austin, nola, birmingham, atlanta, athens, murphy, athens, atlanta (phew)

Austin! 

Spent a week on my Auntie's couch reading Wicked, swimming, eating, snuggling with doggies, and laughing a lot. Also spent some really great quality time with my mom's folks. LJ + Dave, and I spent an afternoon looking at pictures, telling stories, and remembering. I was especially excited to have a bit of one-on-one time with each of them. Talking about Joe, architecture, and gardening with Daddy Jack while drinking a beer in rocking chairs on their back porch. Looking through copious amounts of pictures, and memories, and pictures, and memories, and pictures with Grand Joyce. I'm lucky to have such fiesty grandparents. They help me redefine what it means to be 80. I've got some big shoes to fill. 

I spent a little over a week at Kathy's (more time than I've spent anywhere consecutively on this trip, and boy was it appreciated!). Since I was doing the drive home on my own, I broke it into two long days. The first day I drove to New Orleans and stayed with Miss Melissa Ann Clark of B&P fame. I hadn't seen her in 2 years, but she welcomed me into her sweet little home with open arms. We chatted and caught up a bit, and then I slept hard. The next morning we had croissants and coffee in the French Quarter before saying our aideus. I drove around NOLA a bit before heading out. It was depressing. The city seemed to be having a hard time keeping its head above water. Literally. 

From there I drove on to Birmingham for dinner with my friend Lauren Libero from UGA. We were in ASL together and she just moved to AL to start grad school. So good to see her and her beau. Her tongue is about the sharpest I've ever seen. Always good.

Then I continued on to Atlanta, and couch surfed (and by that I mean, stayed in a lovely guest room) with my friend Angie Nicovich Phiera. We have been friends since we met at Glisson when we were 11. How cool to see her rocking at adulthood. She's got her dream job doing Aquatic Recreational Therapy at the Shepard Center, married to her high school beau (I remember the first time she told me about him at Glisson!), and they have an energetic puppy named Bosco. Really neat to get to connect with her. (yay facebook!)

The next day I continued on to Athens and spent a lovely day with the lovely Megan Louise. She has become the friend I stay with when I'm in Athens, and I'm so appreciative that she's always so hospitable! We ate at transmet, drove around town looking at what's changed and what hasn't, then did happy hour at Flickr with Lauren and Matt Weeks! That turned into dinner at Clocked, and an evening that ended the way only evenings in Athens can. (it's really more like 1 degree of separation in Athens).

The next day, Meg and I got up ate at Ike and Jane (new uber cute bakery and donut shop where Black Forest used to be) and ran a few errands then went up to the cabin for a few days. In true cabin fashion, we ate good food, read, went and visited John C. Campbell, and watched movies (Man on a Wire was as good as I thought it'd be). Our doggies got to be doggies and ran and played and got excessively dirty. 

Friday we drove back to Athens and I spent the afternoon with Lori, Jackson, and James. Oh my gosh they are so big! Jack is 8 now and James is 5, which means James is older than Jackson was when I was their nanny. Sheesh! And what a talker James has become. He was barely verbal when I worked with them, and now he just talks and talks and talks. Jackson made me a sweet picture that says "Thank you for all the great days" and it made me wish I could still be a part of their lives on a more consistent basis. Le sigh. 

Friday night I went out to happy hour @ 283 and had a lovely cocktail, but the vibe just wasn't the same without my college crew there. Dad was in town because Nada's daughter Natalie and her husband were playing music at local eatery White Tiger off Boulevard. I went and had dinner with Dad, Nada, her son Keith and his girlfriend, and listened to Natalie and husband play. And you know what? It was nice. I was genuinely glad to see all of them, and they were all enthusiastic about me being there. I realized in the car on the way back downtown that I'm not angry anymore. I've been angry for a really long time. It felt really nice to realize I didn't have to carry that anymore. 

Later, I met back up with Lauren and we had some drinks before heading back to her place to work on our hit ukulele single, "When I said Aloha, I meant Goodbye." 

The next day, Lauren and I met back up and had lunch at Cali'n'Titos (veggie cuban how I've missed you!) before getting matching origami paper crane tattoos. Mine is on the top/inside of my right knee and hers is on the outside of her right calf. And let me tell you, I am done. No more tattoos for me. Do I have selective amnesia or something? This one either hurt more than the rest, or I'm just good at forgetting. Anyway, I love the tattoo, but I've reached my quota. Quatro. Finito. 

I was spent after that so we went back to her place and zonked out to a bollywood movie. I iced my tat and took some tylenol, but I really think it was the take-out that put me in a happy place. Sometimes I forget how amazing take-out is. Food. Food people bring to your house. Amazing.

I ended up staying at Lauren's into the late late night and D-ray came over. I made him laugh a couple of times, which I'm counting as a personal success. So good to spend time in person time with the lovely and amazing Ms. Lauren Benbrook. 

Sunday, Meggie Lou and I got up and did the sorority girl thing and had brunch at Last Resort. It blew my mind that we were eating at one of the best restaurants in Athens and nothing on the menu was over $8, in fact most were $6. We both ate entrees, split dessert, I had coffee and she had a mimosa all for $32. Damn. It made me miss Georgia in a whole new way. 

That afternoon, Scout and I headed for Atlanta. Nina and Brandon were stuck in Panama (such a Nina and Brandon story) so I tooled around my old stomping grounds in Decatur. I realized that the only places I ever went when we lived in Decatur were 1) our house, 2) school, 3) church, 4) Callanwolde. That's it. (well, the Miller's house too, but I didn't feel like trekking all the way out to Stone Mountain). There was a torrential thunderstorm, and since I hadn't heard back from Nina's roomie (I'd left him a note) by 7:30, I called Debye and Jody and ended up staying with them. It was really nice. I love having friends that actually, literally, feel like family. 

Monday I spent time with two old Callanwolde buddies, Helen and Gaelyn. Helen is recouping from shoulder surgery, but otherwise doing fine. Such a beautiful, vibrant soul! Gaelyn is also, living her life beautifully. It was so delightful to catch up with each of them (lunch with Helen, dinner with Gaelyn). 

Tuesday started the Puppet Festival, but that's a whole other entry. 

I hope to be done with the epic entries soon! Thanks for your patience for all who've made it this far!