Happy Single Awareness day!!

Err. I mean Happy St. Valentine's Day.

Today is just wrought with singles problems. There are too many it is tough to choose just one.

As a single woman, Valentine's day is low on my list of holidays to celebrate. Lucky for me, I am working all day this year. Even luckier for me, I work where getting flowers isn't really the norm. Valentine's day is just like any other here.

On this holiday, I try not to focus on my lack of relationship but rather the great ones in my family. My grandparents(on both sides), parents, aunt/uncle, and many others are still happily married. My family is blessed with happy healthy marriages and I won't settle for less. This is why I'm so picky when it comes to dating. I'm looking for what I've grown up with and it has been hard to find.

#SingleGirlProblem Number 4: Secretly wanting flowers on Valentine's day but not having anyone to buy you some

Cheers,
Tabitha

Who are some of your relationship role models?

It is Just Coffee...

Hey friends,

So being a single girl, I am somewhat attempting to rectify that status. Meaning I am going out and meeting new people. One of my typical meet up spots is a coffee shop. There are a few reasons for this:

1. Coffee shops are usually occupied by at least one other person. I am never alone with someone I am just getting to know. As a single woman, I try to stay as safe as possible. You never know whose out there.  
2. I can get there a few minutes early to relax and calm myself so I don't act like an idiot.
3. We can buy our own coffee. So it is less of a date and more of two people just relaxing and getting to know each other. 

Just to be safe I always tell someone (usually my sister) that I am getting coffee with a guy and all the details like where, when, etcetera. Unfortunately, my sister wasn't around yesterday. I was forced to tell my mother of my plans to meet a guy for coffee.

(My mom and me on vacation last year.)

Don't get me wrong, I love my mother to death. She is a fantastic woman who is always helping anyone and everyone. However, just like everyone she has her little quirks. One of them being she blows things way out of portion. Since she knew I was going on a "coffee date," my mom grilled me for information about it when I got home. She didn't make any ridiculous comments, so I thought I made through safely. 

My mother being who she is cannot just take things with a grain of salt. Today while shopping with my sister and me, mom brought up my date. She was telling my sister about it as if I was going to marry the guy and give her nine little grandchildren she'd have to convert to Pittsburgh fans. The whole time I am saying "It was JUST coffee." 

I'm not sure when coffee became equivalent to getting engaged...or maybe that was how it was done back in the 1970's. I should ask my dad if that's how he got my mom. 

#SingleGirlProblem Number 3: Convincing my mother that sometimes coffee is just coffee.

Cheers, 

Tabitha

Tumble Down the Stairs...

Hey y'all (the southern is still in my system),

Remember when we were younger and the cool thing to do was look up the meaning of your name? This was probably around the time that My Big Fat Greek Wedding came out and  everything was rooted back to the Greek language. Well that and Windex was the new cure for pimples.

Anywho the real purpose of this rambling is the meaning of my name. Tabitha means Gazelle. Gazelle's are considered to be graceful and swift animals.

I have been haunted by this meaning from the moment I read it. I am not the most graceful person. I am constantly tripping and falling. Basically, I am very good at being the opposite of graceful.

For example, today I was walking down the stairs and fell. There was no reason I fell other than tripping over my own feet. I smacked my elbow, back, and head off the steps. Luckily, I didn't hurt myself. This brings me to the single girl problem of this post.

#SingleGirlProblem Number 2: No one to kiss your bruises or to get you ice when you fall

(My elbow is a little sore.)

Personally, I think I fit more in with urban dictionary's definition of gazelle:

A good looking, yet aloof girl who is consistently guarded when a man shows interest. She will give the impression of mild interest, even go out on dates with a man she is not that interested in, and then run at the first sign of genuine pursuit. On rare occasions, the man is able to catch her interest anyway.

But that is a different story for a different day.

Hope no one else took a tumble today!

Cheers,

Tabitha 

Road trip!!

Hey Y'all,

Recently, I've realized that my friends and I have become some sort of adults. I've discovered this because my friends have all been moving out of state to obtain jobs or continue school. There is nothing more eye opening to the fact that your friends are no longer down the hall or on the next street than an twelve hour drive to see them.

This past weekend I drove a twelve hour trip to visit my friend/sorority little. Starting in Pittsburgh around 3am (Yes, I left that early.) I drove all day to end up in Memphis, Tennessee by 4pm.

(About half way there, I realized I could take pictures of myself/the road with my phone's camera simply by using my gps mount.)

The problem I find with traveling alone is that I can never take pictures of the state signs. I was so glad when I figured out how to do it with relative ease on my phone. I was also super happy to see this one after a long morning of driving. It was still a long way to Memphis from the Tennessee/Kentucky line though.

While on my way to visit my friend, I decided to be an opportunist and stop for a couple hours in Nashville. I have been listening to country music since before I was born. It was great to stop and see the place where many artists go to get their start.

 

(While exploring Nashville, I enjoyed my first real southern sweet tea. The stuff they serve at McDonald's in the north cannot compare. I also ate lunch at a bar where a live band was already playing at 11am.)

Surprisingly after twelve hours, I still had enough energy to visit yet another state with my friend. I met some of the lovely southern women who belong to the same sorority as us. They were sweet, welcoming, and so much fun. I'm so grateful that the alumnae down south have welcome my little into their hearts. It reminds me so much why I joined in the first place. 

(State number 6 of my day: Pennsylvania->West Virginia->Ohio->Kentucky->Tennessee->Arkansas)

Another notion towards adulthood was the activities we partook in over the weekend. (Well other than the somewhat random laser tag bonding event her work had.)

We built her a new coffee table because her old one had a broken leg. Yes, two single females were able to correctly follow the instructions and properly build the table. There were even no injuries (other than a small bump to the head and a splinter). It has stayed together...so far.

For some Saturday fun, we went for a walk in the park. We walked around chatting about life and how I should move to Memphis for about two hours. It was such a beautiful day. It made me want to walk around the park more when I got home. However, I will miss the conversation here.

 After sampling some delicious BBQ, we went to downtown Memphis and enjoyed some of the fun music filled bars. Surprised by the MardiGras decor, we laughed at the older patrons and vowing to be like them when we got to that point in our lives.

The last day we spent lounging around watching movies and comparing them to our lives. (Who says that life cannot be like Legally Blonde??)

It only took four days, but her cat finally warmed up to me enough to let me pet her...then she wouldn't let me stop.

Finally, we concluded our time together enjoying the grammy's and drooling over our childhood crush, Justin Timberlake.

The trip back I took it six hours at a time stopping only once in the middle to fill up on gas. My secret to staying awake the whole time was obnoxiously singing along to my music. It was a tough drive and I don't look forward to doing it again. However, I will do it again. While the trip to and from was terrible, the time spent reconnecting with my friend and learning about her new life was priceless. I'm glad to have her back in my life.

As you may have noticed, I have retitled my blog once again. One of the topics we discussed this trip was our single statuses including some of the benefits that come with it like just picking up and driving to Memphis because I could. Driving back, I remembered how nice it is to have someone to share the driving with hence the inspiration for my new title/theme for the blog.

#SingleGirlProblem Number 1: Having to drive the whole twelve hours on my own and not being able to pass it off to my man

Cheers,
Tabitha

I just...

Voted!!!

It is election day people. Get out there and do your civic duty.

I'm not going to share who I voted for or make negative comments about who I didn't. Voting is about using your voice to help make the choices about who runs our country. This is an opportunity a lot of people never get.

Hope everyone lets their voice be heard!

Cheers,
Tabitha

Um...this is a first.

So people have spelled my name wrong many times before but this is a first.

The lady at Starbucks wrote Tabbetha on my lovely plastic cup. While writing it she also gave me a look that said: really that's your name?

In my head I responded:
Yes lady the last time I checked my name was Tabitha. Has been since I was born.

Instead of being rude, I shocked her by purchasing a book for the charity B&N is currently supporting. Haha I love shocking people by going outside their expectations.
Plus doing things like donating a book will bring me good karma...I did get a free drink at lunch today so I gotta pay it forward.

What's the last good thing you did for someone else without promise something in return?

What's the worst someone has misspelled your name?

Cheers,
Tabitha aka Tabbetha

 

The week of the Greek!

Its that time of year again! Greek Week!

So for those of you not in a fraternity or sorority, Greek Week is a week full of events where we compete against each other all for the coveted 1st place trophy and bragging rights of course! I know what you are thinking wait girls vs guys so unfair. Nope it is the fraternities vs fraternities and the sororities vs sororities. So basically guys vs guys and girls vs girls. Now at bigger schools this can get pretty interesting as to who is going to win. However, at my school there are only 2 sororities that actively participate in the events. So in our minds its you're first or you're last. Last Year, we dominated and took home 1st place (after a 12/13 year losing streak) heck yeah! So, this year we are out to defend our title!

All Dressed up for the week. I even did my make up. Yeah it is that important! :)

Now you are probably wondering what kind of events we have, and if not I am gonna tell you anyway. There are the typical sporting events like football and volleyball. We used to play basketball, but that usually ended in fist fights...We also have some neat Greek themed events like Chariot racing, Greek Games (tug of war, 4x4 relay race, dizzy bat, mattress race, and pyramid race). Now you are probably wondering what all the races are. The chariot race is where the fraternities build a "chariot" and then one of the sorority girls rides in it as they race around a course. Mattress racing is where four people run while carrying a mattress that has a person riding on it. Pyramid racing is where six people run, build a cheerleader pyramid, and then recite the Greek alphabet before running back. These sound ridiculous but are really very fun!

  This is one of the chariots that the fraternities we were paired with made. On the negative side, neither chariot our partners made actually made it through both time trials.

We also have the non-athletic events for those that are coordinately challenged lol. These are the trivia contest and eating contest. Trivia you think would be easy, but I don't know where they find these questions. I think the only person who might be able to answer them all would be Ken Jennings lol. Of course the eating contesting is just scarfing down food like pizza, donuts, hot dogs, and zebra cakes as fast as you can without barfing. It is disgusting!

We also like to be community centered and raise funds for some charity. This year we are going caning in the city. I think that means we are wandering around like begging people for their cans? I am not exactly sure we'll see come Thursday what happens. Fingers crossed it won't snow!

Then there is the Holy Grail of Greek Week. Greek Sing/Airband. Greek Sing is where every group sings a song that is special to their fraternity/sorority. I can't sing very well so I don't usually choose to participate. Airband on the other hand is where we don't sing at all. Every group has ten minutes to perform a lip sync routine to any songs of their choice. Sometimes they have themes. Last year our theme was a time warp. We did songs from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and current ending with the machine breaking and playing Don't Stop Believin. The themes are top secret until the performance so that they aren't stolen by other groups. I'll let you know how this years goes after Friday night!

Here is last years performance that won us first place!

Cheers, 

Tabitha