Christmas trip 2011

So much for thinking the new blog design would help me update more often. Whoops.

I guess I could go back in time, to my trip home. Especially since I didn’t even write about it at all here.

It was great. Better than I thought it would be. And much needed.

I hated being there without my husband, but it was nice to not spend Christmas alone, even though I wouldn’t have been alone in Hawaii.

I spent a lot of time traveling on my trip. I think I put at least 2000 miles on a car. I drove from Atlanta, to Dahlonega, to Chattanooga, to Nashville, back to Chattanooga, back to Dahlonega and then back to Atlanta. Driving places in between at each stop.

The first stop was Atlanta, to stay the night with my grandfather. He took me to dinner at the Country Club, and my Aunt and Uncle joined us. It was nice, it felt like old times, spending the night, that is. If my grandmother had still be living it would have been exactly like old times. But she’s been gone 2 years now, and Granddad and I talked about her, and shared memories. It was nice. He misses her so much. I hope that my husband and I have that kind of love. They were married for 50 years.

Then I drove up to Dahlonega and spent a few days with the husband’s family. It was nice to see his mom and dad, and grandparents. I got to meet his great-grandmother as well. I spent some time with his cousins and Aunts and Uncles, and even went to dinner with his friend. It was really nice.

Then I drove up to Chattanooga to spend time with my family and friends. I took my mom and sister to dinner with my best friend and her daughter, of course we went to my favorite Chinese restaurant, Formosa! Then I helped Emily with her daughter, it was so nice spending so much time with Emily. It was just like old times. Emily and I drove up to Nashville for the day, to have lunch with my father. It was nice. We were going to see the hotel all decorated for Christmas, but it was $18 to park, we said no way, plus the parking lot is far away from the hotel and it was raining, and we had no umbrella, and her 2 year old.

I spent a lot of time with my sister too. I spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Night at my mom’s house. We drove to Atlanta for Christmas with my grandfather and his sister and her husband. Mom and I made Chicken Divan and Rice, and my Uncle brought Costco Apple Pie for desert! We went back home that evening, and I took my sister to see Breaking Dawn, for my 3rd time. The night before, I took mom and my sister to see Sherlock Holmes.

I went back to Dahlonega to spend more time with the husband’s family. And then I went down to Atlanta to spend the night with my grandfather and have dinner with him and my Aunt and Uncle again.

The next day I was flying back to Hawaii. On my way to the airport, I got a text and then a call that my flight was cancelled. Due to airplane maintenance. So when I got there, I went to the ticket counter, waiting in line, and finally calling the airline, they weren’t going to be able to put me on a plane until later that evening. I was told her that was not an option. So she called Delta, and got me a non-stop flight, only kicker, I had less than an hour to get checked in and board. I got a confirmation number, and went over to Delta, which of course was in the opposite terminal. When I got there, the conformation number wasn’t working. So I got in line, again. The guy told me he didn’t know if he could get me on the plane. I was like, wtf, I want on this plane, and the lady I talked to said I was…anyways, he got me on, and I didn’t have to pay to check my bags!

I ended up getting 2 meals and 1 snack out of the flight, and I think we will only fly Delta non-stop from here on out. And I also ended up getting into Hawaii close to 2 hours ahead of time!

New Years Eve was spent with good friends, eating good food, drinking good wine/champagne, and watching fireworks!

Wrote this a while back...oops

I've been in Fort Sill, OK for 2 weeks now, and blogger doesn't really work on their internet, so I haven't been updating as much and I wrote this on the day I was flying out. A lot happened after I wrote this, like a major LAYOVER in Dallas, TX. But that is for another post because this one is long enough.....


Friday, July 31, 2009

So I’m sitting at the Atlanta Airport waiting on my 4:50pm flight to Dallas, TX and I’m on the floor because my gate is so packed from the Miami flight that has been delayed. As I sit here though, I have been people watching. And let me just say there are a lot of different people out there. And it got me thinking, what do people think when they look at me.

I obviously do not have the answer to the question; however I can think about what I want them to think. I’d like them to think that I’m a kind, caring person. That I’m not uglier than a toad and that I am not fatter than a hippo. I know I’m not the most fashionable girl, and I’m sitting here in torn jeans, pink flip flops and a pink Fudruckers shirt that says “Best Buns in Town” on the back. I’ve got my spring green Dell laptop on my lap and my carry on next to me and a Starbucks Java Chip Frappe that I’ve been nursing for a little while. I know that it shouldn’t matter what people think of me when they pass me, chances are they don’t even notice me since I’m on the floor in the corner almost. But it is something I think about. And something I am concerned with.

As I’m sitting here typing this, a family with a 2 year old little girl stood next to me. I happened to have some stickers in my bag, so I gave her one and talked with her. She’s on her way to Florida to see the Alligators; her mom told me she wanted to see them. How exciting! She has the cutest puppy with her too, his name is Noodles. I of course showed her Artie, my teddy bear in Camo!

I am writing this in Microsoft Word for a few reasons. One is because well, I’m cheap and broke and don’t see paying for internet when I’ll have it for free once I make it to Fort Sill, OK. Another is that I didn’t want to forget my thoughts and never write this blog. I tend to do that a lot, think “Oh hey, that would make a good blog” and then never write it down, and when I am at my blog I can not remember what it was I wanted to write.

I live in Chattanooga as most of you know, and it is much cheaper to fly out of either Nashville or Atlanta. So I asked my mother to drive me to Atlanta today. My mom grew up here and her parents still live here. My grandmother (Sweetie is what we call her) has not been doing real well, so I thought how nice would it be for us to stop by and see them on our way to the airport. I have not had a positive visit with my grandparents since I was a little girl. Sweetie is very hard to please, and is getting increasingly worse in her old age. They did find out that I am going to get married, my grandfather asked when my mother told him that we were going to visit on the way to the airport since I was going to visit Steven. So mom told him yes. I’m so glad I don’t have to tell them that now. While in Atlanta we went to the Varsity and ate. Gosh I love that place. If you are EVER in the Atlanta area you should go and get a chili dog w/ onions and onion rings. They are famous for their onion rings. Nice and greasy!

Mom dropped me off at the Check-In desk and I had a HUGE bag to check, well, Steven thought the bag was included in the price of the ticket, he thought wrong. I only had $7 bucks on me and so I had to call mom to turn around and make the horrific trek back to the airport to bring me money. Luckily my grandfather had given her some extra money. The lady at the check-in desk said I could carry it on, but I saw the thing were you check to see if it will fit and looking at it I noticed, it would NOT fit, and I had things in there that they would make me throw away if I were to carry it on. No thanks. So after waiting for mom to bring the money I finally got my bag checked and made it through the security check point with flying colors. So I am now waiting for my flight. I think there are 2 in front of mine, including this Miami one that just boarded. The next one is a flight to Chicago. It looks like mine MIGHT be delayed a few minutes because of it. We’ll see though.

Have a great day and next time you hear from me I will be comfortable in my fiancé’s hotel room!