Moments Worth Mentioning

I woke up this morning to about 8 inches of snow. Oh the wonders of mother nature! Going home to HOTlanta in 5 days. Can’t wait!

During the day yesterday the entire southern half of Michigan was under a “Severe Winter Advisory”. So, as I left work last night at 8:30, I went outside to a parking lot covered in ice and freezing rain pelting my face. This was going to be a fun ride home. So I got out my trusty ice scraper (which I might add, I’m getting pretty proficient in using) and cleaned off my car. I said a little prayer and started on my journey home.

I made my way to the highway and was managing to slowly slide my way towards my apartment. All of the cars that were out were taking things nice and slow and keeping their distance from each other. The roads were covered with sleet. As long as you didn’t make any sudden changes in direction or have the need to accelerate or break suddenly, things were manageable. Than comes the idiot…

We were on a major highway with a posted speed limit of 70mph. At most, all of us “smart” drivers were doing 45mph. I am about half way home when I catch a glimpse out of my rear view mirror. I am in the center lane. Their are 3 or 4 other cars a little bit ahead of me in various lanes. This crazy car that I see in my mirror was quickly approaching from behind us. And sure enough, he ends up having to slam on his breaks to avoid missing the cars that are ahead of me. The next few seconds went by in slow motion. The car that slammed on his breaks crossed 2 or 3 lanes of traffic before completely loosing control and spinning around. I had no other choice but to keep my current course. I wasn’t about to jump lanes to try to avoid this guy and become another car out of control. So I have to say that my guardian angel was with me and kept that guy safely away from me, but yet still a little too close for comfort. As far as I could tell the guy ended up not actually hitting anyone or anything. But I’m sure he had to change his pants when he got home.

You crazy Michiganders are supposed to KNOW how to drive in this stuff! What was he thinking? I know what I’m thinking… at least us Georgians know to slow down, or better yet, Just stay at home!

So, as 2008 quickly approaches I have been doing some thinking about what a crazy year 2007 has been. To sum it up a little bit… I have gotten paychecks from 5 different employers, lived in 3 different zip codes, and have criss crossed this country in the process. I have walked on the beaches of southern California, run through corn fields in Kentucky, and chased my dogs through the frozen tundras of Michigan. Its been crazy, exhausting, eye-opening, and life altering all at the same time. I am counting down the days until I fly home for Christmas and New Years.
Some bits of wisdom that I picked up along the way in 2007…

People don’t change. You can’t make them change. If they hurt you once, they will hurt you again… and again.

Money is overrated. It won’t buy happiness, it won’t make you fall in or out of love, and it definitely won’t last. Learn how to be happy without it.

I love Michigan. It may be cold, dreary, and have lots of pot holes, but this state has given something to me that I would never have gotten if I had stayed in Georgia.

On that same note… it takes at least a full week for mail to travel from Georgia to Michigan.

Everyone should have a “stacy”. She has taken me places that I could never have gotten on my own. For those of you who don’t know, stacy is my gps.

If someone chooses to walk out of your life, let them walk. They are missing out.

Mind games are ridiculous. A little communication can go a long way.

You still have to pay mortgage payments even when you have a “For Sale” sign in the front yard.

Family is the one absolute in my life. The support I have gotten from them in the last year has been amazing and eye-opening.

Text messages are by far the best and most definitely the worst invention of the 21st century.

I am strong. I am confident. I am independent. I am happy. And nothing will ever take that away from me again.

Being selfish is absolutely ok. Sometimes it’s the best thing you could ever do for yourself.

Too much of any one thing is a bad thing. Guaranteed.

2007 has been a year that I will never forget. I can only hope 2008 will be half as memorable. (But for far different reasons). =) Happy New Year!

Today I took a day off from work not to go on vacation, not to go to the doctor, not even to just be lazy. Today I took off a day of work to go Christmas shopping. In all honesty, I had to take one more PTO day before the end of the year or I would loose it. But still, I used this precious day of freedom to mingle among the hundreds of other crazy Christmas shoppers.

Since I will be flying home for Christmas, I had to keep my gifts small, practical, and packable. I could have gone the easy way out and bought everyone gift cards, but I’m better than that! I was on a mission to get everyone a personal and perfect gift that would easily fit under the seat in front of me or into the overhead bins. This was going to be fun!

So, sure enough, a couple of hours later, with my debit card smoking, I was actually done with my shopping! I walked out of the mall pretty proud of myself for such a successful day. Shopping on a weekday was such a smart move! I will be remembering this in the years to come! Now I just have to wrap all these perfect gifts… Maybe I should take another PTO…

Alright, so I have officially become an uber dork, and I have created a blog! I have recently moved from Georgia to Michigan and started a new job. While this “new job” was a great reason to pack up and leave, a fresh start somewhere faraway was also pretty appeasing. This move was the biggest, craziest thing that I have ever done. I have had to step WAY out of my comfort zone and basically learn to sink or swim up here on my own. So far, I would say I was swimming pretty well. But my days are filled with new experiences and routines that I have had to learn from and laugh at. Otherwise, I would have booked a plane ticket home a long time ago! So stay tuned. I can guarantee you a good laugh as you follow me on this wild journey up here in Michigan!