drive drive drive

Tonight, I am in Albuquerque, New Mexico. am very sleepy, must watch cable and enjoy my room at the La Quinta (hey there is a couch in my room, and a mini fridge and microwave, we've really hit the big time).

across the country

Hurray for wireless internet. Above is a picture of my odometer turning over to 100,000 miles somewhere in the middle of West Virginia yesterday. Michael and I are in day two of our drive from Pennsylvania to California. Tonight we are in Stroud, OK. I think it would be apt to say we are in the middle of nowhere. There is an Indian reservation, and a small beer/liquor store, that had a weight bench, and a bird, and about 6 types of beer to choose from in six packs. When we left the cashier told us to "Have a good'un." I have tried to google this town but nothing interesting came up on the first page and I am too lazy to search further. Wait wait I was spelling it wrong before thinking of breweries as I enjoyed my beer I typed in Stoudt, Here is Stroud . Last night we stayed at a Drury Inn (nope, I'd never heard of it either though I was singing the muffin man song in the elevator) in Terre Haute, Indiana. Tomorrow we may be in Albuquerque.
It was Michael's idea to drive through Tulsa and stop somewhere on the other side. What we didn't realize was that there was nothing on the other side. The land in Missouri was rolling. The highways had no guardrails. Missouri and Oklahoma have speed limits of 75mph, but most inhabitants seem law abiding citizens and ready to settle and drive at or below the limit. This is very different from PA and NJ driving but it is nice to stop looking in the rearview mirror for flashing lights as I drive at around 80mph. In Oklahoma there are many signs by the road that implore motorists with the message DO NOT DRIVE INTO SMOKE . I have no idea what this means. The smoke signs are interspersed with blue triangle signs that say Keep Our Land Grand, much nicer than the usual signs that display littering fines. I can't decide if the roads look cleaner because of the cute signs or the lack of inhabitants. We haven't stopped much here but when I do I seem to get funny looks from people when I speak (the PA accent?) I was thinking of putting on my silly southern drawl, but I am not sure it might be worse here where I cannot catagorize the accent and I definitely saw a boy leave the welcome center wearing only denim overalls. Well, I'll leave you with that picture and possibly update again tomorrow if the wireless internet is as happening outside of Stroud, OK.

Incommunicado

My internet connector thing must be returned to the store tonight before 7. Tomorrow afternoon some people will come and deliver a container in front of my apartment. (I am crossing my fingers that a bored traffic cop does not feel the need to come to my neighborhood and write me a ticket, especially because the city of Cincinnati was so helpful when we called about getting a permit, mmhmm, I'll miss Cincinnati).
There is, of course, more packing cleaning and organizing to do. The move has taken over and when it is complete I can resume letting the wedding or my new job anxieties take over after the cross country driving and apartment finding anxieties subside. The next two weeks will be our usual east coast tour with the added bonuses (bonusi?) of attending a wedding, going "down the shore" to do some of our own wedding planning, and a Murphy bridal shower (the Murphy part implies wine and beer and absolutely NO party games). When next we meet I may be on the west coast (or using some found wifi in mid-travels). Wish me luck on the apartment hunting.

now

I am a graduate. But I didn't go to graduation, just to the CCM picnic for free food and to see Nora once more before she goes to Italy. Free food tastes yummy. The apartment is very packed up. The futon is leaving with a friend of Michael's this afternoon. So this evening I plan on lying on a lonely mattress in the living room and reading or watching library rented episodes of sex and the city. The LA apartment fell through so we are just going to drive out there and then figure out what to do next. Hopefully, some family will feel sorry for us and save us the hotel costs while we figure it out. Michael said today that every June something momentous happens that changes everything. I always thought of it as August or September with the start of new school or jobs, but it is true. Does that stop? or does it continue that way?

too much to talk about,

yet nothing is actually happening yet. I got a tentative (fill in the blank salary), the apartment has been offered, I have mountains of paperwork to fill out and 80% of the apartment has been boxed up and is sitting in the living room. If I think to hard about the little things, or the big things I may have a panic attack, so it is better to just do some stuff each day and move on and hope that the move doesn't steam roll me into oblivion.

The annoying but long anticipated weekend recap:
Spent the weekend in Charlotte with Michael's stepbrother and fiance. I left my camera in my purse the entire time. It was the most active weekend I have had in about three years and I am staying in bed this morning to recover. I think I wanted to bring my camera to some things but thought I might break it if I fell (and I expected to fall). And now, everyone say hurray for weekend bulletpoints.

Friday

• fly into Charlotte via Detroit (use my camera only to try to record the hideous disco, public art display in an unavoidable concourse between terminals)

Saturday

• go eat huge omelets (which I always want to spell the French way, omelettes) and pancakes with the yummiest fresh squeezed juices
• go ice skating (1. ow ankles, 2. veering around to avoid a herd of 3 and 4 year old full gear hockey kids who were painfully cute and literally running around the ice in their hockey skates--3. oh and there were also a respectable amount of small ice princesses prancing around in teeny little outfits and stretching their bodies in impossible ways, 4. I did not fall down, though I did do a lot of arm waving and looking impossibly awkward and tall but I think I probably do that off the ice)
• go to taste of Charlotte (and wonder wear downtown Charlotte keeps their poor and middle class folk because the yuppies have taken over. Admire how everything is brick and beautiful public art and billion dollar condo, still wonder about the po' people, like myself, where would I live? in the suburbs? use silly "silver" coins to purchase food. Not as yummy as taste of Cincinnati but oh so clean and lots of vendors with non-food stuff, I did have FANTASTIC mini cannolis)
  
• tennis (or for me strolling around to pick up errant balls from a hot clay court)
• cook-out (with yummy mahi mahi, spicy asparagus and fantastic salad)(also with Michael's step sister and friends on their way up from Florida and fanciest of all wine out of stemless goblets)
  

Sunday

• go to hike up a mountain (or for me walk halfway up and then stop sporadically to catch your breath while begging everyone else to just hike up and you'll meet them later--much later)
• South Carolina outlet shopping/limping (my poor iceskating ankles, or 2 hours in a gap dressing room with lots of clothing in different sizes figuring out what size is my new size and the inevitable I am not buying these jeans if they don't make my butt look really good--I don't buy any jeans)
• limping home to watch the disappointing Sopranos season finale and eat the worst pizza on the planet (no seriously, I think that the cardboard ellio's would be better, but shh don't tell our fantastic hosts because it is "the best pizza in Charlotte" and this from a former New Yorker, who has I think been in the south too long to judge these things)

Monday

• fly back to Dayton airport via the Detroit headachy public art display
• read several books and magazines to spend some quality time in Detroit
• go to a party in Cincinnati with my classmates and more yummy food and gifts and promises to karaoke tonight (we shall see)
  

my life is action packed and now I must go de-mildew the shower, and keep packing up the growing piles of stuff. Moving day is set for June 13th...then the trip to the east coast, then the trip to the beach, then the LONG trip to the west coast. ACK!

cupcakes

Illustration Friday for the first time in a long time.
I just opened illustrator and really have no idea how to use the program so here is a lame first attempt at playing.