Boys in the Bed?

So last weekend I posted about having a friend (and JUST a friend) in town for the weekend. I still haven't gotten around to posting the rest of the pictures from the stuff we did... maybe one day.

Anyway, back to the point. When he was here, I didn't think twice about having him sleep in my bed. With me. He's not my boyfriend. He's truly just a friend. Neither of us is dating anyone, either. But all of those things aside, I still would have let him sleep in my bed. I've slept in the same bed as a good friend who had a girlfriend, and neither of us paid any attention to anything other than the sleep we were about to get. The end. No big deal. But apparently I was wrong?

The vast majority of my friends thought this was weird. A lot of people assumed we were dating/hookingup/whatevering because of that. I let him sleep in my bed because that was the exact OPPOSITE of what was happening! I believe my exact words were "I swear to God, touch me and DIE!"

So it got me thinking. I sleep in the same bed as girlfriends, as my parents, as my small people (see left!)... as really anyone that I've known for half a minute. It has never bothered me... until now, when my friends all started making comments. I guess I let any of my friends sleep in my bed because I'd rather do the same when I'm visiting. I HATE sleeping on couches! So maybe it's selfish? Who knows.

So what do you think? Do you force visitors onto the couch, or do they snuggle up in bed with you? I'm interseted to hear thoughts!

picture is mine :)

Home Sweet Home

I was lucky enough to spend the past weekend at my favorite place - the beach! 2 of my best girlfriends and I reunited at my parents house in South Florida for a long weekend of sun, sand, and relaxation!

For me, though, the hardest part of vacation is coming home to a million things to do. Over time, I have learned a few tricks to make coming home a little bit easier!

1. Make your bed and pick up your room before you go. It sounds silly, but bringing home a mess INTO a mess is just, well... a mess!

2. When packing to come home, put all the dirty clothes together and all the clean clothes together on the other side of the suitcase. That way, you can just grab a pile and dump them into the dirty clothes without having to go through everything individually!

3. Clean your bathroom if you're going to be gone for more than a weekend. Bathrooms are the quickest to get dirty, and if you clean it right before you leave you'll be less likely to have to clean it immediately upon returning home!

4. Pick out an outfit or 2 (or 4...) to wear the week that you return home. You don't necessarily have to even take it out of the closet, but if you've got something in mind, the impending laundry won't seem quite as daunting.

5. Clean out the fridge, take out the trash, and run the dishwasher before you go! It's always more pleasant to eat up fresh veggies versus throwing out nasty moldy ones, and same goes for trying to wash crusty weekend-old dishes!

6. Leave yourself a few things to eat if you aren't going to be gone too long! Broccoli is a perfect example of a veggie that keeps longer than just a weekend, so having it in your refrigerator for Sunday night's dinner just makes the transition smoother.

I hope those help some of you. I know upon arriving home tonight, I was delighted that unpacking took me a grand total of 10 minutes because of all the prep I did before leaving, and it. was. awesome! Anyone else have any good tips?

Happy travels!

[picture from roomenvy.wordpress.com]

Fun Fact Tuesday

A little bit of trivia for you on a Tuesday afternoon. I have been unable to keep my eyes open since lunch, and I thought this might help some of the rest of you make your afternoons a little more bearable! I added a few of my own comments [in italics after the fact] Enjoy :)

1. Did you know the Comic Book Guy on "The Simpsons" has a name? It's Jeff Albertson. But that wasn't the decision of creator Matt Groening.

"I was out of the room when [the writers] named him," he told MTV in 2007. "In my mind, 'Louis Lane' was his name, and he was obsessed and tormented by Lois Lane."

2. Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. (Ken's last name is Carson.) [my sister should name her child Barbara Carson in tribute]

3. Cap'n Crunch's full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch. His ship is the S.S. Guppy.

4. In the Peanuts comic strip, Peppermint Patty's real name is Patricia Reichardt

5. Snuffleupagus has a first name -- Aloysius. Want more Snuffleupagus trivia? In a Sesame Street scene that never aired, Snuffy's parents announced they were separating. But in testing, children were too devastated by the news, so the idea was scrapped. [children devastated by news of divorce on TV? must have been 1956]

6. The Wizard of Oz rolls off the tongue a lot easier than the man behind the curtain's full name, Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs. From Frank Baum's Dorothy And the Wizard in Oz:

"It was a dreadfully long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I just called myself O.Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D; and that spelled 'pinhead,' which was a reflection on my intelligence." [mean joke, parents. first you have to spell that whole name, and by the time you've figured out how to spell it, everyone else has moved on to calling you pinhead.]

7. Mr. Clean has a seldom-used first name -- "Veritably." The name came from a "Give Mr. Clean a First Name" promotion in 1962.

8. In a deleted scene in the 2006 Curious George movie, The Man With the Yellow Hat's full name was revealed as Ted Shackleford. (Since the scene was deleted, perhaps the last name doesn't count.)

9. The real name of Monopoly mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags is Milburn Pennybags.

10. The policeman in Monopoly has a name, too. You can thank Officer Edgar Mallory the next time he sends you to jail.

11. On Night Court, Nostradamus Shannon was better known as Bull.

12. On Entourage, Turtle's real name is Salvatore Assante.

13. Sesame Street's resident game show host Guy Smiley was using a pseudonym all these years. He was born Bernie Liederkrantz.

14. The Michelin Man's name is Bibendum. [naming these characters might take the cake for best job ever]

15. On Gilligan's Island, Jonas Grumby was simply called The Skipper.

16. The Professor was Roy Hinkley.

17. The unkempt Shaggy of Scooby-Doo fame has a rather proper real name -- Norville Rogers.

18. The Pillsbury Doughboy's name is Poppin' Fresh. He has a wife, Poppie Fresh, and two kids, Popper and Bun Bun. [oh phew, i was worried he was single!]

19. The patient in the classic game Operation is Cavity Sam.

20. The true identity of The Lone Ranger was John Reid.

21. MacGyver's first name? Angus.

22 & 23. OK, these last two aren't fictional, but just in case it comes up, Bono was born Paul David Hewson, and The Edge's name is David Howell Evans.

All fun facts taken from CNN.com :)

Eat Your Hearts Out

I'm pretty sure that while Dan the Man was in town we ate at every single place in Atlanta that I love (with the exception of a few, because there are a lot of places I love).

I'll include them when I recap the days, but for now, a generic rundown of the ridiculous amount of food we ate.

*Chow Baby. Never fails to impress me, and lunchtime just feels like a much better deal.

*Nakato. This was a newbie for me, as I am a loyal MoMoYa fan. It was good, although you either prefer one or the other. There's no liking both for this girl! We had a restaurant.com coupon, but I'm pretty sure the Scoutmob would have gotten us a much better deal.

*Willy's. No explanation necessary. I could eat there daily and be happy.

*Fellini's. Never fails to impress, especially with a crowd of rowdy, tipsy, twenty-somethings.

*Figo (Howell Mill location). DELISH, and I love the new combo special with pasta and soup/salad. Seemed like the perfect amount of food!

*FlipBurger. Food was alright, service left something to be desired. I'd been before and had pretty good experiences, so this was the only disappointing meal of the weekend.

Like I said, we ate our hearts out. But DAMN if it wasn't good, and if I'm not relishing in the leftovers.

Friday Confession

I need a lot more alone time than I ever thought.

I always thought I was the person who neeeeeeded to be around people all the time but this whole having visitors in town thing has proven me all sorts of wrong about myself.

Today we are going to the Coke Museum and CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park and really all I want to do is lay by pool (by myself) and read my book (by myself) that is now 4 days overdue at the library.

Time to suck it up, put my big-girl pants on, and get moving. But I have got to tell you... I don't wanna.

A Tourist In My Own Backyard

I can't believe I'm about to admit this BUT... there are a lot of touristy places in ATL that I have never been/done. This week and weekend, my sweet friend Dan came to visit me from Kansas, land of BBQ and Dorothy, and he asked me to show him all the ATL hotspots.

I told him we could go to East Andrews & Moondogs, and he suggested perhaps the MLK, Jr Memorial, Stone Mountain, the Coke Museum, the Georgia Aquarium, and others. I guess our ideas of hotspots were off, but I jumped on his tourist bandwagon and off we went.

We are heading to a Braves game Saturday night for my best friend's birthday, so Mister Dan found us a sweet deal - the Braves Triple Play option! I'll recap the rest of our adventures in posts as our weekend progresses, but today...

Today we hit the first stop on our whirlwind ATL touristing tour - the Martin Luther King Jr, National Historic Site. I thought I had the address correct, turns out I had the address for his actual home. Whoops. So we drove around for a minute kind of lost, and almost called it quits, but Dan insisted we keep looking. After asking a National Parks Officer for some help, we found the guest parking (it was free - huge perk in downtown ATL!) and went on our adventure.

First we started at the Welcome Center. The exhibit is in 3 rooms, with the main entrance housing a quick glance at life in the time of Martin Luther King, Jr, from the 30's through the 60's, and how different it was compared to now. In the next room, you'll find a more in-depth journey with Martin Luther King, from his childhood to his ultimate assasination. There are video clips, murals, and everything in between. Pretty inspiring! They also had the wagon that carried Mr. King's casket.

From there, we walked a little further south and found Ebeneezer Baptist Church (old and new) but we weren't able to go inside - apparently the new one is being renovated to reflect a 60's motif. COOL!

From there, we continued our explorations to the fountains (which also were not running) that surround MLK & his wife's tomb. I made fun of DantheMan for calling it a tomb before we got there, but that really is how I would describe it to. I bet it would have been even more beautiful if the fountains had been running but alas, they were not.

We walked into Freedom Hall, were told the next tour wasn't until 5pm, and said oh well. The house MLK lived in up until he was 12 was just a couple doors down, so even though we couldn't go inside, we went and stood in front of it and took each other's pictures.

DanMan really wanted a MLK shot glass, and I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't think his dreams were going to come true. After the 2nd gift shop, it finally occurred to him that a commemorative shot glass might be a bit disrespectful. I was glad I didn't have to be the one to break the news.

All in all a successful first tourist activity in the A. Tonight, we're heading to the Laser Show, only to come home and head back to the Mountain again tomorrow for all kinds of activities. I shall return to post more about being a tourist in your own town!

Confession Friday

As seems to be the theme in the blogging world these days, I bring to you a themed Friday post. Confessions. Mine, yours, we'll share them and feel better about ourselves.

My first one dates back to 6th grade. 1998. 12 years ago. We had to write a paper about the person who inspires us. I thought and thought, and thought some more. I didn't want to be cheesy and write about my mom. I didn't want to be a total dork and write about an author of my favorite books (I did that in 5th grade and got relentlessly made fun of). So I chose wisely - I chose my favorite next-door-neighbor who was also mother of 2 children who I loved like little sisters. She was like my super cool, young, hip, rad aunt who knew all the secrets that my mom just didn't know anything about. Our own moms, at the time, were so totally uncool.

So I write my paper about Christina, how she inspired me and how wonderful she was. Either I kept it a secret from my mom or I just didn't show her my rough draft, but either way she never saw it until after the dreadful day I showed it to Christina. In my physical description of this woman that I loved so much, I wrote about her beautiful ash colored hair, her short haircut, her lovely eyes, her slight double chin, how she was the same height as me.... oh did you catch that part? Yes, in describing this 30-something mom of 2 and friend to me, I included that she had a slight double chin.

So I take my final draft after I had turned it in and my mom & I take it to show Christina. Christina reads it, laughs, shows it to my mom, and then... she asked me if I knew what a double chin was. YES!!! I nodded seriously, of course I knew what a double chin was. Then my mother proceeded to tell me, in front of Christina, about how it wasn't very nice to point that out about someone, and it was one of those unspoken of things in life, and that what the hell Katie, Christina doesn't even have a double chin anyway?

So here is my confession: I honestly had no idea what the heck a double chin was in 1998 and lied to look smart and it TOTALLY backfired. FYI, that was not the last time lying about my wealth of knowledge has totally backfired and made me look like a fool.

Also, sorry Chris. I hope you have loved me anyway after all these years. You probably don't even remember this, but man oh man do I. And for the record, you did not and still do not have anything resembling a double chin. That's all.

I Give Up On Nostalgia

When my parents moved in 2008, for the entire year before that, my mom had slowly but surely meticulously packed boxes upon boxes upon BOXES of our stuff and moved it to a storage unit near our house. She had a list with the boxes number, written on the outside, and the list told her what was in each box. When the house sold, all the sudden things were a lot less meticulous and the things that we used on a daily basis got shoved in with my old baby dolls and Lauren's old Barbies.

Lauren's old Barbies also warrant a post in and of themselves, because when we attempted to clean out the storage unit, we uncovered ELEVEN BOXES OF BARBIES. That doesn't include her Barbie house, cars, boats, etc. But I digress.

So back at Thanksgiving last year, I decided that I wanted, er, HAD TO HAVE, all my stuff out of the storage unit. I didn't trust that storage unit with all those nasty bugs, I thought someone was going to come in and steal all of my Berenstein Bears books and my report cards from Kindergarten-12th grade, and I was POSITIVE that the rest of my family just could not be responsible for my personal items that I just had to have for the rest of my life or I would die, such as my Bee, my spoon cabinets, and a mirror my best friend etched for me for my 17th birthday.

My mom & I dug through all 493 boxes and I found all the things I wanted. My spoon collection, my Berenstein Bears books, my report cards from Kindergarten-12th grade, the newspaper I was quoted in after 9/11, holiday decorations, the whole nine yards.

Well now that I've rifled through it all and gotten nostalgic and cried over pictures of my 135 lb 18 year old body, all that SHIT is sitting in my our entryway closet taking up a lot of space, and really not getting used. Now that I know it's there, I don't really want it. I'd like direct and immediate access to it, but I really don't need it to be sitting in our closet taking up copious amounts of space (and I'd imagine my roommate will be delighted with the removal of these things from our house). So tonight, I will be removing it from my immediate vicinity and putting it BACK in the storage unit, trusting that at least if it goes up in flames tomorrow, I won't be the only one missing 20 years of my life.

Father's Day

I was having a hard time deciding what to get for/do for my dad for Father's Day.

Option 1: Season 1 Big Bang Theory. My dad loves this show, as I think a lot of dad's will. Bazinga.

Option 2: A gift card to the Bass Pro Shop. Since moving to Florida, he has become addicted to fishing. This warrants another post in and of itself.

Option 3: Georgia Tech gear. He can never have enough. EVER.

Option 4: Just send a card and call it a day.

Option 5: Treat him to dinner with me next time he's in town (approx. every 6 weeks).

In the end, I went with Option 3! I bought him a pair of GT Croakies, and I bought myself a matching pair. I gave them to him while I was visiting with them in SanDestin over Memorial Day Weekend, and I have to say... HUGE SUCCESS!!! He put them on immediately and even when I saw him today, was still sporting the GT Croakies!

So, if you are looking for a gift idea for Pops Day, hopefully these were some thought-provoking ideas. If not... leave some suggestions in the comments for others!

I'll do a full tribute to my Dad post soon... he's earned it :)

Sorry Dudes.

Even though I think there are approximately 3.2 people who actually expect an update from me, I feel as though I should apologize for being boring, lame, and missing. I've been BUSY. Beyond BUSY. The BUSIEST I've ever been.

Slammed at work - trying to redesign a website is hard, but today is the day it will all be revealed my friends. We've had deadlines and meetings and manufacturers and more meetings and more deadlines but FINALLY i think things are settling back down into a little bit more normal routine. I say that, and I'm really kind of supposed to be doing other stuff right now in preparation for my 5 hours of meetings that are taking place starting in 45 minutes.

So anyway...excuses aside, I'll do better. I leave you with a story.

I got home from dinner last night (at Rocky Mountain pizza... hello college nostalgia!) and was laying in my bed reading. I see movement out of the corner of my eye. We all know how well I deal with bugs... GUESS what was creepy-crawling all over my bed? Stupid little spider. I went and got my trusty bug-killer shoe and stomped that little dude. I just washed my sheets yesterday morning, too. Oh well, he's long gone now. I hate bugs.

Things I Know Now That I Wish I Knew Then

i don't know why i was thinking about this, but i was. these are some general things i wish i had known at some point, recently or long ago, that i have come to terms with now. that doesn't mean i take my own advice, but i'm at least aware of it!

• when you break up with your boyfriend, the best way to get over it is to sever all contact. there is no such thing as being friends, no such thing as being nice, and no such thing as keeping in touch, at least not in the forseeable future.
• designer rainboots are really not worth it. designer jeans, on the other hand... yes please.
• moms are the smartest, wisest, most knowledgable humans on the earth. i'm pretty sure they get smarter as we get older, too.
• you are fully capable of killing the bugs, changing your windshield wipers, and moving big heavy boxes, but having boys around to do those things is just better.
• if you want something, go after it. nobody can make your dreams come true faster than you can. you just gotta "put your number in the tip jar and hope that eventually he'll propose!"
• alcohol makes small problems bigger but at least its fun in the meantime. and, once the problem is monstrous, it's probably better to figure it out without robert mondavi's help.
• friends are there to pick you up when you fall. thats why they are your friends. and if they are good ones, they'll love you no matter how hard you fall or how many times. and they might tell you how tired they are of picking you up and that damnit katie have you learned your lesson this time?, but they'll keep doing it, because they're your friends and because they love you.
• sometimes you just have to close your eyes and do what feels good.

what do you know now that you wish you had known then?