I'll See You In My Dreams

When I left the house this morning, it was raining...which is nothing new...but then it got lighter and lighter as i traveled from Northgate to downtown to Queen Anne...and now it's bright and sunny outside!

I recently found out that my 10 days of vacation don't kick in until I've been here a year, so naturally, since I know I can't do something, I feel the need to do it anyway... so today I looked out the window as I started eating my lunch and I went on a little imaginary vacation!  :D

I started out with a visit to Seaside, CA to visit K.Rowe and we had coffee at Starbucks and brought it to the library on campus because we A) prefer Starbucks to Peets, B) think that Peet's should know they suck, and C) absolutely HEART the library... i mean really, how do you beat great conversation surrounded by books and starbucks? We chatted for a few hours and then we went to the theater to see Coraline together.  It got kinda dark and scary, so i distracted Kel with some random jokes to take her mind off the creepiness.  Then we went to dinner at a local pizza joint and laughed and laughed some more and talked about Kip, the YouTube guy and about friends back in Austin.  She gave me a giant hug as her and Amanda Beartinez sent me off on my 'Bjork Cloud' as I took a shortcut to Bakersfield...

To see Lisa!  And to have tea with Lisa as we talked about creativity and writing and life post MC.  Then I had to hurry and catch the plane to Colorado to see Brooksie & Hannah, Brenty Poo, Seanny Wafa & his beautiful bride, and Gracie Loo & Sean O.B.  We all met up together at The Melting Pot and talked about our lives and shared great memories and Brooks told me all about some new jobs he was doing as well as some new programs to check out for my Mac.  Then I'd give everyone giant hugs and hop on my super turbo segway and speeding off to the ATX...

To see my family...everyone!  I had lunch with dad and cindy, dinner with mom, lunch with my brother, and dinner with my sister and the kiddos  :D  Then I took Vanessa and Annabelle out shopping and out for dinner at Chick Fil A!  After stuffing our faces with chicken nuggets, waffle fries and sweet tea, I bought Vanessa 2 brownies before taking them home to their mom (yes, I do this often...hey, it's what i'm here for! ;)  ) 

I had to catch a quick nap and then when I woke up, I borrowed my mom's mini van to go to Genuine Joe's to have lunch with the MCA staff!  We laughed and laughed and talked about life and about random SNL skits and other fun stuff.  I ordered the Obama Mocha (it's delish!) and made sure to get whip cream on my nose like I always do. P.Dan gave me the "oh brother. there she goes again" look and Norphy just shook his head slowly while staring at the ground.  :D... mission accomplished!  When we got back to the MC office, I took all the 2nd and 3rd years out to lunch at Freebirds and we stuffed our faces with awesome burritos!  Then I walked over to the worship center and went upstairs to hang out with Brian, Justin and Datkins in their office/s as we laughed and laughed and told hilarious jokes!  For dinner, P.Jesse and Crista invited me over for din (mom's mini van saves the day again!) and we got to talk about the amazing time I'm having in Seattle and I just get to enjoy their company so much!   It was about 9:00 p.m by the time I got back to central Austin and decided to call up a bunch of MCA alumni to join me for some fun times and coffee at Epoch...and they ALL came!  Some of my high school friends even showed up!  After a few hours of that I decided I should get some sleep before I had breakfast with Lainer Bob and the Masbruchs.  We all overslept (cause we can) and decided to just do brunch at Shady Grove.  We had great food, and after talking about all there is to talk about, I was ready for a siesta...  but with this vacation coming to a quick end, I gave them big hugs and took mom's mini van (a la my brother) and drove to Louisianna...

Where I was greeted with giant hugs and smiles from all my friends at OSC in Broussard!  I got to go to lunch with all of them and just reminisce and talk about their lives and what's going on and I got to give Kayla a special hug, because I wanted to make sure that baby Norman felt the love too!  We laughed so hard and just encouraged one another and I left feeling like a piece of me was back...but not complete yet, because I still needed to make a few more stops...like the one to the ATL!...

Where I had dinner with Joy and Britt!  They indulged me by joining me for a little shopping at Atlantic Station before we headed back to Joy's for an impromptu slumber party...full of chocolate and fun snacks...and healthy food too..of course  ;)  .   The next morning I made us all breakfast tacos and after grabbing my To Write Love On Her Arms shirt from Joy's closet, I decided to fly to BALTIMORE, MARYLAND...

To see my BEST EVER FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!  We had such a great time hanging out.  We called up Stacey and invited her to join us for some fun down by the Inner Harbor...and we were lucky because she showed!  We got burgers and Thrasher's fries and headed to the Aquarium for some fun and then sat by the pier and just talked about how much we've changed since we last saw one another.  When out of the blue, Sarah had the perfect idea: LET'S ALL GO GET PEDICURES in the Galleria!  So we did.  Eventually, I had to say bye to Stacey cause me and Sarah were going to go have dinner with her parents, and then Sarah was going to join me for my next stop.  We hopped in her car and took of with laughter.  After singing about 100 songs out loud, obnoxiously off key, we pulled into a parking garage in...

TIMES SQUARE!  We spent the rest of the evening walking around the square and then headed to our luxury hotel suite.  After sleeping in and ordering room service, we had a great QT together and decided to hit the town!  We had so much fun walking around Times Square and going to Rockefeller Center and Central Park!  That night, we had a nice dinner (meatballs) and watched The Phantom Of The Opera live on Broadway.  The next day we decided to take a short trip to DC and go check out the National Mall and the Holocaust Museum...and we just enjoyed each other's company so much!  Our last stop together was Syracuse to see her mom's side of the family!  I had so much fun hanging out with my 2nd family and just loved seeing everyone again!

But alas, the trip was ending... so I hopped a red-eye flight back to the West Coast...and had a 7 hour layover in Anchorage, Alaska!  Danny Allen came to pick me up from the airport while the airport USO held my stuff in their storage locker...and me and Danny went out to eat and just spent so much time laughing and reminiscing about the MCA days!  And after I gave him a hug, just for old time's sake....I threw a carton's worth of eggs at him and said, "hmm.. shoulda worn your black clothes!"  hahahahaha!  Then I hopped on the flight back to Seattle and spent the next day hanging out with all my friends here in Seattle!  :D

It was a whirlwind of a trip!  :D