The Final Solution

Mmmk.. so... where to start with the blog of a fresh woman? Atlanta, Atlanta, realizing my hopes of my fear not happening are zilch, hating Huntsville, or staying happy with Atlanta?

Let's start with Atlanta... so.much.fun! I don't know where to start... Jessica and I left Tuesday morning, yippy, excited, the whole shabang. We'd be in the middle of a conversation and one of us would randomly yell, "I can't wait for this!" The drive was awesome. We got to the hotel around 4; the hotel room was oh-so-cute.

We were way up on the 11th floor and cheered in excitement when we saw the room. But first- the check-in. We got there, told the guy who we were. He asked if we had a pooch; no pooch (the hotel's known for it's dog-friendliness.) Then he asked if there were guys; no guys, we're single. Then he said how guys could be pooches too... ?. I laughed. Guess he was flirting/feeling it out. So we got settled in. Loved it right away, we were a little shocked at the size of the room, but since it was just the two of us, it worked. So the I look at the bathroom. I called it the one butt bathroom. The picture won't load for some reason, but trust me y'all, it was small. I almost broke my nose on the sink when I bent over to put clothes on after my shower... scary. Anyways, we loved our beds. And that's an understatement. They were so warm and comfy.

But oh the adventures! Now, you can't expect two petite light-skinned (being politically correct) girls to not have some sort of unintended adventure! And unintended indeed. I found a Chipotle in town on the website and wanted to go there right away. So we unpacked and off we went. I figured a mile away, we'd walk, it's ok. HA! Well... we walked... and it was a safe walk at first. Then we came up on a garage where guys were waxing their little pimped out cars. It looked straight out of Too Fast Too Furious according to Jessica. I thought we could do it, we were ok. We walked a block more... and ran into a homeless guy, but ignored him and kept walking. Then we walked on more block, only to see that the beautiful house we were walking by had a sign saying "Transitional House, Dept. of Corrections." I yelled, "oh my God!!!!" I asked God's forgiveness, btw, but it came out so fast... the men were so creepy, I don't think they've seen females in a while... By this time, even I couldn't walk anymore. So we went down a side street and walked a residential neighborhood back to the hotel to get my car. We took it as a chance to do some adventuring (if that's not a verb, I just made it one.) So I hooked up Tom Tom the GPS (obnoxious yet safe as ever) and drove around. Atlanta is so cool. We finally found Chipotle, it tasted spicier than ever but oh so good. We realized we're sheltered, Jessica more than I, when we saw an Anti-Israel protest going on. I will admit, I yelled out the car, "Your people took down our buildings!!!!" and took a picture. I don't think they heard me though, or even cared. It riled me up though and led me onto a rant about Obama and his Idiotcracy that's about to take our nation over in a few weeks. Poor Jessica...

But, alas, this is just the beginning of our adventure :) As if the transitional house wasn't enough, I haven't even started on New Year's Eve's adventures. So we woke up around 10 (lazy) and got dressed to go shop. We hit up Ikea, I found my dream kitchen, it was so much fun. We had lunch there; yes, I ate at Ikea... and had the best Greek salad and chocolate mousse!) Then we shopped in the marketplace. I found an Alligator for the brother, a dog for the sister, and a set of notecards that were only 99 cents(!). Then I went and found myself a coat that was 60% off (!!!!) at Old Navy because I was freezing in my Free Country jacket and needed something that was way warmer. We finished shopping, went back to the hotel. We watched a marathon of Project Runway, I got really into it to the point Jessica put on her earplugs and watched "The City" and then when I simmered down, she watched the rest with me. Finally, we had to do what we were avoiding- going out in the cold, walk 1.6 miles, and see this Peach drop.

Well, we got the stuff on and walked out... it wasn't that bad, surprisingly. Maybe because we had layers on! We started walking; we hadn't even gone 6 feet without seeing a girl in this dress (if that's what you want to call it) and barely covered her parts and walking around in 5 inch heels... Good Lord! Then we got 2 blocks thinking we were ok. Only we had a man pull up next to us hollering and what not. Ignoring him, I kept pushing the button to cross the darn street until it finally changed and never had to see the guy again. We got over I-75 safely (on a bridge, sillies) while debating a) why didn't we just drive down?, b) should we get a taxi for the rest of the walk?, and lastly c) how does one get a taxi? Do you get one w/ a light on or off? Hmm... so while I was thinking on this, I saw a sleeping bag and right away knew what it was. I pulled Jessica with me in the street to avoid it and scared the bejeebies out of her but she realized why I did it. Again, we're sheltered here... We were frightened for our lives. About 3 blocks away from where the crowds started, there was a couple ahead of us who looked safe so we followed them (the guy was Army, I instantly felt safe) and went the rest of the way. And good grief, it was crowded!!!!! Honestly, there were thousands at this drop. When we got settled among the ginormous crowd, I asked Jess where the peach was. She said, "I think that's it..." I looked up and thought "you've got to be kidding me!" The thing looked like it was made out of styrofoam, I'm not even kidding. It was flapping against the pole with the wind. The couple in front of us who were obviously warm with alcohol were from Cape Cod. The guy next to us was lost from his friends, and I made him laugh when I said he looked cold- he was still too serious, but oh well. After smelling the weirdest scent on the planet thinking it was nasty bratwursts or something, I again, asked Jessica, "what is that smell???" The Cape Cod guy looked at me and said, "you've obviously never smoked pot before..." Uh, no, I haven't, thank you very much. So I smelled like pot, great. Finally, the peach dropped, 3 minutes early if you ask me but oh well. We started back to the hotel, almost got crushed with the crowd, had a dad take pity of us and let us in front of him to keep us safe, barely made it out alive, walked the 1.6 miles back to the hotel, ran to the room, locked the door, turned heat to 80 and warmed up! Finally!!!!!

So 2:30 rolled around and we crashed, even with the revelers reveling next door to us. Somewhere in my sleep I heard pounding on the door. I thought I was dreaming but it kept going on... I realized it was happening, some idiot was pounding on our door. It stopped, Jess asked if I heard it, I mumbled yes and rolled over back to sleep after I looked at my phone and it was freaking 5 am!!!! What the heck people?! I woke up 4 hours later, thought of coffee first thing and saw I had ten minutes until the cafe closed. I was determined to get my Starbucks coffee. I went, got it, gulped it down and it wasn't nearly enough caffeine but I made it through the morning. We moped our way downstairs to check out (literally, moped) and I talked to the guy about how he was from Fort Valley and I used to live in Warner Robins. Gotta make a connection somehow. In the car we went, down to Fayetteville to see my mom's BFF who fed us (much thanks for that Miss Karen!!!!) We chatted for a few hours with her and her family, then we accepted that sooner or later, we would have to go home. So off we went.

Finally, we got to my house at 8 something. I was about to walk in my house when I figured I might want to wait for Jessica to leave just to be sure she left. In the midst of my thought, I heard the sound that no car owner wants to hear. The "baaaaa" of the car that won't start due to a very dead battery. Oh dear... I got dad, we tried to jump her battery to no avail, I took her home, met her family, saw her very cool cat, and came home to give the Alligator to the brother, Marley to the sister, and get in my room.

Only to realize that yes, I am back in the Rocket City. The city that sleeps, that is filled with my ghost, the city that I hate so much. I realized that while in Atlanta, yes, I did think of the Ghost, but I could do it happily. I didn't worry about what he was doing, if I would see him. And now, I'm back to square one. Ugh. But hey, it was an improvement to not think about him for almost an entire 24 hours. Then I realized that I haven't made a resolutions list... why bother? Then I saw Faith's and well... maybe I need to? I haven't decided.

I know one thing- I think my Final Solution on life is leaving the Rocket City. It won't happen tomorrow, next month, next summer even. It'll happen soon though, I'll guarantee that.