goodbye, summer!

...and good RIDDANCE! I'm so over summer. Tomorrow is the first day of Fall, and I couldn't be more excited. Except for the fact it will be in the 90's in Tennessee. But that's OK. I know that scarves, hoodies, and the holidays are soon approaching.

It's been forever since I blogged, honestly, because I've been focusing on other things in my life, such as:

• my photography business! www.meglangfordphoto.com is up and running! I've already had over 1000 views since it's official launch just a week or so ago! I'm also on facebook, which is way overdue, but super exciting! so go check everything out, blog friends! "like" me on facebook!
• WORK. with a capital "ugh". it's been so stressful. i've basically inherited another job on top of my job. the usual. now i just need to find a way to make the day have 48 hours in it instead of 24. :( I'm not going to harp too much on how shitty work has been lately, because i'm lucky to have a job and (barely) pay my bills.
• planning for CABO! My amazing mom is sending Cord and I to Los Cabos, Mexico the week after Thanksgiving. This is the December Island Trip that I usually go on with my mom and sister, but this year, the circumstances made it so Cord and I are getting to go. And I can't wait! All-inclusive, completely free, flights booked (that were also free!) and we'll be there for 6 days. I am so, so, SO, excited. My mom rocks. And I've never been on a beach trip with my man snack, so I'm super excited.
• Because of the upcoming vacation, the health train has been back on the tracks as well. i've been walking around the neighborhood quite a bit, and trying to eat super healthy. but we all know how difficult that is.

Well anyway, that's it that's all (as Willard Scott says). Check out the photo stuff, and have a fantastic last day of summer. :)

i'm going home. :)

home to MD for the weekend. my mini-holiday begins in nineteen minutes. i can't wait.

priorities (in no particular order):

smiling
breathing (slowly and with purpose)
sunshine on my bod.
alcohol - ok that's a pretty high priority, i mean really....
the chesapeake bay (sigh!)
family
water.
a yacht. yes. be j.
jewell (the doggie)
relaxation
happy.

happy america day.

hello, world.

I just realized that I've been gone for quite some time.....not that it matters as I'm sure that very few people read this....but I like the theraputic nature of blogging. So hello, world.

Oh, the holidays!! Oh, Jamaica!! Lots to talk about...here's a brief synopsis of the past month:

*Decorate the house for Xmas
*Try to be bikini-ready for Jamaica
*Go to MD for best friend's father's funeral (very, very sad and unexpected)
*Stress out about my not yet ready bikini body (fuck it.)
*Go to MD for Turkey Day! What a fun weekend....I absolutely love my family.
*Eat entirely too much to even consider getting in a bikini.
*Go go Jamaica for seven days. Have quite possibly the best vacation ever and come back well-rested and totally disconnected from my life in Nashville. I'm so serious about my snowcone stand idea.....and I'm currently accepting applications.
*Didn't care at all about my bikini body because I had such an amazing time.

That's pretty much it. The past month of my life. Very full.

I won't really go into many details of the above list, but I will brag a little about Jamaica. Holy hell. Can I please go back? Really? Why the hell do I live in Nashville and not Montego Bay?

So basically, I go somewhere tropical with my mom and sister every December. Long story short, she owns a Swimming Pool company and the distributor she gets her supplies from sends the dealers on "free" trips every year. Since she brings both my sister and I, and we stay for two extra days, there is a buy-in, but still, a lot of what we do is totally paid for by someone other than us, and we take full advantage!

This year we stayed at the Half Moon Resort and Spa in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Do yourself a favor and check this website out. If you EVER go to Jamaica, stay here. It's so worth it. Also, go the all inclusive route. It's also totally worth it. It is so nice going to a resort and not having to look at how much every dirty banana drink and lobster tail cost!! The resort is absolutely perfect. Beautiful, clean, friendly, refined, HUGE (500 acres!) and just so relaxing....this is my second time there, and it was even better than the first time. We even requested to stay in the same suite because we loved it so much the last time!

We did everything we wanted to do: ATE, ATE, ATE (best meals included the conch trio with lobster tail, and of course, the local jerk chicken we went and picked up on our last night), drank a ton (my favorites being the Dirty Banana and the Miami Vice), took lots of pictures, and just enjoyed ourselves!! My favorite thing we did, however, was the Parasailing. 400 feet up in the air drug behind a boat in the Carribean. Yeah. Freak yeah.

I'll put up a few pics, but they just won't do it justice. I absolutely love Jamaica, and I love Jamaicans. They are so proud of their country, and once we explained that we've been there twice and will continue to come back because we just love it, they all were calling us "family." I got such a warm and fuzzy feeling from that. That someone I have only one thing in common with - a love for Jamaica - can consider me "family" in a sense. Very cool.

Something that I learned that I didn't know before (my foodie friends will enjoy this):
The local Jamaican food is incredible. Jerk chicken, that's a given..... but there were two things that I had never heard of before that I ate this week, and it was seriously life changing.

1) "Festival." From the sound of that, you really have no idea what it is, right? Well, it's bread. Holy moly bread! Try to imagine a hush puppy mixed with a funnel cake, in breadstick form. Yeah, you're mouth is watering, isn't it?
2) "Breadfruit." This was probably my favorite thing all week (besides the local coffee (MMM)). It's a fruit that when cooked, has the taste and consistency of bread. So basically, it's like eating bread, but it's fruit!! My soulmate. Our local meal we got from Scotchie's was Jerk Chicken, Jerk Pork, Festival, a sweet potato (which is totally different than our sweet potato) and some breadfruit. Life changing.

What's neat about it is that there were breadfruit trees all over the resort, and the workers would just climb the freaking trees and grab the fruit to cook it. I loved talking to them about it! And then knowing what they were doing when they were climbing the trees ;-)

MOTHER BITCH. As I sit here writing this blog, a freaking JAMAICA commercial came on TV!! I serioulsly almost cried. Bob Marley's "One Love" was playing, and all it said was "once you go, you know." That sums it up. I suggest that everone go. Please, go...... aaah.....

Well, I guess that's all I have to say. I am going to be suffering from post-vacation depression for a while, so I apologize to anyone who has to come in contact with me over the next week or so. At least the holidays are coming up and I can try to switch into that gear and distract myself...

aaah....breadfruit.

Bear Shit.

A few pics from Bear Shit Hike '08. Quite a time.

This is bear poop.

We weren't supposed to go there. This was the sign we saw on the way back.

Girls showing off our booties. Trying to scare the bears away.

We made it through alive. ;-)

hello from outer space

Well, not really. Just the way I feel. I've been very spaced these past few days. I think it's the post-long weekend zone out. The boy and I went on a road trip this holiday weekend to a few different places. First, we went to Greenville SC and photographed a wedding for a good friend of mine. It was very difficult, but lots of fun and a great learning experience. AND, the photos turned out great, to boot. Sidenote: Why do people say "to boot" by the way? I often wonder if I hear these phrases and actually just turn them around in my head and they aren't what the words even are, for example....is "to boot" even the word "boot?" what if it's another word? I should learn what things mean before I say them....

Anyway, after lovely Greenville, we went to Asheville and did the Biltmore thing (which is amazing and not as cheesy as we thought it would be) and then did a night and a morning scoping out downtown Asheville. Our thoughts on Asheville were about the same, and disclaimer - I think that because we were there on a dead holiday weekend (which was surprising in itself) - that maybe we got a bad vibe and we're not giving it enough credit. Just wanted to put that out there....

We liked downtown Asheville, and loved that there was nothing commercial about it... not a single golden arch or starbucks in sight (hah - as I sit here and sip my pumpkin spice latte from yours truly). But we thought that the city was lacking something. We couldn't put our fingers on it - it just didn't seem like a very happy town. The people seemed tired. They seemed like they didn't welcome or appreciate the tourists that were more than happy to attempt (key word, attempt) to come drop some tourist dollars and boost their "in need of a boost" city. Nothing was open on a Sunday evening on a national holiday weekend. Nothing opened the next morning until 11am.... If it even opened at all.

The locals we spotted out were either young hippies who seemed to look at us like we were aliens wherever we went, or they were middle aged burnouts who were begging us for money at 10 am on a Monday in the middle of the street like it was no big deal. We discussed it a lot and we don't know if the city just doesn't give a shit and could care less if tourists enjoy it because it's all they need and want, or if they'd like to actually see people walking the streets and they want some life boosted back into the town. It just felt like it was missing some happiness, and some heart. It has so much potential, but didn't seem to care. Maybe that's the beauty in it - that when you go there (as a tourist) you're getting the actual experience - a quasi ghost town where a store may or may not be open, and they're keeping the rest of the world out, whatever it takes. Strange experience, but I would like to give it another chance, maybe on a Saturday. I can't judge it yet. Great art galleries though - we loved the art galleries (that were actually open).

On a totally different topic, this is something that I was thinking today as I was performing one of life's most intimate, personal and disgusting bodily functions next to a co-worker today. Pooping. I find it hilarious that we as humans are totally ok with just going into a stall, shitting, and coming back out like "hey, i just took a big ol' dump. what's up?" Especially, I find it amusing when I am so comfortable with it, that I walk into the bathroom and do a #2 right next to a co-worker of mine while we discuss whatever might be going on at the time. What's your take on public pooping? Or pooping in general? Are you comfortable with just doing it whenever, wherever? Or are you a private, in your home, your significant other doesn't even think you have a booty hole kind of person? Are you so grossed out by it that you can't even discuss it? I'm anxious to know. :)

quarter of a century

So yea, I'm turning 25 tomorrow. I'm pretty stoked about it. I'm sick of always being called "SO young" by those around me. As if me being two years younger than them is SO young. Whatevs! I'm a kid and proud of it! Well, I'm a kid for 9 more hours at least.... and I've definitely lived the life of a 25 year old...I think I was 25 at age 18 with all the shit I did as a youngin'. I have realized that turning 25, I really need to start saving money. No more being a kid. I'd love to buy a house.

Lots going on lately. Went to FLA, had a blast....nice and relaxing. Now back to the grind, turning 25, and crazy as all get out at work. All day long I've had a "pelvic flutter" - it's for real, look it up. Basically my lower belly is twitching all damn day. My eye was twitching a lot on vacation and earlier this week, so now it's just moved down to my belly. So strange. I was like, hmm, I hope that's not a baby kickin' in there! That better just be water weight that I've been gaining! haha. It is, don't worry. Meggers isn't preggers. Taken a test and everything. Not to get personal, but this new b.c. pill made me blow up and skip a few months so I was a little worried. But the doc said that's perfectly normal. WHAT? THAT'S NORMAL? No thanks, I'll go back to my old pill thank you very much!

God, these flourescent lights are killing my ass. Every few hours I see this white flash. I wonder if it's the IT department at work super syping into my computer and I'm not even noticing it. Well, IT dept -if you're reading my blog, now you know all about my birth control pill. Hope you're happy.

I think I'm suffering from a bit of "post vacation depression" - you know the drill....you get away from the norm for a while, and when you're back, it takes a few days to realize that wow, this is it. I'm actually pretty happy with "it," but damn these flourescent lights :)

My bday celebrations are really exciting. I have 25, yes 25, friends coming to dinner tomorrow night! I didn't know I even had that many friends! We've rented out a big area in the front of Cabana and we're gonna eat, drink, and mingle, and then go to see Daniel Tosh (comedian) at Zanies, then hit up the town for some Agave and honky tonkin'. I'm very much looking forward to everything, and I feel so loved that I have so many people that want to celebrate with me. I am very lucky to have these people in my life. And even though these flourescent lights someday might be the death of me, I'm lucky enough to work under them, and to have met the people I've met working under the same horrible lights. :-) ~zen moment.~..........

a few pics from the FL trip. lots o' fun :)
me noley mom

you think i'm kidding?

the gods must be crazy

I watched the opening monologue of this movie last night, and it really made sense...

“…Here you find civilized man. Civilized man refused to adapt himself to his environment. Instead, he adapted his environment to suit him.
So he built cities, roads, vehicles, machinery. And he put up power lines to run his labor-saving devices. But he didn’t know when to stop.
The more he improved his surroundings to make life easier, the more complicated he made it. Now his children are sentenced to years of school, to learn how to survive in this complex and hazardous habitat.
And civilized man, who refused to adapt to his surroundings, now finds he has to adapt and re-adapt every hour of the day to his self-created environment.
For instance, if it’s Monday and 8:00 comes up, you have to dis-adapt from your domestic surroundings…and re-adapt yourself to an entirely different environment. 9:00 means everybody has to look busy. 10:30 means you can stop looking busy for 5 minutes…And then, you have to look busy again. Your day is chopped into pieces. In each segment of time…you adapt to new circumstances.
No wonder some people go off the rails a bit.”

Food for thought...anyway... so the weekend in review:

*Got a lot done around the house - I am finally moved in! Emptied the last box of shit last night at 11pm~ ugh.

*Saw the Batman movie. Fucking increds. Heath Ledger was amazing - I finally realized how great of an actor he was, and I was sad to think that his career probably would have really gone places after this movie.... sad. But Christian Bale - holy hell Batman. I can't even talk about it. I loved how long the movie was - oh, and we saw it on IMAX which I think made all the difference. Geezus. Amazing!

*Exercise TV on Demand. Now, this is what an hour of my Saturday morning consisted of, and I'm still feeling it. I woke up at 9am, and was like, damnit, I'm fat. I need to work out (side note - I'm fat because my new b.c. pill has packed on about 5 pounds of solid water weight, so I look like a manatee.) Anyway, so yea, I decide that I want to work out. Hmm, I recalled a convo that Chester Copperpot and I had about Exercise TV on Demand. So I turn it on, and realize that there's a whole WORLD of stuff on there!!

I started with "AM Yoga," a nice, 12 minute start up routine that made me sweat a little. Then, once I feel pretty damn awake, I get real ballsy and select "Tae Bo with Billy Banks" (or whatever his name is)... holy cow. All I can say is, I'm very glad that I have never elected to take any of those kickboxing classes at the Y, because now I know how freaking ridiculous I would have looked. Thank GOD that I was in the privacy of my own home, and during the kick/punch quick change, that no one else had to witness the hilarity and sadness of that spectacle. I even had to give up at one point because I just wasn't fast enough. I just started laughing.

So, heart rate WAY UP, sweat pouring off of me, I decide to cool down with another (longer) yoga routine. I got about half way through it when I realized that my blood sugar was probably in the dangerously low level b/c I hadn't eaten a damn thing and I was def. in the negative calorie zone for the day and getting dizzy.....so I stopped. But I feel that I got a GREAT workout! And it was something different. And I didn't have to worry about people seeing me look a fool! I think I'm going to try and stick with it for a while.....see what happens!

Enough about all that.... but the weekend as a whole was great. Got to spend a good amount of time with the bf, and got a lot done, and I'm still sore from a great (however embarrasing it might have been) workout. Going to Florida on Wednesday until next Monday, and wow am I excited. Excited to get away from work for a while, away from Nashville, away from responsibility....away from moving....just away. I really have only taken one actual vacation this year (my weekend trips home are not a vacation by any means) so this will be very nice. I've only taken two days off work this whole year thus far, so I'm definitely looking forward to this!!!

bueno.

here's to kickin' it like tae bo...

today is today.

Today is today.

I have bug bites. Like crazy ones. Do I have leprosy?

I hate the fact that it's Monday and not Saturday.

I just had an incredible turkey burger with Swiss and sauteed mushrooms on an English muffin from, believe it or not, Cheeseburger Charlies. It was effing incredible. Not a DROP of grease. I ate the whole thing and feel fab. aaaah...food gives me satisfaction that no man could provide.....maybe?

I also am currently noshing on a direct-from-Heaven chocolate chip cookie that is probably 85% chocolate chip. The best way.

I attempted to go to THE coffee shop again today. Bad choice. Absolutely not a single muffin for sale. Shitty latte. Why do I subject myself to this boo-shee? Because I missed my turn to take the road to the new place. Oh, silly self.

I'm busy. Life, work, life.....life.

I want a vacation. C'mon, who doesn't? I want to go back here. We may be going back in December. It can not come soon enough. *we = the mom and the sis. :)

Damnit. Cookie is gone. Well, it was good while it lasted. I will dream of you, cookie.

The Orange Bicycle just let me get a whiff of some serious cheese. May be an afternoon, post-cookie taste endeavor?

I'm ready to move. We found renters!! I worked my everlovingass of last week trying to find the perfect candidate, and we gave our landlord two different options. So I hope she chooses wisely and we get a break on our July rent. In the new place, I think the walls are wood paneling (yes, it's 1987.) Can I paint those? Anybody know?