my birthday

Today is my 31st birthday. I am exhausted. The very nice Hilton we stayed in charged $10 a day for in room wireless internet. I thought that was lame so here is my post much later than I would like. Spent the day Saturday just hanging out with Michael, shopping (which I never do) and eating out. We picked up Bart at the airport and went to meet his friends in Pacific Beach. We had good beers served in funny heavy goblets and a bar I do not remember the name of, it was like a workout holding up that beer and a good time.
Today we got going late and went to "Brunch" with extended family. It was fabulous. The food was delicious. The wine was plentiful. And there was champagne and pumpkin cheesecake for my birthday. Cannot be beat.
Currently I am contemplating a caffeinated beverage, all the work I should be doing for school tomorrow, and the friends that are expected shortly, who have graciously offered to come over and cook me a birthday dinner. Bed is calling but I am sure I will rally.

day 2 late but here

Crazy day at school. Severely understaffed but with the most responsive understanding assistants ever. Seriously.
Home and then to San Diego. Lots of fun singing at the top of my lungs in the car. Being made fun of by Michael who continues to criticize my IPOD music (though he did not bring his) and it is my Birfday weekend so he must listen to Elliot Smith and Postal Service and Regina Spektor and anything else depressing and emotive that I desire, interspersed with Beatles, Otis Redding, Aretha, Dire Straits so in reality nothing to complain about.
We have a beautiful hotel room in The Bristol. Fancy shmancy for sure. We spent the evening with my extremely extended family having wine. Extremely extended equaling, cousin in law's once removed that I call Aunt, and Uncle, and second cousins. In short things are very very good, and wine infused. Also, Hurray I actually posted for the second day in a row.

travel 2

I just found this post when I was adding labels to old posts (while half assedly watching the moving Munich ahh Spielbert (this was a typo that I am leaving in now because it cracks me up--the movie was scratched and unwatchable in the end). Anyway, I realized that I have been in a lot more states this summer, so here is my new map.

The first time I did it I forgot Missouri and the states didn't connect. I had to ask Michael what state I missed. Now it is fixed. He said "Missouri, remember St. Louis."and I said "Oh yeah, the arch."

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!

travel

Here are the places I have been to in the U.S. I know that I have probably driven through parts of Georgia, Maine, and Connecticut but I didn't include them because I couldn't think of anything in particular about those states other than similar stretches of highway. I mean does it count to have been there if you didn't even stop?



You can create your own visited states map or if you are cooler than me you can do one for the whole world

I would do the world map too but that is just too pathetic. U.S., Canada, Germany, that is all.