I'm Back, Y'all You Guys!

Howdy, pardners! Wait, no, that's not right. I'm getting all my Southern accents mixed up. Well hunt ma aligaytah and get me a mint julip, dahlin! Whoa. What's happened to me? I gotta get back to my yankee-speak. Pop. Liquor store. Hey guys. I need mittens because it's cold. Okay. There we go. Okay, before I get to the dirty deets from my adventure in the dirty South, I want to gush about my new iPhone. I fought the good fight, you guys. I had an LG phone, a Nokia, and a Blackberry. I gave them all a chance to be great. But, well, they all sucked. Now, with my nifty iPhone, I feel like a whole new woman. Here's just a really quick list of reasons I love my new phone (which, it should be noted, is just the iPhone 4, not 4s. Baby steps...): Awesome camera. Pinterest (follow me!) FaceTime (although it's just another video medium that makes me look like Jay Leno with horrible skin). The ability to stalk Geo via the Friends Finder GPS dealie. App store. Pandora. Awesome real-time maps. Kicky ringtones. In short, I love it. Although, I'm terrified of anyone getting too close to me for fear of them smooshing it or breaking it. And, I just feel like a better person for having one. Is that shallow? Whatevs. I never claimed to be an ocean.

Moving on. I had an amazingly fun time with Geo this weekend. I didn't realize how much I really had missed him until could actually touch his, as I lovingly call it, dumb face. When he picked me up at the airport, it was like a first date, though. I got teary-eyed because I finally got to see him, but suddenly I felt inclined to put more makeup on, fix my hair, and stop cursing so much. I was nervous. I didn't know what to say or where to look. He gave me a tour of his apartment and the building, and I did nothing but wonder if my breath was bad or if I was slouching. And it was weird to see all his stuff, that used to clutter up our house, properly stored in a whole new place. How does he know where to put all his stuff if I'm not around to tell him where to put it??

Eventually, I calmed down. We relaxed and hung out together like we haven't been apart for a bazillion years (read: 1 1/2 months). He showed me his school, we went to see a giant, weird statue and walked through a surprisingly interesting museum, and just generally got used to being in the same room together. Before I knew it, I was belching in front of him and he was snarling his lip and shaking his head in disgust. Happiness.

Once I got my snazzy new phone (I did mention that, didn't I?) I started taking pics. Luckily for you, a number of pictures were taken with my old crap phone, or with Geo's, so these are the only ones I have. SO FAR. But join me, won't you, on a photo-journey of my adventures:

Yay! Geo and I are in the same room! And it was juuuuuust chilly enough to need a UAB Blazers sweatshirt that I borrowed from Geo. We are snarling because we are fire-breathing dragons. The mascot of UAB. I know, I know. But yes, it's a real school.

Geo made me his famous Chicken Squares one night. Nomnomnomnomnom.

Geo had me bring him his Settlers of Catan game and he, his brother Jami, and I played a bazillion times. I lost every stupid game.

One of the days that Geo and his brother were watching very boring football games I didn't care about, I went out to their awesome courtyard to read. It was 80 degrees and lovely.

Then I got to see Geo play on his new Ultimate team. Not quite the dominating behemoths his Minnesota team is, but again it was sunny, I wanted a tan, and I really do enjoy watching him play.

Despite the fact that you can drink, smoke, and litter nearly EVERYWHERE in Alabummer, there were no "intoxicating" beverages allowed at the Ultimate fields. Boo!

For Sunday night's Vikings game, Geo made the MOST delicious wings and I ate a hundred of them. Again...nomnomnomnomnom.

One morning we went to get a delicious breakfast. I ordered a frittata. The girl was all "Y'all want just the frittata, or the plate that has fruit and grits?" I was all "GRIT IT TO ME, LADY" because I have never had grits and they sounded delicious. Here's my meal.

Oh, wait. Grits are NOT delicious. They are paste. And I kicked my paste habit in the first grade.

A depot focused solely on peanuts? Yes please! I got a giant bag of peanuts, and they were hot, and they were DELICIOUS. I may never eat packaged, cold peanuts again.

I had world's biggest brain fart on one of our walks downtown. I saw the railroad above us, the 1931 sign underneath it leading us into a tunnel, and asked Geo "Oooh, is this the Underground Railroad?!" He said "Pharon, please tell me that was a brain fart and you don't ACTUALLY think it was a railroad." Whatever. It was pretty.

This, I think, was my favorite spot in Birmingham. It's this giant park in the middle of the city. It's brand new, and it had so many different little areas that were all part of one huge landscape. It was beautiful. Although, I think I loved it so much because it reminded me of the lakes and parks in Minneapolis. Whatever. It was gorgeous, and warranted tons of pics...

More Railroad Park...

Yet more Railroad Park...

And still MORE Railroad Park...

So there's just a taste of my trip. As cheesy as it sounds, the best parts of visiting Geo weren't the kinds of things you can take pictures of. I liked seeing his dumb face, and the way he opens doors for me but always forgot to unlock my car door, laughing at each other's jokes, watching TV together, and just being able to do things as a couple, you know? But now it's back to the good ol' yankee lifestyle. And I missed it. How is someone supposed to know what kind of pop you want when you call EVERYTHING "Coke"? Dumb.

I had an incredible time in Birmingham. And even though there was perfect weather and awesome sightseeing, I probably would have had a great time in, like, Wyoming as long as Geo was there. Now, back to our regularly scheduled northernism.