Can I Borrow a Xanax? I ate too much antipasto in the sun...

So in the haste of trying to catch up I may have forgotten any sort of "Happy Thanksgiving" message...but I hope everyone had a lovely one, ate some bird, watched some flying leather, and drank too much!

I had my first Thanksgiving away from my immediate family...ever. True to form, I made a huge deal out of this in my head beforehand and thought that I'd be so upset and it would just be the worst. HA! Was I ever wrong.  Do you know anyone who's ever had a "bad time" arriving somewhere at noon to have a tropical drink handed to them by a "mixologist" 9-year-old-second-cousin-once-removed? Or didn't enjoy herself while shoving proscuitto and salami and mozzarella down the hatch while sitting in the sun next to an outdoor fire pit? Oh, and after a dinner spread of Brajole and Corned Beef (and yes, Turkey too) it was time to drive (don't worry, not me...I don't drive after more than three rum drinks) to Thanksgiving dinner number two. Just a little tip: never do this. Don't try. Do not attempt. Don't even think it is possible. Actual words I uttered en route to dinner #2 were "wow, I'm not disgustingly full!" I think the cliche term for that is: famous last words. Well, it's a good thing that my boyfriend's brother, wife and children had already formed their [seemingly good] first impressions of me, because after a bite of turkey and half of a dinner roll I had to excuse myself for fear of vomiting. I politely (at least, I think it was polite, I'm not sure, remember: mini-bartender cousins are dangerous) excused myself from dessert as the sight of the Oreo creme pie was setting my gag reflex into motion, and curled up in the fetal position with heartburn for several hours.

Other than that things have been pretty run-of-the-mill. Just kidding! There's no mill! I'm anxious to start my "life" out here but also really fucking petrified. I'm trying to keep it together, but I don't know what its like to live in a city that isn't New York (or London, after my brief stint there) and I definitely don't know what its like to be away from my entire clan of friends and family. I feel like such a baby, and I know I'm behaving like one, but I somehow missed the whole "growing-up-is-moving-away" thing...until now. So I had a nice long panic attack this afternoon (complete with my teddy bear and a cave of sheets to hide under) and I'm done. I can't do it anymore. I'm going to relish the fact that I have the opportunity to live in a place where it is sunny 75% of the year and that I can afford the car that I'm picking up this week and that I'm not whining about wearing a scarf and my hands being freakin' freezing all the time. Hell, I've been in a hot tub twice in the last 24 hours, shit ain't so bad.

A

PS: I posted videos the other day...did anyone watch them? I know it was the holiday, but as it was my first foray into the "vlog" situation (of sorts) I wonder what people think. 

Easy does it...

I haven't been able to find the time to mentally review the past two weeks enough to write about it, but I do have a few more pictures and even two videos from the drive to post. I promise that I'll start writing again, but my brain is like pudding right now and the idea of coming up with a coherent display of intelligence in any capacity is so beyond my grasp that I think I'll leave it to the images for now.

White Sands, New Mexico: Child playing on a hill

 Santa Fe, New Mexico: Abandoned building?

I think this video is New Mexico?

I know everyone enjoys Arizona scenery, but does anyone like banter about the cinematic merit of "Meet The Fockers"?

A

PS: My favorite part of that last video would have to be "you're never going to watch this whole thing".

...hi

It's 1:03 am, Pacific Time (huh?) and I'm beyond disoriented, but here in LA, my new home?

Catching up...slowing down

From the Quality Inn in West Texas, I give you the past two days:

New Orleans...view from hotel room

 Bayou at sunset-excuse the lack of focus

Austin, Texas fast food, again, focus is terrible

New Orleans, French Quarter

I've got more photos, some of San Antonio and the Mission San Jose, but for lack of time I haven't been able to upload them to the laptop yet.

As a side note I'd like to add that driving through west Texas after dark last night was quite the experience; nothing for miles and miles in any direction, a deer directly in the line of traffic on the Interstate, whipping winds, and an [almost] full moon illuminating the hills. In typical Adria fashion I managed to ruin the romanticism and eerie nature of the area by stepping in a cactus on my way to go pee behind a deserted, albeit working, gas station off of the highway. If there's anything I love its pulling cactus pricks out of the top of my foot with a tweezer in a cheap motel.

Over and out,

A

Road Trip 2k10: Legs Two and Three

Coming atcha live from Atlanta, Georgia, this is 11/13, 11/14:

Great Dismal Swamp-North Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Not much to show from Atlanta, but tomorrow brings great Southern opportunity [and wonderment on my part] as we drive through Alabama and Mississippi right on down to New Orleans. I feel like this is all happening too fast to take in. Cruise control and Trader Joe's trail mix and iPod playlists and so much highway are swallowing me up. I always thought it'd be easy to write about this experience, but it's really not. I don't know how I feel about any of this. It's entirely surreal to be moving so far away, but it still feels like a vacation. I know how I feel about one thing, though, and that is the Name Your Own Price deal on Priceline.com–I wish they were paying me to say this, but they're not. It's UNBELIEVABLE! We stayed in a gorgeous hotel in downtown Charleston for $50 less than the regular rates AND just got a room in the French Quarter in New Orleans for a THIRD of the price. A THIRD!

So much of the country really looks the same, it's a little bit depressing. Maybe that's unfair because I haven't even left the East Coast yet, really, but rural South Carolina looks a lot like rural, upstate New York. 

More later in the week, but for now keep checking in on Twitter for pictures from the road!

A

Road Trip 2k10: First Leg

Chesapeake Bay

From a hotel room in coastal Virginia, this is day one....

A

The Blues and The Bathtub

Rub a dub dub
I sit in the tub
Bubbling my troubles away

BB King sneaks in through the window
Crooning on the bath mat
Reminding me that there are bigger things

Bigger than my chest congestion
Bigger than waiting
He reminds me to shave my legs

Pilgrim, says Eric Clapton
It's almost Thanksgiving
The goose is getting fat
Please put on your shower cap

You think I'd be bothered
By the blues watching me bathe
But the butt is just human
and the blues are forgiving

Ella, come sing on the ceiling tiles
I'm just waiting
and you can wait with me

I don't want to live in now
so I'm bathing in the past
and not washing my hair.