The Seasons Have Changed

There is so much to celebrate today! I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with the most obvious! 

It's the most wonderful time of the year......college football season!! I am beyond excited! Of course I have my red and white on today. I can't wait to skip out of the office and into my local bar to cheer for some touchdowns today!

My next celebration is fall is almost here. FB is a frenzy of pumpkin lattes and football excitement. You know fall is on its way when Starbucks pulls out the pumpkin. So ready to kiss these 90 degree temps goodbye and say hello to a crisp fall day.

Finally, I hope the skies are clear tonight because there is a Blue Moon. There won't be another blue moon until 2015. I'd like to see it. I know I sound like a dweeb but it might be cool. Maybe I'll dance to Frank's Blue Moon under a real Blue Moon after drinking Blue Moon tonight. (Man, I'm good at this game!)

Happy Friday and Go Pack!

S.O.S.

Sickness

I've decided that summer sickness is the worst! Absolute. Worst. Ever.

I was out of work for three days this week. If you know me, I don't take sick days. Especially three in a row. I had every possible funk all rolled up into one. All I wanted was to pull out fleece pjs, stocks, hoodies, but it was way too hot for all that. Blah.

I watched way too much tv over the past few days. Since its still summer, there was only one new show on my DVR. Thank you Dance Moms (I can't give you a link bc Lifetime.com is blocked at work?) for giving me one hour of entertainment over the past 3 days. Theres a new dancer and mom in town and they are gonna be a handful! I wonder if she'll dance at Nationals. Do you think Maddie will have a solo at Nationals?? Drama, drama.

It got so bad, that last night I watched an hour special on Lizzie Borden AND an hour special on Jack the Ripper.  The show last night found James Kelly guilty of the Jack the Ripper killings. Apparently there were 10 total across London and the US. I also watched the series final of Teen Mom (tear). I'm gonna miss those silly girls! I really do hope Amber gets her life together.

Today is my Monday and tomorrow is Friday with a three day weekend. I've got all my days completely out of whack now. I have a feeling I'll be even more confused at some point next week.

Lesson the week- take your vitamins year round. 

I hope the germs stay far away!

S.O.S.

Clean Laundry

Everytime, without fail, a little grey furball burrows into my clean, fresh out of the dryer, laundry.

I guess her nose was cold! 

Happy Friday, Y'all,

SOS

PS- I promise those sheets, pillowcases, and pajamas are clean!

4 Month Reflection

Yesterday marked four months of being at my new job- uhh, how did that happen?! Sometimes I feel like I've been here forever and other days, I feel like its my first day.

I can say, without question, that changing jobs was the best thing. My stress levels appreciate it, my checkbook loves it, my family and friends see a huge change in me. Granted, while I LOVED my old job and coworkers, I was burnt out. The reality is, that happens. Its no one's fault. It was just the nature of that job. 

I have learned so much at my new job. Its amazing to see the differences between a state nonprofit and a national nonprofit. I have all the good corporate benefits (my insurance is out of this world!, and I have support everywhere I look) yet still have the "we roll up our sleeves and get the job done" mentality. Since I have never worked corporate America, I can't accurately compare- just my assumptions. But my blog so I can assume away!

I've also been surprised how much knowledge I've been able to apply from my old job. I'm no longer in the MH/DD field and I'm no longer doing design work so I wasn't sure how many skills would transfer.

I've made it through 3/4 of our events, all were in June. We have one major event left for the year and that will be a breeze compared to June.

I'm thrilled where life is taking me and I haven't looked back once!

Cheers,
Southern Gal

Summer Reading #2

Thank you for your summer reading suggestions that y'all emailed me.

I have read...

White Girl Problems

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This was hilarious! I could totally identify friends/myself throughout the book. It was a quick read and very entertaining. Her adventures had me laughing with every turn of the page. If you are looking for something serious, profound, etc, then I suggest you find another book.

The Secret Lives of Dresses

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This book was really sweet. It is sad in parts but I found myself cheering on the protagonist. I did cry but I would read it again. Its a quick read! I just found it at the book store and bought it on a whim. Two thumbs up.

Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy 

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I'm sure you have heard lots of opinions about these books. I liked them for what they are. They aren't meant to be the next great American novels or Shakespeare. They are fan-lit. There is more to the storyline than wild, insane sex. By book 3, I found myself wanting to get to the story!

Bitter is the New Black

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Jen Lancaster is hilarious. This was her first book she wrote and its based on her own life. She is raw, honest, funny, and real. Truthfully, I appreciated her snotty-ness.

Current Read...

Preppy in Plaid

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I'm only about 20 pages in so I don't have much of an impression at the moment. (Same author as Bitter is the New Black)

Next...

Gone Girl, Summer Rental, Spring Fever, and Bright Lights, Big Ass

These books are recommendations but I'm not sure what order I'll read them in. I'll probably read Gone Girl so I can return it to a friend. Its about a wife that goes missing. I LOVE borrowing books instead of paying for them! Bright Lights, Big Ass is another Jen Lancaster book. I saw Spring Fever on BitP blog and from that I found Summer Rental. I'll let yall know how they go.

Edit- I also have I Totally Meant to do That in my queue. A director from my old job talked nonstop about this book so maybe I'll have to squeeze this in very soon.

What else have you been reading this summer??

Happy Reading,

Southern Gal

No Cake for You!

Sadly my dreams were smashed last night and I won't be frolicking in the land of icing bags, sugar flowers, and piping tips.

My friend, K, and I arrived at my cake decorating class about 30 mins early to pay for the class and get settled. Well we got there and the lady looked at us like we was crazy. Ok, so maybe she was super polite, but the reality is she snatched my dreams from me. I. BLAME. HER. There I said it.

Let me tell you what happened.

We walked in and asked what we was suppose to do, where we was suppose to go. Miss Dream-Snatcher looked at me and asked me where my supplies were. Well I didn’t have any. I thought since I was paying for the class, that would cover my supplies. Neither one of us had supplies. Miss D-S pulled out a supply list from her handy-dandy notebook and informed K and I that there was no way we could gather all our supplies before class started. Thanks for that vote of confidence. 

Anyways, said list would have been helpful last week! Keep in mind there is NO supply list anywhere on the website. Also when we called to confirm, no supply list was mentioned. K and I are smart people so I REALLY want to know how the other people in the class knew what to bring. It wasn't fair.

So maybe Miss D-S didn’t smash my dreams into a trillion pieces, but she messed up my cake plans this month AND K's birthday. Yes, yesterday was K's birthday and the fine people at AC Moore ruined it. I hope they feel guilty.

 I just want to learn how to make a nice basket weave on a cupcake. Seriously, am I asking too much?! AC Moore, you are now on my S*** List! Maybe I’ll go take the class at Michael’s instead.

S.O.S.

Sugarland

I bet you're thinking this is post is going to be about the wonderful musical styles of Sugarland, but you are wrong my friend.

Tonight I start my cake decorating class. Every Tuesday evening for the next four weeks you will find me frolicking in the land of icing bags, sugar flowers, piping tips, and I am beyond excited!!!

Via

The cake above is my goal. I want to make it one day. I love the way the color fades as you go up. I love the texture. I just love it. 

I have been wanting to take a cake decorating class for some time now and I'm thrilled that I have prioritized it.  Remember back when I made my list To Do List. Well here we go!!

I can't wait to tell you all about it!!

XOXO,

S.O.S.