Goat-Petting, Beer-Drinking, and Hurricane-Avoidance, or What I Did This October

So, October flew by so fast! As you can tell from the stunning lack of posts, I was pretty busy this month, and for once, it wasn't just because of work. Little ol' Sarah finally got her social life back! My best friend from high school is back in town, and we've been catching up after spending months and months apart. A visit to a local petting zoo, movie nights at her family's mountain house, and a couple delicious meals kept me occupied earlier this month, and we have more plans in the making.

Feeding the goats

Two weekends ago, I drove down to Greenville, SC for my second college Homecoming (sadly, without the boyfriend, as law school work kept him away). While definitely less exciting than last year's event, I got to see pretty much all of my closest friends, and that's what really matters. Our friend, Johnny, invited the whole group to his family's tailgate, smack dab in front of the stadium, so I spent the afternoon gorging on kebabs, cupcakes, and hard cider, while catching glimpses of the game. A short bar crawl, complete with the obligatory visit to Tassie's for a Tiger in the Tank (along with a variety of other boozy frozen drinks) and a trip to The Trappe Door for plates full of fancy fries and glasses of delicious Belgian ales, completed the day. I ended my lovely weekend at Soby's the following morning, enjoying their fantastic Sunday brunch with my best friend from college. This smorgasbord satisfied my craving for cheesy grits and I had the joy of eating chocolate fondue-dunked cookies for breakfast—what more could you ask for?

Furman's Belltower

This past weekend, I flew down to Memphis (and somehow missed the memo about Hurricane Sandy arriving the day I was due to fly home...oops), and spent a long weekend with John (a little longer than planned because of said hurricane, but I'm not complaining ;D). Having not seen him since July and thinking I wasn't going to see him again until December, this quickly-planned trip was a godsend. He greeted me with chilled white wine and chocolates, got me my very own Memphis Law tee shirt, surprised me with Chick-fil-a chicken biscuits a.k.a. breakfast in bed on my first morning there, and was his usual amazing self. We enjoyed a food-tasting/fire dancer/spark artist/auction/live music event at The Dixon, took a trip to the zoo, saw Argo (fantastic movie, by the way), and stuffed our faces with cupcakes from Muddy's and the most delicious hot dog I've ever eaten at Hogs & Hominy (along with other delicious dishes throughout the weekend). This weekend with the boyfriend was definitely a success and I'm already counting down the days until our trip to Greenville in December.

Om nom nom

Beautiful

So many colors!

So, October was all about having fun (I definitely sold my fair share of shoes this past month too though!), but now it's time to get back on track. Up this month: 1) Me, working on my diet and exercise routine, 2) Intensifying the job search, 3) So many more recipes!, 4) Working on my online presence (a.k.a. actually using my Twitter account and working on the blog, 5) Thanksgiving—definitely helping out more this year (and inevitably dying at work on Black Friday). So, stay tuned, because I'm back and ready to step it up.