Day 271/365 (May 16, 2009)

i have decided that the bulk of the days of this trip will be written about in livejournal (if i ever get around to it)

the basics of the day, got up and had breakfast, eventually went to the columbus zoo even though my vote was for cedar point.

we saw lots of animals including my favorites which are tigers and otters oh and we found the cutest tiniest baby ducks and i kept saying oh my god its a ____ then inser whatever cuteness i was seeing... basically i behave like a 5 year old child in the zoo.... i just love animals so much!

then we had dinner at cracker barrell which is just so much yum and literally for one of the most filling meals i have had in a long time it was scary/refreshing to see our dinner check for the two of us combined was about the same price as 1 person in NYC

then spent time in the hotel online and watching ever after and reading the princess diaries.

Day 208/365 (March 14, 2009)

I got up so very early and took a shower in one of the worst water pressure showers ever! Then I dressed and headed to get some breakfast form the hotel lobby… a blueberry muffin and orange juice. Then I went outside and found it was so very cold so I had to change into sneakers and long pants… so glad I brought my hoodie!

I have no idea how I made it to meet Hope’s sister Sara at the train station in Dallas without getting too lost. (I did have a tiny detour) and by the way the Texas highway set up is really annoying and confusing! Not all the exits have numbers and they have so many routes that collide and have weird names… like 35E… but that doesn’t mean it is 35 East… that means 35E in either north or south… it messed with my mind, and there aren’t random signs along the road that let you know if you are on the right highway still!

I waited a bit before meeting up with Sara then we went to use the dart and took it to Lover’s Lane… then we walked a bit to meet up with her friends. Let me tell you the St. Patrick’s Day parade was all sorts of fun! There were people everywhere dressed in green and having a fun time, almost all he floats that drove by threw beads into the crowd and I got really good at catching them. Other stuff was thrown too, most unusual a jalapeño and oranges.

Her friends were all really great and when the parade was over we walked to find a bar they said was great and had food. It did seem like a pretty fun place to go hang out but because the parade crowd was all there after waiting for like an hour or so we still hadn’t gotten a table and I had to leave so we walked to our cars since we were already more than half way there and I passed girl scouts selling cookies and bought a box of somas… best and worst thing I could have done. In the parking lot there was also a couple sat on top a cooer in the middle of the roadway making out and cars had to go around to avoid them and we all found it pretty funny! Another thing to note was that people were tailgating the parade and it was just a really fun environment/atmosphere. It was also fun to walk in the middle of the street to get to the bar called Ozona… since the roads were still closed off because they needed to be cleaned before cars could drive on it again.

Then I made my way back to Fort Worth so I could meet up with some people to go to dinner. On the way I found someone’s credit card in the ground… sadness for her! We went to PF Changs, which I had never been to before and got some yummy food. The shrimp dumplings were my favorite, and I got sesame chicken and then some sort of banana thing for dessert. It was an interesting dinner since the waitress just kept coming over and talking to us every chance she had, and she was really nice but I kept thinking “don’t you have other customers?” There was also a little mishap with finding glass in someone’s food… seriously glass! (good thing it wasn’t me!)

Then we finally left and this was the first moment of the trip I saw something and didn’t take a picture of it which I kind of regret… but there was this building that had windows and stuff painted on top… so it looked like there were windows, it was pretty random!

Then I passed sometime talking on the phone with mark and roaming the area. I am happy I decided I had to use the bathroom when I was in the performance hall because the stalls had music bars on them and I liked that lots!

I saw the show again and was the awkward person to start the standing ovation at the end… I mean really people the performers just worked really hard to entertain us; standing is the least you can do to show your appreciation!

Then I went to the SD one last time and said goodbye and found my way home… I didn’t get lost and towards the end I dint need my directions anymore… I was quite proud of myself!

The more fine details of this will be found in a livejournal entry if you are one of my LJ friends.

Day 207/365 (March 13, 2009)

Barely 3 hours of sleep, but nothing could bring down the happiness! I got up, got ready, fed the kitties, said goodbye to the kitties, and headed to the bus to take me to LaGuardia… Sadly I just missed one by the time I had walked to 125th ST but luckily I only had to wait 6 minutes or so in the cold. Then the bus got me to the airport and I got all paranoid because when I went to use the kiosk machine to check in and avoid the lines it said Please See Agent. So I had to wait in a long line while freaking out that somehow my tickets had been cancelled. It turns out it was because my seat was in the exit row and they needed to ask me if I would be willing to help out in an emergency situation if I wanted to get my ticket on the plane… I said yes. Then I waited through the security checkpoint, which didn’t take that much time in the grand scheme of things. I grabbed a bagel from Dunkins so I wouldn’t starve and wait to board the plane. I was stuck in a middle seat but it was still all l good in the hood. I fell asleep for a while we taxied and waited for take off. It got backed up we left so much later than we should have which caused me worry that I would miss my connecting flight. However in a very rare moment for myself I told myself “I have no control over if I miss the next flight and that what will happen, will be and not to stress over something I can’t control.” You know what it made the trip so much nicer! I spent the majority of the trip reading the final Princess Diaries book, but after like 75 pages I got tired of reading and began rocking out to various boots of Bitch Of Living (unusual) until we had to turn off our electronics. We landed and pulled in and they made an announcement asking the passengers to let the people off that had to make very tight connecting flights… I ran off and got to the terminal at 12:05, which was 5 minutes before they stopped letting people board! Lucky lucky lucky! There was some sort of team on board and when we landed they pilot wished them luck on their competition…. It was a gymnastics team that seemed like it had about 20 junior high schoolers in it.

The next flight (layover in Atlanta) put me in the middle again, but I made a “new best friend” when the window seat guy got to our row and was like you can just move down if you want so I don’t have to step over you and I was like THANKS! (So lucky)… I know most people think I am crazy but when I fly I love to look out the window and I think it is wasted when people shut the flap or sleep the whole time. My favorite is take off or landing when you can see the ground below. It always makes me think about how amazing people are and how everything was built like roads and houses and buildings and how it all somehow seems to fit on this space we call earth and we have this incredible technology that can bring us like 30,000+ feet in the air… so crazy! I would also like to point out how stressful it is to transport cookies through air travel? (I stuck a few of Matthew’s cookies aside to bring to Texas. I listened to music, wrote yesterdays and this part of the blog, then nothing until I go to the airport. Our stewardess had a strong Scottish accent.

So it was freaking freezing, 39*!!!! And rainy, and I had to wait over 90 minutes to get my rental car because their computers were down! (Everything was being done by hand.) I reserved a small car because I am only one person with not that much stuff… but they didn’t have any small cars so they gave me this beast of a car, a KIA rotundo. Guess I finally get to drive a KIA even though I don’t care about that anymore. The car also cost WAY more than I was told and I had a little heart attack but freedom right?

So I get in the car and I pull out my 4 mix CDs. I made them by selecting songs I would want to listen to, I mixed them up in a crazy nonsense order, burned them to 4 discs, then I shuffled the discs so I had in idea what came first so I wouldn’t know what was on any CD. I put in the disc I later labeled 1, pushed play, and know what the first song to play was? Honey by J.I. as sung by MKC… was that not crazy? Then a little ways driving I found this place and it made me giggle… I got so lost finding the hotel and I am bummed I cant go swimming because it is too cold, but I am excited to get settled in, then I am going to go exploring a bit before I get to see High School Musical.

The show itself was actually quite good! I think the cast did a great job. The theater (though it is actually a “performance hall” is really quite pretty and radio Disney was there to entertain the mass of kiddies before hand. I cant believe that show was put together with only two weeks of rehearsals! Before the show started though I had about 4 children and three adults think I was an absolute kook! I put my ticket in my “playbill” as I always do and put it in my bag. Well I went to double check my ticket was still in there and I couldn’t find it so I looked up and down the aisle to locate it to no success and it was no where near my seat… the people around me could tell I was looking for something and when I told them my ticket they couldn’t understand why I still needed it since I was already in my seat, but they helped to look nonetheless. One little boy told me he thought he saw something flutter down form my stuff like a leaf when I went to sit, and the little girl next to me looked down in the orchestra pit and found it on the ground, so I had to ask a keyboard guy if he could please hand it to me and he did thankfully! Well then I went to find my phone so I could turn it off… yea couldn’t find it again and the same little boy behind me found it on the ground under a seat down the row form me… how it got there I have no idea! But yea I was a bit of a discombobulated mess!

I waited at the Stage door after and it was nice to see MKC. The little kids were all so cute and excited and it made me smile. I was able to chat with him for a bit before I left and got so very lost… I ended up at a 7/11 where the employees thought I was hilarious when I told them about my night and that I had come from NY to see HSM… but eventually I found my hotel and played online before going to bed.
The more fine details of this will be found in a live journal entry if you are one of my LJ friends.

Day 195/365 (March 1, 2009)

I had lots of fun on March 1. It was Altar Boyz' 4th Anniversary and i also had an invite to the Party at Hooters. I spent the morning making and putting together Altar Boyzopoly. It was great seeing everyone and the show was fun and the cake looked, but didn't taste, amazing.

The actual post of the day will be in my LiveJournal if we are friends... but as of March 5 i haven't written that post yet.

unfortunately i needed to charge my camera battery and FORGOT to put it back in the camera before i left so on what was one of the most important picture days i didnt have a camera and this was the only picture i took with my phone

Day 189/365 (February 23, 2009)

That is bedding, 6 towels, and most clothes that i wear on a regular basis... eek!!!!

Laundry swirling in washing machine... clearEly my green towel took control

30 degree weather, wind chill of 16... naturally you wear a hoodie, capri pants, and flip flops!!!!

Sorry if you couldn't be there for this!!!!!!!!

This is another entry that if you want to read the whole description of my day you are going to have to be my LJ friend, but in short i spent the morning doing the most laundry i have had in forever, then Krysta and I, with lots of help, lost the defying inequality lotto, and decided to buy a ticket anyway. This was the greatest decision because all though the even took 4 hours, yep that is right, it did not seem like it had taken that long.

Sadly the bank i went to was closed, and it was cold but this is what krysta was wearing... good times!

so many pictures!

Day 185/365 (February 19, 2009)

Today was an interesting day. i consider the day beginning at 4:10 when i met up with Mark. I met him at the Marriot and we hung there for a really long time until we headed to get dinner before seeing Altar Boyz. It was a nice surprise to find out Mary would be joining us.

After yummy chinese food and good conversation we headed over to NWS. We hung in TOL for a while until it was close to showtime. Mary had fun playing with my phone and getting a feel for it since she is likely getting an iPhone soon, and we all kept up with our lovely conversation.

Mary went home, and Mark and I saw Altar Boyz. I love this show so much, but i think for the sake of me continuing my love for it i need to take a little bit of a break from it. There have been 19 days in February and i have already seen it 5 times! After Diane's anniversary celebration, and the actual anniversary celebration i wont see the show again until April... unless there is a special wunderstudy action reason.

After this point the rest of my day can be found in my LJ account, but only if we are LJ friends since it has personal stuff in there. Except this is a picture of krysta's room and i am proud of her because this is the first time in at least a month she has had floor space.