hotlanta

made it home! hooray. georgia overall was a good experience...observances: not too hot or muggy, gas hasn't quite hit $4 yet, waffle houses as prevalent as starbucks are around here. i must say i never saw any 100-calorie pack anythings or even "light" food items, except my healthy wrap at the hotel one night -- those people like their pork rinds, deep-fried and fatty items.

i did find the thick southern accents slightly endearing but also annoying. seriously...do you think it takes effort to talk like that? i wanted to hear them try dropping it for a while. it was pretty cute to hear everyone calling each other "ma'am" and "sir." and atlanta was a cool city...made me want to study the civil rights movement a little more.

my creepy little friend from the previously-mentioned horror hotel. YUCK! three inches, i'm not kidding.

georgia has gorgeous trees, vegetations and mountains. i definitely had a scenic drive.

and the mark of my return to civilization...i was really so delighted by my meal last night that i had to take a picture. for some reason i will never tire of room service, even at an embassy suites...maybe because it's so ridiculously expensive i'd never get it on my own.

only one slight delay on the flight home today, but who am i kidding -- i slept pretty much the entire way (albeit uncomfortably -- i hate sleeping on airplanes. i don't know how i'm going to survive the 14 hour trip to germany). time change is rough, especially when you're only going somewhere (somewhere that's three hours ahead and you have to wake up when your body thinks it's 2 a.m.) for two days. i came home and took a big nap :) so glad to be home.

100%+ improvement

okay so after i re-read last night's post i realize i was overreacting a little...but let me tell you i made it through the night just fine (although i didn't sleep much). thanks for all your concern but really i'm just a wimp.

and basically it was all worth it because now i'm comin atcha from my lovely embassy suites room...vh1 and room service (turkey-and-veggie wrap with a side of french fries...mmm). simple pleasures. i fly home tomorrow...let's hope there's no fog in SF.

p.s. on "i love the new millenium" (i hope vh1 never stops making these shows...i love them) they just did clay aiken in 2003. he was SO CUTE. remember how much we loved him, erica? too bad now he's gay and gross looking and randomly impregnates women. boo.

OMG

omg. that's really the only word i have right now, thanks to this trip. i could start probably 12 different horror screenplays from the place i'm staying right now -- we're talking bates motel, middle of nowhere, no outdoor lighting, it's been a long day so i tried to go to sleep at 12:00 a.m. but of course couldn't because my brain was telling me it was 9:00 p.m....so i woke up and decided to read blogs etc. until i felt tired (i have to get up at 7 a.m. so i wanted to assimilate to the time change asap) and GOOD THING I DID because i was just sitting here watching scrubs on youtube and saw a THREE INCH crawly, multi-legged little worm crawling on my bed!!!!!!!! YUCK!!! i HATE bugs. hate hate hate. especially when they're on my BED. i freaked out, jumped up and grabbed three kleenex (pausing only to take a picture for the blog of course -- it'll be up here this weekend :), picked it up, squished it, threw it in the trash can, and then dumped the contents of the trash can in the toilet and flushed, just in case. bleccchhh. how am i supposed to sleep NOW?? (1:20 a.m., if you're keeping up.)

and just because i will never sleep and feel chatty but i have no cell reception, i will tell you about the rest of my day. got off to a great start when last night my sleepy, post-yoga brain decided to set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. -- the time i was supposed to leave for the airport, not wake up! i showered and threw on clothes and booked it to the burbank airport but luckily made it. oh and another highlight -- at least one thing kept me entertained: the fact that erik estrada was on my originally scheduled flight.





i looked him up on imdb but didn't recognize a lot of his stuff (besides CHiPs and his lizzie mcguire cameo of course)...i swear he did a cameo on scrubs or arrested development once. anyone help me out?

then i learned my flight to san fran was delayed so i'd miss my connection to atlanta, the only flight out today, so i rerouted to denver to either make stand by for a 1:30 p.m. flight or wait till my newly scheduled 6:30 flight, which would get me in at 11:30 (and now i'm kind of wishing i had). luckily i got the stand by, made it to atlanta (which is very hot, wooded and full of waffle houses and chik-fil-a's...that's really all i know about it so far), picked up the rental car and drove here. to the scary place with bugs and no sleep.

and that is all. now i'm even more uneasy and really have never wanted to see an embassy suites more in my lifetime. eek...let's just say i've said a lot of prayers today, and i think that will continue.

p.s.

i'll be in the backwoods of georgia for the next 48 hours (work research trip).

pray for me.

we're talking hardcore appalachia, and if you read the glass castle you might have some idea of why i'm afraid.

i'll have my camera in hand with a complete report when i return :)

reality show shortage

so with all my fave shows currently between seasons (except jon & kate, still going strong -- did anyone catch the hair transplant episode?? i almost puked when they cut off that strip of skin from his head) i've been searching for new stuff. then i heard that a fellow byu alum, kelsey nixon, was going to be on "the next food network star." i never actually knew her but we were comms majors at the same time and have mutual friends, and who am i to not support a fellow mormon AND cougar??

so brandon and i tuned in to the first few episodes and at first i was definitely non-plussed. it's definitely not the highest-quality reality show out there (nothing compared to my beloved project runway, returning JULY 16!! woo!), not to mention that kelsey's overcaffeinated TV-cheerleader personality really bugged me at first. apparently it bothered the judges as well because last week they basically told her she was annoying -- and this week she toned it down and i actually really liked her. now i must admit i'm getting sucked in -- i do think kelsey could win and i'm fully rooting for her. and i think i will continue to watch that dumb show. you should too (come on, support the mormons) -- sunday nights on food network :)

home decorating.

we're still trying to spruce up the new apartment (and all the newfound wall space that didn't exist at the other one), so on saturday i went to kirklands, a fantastic home decorating store (not the place that makes costco stuff). i was quite happy with my purchases and decided to share :)

we got a fantastic 2-foot clock (for only $20!!! i was super stoked about this one because i've seen similar ones for $80 at the cheapest)...

and a lovely set of "three exotic vessels," according to the box...in reality they're just lovely little vases. they were on sale and i couldn't resist...i'm a sucker for anything you can put on a shelf or a table, and since i DO have those two lovely end tables now i needed something cool. the red one is so awesome i almost want to redo my house just so i can have a red-themed room.

that's all. the house is almost complete now, as soon as i craigslist that pile of junk i have still stuffed in the corner. hooray for consumerism.

open wide...

today i went to the dentist. i never really have a good experience there because i have some jaw issues so it hurts me to keep my mouth open wide, but ever since i got married & got my own insurance things have been especially crappy. we have the cheap version of dental insurance through work (i always forget this difference between the two, but i think we have a DMO...whatever type is crappy, that's what we have) and last year i went to some weirdo in culver city whose office was wallpapered in 70s wood paneling -- and i kid you not, the man was so non-tech that he did not even have a spit-sucker wand. YUCK. that whole experience scarred me enough to wait almost 18 months before my next appt (saying a lot, coming from someone who went to the dentist every 6 months without fail until age 22).

i went back to the pasadena dentist today, the one who said it would be $545 for my wisdom tooth removal, to get cleaned. it was still kind of lame but not as bad, although i am 85% sure the hygenist called me a "juicy patient" (sorry that i have a lot of spit, people!). i didn't particularly love them but at least they cleaned my teeth. then they racked up all these other future costs at my orthodontist consultation to discuss the production of an invisiline retainer to keep my other teeth in place so that we don't have to remove my baby teeth right now. three years of braces did make me a little weary of anything mouth-related, but this is lame. it's like $900 for the wisdom tooth + retainer. but now i'm wondering if i wait till the end of the year and switch dental insurances to the one that covers more, will it end up saving me more money? aren't insurance peeps supposed to pay for wisdom teeth? (mine is only signed up to pay about $121 at this point.) are these people trying to pull something over on me? dentists are lame. i wish i could find one that i liked and trusted and who could answer all my questions.