Hump Day Hasn't Been So Hump-tastic

     Well guys, I did tell you I would introduce you to Pooh Bear pretty soon. There he is, the perfect size for cuddling and he never talks back!

     While I was driving home from the gym earlier this evening, I had an idea that every once in a while, I would post a video instead of text. Of course I wanted to do it right away but it was so dark in my car that my phone didn't pick up much, unless we were at a stop light. I will post a video story (or something) eventually, I promise. My computer is making a really weird noise right now.... Oh dear.

     Anyway, I don't know if you guys are familiar with Mat Kearney but he has this song called "Count On Me". I wasn't familiar with Mat Kearney or that song until about two months ago when it heard it for the first and only time. G.I. Joe came to pick me up and he was playing that album, skipped to that song and said "I dedicate this song to you." Sweet, right? Like I said, I never heard it again... until today. I cried. We broke up about three weeks ago, and let me tell you I didn't cry that much - not because I wasn't sad or anything - I was just learning to accept everything with grace so I cried for a couple minutes in my car after we went our separate way after ways and that was it. Until today. I heard that song, and it just clicked. He dedicated that song to me. I was supposed to be able to count on him and I couldn't. Mind explosion. And that's when the tears came. Of course I was fine again after five minutes, but I decided I needed to go to the store and get some Chinese food and ice cream for dinner and as I'm heading over to the West side of town, who do I pass?! My stomach sank - there aren't many cars like that in this town with drivers who think they're always racing. So maybe I ate twice as much as ice cream, and had to work twice as hard at the gym but we all have those days, right? The weird thing is that I almost took the long way to the store to avoid traffic and decided that it was late enough traffic wouldn't be so bad... don't you hate it when that happens?! So there you have the story of my off day.

     On the bright side, I haven't been thoroughly excited to listen to a new album probably since I was 17 and emo. But Mumford has instilled in me that excitement once more, so I tip my hat to them.

Toodles, friends
Miss Georgia

If Something Seems Too Good to be True, It Probably Is.

     Oh, what a long evening behind the bar, but a reasonably pleasant anyway. When you have the right patrons at a bar, a work day never seems so bad. I'm so excited to have tomorrow afternoon to myself though! I have a massive to-do list with tasks ranging from laundry to organizing a new financial plan, painting my nails to reorganizing the kitchen - my to-do lists are always very ambitious.

     Where did I leave off, now? Meeting G.I. Joe and revelation #4, right? "It's okay if people were only meant to be in your life for a brief period of time for a very specific reason." It really is okay. The hard part is coming to terms with the fact that that's all it was meant to be. The hard part is knowing whether you're supposed to keep fighting or just gracefully let go. And I won't lie - I fought a little bit, enough to have won something that was meant to be fought for, but when I didn't win it I let go and accepted that I received the lesson I was supposed to learn and that it was time to move on.
     The story begins on a Saturday night. I was behind the bar and my friend, Andrea, and her husband, Dave, came in for dinner and a couple of drinks. At this point I'd been single for about a month and a half, and I really wasn't looking for anything in particular, but Dave always joked about me going out and meeting up with his "single army friends". I'm always down to meet new people and have some fun, and I'd been out with them before and had a blast so I said I would meet them in Aggieville after I got off work. Fast forward a few hours and I'm at one of my least favorite bars in the Ville with my roommate, Andrea, Dave, and two of Dave's coworkers - one of whom strikes up a conversation with me. This guy is wearing aviators in a bar at night - "what a douche," I'm thinking, "what a complete douche." But I'm not a bitch and there wasn't much else going on so I tell myself "why not" and give the guy a shot at entertaining me. Apparently he thought I was just another bimbo looking to be someone's trophy, because he wasn't expecting to have full on intelligent conversation with me. Let me just say, that's how I rope 'em in - charm, wits, honesty, and a few flutters of the lashes - works every time. I've never been the kind of girl who pretends to be someone else to impress people, I'm very much so "what you see is what you get;" it's always best to keep it real. So, after talking with this guy for a little while, I started to become internally conflicted. "Is this guy a total tool or does he just like to be stupid when he's had a few drinks?" By the end of the night we exchanged Facebooks (yeah, not phone numbers, Facebooks), and he and his roommate drifted off onto a dance floor while I sat at the bar enjoying my beer. I honestly thought nothing of the exchange at the time, but little did I know, this aviator-wearing douchebag would become the guy that made me realize how much I'm into those military uniforms...

     I don't want to get too carried away in one post, so you'll just have to wait. In the meantime, you guys should tell me what your to-do lists are looking like!

Sweet dream, friends! Until tomorrow,
Miss Georgia

Life in a Movie... I Almost Forgot

I feel like I left you guys hanging a little bit with the last post. If life were a movie, you'd probably figure out that the random guy I made friends with would turn out to be the love of my life and we lived happily ever after, but if you recall I said my life was like a sitcom, not a movie. We parted ways at the end of the night with a hug and "thanks for letting me hang with you" and to be completely honest, I can't even remember his name but I feel like it Wes. Really nice guy, Wes. I'd guess he was hoping for a phone number or something but I disappeared into the night completely content with myself. Then a couple of weeks later, like I said, Mr. President and I got back together. He bought flowers, apologized profusely, swore he was different, the works, but after a couple of days something felt uneasy in my stomach. I remember this particular weekend I was out to the zoo for it's annual Wine in the Wild event, which was a complete blast with some girlfriends and as we were walking around, I noticed myself checking out other guys which is something I never do when I'm in a relationship. I knew right there that it had be over. The next morning while watching the Queen's Jubilee and feeling particularly homesick (my children will be first generation American, though I'm certainly "well" acclimated), things were quite awkward between Mr. President and I, mostly on his end, so I ended it. Of all the times we broke up, that was the only time it was me and it felt good, I did the right thing. I felt strong for the first time in long while. Which brings me back to revelation #2: "What you need and what you want are usually two different things and it takes a lot of courage to pick what you need over what you want, but in the end, you'll be all the better for it." I certainly was all the better for it. However, it was only about a month later that I met G.I. Joe. I know what you're thinking..."rebound", but it really wasn't like that. Once again, though, this is yet another piece of the story I must save for later as it is almost time for me to put my bartending pants back on. When I come back we can get down to revelation #4 and the story of G.I. Joe.

Peace, love, and a couple shots of tequila to get you there
Miss Georgia

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts But How Do I Get a Lovely Bunch of Pina Coladas?

     I'll be the first to admit that I'm a rookie at bartending, but I do my best. Considering I didn't get any formal training and have no experience whatsoever, I think I'm doing alright. And I only do it about once a week anyway, unless I bar-back on the weekends too. And it's not like I'm in a bar or club, I'm in a restaurant. Anyway, tonight was probably the most fun I've had behind the bar so far. It's Monday - let's get real, not the most popular night for dinner and drinks so we were pretty dead but the last table to come in was a 7-top of guys after a baseball game. I get the beer flowing and after about an hour they ask me what was up with the music. I'll be honest - we have one of the most eclectic playlists you've ever come across and it never changes. I am so tired of hearing the same 200 songs every day, so I decide to have a little fun with these guys. I pull out the restaurant i-Pod and go to a different playlist and we play "guess the artist". It wasn't anything crazy, but these are the customers that make me love my job, that brighten up an otherwise dull evening. I watched grown men try to walk like an Egyptian while they make fun of me for knowing music that been out twice as long as I've been alive. Some day I hope to have some pretty crazy bar stories; I suppose I already one or two, but I'll keep them to myself for the sake of those involved. For now, I will enjoy the little not-so-crazy moments as I work up my martini-making confidence.

     So where did I leave story-time? I suppose let's form a plan here: before I get back to story-time, I'm going to outline a few things I've taken from said stories so maybe you'll have an idea of where this will eventually go. Here we go:

     1. Just because you say you're okay alone, doesn't mean you really are. But one day, you'll wake up and realize it's the best thing ever.
     2. What you need and what you want are usually two different things and it takes a lot of courage to pick what you need over what you want, but in the end, you'll be all the better for it.
     3. If you throw a pirate party, don't be surprised when you wake up the next day and house has been literally pillaged and plundered (and all the rum is gone).
     4. It's okay if people were only meant to be in your life for a brief period of time for a very specific reason, only to disappear over the horizon in a flash.
     5. Bros before hos. Always.
     6. Sometimes it's the smallest thing that makes you take a step back in a big way.
     7. If you did your best, you can't say you didn't try and you'll never have regrets or wonder "what if".


     Now, I'm not going to address these in order. I'll go back a few months to the beginning of my growth spurt, the beginning of my truly becoming an adult. So for tonight I'm going to start with #6.

"Sometimes it's the smallest thing that makes you step back in a big way." 

This will explain the ending of my last post:

If you need something to keep you going, check out this song:

"Alone" - Trampled by Turtles

It literally changed my life, but again, that's another story.

And change my life it did. It was mid-May of this year and Mr. President had just broken up with me for the millionth time. If we want to be technical, I'd say it was actually the 12th time in two years. Yeah, really - I'm that dumb sometimes. Anyway, I knew Trampled by Turtles were going to be in Lawrence and I just had to go see them. I was a little apprehensive about it because as many concerts as I've been to in my life, I've never been to one alone. But I told myself it was about time I just did something for myself, by myself. Lawrence is about an hour a half's drive from Manhattan and I ended up getting to the venue a little early, which meant there were plenty of spots for me to stand awkwardly. After a little while, I decided that it sucked so I scanned the crowd to see who I could try to make friends with. I honed in on my unsuspecting victim, a relatively cute guy just hanging out, also alone. I turned to him and asked if he came alone. He said he had so I asked him if he wanted to my friend for the evening. He said sure and sounded really sincere and appreciative. We went over to the bar, ordered a beer, found a good place to watch the show, and made small talk until the band came out. The opening band was Brown Bird. I'd never heard them before and they blew me away, I loved them (if you like folk, bluegrass, or blues, I encourage you to check them out!). They gave the crowd such a great energy for the evening and when TBT finally came out on the stage, I was buzzing with excitement. They opened their set with a newer song that I hadn't heard before (that song happened to be "Alone" of course) and I remember when Dave Simonett started singing those first lyrics "you come into the world alone, and you go out of the world alone, but in between there's you and me...the summer breezes blow so tall, and the winter nights are cold and so long, and in between - the falling leaves." my spine tingled, tears welled in my eyes and I just remember thinking how beautiful that moment was in my life. I was alone, I could do whatever I wanted to do. I was so content with my life in that moment that the rest of the show became euphoric for me and everything has been different since then. And yes, in case you were wondering - Mr President and I got back together again, but once more, that's another story. I'll keep you hanging until tomorrow...

For now, sleep tight. I'm going to eat cookies, watch Disney's Robin Hood, and cuddle with my Pooh Bear - I'll introduce you to him later. 

Toodles,

Miss Georgia

A New Start is Always a Good Feeling... I Think

Let's get real with each other right off the bat - I'm terrible at blogging. I always think it's the coolest thing ever the first couple days and then I never do it again. But I'm turning over a new leaf, becoming a different person, trying new things so I want you to help me stick with this one. Let's see how it goes!

     Why a new beginning? Well it was recently my twenty-fourth birthday and I found it quite life changing. I woke up and everything made sense. Everything. The recent break-up (G.I. Joe), the not-so-recent break-up (Mr. President), the non-stop working (two jobs), the stupid people - I felt calm about all of it for the first time ever. I'm not a calm person, I blame my mother. This dawning serenity that I just happened to wake up with on the birthday morning, I found it a little odd, but I'm not questioning it and I'm trying not to take it for granted. It was especially strange because I hate birthdays. A lot. I completely dread them every year and don't even get me started on people singing "Happy Birthday". I seem to remember when I was about six and my mom threw a party and all my classmates started singing and I locked myself in the bathroom and cried. I know, I know... I'm probably a freak but that's just how I feel about birthdays. However, this enlightenment made this particular birthday somewhat bearable even though I have no idea what mystic being swept into my room overnight and graced me with such a gift but whatever World, I'll take whatever you want to give me right now. I need all the help I can get.  

     Now I know I've left a lot of things skimmed over, didn't give you much to sink your teeth into, and maybe even left you with a few questions, but have no worries. Hold tight. I have to run along to job number two - the Cuban place, where I have the delightful pleasure of serving and occasionally bartending (today being one of those occasions). So stop by for a drink if you're in town, and if not, I'll get back to the story-telling soon. My life is too much like a sitcom to keep it all to myself anymore.

If you need something to keep you going, check out this song:

"Alone" - Trampled by Turtles
It literally changed my life, but again, that's another story.

Let me know which story you want to hear first or any questions you have so far! :)

Toodles for now, 

Miss Georgia