Summer is in full Swing

Above is a picture of Katie B's girlfriends (Katie, Leslie, Katie B, Me, Stephanie, and I can't remember her name) at the Braves. We went to celebrate her birthday!

I'm so ready for this summer... I'm looking forward working out, running, laying by the pool and to go on a cross-country trip with Brian. I'm flying out to Las Vegas and then we're driving to LA, then back to Atlanta (stopping at the Grand Canyon). I'm so excited.

Yay for warm weather!

When it rains, it pours... but in my living room? Again???

I've heard the saying, "bad things happen in 3s"... Well, I guess I didn't realize it, but number three was bound to happen, and it happened in a big way today!

Let's go back to number one. When it recently started getting hot outside, I came to find the air conditioner in my car to be not working... due to the fact that I'm limited on time and money, I've been holding off getting this fixed (meanwhile the pollen count is killing my allergies). I know, I know, I really need to invest in this, especially because it's having an adverse affect on my hair day within my 2 mile drive to the office.

Moving on to number two. This also relates to my Nissan, which I like to refer to as my black beauty.... Have you ever come out to your car in the morning to find a huge gash or scrape down the side, and know for a fact that you DID NOT hit anything? Welcome to my Tuesday morning this week. I've narrowed the crime seen down to being either the 1117 Perimeter Center West - North parking deck, or Post Brookhaven Apartments. I'm not talking a little scrape similar to what black beauty got twice in the Ravinia One parking deck... I'm talking one foot by one foot of pure white paint transfer... THIS PERSON HAD TO KNOW THEY HIT ME... All I have to say is that karma will get them... meanwhile I'm penalized as my insurance goes up:-(

Now we get to the event... NUMBER THREE. I have to try to find some relief in this, as it happened to me already this year, and I already knew somewhat how to handle the situation. So I came home for lunch today, and while I'm cooking some amazing vegetables, I thought I heard Diesel playing with something he shouldn't have. After making Diesel sit next to me in the kitchen, I found that the noise wasn't going away. When I walked into my living room, there it was... it was raining INSIDE, AGAIN. Although there was no broken pipe this time, the HVAC unit in the condo above me was clearly leaking. It is still broken... yes, 10 hours later, there is still rain in my living room, a light drizzle, not a monsoon. Thanks to the Sandy Springs Fire Department, I have a bucket catching the water.

To say the least, today was stressful. It was like a circus at the Townhomes at Sandy Springs today. It seemed as if I had everyone in my condo today, Sandy Springs FD, Mr. Plummer, Servpro, Autumn from upstairs, my neighbor Grett (who thankfully helped calm me down with some amazing tea), and my Realtor.

I think the thing I have to realize is that it could be a lot worse. So I keep my head up and hope that bad things stay at three... I'm not sure that I could handle another catastrophic event... At least not this week.

It's great seeing old friends

The life transitions people experience from youth to adulthood bring many people in and out of your life. I've never identified myself with one "group" of friends. I've always been a little independent, which can be attributed to the multiple transitions I've made through my life. I grew up in New Jersey and in Georgia. I attended two elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school (but had friends at several other high schools in the area), two colleges, and now I've had three post college jobs. To say the least, I've met a lot of people on my journey.

Sometimes you make friends instantly, and they stay in your life for a long time. Sometimes you meet people you know you cannot trust (there's nothing wrong with that, because you've always got to have your own back). Sometimes you downright dislike people you meet, either because of a bad first impression, or stories you might know about them, or because they've wronged you. Then there are cases of friendships being lost... whether you just lose touch or a significant event occurs, resulting in the "breaking up" of a friendship.

Erica is one of my best friends, she was also my roommate my senior year of college. I actually met her through her sister, Jenn, who I cheered with at VSU. One time shared the following  Grey's Anatomy quote with me:

"in life you learn that things change, friends change, people change, and it doesn't mean you forget the past or try to cover it up; it simply means that you move on and treasure the memories. letting go doesn't mean giving up, it means accepting that some things weren't meant to be." 

I cannot thank Erica enough for being such a great friend. Although she lives in a different state, she is one of those people that can always make me laugh or cheer me up!!! During college, Erica and I both had difficult times trying to understand why changes happened in friendships... We'd often talk about the hurt we felt from those we trusted and spend several years caring about. It was interesting, because shortly after graduating college, her sister and I stopped talking... It doesn't matter why or how or whose fault it was... the fact is that we both lost one of our closest friends. I had to keep going back to this quote and kept saying "treasure the memories". Jenn and I have spoken very limitedly over the past two years, but we were fortunate enough to spend some time together last night, at Pamela's bachelorette party. 

 Jenn, Pamela, Torie on March 27, 2010

It hit me last night... As Jenn and I people watched, she explained where some of her frustrations laid with me a few years back. I finally understood. The valuable lesson is often learned very difficultly, even if what people think about you is not true, perception is reality in the eyes of those you interact with. You should always hold yourself with poise. I'm glad I got to spend time with old friends last night, I hope that we can plan on seeing each other on a more regular basis.

No matter what happens from here on out... I'll always have some GREAT memories!!!

A lot to catch up on...

It's been about a year since I've written a blog, and a lot has changed. Actually, just about everything has changed completely. Since this time last year, I've had two new jobs, I got a maltese, I've picked up some good healthy habits, I've completed a half marathon and.... I'm in love.

Morgan, my "little sister", spent the night last night and she's sleeping in my guest room right now, so I figured I'd have some time to write an entry. *I think I would write more if I wasn't on a computer all day for work... it's just that I really don't want to log back on to a computer when I get home from work... I'll try to get better about my postings* Anyway, we went to Applebee's last night for dinner and then made a trip to the pet store to get Diesel some food. We also bought cupcake mix and made cupcakes last night. Today, when she wakes up, we're planning on bringing Diesel to the dog park.

Speaking of Diesel... He will be a year old in a couple of weeks. I love this dog so much, but lately he's been driving me nuts. Question: why do dogs feel the need to chew everything? Especially your favorite pairs of shoes and every new role of toilet paper you put out??? I swear the past few weeks I've been waking up to surprises that Diesel made for me.

Diesel ate my roses:-(

He has actually chewed through two of my MacBook power cords and managed to destroy the dozen roses Brian sent me for Valentine's day... I really hope D grows out of this and that it is just a phase.

In other news, I've decided to start training for Half and Full Marathons. I've recently completed my first Half Marathon, the Atlanta ING last Sunday in 2 hours 2 minutes and 16 seconds... what an accomplishment. I'm hooked on this kind of stuff now. I also started doing boot camps with T-Train Fitness and the results are amazing. I feel so much better about me now than I have in a long time! I get compliments on how I look from people I haven't seen in months, my brother actually thinks I'm looking better. When I went to visit Lauren in the hospital after she had Kinsley, a woman came up to me and said she wished she had my legs! The most important thing is that I feel better about myself. Yesterday I bought my dress for the Kentucky Dirby and it was a designer size 4! YAY!

ING Half Marathon 2010, official race time 2:02.16

Finally... The saying, "You fall in love when you aren't looking and when you least expect it" is SO TRUE!!! Many, if not all, girls go through a tough time in their teenage years into their twenties with relationships. I've had two serous boyfriends, and had my heart broken by two guys after college... When I finally decided to work on my happiness and forget about the crummy dating pool in Atlanta, I found solace in my friendships. I completely changed my attitude and truly became happy on the inside and happy being single...

Then, out of the blue someone came in my life. I met Brian at a Halloween party last year, then didn't see him again until mid-December. We went ice skating with a group of people and there was clearly something there. Me, being me, tried to do fancy ice skating twirls and tried to rope him into it... this resulted in us falling down, he broke my fall. Looking back, I remember that moment explicitly. It was the moment I thought, hmmm, maybe we could go on a date sometime...

December 16, 2009, after the fall down!

Now, three and a half months later, I've fallen in love with him! He is so nice, very respectful, and treats me so wonderfully. He's traveling full time now, so I don't get to see him until the end of April, which has its pros and cons. Obviously, it stinks that I don't get to spend as much time with him as I'd like to in person, but we are getting to know each other really well and I love it!

Stay tuned for more updates... I'm seriously going to make an effort in writing more!