Bring on the Rain!

And did it ever. I hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July. Mine was a bit... damp. Of course city celebrations of this great holiday started early afternoon, around 3p. Upon time for the great fireworks show, 5th largest in the nation supposedly, of course the downpours fell out of what had been looming clouds all afternoon. As the storms and the rain were off and on again and again for the few hours we were enjoying dinner and company, they powers that be decided that they were going to shoot the fireworks anyway. Just a little earlier than planned. This was good news for us, not so good for the people who had been down there at the River Front all afternoon. Because in order to see the show, they sat in it. And got soaked. I do mean soaked.

The smart ones in my group had discovered the perfect tailgating spot on the second to top level of a nearby hospital parking garage that had a direct view of the skyline. It was in fact, beautiful. I turned on my favorite local radio station that was covering the big events on full blast so that everyone else who had discovered out little hideaway could listen to the Symphony Orchestra play along to this beautiful fireworks extravaganza. About 1/2 way through, however, it began to rain so hard that we couldn't even see the skyline anymore. All we could see were lights in the distance where the fireworks were still shining brightly. While we couldn't see the entirety of the show, we mostly stayed dry and could still hear the symphony. Until the storm knocked out the live feed for the radio station. In which case, we simply started singing Lee Greenwood at the tops of our lungs... mind you, we had been tailgating for a little over an hour at this point. At least by the time of this occurrence... no more live feed... the rain had let up so that we could actually see the show again. I suppose we had to pick-- full show or full music. Either/or. It was a fun night though. Definitely a 4th of July I'll remember. My first in the city. It was crazy. Unreal. But so fun. So fun.

Happy Holiday Weekend!

All week long I've been teaching my kids at work about Independence Day. Celebrating the 4th of July with picnics, cookouts, friends, family and a day off of work. The latter being my favorite right now. I woke up this morning around 9:30a. I never thought that 9:30 would be sleeping in for me, but I woke up refreshed and ready to begin my day with just a couple of extra hours of sleep. My off day's plan is a good breakfast, a quick run, a lunch date with my co-teacher, and a short round of shopping and running errands before Mr. Perfect's parents come in for the weekend. They're awesome so I'm not dreading that at all. I'm hoping that we are able to head downtown into the city for the rather large fireworks show tomorrow evening. Should be a pretty fantastic weekend. Especially since I have the added day tacked onto it. 

Last weekend, I was a slacker and didn't update. So sorry. I went home last weekend for a celebration of Rico's birthday. He had come to my hometown to stay with his best friend currently enrolled in the University there and I came to join the party. IG and Diva were there too. It was a great weekend of fun with friends I miss so dearly. Dart champions named once again... only winning 1/3 BUT that's not the point. Mr. Super Athlete earned slight bragging rights, but they won't last long. Rico had a great birthday I would assume and that was the point. Right?  In any case, it was so great to have a weekend of doing whatever I pleased with whomever I pleased. Felt like college again. And once again, it was so hard to leave. That's one thing that never changes. 

All in all it's been a good couple of weeks. Next weekend, I travel back to where I went to college for yet another Sorority sister's wedding. Should be fun. She's fun. Not one of the bitches as you know them... not regularly anyway. Ha. But then again, who am I to talk. It'll be a good weekend. I hope to share a short visit with Roxie too. She'll be through town at least one of the days I'm home. I'm enjoying seeing all of my bests this summer. Keeps me going even though I have to work through it 40 hours a week unlike ever before. Ah, well. Growing up is hard to do. 

Happy 4th! 

TGIF

Let's begin by talking about my love for three very important things: Great friends, white wine, and T Pain. I heart T Pain. Really, can't help it. Always have. Another very important love in my life: Friday nights. Combine all four, you have a very happy, no longer moping, Classy. With a few of my closest friends here in the city, we celebrated Friday night and my return from vacation. Four bottles of wine and a touch of Jack Daniels later... 3:00am came way too soon! We had a blast showing off our rapping skills, dancing skills, and leaving skills as we wandered off, just the girls, to get a little philosophical conversation flowing poolside during the early hours of the morning. I'm sure you can imagine. It was hilarious. 

In any case, since I live seemingly looking forward to the next weekend, as Sunday night rolls to an end, I wanted to reminisce on my Friday, while sharing my love for T Pain and gearing up for Monday... looking forward to next Friday. Hope everyone starts the week off right! Love to all!

Post-Beach Blues

This was me, yesterday. Maybe a little bit older and not in front of a Christmas tree. But this was me. I made the 7.5 hour journey back from my own slice of Heaven, otherwise known as the Gulf of Mexico, yesterday. My family, however, is still there. Probably on the beach right now. While I'm at work. Isn't that peachy? This is the first year in all of my life that I have not been able to spend a full week's vacation with my family in the Gulf. Unfortunately enough, my vacation days are spent and this Classy girl needs every dime on her paycheck in order to pay my bills and fund other excursions between pay periods. I'm pretty sure I cried multiple times on the trip home, just thinking about the rest of my family enjoying the ocean breeze and relaxing by the shore while I was facing torrential downpours and tornado warnings as a special 'Welcome Home' present from the city. Awesome.

While I'm so thankful for the time I was able to enjoy, it hurt more than a little to leave my favorite destination. Hurt even more to show up for work again today. Although, I could really get used to this whole two day work week thing. I'm trying to look towards the future now. My summer is still full of fun and excitement if I can just get past the continuous focus of not being able to be where I want to be in this very second... while Mr. Super Athlete and the rest of the crew are sunbathing and drinking and swimming and laughing... ugh...

Anyway, we're moving on. I'll keep you posted on what I find exciting about this weekend... could be rough, but I won't continue to mope... much... Promise.

Operation: Working Vacation

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is where I will be in only two more days. As if I hadn't been MIA in the blog-o-sphere enough, this upcoming Friday through Wednesday, I will be MIA in the city as well. And I cannot wait. This very beach, the ocean breeze, the hot white sand, the clear waters... the cold beverage... all of the cold beverage... five days of absolute and blissful nothingness. God, can I leave now? Classy and Mr. Perfect are traveling Friday night to meet my family, including Mr. Super Athlete, for a week in Seaside, Florida-- all paid for via my fabulous parents. Could it be any more perfect? Only if it lasted two weeks instead of 5 days. Unfortunately, my 'super cool' workplace won't pay me to be at the beach any more than my current existing vacation days will allow. Those pesky bills to pay at the end of the month seem to ruin all the fun. Ah, well. Some is better than none at all... that is for certain. 

Speaking of my 'super cool' workplace and my desperate need for this overdue vacation, I promised explanation for my negative attitude towards said 'super cool' environment in my last post. For the past couple of months, I have been on the verge of miserable at work. While I have my good days and still find great comfort in my close co-workers, my 'higher-ups' continue to place me on that line between anger and misery more often than not. As of late, it has gotten better, however not more than a month ago, I was more than ready to be elsewhere being paid more money for some type of work where I was actually using the degrees that I had earned in school. Basically, they don't pay me nearly enough to talk to me or treat me the way that they were at the time. Ie. I don't know how to do my job or I'm not putting forth enough effort for the sake of my children, blah blah bullshit, blah blah. Funny how all of my quarterly personal evaluations since I've been teaching there have been nearly perfect scores, yet all of a sudden, I'm worthless. It was re-accreditation season for them, therefore their asses were on the line, so their stresses were forced upon their staff... it was my first go around with said season. Lucky me. I don't think I'll be around to witness another... I hope not anyway. After crying at work twice in two weeks, one could say I was more than a little fed up. However, being that I was in the middle of May Mania, I didn't exactly have time to vent such stresses here or put forth effort in looking for a new place of employment were I would be validated. I basically spent all of May avoiding my administration as to 1.) not be forced into fake conversation acting as if I was perfectly fine after the way I was treated or 2.) not be yelled at or condemned for anything else I could possibly be doing all wrong. My job simply isn't that hard. I promise I can handle it. Chill out. Anyway, as things have settled mostly, I'm back to complacency where I am at the moment. My resume has been updated and sent off to a couple of locations actually, but I'm not expecting much out of it. Not many industries hiring nowadays. The relief, however, of simply having it updated and available for immediate send out is quite enjoyable.

But not more enjoyable than the relief that my home away from home in Seaside is waiting for me a mere 72 hours from now. Ah, bliss. 

She's Alive!

Hard to believe, right? Did you think that all of May Mania got the best of me? Well is almost did, I have been in recovery, but never the less, I have survived! All is said and done and it's already June! How did that happen? I just don't know. But I hope you have missed me, I have missed you mucho mucho! Let's see... where do I begin on filling you in on all of the savory details... ah, the wedding.

Wedding Extravaganza took place over Memorial Day weekend as you all know and surprisingly enough everything came together so nicely. It really was a beautiful wedding. The bride and groom were blissfully and disgustingly happy, and so, as the former roommate, I of course am so happy for them. But more importantly, I know you're curious as to how I managed my bridesmaid dress... well, after it was taken in a little over two inches, it still had to be pinned under my arm to make sure there were not going to be any added surprises during the ceremony. I was pretty proud. Even the bride's mother made a comment as to how jealous she was of how 'tall and skinny' I was... my response, "I can't do so much about the height, but I've worked pretty hard for the skinny, so thanks!" Needless to say, my ego was pretty high up there for the majority of the day. Bonus, only 1/2 the Bitch Squad showed up, therefore, I only had to avoid a few as I mingled my way around the reception. I also was able to find humor in the obviously fake attempts of conversation by sorority sisters who have chosen the Bitch Squad side of the story... you know... the story from over a year ago. Yeah. ha. All in all, it was an enjoyable event. I wasn't miserable and I was able to see many that I had missed, looking hot in my sized down dress of course. 

Onto the after party. The perfect after party. Guest list including Island Girl, Super Athlete and Friend, Mr. Perfect and myself. Darts, drinks, gossip, bliss. It was the perfect end to the chaos of the day. So much fun. The rest of the holiday weekend consisted of laying by the pool, shopping, sitting out on the back porch enjoying each other's company. The perfect end to May Mania and the perfect start of the summer. I was pleased... and tired upon returning to the city. 

Unfortunately, the city wasn't so nice to Classy when she returned. More on that to come. Promise. The job front is depressing right now. Still have a job, no worries. Just not very happy. Don't worry... more on that later. I'm working on my attitude towards it. Details to come. Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend and you know.. the weekend following. Wow, I'm so behind. So sorry. 

Love to all! 

It's a Sip of Wine, It's Summer Time!

Summer time, indeed! What a weekend! Although, quite saddened it was cut short due to unforeseen circumstances, IG and I had a blast while it lasted. The Sun City Carnival Tour was unbelievable! SO much fun. 

We were so excited to arrive and discover that the entire venue was an outdoor theatre with drink stands and snack stands, etc. just as a real carnival but without the rides! And it was the perfect night for it! The weather was mid 70s, not too hot, but never chilly and the skies stayed clear all night long. Lady Antebellum opened for Miranda Lambert who brought out a surprise guest, Blake Shelton... all before Kenny even took the stage! I love Lady A. I would've been happy with them playing much longer than they did, however, when Miranda took the stage, I had no complaints. After her grand entrance to 'Ring the Alarm' by Beyonce, she kicked into 'Kerosene' which is just one of her many ass-kicking songs. She was the perfect mix of so cute and country and so bad ass all at the same time in one little bitty body. She rocked. I loved her before I saw her live, I love her even more now. 

Then Kenny came out. There are just not enough words that I could use to describe how hard this man works to entertain his fans. No one can really appreciate how much he truly deserves every last Entertainer of the Year award he's ever received until he or she sees him live. He was amazing. While I love Kenny, I don't have the heart throb passion for him that my dear IG has, but after seeing the man live, I completely understand her enthusiasm. We had a fantastic time. 

Next on the agenda, ... The Big WEDDING WEEKEND! Indeed, this coming Friday, we'll be making our way back to my hometown for the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner and on Saturday, I get to watch as the entire event unfolds before my eyes. I also get to watch everyone else's eyes and expressions as they witness what should truly be a very.... interesting... occasion. I'm actually really looking forward to it. I'm more so looking forward to the conversations that will ensue Saturday night after all is said and done, when it's me and the last of the 'normal' sitting at the bars enjoying beverage and recapping the day's events, as I'm sure they will be both comical and enjoyable to the fullest extent of the imagination. I'll keep you updated. 

As for now, Roxie is a graduate, Kenny with IG was fabulous, and IG, myself, and hopefully Roxie, along with other favorites, will all meet up again next weekend for and after wedding festivities! May has definitely been good for my soul. I love being able to spend time with my best friends and those who are looking forward to the fun and excitement of Memorial Day weekend as much as I am. Should be interesting... stay tuned.