These are the clothes I'm taking to the consignment shop tomorrow. They're all too big. And there are more - these are only the spring/summer ones! I still have fall/winter ones to take later! I guess it's a good thing, but it makes me a little sick to think of how much all these cost! Maybe I'll at least make a little $$ from them!
I have lots to talk about today! Be prepared, because we took a trip to Charlotte, NC, and I have a big long rant! So if you don't have 10 or 15 minutes to read this post, come back later! LOL
So we went to Charlotte to see Brian's sister in her play, "She Stoops to Conquer." Amanda is graduating in May and she wanted us to come see her last play - and she had the lead role! We were excited to see Amanda and the rest of the family. But when we got to the airport, about 1.5 hours early, we had to stand in line forever at the AirTran counter. This really irked me, because we had already checked in online and had printed our boarding passes - all we had to do was check one suitcase.
Well, by the time we got up to the counter, we were apparently "too late" to check our suitcase! This horribly rude and extremely slow lady was doing her best not to help us. We were SO livid - I can't even describe. I didn't even know there was a time limit for getting your luggage in! I've never heard of that before, and just the night before I had read the entire AirTran website, making sure we met all the requirements.
Anyway, to make a long story short, we were originally supposed to arrive in Charlotte via direct flight at 12:15, but now she said we had to be on the same plane with our luggage. So she booked us on another flight that stopped in Atlanta and arrived in Charlotte at like 4:30!!!! Oh, and she put us on standby - so no guarantee we would even get on that flight! :-(
So when we got to our gate, I went directly to the counter, hoping that someone ELSE would be KIND to us and maybe help us. Then we heard our names being called over the loud speaker - our original flight was about to leave, and we were, after all, checked in. So Brian ran over to that gate and that lady was nice enough to let us on our original flight.
We got to Charlotte, (I won't even go into the story about the drunk, rambunctious mom and dad with their 2-year-old who made the whole plane miserable), rented our car, and tried to figure out where our luggage was. The NICE people (imagine that!) at the AirTran counter said it would be on one of three flights, and gave us the arrival times. We got in the car and went and had lunch, drove around a bit, and came back in 2 hours for the first flight's arrival. Miraculously, our suitcase was on that flight! So we were off for the 2-hour drive to Amanda's college.
The play was great, we had a wonderful time with the family, and we had booked a hotel to stay Friday night in Charlotte, with our flight leaving Saturday morning to come home. We stopped at a mall on our way back into Charlotte and did a little shopping and saw a movie. We got to our hotel at about 8:30 that night, and we were ready for bed - we were exhausted!
Well, they had put us in a smoking room, and I had specifically requested a non-smoking room. They were out of non-smoking rooms. So I thought, maybe it won't be that bad. Well. We walked in the door and my throat immediately closed up and both our eyes began burning. It smelled worse than you could ever imagine. It was like someone had stuffed two lit cigarettes up my nostrils. Brian's skin started tingling.
Luckily, we called hotwire and they were nice enough to refund our room. We used the crappy hotel's internet and booked a room at the lovely Sheraton hotel by the Charlotte airport. It was beautiful and wonderful, the people were friendly, we were so comfortable, and even though it cost a little bit more, we got a good night's sleep. Our flight the next morning went off without a hitch.
Needless to say, we were more than thrilled to finally be home. Sunday afternoon, we worked in the garden. Last week I weeded the whole thing, planted a gardenia, and pruned the Sago palm - now it looks like a pineapple! Anyway, yesterday we continued the rock bed around to the back of the garden, and I planted some salvia, phlox, and petunias. Then we mulched the whole thing. I'm pretty happy with the end result!
I can't remember if I've mentioned this on my blog or not, but I'm about halfway through my Kindermusik training. I started it 2 years ago, but then we moved right in the middle of my training and I never finished. So I've picked it back up and I'm really excited about it! The closest KM teacher is over 20 miles from my area, so I'm hoping to fulfill a need here - and make some money too! I've been kind of on fire about it - so I hope I can keep up this energy! I'm trying to get one lesson ahead so I can enjoy the cruise and not worry about falling behind in class.
We're finally down to single digits on the cruise countdown! :-D We leave on Saturday and I'm so excited! I've got to get my hair cut and colored, my legs waxed, and a pedicure - all this week! I'm busy, but it's an exciting time. I can't wait to relax on the ship.
Our snorkeling trip in St. Thomas is booked and paid for! Yay! We're going snorkeling around Buck Island (just north of St. Croix) off of a 65-foot catamaran! I'm very excited, needless to say! Neither of us has ever been snorkeling before, and from what I've read, Buck Island has snorkeling trails (don't even know what that is!) and over 250 different kinds of tropical fish to look at! Very cool.
Also in St. Thomas, we're going on the Skyride to Paradise Point. It looks like the coolest place to get pictures and there are shops and a restaurant at the top. :-) We're going to be in St. Thomas for 10 hours, so we have plenty of time to do lots of cool stuff! Blackbeard's Castle is there and Brian will probably want to see that, although we do plan to go to the Pirate Museum in Nassau. Also in Nassau we're going to check out the Atlantis Hotel and Paradise Beach, and possibly Cabbage Beach if we have time.
I don't know what we're doing in St. Maarten yet, but I'm researching it! To prepare for the snorkeling, I bought an underwater camera today! It looks very cool. I figured I'd better start buying a few things at a time so I don't have to get it all at once. Can you tell I'm just slightly excited about this vacation?! Only 22 days!
Last night, Brian and I went to the mall. He needed some new shorts (which we didn't get) and I needed a bathing suit. We ended up getting B a nice shirt and tie to wear on Easter Sunday, and I actually found a bathing suit! It even makes me look thin, which is amazing! Here is the one I bought:
Except I got a little teeny skirt for the bottom, and I got it in brown. I've never had a tankini before. I suspect it will be MUCH easier to use the restroom in this! (It's torture in a wet one-piece!) Anyway, I'm quite excited.
I have a ton of laundry to do and mail to go through, but I'm going to go get a pedicure instead. :-)
I've started thinking more about my blog again, so I guess I'm back to posting a little more often. We had a great weekend, with the band playing a gig on Saturday night that went very well - and it was a lot of fun, too! We had a great service on Sunday morning, and then we had lunch at the Olive Garden with Tim and Christy. After that, we went over to Downtown Disney and saw "Premonition." I thought it was a good movie!
After walking around Downtown Disney for a bit and admiring the Lego sculptures outside the Lego Imaginations store, we headed home where we relaxed a little and ended up ordering pizza for dinner (Domino's thin crust - lower fat and delicious!) and renting "Infamous," a movie about Truman Capote. I had already seen "Capote," the other (almost identical) movie from awhile back, and that really sparked my interest about the famous writer. I then read the book that is profiled in the movie, "In Cold Blood." I must say that I loved both movies and the book. Although I didn't like Sandra Bullock's interpretation of Nelle Harper Lee (author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and one of Truman Capote's best friends).
Today is an "off" day for me - I get to rest up from the weekend and exercise and catch up on laundry, etc. We're going shopping tonight - Brian needs some shorts and I need a bathing suit!
I'm dreading Idol tomorrow night. I'm just so afraid that Sanjaya is going to stay again. If I were him, I would be mortified. I mean, people are calling him "the worst" by voting for him via Howard Stern. I believe I would figure out a way to bow out gracefully, but I'm not him, thank goodness! I can't wait to hear Melinda, though.
