Day 2 OR My other car is a broom...

Buckle up, folks.  This is a LONG one! :)

I decided that, for day 2, I would start the day in Salem, Mass.  You know, Salem.  Home of the witches.  I kind of felt like some of my students and their parents would think that I was returning home.  Just kidding.  Or am I?  ;)

Anyway...I did the smart thing by visiting the tourist center first.  I didn't have a lot of money to spend, so the money that I did spend I wanted to spend on worthy ventures.  The nice lady (and by the way, does anyone know what the people of Massachusetts call themselves?  People from Texas are Texans, people from Florida are Floridians, people from Maine are Maniacs--true, I'm not making that up, but what are people from Massachusetts?  People from Boston call themselves Bostonians, but there is more to Massachusetts than Boston.  Can anyone help me here?).  Anyway, as I was saying....the nice lady from the tourist center told me that most of what is in Salem isn't "real".  Basically, it is a tourist trap.  She told me to visit the "Witch House" because that was authentic and FREE.  Well, she got the authentic part right, anyway.  I got there and, not only wasn't it free, it was too small to be worth paying for.  Therefore, the only picture that you get from the Witch House is this one:

I did visit a graveyard where I took some pictures of some stone benches that were made to memorialize the people that were tagged as witches and killed because of that:

The one thing that I did deam worthy of my money was the House of Seven Gables made famous by the Hawthorne novel, which I freely confess I have never read. :)  The house was cool, though, and the view was beautiful  On the way there I was able to take some pictures of a replica of one of the tall ships that used to sail into the harbor:

Salem, all in all, was pretty cool.  I ate in a deli there and got a great deal at a great price.  I also took some pictures from outside the Pirate museum:

And, because I love the architecture of old buildings, I took some other pictures:

After I left Salem, I still had a good part of the day left so I went to Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau.  It was overcast and a little rainy, but I was still able to get some good pictures.  I couldn't walk around the pond because the trail was underwater due to the massive amount of snow received over the winter as well as all the rain they had received.  I decided, after seeing the cabin that Thoreau built, that I am not the camping/nature type.  I am way too girlie for that. :)

Tomorrow is all about day three in which I went to Plymouth and Author's Ridge at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

I was going to end this post there because I know it is ridiculously long, but I HAVE to tell you a story about today.  My dad came to visit me yesterday.  Yea!!!!  Today we went to Lowe's, aka MANWORLD.  Hmmmmmmm......now, from all you know about me, does it seem likely that I would know ANYTHING about ANYTHING in Manworld?  You're right.  I wouldn't.  However, I needed a lawnmower.  And believe me, if there was a word that I could think of that has a stronger meaning than needed, I would use it.  Dad went with me to help me pick out the lawnmower that I paid for using.......wait for it........wait.......HALF OF MY SECURITY DEPOSIT FROM THE OLD PLACE!!!!!  Yes, I did get some of it back!  More on that soon.  After helping me with the lawnmower, and the cutest little gas can ever!, we took a look at the grills.  I do not have a grill.  I am grill-less.  That puts a serious roadblock in the way of having Dad make me his unbelievable delicious BBQ ribs.  Soooooo.....I now have a grill!!!!!  And a cordless drill thingie with all the bits and thingies that go with it.  Oh, and a for-real tape measure.  Yea me!!  Yea Dad!!!!! :)  And the best part, Lowe's is putting the grill together for me.

Anyway--I have to tell you, standing in Lowe's in front of the cordless drills in the middle of Manworld made me feel a little like I should check to see if I had my passport with me.  I kind of felt like I was in a foreign country.

My BFF read my Facebook status that said just that and laughed at me.  Well, she also laughed because I said my new gas can was cute.  Hmmmmmm.  I don't see the humor in that. Ok.  Maybe just a little.  ;)

Would you like to hear a little....

about my trip?

What?  You do?  Awwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Thanks!!!!

Well, as you may or may not know, I spent some time with them:

Because it was the young one's birthday. 

She is 11.  ELEVEN.  I am not dealing well with that.  Although she likes me alot better now that she is 11 years old than she did when she was 11 days old.  *ahem*

We had a ton of fun.  And, by a ton, I mean that I gained a ton.  But more on that later.

We partied--the theme was Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and, as is the norm, my BFF made yet another way cool cake.  The cake was delicious and, because I would hate to ever hurt my BFF's feelings, I did more than my fair share to get rid of the cake.  Down my throat.  It was good.  No, it was freaking awesome.  As usual.

:)

We had a girl's day at the mall in somwhereville, Ohio.  That was great!  Lunch at Panera, quality time at Barnes and Noble, the movie Despicable Me (which was great, mostly because the BFF stayed AWAKE the whole movie!  Please everyone, clap for the BFF).

We went to the Amish country, where I again ate way more than I should, not wanting to offend the Amish.  I'm nice like that. 

I  also fed a goat and held a chicken.  Proof:

Yes, I know I look a little, um, odd.  I was afraid it would either peck me or pee on me.  I didn't want either to happen.  I'm girlie like that.

I came home, did some laundry, packed the suitcase, and took off to Boston.  O.M.G.  I had soooo much fun!  I love history, so I did a lot of the "touristy, historical" stuff.  I will do my best to re-cap for you and try not to bore you too much.

Day one:

Arrive at hotel outside of Boston.  Get settled in go to Cambridge to visit Harvard.  Proof:

Day two tomorrow. ;)

Just a few more days....

and we'll be back.  No, seriously.  I mean it.  :)

I miss you too, BFF.  ;)

And because I miss you soooooooooo much, these are just ex-pecially for YOU!

Do you know what this is?  Remember...I LOVE history. :)

I want so much to live by the water.  Even the air smelled better here.

Any guesses on this historic spot?  You can have ONE or TWO. ;)

This was one of my FAVORITE stops on my trip. :)

This was taken during one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.

I promise....there are plenty more pictures and stories to come!!! :)

Soooooo..............

do you miss us???

Never fear, dear readers!  we won't be gone for too much longer but miss raven and I are having the time of our lives!  I have so much to tell you about what we are doing and have done, but here is a wee bit of a sampling!

Girl's Day at Easton!

No fear, BFF, I am NOT engaged. ;)

We are having a ball!!!!!! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Happy Birthday dear miss raven!!!

Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mommy loves you baby girl!!!!

This is my space....that is your space.....

My vacation starts tomorrow at 2:00.  I am very happy about that.  Very, very happy.  I need a break.  I need to get away from some things that are going on.  I'm not running away, mind you.  I just need to not have to focus on some things.

I am a relatively quiet person.  I do not readily share my thoughts, feelings, and emotions.  There are a very, very few people who I feel comfortable telling things to.  Don't be sad if you aren't one of them.  It isn't anything against you at all. :)

Oh.  Why did I say that?  Because I have a difficult time dealing with people who insist on pushing me to tell them how I am feeling and what I am thinking.   If I want to tell you I promise, you will be the first to know.  If I don't want to tell you, no amount of pushing on your part, or demading that we "must talk" is going to get me to open up to you.

Ok.  Now that I have gotten that off my chest.

My vacation starts tomorrow.  At 2:00.  Let the countdown begin.

:)

a little hiatus...

i'm still here, please don't worry.  girlie and i are ok.  well, girlie is.  i need some time to process some things right now and i really, really don't want to make this blog all sad and depressy like i did at the beginning of last school year.

i'm not quite sure when i will pop back in, hopefully sometime before the end of the week or so.

keep enjoying your summer, stay cool, and keep girlie and i in your thoughts. :)

Thankful Thursday!!!

Here, in no particular order, are some things I am thankful for today:

1.  Air conditioning

2.  Ice cream

3.  Electricity

4. Summer hours at work

5.  Vacation

6.  A healthy, albeit somewhat , um, spoiled well-loved, puppy

The end. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY.....

AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(part 2)

So.  Where was I?  Oh yes.  When last we spoke I was in DC.....

First, here are some more pictures of the parade:

Here I am getting ready to leave:

One of the bazillion high school marching bands:

These guys held this pose for the WHOLE parade route!  Amazing!

There were a whole group of these guys.  They even did tricks on the bikes!

LOL!!!  Nothing says "Fourth of July" like a flamingo on a drum!  This group is from California.  Need I say more?  ;)

After the parade, we walked back to the Metro and rode up to DuPont Circle.  I had never been there before and apparently, it isn't a place that you want to go to alone, especially at night.  Who knew?  We ate brunch at a hotel restaurant, of which I forgot the name.  It was really, really good.  You got your choice of appetizer, entree, and dessert.  You also got to choose a drink. :)  You could choose a glass of champagne, a Bellini, a Mimosa, or a Bloody Mary.  I tasted champagne a looooonnnnnggggg time ago and frankly couldn't remember what it tasted like.  A Mimosa is champagne with orange juice, a Bellini is champagne with peach somethingorother, and a Bloody Mary is nasty. ;)  I had a Bellini and, to tell you the truth, I didn't like it all that much.  I'm really not much of a drinker.  The taste was ok but it was a little strong for me.  The brunch was A-mazing!  I chose the individual quiche for my appetizer.  It was made with puff pastry!  Yum.  For my entree I had a quesadilla.  That was really good, too.  It had corned beef hash in it.  That gave it a very unique, but good taste.  For dessert I had fresh fruit.  Yummmmmm!!!!

When we finished with brunch we walked back to the Metro and rode back to Chinatown.  There is a movie theatre connected to the Verizon center.  Since it was so blazingly hot outside and there was still time to kill before the fireworks, we went to see the movie Grownups.  I hadn't heard good things about it but I like Kevin James and Adam Sandler so I was willing to watch it with an open mind.  It was stupid and kind of goofily predictable, but it wasn't as bad as I heard it was.  Besides, I was with family so it really wouldn't have mattered to me what we saw. :)

I had to get home to take care of miss raven so I left after the movie.  I still got to see the fireworks on TV so I didn't feel too cheated.  Besides, who can resist this face?

(In case you were wondering, she is singing the Star Spangled Banner.  Just kidding.)

I have to say that being in DC on the Fourth of July is something special.  There is nothing like being in the nation's capital on the nation's birthday to make you feel patriotic.  Well, that and a bunch of Hare Krishnas:

Ok.  That was truly an inside joke between me and the BFF.  I will share with you but please don't be surprised if you can't truly appreciate it.  My first summer here, sixteen years ago, my BFF and a few other people were going in to DC for the Fourth of July.  Because she is the most awesome person in the world, my  BFF (who was not my BFF at the time) invited me along.  I was, in a word, ELATED to be included.  We spent the whole day in the city and, if I remember correctly, it was hotter than H-E-double hockey sticks that day, too.  At one point during the day we were walking down the sidewalk when, seemingly out of nowhere, a band (herd, bevy, gaggle??) of Hare Krishas came dancing toward us, singing and chanting and dancing and twirling.  It was all quite amazing to me.  We ended up smack dab in the middle of them all and I am surprised that none of us got proselytized that day.

See?  I told you it wasn't going to be all that funny to you.  Truly, you had to be there.

Do you want to know what the best part of the day was?  Getting to spend time with her:

She is my very favorite aunt and I am so glad that she moved back to this side of the country.  I am really looking forward to being able to spend more time with her.

Ok.  This is super long now so I am going to say goodnight.  Well, goodnight and I made chocolate-peanut butter ice cream.  Yum.  ;)

Oh, and, BFF.....this one's for you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY.....

AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(part one)

I'm hokey, like that.  I absolutely love the 4th of July.  It ranks right up there with Christmas for me and I love me some Christmas.

I am a very, very patriotic citizen.  I love my country.  It is not a perfect country and I don't always agree with everything we do but dang it, there is no where else I would rather live.  No offense to my new Canadian reader--my blog is international like that.  Please don't go away.  (note to little brother:  no comments.  I mean it.  :) )

I had the most awesome day I have had in a while.  I met my aunt and cousin in DC for the 4th of July parade.  All three of us realized, while sitting in the scorching heat (of which I am NOT complaining!!), that NONE of us had ever really been to a parade.  It was super cool.  Long as heck and, frankly, as hot as heck may be, but super cool.  No, I didn't see the president and no I didn't see any of the redskins (blech).  I have about have a bazillion pictures but don't want to bore you with all of them (today) so I will just grace you with a few:

This next picture is just especially for my BFF.  There are a few more taken exclusively with her in mind, but those will be in tomorrow's post. :)

I wanted everyone to see that miss raven is also a very patriotic citizen. :)

When I tell you that I had an awesome day, I am so not lying.  As I was riding the metro (and trying not to be sick) on the way home, I formulated this whole long, lovely post in my mind but then decided "Hey!  If I tell them everything tonight one (or all) of three things may happen:"

1.  I will make their eyeballs bleed with such a long post.

2.  No one will be able to (or want to) read my blog with no eyeballs.

3.  I won't be able to think of anything to write tomorrow.

So, because I love you all so very much.....really....I do, I am going to say goodnight for now and tell you that I will continue this post on the morrow.  heheheh.  I laughed out loud when I typed that....on the morrow.  heheheeeeeeeee.

:)

Happy Birthday America and a HUGE shoutout to all the men and women who are serving (or have served) our country!  YOU are our TRUE heroes and I thank you!!!! :)