Ok so here it is...the reason I've been far far away from the computer for almost a week!

Friday I got picked up and headed out for a weekend at Tara's. Friday night was nice and mellow in preparation for the circus that would be Saturday. First we bumbled around Boscovs, then Arby's, then it was time for Bride's Day part 1. The shower was really nice...and um...pink. lots of pink. It was mostly relaxing and talking, eating, drinking, etc. THEN we got to break out the bachelorette party stuff I had taken for that night. I have pictures. Heh. I love it when I get to dress Tara up. Hah. We ended up at a strip bar called "Baby Doll's" that ran the gambit from really cute girls to um...girls i seriously hda to convince myself didn't have adam's apples. *shivers* It was a pretty good time though. Good music, laughs, drinks, and a nice of several lap dances for Tara..MOST of which she said she enjoyed hah. Towards the end of the night I started feeling severely sociophobic, but the bride-to-be seemed to have reached her limit for crowds also, so we headed back.

Sunday was Jay's daughter's birthday (which no one warned me was a costume party or I wouldn't have been so lame) which meant dealing with more people...but in a more relaxing environment. And more cake. Heh. After the party they drove me home, where I finally got to relax for a little bit and see Chris for the first time in a few days. We laid on the couch and watched Dolores Claiborne while we ate dinner. It was nice to be home for a little bit.

Monday I got up nice and early and Chris dropped me off at the train station on his way to work. I hadn't really had time to refresh my "Chris gague" so I was slightly reluctant to be leaving again, but I headed out to the airport for what was probably one of the most interesting half an hour I have ever spent in D terminal. I got there pretty easily, Jay checked me through, and we chatted for a little bit. I was slightly nervouse about losing my insulin at the security station since I had to take it out of my bag and send it through the machine in the bin with my shoes. It was then that I decided my skeleton sweatshirt is the wrong this to wear to an airport. I heard "hey I can see your bones" at least 3 times on my walk to the bathroom. I also had the girl who sold me my Excedrine (as I was in mid migraine mode) and diet coke ask if I knew any really good belly flattening tips. I'm really the wrong person to ask about this. Hah, seriously. I wonder if she was asking everyone she rung up or if the voices told her to ask the fat girl. Then I almost choked on the second Excedrine because they were uncoated, thus marking the second occassion I've throw up in the D terminal. Hah. The flight was pretty uneventful. Cat and Nicky met me at baggabe claim, and we pretty much just hung out the rest of the day. We took the baby to the mall playground for a little while, and ran out for some stuff to mix drinks at home once Erich got back. We had intended to go bowling, but the baby started runnign a fever, so we decided to stay in and watch movies. As tired as I was, it was the better option anyway. I fell asleep halfway through Mr & Mrs Smith.

Tuesday we got to a bit of a later start than we'd planned. We spent what was left of it at the Museum of Science and Industry. Nicky had a blast, and I had a pretty damned good time too! My only regret was not getting tickets in time for the special frogs exhibit before the last showing. Tant pis. It's a traveling exhibit, so I'm not too worried. After leaving there we rented a couple movies and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Cat had to work yesterday. I'd promised Scot a day to hang out, and initially we were going to take the baby for a few hours, but he was still a little sick and grumpy, so I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to take him out. We didn't do a whole lot, but it was enough. Scot knows two of my worst weaknesses...vinyl and comics. I DID buy a few comics (the new Fables graphic novel and the fist 2 installations of the new 1602, which I'm really excited about!) I was really tempted to buy a couple records I saw, but I was good. I just looked. We walked into a few other stores in the Wicker Park area. He couldn't get the day off from work, so we couldn't do a whole lot more. I got to hang out with the cats a little bit though while he made business calls. Heh. When I got home, Erich and I watched some Mythbusters and Modern Marvels (yay for B2's and the history of death devices) before Cat got home.

Today I almost just decided to stay in Chicago rather than to ever go into that airport again. Aside from the rain, getting over there wasn't bad...just slower than I'd thought. My bag ended up being late checked, I almost lost my ID showing the TSA lady my insulin, and of course...those S's standing single file on my boarding pass almost made me miss the flight altogether. My bags were searched and swabbed and all that, which I've been through before. I had never, however, met this new torture box they've adopted at Midway Airport. Nothing triggers a panic attack quite like being sealed in a box the siz of a port-o-potty and shot with strong puffs of air. I managed to hold it back until it was over, and even then I had to abate it for a while because I was going to miss my flight if I tried to deal with it. When I finally made it onto the plane my heart was pounding so fast I wanted to throw up. Luckily, I had an entire row to myself or I might have lashed out at someone. Also lucky for me...my bag DID end up making it on the plane (I had feared it wouldn't make it because it was late checked, which means it might have been on the next one...routed through Pittsburgh) and Lauren and I didn't have to stand around and wait for it!

Here's where one last adventure comes into play. Yes, you thought they were over because I was almost home? Never! No day spent with Lauren is ever boring. I went to put my bag in the cab of her truck only to be attacked by an avalanch of papers and stuff! I tried to save it, and I did manage to save most of it! The police waiting behind her jumped out and caught a bunch of it too! Hah. We drove home, got some food on the way, and now here I am...home at last!

Lots of working in the next few days...I really hope my dress is waiting for me in the office...I had a blast this last week..but I'm SO glad to be home! I missed you!

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issac picked me up slightly later than i was comfortable with, but with only a few lost detours we made it to the airport with really good timing. i even had time to pee before i boarded the plane and promptly fell asleep. i was so tired i fell asleep before the doors were even closed. i woke up to the flight attendant asking if i wanted anything to drink, to whichi replied, "yes, a diet c-" before i fell back to sleep. i came to with her trying to rouse me as she took down the tray, saying, "i THINK you wanted a diet coke...and if you want it, there's a snack bar on the seat next to you." i chugged the soda, and quickly passed out until we landed.
it took me a few to rouse myself enough to be able to stand up and deboard the plane, but i mustered all the energy i had and made my way to the omega shuttle, where our real journey begins. i got to meet the new hires in my group, which was really nice. badging took an inordinate amount of time. when chris and i got our badges last time we technically didn't do it with everyone else because the office was almost empty due to some big meeting so they'd gotten everyone in the day before. chris and i were returning from california that night, so we couldn't make it. i remember we got home late at night only to turn around at 4am to board a flight to chicago. so we get there...and while i've never talked to this lady more than a couple minutes on the phone total...she annoys me. i could've played a drinking game with how many times she said "just to give you a heads up on that". the whole thing really could've taken 20 minutes, but whatever. it's done. i'm pictured, and on monday i shall be badged!
cat picked me up from the people department office, and we actually got to talk for a little while before she had to leave for work. she bought me lunch. mmmm. after she left for work i had two options; sit at the airport for a few hours or go with erich and nicholas to look for shoes. i opted for the latter, which lead to a rather silly adventure with a shoe salesman named Eduardo. I'd tell you more about it if I could've comprehended anything about the man. He was...hectic, we'll leave it at that. from there we considered heading downtown ("more of everything!" eduardo had said), but nicky seemed to be ready for sleep and i wanted to try to make the earlier flight back home. i picked up my christmas present (woohoo! $25 to boston market from cat) and cat's old uniforms (woohoo! i'll have a month of uniforms without doing laundry!)
after the nice lady at the gates *twitch* stopped telling me shed have to charge me an upgrade to take the earlier flight and i told her why, in fact, that was not the case, i ended up on a flight two hours earlier than my scheduled return. a fortunate turn as it was, because i had the pleasure of making a new friend. i like new friends, especially new friends who share my odd sense of humour. hah. or maybe he just laughed because he was trapped on a plane with me. ;)
we got home and i started the train trip home, only to fall asleep a lot and not remember a single word i was reading. chris picked me up from the station, and now i'm waiting for trevor to find his way here to jam for a bit.

what a day....i'm gonna sleep all weekend!

edit: just so there's no confusion....this lil guy totally rocks!
and he's gettin SO big!!!!
today he hugged my legs and said "byebye" :( i misses him so!

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I didn't even have time to post about my interveiew before I found out I did not get the job. They didn't like the way I answered one question, and said the slit in my skirt was too high. Three people saw me in this skirt, and no one mentioned to me that it might be inappropriate. I guess I should have seen it. It is, however, the same skirt I wore to the LUV at First Bite Luncheon where I met Colleen...and she never mentioned it being too short. In fact, I do remember her saying to me (I was sitting at her table and met her a few times) how we (being the people in the group standing around the table with her) looked nice, and how great it was to see us all dressed up and looking professional. So...inflight has higher standards than Colleen...check!

Chicago itself was great, aside from Nicky having a case of the Mondays. I got in on time and made it to Cat's with no event. As soon as I walked in Nicky exclaimed to me, "I'm potty trained!" several times. Thirty minutes later he wet himself on our walk to the grocery store. Don't count those chickens yet, Nicky. He's also started to build giant monoliths out of big, tiny-hand sized "leggos"...so we're working on the words "Washington Monument". In any case, we went to get food for dinner, and in t hat time Nicky managed to step un a puddle, wet himself, fall flat on his face, find a balloon, and pop said balloon. Like I said...case of the Mondays. Once we got home he ate, played for a bit, bathed, and read a few stories with us before bedtime. Cat and I hung around catching up, and eventually Erich came for the baby and the three of us sat around talking for a while.

The interview was almost successful. I thought it went really well. I got back to MDW just in time for the earlier flight home and slept all the way. Ryan and I got dinner at Johnny Rocket's before heading home to get some cleaning done. We did that for a couple days since I had off work until today. His mom came over yesterday for a couple hours, so we took her to Potbelly's.

I'm working a double today, and tomorrow we head out for a weekend in DC...if we can find a place to stay..hah.

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Last night was bizzare. No sleep makes for a loopybean. Lauren picked me up at 430, and we headed to the airport. We made pretty good time until we hit Terminal A. It took us ove 20 minutes to get from there to Southwest. Lauren never even made it to the curb; I just hopped out and ran for it. The ticket counter line wasn't bad, but the security lines were outrageous. I made it to the plane 5 minutes after it was supposed to leave. Fortunately for me, the crew was also stuck in that line. Once on the plane I tried to nap, and I failed miserably. I did get half of "Now, More, Again" bye Elizabeth Wurtzel read though. The whole business in Chicago, from shuttle pick up to shuttle drop off at the airport took 20 minutes. All the friday-before-christmas bullshit...for 20 MINUTES! My fingerprints haven't changed! Shouldn't they be on file from last year? Whatever. The shuttle gets me back to MDW, and there's a semi truck pinned between the departure ramp and the overpass. Smoooooth. Needless to say, I took pictures. I tried to make it over to see Nicholas, but the line to the ticket counter was like Walt Disney's wet dream. When I found the back of the line, I realized I was standing in the parking garage! Unfortunately my waiting in line was all in vain, because they'd printed my return boarding pass in PHL. Oops! The flight home was pretty smooth, and while I waited for Lauren I got to say hi to a few people I've missed. Them being excited makes me excited to be returning. It will be sad to leave the Picture People, as I've really grown to love the Montgomery Mall store, but there's no advancement and no benefits. That's life though. Nothing says I can't go visit them all! Hopefully I can get Cat or Erich to fly the baby in before I leave so he can get his picture taken. (Pardon my digression.) Lauren and I stopped at Wawa on the way home, and I finally got my mac and cheese! It was delicious! We ate watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!

Now we're headed out to look for a new coffee pot. I was going to go with Lauren to pick up Doug, but I think I've had enough airports for one day and my migraine's trying to come back. Sorry, Doug! Welcome to PHL!

On that note...I'll be back a bit later for more interesting tidbits...

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