vacation!

four days from now the bf and i will be heading to the airport, ready for a little weekend vacation here:


i can't wait! what a way to kick off my departure from company t!!!

I got a new job!! Starting June 1st, I will be working as a Category Manager on this line: Play with a Purpose

My last day of my current job is Thursday, May 21. On May 22 the bf and I fly to Chicago for a little weekend getaway. The following week I have off, and then will start the new job on Monday, June 1st.

We have started to get our townhouse ready to try and sell it. Putting up shelving in the garage, sheet rock and shelving in the laundry room, painting and redoing the downstairs bathroom. We want to move to a bigger house that is closer to the kids' school. It won't be any closer to my new job (45 minutes away) but it would still save driving time since I wouldn't have to travel 15 minutes every morning just to get the kids dropped off.

I'm not sure how well the selling will go, there are a lot of homes exactly like ours and the value has gone down. But ours will have some special "perks" that the others don't. Hopefully it won't take more than 6 months to sell, but even if it takes that long or longer, we'll make it work somehow!!!

just a little (but much needed) vaca...

today i finalized the plans and reservations for a little memorial weekend trip to chicago for the bf and i. we will take the day off work that friday and fly out from the twin cities at 11:30. (should give us time to get the kids dropped off at school/daycare and then head for the airport.) we will fly back in to mn around 8:00 on sunday night...which will give us monday to recover before heading back to work on tuesday.

it's been too long since the bf and i had a nice little vacation together. and this one is CHEAP. i LOVE LOVE LOVE that southwest has started flying out of the twin cities. round trip to chicago for about $120!!! can't beat it!!

the bf's sister lives in chicago too, so we will definitely spend some time with her. the bf has never been to chicago and i've only been there for a business trip, so it should be fun. it's always nice to just get away though, no matter what we do!

does anyone have any tips on "must see" or "must do" while we are there for the weekend?

minnesota nice?

the bf and i spent some time in the lovely city of grand marais today. the weather was absolutely perfect. sunny with a slight breeze and about 70 degrees. love. it. we took some time to do the tourist thing and visit the local shops. i bought an awesome necklace from one of the vendors at the local "farmers" market. (they might as well call it a flea market or craft fair, but that's another post.)

so, bf and i were relaxing on the rocky beach looking out at the lake. it was so calm and serene there today. absolutely gorgeous. unfortunately there were of course quite a few people around us sharing the experience. noisy kids throwing rocks in the water, asian tourists snapping pics and angry looking locals trying to avoid the throng of tourists invading their city.

i was sitting on a bench with the bf, soaking in the glorious sun and watching the ducks and geese float around close to the shore and eating an ice cream. yum. total contentment. and then we saw her: plunk, plunk, plink, a little girl throwing rocks into the water and AT the duck. wtf? are you kidding me? and her parents were nearby just watching the show. n and i grumbled about the people and i narrowly avoided his going up to the family and giving them a lecture. though they definitely would have deserved it.

we grumbled a bit more and settled back into relaxation for a few more minutes until we saw them: another family a little further down the shore, throwing rocks AT some geese. wtf is the matter with people? as we watched them in total disbelief and disgust, one of the rocks hit its target. the poor goose honked and fled the rock throwing idiot family.

tell me, what the hell is the matter with people? how is it okay to throw a rock at the wildlife? and it's not like it was a mass of naughty little boys, looking for trouble. these were families. with very young children. THROWING ROCKS at the birds! unbelievable. as we picked up our things and packed up to head back to lutsen, i was a little bit confused and saddened by the idiotic actions of those horrible families with no respect for nature.

one last hurrah...

Just under 72 hours and counting until we hit the road…I am SO looking forward to our mini vacation trip coming up this weekend! The bf and I are heading to the MN North Shore, my favorite place on earth! After a five-ish hour drive, we will be arriving in the Northland on Friday night for some hiking, biking, lake viewing, shopping and relaxing. We will make the trip back “down south” on Monday. My only lament besides the short time frame of our trip is the fact that I have to bring my laptop along: I am in the first week of my Statistics class and will need to do some homework while we are there. Ugh.

The problem with having a vacation to look forward to is that in my mind I’m already there. I have am really not accomplishing much of anything besides daydreaming about our trip and thinking about what to pack. It also sucks to know this is really the last time I will have vacation until the holidays. Due to the all too frequent illnesses of myself and the kids as well as an overabundance of time off for sanity sake I have burned up my vacation time already. NOT GOOD.

So…I will savor this time of looking forward to one last vacation for the year, productivity be damned!

Road Trippin! Final Destination: KC

the kids and i survived the first half of our trip down to KC. the dvd players we borrowed from a friend were an absolute life saver! i'm not sure what we would have done without them. wait, i know...i would have been driven absolutely nuts.

we arrived in des moines last night and had some time to enjoy the pool before bed. of course this morning the kids were up bright and early, even though they went to bed two hours later than normal. enjoyed breakfast and then they were ready for the pool again! i think the theme of this trip will be SWIMMING. this morning i am staying out of the pool and doing "homework". ha. i'm suppose to be doing homework but i am blogging and photo uploading and facebooking instead. i'm really going to regret it tonight and tomorrow night when i am cramming to finish two papers!

plane story

sunday night i flew to chicago for work. our flight was due to leave at 7:00/board at 6:40. we arrived at the airport in record time, made it through security, and sat down to grab dinner before our flight. we ordered our food at around 6:00. there wasn't much that looked great on the menu, but I ordered a fajita quesedilla. we figured the restaurant would be fairly quick, they are in an airport, for eff sakes! 10 minutes after ordering my bosses' food arrived, and the waitress informed me that mine was 5th back in the food line. shit. 10 minutes later (and 10 minutes before we needed to leave for our flight) my food arrived. i literally SCARFED it and we RAN for our plane, on a concourse about as far away as it could possibly be from our chosen restaurant.

upon arrival at our gate, we learned that our plane was being delayed due to a mechanical problem. great. my gross quesedilla was a lump of cheese and tortilla in my stomach from our sprint to the gate. and our plane is faulty. wonderful.

our delay ended up being only about a half an hour, and we were allowed to board the plane. i sat in an aisle seat, a younger guy in the middle next to me and an older guy next to the window.

the flight was bumpy, and i was sick to my stomach the entire time. i couldn't even read. i sat back and took deep, even breaths. about an hour and a half into it, we learned that we were flying into a very intense thunderstorm. we had to circle to detroit and back into chicago. this would extend our flight an hour. i thought i would die then and there. i had been hanging in there knowing it was just about over. i had no idea how i would make another hour.

about 40 more minutes of deep breaths and the real scare started. the pilot announced that everyone should make sure their seat-belts were fastened tightly. lightening was lighting up the sky all around our plane. the plan started some pretty rough drops, worse than any roller coaster you could imagine. i didn't think we were going to land.

10 minutes before our arrival, i was scrambling around in the seat pocket, frantically search out an air sickness bag. i clued in my poor seat neighbor and he joined the search. bags were nowhere to be found. the poor young guy started rubbing my back and telling me "it's okay, we're almost there." poor guy. i wanted so badly to hold it in, for him if for nothing else. but alas, it was all too much. i leaned forward and wretched into my hands.

the poor guy next to me kept telling me it was okay. he dug though my purse for me to find tissues and wet wipes. he made me laugh by saying he had two little ones at home and was used to puke. thank God i sat next to such a nice guy. if it was me in his position i probably would have lept out of the seat and gotten about as far away as possible.

funny, after i got done puking and had both hands full. (eeew) the guy across the aisle from me found two bags and set them in front of me. here i am, handless, trying to grab the bag with my mouth...i'm sure i was quite the sight.

the flight home had it's issues as well but i managed to hold in my oookies.

hopefully that was the last (as well as the first) time i will puke on a plane!

chicago

i'm still alive, in case anyone was wondering. ; ) in chicago for a conference through tomorrow.

for photos check here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=125091&l=57af2&id=650795429

the trip has been cool, the conference has been good. i'm back home tomorrow night.

if i wasn't so tired i'd tell y'all about my experience on the flight in.

p.s. don't planes have airsickness bags anymore?

on the road again

tomorrow i'm hitting the road to see my best friend e in kansas city. i took off work for tomorrow and rented a car. i'll be on the road at about 8:30 in the morning, beginning the 7ish hour drive. another alone trip! i'm really excitecd to see her, and her new baby, and to just have hours upon hours alone in the car, singing at the top of my lungs to whatever the hell i feel like listening to.

i haven't seen e in six months. i miss her like crazy. we met in college and bonded over cigarette breaks in between our social work classes. we quickly became very close. i have never had a friend like her in my entire life, and don't expect i ever will again. it's hard to explain really, but when she moved out of state i was breaking up with a boyfriend at the same time. and i cried WAY more over her leaving than i did over breaking up with my five year, high school sweetheart.

any long-distance relationship is hard to maintain, and we try our best to stay connected. the phone calls and emails become less and less, and i know we aren't as close as we once were. but when we get together it's like we were never apart. i can talk to her about ANYTHING. whenever i need real, honest advice, she is the one i turn to. she will tell it like it is, whether i want to hear it or not. and my God, do we laugh. and laugh and laugh and laugh. 

even though we don't talk as much anymore, she is still important to me. i still love her like a sister. and she is still my best friend. i can't wait to see her again, and meet her precious baby.