Away and Home

I spent Friday through Sunday in Florida. Ahhhh... 3 glorious days that included sun, the ocean, the "Largest Tiki Bar In Ft. Lauderdale!!!" and even a wedding. I finally got to meet TheBoy's two best friends (and I am still amazed that they are normal and non-frattish). Oh, and I came home with a sunburn that is so severe I cannot wear pants to work because ohgodThePain!!! I told my aide she is on her own if we have any major behavior problems, because although I enjoy a "take-down" every once in awhile, I'm not so confident I could do so in a skirt. See also: peeling skin in hair looking like nasty dandruff.

*****

They have taken the listing for OUR house off the real estate website, and although that means there is very little that can go wrong from here, and we'll be in the house a month from today, I miss watching the Virtual Tour and imagining all the rooms with my own paint colors and furniture. I paid the $5 to join Behr.com, because you can upload pictures of your room, and then use their paint tool to color in. So far, it is amazingly slow and frequently leads to browser shutdowns, but that could just be because my computer is now about 3-4 years old and therefore a senior citizen.

My landlord and I have been talking about getting together for drinks since I started renting the place, and it has just never happened. She emailed me last week so we could try again for a date, and I had to email her back a "yes, I'd love to hang out, and also will I still get my security deposit back if I break the lease?" type email. I feel really bad because I like her a lot. Almost to the point that I was just going to continue paying for the month I want to leave early, but I think Alex would have my head.

So, I haven't heard back from her yet, but that was just yesterday. Perhaps she had to go home and discuss it with her husband... Or maybe she needs time to figure out how to get away with the Perfect Murder. Either way, I am anxious.

Back from Beantown

Alex and I went to Boston this past weekend to visit his brother. It was too short, but it was fun, save the whole "getting there" part, in which:

• I was yelled at by a security officer as I walked through the metal detector; I was actually accused of killing the man by forgetting to take my outerwear off (Jess, in the airport, with the Burberry scarf!)
  
• our flight was delayed an hour
• the gate was changed and so the guy at the desk told us we had missed the flight altogether ("Oops! Looks like you two kids have missed your flight! Har har!") (we missed a flight to Boston, but not our flight to Boston)
• the lady at the gate check-in told our entire flight that if we didn't hurry the fuck up and put our shit away when we got on the plane, they were going to cancel the flight altogether, you motherfuckers (because somehow the fact that they were late to start with meant that we had to rush)
• we were only privy to an "Express Beverage Service," which basically meant that we got no tiny packets of airline snack mix (which now includes bbq soy nuts instead of peanuts to save those with peanut allergies, and bytheway thanks for considering those of us with soy allergies), and that they just ran down the isle with a shaken up can of soda and sprayed it at us as we held our mouths open (and shut our eyes)

Once we were there, though, it was good times all around. I found it funny that Boston is kind of like a characature of itself: there are actually stores with names like, "Beantown Motors" and the place in the mall food court where I bought my lunch was called "Boston Chowda." But most of all, it was nice and relaxing and we got to eat and drink and shop, and really, what more can you expect from a nice weekend away from home?

The flight home was much more relaxing, too. It was less crowded, which meant that Alex and I could have a seat between us and his broad shoulders weren't invading my space and crushing me against the seat or pushing me into the isle to get my elbows banged by the beverage cart. And also we got a whole soda and two packets of airline deathmix!

*****

Grocery store quirks: I empty my items onto the belt in the order/grouping in which I'd like them bagged. I get annoyed when the cashier doesn't scan like-things together, and so they appear separately on my receipt (ex. yogurt, yogurt, yogurt, string cheese, yogurt).

Recent fortune cookie opened while sharing a side of the booth with Alex*: Stop searching forever; happiness is just next to you.

* No, we're not that corny-- his dad and brother were sitting across from us.

I want to be a part of it...

This was an awesome weekend, but everytime I started writing about it, I realized how boring my writing has been lately. I find that I'm much better at writing lists because they warrant no expectations of entertainment. A list is a list. An entertaining list is just a bonus. Here is a no-bonus list of my weekend activities.

• I took the TheBoy to Alison's Halloween party, aptly entitled "Alloween." As far as I can tell everyone loved (or at least said they approved of) him, and Meg even said she thinks he's The One.
• I dressed up as Alison, which I thought was pretty freakin' clever, and which everyone there seemed to appreciate. I even fought with her sister a little to make it really authentic.
  
• We stayed overnight at the Hyatt, and because they didn't have any rooms on the "Quiet Side" of the building, they upgraded us to a suite.
• We took the train into New York.
• We saw Wicked, which was an awesome, awesome show. And what was even awesomer was that when we got there, the show was actually sold out, and so we waited on the Cancellations line, and ended up with sweet 15th row, center section tickets- probably better than what we'd have gotten if we were on the ball and ordered them ahead of time!
• We ate dinner at Virgil's BBQ, which was super tasty.*
• My car didn't stall out due to lack-of-fuel on the Turnpike!
  

* Do people in Canada eat barbeque? Like real BBQ with coal smokers and stuff?