What part of that did you think was a good idea?

How do I even begin?

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving, except that I spent less than 48 hours with my family as I had to come back here to continue studying. So when I left my family today I was already upset and a little ill that my first exam is scheduled for the Monday after Thanksgiving.

So there I am, driving, trying to get back to the interstate (my grandfather lives in a small town that you have to take all kinds of little back roads to get to) and on a fairly busy two lane road. I see an 18 wheeler up ahead of me -stopped-getting ready to make a left hand turn. There I sit waiting on him to turn when all the sudden I see his white reverse lights. What? On this busy two lane road you're backing up! Yep - he even had the beep so that you knew he was reversing. After I come to grips with the fact that he is REVERSING, I too, throw my car in reverse, but there are people behind me and I really can't go anywhere. I laid on my horn, but it wasn't working, the woman behind me was laying on her horn but that didn't seem to matter either! What was I going to do, nothing and he hit me! HIT ME!! He had gone too far up and couldn't make the turn without backing up slightly, so instead of going up and turning around, he decided he owned the road and would just back up in middle of the busy street. Smart.

Now let me explain, my dog and my car are my babies. Mess with either one and the normally non-confrontational Island girl, becomes pissed off Island girl and is ready to fight. Okay, so there he is, finally realizing that I'm back there, and he stops. I jump out of my car, look at the lady behind me in disbelief and slowly make my way to the front of my car to survey the damage. Yep, right there on the front of my bumper - deep, black scratches on my beige paint job. My poor baby :(

The man gets out of his cab, comes back to where I am and says "Did I hit you?" SERIOUSLY!? Okay, so I'm livid and about ready to hit his man when he turns and goes back to his truck. The woman behind me was yelling that he better not drive away, and that we should move into the parking lot of a conveniently located gas station adjacent to this fiasco. So we do. ~Please keep in mind that his is like small town America and so news travels fast and everyone is stopping "to get gas" and see the goings on~

I call my Daddy, she called the cops and then I have round two with moron truck driver. I don't know where he was from originally, but he didn't speak English very clearly and his name had about 50 letters in it, so communication was difficult to say the least - didn't help the anger level, let me tell ya. Once in the parking lot, he comes over looks at my bumper and says, "Oh, just needs some paint." At this point the patience level is non-existent, so I respond,

"Are you kidding me? This looks like it just needs paint? Really? I don't know how many people you're backed into but this is not just a paint job. It's going to need a new bumper, and you better have insurance to cover it because if you don't, we're going to have a serious problem. And since I have witnesses that saw it was clearly your fault the police should have no problem writing a report that says so."

I don't like being mean to people, I really don't but he had been so nonchalant about the whole think that I just couldn't take it. When he found out we had called the police he got really nervous and asked "Why'd you do that?" That made me even more suspicious of the whole thing.

As if I didn't have better things to do, I sat in the parking lot of the Jet Pep for 45 minutes waiting on the state trooper. He finally arrived took all of our info and witness statements, and 45 minutes after that he came over, explained all the forms I had to fill out and told me I was free to go. I asked him, per my Dad's request, what the accident report was going to say in terms of who's at fault (I mean I didn't see how it was me, but it's always better to clear these things up before the cop leaves). He said, "Well, I'm writing it as he backed into an unidentified vehicle. (Hey, I'll help you out there - it was ME) and that he should have gone up and turned around instead of reversing in the street." Hold on though, here's the kicker:

The idiot's official defense: "I didn't actually back up, I didn't go in reverse."

WHAT THE HECK?! YOU'RE FREAKING REVERSE LIGHTS WERE ON AND YOU WERE BEEPING! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T BACK UP? WHAT DID I DO RUN INTO MYSELF?

Now, it's a very good thing that he didn't give me that piece of crap story cause I would have gone nuclear. Anyway, I'm home now, with a scratched car and homework. All you can do is laugh...

"Getting to know you....

Getting to know all about you"

First, thank you all for nice comments on the last post. I'm better - it's not life threatening and I'm pretty much back to normal :)

Second, I've been tagged by NeedSleepy and I now have to tell 8 things about myself. I'm going to try and think of 8 new things so that I don't bore you with the same ones from my previous post a few months ago.

1.) Most of the clothes I own are Brown. I think that I look the best in Brown. Like Black, it's slimming and when combined with my blue eyes, I get my two favorite colors together :0)

2.) When I was growing up, like 4 and 5 years old, my Mom would take me to the shoe store to try on shoes instead of going to the playground, because I found that to be more fun. I wouldn't try on my size, though I wanted to try on "big girl" shoes and so I would "walk" around in heels and dress shoes way too big for me.

3.) I regret that I never saw Alabama in concert. If they ever do a second Farewell Tour - I'm there! Even though the ticket prices will be through the roof! Side note - Jeff Cook (one of the band members) lives three doors down from my Granddaddy, so maybe I could just go knock on his door and ask for some tickets. Two Thanksgivings ago, I saw the other band members at this house too, so maybe I'll luck out again this year!

4.) Going along with that, I have a fascination with meeting celebrities. It's like a game for me! If I know they're around, I have to figure out a way to meet them - I swear I'm not a stalker! As a result, I've met *NSYNC twice and gotten Kenny Chesney's autograph, though, sadly I've never actual met him, as he signed my CD after a concert as he was leaving the stage. I've also met Kurt Warner (Cardinal's QB), Jason Alden, KC from KC and the Sunshine Band, Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban, and a few members of the group O-Town (remember them?) There's more, but at the moment I can't think of them.

5.) I can't sleep in. I have to be up by 6:30 and on a good day, 7:00. I can't help it, my internal clock is just set there.

6.) Peanut Butter is one of my favorite things in the entire world!

7.) I'm a Disney freak! I love the place, the movies, the music - if it's Disney I'm all about it! I named my dog after my favorite princess. My dream job is to be the corporate attorney for Disney one day!

8.) My favorite flower is Gerber Daisies. I would rather have a bouquet of those than roses, seriously.

Ok, I'm supposed to tag 8 people, but as I'm also supposed to be studying, I'm going to skip that. Sorry, I'm a slacker! I promise I'll play along with all the rules in about two weeks. So, if you haven't done this or want to: Steal it!

"Oh, okay, great! Well, Is there something I can get over the counter for that?"

A few posts back I mentioned that I was getting sick. I don't get sick very often; I can't. If you fall behind in law school, you're done - pack up your things and go home for the semester done. Therefore I try to eat right, exercise, get plenty of sleep - all the things you're supposed to do to stay healthy. Nonetheless I felt bad, but was convinced it was a "woman thing" and would pass quickly. Well...

Follow me to last night.

I wasn't feeling any better and decided to go the 24 hour Walgreen's less than a mile from my apartment. I don't know why I went, I'd already bought all the over the counter meds that fit my symptoms, so I guess I was hoping that walking through the rows of boxes and pictures of smiling, satisfied users, I too would feel better. Once I got there and confirmed that I had no idea what to get I decided I needed to speak to the pharmacist for her recommendation.

BIG MISTAKE!

I have nothing against pharmacist! They have saved me quite a bit of money in doctor's visits over the years, but last night was not one of them. I approached the big sign that said Consultation and was very relived to see a female working, as I didn't want to discuss these particular symptoms with a man. She was counting pills and didn't actually move over to window, thus requiring me to lean in to see her. As I began to tell her what's wrong, she seems like she could care less - I on the other hand need her to help me cause I think I'm dying! As I continue to list my mountain of issues, she becomes more interested, I think I was a challenge. She asked all kinds of question; all of which I answered in a way that led her no closer to a "diagnosis". At one point I told her that I imagine this is what it feels like to be pregnant, but that there was NO chance of that to which she says, "Why is there no chance?" Um, lets go back to 5th grade health class Ms. Pharmacist - Because there is no chance!!! Apparently that wasn't clear enough for her because I actually had to spell it out for her - nice.

After I explained to her where babies come from, she says, and let me preface this by saying I'm a huge hypochondriac - if it's out there, I have it - anyway, she says,

"Now this would be worse case scenario stuff but it could be X (I'll spare you), and in that case you would need to have a procedure because it could be life threatening."

Wait, WHAT!? If this is worse case scenario stuff, can we start with some easily correctable ideas? It's 9 o'clock at night, the only place to go is the emergency room, it's on the other side of town, I don't know anybody in the city well enough to make them sit there with me all night and now, apparently, I'm in a race against the life clock!

As she continues asking me if I feel faint or have a fever, the room got really hot and she started talking to me from a tunnel and I knew that if this conversation didn't end soon I was going to pass out on the floor of the Walgreen's, the Ambulance was going to come, and all of this would have been over and someone could actually tell me what was wrong, thus fixing all the problems from above - and at this point I pulling for this scenario!

Finally she takes me to her over the counter recommendations, tells me drink lots of water, sends me on my merry way, but reminding me that if I'm not better by today, to get to the doctor immediately cause again, "it could be life threatening" - thanks I remember that from earlier! The last thing she says though - "Good luck"!

As I was paying way too much for this medicine, I felt like I was walking the Green Mile or something. Needless to say I didn't sleep well last night, but I do feel better today, thus putting the doctor's appointment off til tomorrow as that was the first time they could see me.

Sometimes my life is so unreal, I can't even comprehend it!

Are we really debating this?!

Just a quick thought:

On Sunday NFL Countdown this morning they were debating whether or not it was a good idea to take away PacMan Jones' personal security detail so that he doesn't get into anymore trouble. Now, I'm not going to pretend I've followed his situation, but what I do know is that he is no longer a part of my Tennessee Titans and was picked up by the Cowboys. Instead of taking the opportunity to play in the NFL and make exuberant amounts of money, he decided to party, drink, fight, and get arrested numerous times, leading to his suspension and subsequent release from the Titans. After coming back from his initial suspension, he was given extra personal police security - like they don't have better things to do - in order to keep him in line, I mean heaven forbid he use self control. Did that help? NO! What did he do? Assault one of them!

So, now, for some unknown reason, the NFL Commissioner thinks he should be allowed to come back sans the personal security detail, and people are wondering if that's a good idea. My thoughts: If he isn't mature enough to be in public without his own personal police force he might not be the kind of player the NFL needs! Don't know, just a guess.

This whole situation reminds me of a line from Liar, Liar where Jim Carrey is on the phone with one of his perpetual law breaking clients and the guy has just robbed a bank and needs legal advice. When asked what to do, Jim Carrey answers:

"Quit breaking the law a@@hole!"

I think that would be proper response to whether or not Mr. PacMan needs his own security!

It's my lucky day!

There are two reasons for this:

First, I received an award from Tiff at Organized Chaos!



The award says: "This blog invests and believes in 'proximity' (meaning, that blogging makes us 'close'-being close through proxy)." I must now bestow this glorious award on eight bloggy friends.


I think most of the people I read already have this, so I'm not going to do 8.

Bama Belle at Bama Belle in the Big City

Tova Darling from the Secret Life of Tova Darling

Mama at Daily Nonsense

The second reason it's my lucky day is based on this article regarding: FREE DR. PEPPER! Until today I didn't realize I like Guns N' Roses! Yay for them getting their act together and finishing this album! Is it bad that I'm benefiting based on something I didn't even know was happening, hmm?

Defeated

It's that time of year again - exam time! My last day of class is next Monday and then I have the Thanksgiving break to study for my exams that kick off December 1. Thanks school! That's exactly how I wanted to spend my break!

Last year, the supposedly harder year, I had already been studying for four weeks, however this year, I have zero motivation, my body is revolting against me and the winter weather has hit me harder than usual in terms of the seasonal depression thing. I feel completely defeated.

I feel like my body is quiting on me three weeks too soon. I haven't been sick in a really long time, but now I can tell it's coming...perfect timing! I have four classes worth of material to learn and about 9 days to do it,and write a 10 page paper. This wouldn't be that bad except that our grades are completely dependant on our one exam = screw up= fail - YAY!

It's time's like these that make me question the path I've chosen...

Another Fantastic Giveaway!

MonogramChick is hosting an amazing giveaway! Go check it out and make sure you tell her Island Girl sent you!

Rammer Jammer!

Hey Dogs!

Hey Dogs!

Hey Dogs!

We just beat the hell outta you!

Rammer Jammer, Yellow Hammer give 'um hell Alabama!

Where do you even begin with a weekend that was packed full of football, food, and family? As you might remember, this was my weekend to attend the Alabama vs. Mississippi State game! Despite the fact I've been a fan my entire life, I hadn't been to a game in like 15 years - sad times and I had never been to a game in Tuscaloosa; I'd only see them play in Knoxville and Birmingham (when they used to play at Legion Field). Okay, so in order to get the full experience we need to start with Thursday night. Coach Saban gave a tiny rant on his coaches show about fans getting on their feet and cheering for this team no matter who they are playing, since MSU wasn't supposed to be that great of a team. Therefore, the fan base was fired up and ready to go by game time late Saturday night! It's posted below - it's definitely worth a watch - it's a very good "Nicky's Nugget"!



We got to T-town on Friday afternoon and walked around the Strip - I picked out a new Bama hoodie that I'm getting for Christmas - then left, went to the mall, yada, yada. We had some amazing BBQ for lunch while watching my favorite sports talk radio personalities do a live remote. Killed some more time. Went to have yet more BBQ from Archibald's = amazing! Are you seeing a trend here with the BBQ...yeah, I'm going to be running from now til New Years!

Alright, fast forward to Saturday! Game Day! There is nothing like being surrounded by tens of thousands of people cheering and supporting the same team. We decided to line up for the "Walk of Champions" and see the coaches and players walk into the stadium, cause I wanted to see Coach Saban and our cutie pattootie QB, John Parker Wilson! Pictures below, but I can guarantee that they don't do him justice! If any of you reading this actually know him, you can let me know...

By game time I was freaking ready to take the field myself! After, you guessed it, some Dreamland's BBQ nachos, I was in my seat pompom in hand! The first half was sluggish and I was slightly nervous, all the while keeping hope. The second half was much better despite some terrible officiating. As a result, I have no voice today. Coach Saban's Thursday rant seemed to work because he walked around the field giving us the thumbs up at the end. I personally am taking responsibility for MSU jumping offsides at one point - it was all me ;)

Now it's time to start another week; my last full week of class. Exam start in about two weeks and I'm not ready for them. If I could have a "Groundhog Day" type moment, this would be one of those times?

Breath in, Breath out...

I'm not a fan of change. At all. So, I'm trying to be okay with changing my blog around. I think I just needed a creative outlet to get away from all this boring reading! Anyway, the background was free at The Cutest Blog on the Block. So what do ya think?

Alright, enough time wasted...back to work!

What are you doing tonight....

Cause I'm going to be watching the Country Music Awards! As my Facebook status says the moment, "I'm so excited about the CMA's, you'd think I was nominated for one!" I love award show, and when you combined that with my other love, country music, you get one great evening of live performances, pretty dresses, and, of course, the awards themselves!

In honor of the CMA's I thought I'd share the other country music love I have! Now we've already discussed Kenny, but the other artist that speaks my life is Sugarland! I can't tell you how many memories I have that include them, well their music anyway! Whether it was driving around with the top down singing at the top of my lungs with Classy, crying as I left home to move here, being completely ridiculous at their concert (if you get the opportunity - GO), they have been there! Numerous times I've said, "Yeah, me too!" or "I can totally relate to that!" while listening to their music!

In fact, the title for this blog came from one of their songs! I can sum myself up in four lines from their song, Take me as I am:

Slow to trust, but I'm quick to love

I push to hard and I give to much

I ain't sayin I'm perfect

but I promise I'm worth it

So there you go, a little more insight into the world of Island Girl! Watch tonight, both Sugarland and Kenny are nominated for a boat load of awards!!

Thank a Veteran!

I don't know how many, if any, of the readers of this blog are currently or have served in the military, but if there are any, I want to Thank You for all that you do or have done for this country. This should be done more often and we, as Americans, shouldn't have to wait for a specific day to acknowledge the job these men and woman do for us everyday.

I don't embrace war, but I do embrace the soldiers who fight them. I realize that all the freedoms that come with living in this great country, come with a price, and I thank God everyday that there are citizens willing to fight for my rights. My grandfathers, great grandfathers, great-great grandfathers, uncles, cousins, all have served this country and continue to do so. The experiences they had and the things they've seen, I'll never be able to comprehend. My Great-Grandfather received a Purple Heart for his injuries in World War II, but he wouldn't talk about it. All we know is that he was trapped in a fox hole for three days while Germans walked around right above him, all the while his best friend lay dead right next to him. I can't even comprehend what that must have been like. I can see why that generation was referred to as "The Greatest Generation".

While I realize this country has problems, and that it may not be "perfect", I think we all need to realize how blessed we are to live here. This truly is a great country and we have our Veteran's and current military to thank for that!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Interviews, Football, and Awards, Oh My!!

I'm going to go in reverse order from the title so that we start with the more fun of the three! One of my new favorite finds, 'Bama Belle in the City, gave me this award - if you haven't been there, you're missing out! Anyway, I'm really flattered! Ready for the rules? Here goes!

1. You have to tag 5 people.

2. 4 of the 5 have to be dedicated followers to your blog.

3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and must live in another part of the world.

4. You must link back to whomever gave you the award

So I tag:

Chitown Meg from The Randomness of Meghan

Classy from Dancing Backward in High Heels

Holly from In My Over Active Head

Tova Darling from the Secret Life of Tova Darling

Tiff from Organized Chaos

All of those blogs are wonderful and I enjoy reading them, so go check them out!

Second and I'm not going to go on about it because I'll be spending next weekend actually AT the game and there will be extensive posting about that, but Alabama won and is going to the SEC Championship! 'Nuff said and moving on...

Finally, I had an interview on Friday for a summer internship and I think it went really well. I'm kind of nervous because while I think I would learn more there than anywhere else, I also feel like I would be in over my head for most, if not all of the summer, but I'll wait and see if I get an offer before I worry about it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful start to the week!!!

And yet I still go back....

Why is it that once something or someone hurts us, we go back to that thing or person. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I tend to do that, and seemingly more so now that I'm so far away from my "core" group. Maybe I'm afraid of breaking the links in a chain that keep me connected to my "friends," I don't know, but there are those times when I just want to ask, "Why would you say that to me?" However, shortly after I ask myself "Why did you let her say that to you?" It might be helpful to illustrate this with an example.

Recently I was on the phone with my college roommate (CR) of three years. When she calls, we talk for about an hour each time, even though I'm not much of a phone talker. During these convos, she talks mostly about herself, ever so often stopping to ask me "what's new" with me. Then we talk about the endless weddings that are happening - most of which I don't even know the people involved - but regardless we discuss every detail down to guest list.

On this particular day, she told me that a mutual friend of ours was probably going to be getting engaged, well, anytime now. This friend had called CR to ask her an engagement question, seeing as how CR is a newlywed herself. The conversation progress like this:


CR: So she called and wanted to know if a year engagement was too long. I told her that...well let me explain seeing as how you don't know what it's like to be engaged...You really only need a long engagement in order to book the church and reception site...See those fill up quickly.


IG: ................


This may not seem like a big deal to you all...you might be thinking, "Yeah, well she's right, what's wrong with that?" Given that we lived together for three years, she is well aware of my fear of being an "old maid" and never finding "the one". Yeah, she knows; we've met. She, on numerous occasions, saw me cry over having my heart broken and then heard me confess these fears to her. Which is why the statements made and the tone of voice used - the condescending, let me explain like your 5 years old voice - made this exchange hurt even more.


The CR and I had a rough patch in college; we fought quite a bit and yelled numerous times, but things had gotten better now that we weren't living together. However, I'm beginning to believe she makes these comments and talks about all these weddings in order to twist the knife in my back deeper. According to her, when you get married, you're "grown up" and finally "an adult". So what am I, huh? I think it's part jealously, part enjoyment because she knows it stings, but really, why? Why do girls have to hurt their "friends" in order to feel good about themselves?


The ironic part of this story is that within our group of friends, she is the saintly one and I'm the one everyone thinks of as the conniving witch? Funny huh? If they only knew...

Is it Friday yet?

I'm going home this weekend for a job interview and yet another big game! I'm ready to go but alas it's only Wednesday :(

However, Chitown Meg over at The Randomness of Meghan has made this Wednesday particularly exciting by giving me an award! I really appreciate being thought of! Here are the rules:

1.)Post the award on your blog
2.) Link me for giving it to you

3.) Link the originating post here

4.) Pass the award on to 5 more deserving people

5.) Post these rules for your recipients

I pass this award along to:

Classy at Dancing Backwards in High Heels

Roxie at Baby, When the Sun Goes Down

Sarah at Classy and Fabulous

Meika at Meika Musings

Amy at Chapters

Number 1!

Those of you who have been following my blog for any length of time know that I love football. No surprise, right? I think I can tell you which team I'm on, while still maintaining the anonymous nature of this blog. Are you ready for this?

I am an Alabama Crimson Tide girl! I didn't go there, my parents didn't go there, but the crimson tide tradition has been running through my family for years. In fact, I came home from the hospital in Alabama attire. I grew up in a state that was huge rivals to us - to this day I will NOT wear a certain color for that reason. My allegiance to this team has been one of my defining characteristics. So much so that I was the token 'Bama fan in my group of friends and kind of still am. It's a title I wear with pride!

For those of you who don't follow football or this team very closely, you wouldn't know that we have been through some SERIOUS issues to say the least over the past decade. After having the best coach in college football history, while there were one or two along the way after him that were wonderful, the majority just couldn't get it together, and that coupled with sanctions, leads to several years of mediocrity. However, this week for the first time since November of 1980 we're ranked number 1 in the regular season polls! I wasn't even born the last time that happened!!!!!

Even though it may not last (keep your fingers crossed it does) I'm so glad I stuck with my team through the "dark years" as my family calls them, it makes it so much sweeter now!

Roll Tide!!!!

You Wanna Piece of Me!?

Classy's most recent post put me in a mood today. Listening to that song one, two, twelve times while getting ready with do that. I decided to ditch the hoodie and jeans I was wearing and "dress" it up a little bit - heels, some "bling" - nothing over the top, but just a step up from the usual. I mean, I was feeling empowered, I might as well dress the part, right? Needless to say the clothes change also helped and the combination of all these things has given me a certain "swagger". By the time I left the apartment, I was ready for whatever life could throw at me. Bring it on world! I wouldn't say I was looking for a fight, but I was a-okay if one found me!

I'm not sure where this "over it" feeling came from...I have a couple of ideas though. One being the time change has put me some kind of depression. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the extra hour of sleep and the fact that the sun wakes me up in the morning instead of the street lamp, but it gets dark at 5 o'clock and by 8 I feel I should be in bed. Not good for the studying that needs to be happening. This happens to me every year, and this year I'm determined to not let it get me.

The other would take far to long to explain, but it'll suffice to say that I'm over the men (or lack there of) in my life being morons. You know that moment when something you suspected was going to happen actually happens and all the puzzle pieces fit together, well this weekend brought that for me....again...in regards to the same person. Why I care? I don't know! I'm moving on - for real this time - I don't deserve this and I'm not going to take it anymore! Again, Bring it on!

As a normally reserved person who hates confrontation, I'm pretty fond of this new feistyness and hopes it sticks around for awhile!

Island Girl's PSA

*Public Service Announcement*

If any of you are spending the day shopping or if you need an excuse to do so, and you love New York & Company as much as I do, then you need to go - now!

Not having class on Friday and needing clothes to deal with the incredible cold temperatures of my office, I headed over there myself yesterday. I love there store because you can find some really great deals and they didn't disappoint! They are currently running a sale on pants - buy one get, get one 75% off! My second pair was $9! Plus as a "trendsetter" I got a $20 off coupon in the mail, so it was even better.

Plus if you go in now, you get $15 in "city cash" for every $30 you spend! So, if you're in the need for new clothes (who isn't) go there!

*I don't work there...Promise...I'm just a huge fan of cute clothes at low prices :) I mean, what kind of Island Girl would I be if I didn't pass along this info!