November
As I mentioned above, I am pretty lucky; my job affords me the opportunity to meet friends and family on the road– take for example the week of Thanksgiving. I had a few meetings in Chicago and luckily my friend Ben was able to meet up with me in the city after my work day ended. After getting lost (Chicago apparently has an underground city that is really hard to find your way out of) we ate, laughed and drank downtown – making the evenings challenge to have at least 1 beer in each tavern/bar on Rush Street (sorry mom). That’s a lot of beers but we had a blast and I was able to see what downtown Chicago is all about, now only to visit for a Giants/Cubs game – anyone up for it?
^some of these places had CRAZY holiday cheer going on!
Following my stay in Chicago I visited my sister, bro-in-law and my Katie-bug and got to visit with Aunt Carrie and Uncle Jack. Man-o-man is that little girl cute. The flight to Wyoming was very unique. Two layovers (where I had to run to every gate very thankful that I was wearing my loose fitting Gap jeans and that I checked in luggage)…and one VERY small plane later, I arrive in Rock Springs about 15 minutes from Amy and Rick's house. The first leg into Minneapolis was good, the second flight into Salt Lake was ok, I sat next to a paranoid twenty-something and tried my best to make him confident that no one stole his carry on and that no, it was not left at the airport, they generally take good care of that kind of stuff I explained in my most confident ‘I travel all the time and haven’t had too many bad experiences with luggage’ voice – except for that time whe….oh never mind. Once I found my last connecting gate in Salt Lake, I was called to board, handed the agent my torn-in-half boarding pass (woops!) and walked down this long hallway and see the plane:
AHH! I shriek to my mom on the phone – it has a propeller! (mom starts laughing nervously for me) Good LORD it’s a good thing I love these people I think as I step onto the plane and greet the flight attendant hunched over, I hit my head and exclaim as I start to sweat and shake a little ‘this is the smallest plane I have ever been on!!!’ I sit next to this little old lady and open my bag of almonds eating one after another, I am so nervous I can't stop! I think the stewardess senses my fear as I ask as politely as possible 'is there a beverage service on this plane?!' She touches my arm and sits down on the seat next to me and tells me that she is a widow with 3 kids and she would not fly on this little plane if it were dangerous (honey I am 27 and single, neither would I if the people I was meeting weren't worth it, I think to myself); ‘besides’ she says, ‘the jets you normally fly on, if something were to go wrong you would drop like a rock (awesome), WE glide to the ground, ok?!’ She says. Right. Then she gets up and does the emergency routine and makes sure to go over the water landing instructions – ‘in the case of a water landing, which is quite unlikely (umm you think) your seat cushion can also be used as a floatation device.’ Well GOOD I think to myself, in the case of an emergency, since the plane will float to the ground, I will surely have time to grab my seat cushion, just in case we float into a puddle in the middle of the desert-like barren land that splits Rock Springs and Salt Lake City.
SO the stressful flight is over and as we land, surprisingly smoothly, I wait, and wait, and wait for my luggage. HOW long can it take to take luggage off a plane that had no more than 10 people on it? For the Wyoming airport, 35 minutes. After eating my spam and cheese sandwich (yes my sister loves me) and being reassured by Paul Blart the airport cop, that my luggage might/should get here and that the airport was very secure, it came. Good thing, I would have had to go Californian on them – wouldn’t have been pretty.
The trip with my sis was awesome! I am still awaiting pictures from her camera, including pictures from Halloween (AHEM). I will have to update the blog when they come. I got to put Katie to bed every night (well just about) and play the Wii (awesome). We set up the Christmas air-blow-up things on their lawn that I was told would likely be there in the spring time when I next visit because of the cold, and the lights on the porch that....well we won’t talk about those will we sister? After eating a LOT thanks to my preggo sister - I went home before the cold cold weather hit and have been missing them ever since. Here are some picts:
^after dinner at Aunt Carries and Uncle Jacks
^the feast....good thing Aunt Carrie and I went for a run before...bad cell phone pict quality
^I am the luckiest Auntie I get a massage from my neice as she watches kids NickTV
Today, I am writing on the plane, off to Florida for a 24 hour trip. I will tell you there are a few things I have learned from the past few months:
1. Paranoia will not get you far but it will get you places with your eyes wide open while you make sure no one is going to mess with you.
2. Heels make people listen to you, after all being 6’3 in them commands attention.
3. Don't miss an opportunity to look out the window - you could see this:
^Oh if this were Heaven, let me be a Care Bear so I could jump from cloud to cloud
And for this trip in particular: Always have one of your best friends drop you off because chances are, she might have made you chocolate chip cookies the night before!! Thanks bestie (I shared with the big guy next to me who oddly looks like my landlord Hank and works for the 49ers; he agreed they were AMAZING). <3
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