Well I am now approaching the last half of March - thank goodness!!
My March has been painfully uneventful, except for the 5 fabulous days that my good friend came and visited me!
It all started with me picking her up at the BWI Airport. As I was leaving the airport we were talking about how different the east coast was from the west. I was telling her that, it was hard for me at first but I was finally getting the hang of things and was fairly confident at getting around - at that point we got lost. I drove my mom and sister to the airport the day after I got here and got home pretty well... but at this point we were lost somewhere in Maryland. It didnt take very long for HER to find a road sign and get us back on track.
We stopped off at work to check on my nanny mom and see that the kids were taken care of since my nanny dad was out of town.
We came back to my motel room and crashed.
The next day we decided to visit Hershey World. We drove through Hershey surrounded by the smell of chocolate - it really does smell great! Then we headed to Hershey World. The tour was closed, so there was no way I could push her into the chocolate river, but on the plus side there were also no scary Umpa Loompas, just a tour guide that tried his hardest to be excited about the 15 minute movie he'd no doubt seen millions of times. Then my friend got to work in the factory (a pretend factory where you fill plastic containers full of kisses - cheap labor for the Hershey people, good for the kiddies). Then she bought, I'd say, about half of all the Hershey gift shops. We got back to my nanny house and somehow she ended up helping out with the dinner, while nanny mom "rested". The kids were badly behaved and the girl wouldnt let go of my friend for anything, a habit that will no doubt be popular with the boys when she seeks attention, but is overboard with everyone else.
The next day we headed to the Washington DC Temple. She went in and I sat in the parking lot for about 3 hours. Reading and practicing my "church guilt" ritual - it didnt help that there was a wedding party taking pictures right outside my car. My friend and I decided that we had seen a sign that said:
WASHINGTON 25 miles
so it couldnt be that far - and besides who gets to go see the Capital in their life. We got directions from some people and they said, "Head straight down Conneticut Ave. and you'll be right there." So we did - they were wrong - on many levels. One - Conneticut Ave. stops being a straight street, you have to make a choice one way or another. Two - you run right into downtown DC - not the Capitol. Three - all of those things, those monuments you see in the movies and on the news - THEY ARE NOT CLOSE TOGETHER, and it takes Mapquest or a native, to find their way from one to another. My friend and I got TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY lost. Driving up and down streets, she "shady" ones, the familiar ones, and even the blocked off ones - right in front of the Capital. Needless to say, we never got out, by the time we found the White House it was dark, and we had to settle for pictures from the window. We drove around that city for about 45 minutes. Finally finding some familiar street and HER finding our way out. We finally got to the main highway and - can you believe it - we got lost AGAIN, on the freeway I'd driven on 3 times within the last 2 days.
The next day we headed for NYC. In PA were were experiencing warmer than usual conditions, and in NY it was a different story. It was POURING. We got to our hotel and it was great! It was very "artsy" and was like a little apartment with bright painting and pictures all over the walls. We started to walk to Times Square and - got lost - and took a taxi to where we needed to be. We decided to take an open bus tour of the city. It was so great. We were wearing white plastic ponchos and freezing but seeing all of the city, once again, never stepping off the bus, but taking pictures from the bus. Our tour guide was so funny, but funny in a way that she wasnt.... she tried so hard to make jokes, but no one laughed, or maybe they were - but their mouths were frozen shut. We got back to Times Square, and - beware of the most telling age sign ever - we went back to the hotel and had naps...you read it right, we were in NYC and we took naps. But, in our defense, the people in the room next to us, back here at the Econo-Lodge kept us up til 2:30 the morning before.
***As a side note, the morning we were leaving for NYC, it was six-thirty in the morning and to pay the neighbors back, I started out the morning with a very LOUD alarm clock set on no paticular radio station, but static (it started bugging us in this room), then I proceeded to bang the bathroom door shut several times, and the worst torture of all (although pure heaven for me) I turned up my soundtrack of "WICKED" full blast for the rest of the morning. As we left I slammed the door and smiled. Then my friend turned to me and said something like - If they were drunk, like it sounded like , they probably didnt hear any of that - But, I hope they did!
Anyway back to the nap - I know - it still doesnt make up for the fact that we took naps. At any rate, we woke up and headed back out to Times Square for more shopping and eating. We ate at this pizza place that was great, but the stupid guy went to hand me my pizza and I tried to grab it through the glass - ha ha funny (not really). Then we shopped some more and then went back and watched the season finale of Flavor of Love - starring FLAVA FLAVE... No, I have no idea who he is, but it was entertaining.... And I know with that last sentence, it makes the nap seem like a great choice. We headed home Monday so I could get back to work that afternoon.
The next day was time for her to go home, but on the way to the airport we stopped by Amish Country... baffled by their way of life, and Trader Joes for her report for school. We managed to get to all of those places just fine -- and good news - I didnt get lost AT ALL on the way home from the airport.
It was so great to have her here. It was like I was on vacation from work for a while and that was the best feeling EVER! I think I laughed more in those few days then I had the whole time here - and being happy again like that, was the best part of her trip!
) in mere days! I moved out of my apartment on Saturday and have been sleeping here at my parents since Thursday. After a tiring night of scrapbooking - 12:30 AM (thank you very much) - I must admit driving sounds lovely... but maybe that is because today we are only going to do 4 hours -- tomorrow starts the real journey of 9 hours a day - stopping every 3 to get out and make the feeling return to our numb butts and swollen legs... sounds like fun right? Well at least I dont have THAT much to complain about -- Karissa is the one who has to sit in the back with a seat of room -- the rest is crammed full of stuff to take to PA. You'd think I'd be sad to leave Utah -- and I am sad to leave my friends and amazing family - but I am excited -- this means I can start the count down to marriage and whole new life! Now THAT is exciting. I'll try to write as much as I can while I am gone.... if not I'll write you all when I get to PA! Thank you to everyone who's helped me and made the effort to see me! I'll miss you all!!!!!