vacay

i love summer. the sun does not set until nine, fruit is in season, & vacations abound. during May i went home to Tennessee for mother's day. partly to see the fam & partly to get to talk with Boy on video chat. Boy took this picture of our mother a while ago. he titled it "words cannot not describe this picture"

is it sad that i know from the font on the sign in the background this was taken in a Banana Republic outlet store?

next up: camping! we went to the north georgia mountains (about 2 hours from ATL). i came in the late car so my tent was set up & my dinner was cooked upon my arrival (best way to camp). the weather was lovely, the company was good, the morning hike was enjoyable - success all around.

the gayest camping trip ever!

finally, i spent the long weekend at the beach. i'd never been to the Gulf before so i went to Destin, FL. it was surprisingly beautiful - white sand, aqua waters. my friend found us a sweet condo & i spent my weekend in the sun.

this renewed my desire to live on a coast

plans for June: DC, the Jersey shore, perhaps NYC

recommendations

i have a deep and eternal love for television. a few of the best things i've seen lately:

The Simpsons opening credits covering Ke$ha

Betty White: The best thing that's happened to SNL since the election

The latest episode of Glee was particularly good b/c they had people other than Rachel & Finn singing (i am SO bored with them, i don't care how good they are. ok, "Jesse's Girl" was actually really good. speaking of him, i hate Jesse Saint-James. he is dull as hell & there was zero chemistry between him and Rachel. yawn.)

you're welcome.

to quote SSG

SSG is serving her mission in Australia now, but when she was still in Georgia she often said, "its a tender mercy!" (about things like seeing a grocery store when she wanted ice cream. very important stuff.) i don't use that phrase too often, but sometimes it seems appropriate. i'm not going to lie, last week was pretty rough overall. mostly i felt really isolated & wanted to go be with my family. but, it wasn't really practical & the Hixsons are nothing if not practical. also, Rational Thought told me if i didn't attend her cookout that weekend that we would "be in a fight" (direct quote). so i resigned myself to staying in Atlanta & found some fun sounding things to look forward to (other than the cookout, which was, of course, the best part of the weekend). but then, my mother ended up having a 3 hours layover in Atlanta on thursday night! so i got to see my mom at the airport for a while and, like a good mom, she bought me food & made me feel better. and in my mind i thought, "if SSG was here, she would call this a tender mercy."