Boys, Friends, Me, Myself & I, shopping

Sanna Sleepy

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Hello Peeps!

Boy, am I tired! Have been going to bed way too late this week and of course getting up early to go to work is just a big annoyance. 😉 Last night I think it was 1:30am, Tuesday 1am, Monday 2am, Sunday 1am… you get my point. And I slept alone all these nights so it’s not like anybody kept me awake. Last night I actually went out to dinner and then to the Irish pub uptown for a beer so that at least was a good excuse to go to bed late. But hmpf… not good… need to go to bed early tonight! (Have been saying that for at least the past 5 nights… oh the busy life…)

Last week was nice with sushi with a girl I know from when I studied here and then I introduced her to my guy friends and we had a fun time uptown. She totally stole my position as favorite German 😉 and is hanging out with my friends alone now, which totally wasn’t the plan. The plan was to reconnect with someone so when the guys do their things we girls could hang out. Uhm yeah. That didn’t work out so well I guess but maybe we’ll get a cute couple out of that one and I have a female ally, so, fine.

I hung out with David a couple of times, nice pizza from Brixx one night and then we spent Sat and Sunday together, miniature golfing and chilling at my place. Kind of strange for me to spend that much time with a person you don’t really know much about. OK so I spent that much time with my guys when I got here even though I didn’t really know them much but that was different. I think we’re still trying to figure out the other person so we’ll see where that goes.

An old friend from my high school year in New Jersey 1998/1999 was in town this week and thanks to facebook we got together for coffee and a little breakfast snack at Caribou Coffee. Sooo cool to catch up with eachother’s lives and to meet Janet’s friend Bill from Roanoke, too.

Sunday after being inside with nothing to do all day I was very glad to go out to dinner with my friends at night. Mezzanotte (the brick-oven pizzeria at Providence Plaza by Cotswold in Charlotte, NC (just for the heck of people that google it)) was ohhhh so yummy and reasonably priced. Fantastic gnocchi and then we went to the movies and watched Vantage Point. Fun!

Tuesday I ventured out to Southpark Mall to find a 1 or 2 cups stove-top espresso maker after not being able to find one at the mall here near I work (all they ever have are the big 6 cups capacity) (but however I did find Anthropology and boy that was a fun place to look around at – though *cough* too expensive for my taste). So, the smallest coffee maker at Southpark makes 3 cups so I’m hoping that Massimo can bring me a small one at half price from Italy and if not then heck I’ll pay the 20$ for a 3cup maker (ok it’s not the money that I mind that much, it’s the fact that the more water it holds, the longer it takes to get coffee (geee, all this writing about coffee just shows how tired I am ;-))).
Aaaanyway, I did not get a coffee maker from surlatable but I continued my hunt for something retail therapy worthy because for some reason I was kinda blue and entered the sacred haven of Steve Madden. Found a nice pair of shoes (so cute). For some reason I still didn’t feel ueber happy though and that evil apple store magically drew me in. 2 minutes later I walked out of there with a pink iPod nano and thankfully then I did feel good enough to leave the mall with a happy face. Yay retail therapy! 😀
Stopped by at Vanessa’s for a cup of echinazea tea (yum!) on my way home.

Last night the gang plus Chadi’s brother who’s in town and I minus the date (as he felt anti-social last night) went to a somewhat traditional Japanese restaurant, Musashi, that was frequented by real Japanese. The food was great and afterwards we went to that Irish pub like I said. Fun times but man, I need to get to bed early tonight!

So yeah that’s what’s been going on with me. Hope you’re all well! :-*

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Boys, Professional Life, Travel

Back from Vegas

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OK so I’m long back from Vegas and of course I haven’t had the time (or didn’t want to take the time) to update my little diary here.
Vegas started out with a very stressful day here at work but oh well. Had to pick up some last minute things from a big home-improvement store local to the area so by the time I got back home I had to drive to the airport instead of waiting or a cab. It’s a good thing I only live 15 minutes away from it. In fact that is sooooooo convenient, it almost feels like going to the train station in Germany. The flight was good and after checking into the hotel I met with my two co-workers and one of them was nice enough to walk the strip with me since I didn’t feel like standing around a casino. We walked all the way to the Mandalay Bay from the Imperial Palace and back (must have been like 6km in total). So nice! I was very impressed with all the nice hotels in Vegas!
The trade show was fantastic, too. I had such a good time talking to people and explaining our product to them. I love love love my job. I helped generating a lot of leads and it was just a very nice experience. The best thing though was all the good food. My colleagues must think I’m some sort of crazy person as I kept talking about food and demanded to eat all the time. We ate at the Venetian twice, then at Caesar’s Palace, and at the buffets at Paris and the Bellagio. Soooo yummy. I think I gained about 10pounds ;-). Luckily I did a lot of walking around though so that got it down to like 9 ;-).
I also really enjoyed all the free entertainment like the fountains in front of the Bellagio or the volcano at The Mirage but the best were all the nice hotels. Yeah, of course everything in Vegas is fake but I expected it and the only things that bugged me were the guys handing out all these cards for call girls and the fact that you had to walk through the casinos all the time to get to your hotel room, which made my eyes water. Though the newer hotels were much better with their air filtration.
The flight back was good and somewhat short and once I got back here I headed straight to Chadi’s birthday party. Great food at Luce’s and then a night of fun at HOM until 3:30. Afterwards 4 of us went back to my place for some wine and loads of laughter and at 6 I finally went to bed. What a fun party.
In the afternoon we went to brunch and then just hung out at Chadi’s and chilled, ate some cake and watched the superbowl. I was so happy that the Giants won. Yay!
The week so far has been really busy, too. Loads of stuff to do at work. I stayed until 8pm the other day because I had to finish something but luckily I love love love my job. I feel really quesy about the new visa. Ugh. Not good. I am just sooo worried because I sooooo love my job and Charlotte and I can’t picture myself in a German company where everyone is like Herr Mueller, Frau Meyer…. Yikes!
So Monday I was over at Vanessa’s place and she cooked the best risotto ever. Soooo good! Tuesday I cooked, which in itself is worth mentioning in my blog as I rarely do that…, not sure what I did yesterday, prolly just relaxing, and then today I had sushi with a nice guy. Tomorrow is dinner with Stefan and let’s see whatelse the weekend will bring. I feel like I have a cold coming on – yikes!

Night night people! I miss y’all!

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Boys, Friends, Professional Life, USA

What I’ve been up to

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So I was bitching about some of the groceries here so let me just mention that Daisy Sour Cream is really good. I usually don’t like sour cream just like that and only eat it in baked potatoes but Daisy’s tastes like German Schmand and doesn’t have that bitter after taste or that texture that makes you think baking soda is in it. So, yay! Having said that, I cooked twice so far this year, which is still pretty bad (2x in 10 days) but much more than this past month so I’m happy. I missed it! Can you believe that?! I had to cook almost every bloody day at home but I’ve really started to miss it. So I made asparagus with ham and potatoes the other day and tonight I had garlic shrimp pasta with fresh tomatoes and sour cream. Yummy!

Work has been going well. I saved the company some money by changing a booth at a trade show and designed some flyers. I was very shocked when my boss who normally doesn’t really give praise wrote “good job” and my other boss said “good job you can go home early”. Normally they don’t say anything or just a short “cool” so I was very happy. Timing is good for their outcries of praise because we need to discuss my next visa. Yikes!

Had a good time outside of work as well with lots of dinners with friends, a birthday party and my new subscription to Netflix. I’ve missed that! Tomorrow night Richard is flying in and we should have a fun weekend around Charlotte.

Oh yeah something random. About a month ago (actually when we were baking cookies) my ex from high school and early college sent me a message and after replying to him he wrote back this looooong one. Well turned out he and his girlfriend have broken up and now he wants to be friends with me. Don’t really see the point after 5 years of not hearing a single thing but oh-kay, I’m a friendly person. Very strange though. I’m so neutral towards him now, he feels like a stranger so I’m not quite sure how he imagines this whole friendship thing. Naja, lets see.

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Boys, Friends, USA

Christmas Holidays

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I’m back at work after four fantastic days off. Mini-Christmas-Holiday/Vacation! Happy days! After a good day at work on Friday (sent off the new add to publishers and booked hotels for Vegas (I’m going, too!)) and a trip to Wal*Mart and ALDI, my best girlfriend’s other best friend Stefan called and we went uptown where we met with The Men. Started out at Connoly’s and things were kind of quiet so I decided to have some whiskey coke instead of beer and the fun began. Had a great time chatting and then dancing at Alley Cat. The night ended not so well for my stomach but I was good to go the next morning.
I finally got to talk to my family for a bit longer than just 10 minutes. My new macbook picks up the wireless connection much bettr than lappy’s wireless card so I was very happy! In the afternoon Chadi and I had coffee at Caribou and then strolled around Freedom Park. It’s good to walk when it doesn’t involve the mall. Feels more European. We then watched the Panthers lose again and had yummy dinner with Giorgio and Jack before we headed uptown again. A short stop at Luce to pick up Manuel and another girl. Some drinks at Blue with a band playing cool music and then we tried to go to Forum. Tried because Jack aparently isn’t 21 yet so that was a bit of drama. It worked fine at HOM though and we stayed there until 3. Very crazy night even though I didn’t drink anything (I’m so good when I drive).
Sunday was fantastic. It was raining cats and dogs in the morning so staying in bed long felt sooo cozy. Once out of it I went out to breakfast with Giorgio and that really felt like vacation with eggs and bacon and pancakes. Yum! Thereafter I drove to the hotel where Chadi works and by then the sun was shining so add a resort and sun and then a yummy green tea latte and the vacation feeling was even bigger.
Monday was Christmas Eve and after some last minute shopping I skyped with my family and we opened gifts. I got some nice things like a scarf, book, calendar, a mug and German marzipan! Yay!
Around 7ish Giorgio, Massimo and I started cooking. Massimo had made lasagne, Giorgio made potatoes and I made mulled wine, sausages and bread rolls. I was soooooooo super happy that I got to eat my German traditional food and I think the guys enjoyed it, too. Chadi came along a bit later, too, and so did Manuel and we watched Old School and were merry. At midnight the guys wanted to go to church so we went to this catholic church. A bit strange for me (as a lutheran) but it was alright. One beer at Tyber Creek and we went back to Massimo’s and Chadi did some card tricks. Then the guys opened their gifts from me (it was the 24th after all – ok so 2:30am the 25th but that’s ok).
The 25th after sleeping in a little bit and hanging out a little bit I picked up Chadi and we drove to Sauro and Giorgio’s place to start the turkey. Remember you can’t get milk at Rite Aid on Christmas Day (sold out) and everything else is closed). But we still managed to make some yummy drinks, watch fun movies (The Incredibles, Homealone, Austin Powers), enjoy cooking and good food and then crashed there. Much easier to get from work from there (10 minute drive). Unforutnately someone snored so I didn’t sleep much but at least that got me out of bed at 7 and I was at work at 7:40. Gives me 50 minutes to take off ealier on Friday. Yay! And so, the Christmas Holidays are over but they were super nice and I am so happy that I had the boys to spend them with and eat good German food with. 2.5 more days until the next 4 day weekend…
I hope you all had some wonderful Christmas days as well (or are still having them…)!
Smooch!

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