Atlanta on Ice 2011...and many other things.

Today is Friday of the shortest, but longest week ever known to Atlantans.

Five days ago (Sunday night to be exact) Atlanta was predicted to get the storm of the century.
I really never doubt that sort of prediction and honestly don't think much of it except that I forget where I live! I had groceries and other necessities and had even brought home work in case we truly couldn't leave our homes come Monday morning. We all thought, "oh sure, wouldn't that be nice! It will never happen."

At one point Sunday night I looked outside and saw nothing. Not even a breeze or a cloud in the sky. The next time I looked out the window there were 4 inches of snow on the ground. And the last time I looked out the window before I went to bed everything was covered with ice and a steady stream of sleet was still coming down.

Monday at home was lovely. It was quiet and peaceful outside and although cold, I was able to stay in the safety of my home and work. Maybe a movie or two for background noise.

I even had two cardinals outside my patio.



Tuesday was a blur.


No really, I don't remember anything that happened on Tuesday.

By Wednesday with still more ice in my apartment parking lot than on the floor at a Thrashers game, I was done being happy about not having to go into the office. I just needed to get the flip out of my apartment!

And I did just that. Publix is literally less than a mile up the road so I ran out to get Diet Coke and see what else I fancied. I figured why not pick up a pizza for dinner...

I am pretty sure I got the last California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Chicken for one.
Scary.

Technically I have dried milk in my food storage, although I was out of the stuff I would want to actually drink.
And this particular trip was mostly about Diet Coke, right.
Good thing...

You're probably thinking, "Hey, it looks like there is some right there in the center!"
Nope, eggnog, cream, and other milk-like products.

So it should come as no surprise that by some point in the extremely long, very unplanned semi-nothing close to a vacation, I started unpacking more boxes from the guest room/office/extra closet/storage space/catch all.

It should also come as no surprise that I could literally torch 90% of those boxes and would NEVER miss the contents! Yes, serious. But I had to do something, one more episode of "Say Yes to the Dress" or "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and I was going to die.

It was one particular box that really caught my attention.
It is a box of files.
They are organized...come on, it's still me!
But there is a file for just about everything. And in each file is some slip of paper, clip out of a magazine, a photo, a million bank statements, you name it, I've got it.
Why in the world do I keep all this stuff?!

That's when I came to this realization...

My entire life I have been planning this great show thinking what I am doing right now is just a preview. A really great preview, mind you, but a preview just the same.

But that show I've been planning, it is going to be a doozy...
It will be amazing, exciting, entertaining, and oh so glamorous.
There will be great food (I've got a file for that) and a fantastic wardrobe (yep, one for that too.)
Each year of that very entertaining life I will do my taxes (oh yes, file!) and just in case I have to do them for years past (guilty...oh so guilty) I'm good.
There will be crafts, I have a few ideas (...in a file!) and in case you think I missed your birthday, oh not this year I've got cards (where else?) and I will single-handedly revive the US Postal Service in 2011 because on top of cards I have ENVELOPES! Lots and lots of envelopes. Why?

And oh yes, because this planner (and wedding cake creator extraordinaire) has planned or participated in the planning of most of my besties weddings, I most certainly have a file for THAT!

I looked at that box and slid it right under my desk.
Right next to the shredder.
(I'll get to it soon, I promise!)

Then I gave myself a real good talking to...

You're not planning for anything anymore.
You are living it! Right now.
For 30-some-odd years you have been watching what you thought was a preview, waiting for the main attraction to begin and all along you were missing the big show!

Snap out of it girl.
Live it up!

I might have used different words.
Maybe I didn't say them out loud.
But I thought them, oh I thought them long and hard!

Now the question remains, does anyone need anything?
I feel the urge to purge!

Oh, and lest I forget to address the issue of the ice on the roads in Atlanta and our many critics.
This is the south people, we don't do ice. We really don't do snow either. And wow do you want to be anywhere but here for rain in its smallest form. Seriously, ask anyone.

Point is, I get it we are just not equipped for it. We (like I'm involved in Georgia government somehow) and our 7.5 snow/ice plows just can't hack it for this New York City of the South.
The south is exceptional at hosting, we love visitors!
The south is fabulous for catching some rays!
And the south is the perfect place to get some good'ol country cookin!
The south is humid and hot...did I mention humid?
But we are THE SOUTH! and you should NOT be able to ice skate down Peachtree Street:



p.s. I went back to the office on Thursday and I can only remember one other time I was so excited to go to work.