When in Rome...

Actually, we are finally in Florence. We arrived last night but we having connectivity issues so couldn't post anything until this morning. And I haven't figured out how topmost pics on Janet's iPad so guess you all will have to wait for me to get home and post on facebook or wait for my scrapbook. It has been quite the adventure thus far but we have showered (twice each since last night), slept on a non-moving bed and eaten WONDERFUL Italian food so we are quite the happy campers now!! We are off tone explore this morning and then to the Chianti area this afternoon. Oh...I drank two small glasses of wine last night. Yeah it's better thAn wine in the states but I'm still a beer and rum girl!!

Have You Seen My Kotex?

Well boys and girls, we have arrived in Europe. Not Venice or even anywhere in Italy but we are here. I wanted this trip to be one Janet would remember forever and I am pretty sure I have succeeded. We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday (Saturday) as it was the only flight out of Atlanta that the wonderful ladies at the rebooking desk could find. Of course our luggage arrived after us. But that have us time to go find out about hoping a train south to Italy. We tried to get one to Venice but we wouldn't have made it in time to get our train to Florence this morning (Sunday). So we booked the train to Florence. It's all been part of the adventure. The train to Florence didn't depart Amsterdam until 830 pm so we got to spend 8 hours exploring. Went to the Anne Frank house. What an amazing experience. It was like walking back in time and makes me appreciate even more all of the freedoms I have and what our troops continue to do everyday. Took a canal boat ride too because you know Amsterdam is the Venice of the north and we HAD to take a canal ride. So by the time we boarded our train at 830, it had been 36 hours since I slept because of course I couldn't sleep on the plane. I don't know much of what the first leg of the train ride was as I was looking at the back of my eyelids for most of it. Thought I will tell you that the high speed train sleeping cars in China are much better! So now we are in Basel, Switzerland waiting for our next train to Milan which will take us to Florence tonight. We have had to cancel some of our tours but that's why we bought trip insurance. Plus we have had so much fun on our new, unplanned adventure that it's all been worth it. I do want to thank Janet publicly for dealing with my melt down over not getting to Venice and reminding me that it's more about the fact that we are together than where we are going. Life is about the journey not the destination. Sent from my iPad

Half the battle

So we made it to ATL. In an effort to save us both some money (over $1000 each), we agreed to use my friend's buddy passes on Delta. The benefit to this is potential first/business class overseas but downside is flying standby. So we didn't make it out of KC yesterday :(. Janet was a trooper and didn't get mad at me (Thanks bestie!!). Our luggage is apparently having fun in Venice without us. So we are sitting patiently in the Atlanta airport until our 4 pm flight with all of our body parts crossed that we get on that flight. If I have to pull out the tears and the "this is my best friends 40th birthday trip and I wanted to save her money and can we please just get on on this plane" card I will.

So if you are reading this before 4 pm on Friday June 15th please say a little prayer and cross all of your body parts!!

Twas the Night Before

Well I guess it would have been too easy to go on this trip without some form of drama.  Unfortunately, it usually comes in 3s.  So here we go...

1.  Went to get my hair done after work because I CANNOT go out of the country with my roots showing.  Sorry to disappoint those of you who thought my beautiful red hair was natural.  I wear it well don't I?  Anyway, I go to my hairdresser who wanted to use the brand of color she is comfortable with.  This was the compromise I made with her last time because I brought my own tube of color (Thanks Tammy!) and she tried to get her distributor to get it but to no avail.  So today we went with her color.  Well, I should know better than that.  It wasn't her fault entirely. She didn't realize how "red" the color really would be and we both agreed it was too much.  So next time we are trying a different color.  In the mean time, I feel like I have purple hair. Now the logical side of me looks in the mirror and realizes that I, in fact, do not have purple hair.  It's actually not horrible but it's not what I usually have and we all know I'm a creature of habit and very particular about my hair.

2.  Started packing and decided that I should call Verizon (yes, I'm calling them out in my blog because I'm that pissed off with them) and activate my global phone.  For all you non-Verizon users, thank your lucky stars.  If I wasn't in the middle of a contract, I would switch.  When I called them a few weeks ago, I was told it was very easy to activate and yes I would have all the features of my current phone, etc.  So I try to call my bestie to see how many suitcases she is taking (more on that later) and my "global" phone doesn't have any of my contacts in it.  So I call Verizon and after about 20 minutes on the phone with a guy who didn't really seem to know what he was talking about, I asked him if it was easier for me to take the phone to a Verizon store and have them help and he said "yes". So I hop in my car and go to Verizon and surprise, surprise.  They are closed.  They closed at 8pm and it was freaking 8:15pm.  UGH!!  Then I realize (after much swearing and all the emotional intelligence work I've been doing goes out the window), that I have my blackberry so I'm not completely out of touch with the world.

3.  Call my bestie to see how many suitcases she is taking and she says "one".  And I had two packed.  Mind you it was a small one and a medium one.  But I had been contemplating only taking one because I had two in Norway and it was a pain in my back side.  So what do I do??  I hop BACK IN THE CAR to go to Shopko and buy a new suitcase (largest size available).  I come home and re-pack everything.  This part of my trilogy does have a happy ending though.  I got everything in the new suitcase with room to spare!  Hot diggity dog!!  And, I'm pretty sure I will be able to tell which suitcase is mine and will know if someone tries to walk off with it.

The day did finish on a strong, positive note, though.  I decided after all this drama I needed to clear my head.  So I went for a run.  That's the nice thing about living in a small town...I can go run at 9:30 pm and not worry about getting accosted.  Not only was the weather perfect (about 50 degrees) but I ran for 20 minutes straight after a 3 minute warm up.  Now for those of you who are avid runners, this may not seem like much but considering how recent my hip surgery was, this was a huge accomplishment.  And it means I'm getting stronger and just may be able to complete the half-marathon without crawling across the finish line.

Best of all, though, I get to see J tomorrow!!!  And we will be on our way to Italy on Thursday!! Stay tune for the fun...

Lesson Learned

Today's lesson...even if you look super cute in your new running skirt, top and shoes (see below) it does in fact get hot in Iron Mountain and you should not run at 11 am after drinking the night before.  This equates to not running very far for fear of falling over from heat exhaustion...Maybe next week I won't drink on Friday night since Saturday is run day. 

Back Home, for now

It's been a long week as I was back in Chicago again.  It was good to see my brother and I got a good visit in at the VA but it always makes for a long week.  I was excited to return home as one of my good friends from Memphis flew in this afternoon for a weekend visit.  It will be great to not go out to eat or to the movies or to a bar by myself!
The big news, though, is that I leave for Europe on WEDNESDAY!!  I can't believe it's finally here!  I fly to KC on Wednesday to meet up with Janet and then we leave on Thursday morning.  It's good to know people in high places because we got hooked up with buddy passes thanks to a friend of mine in Memphis who works for Delta.  So we are flying standby but for First Class and we only paid $535 a piece!  WOO HOO!!

We also decided to get matching shirts so look for those pics to be posted soon.  I hope to blog at least every other day while we are over there so check back often!  Have a terrific weekend!  I know I will!

Moving Day At Last!!

Hallelujah!!  It's finally moving day!  Only two months in that stupid hotel.  Good heavens if I never see another hotel...oh wait...I travel for work.  Ok.  Nevermind. 
I must say.  I'm kind of in love with my new apartment.  Is that weird?  Seriously.  It's my favorite apartment I've ever lived in.  Of course, it's been about 8 hours since I've lived here so that may change.  But I have so much room!  Check out the living room.

The movers, young guys maybe 21, were shocked and in awe over the number of boxes with "shoes" labeled on them.  Then when I started unpacking the boxes, well, I'm sure they will be telling their children's children about the lady with all the shoes.  I keep trying to tell people there is a reason my nickname is Shoegirl.  I did, however, decide that if I'm ever hard up for money, I can sell my shoes and my clothes and probably make enough money to buy a house or go to Paris.  Speaking of clothes and shoes, here is my closest (a.k.a the reason I got this apartment).



Many thanks go out to my brother (I put that in there specifically to see if he is actually reading my blog) for organizing my kitchen in such a fashion that the location of everything makes sense.  I guess he thought my previous organization system didn't make sense.