Happy New Year!

                   

So... I'm back at work after a week and a half off. I really didn't do much over the holiday other than eat, sleep, get drunk on Christmas Eve with the family (don't worry, I spent the night at my Mom's house), get drunk with my friend Galynn on New Years Eve (don't worry, I live within walking distance of Ozzie's) and get fat, lol (um... I just kept eating). I'm not too thrilled getting back to the daily grind after enjoying doing absolutely NOTHING over the break. I currently miss doing nothing. It was great.

After having a pretty rough year last year, this year, I'm going to try and focus on working towards things in my life that make me happy and surrounding myself with people who make me happy as well.

Until then... it's back to work. I've got 3 tasks that I have to get completed today. Ugh. Work blows sometimes :)

Kickin' it old school

I was feeling in an old school mood today, so I busted out my Beverly Hills, 90210 T-shirt.

This was one of my favorite TV shows growing up, and when I saw this shirt at Old Navy a while back, I just had to buy it.

Not much else going on in my life right now, other than I just came back from London 2 weeks ago. It was an interesting trip, to say the least. I got sick, I lost my luggage, and I also lost $100 worth of souvenirs. WTF.

But, I made up for it in the end, by eating another glorious $100 meal at The Steakhouse in Harrod's, taking a lovely stroll through Queen Regent's Park, getting rained on (ha ha ha) and seeing my beloved Cumberbatch in Hamlet at the Barbican.

He was great.

Anyhoo, it's Friday, it's sunny outside, and I'm ready for the weekend.

Until next time...

Me

This is how I like to take pictures... with my face shielded from the camera.

PS - And that's my friend's dog's chew toy that I'm using to cover my face up with, lol.

To be young again

Memories... I was 22 years old in this picture, and I had just graduated from college. I was at Hats on the Belfry, a really cool shop down in Old Town, Alexandria, VA, hanging out with my friends Stephanie and Kim.

Stephanie, who was very fond of taking lots of pictures, asked me to pose for one, and I just thought to try and be cute in a funny hat that was in the store.

Don't remember much from that night other than taking that photo... but I'm sure we were all out having a good time.

I just wanted to post this today as I'm always of the opinion that there are very few nice photos of me in this world. This one just happens to be one of the few I happen to like a lot. And it put a smile on my face today.

A long, needed smile, after a rough several months. But I'm hanging in there.

Throwback Monday

Me and Cheri (my sister) when we were kids:

And us again in Disney World in 1990:

And no... we aren't drinking beer. Ha ha ha.

My trip to Seattle

So, here's a post about my trip to Seattle. Sadly, I ended up going alone. I wasn't supposed to go on this trip by myself, but as most people know... s#$% happens. And that's all I'll say about that.

Anyhoo... even though I went by myself, I made the most of my trip and enjoyed spending time in a city that I had always wanted to go visit. Seattle is very much a lovely city. The weather is especially nice in the summertime - it was in the 70's and 80's when I was there, and I very much enjoyed the fact that there is very little humidity out there. It was nice to get away to a place where you didn't have to take 3 showers in one day just to enjoy the day (humidity in DC sucks in the summer time).

And... it only rained once the whole time I was there. For an hour. Whoo-hoo! I couldn't have picked a better time of year to go visit. I highly recommend going to Seattle in the summer time if you ever want to go.

People wise? The crazies tend to come out in the summer time. Eerily enough, there are a lot of people roaming around in the streets randomly talking to themselves (and it's a bit scary). Also, Seattle has a very large homeless population, one that I think rivals San Francisco's. I was amazed at how many people I saw out on the street asking for change. But I guess if there is ever a place to be homeless, it's on the West Coast.

And... don't get me started on how everybody out there (white, black, you name it) still thinks we live in the 90's. Most of the people I saw on the street literally looked like they just stepped out of a Pearl Jam video. Grunge rock wear in Seattle is very much the norm. And! A lot of people out there had dreadlocks in their hair! WTF. Seriously... who knew that the 90's was still alive and well in Seattle? I was taken aback. But I can't complain or anything... some of the best music EVER and some of the coolest fashions came out of that decade (babydoll dresses with knee socks spring to mind).

I will say that even though everyone looks like a hobo out there, everyone is actually very super friendly. And polite. People will come up and talk to you just about anything. And no one honks at anyone! And! People actually stop their cars when they come to a crosswalk and wait for pedestrians to cross the street! I couldn't believe it. I mean, people will try and run you over when you are crossing the street here in DC! Hell, I might even try to run you over if you are in the street in DC! I swear, people out in Seattle are uber-friendly. Perhaps us East Coasters should take a page out of their books and be more courteous to each other.

NAH!

Back to the trip! Anyways... below, I decided to highlight the cool parts of my trip/experience in picture form. I thought that would be cooler than writing out a bunch of boring paragraphs, lol. Here we go:

Did I mention that I flew Virgin America over to Seattle? This was one of the best airplanes/flights I've ever been on. Mood lighting, leather seats, free TV, remote controls in the seats... in short - this flight was AWESOME! I highly recommend flying on this airline if you get a chance. It's well worth the money.

Top Pot Doughnuts... I was told that I had to make a stop here and pick up some for my friends back in DC. I must say, these doughnuts were very good. I think they are made fresh right in the store. 

The only downside to going here was that this shop was at the BOTTOM of a major hill. Did I also forget to mention how many HILLS there are in Seattle?!?!?!? About a thousand. That whole city is on one giant hill. Hills that are similar to the ones in San Francisco. My calves hurt so bad from walking up and down hills, it wasn't even funny. But I will say that the trek down this massive hill to get to this doughnut shop was well worth it.

This is a pic of the Great Wheel, which has only been out on the water for about two years. It was about $20 to ride it. I passed. But it was nice to look at!

I got to visit the Pike Place Market a couple of times when I was here. If you ever decide to visit here, do not go on a weekend. There were so many people there when I went on Saturday, I almost drowned in people. I did get to go really early in the morning on Thursday, the second day I was in Seattle (I went again on Saturday since I was nearby). I got to walk around the market and see the Gum Wall (it was gross), some fish get thrown (they sing songs and cheer loudly in the fish area!) and the first ever Starbucks. The line for Starbucks was wrapped around the corner. So I passed on going inside. 

I went to the Space Needle on the third day I was in Seattle. It's really nice. And I hopped into the elevator and rode to the top, and... yeah. I looked around. That was about it. Honestly, it's not much different than visiting the Empire State Building. Same view, same scary height far up from the ground... so I wasn't too enthused. But I did enjoy the fact that I got to visit it.

Did I tell you that I went on a boat cruise around Puget Sound? It was really nice. The cruise lasted about an hour, and a tour guide gave us a brief history of the area surrounding the Sound. The sun was out, there was a nice breeze, and I also made friends with a girl who just happened to be by herself on the cruise. And... she came with me to the...

... Seattle Aquarium! AND THEY HAD OTTERS! I love love love otters. They are like, one of my favorite animals. And they looked so cute floating on their backs and playing with their toys. Oh, I wanted to jump in the tank and hang out with them (one can dream). Also at the aquarium, there were seals, birds and lots of fish. And they had a tank full of sea anemones, starfish and sea cucumbers that you could touch. It was really cool. And fun. I almost didn't go with the girl that I met (b/c I was tired), but once I saw the otters, I was really happy that I changed my mind and went in. And lastly...

I found Nemo! And Dory was at the aquarium too. They had lots of tropical fish. They were all so pretty. If you are ever in Seattle, I highly recommend making a pit stop at the aquarium. Surprisingly, it's really fun for adults!

So, that's my trip. Seattle is a pretty cool place to visit, and if you've never been, I recommend that you go check it out. Next up on my travels is.... THE U.K.! God, save the queen... I can hear that anthem in my head right now. Scotland, Wigan and London are on the itinerary of places to visit. So exciting! I can't wait to go!

My trip to ATL

I meant to post about my trip to Atlanta a week ago... but I've been having a very lazy past two weeks. I've been falling asleep at random times in the afternoon, only to wake up at 12 or 1am, then continue to stay up until 5 or 6am, and then fall back asleep and then in turn go into work late.

Hopefully, today is the last day this will all happen for me. I'm tired of sleeping all of the time.

Anyhoo... back to my weekend in Atlanta... so! My friend Jeannine picked me up from a very busy airport on Friday, May 23 in the afternoon. I swear, everyone must have made ATL their destination of choice that weekend. I've never seen that many people in an airport in my life. Ever.

After she picked me up, we had a little girl time at the mall before she picked up her kids, and then we all went out with them, her husband Marcus and some friends for a chicken wing dinner. It was good. I love wings.

Later on in the evening, everyone came back to Marcus and Jeannine's house for some drinks and Pictionary. Interestingly enough, Marcus had his own way of playing Pictionary. I called it "dysfunctional Pictionary". The rules for this game were quite different. It involved making up stories about popular movie and TV characters and having them do outlandish things to each other, things I can't even write on this blog, because it will make me blush. The game turned out to be fun, but I can tell you that I was embarrassed for most of the game. Here's a picture of the action posted below:

     

Um... yeah. This pic involved Freddy Krueger, Jason and Pinhead scaring someone, something to do with stealing a Leprachaun's gold and a bird crapping on it in the end. I kid you not.

On to the next day... the Smith family and I then headed out to Leesburg, GA to visit Marcus' parents on Saturday morning. They live on 30 acres of land, basically out in the middle of nowhere. It was very peaceful, however, but I'm from the city. I'm used to seeing my neighbors, walking around my neighborhood with them and hearing their street noise. Being in the country around nothing but trees, farmland and silence was weird, but when I closed my eyes and took a few breaths, the peacefulness was nice.

Above is a shot of Marcus' parents' house. It reminded me of all of those colorful homes one usually sees in the country. Their house was really big and beautiful, and it was really nice of them to let me stay here. Below is a pic of their backyard that I took from the room over their garage that I got to stay in:

Lots of land back here. And they had a lake. And jungle gyms for the kids. And SNAKES!

Now, I didn't see a snake, but at one point in time I was told that I had to keep an eye for them and if I was coming down from the garage to the house at night, that I had to make noise as I was walking towards it keep the snakes away. Or, I had to yell out "I'm coming, snakes!" so that the vibrating sound of my voice would scare them away. WTF. And just so everyone knows... I am not talking about little baby garter snakes running around the Smith compound here. I'm talking rattlesnakes and water moccasins running around the compound!

WTF!

In addition to their being snakes, it was SO EFFING HOT outside I thought that I was going to DIE. We stayed in Leesburg for 2 1/2 days (Saturday through Monday morning)... and it was 90 degrees outside the whole time. My hair, got fried. I felt bloated and hot the whole time, and I had a permanent frown on my face every time I stepped outdoors during peak hours. 

Sidebar: I literally told Jeannine when she dropped me off at the MARTA station on Monday afternoon that the next time I came to visit her, it would be in the fall. F*** Atlanta in the summer time!

The best part of my trip was when I got to shoot some GUNS on Sunday evening. That's right, guns. I shot 8 different guns. Jeannine's brother in law, Mitch, is a bit of a gun enthusiast. I swear, every time he handed me a new gun, he had a smile on his face. It was quite funny.

Now, I hadn't shot a gun in about 10 years. I wasn't scared, but I was little nervous, especially since the first gun I shot was a 300 Blackout, which is basically a semi-automatic rifle (I was hoping to warm up on a handgun... but no such luck). It was huge! And heavy. When I shot the gun, the recoil was so hard core that when fired, it felt like my system got a quick jolt of electricity. It was a bit overwhelming, but I kept it together. I shot this gun from about 2 or 300 yards away, and I swear, I didn't hit the target once. Sad, but true. But I had fun.

It was on to the next gun after that, which was an AK-47. I've only seen these things in action in the movies. They are pretty cool up close. Scary, but cool. And again, after I fired it a few times, I'm pretty sure I didn't hit the target. But I can tell you that the tree behind it got messed up!

I'm just going to list the guns I shot instead of going through my experience with each one. Here it goes....

• 300 Blackout
• AK-47
• A 223 sniper rifle (with a bi-pod and scope)
• A double barrel shotgun (talk about a kick)
• A pump action shotgun with a laser sight on it (it was green!)
• 45 Colt (a revolver from the Old West)
• 357 Magnum
• Springfield 1911

 Here's a pic of all my shells. And two of the bullets.

Shooting guns was fun. Not that I would ever own a gun or anything, but it was fun. And not to mention, when one fires a shotgun, the kick on them can be so hard core (like with a pump action shotgun), that it can leave a bruise. Like this:

Yeah. Sometimes guns can hurt. My bruise is gone now, but because I had such a good experience shooting the shotgun, I didn't mind it so much. I also didn't mind the fact that I got eaten alive by mosquitos during my gun adventure. The mosquito bites I received were so bad that it took a week and a half for my legs to stop itching. Not cool.

So that was my trip. I came home Monday evening, exhausted and sweaty, but happy that I was able to get out of VA and go on a short vacay. Next up on my summer travels is Seattle, which I travel to on July 2. As long as it's not hot as hell out on the west coast, I should have a good time. 

Can't wait to hit up the Space Needle!