i miss them

wouldn't you?

i have nothing to say for myself...

don't get me wrong, i LOVE to travel. i just seem to have trouble with TIME. the last several times i've ventured out of the greater dc area, i've almost missed my transportation back. it started when i went to buffalo for christmas to visit my sister and her hubs and 2 kiddos. i got there just fine, but for my return flight, the self-check at the airport wouldn't recognize my reservation. after a few puzzling swipes of all my credit cards yielded the same results, the attendant took my name and informed me that i was at the wrong airport and that, no, she was not joking. she kindly booked me on the last seat of the flight leaving from rochester (where i'd made my poor relatives drive for an hour, instead of buffalo, which was about 10 minutes away) and didn't even charge me.

the next day i adventurously took the chinatown bus to philly for the new year. after a low key new year's eve and a day of showing me around, chris and i were rather hungry. we wandered around chinatown looking for the "good noodle" place that chris vaguely remembered, finally settling instead for a touristy, but decent alternative. it was fast, but not quite fast enough. he only just managed to get me to the last chinatown bus back to dc. but i was on the bus; no damage done.

over the fourth of july, i dawdled at my sister's hotel room before catching a cab to meet my friend mary on the train to jersey. my cabbie was less than pleased with the 20 minutes i gave him to get me across town and dropped me at the wrong station. upon discovering his mistake (an innocent one, though i've made it sound malicious), i booked it the few blocks to penn station and made the train with literally seconds to spare. (i then had to dodge the conductor while i looked for mary, who'd called when i had 11, 7, and 3 minutes to departure but was still en route, and offered to buy my ticket. bless her.)

in october, after a relaxing lunch and stroll around times square with my sister, i put her in a cab and told her i'd wait till she was off to make sure there weren't any problems. i then checked my watch and gave her a quick hug before sprinting several new york blocks with my luggage in tow to catch my bus. in addition to being sweaty, out of breath, and a bit frantic, i was berated by a bossy ticket-taker for being late.

this all in the last year.

so, to make sure i didn't screw up my thanksgiving flight (BOTH of my sisters would be in buffalo, woo hoo!), i left work at 1:30pm for my 4:30pm flight. i arrived at the airport at 2 and realized that i had no idea which airline i was flying. i went to two separate airlines' check-in kiosks and had to call 3 people to hack* into my gmail to find my receipt, only to realize that i was FOUR HOURS EARLY for my flight. that's right. somewhere in the 6 weeks between booking my flight and leaving myself a digital reminder, "leave for flight at 4:30," my brain had changed the note to "leave for 4:30 flight." oy. i guess it's good that i was so early because i was at the wrong end of the airport for my airline. after checking in (at the correct kiosk), i managed to circle around BACK to the other side of the airport, wondering why one must check in at one end, and then hike back to the other for the gate, which was right across from a separate airline (one to which i'd previously attempted to check-in). i chewed on this while i chewed leisurely on my lunch. about an hour later, as i got to the front of the security line, i finally realized that i was supposed to be at gate 4, not 40 and that the northwest check-in was in fact very near the northwest gates. the tsa guard confirmed my idiocy. so AGAIN i trekked around to the other side of the airport, whizzed through security in about 10 minutes (after knocking someone's blackberry to the floor - oops, my bad!) and still had over an hour to spare.

it was totally worth it though. pictures coming soon...



*hack being used very loosely, considering that i gave them my login and password.

the best holiday (pageant) ever

the fourth of july is my favorite holiday. in case you were wondering. and what better way to spend it than hangin in our nation's capitol? it started with a huge pancake breakfast at a friend's house, complete with fun run and patriotic costume contest. bonus points for wearing costume the whole 6 blocks.

quinn and adri

of course, no holiday would be complete without a trip to the container store where melanie, melinda and i found some fabulous luggage tags. my personal favorite: "i'm pretty sure this isn't your bag." and then i took a nap. but not at the container store. i went home.

now. how to watch fireworks in our nation's capitol? becuase you must watch fireworks on the fourth. it's the law. i decided. well, you could leave at 2pm and fight for a spot on the mall OR you could make a split second decision in june to go on a cruise and watch them from the potomac with the washington and lincoln memorials as a backdrop. you can also pretend like you're jack and rose on the titanic while your friends play art director and other friends and random people you don't know take pictures. yes. this is a good idea.

joe, if we're ever stranded

in the middle of a frigid ocean

(or the potomac)

i'll share my door with you.

of course, there's always an after party, where many people pile onto a couch and watch a random movie and eat ice cream. i think we watched maverick because it's clearly patriotic. i'm not sure, though. i had to go to bed because the fine holiday fun continued on the fifth, too! i know, right? it's totally blowing your mind.

from the left: sam, kim, annie, cool girl, jim, kyle, chareese, tim

so. i'm a pretty lucky girl. or as manda used to say, i'm a yucky girl. speaking of manda, i had to catch my bus early early in the morning to meet said sister and friends in nyc. this was a delightful extension of her and her friend abby's trip to see me in dc. first stop was mcdonalds. i needed some o' that sweet sweet nectar of the gods, which is really the only acceptable reason to go to micky-d's. that and to use the restroom. diet coke in hand and properly relieved, we went to see grease. one of manda's friend's sisters played cha-cha (the best dancer at st. bernadette...with the worst reputation) so that made the production even more enjoyable. i parted with manda and co for a few short hours to meet up with my friend mary, who'd come up from dc the night before with her mom, niece and cousin. we went to a touristy pizza place just off times square and my lovely roommate from undergrad met us there. i hadn't seen jessamine in FIVE YEARS. that's a lot.

while in new york, one must visit the hard rock cafe. i think it might be a law. actually, the law is to go to serendipity, but i'd already missed that momentous event, so manda, et. al., jess and i rocked hard and annoyed the waitress. actually she annoyed us. she wasn't very good and messed up everyone's orders. and she was slow. but we gave her a good tip anyway.

from the left: jess, lauren, hannah, tatem, abby, amanda, annie

jess' ride back to brooklyn overlapped with ours back to the girls' hotel, so we got to hang out a little longer. i chilled with the girls for a few minutes and then manda hailed me a cab to penn station. my cabbie wasn't too pleased to find that he only had 20 minutes to get me across town and that i still had to buy a ticket. mary called wanting to know if i was going to make it. i had about 7 minutes. the cabbie's update: we're about 2 minutes out. mary offered to buy my ticket and hold it for me on the train so i'd just have to find her. unfortunately, the cabbie dropped me at the WRONG STATION. officially late and certain the train had already left, i sprinted the couple of blocks to penn station anyway. i jumped onto the train, praying it was the right one, just as the doors shut behind me and it started chugging away from the platform. but i couldn't find mary. she wasn't in the car i'd jumped on. but the conductor was. and he was punching tickets. crap. while he was on the upper floor, i walked through the lower floor, hoping to spot mary. my cell didn't get service. curse T-mobile! so i waited in the hallway, hands shaking and heart fluttering, hoping the conductor wouldn't a) throw me off the train, b) give me a citation for not having a ticket or c) all of the above. i didn't have to wait long; the next stop was only a few minutes away. and i had service! (oh blessed bars!) i called mary and we both ran out on the platform. she was in the next car over. i sat down, exhausted and shaking with adrenaline. we stayed that night at a friend's house in jersey and drove home to dc the next morning. i was supposed to prep my sunday school lesson in the car...but i slept instead.

the end.

ps. why the fourth of july post in the middle of october? it came from this list and was renamed by sherry carpet. now vote!