Crazy Busy Week And That Time Monday Kicked the Shit Out of Me.

Only Tuesday?!  I know y'all have seen my August complaints but even though the end includes vacation time there are way too many things written down in my planner this month. These would be fine but I am dealing with other nuances in life that are really beating me down.  I have accepted that work is stressful and I  trying to work really hard this week to make sure I don't work myself into another migraine. Also, serious sinus issues and my ears are hurting so I am doped up on Sudafed. My car had been doing this lovely thing where it won't start when it's super hot outside. Took it to the shop the other week and they "couldn't find anything".  Of course the car wouldn't start on my lunch break. Missed the gym. Hair appointment tomorrow, dinner with my parents this week and my dear friend is getting married this weekend and I have a lot to help her with so I can't be dragged down by the Honda. Never mind trying to get work done early on Friday to make the bridal luncheon, getting the dogs to 3 Putt's and maintaining my sanity. I also may have been slightly hungover Monday due to my white-girl-dinner of two glasses of chard and a froyo Sunday night.  It did not help my rage.

I was so pissed yesterday! I always have such high hopes for Monday after my weekends that are full of fun and people I love.  Trying to regroup today. But here is a bit of what the rest of my night looked like. 

A big salad. Tervis. Trying to calm the heck down once I got home. 

Oh, hey there PB. You heal a multitude of evils. You are always, always there for me. 

Drugs and ink pens. Part of my work rage is the pens they give us that don't work all that well. So I'm taking charge of things starting with office supplies. 

I also soothed myself with some spray painting. Sad story - I need another can to finish the job. But I didn't feel like risking another moment with my car acting foolish.

How is your week? 

-the single gal- 

Lately {single gal edition}

just some pictures of things happening of late...

I've been thinking a lot about my friends whose sweet dog Beau went to sit with Little Baby Jesus two weeks ago.  I know this is an incredibly hard time for them, and I just hate what they are going through.  I love this picture of C and Beau from the Super Bowl a few years ago.  

Hogan and Beau were good buds, too.  

I went to Goodwill and got 8 plates + 8 salad plates + 16 silver chargers for $33.  The plates are white with a gold rim.  Well loved, but I think they could make some pretty place settings with some jazzy bowls.  {sorry the kitchen sink made it in there}

As a dog person, I am almost ashamed to be so in love with this Gap dress that has cats on it.  BUT...it's pretty much one of the few things in my closet that I like right now.   Snagged it on sale for $34.  I would link the item but they no long have it.  Sads. 

Because I am redundant sometimes, I also kind of want the cat print boyfriend shirt. 

Lots of walks with Hogie.  Caught in the rain on this so 3 Putt and I took shelter and sat on a bench to watch the storm pass.  Hogie was not pleased about the rain either. 

His Sunday morning trip to Starbucks was a little more promising. 

The Housewife and I grabbed a quick picture before we saw Alabama in concert at The Fox Theatre on Friday! 

{the fabulous fox theatre}

This was pretty much how Sunday was spent because it keeps raining. All the time.  Every weekend.  And I will never get to go to the lake.  

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Stuff from My Weekend

Well it was pretty much a super girly weekend here for The Single Gal.  The Housewife and I got together for a mani/pedi date on Friday after a long week and work and it was just what we needed to start off the weekend.  It seems like we haven't seen each other in forever!

I went with this OPI color "My Private Jet" for the weekend since it was so cold and frigid.  The Housewife and I have grown to love this one!

Saturday morning I hit The Dry Bar with Em for more pampering! 

I know it's blurry.  Let's call it art and be done with it.  But they poofed my hair up with the best "Southern Comfort" I've ever gotten there! We had a great time!  And then we went to have liquid lunch at Pure Taqueria.  

When you get home from liquid lunch you take selfies with the dog. 

I actually had TWO birthday celebrations to attend for two of my most favorite people Saturday night.  So I ran over to JCT Kitchen to celebrate sweet Elise and then back up towards my area for cosmic bowling to celebrate Em.   It was super cold and I would only brave a frigid evening for those I love a lot.  Take note.  

Also, let it be known that I'm not afraid to hang up a birthday banner at the bowling alley.  Boom. 

Since I'm old and didn't get home until after 1 from bowling I took a day of rest on Sunday.  Hogan and I spent 4 hours in the morning catching on Downton Abbey {O.M.G.} and cooking fun stuff like fresh bread and I spent a lot of time eating all the things that I made.  I wasn't all that happy with the recipe I tried, so I won't post it.  It's likely that maybe I will get to try out a new recipe from bread pudding though since I cannot sit at home and eat bread all week.  Well, I could.  But I'd def gain a few pounds and ain't nobody got time for that. 

I'm trying to take more pictures, even if they are iPhone 3GS quality.  

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Long Weekend

Happy Monday, everyone! I am finally coming to you from a place of happy {and rested}.   After working so much in January I took a long weekend and had plans of going to Savannah with Em to visit Little A and have an all out girls weekend.  Earlier last week we had some frantic texting from The Housewife stating she arranged childcare for #1, talked to the Turtle and was all set to party crash if she could bring the minis.  We obviously said yes and added 3 more to the party.  

We left Saturday morning with The Housewife's minivan loaded down with stuff and our two extra girls to head down to Savannah.  The minis were sweet angels and slept dutifully on the road and we had tons of time for serious discussions and also tons of laughing/being ridiculous.  It was much needed for all of us I think! 

This was a really special trip because it has been a while since the four of us all got together for a full weekend -- I think it hasn't been since before Little A got married last June {completely shameful}.   Also special -- we were able to go stay with Little A and her husband in their new home!  We lugged all of our crap in her house and spent the afternoon catching up, drinking wine, holding babies, and grabbing some pizza for dinner.  Little A is an incredible hostess and we wanted for nothing while we were there.  We tried a fairly new place in Savannah for early brunch called The Five Spot and really enjoyed our meal. I linked up their menus and have some pics I found online below. They also do lunch/dinner/drinks.

How cute is this place?

Since we had the minis we were obvs not staying for mimosas -- but problem solved because if anyone knows mimosas it's Little A and she was already prepped and ready for us to have unlimited at her place.  And truly that's what we did. Like, all the way up through the Super Bowl.  By the way -- how disappointing were most of the commercials? And how awesome was Beyonc e? And how many of you couldn't stay up to finish watching it because you drank unlimited mimosas all day? 

We sadly got up this morning and had to hit the road again to head back to reality but it was so, so, fun and good for the soul.  I love my friends {and The Housewife}. 

I promise to get back to regular blogging for February and get some real life updates to you.  For serious.  

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

5 Daily Gratitudes

I hope that I have mentioned before how my friend C has started the excellent weekday tradition of sharing our gratitudes for the day over email before we get to the daily grind at work.  It's a super fun and special thing and The Housewife and I have been doing it with her for years and we have spread it to some of our friends as well.  

We share little things, big things and everything in between.  I love reading what all my friends are happy about every day because it makes me happy, too. 

Free Printable 

{5 Daily Gratitudes}

1. All of our lovely blog readers

2. Sunshine in Georgia after so much rain.

3. Haircuts

4. Quiet Sunday mornings at home

5. Eyeglasses 

What are you grateful for today? 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Keep Calm And....

Well, Birthday Season has started with a bang.  A big, fat, nasty one to my savings account.  I'd like to send a nastygram to the government for putting a large, black cloud over my Birthday which stressed me out to the point where I had a hideous migraine that kept coming back from Friday all the way through Sunday. I'm tapped out with a total of $1500 going to the car.  I mean, it's fine -- a new car is seriously not in the picture for at least 5 more years and I really refuse to get anything until my student loan is paid off and the wheels are also falling off the Honda.  Thank God my ad valorem tax is all of $36 and then a $20 tag fee. 

Tomorrow is D-Day.  There are no more lights on the dashboard glaring at me every time I get in to go somewhere. That car better pass that damn test. After the aphids I really can't take much more this summer. Sheesh. 

I spent so much on the car that I really was going to guilt myself into taking my Lilly maxi dress back.  The dress was expensive. I probably don't really need it. {Ok. I don't need the dress at all.}  I had already ripped the tags off my seersucker mimosa skirt and was sporting it around town so I couldn't cut that one from the closet.  So far I haven't taken it back.  It's on my credit card.  It's irresponsible of me not to return it. I can't afford it. But I'm still just 28 until Thursday...so I can still slide on responsibility for a few days right? 

Might not be the best idea, but it's a lot easier to deal with all this mess in a pretty dress if you ask me. 

Also, a quick note to everyone who has helped me out over the past two weeks or so. It's seriously hard for me to ask for help. I hate it. I don't like depending on other people for anything. I don't like appearing vulnerable or incapable in any way, shape or form. It kills me.  I really don't know why I work myself up so much.  Everything always works out in the end.  So, for now, I'm going to try to repair my savings account.  And I am going to keep calm and wear my expensive maxi dress for the rest of the summer while I do it. 

But thanks for the rides.  Thanks for helping me find someone trustworthy who could fix my car for a reasonable price.  A million little "thank you's" to 3 Putt for bringing me a huge bag of dog food for Hogan (and a bag of treats).  Sympathy tweets were appreciated, too.  And I am sorry for all the complaining.  I am lucky to have a reliable car and even luckier to have some reliable friends. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Weekend Wrap Up

It was a jam-packed 3 day weekend for this Single Gal--what about y'all?!

To start, it was totally worth every little bit of sleep I lost to get up early and watch the Royal Wedding with The Housewife and Little Ashlie! It was amazing.  The Housewife was very well researched and fed us tons of stats during the initial viewing.  You would have thought she worked for CNN Friday morning.  Also, if I am being honest, I have probably watched a few re-runs of the entire event at some point this weekend.


The dress was perfect.  The kiss was perfect. 

I don't know how Kate looked so relaxed.  Cheers to the Duke and Duchess!

I got to see one of my best, most fabulous, and funny friends Elise later that night for patio drinks at a lovely place in Atlanta--JCT Kitchen.  The upstairs bar menu is different than the dinner menu I usually partake in downstairs which was a nice change. (Check out our Tumblr for obsessive photos of Royal Wedding stuff and a great hispstamatic of Friday night's patio view!) We also enjoyed steak tartar with my old roomie Chip who stopped by.  The weather was perfect and Elise seriously stalked a great patio table for us. I was a bit late due to the round of golf I played with Big J and P after the Royal Wedding viewing but I rallied and had a great evening full of laughter.

I stayed close to home on Saturday--except for a trip to the vet and a visit with The Housewife and #1.  I am trying to learn to relax and just go with the flow of things and Saturday was an exercise in this area for sure.   It's just so hard for me to not want to know the next step of everything in my life and to not plan every minute out.  I am trying to work more for living in the moment, but find this makes me nervous--in a good and a bad way. Great BBQ,  great company, and fro-yo were Saturday highlights!

Sunday Funday consisted of brunch at a very quaint cottage off of Peachtree and Piedmont in the city.  Except we had seriously terrible service!!!! I will never go back--which is sad, because their quaint little house and patio for this restaurant were so beautiful!!!!  Y'all--we sat at our table for probably 40 minutes before anyone finally made an effort to bring us the drinks we ordered.  Drinks. Not food.

Browsed a Borders going out of business in Atlanta and bought more books which was super fun.  This makes a grand total of 3 books purchased this weekend making my "to read" pile on my nightstand ridiculously tall. I need to get to work so I can conquer the totem poll of books sitting beside me. Like, tonight. Like, right now...

Love you. Mean it.

~the single gal~

p.s. Vacay is in 11 days!!!!!!!!!!!! So. Ready. For. Punta. Cana.