Santorini, Sweetie

My trip to Greece - Santorini
(You better get comfortable to read this one...but it's so worth it)

On the ferry from Mykonos to Santorini, Dana and took only 2 of the assigned seats on our 3 seat row. While settling in for our 3 hour trip, I noticed a fairly attractive guy with olive skin, dark hair and eyes, and in our age range, standing in line at the snack bar. We kept making eye contact as I scanned the rest of the boat watching others take their seats, but didn't think much of it. About halfway through the trip, this same guy comes over to our empty seat and asks if anyone was sitting there. We told him no so he sat down. He said he missed the earlier ferry, so jumped on this one, but if you miss a ferry and catch the next, you aren't guaranteed a seat. He lucked out with this seat, or rather, we did. He immediately struck up a conversation with us, and we flirtingly teased him about him just "happening" to pick 2 pretty girls to sit next to. He asked us the typical first question of "where are you from?" Dana spouted out, "Atlanta, GA, USA." (We found out quickly that we had to define where we lived quite a bit more than if we were just visiting Boise. Telling people we were from Atlanta, and sometimes even, Atlanta, GA, summoned only blank stares. Tacking on USA at the end, always seemed to get more acknowledgement. Some people even referred to us being from Atlanta, New York. It's funny how some people have absolutely no concept or understanding of the different states in the US.) His mouth dropped open when he heard our answer. It turns out that he lives in Atlanta, too, and his family owns a popular late night diner called the Landmark Diner here. The irony is that I had just been to the Landmark Diner for a late night snack a few weekends prior to the trip after a night out with some friends! He was Greek American, going to Santorini to visit some family and friends, and his name was Costa (pronounced like Costa Rica). The chances of our paths crossing in the middle of Greece were serendipitous. And it only gets better. He asks us where we're staying on the island and we tell him that we're just winging our trip and haven't made any plans. As luck would have it, his cousin on the island owns a travel agency and a hotel a few blocks from the black volcanic sand beach called Perissa Beach! He made a call on our behalf and hooked us up with a room for 30 euro ($36) a night, at his cousin's hotel, Villa Holiday!! Off the ferry at Santorini, Costa introduced us to his cousins, Yannis and George, at their travel agency at the port. Yannis took us in his shuttle van to the hotel, and Costa and George said they'd meet up with us later that night for drinks at the hotel pool bar. Dana and I made out like champions, and we couldn't be more exited!

A little later that night, we met back up with George*, Yannis*, Costa*, and Yannis' fiance, Rita, aka pool bartender, at the hotel pool. We sat around and drank a few glasses of red wine (on the house even though we tried to insist that we pay) and talked for a little while. It was here where we learned our first, and most important, Greek word: Yamas. It means, "cheers", and it's customary to look the person you are toasting in the eye when you say this and clink their glass or you'll have bad sex for 10 years. Believe me, I stared everyone I toasted down! About a half hour later, Costa and George asked us to go to their friends' taverna for dinner. They drove us the few blocks down the street to their friend's place called The Best taverna, right on the beach. Costa, who's so much larger than life I can't even explain it, but the friendliest, most thoughtful guy, strolled in and went around telling everyone in the open air restaurant hello. We all sat down and Costa's friends Christos, the manager, and Nikos, a waiter, came over to meet us. Costa introduced us to all of his friends as the "sexy American girls." It still makes me smile, I mean, what girl would ever get tired of being introduced like that? Nikos right away apparently began to blush, and Costa called him out saying, "I know which girl Nikos likes!" I look at Nikos and look at Dana, unsure at first which one of us it is. When I look back at Nikos, he's turned some sort of embarrassed shade of purple and he's smiling at me. He shyly says in pretty good English with a surprising British accent, "you make me nervous, baby." It was cute, and I was flattered. We all ate dinner (I even tried a piece of octopus - it tasted like tuna fish) and drank another glass or two of wine. After dinner, George and Nikos offered to take Dana and I down the beach to a local bar called, The Beach Bar (really original names these places have, right?). Costa, on the other hand, had a date. We'd learn that Costa always had a date, which makes him even more of a funny character to me. So Dana and I go with George and Nikos. We had a great time, laughing and talking and drinking - it was so much fun! Nikos asked me to go see the beach with him under the full moon (which was right outside the bar), so I smile and go. We walk down and sit in the sand just above the water's edge washing up the beach and begin to kiss. I thought to myself, for a vacation fling, could it really get any better than a cute local boy, music from the bar, black volcanic sand, the Aegean Sea at my feet, and a full moon overhead? A little while later, Dana calls for me, so Nikos and I get up and walk over to the beach lounge chairs several yards away where she and George had been sitting and kissing. It's really late, so George takes us back to the hotel. In the hotel, Dana and I spend another hour or so giggling and rehashing the day before we finally go to sleep.

The next day we spent mostly down at the beach relaxing, enjoying the beautiful weather, and soaking in the sun. Costa was going to meet us that afternoon, but it seems he found another "date" so he said he'd catch up with us later. That night, Dana and I showered (again, no shower curtain and the bathroom was inevitably flooded) and walked back down to the beach to find a taverna to eat dinner. We went to a place called Meteora. The food wasn't that great, but the service was super friendly, the atmosphere was fun and upbeat, and the baklava for dessert came out with flair! Having a late night the night before, we headed back to the hotel, hung out at the pool with the boys for a little while after dinner and then turned in "early" (1:30am).

Wednesday we woke up and decided to travel around the island a bit. We walked up to the corner, where there happened to be another travel agency, and asked how to get to the winery for a wine tasting. The travel agent wrote down the bus stop we were supposed to get off at so we could give it to the bus driver to tell us when to get off. While at the travel agency, we also bought a ticket for an all-day sailboat tour for 18 euro ($22) that we'd take on Thursday to see the volcano, hot springs, small island on the other side of the volcano called Thirisia, and finally ending up at the city on the tip of the island called Oia (pronounced Eee-ah) for the sunset. With Thursday now planned, we hopped on the next bus and got off about 10 minutes later at Santo Winery. We walked up to the winery and saw some of the most breathtaking views of the volcano! The dogs at the winery really seemed to have the life! We went inside and ordered a wine sampling that consisted of 6 glasses of their different wines, bread, tomato paste, swiss cheese cubes, and olives - all for only 6.50 euro ($8)!! We took our wine samples back outside to take advantage of the scenery, where we really enjoyed ourselves and the gorgeous landscapes! Once finished at the winery, we went back to the bus stop to catch the bus into the central city, Fira (or Thira depending on who's saying/writing it), to walk around, shop, and watch the sunset across the volcano that Santorini is so famous for. After the sunset, we jumped on the bus back to the hotel and called Costa to see what they were up to. We made plans to meet up with Costa and Nikos at a local bar called Full Moon. There we had a few drinks, listened to some music (American music by the way, that's all we really heard in the realm of pop music. It's weird hearing 50cent and Gwen Stefani in Greece!), and had a pretty laid back night, meeting some guys from the Northwest Territory of Canada and another guy from Albania. I enjoyed meeting so many people from so many other countries that I don't typically meet people from (Albania, Poland, etc).

Thursday rolled around and it was time for our sailboat excursion (I have a ton of pictures from our excursion but unfortunately Flickr only allows you to upload so many picture in a month, and I've exceeded my limit already, so I'll have to add more pictures in November). We got down to the port and first took the boat out to the volcano. At the volcano, we climbed to the top, which turned out to be a challenge in and of itself. The travel agent didn't tell us we'd need to wear tennis shoes, so we have to climb to the top in flip flops! The trail up to the crater was a mix between soft lava sand and lava pebbles, so your feet sink in with every step, and pebbles roll in between your foot and your flip flop, making the trek a lot more difficult than it would initially appear. After a few pictures from the top of the volcano, the boat sounds the horn for us to come back. It's time for our next stop over at the volcanic hot springs on the other side of the volcano.

The boat sails over and pulls in as close as it can to the hot springs, but it's still a good 50 yards away from them! They tell everyone not to get off and swim over to the springs if you're not a good swimmer because it's quite a good distance away! I wasn't scared of swimming the distance, I was more nervous that I would have to jump off the boat into the deep, unknown water. I'm not a fan of swimming in water that deep, nor am I a fan of not being able to see what's lurking that far down. But, I had to suck it up and seize the moment, and I did. The hot springs are really just luke warm, but are created by the heat bubbling up from the volcano. There are many minerals in the water, including sulfur and iron, that turns the shallow springs from the typical beautiful blue into more of a ruddy red. Twenty minutes in the hot springs and the boat sounded the horn for our return again. We make the swim all the way back to the boat, the deeper water much, much, much colder than the springs, and climb back up the ladder, ready to go to our next stop, Thirisia, otherwise known to Dana, who loves food but you can't tell because she's so thin, as "lunch island."

This small island of Thirisia used to be part of the large island of Santorini until a massive earthquake in 1950 collapsed the bridge of land that connected the two and separated these masses of land forever. There are several restaurants right on the water there, so we hop off and find one to grab some lunch. While we're eating lunch, literally, the deck of the restaurant is in the water, I happen to notice a wave crash on the nearby rocky shore and see a baby octopus get washed up on shore! I jump up and run over with my camera to take some pictures. I've never seen an octopus alive and in the wild! It was so cool. While snapping the baby's picture, all of the sudden, the mama octopus shows up! That was even more amazing! What a rush! After lunch, Dana and I change out of our wet bathing suits just in time to catch the boat ready to take off for the city of Oia.

Oia (Eee-ah) was our favorite city by far. All have been beautiful, but Oia is not to be outdone! The sailboat dropped us off at port, where donkeys were lined up to take paying tourists up the steep, steep walkway up the cliff. That may have been the best 3 euro I spent all trip, especially after climbing up the volcano in flip flops! Oia is the quintessential Greece in my opinion. Albeit a slight bit touristy, it's where you find black cats sleeping in windows or against beautiful rustic doors. Cobblestone paths that weave in and amongst the locals' homes, shops, restaurants, and of course the famous blue-dome churches. Life seems so much simpler, more relaxed in Oia. As evening nears, the entire city of tourists gather in various places to watch the sun sink into its slumber. Once nature's show is over, it's time to load the bus back to Perissa Beach.

Back at the hotel, we went back out to the pool bar to have a few drinks with Yannis and Rita. Costa and Nikos stopped by for a few minutes, but they ended up going out for a night on the town in Fira while Dana and I stayed at the hotel getting Ouzo lessons from Yannis. Yannis' other cousin, Yannis (I'm not kidding - they said they have 10 people in their family and a parrot named Yannis), came over and hung out with us. We tried Ouzo in a shot. It tastes a little like black licorice, but it's not bad. We tried Ouzo with water (it turns from clear to cloudy when water is added), and that cuts the zing out of the alcohol, making it much easier going down. We tried Sambuca, which is a little different flavor than Ouzo. We tried some other kind of shots that Rita mixed up. It was so much fun! Yannis and Rita told us of their plans to get married in the spring, and we gave them our address so we could get an invitation to come back for the wedding!! With a nice, small buzz, Dana and I thanked them all and headed to bed after a very long, but very memorable day.

Our last day in Santorini and feeling a bit more confident and adventurous, Friday, we wanted to go to the nude beaches to lay out for a while. Not knowing exactly where they were to tell a taxi driver to take us, and Costa not being able to take us over there, we opted for staying locally at Perissa Beach and just laying out topless instead. That was wonderful! It felt so nice! Girls, if you can get over the modesty factor, I highly recommend it. Although, I'm sure we're on some creepy guy's camera phone, and now probably posted on the internet somewhere, because he was fooling around with his cell phone suspiciously very close to us. Three American guys (we later overheard were from San Francisco) came over and sat 2 beach chairs away from ours. Of all of the empty ones on the beach, they ended up picking those. I think they thought we were European as we overheard they're mumbled conversations. I'm sure it came as a big surprise to them when we started talking to each other in English, mentioning something about Atlanta! We ate a late lunch at Nikos' The Best taverna, and made plans to hang out with Nikos and George later that night for Nikos' birthday that was that day. During lunch, Nikos took his pen, grabbed my hand from across the table, flipped over to my palm, and drew a big heart on the palm of my hand with an arrow through it with the words, "Love, Nikos" written underneath. It was incredibly sweet. (I should mention here that in the 5 days we've been in Santorini, Nikos has become smitten. I think he's cute, but I'm nowhere near the point of a crush that he is. He keeps calling me his girlfriend and saying he wants to marry me and that he loves me. I can't figure out if he knows the implications of the words he's using in English, or if he's using them in a flirtatious way not realizing how strong of words those are in the English language. He'd say in his British accent, "I love you, baby, do you not love me?" To which my reply would be, "Oh, Nikos, of course I love spending time with you!" And his feelings would get hurt a little at my response.)

Friday night before heading down to the taverna for Nikos' birthday party, I went up to the tiny market up the street from us to find a birthday gift. I had asked him what he wanted, and he jokingly said a car. So I bought him a car magazine, a Fanta Orange (he, along with a good many other Greeks LOVE Fanta Orange), and some sort of a small Greek cake. We took that down to the taverna where we met up with Nikos and George, and spent a good portion of the night there eating, drinking, talking, and laughing. Nikos loved the gifts, or at least the thought behind the gifts, as he knew my shopping options were very limited. It was a good night, and a nice way to say goodbye as we were leaving on Saturday on the ferry for Athens. We exchanged numbers at his request, and that was the last I saw of Nikos. (although I've gotten, and still get, several text messages from him - now almost 2 weeks later - which is cute)

The next morning, our bags were packed, we checked out of the Villa Holiday, thanking Yannis and Rita. Yannis took us to port, and we were on a ferry back to Athens, much to our chagrin. I loved Santorini. It's a beautiful place.

*It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that George, Costa, and Yannis were in some sort of mafia or were some sort of drug smugglers, but we didn't ask any questions, and they were very hospitable!

"Halftime"

Ok, so I went out to dinner tonight and then watched LOST, so I don't have time to write a post about Santorini and do it any kind of justice. I know, I know, you're disappointed. However, let's just consider this a sort of "halftime" away from the stories from my trip. Which is a perfect segway to discuss Alabama for this week. Now, we don't have a game this weekend, which is good so the boys can get some rest and get ready to win the next set of games in the second half of the season. But, without a game, that leaves me with nothing to post about for my typical weekly game day post.

Oh. But wait. Just wait. Why, what's this I see? Ahh, how very interesting. Let's all take a look, shall we? It's on newstands now.

Let's Go to Mykonos!

My trip to Greece - Mykonos
(otherwise known by me and Dana as "Meeeeee - ko - nooosss", said in a singsong to the tune of the Riccola commercials)

Five hours, one Grecian sunrise, and two island stops later (Syros, the capitol island of the Cyclades, and neighboring island, Tinos), Dana and I arrive on the island of Mykonos. Departing the ferry was very eventful. On the way onto the ferry, they had escalators that would take you and your very heavy luggage up the 3 flights of 50 stairs each to the main deck. On the way off of the ferry, however, they turn off the escalators and leave weak, American girls to drag their luggage down the stairs, ker-klunck, ker-klunck, ker-klunck, to the amusement and jeers of the locals. Three flights, 150 stairs, and 6 bruises later, we're ready to embark on the Mykonos experience.

Off of the ferry, there are a barrage of hotel representatives with 4-color brochures and business cards from their establishment ready to sell you on a room at their place. It's very hectic with strangers coming over to show off their brochure while others shove theirs in front instead, all of them spouting off the features, benefits, and pricing of their respective place. Dana and I decided to go with a hotel that was in-town as opposed to on the beach because we wanted to be close to the action. A man showed us a brochure of his place, and the view of the pool shown in his brochure, along with the 50 euro ($60) a night price tag, tempted us, so we asked to see rooms at his hotel before committing to stay. Pocketing other hotel's business cards in case we weren't pleased with what we saw, we jumped in the van as he loaded up our luggage. A 5 minute drive up the cliff and we were there. He opened the cobalt blue wooden double-doors to the pool area entrance and our mouths dropped open in awe. After checking out a room for cleanliness (it even had a shower curtain) and the rest of the hotel, we eagerly signed up for at least 2 nights at Hotel Tagoo. Wouldn't you?
(the uploading of pictures isn't working so you'll have to actually click the links to view)
The Amazing Pool
The Hotel
The View from Our Room

We spent the last few hours of the afternoon at the pool, drooling over the 3 British guys that showed up a little later that day, and then ventured into the town for a look around that night. I found the whitewashed buildings with doors and shutters the color of the blue Aegean, paired with flowers in pinks and oranges, a beautiful contrast against the rocky backdrop of the undeveloped areas of the island. Town was very quaint with small tavernas and shops peppered along the harbor, but extremely overpriced and touristy. We ate outside at a restaurant directly on the water that night called Babulas, and had many cat friends come over looking for a morsel or two of our dinner. We're both animal-loving people, so we didn't mind sharing. (In fact, an orange and white tabby cat at the hotel had adopted us so we brought him home our leftovers at night, gave him water, and named him George, short for Georgia.) We made good friends with the older gentleman that owns the place, and he ended up bringing us some sort of lemon cordial in a shot glass when we finished our meal. After dinner, we wandered the streets a bit longer, and then found a place in the center of town to have dessert and a cappucino. With it being the end of the tourist season, Mykonos wasn't quite as "happening" as everyone describes it to be, but we still had a good time. We really didn't want to party all night anyway; maybe we're getting old, but there was too much we wanted to do and see and didn't want to waste our trip in Greece sleeping off a hangover.

Saturday morning we woke up and decided to head out for one of the beaches, so we threw on our suits and headed for the bus station. We stopped in a mini-market to pick up some bottled water and snacks for the day, and wouldn't you know that while picking out our Ruffles Oregano flavored chips, my bathing suit strap snapped and I had a total Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction right there in the potato chip aisle! I desperately grabbed the strap and held it back up to make myself decent again. Ready to get going to the beach and unmotivated by the hot sun to walk up the cliff back to the hotel to change swimsuits, I improvised and bought a black shoelace from the market to rig my bathing suit back together again. Just call me Macgyver. We bought a bus ticket from the lady at the rental car place as indicated to do on the bus schedule scribbled on a black chalkboard with the bus times and locations running for the day. This was our second encounter with the Greek time table. We stood at the bus stop for 45 minutes (when it should have only been a 15 minute wait according to the time it was supposed to show up and the time we purchased our ticket). Once the bus finally showed up, it backed into the bus parking spot and the driver got out. We went over, showed him our ticket and said we were waiting to go to Elias Beach, and he shook his head and said we missed the bus and the next one wouldn't be for another 2 hours. What? How could that be? We were there 15 minutes early for the designated time it was supposed to come! He didn't seem to care all that much as he made a brush off motion with his hand, mumbling in Greek as he walked away from the bus, I guess on his break. Confused but determined to get to a beach, we decided to try a taxi to the beach instead. We walked back into the center of town where tourists catch the taxis and again waited for an hour, in line for our turn with a taxi, also known as your death wish. The taxi was doing at least 80 mph around very windy, very narrow roads with sharp drop offs down the sides of cliffs and no guard rails. I'm all for driving fast, but I have to admit that I was scared for my life in the 20 minute, 10 euro ($12) ride to Elias Beach. Disney's Space Mountain's got nothing on Mykonos taxis, that's for sure!

Elias Beach was fairly quiet and very pretty. Tall, rocky mountains lacking in any vegitation surrounded a large cove of crystal clear, sparkling azure water, that was a bit on the chilly side. The sand was a nice tan color with a mixture of a few small pebbles. Unfortunately, there were also quite a few cigarette butts on the beach as well. The European tourists obviously haven't gotten the memo about smoking just yet because everyone over there still seems to do it. We spent the remainder of what was left in our day at the beach, seeing the sunset and then actually catching the last bus back to town. Ha! And I thought the taxi ride was bad? Now we're in a bus doing 80 mph through windy, narrow roads with sharp drop offs and no guard rails, but the new element to the death wish game is that the bus is overstuffed with people, standing room only, to the point that Dana and I had to sit on the steps of the bus because that was the only space left to squeeze us on!

Later that night we went back into town and ate at Nikos Tavern, a restaurant tucked right in the middle of the meandering streets, where everyone just walks through and amongst the tables along their way through town. After dinner, we started off on our journey through the maze of whitewashed pathways leading to shops interspersed with dance clubs, more restaurants, small churches, and private homes. Bobbing in and out of the overpriced shops and intrigued by what we'd find around the next path, perhaps even looking for a small bit of vacation trouble, we walked the town of Mykonos thoroughly, finding that most of the night life left on the island at this point in the tourist season wasn't for us. We were two single girls looking for straight single men, and while we found a gamut of single men, it was guaranteed they weren't looking for girls like us. Back at the hotel that night, we decided not to stay any longer in Mykonos as originally planned and to begin our journey to the island of Santorini instead. While Mykonos is a beautiful place, it felt a little too touristy and contrived, and we were satisfied that we had seen what we came to see in the two days we were there.

The next morning, we packed up, checked out of the beautiful and incredibly relaxing Hotel Tagoo (I still miss the pool), and went back to the center of town to the travel agency that Cathy's boyfriend's sister worked at. We met Maria, Petro's sister, inside the agency and she helped us book our ferry ticket to Santorini, on a fast boat this time so our trip would only take 3 hours. We also decided that since we had a hard time finding a hotel in Athens the first time, that we should go ahead and book our ferry ticket back to Athens from Santorini along with hotel accommodations in Athens for once we got there. This was the only part of the trip that we actually planned. Keep that in mind, because it will come up in my writings about Athens. We went to the port 30 minutes ahead of time, and stood there waiting for the ferry for 2 hours. The Greek time table. Whatever. The ferry arrived, we boarded, with assigned seats inside this time, and we were off for the beautiful Santorini!

Stay tuned for the post about Santorini. It's about to get really good, y'all.

The Girls Weren't Ready for Athens

My trip to Greece - Athens Part One, The Arrival

I'm starting with stories from Athens because it was the starting and ending point for our trip, and I thought I'd just go in sequential order in the hopes it would help me better remember everything.

My friend and co-worker, Dana, and I show up in Athens, Greece at 4:30pm on Friday, September 16, weary after about 13 hours of travel that began in Atlanta at 5pm the day before. We saw the edge of night over the Atlantic Ocean by plane (where night falls going West, and day begins going East). Even at my best attempt at sleep, Tylonol PM included, I didn't get much rest. The sleep that I did succumb to was extremely light and very elusive. I'm a side and/or stomach sleeper, which makes finding a comfortable position in a mostly upright chair, lying on my back, and on the aisle seat, nearly impossible. Regardless, I was simply too excited to sleep. After tight quarters on the plane, airplane mystery meat food for "breakfast" (yuck, can I just another dinner roll instead please?), and running the rat maze they like to call Gatwick Airport in London for our layover, we were glad to be on land for a while. We pick up our luggage from baggage claim, head for the front of the airport, and stop dead in our tracks. Now what?

You see, Dana and I are somewhat of the adventurous types. Please don't get us confused with the "backpacker" type, because our 50 lb suitcases filled with cute clothes, make-up, razors, and hair products will attest that we're anything but that. However, we literally purchased round trip tickets to a foreign country where we didn't know the language whatsoever, and yet didn't make the first reservation, plan, or agenda. We didn't really even do any research. We just showed up ready to do and see and experience - whatever. We purchased a phone card, realizing first hand that standing in line over there meant absolutely nothing, and made our way to the pay phones. Dana had an acquaintance in Athens, so we decided to call her to test the water on the potential for a free night's stay with her. That was a no go, but we'd meet up with her, along with her boyfriend, later that night for dinner. In the meantime, someplace to stay for the night was top priority. So we walked over to a travel agency there in the airport in the hopes of finding a room.

The first travel agency we went to said that there were 3 conventions in town and no hotel rooms that they could help us with unless we wanted to spend 120 Euro ($144) or more. On a budget and not quite willing to spend any major money on a hotel, we asked to go ahead and catch a ferry to the island of Mykonos that night instead. The travel agent all but rolled on the floor in his fit of laughter at this request. In his broken English and between his cackling, we were able to understand that Fridays are a popular day to catch the ferry to the islands, and seats book up quickly. All reservations for the last ferry had been made already. That was pretty much the extent of his helpfulness. Bewildered at the lack of courtesy or service, we move down to the next travel agency for some help. We fare a bit better at this agency, booking a room down at the port of Piraeus for 55 Euro ($66), and a 7:30am ferry ticket to Mykonos for the following morning. All of this happened in the span of 2 hours. Yes, 2 reservations took 2 hours. Another of our first observations that the Greeks are definitely on their own time schedule. When they feel like it, they'll do it. When they do it, they'll take their time. Quite the culture shock coming from a country that prides itself on "quicker, faster, better."

Directed to the express bus bound for Piraeus, we figured out the purchasing of a bus ticket, the validation of the ticket, and took our seats after handing the driver a slip of paper asking him to notify us of our stop. The city whizzed by in a flash, with honks from the bus driver and other cars (apparently driving is one of the few things that creates a sense of urgency in Greek people), and I wasn't all that impressed with the view. Even coming from a large city myself, Athens seemed very dirty to me. Bleak. Cluttered. I was very surprised that the Olympic Committee agreed to hold the games there to be honest. You could tell there were attempts to freshen up for these games last year, but most often only the fronts of businesses and condo complexes were painted, leaving the sides of the buildings an eyesore; the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig in my opinion. I was yet to be impressed with Greece. Several stops later, Dana gets up to ask the driver when we're supposed to get off (they don't announce stops on the express bus - you're just supposed to know I guess), and he shouts at us that this is our stop. Thank goodness she asked! Hurriedly, we lug our suitcases off the bus amidst the crowd still packed on there, and are suddenly standing left in the bus exhaust on some random street in Athens. Unsure of exactly how to get to our hotel from the bus stop, we get out a map and anxiously begin trying to figure out street signs. But, it was all Greek to us. A good Samaritan sees us with the map and stops to help. As he's trying to figure out where we need to go, I happen to look down one of the streets and see the sign for our hotel: The Dream Hotel.

Trudging down the street with carry-on and a rolling barge of a suitcase, we make it the 5 blocks safe and sound and check-in. The very small "lift" will only hold one of us with our suitcase at a time, so Dana goes up the elevator first. Once I make it up to the room, I find her standing in a dark room that appears very clean and very nice for the money, just extremely tiny. Just enough room in there for the two twin beds and nightstand, but we weren't complaining. We just wanted a shower, but first, we needed to figure out how to turn on the lights. After fumbling around feeling up all the walls, we realize that we had to slide the key in the lightswitch in order for the lights to work. Voila...or should I say Oompah...the lights came on. She called shower first, which was the first experience with showers in Greece. Very few have shower curtains, and usually when you're done with your shower, you've pretty much flooded the bathroom. They're basically just a platform, open to the rest of the bathroom, with a faucet and handheld showerhead. We quickly learned to move the toilet paper to higher ground while showering!! While she showered, that left me to call her friend, Cathy, to make plans for the evening. They were to come pick us up at the hotel and we'd go to dinner somewhere close as to not make it a late night out. We were pooped, and had to get up early to catch our ferry, so her friend suggested a local restaurant at the marina called Skippers.

Cathy and her boyfriend Petros came to pick us up about an hour later, and Petros drove us around Piraeus. It's more of the business district of Athens, so there's not much to see, but we did end up seeing a few of the venues built for the Olympics. At Skippers, they only had one thing on the menu - Greek salad. I'm not kidding, that's all they offered that night for dinner. However, the atmosphere more than made up for the lack of offerings. We sat down by the docked boats, as far as the eye could see, all waiting for their turn to sail the Aegean Sea. The Greek salads came, and this was my first realization that Greek salads don't have any lettuce. A true Greek salad consists of tomatoes, black olives, onions, green peppers, cucumber, a block of feta cheese, and olive oil. The only thing I really eat out of all of those ingredients is feta. Starving after the disgusting plane food, I power through a few cucumbers, green peppers, and the feta. We learned a few pointers from Cathy and Petros during dinner - when to tip and how much, learning that you have to ask for your check to be brought to you instead of like in America where it arrives at the end of the meal, how to get to the port in the morning to catch our ferry, and some suggestions on beaches to visit while in Mykonos. After a few hours visiting with them, they dropped us back off at the hotel, and we were out for the count.

6am came fast. We loaded up the suitcases, threw on some clothes, hair back in a pony tail, and waited for our taxi to take us to port. Once there, we climbed aboard the Blue Star Ferry, waded through the crowd for an iced coffee and a cheese pie (flaky pastry phyllo dough wrapped around a soft cheese) for breakfast, and found some seats outside so we could enjoy the view while on our 5 hour trip to the Greek island of Mykonos. The sunrise was amazing...

Teaser

Here are a few picture teasers from my trip to get you ready for what's to come:

Three crosses in Mykonos

One of my favorite pictures from my trip.

It says, "Love Nikos"

First Thing's First

I know I haven't had time to write about my wonderful trip to Greece just yet but it's been a whirlwind ever since I returned. I got to work and had literally hundreds of emails to wade through, then my 10 year high school reunion was last night (which was so lame, I can't even tell you - only 10% of our class showed up, but I had a good time with my friends regardless), and of course, catching up on Alabama football. I promise to write about my trip in great detail with pictures in the next few days, but now that I'm caught up with my football, first thing is first...

September 17, 2005

Alabama vs. Univ. Of South Carolina

Alabama 37, South Carolina 14

"Alabama running back Kenneth Darby (34) breaks away from South Carolina's Ryan Brown, right, during the first half Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. Darby ran for 145 yards and a touchdown in Alabama's 37-14 win."

Suck-it Steve Spurrier...

September 24, 2005

Alabama vs. Univ. of Arkansas

Alabama 24, Arkansas 13

"Alabama running back Tim Castille (19) dives into the end zone past Arkansas' Weston Dacus (30) for a touchdown in the second half at Bryant Denny Stadium Saturday, Sept. 24, 2005 in Tuscaloosa, Ala."

Arkansas got hog-tied...

October 1, 2005

#16 Alabama vs. #5 Univ. of Florida

Alabama 31, Florida 3

"Alabama's Travis McCall sacks 5th-ranked Florida's quarterback Chris Leak during the second half of their 31-3 win over Flordia at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa."

Gators went down in a death roll, rolled over by the Tide...

ROLL TIDE ROLL!

I'm Back!

But I'm going to bed tonight. Have some GREAT stories and GREAT pictures to share when I get some rest. Oh...where to begin? And yes, I did everything I said I wanted to do in my previous post. More details to come.

Gone Greek

Well wouldn't you know that the day before I'm set to fly out for my Greece trip, Delta Airlines declares bankruptcy? Well, if I don't have a flight back to the United States, at least I'll be stuck somewhere beautiful!

Friday's going to be one heckuva day. First of all, we'll be on the plane for 8 hours overnight tomorrow night until we reach London. Then we'll hop on a 5 hour flight from London to Athens. From Athens we'll catch the train down to Pireaus. From there, we'll purchase tickets for a 3 hour trip on a ferry boat to Mykonos. I have a feeling I'll be slightly irritable after all of that and very little sleep! Let me tell you how much fun I am to be around when I haven't had enough sleep...just be thankful it's not you on the trip with me that day...that's all I've got to say! And we're really just winging this trip. We have NO hotel reservations - anywhere, NO real plan of action, NO idea how to speak or read the language, and NO agenda whatsoever. We've done little to no research, so this should all be very interesting!

Things I Plan on Trying While in Greece:

• Ouzo
• Nude Beaches (notice how this is listed after I try the ouzo?)
• Black Olives (I don't like olives, but "when in Rome"...errr, I meant Greece)
• Greek Men (ha! kidding, I'm kidding...sort of...)

Obviously you won't hear from me in a while, but check back when I return because there's NO DOUBT I'll have some really great stories to tell! I'll be back on 9/27 and will try to post something sometime that week.

If you're interested, I've found this website to be helpful and entertaining: http://www.greektravel.com/islands.htm

Crazy Busy But...

I've been insanely busy trying to run errands, do laundry, pack, tidy my house up, and tie up loose ends at work before I leave for my trip on Thursday. No time to really blog, but I do have 3 quick things tonight:

1) I find that driving my car on the way in to work in the morning really inhibits my ability to check email on my Blackberry, and answering email is increasingly difficult while dodging cars at 80 mph. Maybe I should get a chauffeur.

2) More elevator etiquette: Push your button and move out of the way. You aren't the only one trying to go anywhere, so don't just stand there in front of the buttons. Next time I have to reach around you, I just may get a case of the "crazy elbow" and give you friendly reminder to move.

3) I really think Target should be classified as a addictive narcotic. You can't just go in the store for one quick "hit," you always end up wanting, and buying, more. It drains your wallet, while giving hallucinations that you have more in your budget to spend in there than you actually do. And I usually walk out of there, clutching my little plastic bags filled with goodies, on a shopping high. Coming down is a bitch though, when you realize you've spent too much and got a bunch of nothing. I went in for a $2.69 pack of toilet paper, I walked out with 3 bags of crap and a receipt that says I spent $49.54. On what? Still not sure.

It's Game Day #2 - Now Updated

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's practically what I live for: college football in the fall. Before December's through, you'll probably get to read something or another about football every week and probably be tired of hearing about it, but I don't care. I can't get tired of football. It's an interest, it's a hobby, it's a passion. I don't just heart it, I.Love.It.

*Update: Alabama won 30-21.

Yeah, maybe we looked a little rusty in the 2nd quarter and yeah, maybe we gave them 3 easy touchdowns due to a turnover and stupid missed tackles, but you know what? I'm glad it wasn't a blow out. This was Southern Mississippi's first game of the season after Katrina, and they needed something to give them hope. They played a good ballgame. And Alabama's Tyrone Prothro made what's being called the "catch of the century," catching a pass behind the head of a Southern Mississippi player and hanging onto the ball after flipping over the player for a touchdown! It was AWESOME.

Alabama's Tyrone Prothro reaches around Southern Mississippi defender Jasper Faulk (21) to haul in a 42-yard pass from Brodie Croyle late in the second quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2005, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

As for Alabama's upcoming game, I hope we're ready for Spurrier's Univ. of South Carolina Gamecocks team next weekend. I won't see the game because I'll be in Greece, but I'll look forward to reading about it online and hearing about it when I get back.

"Univ. of Alabama vs. Univ of South Carolina: In a game where inches matter...University of South Carolina's 'Cocks just don't measure up."

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I was talking with a coworker today about weird/usual/unfortunate things that have happened to us. It was just a late evening, ready to go home, finishing up last minute-end-of-the-day work, and we were just keeping each other company as we were winding down the day. She was saying how somehow, someway, she's had her fair share of people that flash her. She started telling me a few different stories of times that she was out and low and behold, some whack-o stranger opened a jacket or pulled down his pants to flash her. Odd, isn't it? I mean, I have NEVER been flashed (thank goodness because it's never the attractive people that want to flash), and here she is going around life getting flashed now more than once. But although I may not have had the unfortunate experience of a flash, I'm the girl that has had the experience of finding men in ladies rooms on several occasions - performing a "self-help" program on themselves, using the liquid soap for other purposes then to wash their hands if you get my drift. I kid you not.

The first time I ran into this disgusting event was a few years ago when I was home one summer from college. Me and several of my old high school friends were all going out one night and stopped at Taco Bell for dinner (hey, we were poor college students that would rather spend their money on beer then on good food). Two of our guy friends went on out to the car and me and my friend Stephanie went to the restroom before we left. Inside the ladies room were 2 stalls, one of which was occupied when we walked in. Steph went to the empty stall first while I waited for my turn. She was finished before the other occupied stall finished, so I went in after her. While I was taking my turn, I looked down while "hovering" and remember thinking that the lady in the stall next to me had really large feet with white tennis shoes, but it didn't click in my mind then that there was anything out of the ordinary. I just assumed some big-footed women had had too much bad, fake mexican and was in there paying for it. So I finished and walked out to wash my hands. All of the sudden, the previously occupied stall door opened and a man started to walk out, pants down around his hips, holding himself in his hand! Steph, waiting on me to finish washing my hands, sees this, grabs my arm with her left hand, the door to the ladies room with her right, and she and I whoosh out in a sprint towards the parking lot, leaving the water running in the sink and soap all over my hands! We thunder into the back seat of the boys' car who were waiting for us outside. Concerned, the boys were trying to figure out what all the commotion was about, and why I still had soapy, wet hands. We relay the story and they.were.pissed!! Our friend Blake jumps out of the car and explodes back into the restaurant, looking to KO our offender while we wait in the car. He returns 5 minutes later and gets back in. He said he told the manager about the incident, and the manager had gone into the ladies room to check to see if the man was still in there, but it was empty. He'd gotten away. We carried on with our night, but not without telling everyone about the events in the women's restroom earlier that evening.

The second time that I've run into this type of thing was just 2 weeks ago...at the office! I was working kind of late one night and one of the last people still left in the office for the evening. I was ready to go home, but was going to use the restroom before I started on my trip to the house. I walked into the bathroom and hesitated as soon as I walked in. There was an odd smell in there. Not the typical cleaner smell. Not a bleach smell. Not even a bad bathroom smell, but it was a very recognizable smell. I thought to myself, "it couldn't be, could it?" I took 3 more cautious steps into the bathroom towards the stalls and with a few more whiffs of the air through my nose, decided that it was definitely the distinct smell of...well...um... I noticed in an instant that one stall door was locked, and a rush of anxiety came over me as I did a 180 and headed back out into the hallway. There is no doubt in my mind that there was a man in the ladies room that evening. I don't know who it was, but I wasn't going to wait around to find out, being one of very few still left on my floor! If someone's that hard up to do something like that, there's no telling what else they'd find enjoyment out of. I walked around and cautioned another female coworker of mine that was still there to not go in the restroom, told her what I had experienced, and I went home, holding it until I got to my house. At least I knew my bathroom was safe.

So with my coworker's tales of flashing, and my tales of men in the ladies room, I wonder if everyone has an unfortunate "thing" that the universe continuously throws in their life path? If so, what's yours?

I Am Sponge Bob Square Pants

So, maybe I don't feel like posting some elaborate, or even witty, story about what's going on in my world, or the world outside of mine. Maybe I'm feeling a bit lazy tonight, tired of thinking, or even tired of being inside of my own head today so I definitely don't want to have to think any longer to try to put it on screen. So in the meantime, I'll just post some random things up that entertained me today, so I thought you might like them, too.

Who are YOU? (Kara)
Everyone has a personality of a cartoon character (who knew?). A group of investigators got together and analyzed the personalities of well-known and modern cartoon characters (wonder if they got paid for this? they probably did...and probably with our tax money). The information that was gathered was made into this test (hey, investigators, not much going on, eh?). Answer all the questions with what describes you best, add up all your points (which are next to the answer that you choose) and at the end look for your results (taking the test like me? not much going on, eh?). Leave who you are in my comments.

1) Which one of the following describes the perfect date?
(a) Candlelight dinner (4 pts.)
(b) Fun/Theme park (2 pts.)
(c) Painting in the park (5 pts.)
(d) Rock concert (1 pt.)
(e) Going to the movies (3 pts.)

2) What is your favorite type of music?
(a) Rock 'n Roll (2 pts.)
(b) Alternative (1 pt.)
(c) Soft Rock (4 pts.)
( d) Country (5 pts.)
(e) Pop (3 pts.)

3) What type of movies do you prefer?
(a) Comedy (2 pts.)
(b) Horror (1 pt.)
(c) Musical (3 pts.)
(d) Romance (4 pts.)
(e) Documentary (5 pts.)

4) Which of these occupations would you choose, if you could choose only one?
(a) Waiter (4 pts.)
(b) Professional Sports Player(5 pts.)
(c) Teacher (3 pts.)
(d) Police (2 pts.)
(e) Cashier (1 pt.)

5) What do you do with your spare time?
(a) Exercise (5 pts.)
(b) Read (4 pts.)
(c) Watch television (2 pts.)
(d) Listen to music (1 pt.)
(e) Sleep (3 pts.)

6) Which one of the following colors do you like best?
(a) Yellow (1 pt.)
(b) White (5 pts.)
(c) Sky Blue (3 pts.)
(d) Dark Blue (2 pts.)
(e) Red (4 pts.)

7) What would you prefer to eat right now?
(a) Snow (3 pts.)
(b) Pizza (2 pts.)
(c) Sushi (1 pt.)
(d) Pasta (4 pts.)
(e) Salad (5 pts.)

8) What is your favorite holiday?
(a) Halloween (1 pt.)
(b) Christmas (3 pts.)
(c) New Year (2 pts.)
(d) Valentine's Day (4 pts.)
(e) Thanksgiving (5 pts.)

9) If you could go to one of these places, which would it be?
(a) Paris (4 pts.)
(b) Spain (5 pts.)
(c) Las Vegas (1 pt.)
(d) Hawaii (4 pts.)
(e) Hollywood (3 pts.)

10) With which of the following would you prefer to spend time?
(a) Someone smart (5 pts.)
(b) Someone attractive (2 pts.)
(c) Someone who likes to party (1 pt.)
(d) Someone who always has fun (3 pts.)
(e) Someone very sentimental (4 pts.)

Now add up your points and find out the answer you have been waiting for (can hardly wait, can you?), and don't forget to tell me who you are:

(10-16 points) You are, Garfield. You are very comfortable, easygoing, and you definitely know how to have fun but sometimes you take it to an extreme. You always know what you are doing and you are always in control of your life. Others may not see things as you do, but that doesn't mean that you always have to do what is right. Try to remember your happy spirit may hurt you or others.

(18-26 points) You are, Snoopy. You are fun, you are very cool and popular. You always know what's in and you never are out of style. You are good at knowing how to satisfy everyone else. You have probably disappeared for a few days more than once, but you always come home with the family values that you learned. Being married and having children are important to you, but only after you have had your share of fun times.

(22-28 points) You are, Arnold. You have lots of friends and you are also popular, always willing to give advice and help out a person in need. You are very optimistic and you always see the bright side of things. Some good advice: Try not to be too much of a dreamer. If not, you will have many conflicts with life.

(29-34 points) You are, Sponge Bob Square Pants. You are the classic person that everyone loves. You are the best friend that anyone could ever have and never want to lose. You never cause harm to anyone and they would never not understand your feelings. Life is a journey, it's funny and calm for the most part. Stay away from traitors and jealous people, then you will be stress free.

(35-42 points) You are, Charlie Brown. You are tender, you fall in love quickly but you are also very serious about all relationships. You are a family person. You call your Mom every Sunday. You have many friends and may occasionally forget a few birthdays. Don't let your passion confuses you with reality.

(43-50 points) You are, Dexter. You are smart and definitely a thinker. Every situation is fronted with a plan. You have a brilliant mind. You demonstrate very strong family principles. You maintain a stable routine but never ignore a bad situation when it comes.

And finally tonight, a friend of mine sent me a picture of why we have the best military on the planet, and I couldn't agree more. I mean, who could argue with this? I ended up picking out two of them to be in lust with because I just couldn't decide on one, and well, it's just been a while, so I'm entitled. I picked the guy on the left because he looks kinda dumb. You know, for a "little less talk and a lot more action." I picked the guy on the right because he looks smart, and he's "got being right (and a few other things) down to an art." It's kind of a Ying Yang - best of both worlds. And yes, that's me at the bottom, but please, don't hate be because I'm beautiful. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

P.S. Happy Birthday Daddy! Love you! I know you must be so proud...

Mission Possible?

First Thing's First

I'm back from my trip to the beach and it was amazing and relaxing and everything a trip to the beach should be. I'll do a separate post about that, but first thing is first - the first Alabama game of the season*.

Score?
Alabama 26
Middle Tennessee State University 7
ROLL TIDE!

Alabama running back Kenneth Darby (#34 and my dog's namesake) finds a hole in the Middle Tennessee State defense at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005.

Up next week?

Southern Mississippi at 7:45pm EST on ESPN2

*My heart goes out to all of the players, students, and fans of the universities affected by Katrina that aren't able to enjoy the excitement of the start of the football season due to canceled or postponed football games this past weekend. May the recovery be swift and your spirits be lifted. We look forward to having you back in play as soon as possible because that will mean an emergence out of the devastation and an attempt back into normalcy; however that gets defined in the upcoming weeks and months for you. May God bless and be with you and your families.

'She Likes to Feel the Sand Beneath Her Feet'

I'm just waiting to Exhale. I'm heading down to St. George Island tomorrow afternoon for a long weekend vacation at the beach. A long needed long weekend vacation. An 8 hour trip from Atlanta, I should be there by 11pm tomorrow, and by 11:05pm my toes will be in the sand, guaranteed. The way work's been lately, thinking about a few days on the water is the only thing keeping my sanity. I can almost hear the crash of the waves now...or is that just a hallucination from lack of sleep and too much stress?

The great thing about St. George is that it's very dog-friendly, so of course Darby's going with me! Dogs are allowed on the beaches, and even at the local restaurants if you sit out on the patio area. I even have a doggy Hawaiian shirt for him to sport around the island. He's going to love it just as much as me, I'm sure! An animal shelter adoptee, he fell into the lap of luxury, and has been spoiled rotten since the day I picked him out...or did he choose me?

So my friends, if you don't hear from me this weekend, you'll know where I am. I'll be working on my base tan before my trip to Greece in 2 weeks. Which, by the way, my passport renewal arrived today, thank goodness! It only took them a week to send back to me, but of course, it cost me an additional $100 to have it expedited. That's what I get for my procrastination. And on that same subject, it's midnight and I'm still doing laundry to pack for tomorrow...

A Little Down Home Humor

Got this forwarded email yesterday and it made me laugh:

Due to the popularity of the Survivor TV shows, several southern TV stations are joining together and are planning to do their own, entitled "Survivor: Southern Style."

The contestants will start in Alabama, travel over to Georgia and on to South Carolina. From there they will head up to North Carolina and over to Tennessee. They will then proceed down to Mississippi and Louisiana. Finally ending up back over in Alabama.

Each will be driving a pink Volvo with New Jersey license plates and large bumper stickers that read:

• I'm a Vegetarian
• Al-Quida Has Been Misunderstood
• NASCAR Sucks
• Go Yankees (or any other hockey team or non-SEC/ACC college football team)
• Hillary 2008
• Hunting is Murder
• I'm Here to Confiscate Your Guns

The first one that makes it back to Montgomery alive, wins.

Simply Decadent and Sinful

She was 25, he was 31. She was the essential girl next door from Georgia. He was...well he was romantic, successful, and from Venezuela. He approached her at a party, tried to give her his business card, and asked her to call. She politely returned the card, indicating her interest in him, but her lack of interest in her pursuing him, and offered him her number instead. Right on schedule, she heard from him 3 days later, and they made plans for a date.

He picked her up that August Friday night and had a rose waiting on the grey leather passenger seat of his silver Jeep Cherokee as he opened the door for her to get in. She was impressed at his thoughtfulness and manners, and couldn't help but notice the rush of butterflies in her stomach. A slight smile turned the corners of her lips upward towards her eyes with the anticipation of what was to come. They had a fabulous dinner, with equally fabulous dinner conversation. He spoke to her in Spanish, with phrases such as, "my beautiful," falling off of his tongue like sweet cream. He had deep, rich brown eyes and jet black hair. He definitely qualified as the cliche: tall, dark, and handsome. Nothing like any other boy she had dated before, he was a man - exciting and new (come aboard, we're expecting you...). How could she help but be smitten?

They dated for the better part of 4 months. The relationship was somewhere just beyond casual, yet not quite developed into serious. She enjoyed the small but sweet "just because" gifts he'd pick up for her when he was thinking of her. He enjoyed her sincere interest in his culture. They both enjoyed learning about each other. And the attraction was undeniable.

As the relationship grew more intimate one night after coming back to his upscale condo from a few drinks out with his friends, a romantic conversation while sitting on the black leather sofa in the soft candle light in the living room quickly turned from a verbal conversation into a more passionate physical conversation. The location of this conversation between two bodies moved from the living room and into his bedroom. The two became lost in the intensity of the moment. Everything was perfect, euphoric if you will allow, up until the point where she opened her eyes with some clarity and saw something similar to this:

Apparently there is nothing that can kill a romantic, intimate moment as quickly as that of a crucifix hanging from a chain and swinging towards your face.

Reader's Choice

I've been racking my brain all night trying to find something to post about. I haven't been able to come up with anything all that compelling. I considered posting about my longest and worst date ever, complete with a toothbrush consolation prize and detailed description of every flower/shrub/tree planted at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I also considered posting a funny story about an intimate situation I had with a Venezuelan guy and his gold chain. Even the story of my 5 minute worldwind "marriage proposal" from the French stranger in Paris came to mind. But then I thought, hey, why not let the 3 people that read my blog tell me what they want to hear about? So my friends, it's up to you. Reader's choice. If any of the above sound like something you'd like to hear, let me know. Or, if you have another subject you'd like to hear from me on, tell me what it is and I'll see what I can come up with. Now mind you, I'm not making any promises that any of it will be good, so I don't want any of you coming to me afterwards demanding your wasted time back for reading it, but at least it'll give me something to write about.

Back At It

Don't you wish you could subscribe to a wake-up call service, much like you get at hotels? That'd be great, especially for those of us that HATE mornings and have a hard time getting up. Have a meeting this morning at the office at 7am. People, I don't usually get up until 7am or after, let alone have to be dressed, ready, at work, and on my toes for a meeting by 7am. Ugh. So far work's kicking my butt this week. The score is now officially Work 4, Kara 0. Actually, I may be more like -0.

Thank goodness for coworkers that are friends. I enlisted my friend Dana to call and wake me up this morning since she has to be in the meeting, too. It's better knowing you're not the only one up at the crack of dawn.

Have a good day everyone!

Overtired

Ever get to the point where you're so tired, you're over tired? Where your eyes are so heavy you can hardly keep them open, but your mind won't rest long enough to get you into a deep sleep? Know it? That's me tonight. I'm having a hard time relaxing. In taking on the extra work and thinking of everything I have to get done before my trip in 3 weeks, my body's all tense (I can feel the muscles in my mid-back, neck, and shoulders just engulfing the stress, clinched tight) and my brain is on overdrive. I tossed and turned and woke up 3 times last night thinking about work. How sad is that? It's time for extreme measures. I'll be investing in a bottle of wine on my way home tomorrow night. After a self-medicating liquid dinner*, I should be all relaxed and ready for bed at about 9pm.

*Self-medicating liquid dinners may not be suitable for everyone. Please check with your physician to see if a self-medicating liquid dinner is right for you. Just a heads up, it probably isn't. And as always, please drink responsibly. You know, don't spill any; that's wasteful.

IM In

So now what? I've had AOL for over 10 years, and the same email address for just as long. Now that I have DSL, all of what I've known is now changed. Not good for someone that doesn't really have the patience to figure out computer stuff. My email is new, and now I've had to sign up with AIM and Yahoo messenger for communication. AIM I kind of "get" because I was used to using AOL IM capabilities. Yahoo, I totally don't just yet. But hey, I have it. If you have some time and want to explain it to me, or even say hi, you can find me at Kara0303 on AIM and Kara_0303 on Yahoo. But, don't get your feelings hurt if I don't respond, it may just be that I don't know how!

It' Snot That Impressive

Allergies. I have 'em. Breathing in all of the grass and whatnot after yesterday's yard work excursion didn't help me with my allergy situation. I woke up with a dull headache and then developed around mid-morning a stuffy nose that runs. Yea, that's fun. You can't breath and you can't sniffle. And of course, the stuffy/runny nose develops just at the time that I begin my 10 am to 4pm back to back, no time to eat lunch, no time to go to the bathroom meeting bonanza. You see, one of our marketing managers took another position in the company, and I'm the one (un)lucky enough to get to do her job and my job until we find her replacement. Today was my first day doing both and it about killed me. To top it off, one of my back to back meetings was the first with the VP and department members that I'll be working with until we replace her. Yes, my first impression with these people is one of waded up kleenex and sneezing. I'm sitting in the meeting, trying to hold my own because I know they're judging me as the "new girl," and sizing me up to see if I can meet their aggressive departmental marketing objectives. Meanwhile, I can't breath or keep a tissue away from my face longer than 5 minutes. It's kind of hard to sell yourself as someone that will keep a department on strategy during their biggest time of year when you sound like you're talking from the inside of a barrel.

Ahh, such is life. It's just a job - only meant to pay the bills. In all honesty, it's really just a game to me. Because it's the only thing I have to focus on at the moment, I kind of view my job as a race. It's a race to find out how far up the ladder I can get before I get the job that I *really* want: having a family. Those are the people I want to impress the most, anyway.

Blister in the Sun

For those of you that get the pun in my title, it's not what you think. I have a blister on the palm of my right hand. It's about the size of a dime, and I got it today while performing yard work in the scorching Georgia sun and heat. My parents came over this morning to help me get my yard in order. I'm not a yard work kind of girl, in fact, I hate it, and it shows. Which is why they volunteered to come help me get the front yard back to a presentable state. It's so much easier to accomplish some things when you have help. All day long we mowed, we weeded, we pressure-washed, we laid pave stones, we edged, we trimmed bushes, we swept, and we even put up a new mailbox post. We were exhausted.

As I type this, my lower back killing me and drinking gallons of water to replace what I sweated out today, I reflect on a few ways to look at what the blister on my hand represents:

• A job well-done. An accomplishment. A sense of pride in my home.
• Team-work. Family support. Lending a hand when things become too overwhelming.
• Damn shovel. Soft hands not meant for manual labor. Yardwork sucks.

Renewed Philosophy

Sorry guys, another "deep blog" by Kara. I can't help it, deep-thinking is just the pisces in me.

So after several "deep breaths" lately now that I'm getting off the roller coaster I've just ridden through the month of July - ex's wedding all over the media, sister's engagement, and an attempt at a new dating venture (the first in a long time that I was actually *hopeful* about) - the chaos has subsided and my head's clear again. I've run a brush through my wind blown hair, straightened up my clothes, and the weird feeling in my stomach that you usually get on a roller coaster has subsided. With the new found clarify, I'm now refocused. I've been stressed, I've felt an insurmountable weight of pressure from within and from external sources, and I just haven't been myself. I haven't been my fun-loving, c'est la vie, que sara sara, (insert your own cliche here) natural self. I feel like the more out of control I felt personally, the more control I tried to exert on my personal life, and it didn't work. And it sucks. But, I can't go back and change any of it no matter how much I wish I could. So, instead of song lyrics, which is what I usually relate to, today I found some movie quotes to live by.

"Stop trying to control everything and just let go."--- Fight Club

"Why should I live up to other people's expectations rather than my own?"--- Kat, 10 Things I Hate About You

"Don't go looking for Mr. Right. Look for Mr. Right Now, and eventually, if he's worthy, one day that Now part will just drop away naturally."--- The Sweetest Thing

My renewed philosophy is just to relax and have fun. I'll just be along for the ride with a smile instead of trying to drive and control where the ride is taking me. And I look forward to and am open for whatever's around the bend - past, present, and future.

Some Nerve

An acquaintance called me up Thursday and wanted to see if I wanted to grab a drink with him after work yesterday. Me not having any Friday plans set up just yet because after checking in with people, I was finding that some friends had to work, others were out of town, I thought, why not? Let me preface this by saying that I don't know this guy very well. We've hung out with others once before at a party, but that was back in the spring, and and we've maintained an acquaintance friendship at best since then. So, he calls me on my way home from work and says he's on his way over. I tell him that it's not convenient just yet, that I wasn't even home myself. So he "graciously" gives me 30 more minutes. I get home, change out of my work clothes, feed my babies, let them outside for a few minutes, and he shows up. He walks in with a bottle of Captain Morgan, a 2 liter of Coke, and a movie. Puzzled, I tell him that I thought we were going out for a drink. He says, "ohhh, dude. I realized I only had $25 so I thought we could just hang here tonight." Ummm? Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for changing plans, I'm extremely adaptable and flexible and even like spontaneity, but since I don't know him very well, it kind of aggravated me that he just assumed it'd be ok for him to hang out at my house, the first time he's ever over. And in all honesty, it made me a bit uncomfortable. But, I'm a go with the flow girl to a certain degree, so...

He proceeds to mix drinks and we start watching the Falcons vs. Titans game. During the first 3 quarters of the game, he mixes himself 4 very strong drinks to my one very weak drink that I was nursing, and I start to get a little concerned. In the meantime, he's put in the movie, The Aviator, and we start watching. Ok, first of all, who knew that this movie had a running time of like 3 days!? Geez, I thought it would NEVER end. And I wasn't digging my company, and it was a bit slow on top of that, so it truly felt like an eternity had passed me by last night. Like I was in some sort of a slow motion warp zone. Seriously, I have to check what year it is now, but I may very well have aged 10 years and am now 38 - which sucks because I'm still single, but considering my current alternative (him), that's ok with me. Anyway, the movie's over around 1am and I'm SOOOOO ready for him to leave.

He gets up and goes down the hall and I assume he's going to the bathroom before he takes off. So I go clean up the kitchen. Several minutes pass, and I'm thinking, where is he and why's he taking so long and more importantly when's he leaving? I look down the hall and the bathroom door is open, lights off. Confused, I walk further into the hallway and see him laying on MY bed! Oh heyell no (for those of you unaware, that's southern for "hell" - you know we have to draw out one syllable words into two, especially when we're pissed)! I go into my bedroom and shake him to wake him. I tell him he's got to get up and go home. He gets into a sitting position on the side of my bed and mumbles/slurs that he can't drive because he's drunk and he doesn't have keys to his apartment anyway(apparently he took his car in for some work and left his whole set of keys at the dealership while he was given a loaner), and neither roommate is home tonight. I think my head was going to explode, I was so mad. The nerve of him knowing that he couldn't get into his apartment last night, just assuming he could hang out at my house, get drunk, and crash at my house!? Ugh, I'm still fuming as I type. If we were better friends, fine, no problem. But really, we aren't good friends, and even the word "friends" might even be a bit of a strong word to define our "relationship." But what am I going to do? I can't send him off to drive drunk, and he can't even get into his apartment anyway if I send him home in a cab. So, I make him get up and go to the guest room - basically shuffling him in the door to the room and then closing him in there as soon as he gets through the doorway. I go to my room, shut my door, and go to bed mad as a wet cat.

This morning around 6am, I awaken to feeling him sit down on my bed. Trying to get my bearings after just being woken up, I feel him grab one of my breasts! I shoot upright, throw back the comforter and start telling him he has to leave immediately!! I storm towards the door and he trails behind me apologizing. I open the door and firmly say, "good - bye!" He walks outside, I slam the door behind him, lock it, and go get back in my bed.

Unfreakinbelievable.

Cell Phone Number Clean Up / Round Up

Ok, so I was going through my contact names in my cell phone the other night and deleted quite a few during my cell phone clean up. K, S, and S were deleted because I don't like talking to any of them. K is somewhat of a stalker-type and doesn't make me laugh when we talk, S smokes like a chimney, drives me crazy, talks during movies, and acts a little too feminine for my taste, and the other S is just a "good-time" guy only looking for a good-time, which isn't exactly in line with what I'm looking for. Besides, I hate to say this, but he's just not good-looking enough to be a "good-time" kind of guy. Girls, you know what I mean. I like talking to G, but deleted that one just as a natural progression of things. I also enjoyed talking to J, but deleted that one because I got really tired of my calls being screened. I gave that one my best effort of all but the interest isn't returned. And as of late, I've only added D. So, by my calculations, I've really got 4 new open spots in my contact list to add new people. With the freed up space now in my cell phone, I need to do a cell phone number round up. If you think your number is cell phone worthy, let me know and I'll consider it, but please pay close attention as to why the others were deleted out of my phone and if you fit into any of those categories, your fate in the phone will be doomed as well. Otherwise, I've got a party on Saturday night, maybe I can add a few there. It's actually the "Betty Ford Center Bash at Steve and Joe's" with a really cute invite:

Know When To Hold 'Em

Y'all I've had the BEST night tonight! I just got home from a function put on by one of our agency partners. They held a Texas Hold 'Em poker night at Brio Tuscan Grille down in Buckhead and it was so much fun. Free food, free alcohol, raffle prizes, and poker. First of all, I won one of the raffle drawings and you know what it was? An IPOD shuffle! I was SO excited because I've actually been considering buying one, and now I don't have to! But, my luck didn't stop there my friends! I, Kara, came in 5th at the winner's table in the poker tournament! Can you believe it? Out of about 50 people, I came in 5th! I don't even know how to play poker! My friend D that I'm going to Greece with won the tournament! She's never played a day in her life! It was just so - much - fun! I'm not sure why I came home, I should have stayed out...seems I'm a bit lucky tonight and maybe I should have used that to my benefit with a night out on the town...

Dream a Little Dream

Had a crazy dream last night. Before I went to bed, I told myself I wanted to remember my dream, so when I woke up, I did. I dreamt that me, my director, and a coworker were on a plane heading to Ireland for a wedding. Before we took off, I kept trying to get off the plane to get my blackberry and some tylonol pm for the flight, but the flight attendants wouldn't let me off. While waiting on the plane, I gave my director a gift to open. He opened it and it was an ironing board, and when he unfolded it, I was embarrassed that it was the small kind that just sat on the bed as opposed to the larger one that stands on it's own. Just before take-off, the flight attendants announced that the wedding had been called off, but the bride's parents were still going to pay for our trip while in Ireland since we had all purchased the tickets over. So, instead of a wedding, it was going to be like a mini vacation. All of the sudden, I am standing in Ireland with my director and coworker in a dress and heading to dinner. I don't remember getting to Ireland, doing anything during the day there, or how I got dressed for dinner. When I questioned my coworker, she said that I got really drunk that day and must have blacked out during the day tour we had taken.

Then I woke up. No earthly idea how or why I dreamt that. Weird, huh?

They All Want Me

And I can't say that I could blame them.

Had a conversation with my director yesterday and found out that I'm on the short list, the very short list, for a promotion. Not bad after being in my current position, of which I was promoted to, for just at a year now. Needless to say, I was pretty excited yesterday. More $$, more to put on my resume! Another rung in the ol' corporate ladder my friends.

Well today, it just keeps getting better. I received a call this afternoon from a director of another department asking if I'd be interested in taking a new position he's creating in his group. Always interested in what other opportunities are out there, I, of course told him I'd like to at least hear what he has in mind for the new position. So, we're meeting on Friday to discuss. I like options, especially when they're to my benefit AND can be used in negotiations.

In other news, only because I'm too lazy to create a new post and really didn't think y'all would care if I just combined everything into one, I have the following to report (I'm just going to type whatever comes up):

DSL modem arrived yesterday. Yes, I know, I know, I'm like the last person on the planet that was still using dial-up. But my world's changed and I'm a renewed woman. I spent 45 minutes installing the modem last night, step by step with their "installation for idiots" CD because when it comes to technology, I'm a certified idiot (aren't men supposed to install stuff and know what cords are needed for what?). I got close to the end and I kept getting error messages during the testing step. So I called the 888 number they flashed up. I was on hold for 20 minutes of course, and finally got some man with an Indian accent, most likely because my call was routed to the call center in India, and found out that my service wouldn't be set up until today. Now please tell me why they'd send out the modem, let it arrive, and not have the service established yet? Stupid. Anyway, I have it working now and can I tell you how much I love it?

Let's see, what else? Oh, my trip to Greece is a month away and I still haven't sent in for my passport renewal. I'm such a procrastinator. Now I have to pay the extra $60 to have it expedited in 2 weeks. But first, I have to go have some 2" headshots made to send in with the paperwork. But I can't wait. I met some guys when I was out having a beer on Friday night after the concert who went to Greece in June and they have me all jazzed up with stories they told. Ahhh, 12 days of bliss are coming soon...

But do you know what I'm even MORE excited about? The start of football season. I. can't. freakin'. wait! Recently on Saturday mornings there's a show that comes on called "Football Saturdays in the South" that I watch when I get up. It's all about coaches, players, teams, and traditions from SEC and ACC teams. It's a good enough fix until the real deal starts on Sept. 3rd.
"Alabama coach Mike Shula prepares his team during the first fall football practice Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2005, in Tuscaloosa."
Roll Tide!

And finally, a quick note -
Dear guy who's cube I pass everyday on my way to the elevator,
Do me one of two favors: 1) either increase the percentage of your document size (if you're not sure how to do this, I advise asking a fellow coworker or you'll need to make plans to be on hold with the help desk for 3 days) or 2) get glasses. There's no need for your nose to be 6 inches away from your computer screen. Your work couldn't possibly be that interesting, or that secretive. Besides that, you look like a moron all hunched over and squinting at your monitor. The "Quasimoto" look really isn't working for you.
Your pal,
Kara

Wanted It To Be

God, thank you for the creation of music. I love it. Any and all of it. Last night I had free tickets to go see Sister Hazel perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at my favorite outdoor concert venue here in Atlanta, Chastain Amphitheater. And it was simply nothing short of an amazing musical experience.

First, a few friends and I met up after work at the Taco Stand for a margarita and some Mexican before the concert. You can take food into Chastain, but it was raining and we didn't feel like dealing with trying to drag food from the car to the concert, so we went ahead and ate beforehand. Luckily, it stopped raining as we headed out of Taco Stand. As usual, other concert goers at Chastain brought in their tv tables and fancy food, wine with wine glasses, flowers for the table, and a candle. That place has the best atmosphere - it's so laid back and romantic. So, we find our seats, center section/center row, and open our bottle of wine and all enjoy a glass as the orchestra warmed up. Then the band came out and started the show.

I've pulled a few important lyrics to me right now in my life into a mini compilation from a few of their songs they sang last night. Many times, lyrics say exactly what I feel:

It's your world
And I was just someone in it
I never wanted to be your problem
And it's your life
And I just wanted to see you live it
Be the one to help you solve 'em
I wanted--I wanted it to be
I wanted--I wanted it to be-yeah yeah
Never claimed to be no savior
I never claimed to be no saint
I'm just another tool who tried to love you
from Wanted It To Be

A grand empty canvas creating my life
A strange situation - there’s no wrong or right
And I’m learning - along the way
From the first time I met you, what could I do
But pray for the strength to see this one through
And I’m tryin’ it slips away
A hopeless romantic but nothing feels right
A ship full of lovers that sails out of sight
I wait for the answers to fall from the sky
from Hopeless

I won't be your winter
I won't be anyone's excuse to cry
We can be forgiven
I will be here
from Your Winter

If you've had enough
Of all your tryin'
Just give up
The state of mind you're in:
If you want to be somebody else,
If you're tired of fighting battles with yourself
If you want to be somebody else
Change your mind...
from Change Your Mind

Throughout the show, as if having back up music performed by the orchestra wasn't enough, they'd bring out a choir of singers to sing back up. Some of the songs performed with both orchestra and choir were Champagne High, All For You, and Happy. It was incredible - even sitting in a poncho in a drizzle of rain, which really only complemented the experience. I had a great time.

Let's Get It On

People, there is a reason why on ramps are on a downward slant. Yea, it's so you can pick up speed faster. Your car really is supposed to be moving at a faster speed by the time you get to the bottom. You know why this would be important? Because you, at the end of the "on ramp," will need to merge into traffic going at least 70 mph. Tough to do if you're only going 35mph - they're not going to stop to let you on the ride! So QUIT HITTING YOUR BRAKES* AND DRIVE.

thank you.

*updated 8/11/05. School Marm's on the prowl. Heaven help us.

Next Stop, Communication Gap

Sounds like he was a very attentive husband, and a good listener! Just don't find 'em like that these days!

Man forgets wife at gas station

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- A Macedonian man left his wife at an Italian service station and only realized he had driven off without her six hours later, news agency Ansa said.
The couple, who were travelling with their 4-year-old daughter, pulled over for petrol in the coastal city of Pesaro as they were heading back to their home to Germany.
After filling the tank, the husband drove away -- without noticing that his 30-year-old wife, originally from Georgia, had got out of the car to go to the toilet.
The woman, who had no money or documents with her, contacted the police who eventually traced her husband to Milan, some 340 km (210 miles) north of Pesaro, Ansa said.
The husband told police he had not missed his wife because she always sat in the back of the car with their daughter.

The Big One That Got Inside

While opening the door to let my dog back inside tonight from his last outing before a 1 am bedtime, he bolted inside as usual, and running full speed inside right behind him came a HUGE, black, cockroach. Ugh, I just had a full body shiver just recounting this incident! I mean, this thing was so big, you could saddle it and sell rides at the county fair! Well, great. You know what this means. Kara's not going to bed until I find this thing and kill it. Another key moment in my life when I wish someone else were around. I HATE bugs, especially large, disgusting bugs, and especially when my peace of mind depends on me to kill it! But, with the option of leaving it and going to bed, only to wake up with it ON me somewhere and doing creepy crawly things to me, I was going to track this sucker down and get rid of it before I came anywhere close to shutting my eyes. So, I've spent the last hour tracking it through my house, in my pajamas with bug spray in hand, as if I was on some hunt with the Crocodile Hunter. I came close a few times to killing it, but this thing was so fast it'd give any NASCAR driver a run for his money! And then the unthinkable happened...I saw it run into my room and under my bed. As if it merely being in my house weren't bad enough, but now the monster is under my bed!! I grab a flashlight so I can see where to aim the bug spray, kneel on the hardwoods, slowly lift up the bedskirt and suddenly I'm eye to beety eye with scariest creature on earth under 3 inches. I gasp, my heart beating through my chest, and spray at least half of the bottle of bug spray beneath my bed within a 2 foot radius of where I spotted it. As luck would have it, I succeeded in it's demise. I went to my bathroom, unrolled 3/4 of the roll of toilet paper to pick it up with, and flushed it down the toilet, with an extra flush just for good measure. Whew. I can now go to bed without hesitation knowing that I found and killed it, only the adrenaline's pumping through my body so I'm not even sleepy. He may have been the big one that got inside, but he wasn't the big one that got away!

A Little Patchwork

One hour, one drill bit, and 2 extra holes in my wall later, I finally got the picture hung over my bed that I've been meaning to do for about 4 months. Aren't you impressed at my handy skills? It's level and everything, which is quite a task when you're balancing on top of the bed and doing it all by yourself.

As for the extra holes in my wall, well, I figure if I can renovate this bathroom (yes, it's actually my bathroom during my renovation...jealous at how nice it was, aren't you?), I can patch a little extra hole in my wall!

The Abyss

Today’s outfit: A cute black dress with a scoop neckline and a flower embroidery detail at the hemline. The dress is important to this story. Ok, maybe not the fact that it’s cute or that is has a flower embroidery, but whatever.

So, I’m sitting in a meeting this afternoon and my friend/coworker sitting next to me discretely slides me a piece of gum, the kind you pop out of the plastic bubble as opposed to a stick you unwrap. I take it, trying hard to ensure that the meeting presenter isn’t distracted by the exchange and that I continue pretending to be ever so “enthralled” in the meeting subject. I look at her and give her a “thank you” eye raise and half smile. I go to put the piece of gum in my mouth and somehow miss my mouth. The gum drops down inside the front of my dress and sticks in my cleavage below the scooped neckline – way out of reach for any kind of appropriate search and rescue attempt while in the middle of a full conference room! My friend sees this and her shoulders begin to shake as she stifles her laughter. Then my shoulders begin to shake in response to her laughing at me. You know this kind of laughter – the kind you did as a kid in church trying to keep quiet so your mom doesn’t get mad? Then my face turns bright red with the knowledge that a) she saw this happen and is laughing at me, causing me to silently laugh uncontrollably while trying to maintain any decorum and b) that I now have a piece of gum down in my cleavage that I can’t do anything about. So I think, maybe if I move around just right, that the gum will shake free and fall down the rest of the way of my dress and to the floor. So every so often I would lean forward a little, then I’d cross my left leg over my right, then change and cross my right over my left, then I’d lean back, just trying different positions to see if it’d budge. I think the only thing I accomplished is wedging it even further down between the speed bumps in my dress. At last the meeting was over and everyone got up to leave. As I stood up, I felt the piece of gum fall free and down my body. It came out of the bottom of my dress and bounced on the floor. Another coworker that didn’t see the previous incident go down to know where it came from leans over to pick up the fallen piece of gum just as he says, “hey Kara, you dropped something.” I take it and thank him as my face again turns the color of a beet. My friend that had given me the gum breaks out into a roar of laughter. He smiles and walks away confused. If only this guy knew, if only he knew.

The Countdown

If I think about it too much, I have a physical reaction from my excitement!

R.T.R!

If I Build It, Will They Come?

It's stupid! It's cheesy! It's the least fun you'll have all day!

Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com!

Sleepless Word for the Night No. 2

frus·tra·tion
Pronunciation: (")fr&s-'trA-sh&n
Function: noun1 : the act of frustrating
2 a : the state or an instance of being frustrated
b : a deep chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs
3 : something that frustrates

Breathe, Just Breathe

I got a call on Saturday from my younger sister while in my car on my way out of town. She broke the news that she’s officially engaged with ring and all. She informed us earlier this spring that this was a possibility, but assured my parents that he’d talk to them before if was going to happen. Well, it’s completely official now. Wow. This news created high drama amongst my family. We’ve only met this guy once, and I don’t even know his last name. He also didn’t bother to ask my dad before he proposed, which I feel shows a sincere lack of respect. Their relationship has been far from blessed by my parents. At this point, my mother’s less than excited about the news, for a number of reasons I won’t go into, and my dad’s trying to be a trooper. He’s recognized that it’s happened, and although it may not be how he’d prefer or who he’d prefer, he’s being supportive of his daughter and putting faith in her ability as a 23-year-old adult to make the right decisions for her life. I, too, was upset at the news, for several reasons:

- I was upset because I don’t know him. Not that I have to marry him, but really, in my opinion marriage is supposed to be a union between two families, so technically he’s to be my “brother” and I’ve spent all of 8 hours with him? I don't even know his last name! Being the older sister and feeling a sense of responsibility for her, I want to know that he’s a good man – that he will treat her well - that he will be able to provide for her and support her. I don’t know that any of this is true.
- I was upset because she’s upset that the family’s not overly excited about this. This is supposed to be her joyous news, and yet the reactions are really not all that favorable. This is not the way I’d ever imagined this major life event to go down for her, and by her own admission, it’s not the way she’d have preferred either. This should be perfect for her. It should be a time to celebrate, and instead it’s been a time for tension. The tears should be of joy and happiness, and instead they’re tears of hurt feelings and disappointment on both sides. I can’t begin to describe my sadness at the whole situation.
- I was upset because he didn’t have the courtesy to talk to my father. She made excuses for him saying that he knew how my parents felt, so he decided to by-pass them altogether. I told her that that was all the more reason he should have talked to them about it, to make sure that he started off on a good foundation, or at least gained a little respect from them. Her family’s very important to her, and if he loves her, in my opinion, her family should be important to him, too. Apparently it’s not, and that bothers me.
- I’m upset because I feel like when it’s the right person, things will just work naturally. Maybe I’m too much of a romantic, but I don’t think that something like this should be a struggle, or should create such angst for a family. The fact that this has caused so much heartache concerns me that this may not be the right person for her.

In the end, fighting through my tears, I told her how I felt about everything I listed above, but made sure to congratulate her and made sure she didn’t feel so alienated. As disappointed as I am at how this all happened, I do, after all, love her very much, and I want her to be happy. She deserves to be happy. We all do.

So yesterday I'm over at my parents' house and my grandaddy calls. I answer the phone and he starts talking about the engagement. Do you know what he says to me? He says, "well, Kara, now that you see how your little sister's done it (get engaged), maybe you can go out and do it, too." Yes, grandaddy, as if it's just that simple.