quick trips

I forgot to tell y'all, because our life is kind of crazy, but Josh and I caught a Braves game in Atlanta two weekends ago. We were watching the game on Friday the 14th in our living room and Josh was getting super into the game. In what I can only describe as an our of my mind moment, I suggested that we see if there were any games for the next day. It turned out that there was a 4pm game the following day. We got up early on Saturday morning, jumped in the car, shopped at H&M (aka tortured Josh) and got to the game in time for batting practice. Josh even got a baseball!!!

Hope you enjoy these pictures from our quick getaway:

love this jacket

I LOVE this jacket. I wore it practically everyday last winter. (Its actually the replacement that Josh made be get because he thought my blue version of the jacket was getting "disgusting looking.")

I'm sad to say that its an expensive fleece, retailing at $140ish...but if you know me at all, you know that I refuse to pay retail. I did find it on a seasonal sale at REI for around $115 and decided to spend my birthday money on it. It was probably my best purchase of last year.

If you're new to this blog and have somehow missed me bragging about my recent weight loss, then welcome. And if you've been reading this blog for a while and are tired of hearing me brag about myself, may I ask what you thought this blog was really about?! Me, duh.

Anyways, I've been trying on clothes for fall and while I am very excited about fitting into some of my smaller clothes that I couldn't wear last year, I'm getting a little upset about the fact that some of my favorite pieces swallow me whole. What's at the top of the list? THIS JACKET. I love it so, so, so much but its too big. I think I'm going to have to give it to Josh. Which makes me really sad.

But my day has brightened! Just this morning I saw the same jacket for sale on Campmor for $79! Click here to order yours. May you be ever so fabulously dressed this winter!

post-graduate holiday

I love that my GWU friends are back. Really. Love.it.

But its also kind of frustrating in the whole 'I-have-a-real-job-and-totally-envy-your-vast-amounts-of-free-time-and-holiday-schedule' type of way. I want a Fall Break, Spring Break and other random days off for presidents and provosts. Why are you so lacking of vacation days adult-life-schedule, why?

But then I got to thinking. I guess Memorial Day is kind of like a super-mini Spring vacation and Labor Day is Fall break (I know there are real reasons for those holidays, but I'm trying to make this simile work, so bear with me.)

I guess its a good thing that its just a long weekend instead of a week-long vacation.....we're all a little too old for SB '04 Cancun-type shenanigans.

So where are you headed for Labor Day '09?

show off that body you got

I love to ride bikes. Loooove it. But when I can't get outside to ride with Josh (or with Chuck and Laura---had so much fun riding with them yesterday!) then I head over to the YMCA for spin class.

Jennipher is one of my favorite instructors. She's young, really athletic and has the best.music.ever. The mixes that she puts together make me want to sprint faster, climb harder and spin longer than any of the other teachers. Most days we have to shut the door to the spin room because the lyrics can be a little questionable and are almost always too loud for the yoga class two doors down. (I'm not quite sure if she knows that the YMCA is Christian......but I'm not going to tell her, because the music is so good!)

Jennipher has been playing this song this Petey Pablo song 'show me the money' this summer and I love it. Just hearing it make me want to spin/run/work/freak out. And the first line of the chorus (show off that body you got) reminds me of why we're at the gym in the first place. This song is usually followed by Fergie's 'Fergalicious'.....and I love the line "my body stay vicious/i be up in the gym just workin' on my fitness." Again, its all about why we're working it out at the gym!

So listen/watch and get ready to work out!

new favorite store

I've found a store that might be my new favorite; its called Francesca's. I say might because I've just looked at their merchandise online and haven't made it to a store yet. The closest location we have would be in Charlotte. I almost didn't even look at the site because it said the Charlotte store was at Southpark, and I can't afford to even park at Southpark let alone shop there. Throwing all caution to the wind, I snuck a look at the clothes.....I prepared to wince in pain and envy....but I was so very pleasantly surprised. There's hardly anything over $50 in the whole store. Anyone need to go to Charlotte this weekend???

the avetts

After watching the crit in Charlotte on Saturday, Josh and I headed up to the Avett Brothers show. Its one of the favorites around our house. Josh has seen them live before, but this was my first time seeing the show. And man, it was a show! Those guys love to throw a party on stage. Josh had a blast at the concert....but I think it may have been because he thought we was walking into a giant Bojangles:

I tried to snap a few shots of us enjoying the pre-show, but had a little trouble with the cameras and finding the right angle:

But then we finally got it right.....only, by that time, Josh wasn't really feeling the whole "photo-shoot-at-a-concert" idea:

I do have one totally random thought.....the cellist was crazy. Just a little Asian-looking man, playing the cello and jumping all over the place. And the first person that I thought of when looking at him was Onch from Paris Hilton's BFF show. (Ok, before you judge me, I only watched one episode of the show. I like to know what's on TV. Sue me.) You might have had to see Onch in action to make the association, but I think the resemblance is uncanny.

good times with good friends

We have a group of friends that get together every Tuesday for pizza at Pleasant City Pizza. Why Tuesdays? Because the pizza's are HALF OFF. Where else can you get a full belly for $4 (that isn't fast food)?

We were trying to entertain ourselves during the 40 minute wait for our pizzas. We caught up on our past week, movies and gossip...I mean news. Eventually I got around to asking my famous what-if questions. You know....like, what if you could have any animal in the world as a pet but they wouldn't ever get any bigger than a kitten (how cool would it be to have a pet elephant that could sit in your lap?!)

I end up asking the question 'If you could run any store in uptown Shelby, what kind of store would you want to have?' Melissa is the first to answer. She says she'd like to own a bookstore. Which totally fits her personality. And then Joey says he'd want to open a drug store....but actually sell drugs. Then Melissa joins back in and says, "Yeah, its going to be part bookstore and part drug operation. We're going to call it 'Crack a Book.'"

And this is why I love this brother-sister duo so much.