The Must List, The OBX Special

This week's Must List is dedicated to the Outer Banks, my favorite place to vacation!!

1. New York Pizza Pub Restaurant
My favorite place!!! Delicious pizza! Amazing strawberry smoothies! Garlic knots that make you want to die in caloric heaven!! It's the perfect mix of NYC and the beach. Half the restaurant is decorated with billboards about fish or the ocean. There's even a gigantic wall mural of the Wright Brothers flying. Then, the other half is decorated to represent New York with subway stop signs and other trinkets. You have to try this place. Make sure to ask for booth seating.

2. Driftin' Sands Motel
Hey, it's cheap and it's really clean!! It has a TV with cable, a bathroom with the most powerful shower ever invented, a comfy bed, and not so ugly carpet. And, the price was totally worth an extra, stress free day at the beach! Peace!

3. Duck Donuts
Yum, yum, yum!!! This place is amazing!! Homemade donuts never got better. Definitely try the cinnamon sugar one. Plus, a decent price for some taste bud-melting, warm and snuggly, sugary sweetness. I'm not a big donut fan, but I would happily shell out cash I don't have for more of these treats!!

4. Sunscents Candles, Body, and Bath
Buy a candle or maybe three. I bought one with a bejeweled seashell pattern on the outside. And once the candle has burned all the way, it turned into a drinking glass!!! What fun!! Kate got herself a behemoth of a candle that was sprinkled with crushed coffee beans. They also had lampshades that fit over large glass candles made of stained glass to cast beautiful shadows of colored light. The lampshades also redirected heat so that your candle burns slower and lasts longer!!

5. Kitty Hawk Kites
You can't go to Jockey Ridge without getting a kite from Kitty Hawk Kites. I bought a sleepy kitten-shaped kite from them long ago, and I still love it and try to use today! They have every imaginable type, shape, and color of kite one could possibly desire!

My kite is on the right

6. Sunset Bar and Raw Grill
The perfect place to see the sunset!!! Plus, karaoke and open mic nights with good fun and crazy drinks! Personally, I've only had a virgin strawberry daiquiri, and it was delicious! They have a large pier and a gazebo situated in the Sound for the most amazing sunset you'll ever witness.

Taken from the Sunset Bar's website

7. Outer Barks
There had to be a number 7 for this one. It's the Outer Barks store - a store catered to dogs... and a little bit to cats. Bring your dog into the store and shop with your pet until you drop! There are treats, toys for you and him, welcome mats, even something for the deceased pet in your life. For animal lovers everywhere, Outer Barks is the place to be.

Two More Hours of 2011

New Year's Eve is never as exciting or awesome as you want it to be. Every year, I sit in front of the TV and watch the ball drop. Once, I tried champagne. That was gross! Every year, New Year's Eve just sucks.
It didn't suck last year. I was with Stuart. We were in Chester, South Carolina listening to a loud group of people drink and shout in the upstairs room at a Motel 6. We didn't care. We had Cheerwine in glass bottles, popcorn, and cable television. It was an awesome night! But not because it was New Year's Eve, but because it was the last night Stuart and I had to ourselves before the start of our long distance relationship.
This year, I'm sitting in Stuart's apartment alone watching the ball drop on a live web cast online while Stuart has been at work since 2 this afternoon and won't be home until after 1:30 a.m... if we're lucky.

I'm going to rain on someone's parade by saying this, but... New Year's Eve will never be as awesome as you want it to be!!! UNLESS... you're that dude that drops the cash on a hotel that you booked on January 3 the year of to be in Times Square on New Year's Eve to propose to your girlfriend on live TV and you absolutely know without a doubt that she's going to say yes, and you get to kiss your then fiance when the ball drops and the confetti flies. Yeah, that's as awesome as it's going to get. Those of us who have to move to Cullowhee tomorrow or can't afford to go to New York City sit in our living rooms drinking alcohol and hoping the new year doesn't suck as much as the last one.
Yeah, that's my take on New Year's Eve. It's another letdown. Like birthdays.
There's no alcohol here, none that I'm drinking anyway. Yet I feel drunk watching this Bret Easton Ellis adaptation starring a bunch of actors on the brink of being famous like Jessica Biel and Ian Somerhalder. You know Bret Easton Ellis. He's the guy who wrote American Psycho! Yeah, this movie is BIZARRE!!! I'm scared to keep watching. I've learned more about college and the perverse mind of college-aged people in the last hour than the two and a half years in actual college. It's gotten so weird that I've zoned out on the Internet and have no idea what's going on anymore.

Ryan Seacrest has taken to his Twitter. He's tweeting answers to fans about Rocking New Year's Eve. The Times Square 2012 Live web cast just announced this year's triangle theme on the ball. Apparently, it's Friendships, and the color scheme of 2012 is blue!!! Facebook is pretty calm though and the latest story on Just Jared.com is Nicole Kidman is spending New Year's Eve with her daughter. WOHOO!! Just found a much better web cast of the ball dropping! CBS is on UStream! Five years ago, I'd have been screwed! 
Now, I have two more hours to stay awake, according to the Toshiba countdown. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. Eventually, I'm going to have put my laptop to sleep so it won't overheat and then I'm stuck with this Ellis film again.
No matter what you're doing, New Year's Eve is just another night. It's as over as soon as the clock strikes 12:01. For one minute, you get to feel awesome. Then, it's over. But, it's a night meant for reflection and promises of betterment. My 2012 resolution is to NOT MOVE!!! I shall move once this year, and that is all! Once I get to Cullowhee, my bags are staying unpacked.