A week's worth of adventures!
So apparently the South isn't really a scary place, as long as you spend it being sarcastic and snarky with liberals.
While staying in Laura's condo (with a gorgeous view), I managed to weed a garden, fix a very sad tree, and paint some baseboards that needed the pick me up. Besides housework, there was quite a bit of the 1992 version of trivial pursuit playing (that I did manage to win once), movie watching (my super ex-girlfriend, a night at the museum, and knocked-up), and general rambunctiousness. Ali and I played in the amazingly serene pool and tan a little (my legs are less white now but only by a little). We also played games like crazy on Yawar's XBox 360. I slept on the couch and woke up every morning to the sun streaming in the windows and Eliza (one of the two adorable cats, more later) staring at me with a quizzical look on her face. Ali took the futon downstairs and woke up every morning to someone bursting into his room (we took turns).
Ali and I toured the different labs that my bro and Laura worked in and came up with terribly embarrassing stories to tell their co-workers whenever possible. We also managed to check out one of the Art Museums in downtown Birmingham. Mostly our adventures involved eating, talking, and meeting more Southerners.
We met the gay couple, Hussein and Greg, at this interesting little Indian place down in Birmingham. Apparently, it is my task to convince my mom to let Hussein officiate the Muslim part of the wedding all while keeping her totally unaware about Greg (boo for crazy mom). Both were really nice and friendly even though Greg's kind of the quiet type. Hussein works with lots of kids with diabetes since he's a pediatric endocrinologist (makes selling him to my mom wayyy easier).
Laura's sister, Amy, and her sister's fiance, Mike, met us at the house and followed us to this hip little Thai place. Amy is the equivalent of a nice, northern sorority girl but much less catty (anything is better than a southern sorority girl) and Mike is Yawar's lover (not really but they're both football playing, hair playing, comedians). Good people. I spent the night laughing at Mike's jokes and reminding Ali that he's an adult. Afterwards we went to this amazing Gellato place across the street that I loved. Yawar and Laura wanted to get this place to make their wedding cake but sadly they're closed on Thanksgiving weekend.
Miscah was the girl from I want to say Atlanta that works in Yawar's lab. The five of us, Miscah, Ali, Yawar, Laura, and I, had lunch at this interesting Mediterranean place. She seemed also on the quiet but definitely snarkier side of things and so everyone had fun making jokes about Yawar and his hair.
The downside to this whole trip is that it's made me realize exactly how much I miss Tommy. Every time we'd get comfortable to watch a movie and Yawar and Laura would be cuddling, I'd start reliving moments in my head. My brother and his fiance are really cute together but they would make me want to vomit if I were single. Instead, it was just kind of heart wrenching, On the brighter side, I told them about him and they loved making fun of me for dating a fraternity boy. Yawar asked what Tommy's girl name was and kept saying Tammy or Tabitha would be the best options to hide him from my mom. Every night I called him, it turned into three or four way conversations with Ali, Laura, or Yawar throwing in their funny two bits. Luckily, the boyfriend is coming to visit Tuesday.
The upside of the trip was that it got me much closer to convincing Tommy of exactly how much I want something cute and furry. Laura has two cats, Topaz aka Pazzy and Eliza, who were amazing to hang out with and chase around. Pazzy's the lap cat where as Eliza was the aloof one but regardless Eliza was the cute one and Pazzy was the chubby lovable one. Spending a week there prompted both Ali and I to ask my mom whether we could get a cat for the house to which she quickly said no. Oh well...
I miss Alabama terribly but mostly because I was really relaxed there. I got to wear whatever I wanted, say whatever I wanted, and do whatever I wanted really. No crazy stress from my mom or dad. Tommy said that every time he heard from me, it sounded like I was excited and happy like I was in the middle of playing a game of ultimate. He could hear me smiling. Within 5 hours of being off the plane, I managed to regain all of that stress and pressure that I left behind.
I've finally met my older brother's fiance, and I have to say that I kind of love her. She's the big sister I've always wanted and now I finally have. Bearing nothing goes wrong with her and my mom and this wedding business. Her name is Laura and so far the two of us have managed to seriously bond over not so very many days. We did lots of wedding planning stuff and story telling. Sharing tales of boyfriends and dating as well as sisterly "Stay Safe" stuff, the two of us are kinda like peas and a really oddly shaped white-brown pod.
In other news, I also managed to secure two jobs all while in another state. One is more just training stuff for a job next semester at Kaplan as an SAT tutor. The other is doing some research work at a lab down at UMDNJ with one of Yawar's old research professors. Yay for money. I start training for Kaplan on Monday but before that I have to drive down to Newark to get acquainted with the lab and find out exactly what I'm doing. More on the summer of lame-ness later!
While staying in Laura's condo (with a gorgeous view), I managed to weed a garden, fix a very sad tree, and paint some baseboards that needed the pick me up. Besides housework, there was quite a bit of the 1992 version of trivial pursuit playing (that I did manage to win once), movie watching (my super ex-girlfriend, a night at the museum, and knocked-up), and general rambunctiousness. Ali and I played in the amazingly serene pool and tan a little (my legs are less white now but only by a little). We also played games like crazy on Yawar's XBox 360. I slept on the couch and woke up every morning to the sun streaming in the windows and Eliza (one of the two adorable cats, more later) staring at me with a quizzical look on her face. Ali took the futon downstairs and woke up every morning to someone bursting into his room (we took turns).
Ali and I toured the different labs that my bro and Laura worked in and came up with terribly embarrassing stories to tell their co-workers whenever possible. We also managed to check out one of the Art Museums in downtown Birmingham. Mostly our adventures involved eating, talking, and meeting more Southerners.
We met the gay couple, Hussein and Greg, at this interesting little Indian place down in Birmingham. Apparently, it is my task to convince my mom to let Hussein officiate the Muslim part of the wedding all while keeping her totally unaware about Greg (boo for crazy mom). Both were really nice and friendly even though Greg's kind of the quiet type. Hussein works with lots of kids with diabetes since he's a pediatric endocrinologist (makes selling him to my mom wayyy easier).
Laura's sister, Amy, and her sister's fiance, Mike, met us at the house and followed us to this hip little Thai place. Amy is the equivalent of a nice, northern sorority girl but much less catty (anything is better than a southern sorority girl) and Mike is Yawar's lover (not really but they're both football playing, hair playing, comedians). Good people. I spent the night laughing at Mike's jokes and reminding Ali that he's an adult. Afterwards we went to this amazing Gellato place across the street that I loved. Yawar and Laura wanted to get this place to make their wedding cake but sadly they're closed on Thanksgiving weekend.
Miscah was the girl from I want to say Atlanta that works in Yawar's lab. The five of us, Miscah, Ali, Yawar, Laura, and I, had lunch at this interesting Mediterranean place. She seemed also on the quiet but definitely snarkier side of things and so everyone had fun making jokes about Yawar and his hair.
The downside to this whole trip is that it's made me realize exactly how much I miss Tommy. Every time we'd get comfortable to watch a movie and Yawar and Laura would be cuddling, I'd start reliving moments in my head. My brother and his fiance are really cute together but they would make me want to vomit if I were single. Instead, it was just kind of heart wrenching, On the brighter side, I told them about him and they loved making fun of me for dating a fraternity boy. Yawar asked what Tommy's girl name was and kept saying Tammy or Tabitha would be the best options to hide him from my mom. Every night I called him, it turned into three or four way conversations with Ali, Laura, or Yawar throwing in their funny two bits. Luckily, the boyfriend is coming to visit Tuesday.
The upside of the trip was that it got me much closer to convincing Tommy of exactly how much I want something cute and furry. Laura has two cats, Topaz aka Pazzy and Eliza, who were amazing to hang out with and chase around. Pazzy's the lap cat where as Eliza was the aloof one but regardless Eliza was the cute one and Pazzy was the chubby lovable one. Spending a week there prompted both Ali and I to ask my mom whether we could get a cat for the house to which she quickly said no. Oh well...
I miss Alabama terribly but mostly because I was really relaxed there. I got to wear whatever I wanted, say whatever I wanted, and do whatever I wanted really. No crazy stress from my mom or dad. Tommy said that every time he heard from me, it sounded like I was excited and happy like I was in the middle of playing a game of ultimate. He could hear me smiling. Within 5 hours of being off the plane, I managed to regain all of that stress and pressure that I left behind.
I've finally met my older brother's fiance, and I have to say that I kind of love her. She's the big sister I've always wanted and now I finally have. Bearing nothing goes wrong with her and my mom and this wedding business. Her name is Laura and so far the two of us have managed to seriously bond over not so very many days. We did lots of wedding planning stuff and story telling. Sharing tales of boyfriends and dating as well as sisterly "Stay Safe" stuff, the two of us are kinda like peas and a really oddly shaped white-brown pod.
In other news, I also managed to secure two jobs all while in another state. One is more just training stuff for a job next semester at Kaplan as an SAT tutor. The other is doing some research work at a lab down at UMDNJ with one of Yawar's old research professors. Yay for money. I start training for Kaplan on Monday but before that I have to drive down to Newark to get acquainted with the lab and find out exactly what I'm doing. More on the summer of lame-ness later!