Easy Breezy

I've been busy rakin in the dough at the Country Club. I'm not making tons of money, but I'm working about three days a week so it all adds up. When they told me that everyone is required to work on Thanksgiving, I gave them my resignation, because this is my first Thanksgiving with Ben's family and I am not going to miss it for some dumb job... but they told me they would do anything for me to stay and gave me the week off so I can travel to Georgia. My first Southern Thanksgiving! Must dress warm!

At home, my roommies and I have had the windows open to let in the fresh air and its sooo nice! Our glass doors in the living room face the lanai and slide all the way open so we have a wall of breeze coming in from outside... and the pups love it! I know all of you at home are getting snow squalls, but we just now were able to turn off the air conditioning (yay for energy conservation). Its still in the low eighties during the day but nice and cool at night- by cool I mean 65 or so! Such good sleeping weather!

Pennsylvania!

Back from my travels with Ben- he fared well with my family! The fall leaves were beautiful and the chill in the air was pleasant, although Ben did have to buy me this sweet hat at the Gap to keep my ears warm! We had a big dinner with the entire family so I could show off my Benjamin and celebrate my bday some more, got some dental work done, cruised around the bustling metropolis of Waterford, and had a farm tour from my pops. It was a really nice time to be home but much too short, just like everytime! Thank you for all of my thoughtful gifts, everyone- I've been munching on Resee's peanutbutter cups all day (my fav!) and Joe loves the new Bath & Body Works handsoap in the bathroom, haha.

Another 48 hrs

Much like the Buddy Cop Classic and identifying Eddie Murphy movie of a generation, Ben and I are in the airport for our first of three stop-overs on our all-day trek to PA... Okay, so not exactly bustin criminals or slagging off dope-running benzedrine tweaks, but we feel repressed and jazzed up on too many Cinnabons and coffees' just like real cops! So maybe more like Rush Hour without the kung-fu...

Sorry, that was Ben typing. We're bored out of our minds in the airport as we've been traveling for 4 hours now and have only made it to North Carolina. From here we go to Pittsburgh for three-long-hours until we finally make it to the cute little airport of Erie, Pennsylvania. This is Ben's first trip to the Keystone State and it happens to be in my birthday month so its cheers all around. I guess this kind of treatment is expected when you're vacationing on frequent flyer miles.

Ben typing again: So, I've been watching this one guy in the airport for about the past 20 mins and he pretty much rocks. The hat alone, in the style of a Melville Cap'n Ahab aspect is worth its weight in Salty Dog fish jokes. Also there is another woman who seems to be trying to employ the BeDazzler corporation by herself, I never knew that a hat could support that many rhinestones. I'm a little thrown off and resentful of her at the moment though as her personal airport chaeuffer tried to cartoon flatten my feet with that infernal cart they all drive around that beeps like in its a perpetual state of backing up. Huhhh. Another piqued interest, is that a man or a woman? Sorry everyone have to go, the Cinnabon's are wearing off and Jackie Chan is waving that he saved me a seat from the jetway...

The Fancy Uniform

So I show up at the country club dressed in the wrong uniform last week- they gave me a burgandy polo shirt and everyone wears black pants and shoes. Easy, right? Nope. They neglected to tell me that on Thursday and Friday, they wear a white oxford shirt with a tie! I thought to myself, where am I going to find a tie at 9pm on a Wednesday night... and then I remembered that I have a roommate who is a doctor (an animal doctor, but still, he had to dress up in med school) and I found a big wad of ties in his closet, phew!

Aside from the uniform mishap, the job is going great, I'm making money, which is the point of getting a second job. I had one guy the other night order two 12oz prime rib dinners for himself (yes, he was huge) but I got a sweet tip from the table, so that was a bonus. I'm resting my feet in Georgia this weekend before heading home this week with Benjamin. Can't wait to see everyone! Not looking forward to the root canal though...

Busy Beaver

Lots of updates! During this past week:

STARTED THE NEW JOBBIE JOB: The country club is pretty good, there is a lot of money to be made at this joint! And its so easy- there is a hostess, expediter, food runner, and busser, so all I really have to do is take the order and pick up the drinks from the bartender. I'm working Wed-Fri nights and I'm home by 9 or so. Not too shabby.

DAVE GOT ENGAGED: Such an exciting time! I love this kind of stuff. Look how cute they are (and yes, that is the Golden Gate Bridge in the background- very classy!) Can't wait to meet Jodi in a few weeks!

A VISIT FROM CHARLESTON: Dave Owens brought his Marine Biology class down from Charleston and stayed with me for the weekend. We properly celebrated the occasion at the Snook Inn and had a great time! We all went to the Conservancy Wildlife Rehab Center on a private tour which was very cool. There, we got to see them feeding a loon which was neat because they are normally really far out to sea and you don't get a chance to see them on land. While we were there it made its eerie call and it was super loud inside of a building- it was amazing. And then we saw some baby possums that were only about 2 weeks old and 5" long (they looked like really furry mice!) It was a great time having the grad students- Payton and Bailey thought so too, they got tons of attention and loved the idea of people sleeping on the floor where they could lick them in their sleep!

In honor of Blog Action Day today, click here for the draft version of the pelican video- feel free to humor yourself with my racey makeup and novice acting abilities, haha. We've written some suggestions for correction to the director and he will be adding a title and some other fine-tunes soon.

Swarmin' Georgia

Yet another lovely weekend in Georgia! Its just so gorgeous there- take a look at these pictures. I love the sea oats (brown weeds that are very tall on the shore) and little tufts of grass at the beach. You can see the Sapelo Island Lighthouse from the beach at the north end of Little St. Simons Island. There were so many pelicans! And... love bugs- have you ever seen such a thing? They are these cute little black beetle-like bugs that are always attached to each other (hence the name). As adults they actually do not eat; just mate and die. And they are EVERYWHERE- check out the door of the pick-up truck! Good thing they don't bite! We were swarmed by a cloud of swallows that are migrating through the area- it was crazy! At night, Ben took me out in the woods to call in screech owls, which are the cutest little fluffy things. All you have to do is make this simple whistle-sound and they come flying in from all directions. We called in four in just about 15-minutes. The last thing that we did this weekend is go fishing where I once again caught more fish than Ben! But he sure washes up nicely- check out my man while he's bartending at cocktails (part of his naturalist duties once per week!)

Best Birthday Ever!

My birthday has been the best ever... and I'm still celebrating! I had birthday brownies at work on Wednesday and then spent some time at the beach, relaxing! Ben took me out to dinner with friends last night and we're heading to Georgia for the weekend! I couldn't take a lot of time off from work, so I took Ben with me this morning when I checked out a boat cruise for a potential collaboration on an event in January. We had a lovely time seeing dolphins, sea shelling, and soaking up some sun. We just had some pizza with Joe and are watching a little tv before the big drive tonight.

I've received so many cards and thoughtful gifts- thank you so much everyone! I feel so loved :) Ben gave me the best Pearl Jam cd ever recorded (its a 7-disc set, and soooooooooo good... I know this because he gave it me a month ago and I've been enjoying it daily) and lots of other goodies, including a big box of Godiva chocolates AND... The OC Season Four! What good timing he has since we'll have all weekend together to watch! This makes my OC collection complete!! And last, but not least, he brought a toy for Payton, since we both love him so much: its a purple octopus and it has a different squeeker in each leg. He's been a maniac with it, but so so cute.