The Wheels on the Bus...

Today was a big day. A big, big, big day. I had my second (second!) interview at Starbucks. I decided while I was out here, I'd cross barista off my bucket list. I was thinking I wanted to barista when I was retired and 72 and living in Maine, but for some reason, I got the carpe diem spirit and decided to give it a go while I'm living in Hawaii. And I really, really love coffee, so it's kind of a match made in espresso heaven. But the interview is so not important.

What is important is that I rode the bus today all by myself! Below you will find a detailed description of exactly what transpired during my first "TheBus" outing.

12:47 -- Garry drops me off at the street corner.
12:53 -- I finally cross the street, then cross another street, then cross back to get to the correct bus stop.
12:58 -- The 20 comes by. It's not the bus I want.
12:59 -- The 19 comes. Not the bus I want.
1:01 -- The 40! Woot woot! I'm reasonably confident this bus will get me where I need to go. I board it like an old pro, deposit my $2.50, and take a seat in the middle. I didn't really want to sit up front, I'm not a brown-noser, but I didn't want to sit in back, either, because it looked like a "we ride the bus all the time" clique had formed and I didn't want to intrude.
1:19 -- Chinatown! Which looked like a lot of fun and one day maybe I'll spontaneously de-bus and visit some of the shops and restaurants.
1:41 -- Arrive at destination.

(Insert interview here)

2:45 -- Minor panic sets in when I walk to the bus stop where I got off and see that there isn't a bus there that will get me back home.
2:48 -- Panic subsides when I find a huge bus depot with no less than 7 buses that will get me home. Whew.
3:10 -- Bag lady boards and, even though there are about 27 available seats, she sits right next to me and proceeded to talk enthusiastically and with maniacal hand gestures for about 6 stops until she de-buses. I kept my iPod turned on and ignored her.
3:40 -- I descend the bus stops no longer a TheBus virgin.

Overall, a pretty successful first try. Now that I've been bitten by the bus bug, I can't wait to ride again. Oahu, here I come!

And, for those of you expecting a more adventurous post, like, say, a detailed description of my first surf lesson...well, I hate to disappoint. Momma needs a job!

(I really had to fight the urge to insert Speed references here. It was hard. Really hard.)

4 Months, 2 Weeks, and 2 Days

Instead of trying to sum up "What I Did This Summer," I'm just totally going to skip over that part and act like the last 4 months never happened. Therefore, I'm going to pretend that you all know that I graduated from Belmont last month. I'm also going to pretend that you all know that I moved to Hawaii. I'll let you draw your own conclusions, but you're probably right. I'm putting off joining the real world for a year because I decided if I want to frolic around Hawaii, it's better to do it in my twenties than in a few years when I (eek!) hit 30.

I suppose the new aim of the blog will be to document my life in the Aloha state. I promise, the minute I jump on a surfboard or sip a Mai Tai, you all will be the first to know. And, since many of you have asked, yes, I will happily allow you to live vicariously through me. Just hit up the comments section and let me know what you've always wanted to do here, and I'll do my best to come through for you. After all, we only have this one life, and if you're never actually going to make it here to Hawaii, the least I can do is take a picture of myself doing something you've always wanted to do!

The Sun'll Come Out, Tomorrow!

The last few days have felt a little bit like a cross between Armageddon and The Day After Tomorrow, without hunky Bruce Willis and Dennis Quaid. And meteors and giant snowstorms. Okay, maybe it's been nothing like those movies, but still, it's been kind of surreal. I think all of us living in Middle Tennessee knew to expect some rain and thunderstorms, possibly a tornado or two, on Saturday, which is nothing we haven't seen before. But what we didn't expect was for the rain to not stop for more than 36 hours.

Luckily, I was safe in my apartment with only a tiny bit of water coming in under my front door, nothing a towel couldn't soak up. My only complaint is that I was without coffee yesterday. I certainly feel blessed to have only the tiniest problem when hundreds (likely thousands) of people lost their homes and cars and all of their belongings.

The coverage on television has been devastating to watch. Seeing my favorite mall under water is heartbreaking. Watching the Cumberland River flood into downtown Nashville and take out the Wildhorse Saloon and our favorite restaurants is unbelievable. But I'm proud to live (if only for a short while longer) in the Volunteer State. I saw an interview with a sixteen year old boy yesterday who rescued family after family in his family's small fishing boat. He was 16! Not sure if that was incredibly stupid or incredibly brave (possibly a bit of both), but his neighbors are lucky to have him around. Stories of incredible rescues and the volunteer spirit are surfacing everywhere.

Please keep the folks of Nashville in your thoughts!

Is Today The Best Day You've Ever Had?

That's what the check-out kid at Target asked me today, and it made me think. It's not the worst day I've ever had, but the best? Not by a long shot.

Reasons it's not the worst day I've ever had:

* Record-high heat wave. I love any reason to wear a skirt and flip flops.
* It's opening day!
* Every single piece of clothing I own is clean and either folded or hung up in its proper place. Except for the clothing that is currently on my person. First time ever this has happened since I lived at home, eight years ago.

Reasons it's not necessarily the best day I've ever had:

* Record-high heat wave coupled with humidity means I'm having major big hair issues.
* It's opening day and I'm already thinking, "There's always next year!" C'mon Cubbies! Seriously?!?
* Every piece of clothing I own is officially clean and hung in its proper place and I'm out of hangers. I officially have too many clothes. Must de-clutter and head to Goodwill.
* It's officially spider season again. About nineteen seconds ago I took a look at my planner to see a disgusting, hairy brown spider crawling across April 7th. Freakout ensued and said spider's guts are now embedded into my carpet and on the bottom of my left black flippy floppy. Eww.
* I tried the new dark cherry mocha at Starbucks and it tasted like NyQuil. Good news? I like NyQuil. Bad news? Don't think I like NyQuil mixed with espresso and chocolate. I'll go back to the old standard, caramel latte, on my next visit. Still glad I tried it, though.
* Poor Butler Bulldogs!
* I wandered through Target while on the phone with Katie (best part of my day, by the way) and threw everything in the cart that I needed except the one thing I really went to Target for - toilet paper. Grr...
* Did I mention it's spider season?

Coffee Girl

I'm pleased to announce that I'm officially back on the juice. I went to bed last night quite giddy about waking up Easter morn and heading out for coffee. I knew for sure I didn't want to just brew some in my dusty coffee pot, although I would like to thank my favorite nephew for the delicious Dunkin Donuts grounds he picked out for my Easter basket. Thanks little man! For some reason, the thought of leaving my apartment and heading toward Starbucks or DD sounded much more exhilirating. After much deliberation, I finally decided on DD for a large iced coffee with caramel. It was, after all, eighty-something degrees out and it seemed appropriately refreshing. Best. Coffee. Ever. And best coconut donut. Ever.

Thanks again to all of you for your support during this very trying time in my life. You'll be happy to know that since my coffee intake has increased, so has my productivity. Depressing, I know, but it's true. I'm an addict.

The Land of 10,000 Bars

This year I decided to take spring break a little late. Why should I have to conform to the standards set by Belmont? I don't want to have spring break when it's 40 and rainy. I want it when it's sunny and 75. So I decided to spend my post-spring-break spring break with some of my favorite girls in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. Lucky for me, there was a heat wave! Highlights:

Day 1:

*Things were great even before Minny when I got a cheddar dog and fries from Gold Coast dogs in Midway airport. Seriously, if you haven't tried them, do it. Purposely schedule your layovers there, you won't be disappointed.

*Happy hour and bowling league. And my first ride in the Mini.

# of drinks consumed:

2.5 = glasses of the wine of the month at the bowling alley (no joke)
2 = beers

1 = rum and Coke

Day 2:

*The outlet mall on a gorgeous, sunny day. Space Aliens for lunch. Seriously. Tess was like a kid in a candy store - this girl loves outer space and UFO's and alien conspiracies. Couple that obsession with Space Fries and she was in heaven.
*Happy hour and bar-hopping and karaoke, oh my! Who knew happy-hour hopping could be such fun? Thanks to random girl Stephanie for joining Tess and I on a pitchy, just aight version of "I Want You To Want Me." And mazel tov to Jake for his heart-wrenching rendition of Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." Dude, you really brought the house down.

# of drinks consumed:

1 = Tom Collins (don't ask)

5 or 6 (possibly more) = rum and Coke

2 = Beer- Summit (yummy) and one super strong 9% alcohol Belgian (also yummy)

Day 3:

*Chipotle downtown with the girls. So yummy.

*Lesiurely saunter around Calhoun with Ann, capped off with a Phish Food milkshake from B&J.

*Grilled cheese party, Part Deux. Hats off to the grilled s'mores and grape jelly/brie combo.
# of drinks consumed:

3 or 4 (or more): glasses of wine

Day 4:

*Lunch with some of my favorite boys. Let me just say that ordering a drink before noon is a mistake. A happy mistake, though.

*Como Zoo with Lala. Highlights include that it was free and there was cotton candy to be enjoyed. Lowlights include that it was packed with spring break children and I'm apparently allergic to the sunken garden.

*Happy hour mojitos. Another walk around another beautiful lake.

*My first Sextons experience. Good band. Even better t-shirts.

*Park Tavern. 'Nuff said.

# of drinks consumed:

3 = mojitos

1 = Goose Island brewskie

1 = Leinie's HoneyWeiss

3-ish = rum and Coke

Day 5:

*Sleeping in!

*Sad farewell lunch to cap off a successful MALT WOF! (Mal, Ann, Laura and Tess Week of Fun!)

# of drinks consumed:

1 = mojito

Lessons learned:

Even flip flop lovers have bad days.

Mojitos are good.

Jamaican wings are good.

My liver needs a break from spring break.

Long Time, No Type

So, I realize it's been awhile since last I blogged. I believe this is becoming a trend and I apologize for it, but I'm not so broken up about it that I'm taking any drastic measures to fix it. To be honest, things have been very quiet around here lately and I just don't have anything interesting to say. Below, in no particular order, is a brief summary of the past few weeks:

1. I caught up on Lost and love it. No surprise there. Also not very newsworthy.
2. I bought a different brand of bacon and I don't love it.
3. Speaking of bacon, I had the best bacon cheeseburger last week at Cheddar's. This might very well have been the first burger I've had since I quit them last fall. Now that I'm back on the burger bandwagon, I do believe a trip to Five Guys is in order. Any takers?
4. Liam had his first "aunties only" slumber party last week on the eve of his first birthday party. It was pretty boring, actually, because he went to bed at 7:30. And Jamie and I got no sleep. But we discovered he likes cinnamon rolls, so I'll go ahead and say it was a success.
5. TiVo recorded Dazed and Confused for me sometime in the middle of the night last night. Pretty pumped about that.
6. There's a new dark cherry mocha at Starbucks that I'm itching to try. I really can't wait for Easter to come. I'll probably never come down from the espresso high that will likely ensue.
7. John Mayer is about to get banned from my Pandora stations. Why does Pandora think I like him? I thumbs-down every song of his that comes on.

That's it for now. I would promise to try to do better, but I don't want to instill in you all a false sense of hope.

Peace out!