On August 11th Hilary, Brandi (a friend and co-worker), and I drove to Seattle. We bought tickets to the book signing and mini-concert Stephenie Meyer and Justin Furstenfeld from Blue October were putting on. It was so much fun.
On the drive up my navigator (Hilary) read the mileage wrong on one of the legs from mapquest so we didn't stop for gas when we really should have. I kept watching all the road signs praying for a gas station before we ran out of gas. It was in the middle of nowhere and we were going thru all kinds of canyons. Beautiful, but a little scary for 3 women on a road trip. We finally found a gas station (before we ran out of gas) and it was a little podunk town that just made us laugh even harder. When we went inside to use the restroom, there was a slide chain on the door. I don't know how you all use the restroom, but I don't usually need to peek out to make sure the coast is clear. It still makes me giggle to think of it.
When we got to our hotel in Kent I was a little worried. I had asked my step-brother Danny which areas to avoid so we wouldn't put ourselves in danger but was still a little leery. When we pulled up to our hotel there was an ambulance just leaving with their lights on, and 3 police cars in the parking lot. I asked the Kip like front desk clerk (think Napoleon Dynamite) if I needed to worry and he let me know it was only a traffic accident.
We got into our hotel room and Hilary and I got the giggles. This happens when we are away from home and a little tired. We were laughing so hard I didn't think Brandi could hear her husband during their phone call. It was just about perfect.
The next morning we decided to go to the Space Needle and do a little sight seeing. We asked the morning front desk clerk for directions into town. She quickly told us to take the I-5 in. Only problem was, we don't know where the I-5 is. I had to ask her for directions to her directions. She just looked at me like I was a complete idiot. Again I had to laugh. We drove directly to the Space Needle and had a great time looking around. Then we took the Monorail to the downtown shopping mall and walked 5 blocks to the Pike St. Market. This was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Other than a disgusting, but brief, fish smell it was great. We found fresh fruit (which I bought for Hilary and Brandi to share), fresh flower bouquets and lots of odds and ends. Hilary kept wishing we could buy more fruit because it was the best she had ever eaten. We then walked back past the mall and had lunch at the Cheescake Factory. It was delicious. We all had to take our cheesecake home because we were too full. After this we made our way back to the Space Needle and our car and went back to the hotel to get ready for the concert and book signing.
Hilary and I had made shirts for the book signing this time. And we wore them with pride. It was so much fun, and we were 2 of many in Twilight t-shirts. We LOVED the singing and the question and answer period. I liked Blue October before, but now I will keep track of when they have a concert nearby so I can see the whole group. The music was amazing and I have a new respect for Justin and his music. After the concert and discussion were over we sat patiently in the auditorium reading our books, or talking to each other. I think security was surprised at how none of us were fighting and causing trouble. The only problems we had were with those working the venue. One person would tell us to spread out a little, then the next person would start yelling to tighten it up. One old lady kept following me with her arms out like she was blocking me from going the wrong way. We had to laugh because I was just following where she was directing the line. And she was about a head shorter than me!! One of the security guys even followed a little girl dressed in a cloak like all 80 pounds of her could do real damage!!
After only 1 wrong turn to get back to our hotel, we made it back and again all of us had the giggles. We had left the air conditioner on and the room was pleasently cold. Hilary and Brandi were both freezing and immediatly jumped under the covers. We watched some of the Olympics and went to bed.
We got up bright and early the next morning, got packed up, gased up, and on the road. We made it home in pretty good time and the mother's couldn't have been more excited to see their little ones. I had to laugh because Hilary kept trying to get me to run pink lights and had her car door open before I actually got the car stopped. She ran to the door of my sister's house just to see her kids again. You would have thought we were gone for months and not just 2 days.
By the time we made it back home, Hadley was asleep, Hallie couldn't believe she was actually home, and Hayden just wanted to be around his mom. I heard Hallie kept walking Hilary around the house to show her that her belongings were all still there. She is too cute.
A great trip that just reaffirmed I will drive just about anywhere for the opportunity to see my new favorite author. I have loved both of the book signings I have been to, and hope she continues to have them anywhere relatively close!!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
New York, New York
My friends (the girls) and I went to New York for a Broadway tour in June 2007. We left for Salt Lake city on Monday June 11 and went to get our hair done. After getting our updo's we drove to our hotel room for the night, changed and went to Les Miserables at the Pioneer Theatre. It was wonderful and we all had a great time.
The next morning we caught our shuttle to the Salt LakeCity Airport where we met up with the rest of the group. We flew into Chicago where we sat on the runway for 3 extremely long hours. If you have ever seen the commerical with the skinny lady stuck between 2 fat guys, that was me, only I am one of the fat guys. I was so self conscious I was twisted like a pretzel to keep from touching the guy sitting in the middle. And might I add, there was no air conditioning on the plane at this time. They finally brought us back in and cancelled our flight. We missed seeing Hairspray because of it. The kicker is that they would not give us a hotel room. So I called my cousin to take us around and see the sites (Thanks Troy!!). It was fun to see Chicago in the quick driving tour he gave us. He dropped us off at the terminal where we got to sleep on cots near the baggage claim in terminal II. We didn't get much sleep, but it was an experience.
The next morning they flew us to White Plains where we then got to wait for a bus to drive us to New York City. For those of you who don't know, I get motion sick and smells just make it worse. To keep from getting car sick I have to either be in the front seat or have the a/c on so high that everyone else is begging for heat. Well, the bus smelled of urine (I don't think it was animal), there was no air conditioning, and the driver did the whole stomp on the gas, stomp on the brake, swerve on the roadway. I had to sit by myself, breathe out of my mouth, and close my eyes hoping and praying that I didn't throw up. Not fun at the time, but funny to look back on.
We took the pee bus all the way to Broadway. The bus took us to our matinee of Phantom of the Opera. It was amazing to see on Broadway. We left the play, met our tour guide and took the subway to our hotel. The fun thing is, we didn't have any luggage. They had sent it to La Guardia the night before and we were having difficulty getting it sent to our hotel. The group leader didn't know what to do so being the incredibly patient person that I am, I got on my phone and contacted the airline. We were promised our luggage would be delivered that night by the time we got back from our next play. So we geared up and headed off for dinner at Grand Central Station. It was fun and I had an actual slice of pizza in New York. Impressive in my fancy black dress!! We then took the subway again to Broadway and saw the Lion King. I have to admit, I wasn't sure I wanted to see it, but I was captivated from the minute the curtain came up.
We left Broadway and went back to our hotel with thoughts of a shower and clean undies in our heads, only to be disappointed. Only 10 of the 25 of us had luggage. So our wonderful tour guide went down the street to get us some Woolite to wash our unmetionables in the shower. The hotel was amazing and luxurious, and I think I fell asleep immediately.
The next day we went to the Statue of Liberty, then ran to see the Yankee's. As most of you know, I love baseball, but I HATE the Yankee's. I found the fans to be rude and the employees probably worse. But the excitement of my friend the Yankee fan was enough to make it fun. We made a quick shopping trip to get our hats and were back on the subway to hopefully find some luggage awaiting our arrival at the hotel.
Wrong again!! We stayed in our stinky clothes and went to see Tarzan. The music was good, the actor playing Tarzan nice to look at, but not the best play. Each of us fell asleep at least once, but since we were up in the nosebleeds without anyone really close by, no one cared. I would smile when Tarzan would sing, because his voice was beautiful and my imagination was even better. Nice dreams!! After the nap and lullaby we went to the Empire State building. I had to apologize to the poor people stuck with is in the hot elevator (because we smelled!!) but we all had a fun time and laughed during the ride. I kept laughing because I picured scenes from Elf and just wanted to play. My bra clasp had been setting off all of the metal detectors for 2 days so I was amazed when I didn't have to be patted down there. We were laughing so hard I don't think the staff new what to do. The view was beautiful and was the perfect end to our day. We got back to our hotel and SURPRISE!! we had luggage. Just in time for our last day.
On our last day we went to the NBC Studios and had a tour, then we went to Central Park. We saw the Imagine Mosiac and then started walking. I had always thought Central Park was big, but it isn't, it is GINORMOUS!! I nearly died walking through it. I saw an ambulance driving through and nearly cried thinking how lovely it would be to be in the back of it. My ankles were about the size of a grapefruit at this time, and just when I was about to become a permanent fixture of the park, we were done. We had arrived at the Met. I told the girls to wander around and I would just wait for them on the bench. But Amy decided she would push me in a wheelchair. It was FUN!! We flew past several exibits on the ground floor, my hair blowing in the wind. We decided not to take the elevator after the wheelchair nearly dumped me and I was laughing hysterically. We just enjoyed the time sitting in the air conditioning soaking up the environment. When the others were done, Amy, Rachelle, and I caught a cab back to our hotel where the other two went for food and I stayed with my legs propped up on pillows and my ankles iced. It was so funny!!
Our last play was Mary Poppins and it was magical. I kept thinking how Hayden and Hadley would have loved it. They had wanted me to take them to New York with me so my thoughts kept turning to them. It was a nice end to a lovely trip. We went to a shop to get all of our gifts for family, and Elisa had some freaky guy following her around trying to make her love him. It was fun to watch. We made it back to our hotel (by ourselves) and slept for our last night in luxury.
Our last morning in New York consisted of us grabbing a bagel from the corner stand and getting onto the bus. Imagine how I felt when again we had a pee bus. We were laughing so hard I had trouble breathing. And of course, with the smell I couldn't eat my bagel. I finished it at the airport while we waited in line to check in our bags. Rachelle had so much in her bag she had to pay extra to get it home. I was next in line and the clerk saw me struggling to put the bag on the scale so told me to be prepared to pay. I had to tell him it wasn't heavy, just over half my size so it took a little more for me to get it to him. He didn't believe me until he weighed it and it was under weight. I wanted to punch him. We boareded our flight and arrived home safely, without any further problems.
The next morning we caught our shuttle to the Salt LakeCity Airport where we met up with the rest of the group. We flew into Chicago where we sat on the runway for 3 extremely long hours. If you have ever seen the commerical with the skinny lady stuck between 2 fat guys, that was me, only I am one of the fat guys. I was so self conscious I was twisted like a pretzel to keep from touching the guy sitting in the middle. And might I add, there was no air conditioning on the plane at this time. They finally brought us back in and cancelled our flight. We missed seeing Hairspray because of it. The kicker is that they would not give us a hotel room. So I called my cousin to take us around and see the sites (Thanks Troy!!). It was fun to see Chicago in the quick driving tour he gave us. He dropped us off at the terminal where we got to sleep on cots near the baggage claim in terminal II. We didn't get much sleep, but it was an experience.
The next morning they flew us to White Plains where we then got to wait for a bus to drive us to New York City. For those of you who don't know, I get motion sick and smells just make it worse. To keep from getting car sick I have to either be in the front seat or have the a/c on so high that everyone else is begging for heat. Well, the bus smelled of urine (I don't think it was animal), there was no air conditioning, and the driver did the whole stomp on the gas, stomp on the brake, swerve on the roadway. I had to sit by myself, breathe out of my mouth, and close my eyes hoping and praying that I didn't throw up. Not fun at the time, but funny to look back on.
We took the pee bus all the way to Broadway. The bus took us to our matinee of Phantom of the Opera. It was amazing to see on Broadway. We left the play, met our tour guide and took the subway to our hotel. The fun thing is, we didn't have any luggage. They had sent it to La Guardia the night before and we were having difficulty getting it sent to our hotel. The group leader didn't know what to do so being the incredibly patient person that I am, I got on my phone and contacted the airline. We were promised our luggage would be delivered that night by the time we got back from our next play. So we geared up and headed off for dinner at Grand Central Station. It was fun and I had an actual slice of pizza in New York. Impressive in my fancy black dress!! We then took the subway again to Broadway and saw the Lion King. I have to admit, I wasn't sure I wanted to see it, but I was captivated from the minute the curtain came up.
We left Broadway and went back to our hotel with thoughts of a shower and clean undies in our heads, only to be disappointed. Only 10 of the 25 of us had luggage. So our wonderful tour guide went down the street to get us some Woolite to wash our unmetionables in the shower. The hotel was amazing and luxurious, and I think I fell asleep immediately.
The next day we went to the Statue of Liberty, then ran to see the Yankee's. As most of you know, I love baseball, but I HATE the Yankee's. I found the fans to be rude and the employees probably worse. But the excitement of my friend the Yankee fan was enough to make it fun. We made a quick shopping trip to get our hats and were back on the subway to hopefully find some luggage awaiting our arrival at the hotel.
Wrong again!! We stayed in our stinky clothes and went to see Tarzan. The music was good, the actor playing Tarzan nice to look at, but not the best play. Each of us fell asleep at least once, but since we were up in the nosebleeds without anyone really close by, no one cared. I would smile when Tarzan would sing, because his voice was beautiful and my imagination was even better. Nice dreams!! After the nap and lullaby we went to the Empire State building. I had to apologize to the poor people stuck with is in the hot elevator (because we smelled!!) but we all had a fun time and laughed during the ride. I kept laughing because I picured scenes from Elf and just wanted to play. My bra clasp had been setting off all of the metal detectors for 2 days so I was amazed when I didn't have to be patted down there. We were laughing so hard I don't think the staff new what to do. The view was beautiful and was the perfect end to our day. We got back to our hotel and SURPRISE!! we had luggage. Just in time for our last day.
On our last day we went to the NBC Studios and had a tour, then we went to Central Park. We saw the Imagine Mosiac and then started walking. I had always thought Central Park was big, but it isn't, it is GINORMOUS!! I nearly died walking through it. I saw an ambulance driving through and nearly cried thinking how lovely it would be to be in the back of it. My ankles were about the size of a grapefruit at this time, and just when I was about to become a permanent fixture of the park, we were done. We had arrived at the Met. I told the girls to wander around and I would just wait for them on the bench. But Amy decided she would push me in a wheelchair. It was FUN!! We flew past several exibits on the ground floor, my hair blowing in the wind. We decided not to take the elevator after the wheelchair nearly dumped me and I was laughing hysterically. We just enjoyed the time sitting in the air conditioning soaking up the environment. When the others were done, Amy, Rachelle, and I caught a cab back to our hotel where the other two went for food and I stayed with my legs propped up on pillows and my ankles iced. It was so funny!!
Our last play was Mary Poppins and it was magical. I kept thinking how Hayden and Hadley would have loved it. They had wanted me to take them to New York with me so my thoughts kept turning to them. It was a nice end to a lovely trip. We went to a shop to get all of our gifts for family, and Elisa had some freaky guy following her around trying to make her love him. It was fun to watch. We made it back to our hotel (by ourselves) and slept for our last night in luxury.
Our last morning in New York consisted of us grabbing a bagel from the corner stand and getting onto the bus. Imagine how I felt when again we had a pee bus. We were laughing so hard I had trouble breathing. And of course, with the smell I couldn't eat my bagel. I finished it at the airport while we waited in line to check in our bags. Rachelle had so much in her bag she had to pay extra to get it home. I was next in line and the clerk saw me struggling to put the bag on the scale so told me to be prepared to pay. I had to tell him it wasn't heavy, just over half my size so it took a little more for me to get it to him. He didn't believe me until he weighed it and it was under weight. I wanted to punch him. We boareded our flight and arrived home safely, without any further problems.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Beginning
Well, I have finally been harassed by Hilary enough that I will start my own blog. This will not be as exciting as those with families, and if you are ever on Hilary's I am sure most of it will be a repeat. I will also try to update with things I have done in the last year or so (that should take about a day). I will also get Hilary to help me put some pictures on. In case you hadn't noticed I don't do much without Re and her family. She has agreed to take care of me in my oldmaidhood.
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