friends in california and west virginia a lot. i'm starting to get prepared for next semester, and i'm hoping all my loans will go through in time.. and for that matter i'm praying that i'll have enough loans to make it through the semester! another thing i REALLY have to get done is get my georgia license. i don't know WHY it's taken me this long, but i really need to take care of that pronto. somethings i have been doing instead of getting my license are working, babysitting, staying up all night crafting, and watching movies with my roommates. i think i've officially seen almost every movie in our house. which is sad... we have a large collection. one craft in particular that i'm very proud of is my christmas stocking. i made it my hand from scratch, and didn't use a single stencil or template. it took about 4 hrs... because i'm an ocd perfectionist.. but none the less, it was quite enjoyable. i've also been crocheting a lot again, which i always thoroughly enjoy. christmas presents and such. oh christmas. my half birthday... sort of. it's actually jan. 25th, but my birthday's christmas in july, so i like to claim christmas as my 1/2 bday. shout out to the 25 club... me, molly, drew, josh, and jesus.
wishing for snow until next time...

some b&w's i finally got developed.

taken during the month of october various places around dahlonega. :)

crazy week

Here are a few random scatter brained thoughts: This week has been weird. Everything seems like it's moved twice as fast. I've been to Cumming twice this week (and once more tomorrow for thanksgiving dinner), Dawsonville for work, I had thanksgiving dinner with the roomies monday night (because they all left tuesday morning to go visit their families.) I've been home alone since tuesday. I've been driving too much. And spending too much money. I've been staying up too late and sleeping in WAY too late. I was th d.d. for my friend's 21st bday last night (aka babysitter). Today when I finally woke up and got dressed and ready, I went to chelsea's house and recorded my song along with a couple hymns and chrismas songs... which was pretty fun. except for the part where i missed out on dinner. It's been getting sooo cold here lately. all the leaves are either brown and barely hanging on, or have fallen off the trees weeks ago. it's rained a couple times lately, and at night the left over water freezes onto my car. i'm going to my family's house tomorrow all day, and then i have to work Black friday from 11PM to 8AM. After that I'll probably go home and pass out for several hours. I'm supposed to work at steamers from 3-7pm that evening, but I don't see how I will even be awake for that to happen. To top it all off, I have several friends in town that I havn't had the time to see yet, and I all the moms want me to come over for thanksgiving festivities. I'm going crazy! but i'm also really thankful for how blessed I am to have so many wonderful friends who care so much about me. :) I love you all. Wishing you a most fun and delicious thanksgiving holiday until next time...

5:13am

i know what you're thinking... what's she doing awake and blogging at 5:13am? that's even pretty bad in california with the time change. well, i decided that since i got twelve hours of sleep last night, and i have to wake up at 8:30am tomorrow... or today, i figured less was more. for some reason, if i get 5 hrs of sleep, my body can't handle it... it will push it all the way to 7 or 8. but if i get 2-4 hrs of sleep i wake up feeling refreshed. i mean, i'm definitely not saying i do this on a regular basis, but i was too afraid i'd sleep through work tomorrow, and i'm working from 10-2 at eddie and 3-7 at steamers tomorrow and friday. lets see, what else. i bought yo yo ma's new holiday cd upon hearing it in zak's car. let me tell you, it's pretty fascinating. especially hearing renee fleming and chris thile's voices mesh together in harmony. it's quite good. i'm recently addicted to edgar meyer. by far one of the most amazing upright bass players i've ever heard in my life. side note, i need to get my act together and start prepairing for next semester... before it's too late.
things i need:
money, health insurance, eddie bauer jeans, new tires, a plane ticket to california, church, more prayer, a georgia drivers license, my birth certificate or a passport to get said license, and a digital camera.
things that fascinate me:
edgar meyer, bela fleck, chris thile, opera music, the fact that i never capitalize anything online, the number of friends i have that are amazing photographers, finding a new photographer on flickr that amazes me, realizing how much/little i have in common with people i've known my whole life, the desire i have to study abroad, how much i miss choir, and for that matter how much i miss being a student.

hm. i've been very introspective lately. last night, i listened to renee fleming on youtube for a good 30 minutes, and i found myself on the verge of tears just listening to her. i feel odd. i need a vacation. not that my life has been overly stressful lately.. i just need to GO somewhere. i find i'm a pretty restless person. but oddly enough, i can sit in one spot in silence for so long...

until next time...

my bridgets are numb

our house is COLD sometimes... and by sometimes i mean most times. a good example would be this evening. i was wrapped like a burrito on the chair watching tv (hook to be exact!), and jennifer was sitting on the couch looking up wedding ideas (because we're vicariously living through emily and she will have 15 wedding planners by next october). anywho, even while wrapped in a burrito of fleece, i realized my fingers and toes were still quite cold. feeling it necessary to state my turmoil, i said to jennifer, "my digits are numb." and as all former bio students know, digits are obviously referring to one's fingers and toes (aka phalanges.) jennifer, obviously confused, replied, "what? your bridgets?" of coarse at that moment, i burst into laughter, as would anyone, and after a good solid 30 seconds i cleared the waters up. "digits, as in fingers and toes." apparently that's not a commonly used term, because she had no idea what i was talking about. turns out, she thought i'd just picked a "cool name" for my boobs. haha. if i ever decided to name them... first of all, they wouldn't have the same name, and second, bridget? weak. haha.
on a side note, i'm going to actually try and be a good citizen of the state of georgia and get my drivers license this week... assuming that it doesn't cost 1 million dollars, the test's not too hard and they'll still let me since i've been here more than a month... whoops. my b.
another side note... 4 days till twilight........YESS.
mia, i wish you were here... we'll just see the movie at the same time, and call each other during the movie and just have a 2 hr. convo. it's a PLAN!
shivering until next time...

jazz and jones soda.

tonight when i got off work, i thriftily purchased a sweater, a jacket, and a fleece vest from eddie for only $32... i was pretty excited. that would have been like a regular person just buying the vest. i know... i'm good. :) i also bought a peacoat from old navy that i'm probably going to take back because emily got me the one i originally wanted from torrid. as much as i would like to keep both, because one's more practical and the other's more trendy, my bank account will not appreciate nor support that decision. i still need to buy jeans from eddie so i don't have to wear stinking khaki's to work every day. but anyway, the point is, after work i went to a jazz concert at the college with zak and clay. it was AMAZING. first it was free, second, it was a trio by the name of "The Brad Mehldau Trio." Brad played the piano, and then there was a stand up bass and drummer. It was probably some of the best jazz combo music i've heard live. Look them up. :) after that i didn't feel like going home, so i deposited my paycheck, went to walmart by myself (because all my friends are out of town at the beach without me because i had to work this weekend), and i ended up leaving walmart with $20 worth of things i didn't necessarily need. whoops. my bad. then i drove around aimlessly for a while, came home, and my roommate jennifer was submitting pictures to jones soda online while drinking a jones soda. it seemed like a good idea, so i joined in, and may i say, the prospect of having one of my own pictures on a bottle of soda is pretty thrilling. oh, and helen, adrianna, and little caroline... hope you don't mind if your face is plastered all over the world... surprise! haha. in conclusion, go to jonessoda.com, view the gallery, and find my pictures and vote for them! you never know what could happen...
until next time my dear friends...

Weird

So over then weekend when I was with Erin and Ashley in Atlanta, we decided to dance to some sweet tunes while we got ready. We started out with the classics, like Frankie and Michael Buble and then somehow, all of a sudden, we were listening to Hanson. haha. I don't know how it happened, but we clicked on their "Weird" music video on youtube, and after jamming to it twice, I noticed something. It's actually a pretty good song. Who knew. I never would have thought that three young boys could hit life on the head so well.

Isn't it weird
Isn't it strange
Even though we're just two strangers on this runaway train
We're both trying to find a place in the sun
We've lived in the shadows, but doesn't everyone
Isn't it strange how we all feel a little bit weird sometimes
Yeah, ooh
Isn't it hard, standing in the rain
Yeah you're on the verge of going crazy and your heart's in pain
No one can hear, but you're screaming so loud
You feel like you're all alone in a faceless crowd
Isn't it strange how we all get a little bit weird sometimes
Whoa, sitting on the side, waiting for a sign, hoping that my luck will change
Reaching for a hand that'll understand, someone who feels the same
When you live in a cookie cutter world, being different is a sin
So you don't stand out, but you don't fit in
Weird
Whoa, sitting on the side, waiting for a sign, hoping that my luck will change
Whoa, reaching for a hand that'll understand, someone who feels the same
When you live in a cookie cutter world, if you're different you can't win
So you don't stand out and you don't fit in
Ooh, isn't it strange
How we all feel a little bit weird
Strange, how we all get a little bit
Strange, how we all feel a little bit weird, sometimes
Oooh, just a little bit weird sometimes

Another thing I noticed was that I'd never seen that music video in my life. I quickly realized that I was a very young preteen when Hanson was in it's prime, and there was no way my parents were going to let me watch TRL to experience the video... and honestly, who did see that video? I mean, I'm fairly certain that Hanson didn't have a very large High school to college fan base, and things weren't so readily available on convenient websites such as youtube. I believe I actually have a Hanson cassette. That's pretty bad. Anyway, I just thought it was a little "weird." haha. good lord i'm corny. at least i'm laughing right?

Oh, and on a quick note... I gave bobby "the talk." Hopefully that problem won't resurface. He was a learning experience.. that's for sure.

Shamelessly humming Hanson til next time...

night in atlanta

today i went to work at eddie bauer. i was exhausted and had a horrible sinus headache... but i made money so that's all that matters. i really like working there. it's going to be a good job. i can tell... so after work, i met up with erin at the outlet mall and after making a quick stop to see joseph at the bose store, we headed to atlanta to visit ashley! we'd been promising a girls night forever but this was the first time we'd finally had a chance to go. we're staying at keith's (ashley's bf) house, so after we got here, we went out to dinner at cheesecake factory... which was amazing because i hadn't been in sooo long. erin had never been, and had pretty much never experienced a big city environment before, so she was kinda wide eyed and bushy tailed the whole time. she was completely BLOWN AWAY by the fact that the only way you could park was by valet. she said, "i feel like i need to be in a prom dress." haha. oh erin... so sheltered. after that we went to the coziest (sp?) little restaraunt that made me feel like i was in europe called cafe' intermezzo. we had some amazing coffee and desert... i think my stomach and my bank account exploded tonight. woops. girls night. :) anyway the point is, i'm having a blast, and i officially want to live in atlanta... well it's called "atlantic station"... it reminds me of california. well, atleast the up and coming urban areas. i think it's my favorite. i love the feel of living somewhere where you can walk downstairs straight on the street, go shopping, have dinner, and then walk down an alley and be in a little english garden-ish park area. they even have a arc de triompe (again.. sp?) repleca. ok, this is long, and my friends are talking, so i should stop being anti-social. there's the nightly update. it's been amazing getting my little "california injection." lets hope it holds me over...
hoping to come back soon... until next time.

bobby: with whom i'd had high hopes

sooo. i don't think things are going to work out with bobby. I've told some of you this already in previous conversations, but I went on my date with bobby last night, and I just don't think I'm feeling it. Don't get me wrong, he's a really really sweet guy. Kind of to a fault. he apologizes for things that aren't his fault, he feels a little too clingy already, and he's kind of... simple minded. plus we have absolutely nothing in common besides the fact that our favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip. i mean... at dinner he had 5 or 6 beers, he doesn't do anything besides eat, sleep, exercise, and work at the hall county jail from 7pm-7am... graveyard shift. he has two tattoos on either arm. one is BARBED WIRE and the other is a TRIBAL BAND. really? that was literally an instant turn off. he asked permission to kiss me in the movie theater full of only 3 couples including us before the scary movie i'd picked even started... so cliche'. i politely declined. i feel guilty, but at the same time, i don't regret the decision. if that makes sense. the way i see it, if i've waited this long for my first kiss, i should want to kiss he guy back... not just kiss him so i will have been kissed before. what's the value in that? i probably have my standards set too high, but i'd like to save myself unnecessary heartache and or trouble by avoiding this situation. i don't see bobby and i going anywhere in the future, so i would be kissing him solely to kiss. period. that's not good enough for me. if my standards are too high, then so be it. i'll just be waiting a while longer. since i havn't experienced it before, i don't know what i'm missing... so it's a lot easier to go without. haha. so yeah, this past week of talking to bobby has taught me a lot. i may not have gotten my first kiss, but i have had a first and second date, i've been actively and sort of aggressively pursued by a guy so now i know what to expect, and if nothing else, i got a really nice confidence boost. bobby's a sweet guy, but he's not the guy for me.
p.s. the indians lost their final football game of the season 35-17. they put up a good fight, but had a lot going against them. i'm so proud of my surrogate brothers... i almost cried watching them cry as they left the stadium for the last time. thankfully the night ended on a happy note. everyone went straight to mcdonalds and stayed until they kicked us out. :) oh, and tomorrow i'm working at eddie bauer for the second time (i'm excited) and then going to atlanta with erin for a girls night with ashley at georgia tech! she's come to visit us so many times in dahlonega, so we definitely owed her a trip. plus i've never been to atlanta by myself as a college student. it should be fun. don't worry, i won't get crazy. :)
until next time friends...