An Awful Lot of Rambling

I've been back a few days now from my latest excursion out east.  It was so lovely!  Laura's wedding was so beautiful and so very them, it was wonderful!  And a fantastic excuse to see everyone again!  I had a fabulous time.  Though, I'm disappointed that my camera decided to malfunction that afternoon.  (Speaking of, this afternoon I considered just saying "arvo" from now on, just because!)

I also spent a couple of days in D.C., staying with my cousin Ben and visited what museums I was able to fit in.  I feel as though I could have spent several more days there, but I did enjoy what I was able to see.  The William Eggleston exhibit at the Corcoran was so inspiring, and the Alan Bean paintings at the Air and Space Museum were really fantastic.  (And I saw my cousin Margaret, who lives in Boston, at the latter--and she was there with her nephew, Angus.  From Melbourne.  Talk about a Small World encounter!)  I also went to the International Spy Museum.  At first, I wasn't sure that it was worth the $18 I spent on admission, but after three hours of spy-related entertainment/history/etc., I don't have any regrets about it.  Don't worry though, I have not developed a desire to ever be a spy!

Flew/drove home on Wednesday, and then Thursday was my birthday.  I've been preparing myself for 28 for a few weeks now, so it wasn't such a shock.  I've never been apprehensive about going up a year, but this number was a bit intimidating somehow.  It was a good day though, did an awful lot of nothing, and then for dinner a few of my friends joined in the traditional lasagna and German chocolate cake meal. 

Now I'm back at work (yuck), and getting all sorts of excited for the Ken Burns National Parks films.  I'm prepping myself by watching the Discovery Channel's Wild Pacific series I recorded ages ago*.  Did you know there is a millipede in Fiji that can grow up to a foot long?  This makes me slightly less sad that I never made it there.  Gross.  (They talked about these right after eels, so that was not a good episode for me!)

One of the few photos I was able to take before my camera decided to do whatever it's doing.  The Howard Johnson may not have been great, but at least we weren't staying at the "M T  "!

*Which, you know I only did because there would be references to New Zealand, right?  Although in the end, it was only Kaikoura.  Beautiful Kaikoura, I wish I had spent more than one night there!

Really Greater! Really Better! Oh, What a Fair!

It's the Clay County Fair!  I've already gone once yesterday afternoon, and I'm going to go again tomorrow morning with Whitney.  It's exciting stuff!  Fried foods, people selling farming implements and made for TV goods, midway rides and animals.  And of course, ribbons!  Three blue, a red and a white if you're me.  (That's all five of my photos with one!)

There's also a 1930s race car with the fair museum, and since it's the Parker, my mom did a lot of work.  Which means I've been hearing a lot about it for some time now.

 And of course, the midway at night!

Tomorrow afternoon after I leave the fair, I'm headed to Omaha where I'll fly out to DC for Laura's wedding.  Not sure what I'll do with my few free days afterwards yet, but I'm so very, very glad to have eleven, yes eleven, days off work!

Busy Little Bee

Last weekend was Laura's bachelorette weekend in Minneapolis.  There were eight of us Cornellians, and it was so much fun!  It was like old times, but with more reminiscing and less alcohol.  And the best part is that it won't be that long until we see each other again.  Laura's wedding is only in two weeks from today!

As I was driving home, I called to let them know when I'd get in.  My mom informed me that my sister had decided (at 2:30 that morning) to drive back from Tulsa for a week.  So she's been here, and when neither one of us is working we've been hanging out.  On top of that, I've been trying to finalize travel plans (so tricky, and not even close to finished), work on my program for Kiwanis that was this last Wednesday, and this morning was spent getting some photos ready to enter in the photography competition at the Clay County Fair.

Deep breath!

On top of that I've been doing my usual 40-ish hours of work.  Work has been awful recently.  It's been so slow, and it seems like the few people who do come into the store are far more rude and unpleasant than usual.  And I'm not just imagining it, I took a poll yesterday of a few other people in other areas: we all agreed.  

I'm so grateful for this weekend off.