Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

Well, we’re off to the lake to spend a week suntanning, swimming, laughing, eating, fishing and reading.  Been for my massage.  Got my toes painted (’Catherine of Grape’…giggling).  Purchased 65 bags of chips to everyone’s specifications.  More treats than we’ll ever need.  In fact, we don’t need to bring actual food for lunches because likely no one will be hungry : )  I have about 8 books packed, though I’ll probably only get through about 2.  I broke down and bought “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer.  Peer pressure if you will.  I saw people talking about it and was like “what’s all the hype about?” and bought it.  I’ve spent about $50 on decorating and design magazines which in turn will add up to thousands of dollars worth of brilliant ideas for us to incorporate in a future house : )

All I need is my bathing suit and sunscreen and I’m GOOD TO GO!!!  Too bad that’s not all we are taking.  My poor little Saturn is going to be exploding at the seams and we’ll have to send a bunch of stuff in my parents’ truck.  But I refuse to get a van!  Why?  Who knows.  Just something to be stubborn about.

And I haven’t actually started packing, just piling.  So why am I sitting here blogging when I should be getting ready (should have started 2 days ago)?  I’m the procrastinator of the century.  Why do now what I can do at midnight?  Hee, hee.

Well, happy week bloggy friends.  Don’t forget about me.

P.s.  Here are a couple pictures I took of the “lake” our house backs onto.  I’ve been just LOVING Picnik and playing with every picture I take.  And ya’ll made me feel so good after I shared the last pictures that I’m being brave.  I just thought these turned out nice…

Whilst making supper this evening I was half paying attention to the tv which was in my line of vision as I chopped potatoes.  As all good mother’s do I had Treehouse taking care of the kiddos so that I could cook in peace.  I snapped to attention when I realized that Bob (as in “Bob the Builder”) is quite the Casanova!  I never realized that there was such a blatant romantic subplot between Bob and Wendy!  Ha!  I find it rather sad when the most exciting part of my day is watching 2 cartoon characters flirt : )  So can he do it?  YES.HE.CAN!!!

Scene:

Bob is excited to be entering a line dancing contest with his partner of female persuasion (NOT Wendy).  He’s telling all his friends about it and everyone is very excited.

Cut to the next scene…Wendy is bemoaning her singleness to her dog:

“Some people will be out dancing the night away, and others will be sitting at home alone!”  Insert heavy sigh while her dog gives her a sympathetic wag of his tail.

Over to Bob’s house where he gets THE phone call.  Dancing partner (whose name has momentarily escaped me) must cancel on Bob due to an accident at the gym on a treadmill (snort!).  Bob is deeply disappointed that he can’t be in the contest anymore and is complaining to Wendy (the poor “best friend, but oh so crushing on you, so will you please notice me in a non friend sort of way” character).

“I was really looking forward to this contest and now I have to drop out!” he cries to Wendy.

Wendy, with eyes averted says, “Well you COULD find a new partner.”  Blink, blink.  (Well done, Wendy, not too eager off the starting line…)

Bob slaps his forehead, “But Wendy, where will I EVER find a partner at this late date?” (I started giggling at this point and almost chopped off my finger. I’m so glad our children are being taught at such an early age the intricate delicacies in the art of flirting!  Because goodness knows, they may need that in preschool when they have to find a partner for finger painting or block building!)

Wendy again very coyly says, “Well I could be your partner, Bob.” (Yeah, Bob, you Dolt!  What do you need?  Her to jump up and down waving her hands saying “ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!”  Seriously.  Sometimes men are so slow!)  

“But you don’t know the dance and the contest is in an hour!” Bob points out.

“I’m a quick learner, I’m sure I could figure it out.” (A woman of many talents…on the job site and off!)

So they practice, he’s impressed, yadda-yadda and they leave to get ready for the event.

He goes to pick her up and when he sees her he gasps, “Wendy!  You look lovely!!”  (more giggling)

And they win the contest.

They didn’t show it, but likely the headiness of winning made him clutch her in his arms and kiss the snot out of her.  Hopefully they didn’t get carried away in the moment and they kept their tools in their tool belts, if you know what I’m sayin’.  Because I’ll be disturbed if the next episode is about their shot-gun wedding…”Bob and Wendy get hitched” and perhaps nine months later an episode called “Wendy becomes a Mommy”!  Because “Can we fix it?” Nuh uh!  No you can’t.  One night of dancing could lead to a lifetime of responsibility!  Didn’t anyone ever tell you the dangers of dancing?

I really should get a life…and maybe go to bed.

I’ve seen this all over blogland and have up until this point not done it.  I decided today would be a good day since I had nothing better to write.  One of these days I WILL come up with something.  Just have to find that spot in my mind with blog worthy data : )

Below is the list of questions and with the answers you do a search with flikr to find a corresponding photo. Then build your mosaic with Big Huge Labs.

I really like the way mine turned out.  It’s fun and colorful.  A little unexpected.  Kind of like me…at least I’d like to think that : )

1. Erin Tennessee Fall Quarry, 2. Best Mexican Food in Arizona, 3. NCI, 4. Crumpled Rainbow, 5. Jude Law, 6. dark chocolate martini, 7. Tuscany paths?, 8. Raspberry - Swirl Cheesecake, 9. To be content…., 10. on friendship, 11. crazy daisies, 12. Happy Birthday Erin

What is your first name? Erin

What is your favourite food? Mexican food

What high school did you attend? NCI

What is your favourite colour? All the colors of the rainbow

Who is your celebrity crush? Jude Law

Favourite drink? chocolate martini

Dream vacation? Tuscany (or any other place in Italy for that matter)

Favourite dessert? Cheesecake

What do you want to be when you grow up? Content

What do you love most in life? friendship

One word to describe you? crazy

Your Flikr name? happy erin

I’ve been back and forth in the last couple of weeks as to whether or not to cut my hair short.  I’ve been keeping the longest parts pulled back in a ponytail to get a feel for myself in short hair.  I liked it.  So I took the big leap and now I look like Victoria Beckham…or not.  My hair does and that’s got to count for something.  Well, it’s not EXACTLY the same, but it’s similar.  That was my inspiration (Thanks Svea for the vote of confidence…way back when I posted pictures of hypothetical haircuts on myself she voted for the Victoria Beckham look).

So here is what she looks like (then let’s all block out how lovely she is and focus on me, m’kay?)…

Alright.  Notice the nice angles of her hair?  The bang (mine is swept to the other side and it kind of separated from sleeping on it last night)…

Side view…

other side…

and a couple that I just thought turned out nice and I’m vain enough to post them, lol.

I’m no photographer by any means.  I’m actually quite nervous about posting pictures that I have INTENTIONALLY taken for their photographic intrigue in my own eyes (rather than ones of the child persuasion or candids).  I don’t like putting my pictures up to be scrutinized (especially not by the likes of people that actually know a thing or two about taking a good picture…and can I just say that I admire ya’ll?), but me and my trusty old point and shoot camera with the not so zoomable zoom have decided to try and see things in a new light.  I’ve been experimenting with what my little camera can do…limited at best, as well as playing with the fabulous Picnik to make my amateurish photos look slightly less amateurish.  I’ve never participated in Love Thursday, but I’ve had this photo sitting and waiting to use (for the week I remember to post it on a Thursday).

That shot was taken from the top of this tower…

…at Allerton Park in Illinois when I was visiting Val.  I was actually taking a picture of the lovely grounds below and as I was looking at the view finder to take the picture I realized that the metal latice around the top of the tower was forming a heart with the trees below.  It’s probably one of the most creative pictures I’ve ever taken : )

I got all excited and thought “What else can I take that would verge on awesomeness?”  So I stood looking down the stairwell and this is another shot from that view…

…which started out just being a dirty old metal stairway, but once I tweeked it using Picnik (LOVE that sight…may have mentioned that before), it turned out a little bit whimsical.  So there.  You have now seen the full extent of my creativity.  All three pictures.  That’s about all I got.

Happy Love Thursday everyone : )

Yesterday I officially became old.  At least that’s the way it felt as I watched my little girl walk down the aisle as a flower girl for my cousin Jenene’s wedding.  It was such a beautiful day and Ella did such a great job!  I was so proud of her.  I think I’m actually going to rent her out as a professional flower girl.  Her and my cousin Elin’s son, Liam (who was the ring bearer), were just absolutely perfect in their roles.  Not that we were at all biased : )  Here’s some (or lots) of the pictures that I took of the day.

Jenene and Ella before the ceremony

Ella had her hair done professionally for the very first time and she was SOOOOO proud of it!  I heard a number of times during the evening “Boy, Steph sure did a good job on my hair!”  The dress was courtesy of my lovely mother who sewed it for her!

Here they are right before the ceremony.  I love the look on Ella’s face.  Kind of coy…

From the minute Liam and Ella got to the reception hall, Ella was demanding to dance with him.  He took his role very seriously and obliged her every whim.  I suppose it helps that he has two sisters who make him dance with them. : )  This is one of my favorite pictures of them.

Same picture with a different effect (I’ve been playing with my pictures in Picnik…LOVE IT!!!)

“COME, Liam, let’s dance!!!”

…and they did!

And when he wouldn’t dance with her, she danced by herself.

While we waited for the photographer to be ready for the kids, I posed them and took my own pictures.  They were FABULOUS subjects.  They cooperated without complaint.

Same shot, different look…

Here’s one of Ella and I.  I asked her to come get her picture taken with me and she sighed very heavily and said, “But I don’t want ANYMORE pictures taken, mommy.  I’ve had so many!”  Hence the frown on her face.

Here’s Elin and I, proud as proud can be of our two little stars!

And this post would not be complete without showing you 3 of the most beautiful women I know and I’m lucky blessed to be related to them.

Beside me is Jen (married to my cousin Chad), Kathy (my dad’s youngest sister), Elin (married to my cousin Clint)

Once we were able to drag Ella off the dance floor we headed home where my cousins Chad and Jen joined us at our house for a rowsing evening of Singstar!  We even had the guys singing.  It was hilarious!

Jer and Chad rocking the house!

We decided to make popcorn for a snack.  We had eaten most of the bowl of popcorn when Chad decided it would be an awesome idea to make caramel popcorn.  So I said, “the ingredients are in the pantry, go nuts!  Jen and I are singing.”  And like something right out of the twilight zone, they decided to do just that!

And it was GOOD!!!

Raise your hands if you know what I’m talking about when I say that there are LOTS of people out there who just don’t understand this whole blogging business.  Really, if someone doesn’t have a blog or read blogs, they think the whole lot of us are just crazy folk.  I don’t know how many times I’ve said something about “one of my blogging friends” to have the person I’m talking to roll their eyes and look at me like I’m a few crayons short of a box.  I actually had one friend’s daughter say to me “well at least I have real friends!”  Ha!  Funny.  I have real friends too, so there (sticking tongue out)!!  If I even mention the word “blog” I see a glazed look pass over faces, sometimes there’s even a snort.  I know what they are thinking…”Don’t you have anything better to do than “talk” to imaginary friends online?  Hmmm…let me think about that…nope!

Now when these eye rolling skeptics find out that I travelled no small distance to meet one of these “friends” in person they question my sanity and ability to reason.  “How did you know she was who she said she was and not some creepy 60 year old man waiting to haul you off in his nondescript van to take advantage of you and leave you without a trace?”  Good question.

Well you know what?  I’m happy to say that this “imaginary” friend of mine turned out to be one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world (real and online).  It will forever be one of the highlights of my life.  AND now I’m very, very excited to say that another of my blogging buddies will soon be an in real life friend.  YEEEEEEEE!!!

My dear friend Kimberly (who really is an absolutely fabulous person, you should go say hi and read her awesomeness) happens to be coming to my part of the world for a wedding in August and WE ARE MEETING!!!!  I’m so excited it’s beyond words!  There are not enough exclamation marks to put behind it to say how excited I am.  I think I’ve told her that like 13 times already : )  Like Val, she’s one of those people that I had an instant connection with and knew that one day I had to meet her.  I just didn’t think it would be this soon.  So I’m super duper pumped (I must be since I said duper, lol).

I tell my skeptics that the people that I have met online through blogging have transformed my life. It’s a community of people who are inspiring, encouraging and so wonderful.  People who have taken me at face value (I really am very real on my blog, just so you all know.  I’ve been told I write exactly like I talk, so you can just put a voice to the words and it’s like I’m talking to you!) and ya’ll love me for who I am.  Just the kind of people I need in my life.  You guys make me laugh and smile on a daily basis.  So thank you!

And given the chance…I’d meet each and every one of you : )

I think I can honestly say I’m bored since I’ve been reduced to blogging about my feet.  Hmmm…

When I was out visiting Val, we bought matching toe rings to commemorate our time.  They are these lovely, sparkly little beauts that make my toes feel mahvelous!  Even my uglyish toes feel cute now.  Kind of an ugly duckling turned to swan princess story in real life : )

Anyhoo, we put on our nifty new rings and had a little photo shoot with our toes.

I love this next one because we had to hug to get the shot and we almost fell over in the process.  It was so cute : )

If you look really closely on the first picture you can see that Val’s ring is quite snug on her toe and she complained a little about it cutting off the circulation in her lovely, polished, skinny toe.  Mine on the other hand, fit wonderfully.  I wasn’t quite sure how this was possible seeing as I have these stumpy fat sausage toes.  Upon further inspection we realized that the elastic in my ring had actually snapped under the intense pressure of having to fit around the stub.  Ha.  I BROKE it.

But it bothered me not because it fits really well now.  In fact, it is the most comfortable toe ring I’ve ever worn!

Until a few days ago.  Now I find it slipping to the edge of my toe and I need to constantly adjust it.  Could it be that my obesish toes have slimmed down?  The rest of me sure hasn’t.  A freak toe weight loss.  The ring can’t have stretched any more than it already had because it was maxed out.

Then a few days ago I’m talking with a friend and he looks at my flip flops and says they look well worn.  The tips of the flip flop curl up around the edge of my toes.  This is because my toes are so short (and fat) that they don’t reach to where most peoples’ toes would and the pressure on that point causes a bit of an elvish effect.  When I told to him that no, these were actually newer flip flops and explained this curling phenomenon he laughed at me and said that maybe the shoes have a toe weight restriction.  Funny guy!

I know there is nothing sexy about my feet (So all you weird people who have somehow stumbled upon my blog because I’m talking about feet, sorry, you are out of luck!) and the older I get the more it bothers me.  Due to health issues my feet always maintain a rather striking resemblance to “Bushman Feet” as Jer so delicately put it.  I’m not sure how many bushmen feet he has taken time to study, but apparently mine rate up there with them.  Hmmph!  I’m happy to say that right now they do look nicer than they have in years.  I’m taking pills to help my body better absorb healthy oils so that my feet don’t crack and bleed, yadda, yadda…

I don’t think they look like bushman feet in these new gems!

Yes, I bought ANOTHER pair of heels!  Only 4 more and I’ll have reached my 12 shoe goal for the end of summer.

There, I managed to relegate an entire post to my feet.  What an accomplishment. : )

Click on picture for better detail.

For more Wordless Wednesday go here.

I saw this on Jimaie.Marie’s blog and I thought that it would be a good way to sort out thoughts and fill space.  

1. I’ve come to realize that my legs…will always meet in the middle.  Alas it was not my destiny to have thin thighs : (

2. I’ve come to realize that my job…is the most rewarding one I could possibly have, yet I fear I fail at it every day.

3. I’ve come to realize that when I’m driving…I spend a lot of time in thought or I’m singing at the top of my lungs.

4. I’ve come to realize that I need…people in my life who accept me for who I am and want to be with me based on that.

5. I’ve come to realize that I have lost…a certain innocence that I used to view life with.

6. I’ve come to realize that I hate it when…nobody calls or texts me in a day.  Adult interaction is the key to surviving motherhood!

7. I’ve come to realize that when I’m drunk…I tend to hit my head on the toilet paper dispenser in the tiny public washroom (can you “tend” to do something if it’s only happened once, which is the total number of times I’ve had too much to drink and it wasn’t all that much to begin with and it was a LONG time ago?)

8. I’ve come to realize that money…can buy a lot of really cool stuff and no matter how much you have you always think you NEED more.  Life is not about the accumulation of things you can pack into your house, but it sure makes it look nicer : )

9. I’ve come to realize that certain people…will ALWAYS make me smile : )

10. I’ve come to realize that who I have a crush on…

12. I’ve come to realize that my mom…does not have the final say in who I am, but a lot of who I am is because of her.

13. I’ve come to realize that my cell phone is…an extension of my body.

14. I’ve come to realize that when I woke up this morning…it was a) far too early, b) no one else was up, c) there were no noisy planes, so there was no excuse or no one to blame, and d) it was Saturday…what the heck was I up early for?

15. I’ve come to realize that last night before I went to sleep…there was a lot on my mind

16. I’ve come to realize that right now I am thinking about…cutting my hair again

17. I’ve come to realize that my dad…has made some mistakes and bad decisions but is not defined by them.  He is a wonderful man and I love him.

18. I’ve come to realize that when I get on MySpace (we’ll say Facebook since I don’t have MySpace)…I can get lost in the maze of interesting tidbits and pictures of my friends and all the stupid applications.

19. I’ve come to realize that today…is not defined by the weather outside, but by the moments that have made me happy.

20. I’ve come to realize that tonight…I will be going for supper with some of my bestest friends in the whole wide world (waving, “hi Tara”)

21. I’ve come to realize that tomorrow…is another day.

22. I’ve come to realize that I really want to…take risks, but I’m afraid

24. I’ve come to realize that my best friends…are the glue that keeps my sanity in place.

25. I’ve come to realize that i have lost respect for…no one I’d care to talk about on my blog.

26. I’ve come to realize that my summer…isn’t going quite how I’d imagined it

27. I’ve come to realize that I’m…a different person than I was 2 years ago.

28. I’ve come to realize that next year…will be my last year of my “20’s” and it kind of scares me.  But I have been told that the “30’s” are the best.  So I’m holding onto that. ; )

29. I’ve come to realize that when I am with my friends…I feel loved : )

Aidan: Mommy…WHY is that tractor in the garbage?

For more WW go here

My sweet Ella turned 5 while we were on our trip.  We had her birthday party on Saturday.  I can’t believe how much she’s grown up in the last year.  My baby is going to Kindergarten in fall…on the BUS!!!  That’s almost too much for me to handle.  We had a whole house full of guests over to celebrate her and it was a blast.

I had decided to make her a Hello Kitty cake.  Like the procrastinator I am I waited until 11 a.m. the morning of the party to look for my cake decorating supplies which I haven’t seen since we moved from our other house in November.  Well, I couldn’t find them anywhere.  I’m panicking now because I don’t want to have to break down and buy her a cake.  I’ve always made the girls’ cakes.  It’s just something I decided I would do.  There is NOTHING wrong with store bought cakes and this doesn’t validate me in anyway, I just LOVE making cakes.  It’s so fun.  So off I went to the local grocery store to see what I could come up with.  I bought a container of icing (which is already almost sacrilegious in my books) and a tube of decorating icing with the little detachable tips and a bag of Smarties and this is what I came up with…

Not bad for 27 minutes of work : )

I guess to keep my blog readers from completely losing interest in me and dropping me like a hot potato I should at least write something…interesting or not. It’s tough trying to keep up…I mean the pressure. Sheesh!

I ate sushi this weekend. And calamari. (insert “Ahhh” and applauding here).  This is the stuff that headlines are made of:

“Girl Who Swore She’d NEVER Eat Sushi (or Calamari) Lives to Tell About it”

…and kind of enjoyed it : ) Okay, so it wasn’t the real sushi with raw fish (ick) and stuff, but it was still in the shape of sushi and it came from a sushi restaurant, so shut up. And maybe the calamari WAS breaded and deep fried and looked more like a fish stick, but it was not too bad. I had to overcome the texture thing, but once I did I ate the whole piece. I must interject here and say that whilst I chewed on my piece of squid, the person sitting across the table from me regaled me with how he LOVES to eat the heads and tentacles and I’m chewing and looking at him like he’s grown a few extra arms and wishing I could spit my squid on him. He was really a very nice person, by the way, just took my whole squid eating experience to the limit.

Lovely idin’ it. Me with food in my mouth. SEE FOOD, bwahahahaha.

The sushi experience was at my lovely friend Lindsay’s birthday party. I told her I must love her a lot to not only show up at a sushi restaurant, but actually try the stuff. I must say that putting the whole piece in my mouth all at once was a little overwhelming and not a bit dainty. Although I never did claim to have a dainty bone in my body, so it’s alright I guess. It turned out to be a great experience and you never know…you might find me trying it again at a later date. This whole breaking out of the mold and trying new things is rather liberating.

Another thing I said I would never do is wear tights. And so I bought some this weekend. You know the kind that come just below the knees that you can wear under those little skirts that most young girls these days are wearing without tights, but once you get to my age it just looks skanky without tights? Oh wait, it still looks skanky at their age, too, right. I had bought this really cute white tennis skirt (skort?) about 2 years ago and since then have decided it’s far to short for someone of my esteemed age of almost 30…okay, almost 28, but that’s pretty darned close to 30. What was I saying? Oh yeah, now with my new tights I finally donned the skirt and felt safe in it. Okay, I feel like totally like sixteen or something when I’m like wearing it, but ‘tever, I looked like totally hawt and that’s really all that like matters, right?

The real reason for buying the tights was because I bought a dress on our trip and it was so cute I couldn’t leave it, but it was of the shorter variety. As in it comes down to the middle of my thighs (gasp). I’m afraid to bend over in it, so I thought tights would be a good idea since standing the whole time I’m wearing it didn’t sound too appealing. Not to mention I don’t even think I’d know how to sit femininely in it. I don’t know how to sit femininely in jeans, so this was just asking for trouble.

And when I’m not doing things I swore I’d never do, I’m rockin’ the house with Singstar. Yeah, baby!

The rest of our time with Val and her family was amazing. We went to the kids’ swimming lessons, walked around the university campus in Champaign, spent the afternoon at Allerton Park, had a barbeque on the deck and drank martinis. It was perfect. Just a little too short. Or a lot too short. But what can you do? Saying goodbye was REALLY hard. Val had begged and pleaded and even checked the radar to show me that there were thunderstorms in the forecast for the place we were going, all to convince me that we should just stay there. It almost worked too. I would have stayed.

We tried to get Neil and Jer to hug for a picture, but they just shook their heads and refused. I thought it would have been funny!

We left their house on Tuesday night and drove through the night to Pennsylvania. It took us about 12 hours to get to the festival grounds. We saw a beautiful sunrise and unfortunately the only picture I have of it is through the bug graveyard on our windshield, ick.

We set up our tent and just lazed around for a while, since we hadn’t slept in 25 hours. The first bands were starting at 5:15 p.m. We made our way over to where the stage is and the only thing I can say is, WOW!!! They approximated that there were 70,000 people attending the festival that week. That’s just an unbelievable amount of people. Can you imagine being the musicians playing in front of that kind of crowd? I sure can’t.

We enjoyed the music and managed to keep from burning or getting sun stroke. The weather was rather uncomfortable with the heat and the very thick humidity. It rained almost every night and off and on each day. When the sun would poke through the clouds we’d groan and pray that the clouds would come back because it made it feel like a sauna. The music was well worth the uncomfortable weather, though. And blue freezies made the weather a little more bearable! : )

I know, HAWT!!! That blue freezie was a real blessing, though. There was a story behind it. We were sitting on a hill under a tree trying to cool off when this man walked by with a box of freezies and offered us each one. For free. When asked why he was handing them out for free when we could walk the 100 ft to the canteen and purchase one ourselves, he answered that someone had blessed him by paying for his ticket to the festival and all his food. So the least he could do was pay it forward on such a hot day. What a nice guy. Those are the kinds of things that stick out in your memory.

Other memories that won’t go away anytime soon were not showering for 5 days…oh yeah. And the spiders. I think the fact that the road that ran by our campsite was called “Spidertown Road” may have been indicative of things to come, but since I’m not the brightest crayon in the box I didn’t think anything of it until Jer said very calmly, “move slowly forward and don’t look behind you” and then proceeded to smack at the tent canvas with my flip flop.

Here’s a picture from the top of the hill that shows part of the ground where everyone packed body to body when there was a show playing.

It was packed! SEVENTY THOUSAND people!!! One night we all got a candle for the candle light service. It was the most beautiful sight ever. All those people holding candles…so bright it lit up the valley (there were no other lights on), singing praises to their Creator. Is there anything more amazing than that? I can’t think of anything. It gave me shivers.

Up until this point I had been alright about being away from my girls. Then Thursday came along. We had been gone for 6 days and it was Ella’s birthday. I sucked up the inevitable roaming charges that would accumulate and called her to wish her happy birthday. Hearing the girls voices was really hard knowing it was still 5 days till I would see them. But they were having fun and behaving themselves, so that made it a little easier to say goodbye and continue enjoying myself.

We left early Sunday morning and decided to go back the way we came. We made me and Val very happy by going back to their house for the night. Even though we only got there at 7:00 p.m and had to leave the next morning, getting a few more hours with her was worth it.

We drove to Minneapolis on Monday and stayed in another really nice hotel. Then on Tuesday we drove to Grand Forks, did some shopping and were home by 5:10 p.m. On the way from Minneapolis to Grand Forks I saw this…

Disturbing to say the least. I just thought I share : )

It was a good trip. Lots of driving. Lots of good music. Lots of good memories with Val that I can treasure. If you want to see all my pictures you can follow these links below.  Once at the album you can click on the individual pictures for explanations of the picture:

Pictures at Val’s taken by her

Pictures at Val’s taken by me

Pictures at Creation Fest ‘08

Pictures of the drive and other

We left Minneapolis around 10 a.m. on Sunday to head to Val’s house.  About 20 minutes out of Minneapolis I’m looking at Penny (our GPS for those who have no clue what I’m talking about…yes, I named her) and realizing that she’s taking us a different route than I had mapped out originally.  She will automatically take the fastest route, but we really wanted to drive through Wisconsin instead of Iowa, so we rerouted her.  She took us on a cross-country jaunt across Minnesota’s rolling countryside.  We were travelling for a long time on a county route and not an interstate or major highway.  We passed many a picturesque farmstead and cute little towns with pretty churches and cemeteries.  It was just what I always imagined a road trip would be like.  A little off the beaten path.

I do have to say that I’m thankful we had the GPS just because I would have been so lost out there.  It was a breeze with Penny by our side.  It took us about an hour longer to go that direction, but I was so excited that it took us right by the Mississippi River (which I’ve always wanted to see).  Well, the mighty Mississippi is even mightier looking than usual due to all the flooding.  And the landscape is so different than where we are from.  I am a flatlander.  This lovely drive took us through many beautiful hills and as we neared Wisconsin I was happy to see my version of a mountain (Anything larger than pile of dirt out here is a mountain, so don’t laugh at me!).

Up until this point I had not driven at all.  I left the driving in Jer and Penny’s capable hands.  A little bit outside of Madison, WI Jer was getting quite tired.  So I took over the wheel.  As I pull out of the rest stop onto the interstate I’m a little unnerved by the amount of traffic that has suddenly appeared.  At this point we were about 120 miles from Chicago (we didn’t drive through Chicago, just parallel to it), and all the traffic that was apparently headed TO Chicago was with us for a long time.  And not ONE.SINGLE.PERSON was going speed limit.  Not one.  Except for me, that is.  So I finally get into my groove and figure out how to keep up with all the crazies and then it hits.

“It” being the skies opening up and dumping the full force of Heaven’s water tank onto the interstate.  Onto me.  I’m driving in about 5% visibility with about 6 inches of rain on the highway and a semi truck behind me.  Apparently it doesn’t bother him in the least!  Yeah well.  I had this theory while we were driving that people would just take one look at our license plate and nod sagely to the other passenger in the car saying, “Oh, they’re not from around here.  They just don’t know any better!”  I mean, come on, we’ve all done that right?  I do it.  I forgive much easier if the license plate isn’t local.  Just sayin.  Okay so maybe I was hoping that was the thought going through all the crazy people’s heads.

So the rain stops, I’m shaky, but I continue on.  Of course this all happens in the first 15 minutes of me driving.  Jer has driven for like 12 or 13 hours by this point and he’s had the easiest time of it.  We cross into Illinois and the traffic thins out a bit as the crazies are all headed to Chicago and we are not.

Val and I had started texting back and forth (well, Jer texted for me and Val’s friend Heather was texting for her because we were both driving…so actually Jer and Heather were texting, lol) to see where we were each at.  She was in Chicago that day and was planning to be on her way home so that she would be there when we arrived.  As it happened, we ended up driving parallel and she got home 15 minutes before we got there.  And the only reason we didn’t arrive at the same time is because we stopped to get gas.  Funny.

Back to the drive.  We are now about an hour and a half from Val’s and I’m looking into the distance.  NOOOOO!!!  There’s this large black rain cloud.  It’s to the right of us, but I look at Jer and say, “Just my luck will have it that somehow with the curve of the road and the direction it’s going and I’ll drive right through it!”  Wouldn’t you know it.  Remember how I said the “full force of Heaven’s water tank” dumped on us?  Uh, uh.  Apparently there was more than one.  And this one was bigger.  People came to a complete standstill in the middle of the interstate.  It was psycho.  I’m almost in tears because I can’t see anything.  Finally it’s over and I can breathe normally again and I’m ready to yell because why did this have to happen in only time the I AM DRIVING???  Not to mention (but I will anyway) that I’m PMSing royally.  Lethal combo I tell ya!

Fast forward to us being 15 miles from Val’s.  It’s sunny.  I’m still driving.  Any guesses?  Any?  Yeah, it starts to pour.  And it’s still sunny.  And there’s a rainbow right over top of us.  But it’s STILL pouring.  I’m laughing by now.  I told Jer I wouldn’t be driving again anytime soon.

Anyhoo.  We arrive and they are standing on the driveway waiting for us.  I jump out before the car is in park (and I’m driving) and throw myself at Val as we do a little dance and shriek and Jer and Neil shake their heads as one.  Yeah, it’s going to be grand!  It takes the kids a few minutes to warm up, but once Noah did he became Jer’s little shadow.  It was adorable.  He wouldn’t say his name, just called him Hey for the first 24 hours.

We settled in and the boys went downstairs with their beer and Val and I sat upstairs and gabbed.  Like we had never been apart.  The weirdest feeling was when I was sitting in the chair I always sat in last time I was there and it felt like I had never left.  : )

Okay this is getting long and it’s only day 2.  We’ll just say that we were happy to be there.

I was tagged a while back (and no doubt other times from other people, too) by Alexis to do the “Six Random Things About Me” Meme and I just haven’t had the time. But as I was sitting in the car for hours on end with nothing better to do than think of 6 things about myself I came up with these. The little spin I’m putting on it is that both Val and I share these items. A wee bit strange, no? Perhaps we were separated at birth. One lady at a store even asked if we were sisters. Of the heart always and forever!

1. I ALWAYS put my feet up on the dashboard when we are driving (not when I am driving…when I’m in the passenger seat. Just wanted to get that straight). Jer HATES it because it leaves sweaty little toe prints on the inside of the window. Apparently that’s the exact reason Neil hates it when Val does the same thing. How funny.

2. I’m a little OCD when it comes to the time. Not the time in general, but specifically I have to look at the clock when it’s 11:11. Doesn’t matter if it’s a.m. or p.m. but if I see the clock says 11:09, I will sit and stare at the clock until it turns to 11:11. I won’t even go to bed before then (usually). If I see that the clock says 11:12, I feel a slight sense of disappointment that I missed it and when I look and it’s 11:11 I feel a little flutter in my stomach. When I was growing up the magic time was 4:44. So I’m telling Val about this the other day and she exclaims that she does the same thing and that hers is 4:44 or 11:11. WEIRD!!! Even Jer thought that was just beyond crazy. I was told once by someone that if you see the time when it’s all the same number it means someone is thinking about you. Val was told to make a wish. So the reasons are different, but the compulsion is the same.

3. We are both (Val and I) eight months older than our husbands.

4. Our husbands look eerily alike. That’s not really about me or about Val, but it’s quirky.

5. We both are very creative people which means beauty and aesthetics are very important to us, yet neither of us can really keep our houses organized. Much to our dismay.

6. We both have a thing for nice hotels. I LOVE staying in hotels and so does she. In fact, on our way home we stopped in at her house again overnight and we sat by the computer looking for the perfect hotel for mine and Jer’s final night on the road in Minneapolis. We found it and it was the coolest little chic hotel. I think she was just as excited as me about it : ) When Jer came in the room I say, “We found the coolest hotel for tomorrow night!” And he and Neil laugh because the “we” was Val and I. Oh and on that note, both our husbands shake their heads in EXACTLY the same way when we say something crazy or talk too much or are just our crazy old selves.

Here’s some pictures of the hotel that Val and I found in Minneapolis. Sorry if they are kind of blurry, I couldn’t use my flash because then it was just too bright, but they get kind of fuzzy without the flash. Val and Jer both told me I need a nicer camera. That’ll be my next big purchase.

The entrance. Screams “I’m nicer than a Holiday Inn” don’t you think?

The lobby and reception desk.

The ceiling in the entry and sitting area had oval trays with lovely glass covering the lights.  This glass was also around the hotel in other areas like the bar and at the reception desk.

A cute little vignette in the fitness room.

The sitting area off the lobby. They had these beautiful big mirrors everywhere, including in our room. Good thing they were bolted to the room or I might have taken it along with the little shampoo and lotion bottles ; )

The walls had this beautiful textured paper on it and all the numbers for floors and rooms were on these silver fleur de lise plaques.

More about our trip to come.