Spaghetti O's at the Ocean Room?!

Hello Strangers.

The CIA is on a block system, as opposed to the traditional trimesters or semesters systems, like most traditional colleges and universities. As a result, all classes are three weeks or six weeks long. In addition, the Culinary has rolling admission; every three weeks, new students enroll and externs return to start "second year." Therefore, with all of this being said, schedules at the CIA are complicated in some respects. There is no traditional three month summer break, and school continues, except in July. There is a three week break in July, which is simply a "block" break.

So, yes, for those of you who have this somewhat sorted out in your head, I returned from extern, only to be in school for three weeks, to go on break for three. I know, I have the worst schedule ever here, but I just embrace it. It was a little stressful to move back for only a short time and actually be in class, but I did not mind too much, with everything I had to look forward to over break.

My original plan was to fly out of LaGuardia on Friday night, July 8, to Atlanta to connect to Panana City Beach. Well, of course, I was scheduled to have afternoon/night classes during L Block, the block following extern. And, because the CIA is annoying/awesome/super frustrating/sometimes really not helpful at all or accommodating, classes the day before a break or the day immediately following a break count as a double absence. Great! And, with me being so sick and L Block being six weeks, I could not risk two absences, when if you have three absences you fail the course. Therefore, I spent a ridiculous sum of money to change my flight by two hours to fly to Atlanta and THEN drive to Destin.

Why did I need to go directly to Destin? Why for my best friend's Bachelorette weekend, of course!!! Besides scaring Katy Capers by calling her at 5 AM Destin time and 6 AM Boston/NY/Georgia time, after driving the six-ish hours directly from Atlanta after flying from NY after attending class, the weekend was perfect!!! It was sunny. We "showered" Katie with some fun things. ;) We ate at some great restaurants (Louisiana Lagniappe, Dewey Destin's, Shake's, etc.). We sketchily found a gelato manufacturing plant in the middle-of-no-where Fort Walton Beach. We soaked in the sun, getting our wedding tan (burn for me?) on. We laughed. We celebrated Katie being super awesome and single for only a week more before living happily every after with her prince, Mr. Kevin Mooney.

Katie before hitting the town. (We did not go crazy but every girl needs to go out on the town with a sash and veil on her Bachelorette weekend, right?!)

Between Beach Bachelorette and Wedding Week, I stopped in Thomasville to spend a "weekend," in the middle of the week with mother dearest. It was great to sleep a little before driving again and then finishing up wedding details and driving miles and miles around North Georgia. :)

Wedding Week was crazy and fantastic and tiring but totally worth it. My favorite part? Spending more than five minutes or just a meal with BOTH of my best friends, Katie and Katy, planning and preparing for Katie's Special Day. Zaxby's. Kinkos. QT. Panera. Granola. Tiramisu. Flower Catastrophe. Mary Mac's. Kinkos. Kroger. Granola. Purple String. Clarkston. Driving. Grace Church. Rehearsal. Granola. Purple String. A great week for a match-made-in-heaven!

I stayed with my sister for a night. Look who was excited to see me and wanted me to stay longer?!

165ish bags of homemade granola for the favors. (That's about 15 batches.) Perfection. Fun. Delirium. Love it.

MOHzilla and Bridesmaid Models at the Rehearsal.

Aren't my best friends GORGEOUS, especially the one in the middle?! Well, they are just as beautiful on the inside!

Haley and Anna with the Botans at the Reception at the 5 Seasons Brewery in Midtown Atlanta.

Katie's sister, Leslie, made this tasty and beautiful cake all with a HAND MIXER. I was impressed, to say the least. She is in pastry school in Seattle and is super talented, great, sweet, addicted to Starbucks. :)

To see more pictures from the wedding, check out Kaitie Bryant Photography on Facebook! (Look for Mr. and Mrs. Mooney.)

After the wedding, I spent a day with my sister in Winder, before heading to Jasper, Georgia, home of SharpTop Cove, my favorite summer spot in the whole world. I surprised my dear friend, Teena Bain (you may remember pictures from her wedding last September on the blog), who also happens to be one of the reasons I decided to go to culinary school, as she was my baking boss at STC. I visited and saw sweet YL friends, including the best Summer Staff coordinator and one of my closest friends, JCon (you may remember her visiting me in Poughkeepsie last summer, among other mentionings of her on the blog). I honestly did not know that visiting STC would bring out so many feelings and emotions. Part of my heart, a large part, lives at that YL property; I have met the greatest people there and experienced some of my life's biggest adventures. I am thankful that I was able to spend just a day there over break.

Thank you, Teena and Jacob, for showing me your house and treating me to an evening at Taco Mac. And, thank you, JCon, for allowing me to stay with you, again.

New STC sign. (Or new to me.) Isn't it snazzy?!

After STC, I drove back to Thomasville to plan for my cousin, Kellee's, Baby Shower. As I have mentioned before, my three cousins on my mom's side (my mom only has one sibling, who has three daughters) are more like three sisters to me. Kellee is the only one out of the five (three, plus me, plus my sister) granddaughters that is married, and she is having our first great-grandDAUGHTER in October (or, at least, her due date is in October). I do not like the idea of being first-cousin-once-removed, and my sister and I have voted to just be Aunts. :) In all seriousness, my family could not be more excited for this sweet little baby girl to arrive. It was a blessing to be able to throw Kellee a shower. Here are a sampling of pictures.

Key Lime Cupcakes (the baby's colors are pink and green if you cannot tell) with Cream Cheese Icing.
Dessert Table. My pride and joy.

White Chocolate Pretzel Favors. I had so much fun making these. ;) Sarcasm? Nahhhh.

I love how this turned out. This is me and my mom's labor of love. I might have missed my mark in that I am better at making diaper cakes than real cakes. Oops. :)
Tynlee Brooke Roberts is spoiled already. :)
My sister and I had accumulated so many baby clothes just ourselves since finding out Kellee was pregnant. Instead of wrapping them individually, we tried to come up with a more creative way to display them. It turned out so cute and was a perfect photo opportunity. (Yes, we have gone crazy, by the way, with the buying. Kellee doesn't mind, I don't think. :))

Cousins/Aunts with Mommy-to-be and a Tynlee/Butterbean baby bump in our perfect photo spot.

After the shower, Jess, mom, Gam, and I went to the beach for a few days. It was a glorious time of rest and relaxation for the party people.

Heaven On Earth.

After leaving Jess to be invaded alone at the beach (ha) and returning to Thomasville, I spent the rest of the week trying to organize my worldly possessions and figure out what I need/ might need between now and February in New York. And, finally, after hours of work, packing, and help from my mother, I loaded the car.

My room in Thomasville before.

After.

I decided to drive from Thomasville to Charleston for a few days before driving back to New York, to visit Kiawah, my cousin, and my SC friends. I had a blast with Kristy, Erin, and others, playing by the pool and eating, for the most part. Zias. Jack Daniels Honey. Mellow Mushroom. Sun. Southern weather. Firefly vodka. Flying flotation devices. I love Charleston.

Eating included a delightful evening out at the Ocean Room. (I awkwardly did go visit Jasmine, but it just was not the same.) For dinner at the OR, Kristy, Erin, and I dined on everything from sushi, shrimp rolls, limp fries (joke), salad, chicken, grouper, risotto, sorbet, plum tart, to bourbon ice cream. Thanks, Erin.

This is tomato risotto NOT spaghetti o's. :)

I love this picture outside the Sanctuary of me, Erin, and Kristy.

Early, early, early Monday morning, Erin and I woke up and packed up. I dropped her off at the Charleston airport, where she was flying to New York. Then, I hit the road to drive to New York. Do you see something wrong with this picture? Well, to be fair, she had already bought the tickets months and months ago and couldn't ride with me. :) I was in Virginia by the time she made it to NY. Oh, B word. :)

Do you know how discouraging this is? (Notice those miles.) Gertie, come on!

I made a pitstop in Washington, D.C....

... for DC Cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake (Chocolate Coconut, Banana Split, Red Velvet, Chocolate 3, Cinnamon, Chocolate 2).

Finally, I made it back to New York, after watching the sun rise while driving and the sun set while driving. What a day!

For the past two weeks, I have been getting back into the rhythm of school. Unpacking. Studying. Projects. Organizing. Laundry. Etc. I had a low key weekend last weekend. After this weekend, I am sure it will begin to feel normal to be back here, after a weekend trip away. I am doing well in school (100 on my Petal Menu!!!) but it is busy with L Block ending next week. It is great to be back. Thanks for going on the second leg of this journey with me!

I'm replacing my signature sign-off with a picture, in honor of the kickoff to college football being less than a month away....

Yes, that's a Florida Gator tag, in the CIA Student Parking Lot. And, yes, they can't park. So, you can't even try to get away from these orange and blue pests, Gators follow you and are still just as annoying in the North as in the South. :)

Haley

*Happy Belated Birthday (8.4.I'll leave out the year) to the best mother in the entire world. I love you, mizzom.

*This is my 100th post!??! Wowsers. Who knew I would have so much to say? Bahaha.