I'm going to say it's safe to assume that the second state I ever visited was Virginia. If it wasn't, let's just pretend so.
One of my first memories is of my Aunt Joan and Uncle Dave's apartment in Virginia Beach. He was in the Navy at the time and before he left, or maybe when he got back, my family went to go and have dinner on the ship that he was leaving on for Operation Desert Storm. One of the guys offered me bug juice to have with my dinner and I completely freaked out until my uncle explained to me that it was just fruit punch. My dad and brothers got to go in the cockpit of one of the planes and wear a pilot's helmet. While my uncle was gone, my mom took my brothers and I to visit my aunt and keep her company. He brought us back pretty cool presents. There's an epitome of the 90s picture somewhere of the three of us with our gifts. I'll try to find it for you guys.
They also lived in Ashburn, VA and that house holds a lot of memories. We used to play football like we were the Kennedys. Apparently a story goes that my brother slammed my uncle into the side of the house one time. We haven't played much football since that incident. We switched to playing soccer, but my youngest cousin is extra fragile and has injured/broken one too many things in her body because of the games. We haven't played a family game since my 21st birthday. The youngest sat out that one and the game ended with my other female cousin throwing her flip-flops at my brother. None of us will be quitting our day jobs to play sports anytime soon.
Currently, my aunt and uncle live all the way down in Fredericksburg. I visited a few summers ago when I was between jobs and got to go to Lake Anna which is beautiful. Once my beautiful cousin graduates college, they will probably move again (my aunt blames the Navy for not staying in one place even though my uncle has been out for a while). I really hope they move closer to MD. They're just too far away for my liking right now. Fredericksburg has some pretty yummy restaurants though. It's such a cute small town despite having a college in it. William & Mary seems to respect the coziness of what Fredericksburg has to offer and I really liked that. Granted, I visited when school was out, so it might be a rowdy mess during the school year.
Some other favorite memories from VA include seeing my favorite musician at a coffee house after I drove the wrong way on the Capitol Beltway and ended up driving the entire loop just to get to my destination. I spent my 19th birthday at then what was called Nissan Pavilion to see Mat Kearney, John Mayer, and Sheryl Crow. I've shopped the outlets in Williamsburg and rumor has it I went to Busch Gardens when I was a wee one. I've also been to Kings Dominion several times. I went once in high school with friends from youth group to go to Fright Fest. I somehow ended up at the end of the group and went right on the defense against the actors so that I wouldn't get scared. We got to a girl who was pretend slitting her wrists and I told her that Jesus loved her and life wasn't that bad. It really drove the actors insane that they weren't scaring me, but I had a great time laughing through the whole thing.
I don't spend too much time in Virginia even though it's not that far from me. I'm usually there for family functions and while I love my family and sometimes think we should pitch a TV show idea from our shenanigans, I know that most people won't find my family as entertaining as I do. This is also another one of those states that wasn't a one hit visit so putting together an album of pictures will be a little difficult. Check back though, I have some quiet and free time coming up so I might just endeavor to create an album.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
#1a - Washington, DC - Part 2
Labor Day weekend 2007.
That weekend was also known as the weekend I turned 20. I had just finished my last summer at YCamp, started my junior year of college, and had moved in with a new roommate, Emily. I tossed around the idea of visiting the monuments in DC for a while. I had the opportunity several years prior to tour the World War II Memorial before its official opening to the public because of the job my dad had at the time. That trip reawakened my desire to truly tour the monuments that I lived within an hour of my entire life. I got a few friends together, we drove to the closest Metro station, and made our way down to DC.
We stopped at a few monuments and took the traditional pictures. I stood where Martin Luther King, Jr. stood and let myself dream of what it must have been like for him to stand on that spot and deliver the speech for which he would forever be remembered and would inspire millions of people. I stood in awe of the size of Abraham Lincoln and thought of how what he fought for would resonate in MLK's speech. It was humbling to read the words of the Gettysburg Address which really put into perspective the magical history of the United States. I felt incredibly patriotic reading the words of the Declaration of Independence at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
After the history lesson, we headed over to the Smithsonian Museums. We trekked past The White House and admired it from far away. We ended up only making it to the National Museum of American History, but that was honestly probably all the museum time I could take. We checked out all of the fabulous jewels and realized we could fake try them on using the reflections of the jewelry on their glass enclosures. Then we headed over to an exhibit of photographs. There were beautiful pictures of animals that I could only dream of capturing on my own.
I've been back to the monuments since and never get tired of visiting them. I tend to take for granted that I'm a $5 dollar ride from so many iconic buildings and that some people plan entire vacations around visiting them. There are plenty of museums left for me to visit. I think a day trip will need to be planned for this summer.
Per usual, you can click on the link to the side to view my album of pictures. I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures of the expensive jewels. My camera is not the best one out there and even though I took a photography class in high school, I never really got the hang of taking great pictures. I'd also like to warn you that I look terrible in the pictures. My summer camp job left me with horrendous and multiple levels of tan lines, plus that birthday was around my heaviest weight. My roommate Emily was a big motivation for me to lose weight because as you'll see, she's tiny.
That weekend was also known as the weekend I turned 20. I had just finished my last summer at YCamp, started my junior year of college, and had moved in with a new roommate, Emily. I tossed around the idea of visiting the monuments in DC for a while. I had the opportunity several years prior to tour the World War II Memorial before its official opening to the public because of the job my dad had at the time. That trip reawakened my desire to truly tour the monuments that I lived within an hour of my entire life. I got a few friends together, we drove to the closest Metro station, and made our way down to DC.
We stopped at a few monuments and took the traditional pictures. I stood where Martin Luther King, Jr. stood and let myself dream of what it must have been like for him to stand on that spot and deliver the speech for which he would forever be remembered and would inspire millions of people. I stood in awe of the size of Abraham Lincoln and thought of how what he fought for would resonate in MLK's speech. It was humbling to read the words of the Gettysburg Address which really put into perspective the magical history of the United States. I felt incredibly patriotic reading the words of the Declaration of Independence at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
After the history lesson, we headed over to the Smithsonian Museums. We trekked past The White House and admired it from far away. We ended up only making it to the National Museum of American History, but that was honestly probably all the museum time I could take. We checked out all of the fabulous jewels and realized we could fake try them on using the reflections of the jewelry on their glass enclosures. Then we headed over to an exhibit of photographs. There were beautiful pictures of animals that I could only dream of capturing on my own.
I've been back to the monuments since and never get tired of visiting them. I tend to take for granted that I'm a $5 dollar ride from so many iconic buildings and that some people plan entire vacations around visiting them. There are plenty of museums left for me to visit. I think a day trip will need to be planned for this summer.
Per usual, you can click on the link to the side to view my album of pictures. I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures of the expensive jewels. My camera is not the best one out there and even though I took a photography class in high school, I never really got the hang of taking great pictures. I'd also like to warn you that I look terrible in the pictures. My summer camp job left me with horrendous and multiple levels of tan lines, plus that birthday was around my heaviest weight. My roommate Emily was a big motivation for me to lose weight because as you'll see, she's tiny.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
My Lobsters
I promise I'll get back to the travel stuff. Maybe I will this weekend when my plan is to play a round of golf, do my normal church thing, and spend as much as possible of the rest of the weekend on my bottom on my couch. I am beyond excited about the three day weekend in my future. For now though, I want to talk about lobsters. Specifically two of them, that I claim possessively as mine.
You've seen the episode of Friends when Phoebe talks about lobsters choosing a mate, locking claws, and then never letting go, right? It's a pretty memorable monologue for her from the show. It's also an idea that Glennon over at Momastery uses. She uses it to describe her sister. When I met her at a book signing, I was with one of my lobsters and since we're both on budgets, we have joint custody of the book so Glennon made out the inscription to us and then just wrote the word, "lobsters."
I'm blessed to have two lobsters who are better known as my best friends. A guy I dated pointed out that I can't have two best friends because it negates the superlative and while I agree, I told him he was a boy and didn't understand. My best friends are Amy and Sabrina.
I have theoretically known Amy since the second I was born. She is 5.5 months older than me. Our moms met in 7th grade and became best friends. They then happened to have little girls within 6 months of each other. I think God had a plan for that. Amy and I grew up 30 minutes from each other so it was a big deal to get together. We'd pass the time between play dates by corresponding through letters. They usually contained "homework" for each of us to do since we both wanted to become teachers. Amy fulfilled that goal. I did not. Every time we talk about work I am again reassured of my decision. She, however, loves it.
Amy and I are alike in many ways. We both tend to follow the rules. We both have brown hair and blue eyes, though hers are both lighter shades than mine. We have freckles. We each have two brothers. We like and are good at working with children. We both have serious medical conditions. Amy has a peanut allergy. It's a bummer. Some of our play dates growing up included me going with her to get allergy shots and watching her do her inhaler treatments. I still remember her light blue inhaler spacer. I thought it was pretty cool. It did not phase or alarm me one bit that I never ate peanuts around Amy. It didn't really cross my conscious realm - it was just a part of life.
Due to her own chronic medical fun, Amy doesn't shy away from mine. She can empathize. She can relate to missing out on really random things (Reese's peanut butter cups for her) because of something outside of her control. It makes our health conversations super detailed which probably freaks out those around us, but it also makes them so incredibly normal. She doesn't have any sort of surprised or worried reaction when I tell her things. She asks follow up questions as if she was asking me more details on why my day is going well. I have taken for granted how much of a blessing that has been in my life.
My second lobster is Sabrina. I'm sure we met sometime in 6th grade since we went to middle school together, but our lives didn't really cross until 8th grade when we both dated the same boy. I started dating him shortly after they broke up so of course I was the enemy. We didn't become friends until she invited me to go to the high school service at the church we both attended. We had a class together our freshman year of high school and the rest is history.
Sabrina and I talk so much it's freaky. We also can have entire conversations in just sounds. We speak our own language and we drive her husband insane with it. We also send such a ridiculous amount of texts to each other that trying to find something we talked about through text yesterday is pointless. She's my accountability for exercising and eating well. She's also my motivation to keep moving. The girl is racking up half-marathon medals like it's her job. Sabrina is also a worrier, which I tend to think for the most part, I'm not.
When it comes to my health, she is my balancer of emotions. She has on more than occasion expressed her interest in coming to my doctor's appointments so that she can learn and hear first hand. I guess I don't do a good enough job on my reports. She asks follow up questions because she is preparing herself for the worst case scenario. This has been one of the biggest contributors to me finally getting a handle on the seriousness of my condition. It's one of the reasons why I finally wrote down my health information and always make sure I have it with me. She is the one to whom I take my fears. She lets me feel them and feels them with me and then when I think I'm going to go over the cliff of the enormity of what's going on, she reels me back to safety.
My lobsters are my life line. They didn't meet until we were all in college so while we are not the three best friends that anyone can have (I can't believe a 3rd movie was made...), they are friends through the common bond of me. I am beyond blessed that God has put them in my life to walk through it with me. They both have paved the way for me in marriage and Amy in buying a house. They both are outgoing which brings me out of my shell. My life would have a void if they weren't in it. I would say the cliche that you should get to know them, but I'll pass. I don't share well.
You've seen the episode of Friends when Phoebe talks about lobsters choosing a mate, locking claws, and then never letting go, right? It's a pretty memorable monologue for her from the show. It's also an idea that Glennon over at Momastery uses. She uses it to describe her sister. When I met her at a book signing, I was with one of my lobsters and since we're both on budgets, we have joint custody of the book so Glennon made out the inscription to us and then just wrote the word, "lobsters."
I'm blessed to have two lobsters who are better known as my best friends. A guy I dated pointed out that I can't have two best friends because it negates the superlative and while I agree, I told him he was a boy and didn't understand. My best friends are Amy and Sabrina.
I have theoretically known Amy since the second I was born. She is 5.5 months older than me. Our moms met in 7th grade and became best friends. They then happened to have little girls within 6 months of each other. I think God had a plan for that. Amy and I grew up 30 minutes from each other so it was a big deal to get together. We'd pass the time between play dates by corresponding through letters. They usually contained "homework" for each of us to do since we both wanted to become teachers. Amy fulfilled that goal. I did not. Every time we talk about work I am again reassured of my decision. She, however, loves it.
Amy and I are alike in many ways. We both tend to follow the rules. We both have brown hair and blue eyes, though hers are both lighter shades than mine. We have freckles. We each have two brothers. We like and are good at working with children. We both have serious medical conditions. Amy has a peanut allergy. It's a bummer. Some of our play dates growing up included me going with her to get allergy shots and watching her do her inhaler treatments. I still remember her light blue inhaler spacer. I thought it was pretty cool. It did not phase or alarm me one bit that I never ate peanuts around Amy. It didn't really cross my conscious realm - it was just a part of life.
Due to her own chronic medical fun, Amy doesn't shy away from mine. She can empathize. She can relate to missing out on really random things (Reese's peanut butter cups for her) because of something outside of her control. It makes our health conversations super detailed which probably freaks out those around us, but it also makes them so incredibly normal. She doesn't have any sort of surprised or worried reaction when I tell her things. She asks follow up questions as if she was asking me more details on why my day is going well. I have taken for granted how much of a blessing that has been in my life.
My second lobster is Sabrina. I'm sure we met sometime in 6th grade since we went to middle school together, but our lives didn't really cross until 8th grade when we both dated the same boy. I started dating him shortly after they broke up so of course I was the enemy. We didn't become friends until she invited me to go to the high school service at the church we both attended. We had a class together our freshman year of high school and the rest is history.
Sabrina and I talk so much it's freaky. We also can have entire conversations in just sounds. We speak our own language and we drive her husband insane with it. We also send such a ridiculous amount of texts to each other that trying to find something we talked about through text yesterday is pointless. She's my accountability for exercising and eating well. She's also my motivation to keep moving. The girl is racking up half-marathon medals like it's her job. Sabrina is also a worrier, which I tend to think for the most part, I'm not.
When it comes to my health, she is my balancer of emotions. She has on more than occasion expressed her interest in coming to my doctor's appointments so that she can learn and hear first hand. I guess I don't do a good enough job on my reports. She asks follow up questions because she is preparing herself for the worst case scenario. This has been one of the biggest contributors to me finally getting a handle on the seriousness of my condition. It's one of the reasons why I finally wrote down my health information and always make sure I have it with me. She is the one to whom I take my fears. She lets me feel them and feels them with me and then when I think I'm going to go over the cliff of the enormity of what's going on, she reels me back to safety.
My lobsters are my life line. They didn't meet until we were all in college so while we are not the three best friends that anyone can have (I can't believe a 3rd movie was made...), they are friends through the common bond of me. I am beyond blessed that God has put them in my life to walk through it with me. They both have paved the way for me in marriage and Amy in buying a house. They both are outgoing which brings me out of my shell. My life would have a void if they weren't in it. I would say the cliche that you should get to know them, but I'll pass. I don't share well.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Life Changing
The events that transpired last week involving Boston hurt my heart.
One of the victims who was seriously injured and needed a partial leg amputation is a woman named Erika. She and I went to the same youth group in high school and I looked up to her as one of the cool upperclassmen. She is a genuinely beautiful person both inside and out. What was her first concern after coming out of sedation? The students she teaches.
The second thing that got me was that Boston was my first trip after I decided to conquer all 50 states. I didn't decide to blog until after my second trip which is why I haven't written about it. That city captured my heart though and if its winters weren't so cold, I would move there without hesitation. "Boston Strong" isn't just a cute slogan to unite people after the tragedy, it is a truth that I experienced during my 12 hours there. That city is magical in the best way possible. It's rich in United States history, has breathtaking buildings, and the locals I enjoyed at the sports bar were friendly and proud and a lot of fun to be around. They even welcomed a rival Orioles fan while the O's were taking on the Red Sox at Fenway.
While Erika and I were never close friends, I've thought a lot this week on how I would react if one of my close friends was ever in a situation like hers. Her life forever changed in an instant. She will have to relearn how to walk and do many different things. Her "typical" life is no more. I can't relate to life changing so quickly.
My typical life has never been typical. I'm not a CHD patient who was diagnosed as an adult. My life stopped being typical the moment I was born. I never fully participated in PE classes in school. I've never played on a sports team. I can only ride one roller coaster at amusement parks. I only lived a few hours without scars all over my body. I see a cardiologist on a regular basis. I never leave home without my health passport that includes my doctor's phone number and my health information. I don't consume caffeine (not including decaf coffee and chocolate). I can't take medicines with decongestants in them. I have an advanced directive. I challenge you to name another 25 year old in your life that lives like I do.
I don't point these things out for pity. I am fiercely in love with my life. My CHD has shaped the person that I am today. It continually challenges me and teaches me. It opened up my world to wonderful people I would have never met if my life was typical. While I don't have experience living like a normal person, I'm grateful that I don't know differently. I don't understand what I'm missing out on besides caffeine and let me tell you, some days I'm willing to risk the side effects just for the jolt of energy. I'm thankful that my life is the way that it is. I wouldn't trade it for a normal life. I don't live my days longing for the "better" times. I still live in my better times. They just look different than yours.
From what I know about Erika, she will soldier through adapting to her new life and she'll do it with a smile. If you would like to financially help her create her new typical, please visit www.thebrannockfund.com.
One of the victims who was seriously injured and needed a partial leg amputation is a woman named Erika. She and I went to the same youth group in high school and I looked up to her as one of the cool upperclassmen. She is a genuinely beautiful person both inside and out. What was her first concern after coming out of sedation? The students she teaches.
The second thing that got me was that Boston was my first trip after I decided to conquer all 50 states. I didn't decide to blog until after my second trip which is why I haven't written about it. That city captured my heart though and if its winters weren't so cold, I would move there without hesitation. "Boston Strong" isn't just a cute slogan to unite people after the tragedy, it is a truth that I experienced during my 12 hours there. That city is magical in the best way possible. It's rich in United States history, has breathtaking buildings, and the locals I enjoyed at the sports bar were friendly and proud and a lot of fun to be around. They even welcomed a rival Orioles fan while the O's were taking on the Red Sox at Fenway.
While Erika and I were never close friends, I've thought a lot this week on how I would react if one of my close friends was ever in a situation like hers. Her life forever changed in an instant. She will have to relearn how to walk and do many different things. Her "typical" life is no more. I can't relate to life changing so quickly.
My typical life has never been typical. I'm not a CHD patient who was diagnosed as an adult. My life stopped being typical the moment I was born. I never fully participated in PE classes in school. I've never played on a sports team. I can only ride one roller coaster at amusement parks. I only lived a few hours without scars all over my body. I see a cardiologist on a regular basis. I never leave home without my health passport that includes my doctor's phone number and my health information. I don't consume caffeine (not including decaf coffee and chocolate). I can't take medicines with decongestants in them. I have an advanced directive. I challenge you to name another 25 year old in your life that lives like I do.
I don't point these things out for pity. I am fiercely in love with my life. My CHD has shaped the person that I am today. It continually challenges me and teaches me. It opened up my world to wonderful people I would have never met if my life was typical. While I don't have experience living like a normal person, I'm grateful that I don't know differently. I don't understand what I'm missing out on besides caffeine and let me tell you, some days I'm willing to risk the side effects just for the jolt of energy. I'm thankful that my life is the way that it is. I wouldn't trade it for a normal life. I don't live my days longing for the "better" times. I still live in my better times. They just look different than yours.
From what I know about Erika, she will soldier through adapting to her new life and she'll do it with a smile. If you would like to financially help her create her new typical, please visit www.thebrannockfund.com.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
#1a - Washington, DC - Part 1
My birthday.
No, that isn't a typo. My first visit outside of Maryland came just a few hours after I was born. That's what happens when your parents are told throughout the entire pregnancy that their baby is healthy and has a strong heart beat and when she's born, she's blue. I try not to think about what it must have been like for my parents during that time. My mom was obviously stuck at the hospital where I was born and my dad was caught between his wife and his new baby girl that had a complex heart defect and was being transported by ambulance to a different hospital.
Obviously everything turned out fine since I'm here today writing this blog. I spent the next month living in DC at Children's National Medical Center and then had to go back for appointments every few months after that until I was four or five. I thought the hospital was the only thing DC had to offer. I had no grasp on everything it had and still has to offer me.
I'm grateful that this post is happening at this time. It gives me an opportunity to bring together two very important parts of my life and allows me to open the door to write about things besides my travels. While I realize that I set this up to be a travel blog, there won't always be a post for me to write about my travels and writing about my life with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) will fill those empty travel times. As I reflect on the name of my blog, 50some, it rings true with my CHD as well. The cardiologists predicted when I was a baby that I would live well into my fifties without needing any sort of additional medical intervention. I'm at a crossroads right now that is almost certainly going to end in a change of direction and a need for intervention.
Since this summer I've been making pretty frequent trips to the beautiful district. It moves me every single time I drive down there as I take Capitol Street and get to see the Capitol Building for a few brief moments. While driving into DC isn't my favorite thing to do, it's a necessity these days.
I don't want to overload the health information as it's a lot of medical terms and each new test my cardiologist has me do is revealing a new problem with my heart. The basics are that I was born with Transposition of the Great Arteries and had an arterial switch done at one week old. Up until this summer I was seeing a pediatric cardiologist and a scare with heart palpitations ushered in my transition to the Adult Congenital Heart Clinic at Children's National Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center. I now see a cardiologist who specializes in adults with CHD and he's been finding some not so up to snuff things going on with my heart. It isn't working like it should and right now he's trying to find out everything that isn't working correctly so that he can design a plan to make things work better than they are now. I will be having a procedure done sometime in the coming month that will gather some more information and possibly correct one of the issues that's been found.
So there's the story of my first visit to DC and a lot more about why I now go to DC on a fairly regular basis. I'm going to do another post about my first tourist visit. That was a lot more fun and not nearly as intense as my first visit.
No, that isn't a typo. My first visit outside of Maryland came just a few hours after I was born. That's what happens when your parents are told throughout the entire pregnancy that their baby is healthy and has a strong heart beat and when she's born, she's blue. I try not to think about what it must have been like for my parents during that time. My mom was obviously stuck at the hospital where I was born and my dad was caught between his wife and his new baby girl that had a complex heart defect and was being transported by ambulance to a different hospital.
Obviously everything turned out fine since I'm here today writing this blog. I spent the next month living in DC at Children's National Medical Center and then had to go back for appointments every few months after that until I was four or five. I thought the hospital was the only thing DC had to offer. I had no grasp on everything it had and still has to offer me.
I'm grateful that this post is happening at this time. It gives me an opportunity to bring together two very important parts of my life and allows me to open the door to write about things besides my travels. While I realize that I set this up to be a travel blog, there won't always be a post for me to write about my travels and writing about my life with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) will fill those empty travel times. As I reflect on the name of my blog, 50some, it rings true with my CHD as well. The cardiologists predicted when I was a baby that I would live well into my fifties without needing any sort of additional medical intervention. I'm at a crossroads right now that is almost certainly going to end in a change of direction and a need for intervention.
Since this summer I've been making pretty frequent trips to the beautiful district. It moves me every single time I drive down there as I take Capitol Street and get to see the Capitol Building for a few brief moments. While driving into DC isn't my favorite thing to do, it's a necessity these days.
I don't want to overload the health information as it's a lot of medical terms and each new test my cardiologist has me do is revealing a new problem with my heart. The basics are that I was born with Transposition of the Great Arteries and had an arterial switch done at one week old. Up until this summer I was seeing a pediatric cardiologist and a scare with heart palpitations ushered in my transition to the Adult Congenital Heart Clinic at Children's National Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center. I now see a cardiologist who specializes in adults with CHD and he's been finding some not so up to snuff things going on with my heart. It isn't working like it should and right now he's trying to find out everything that isn't working correctly so that he can design a plan to make things work better than they are now. I will be having a procedure done sometime in the coming month that will gather some more information and possibly correct one of the issues that's been found.
So there's the story of my first visit to DC and a lot more about why I now go to DC on a fairly regular basis. I'm going to do another post about my first tourist visit. That was a lot more fun and not nearly as intense as my first visit.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
100 Things I'm Thankful For
In light of some recent medical stuff going on for me, I'm very thankful that tomorrow is a day dedicated to being thankful. I'm being proactive this time around and not letting myself go through the roller coaster of emotions I've been on lately so that means creating a nice long list of just a fraction of the things for which I am grateful.
You may have noticed that I changed my biography for this blog as I'll be expanding it to include my health stuff since day by day that's becoming more an active part of my daily life. I'll still be including my travels. My next post will actually combine both as I talk about my first visit to this great nation's capital city. For now though, here's a list, in no particular order, of what I am grateful for this Thanksgiving.
1. My faith in a God that I believe is all powerful, all knowing, and ever present
2. My mom, my dad, and my dad's wife
3. My brothers, sister-in-law, and almost sister-in-law
4. My two best friends and their husbands
5. Ice cream
6. My job and coworkers
7. My nephew (he's the cutest almost 10 month old on the planet)
8. My mom's dogs
9. My iPhone
10. My college diploma
11. My friends from college
12. The young adult small group at my church
13. My Sunday school kids
14. The color pink
15. Popcorn
16. Netflix
17. Pandora radio
18. Humidifiers
19. Cassie the Corolla
20. Rewards points on credit cards
21. Cream of wheat not tasting like oatmeal
22. Reese's peanut butter cups in any size or shape
23. Decaf coffee
24. The Wizard of Oz
25. On Demand on cable
26. All things pumpkin flavored
27. USA Today's daily crossword puzzle
28. My one boss' black lab that comes to work with him on a pretty regular basis
29. Facebook
30. Writing this blog
31. Reading Rants from Mommyland, The Bloggess, and Momastery
32. Emery boards
33. Chapstick
34. Tervis tumblers
35. Drinking straws
36. Old coworkers that turned into friends
37. The ability to walk/jog 3.2 miles on a consistent basis
38. Flannel sheets
39. Books, books, and more books
40. The used book store near me
41. My church
42. Short work weeks
43. My cardiologist and the ACHD clinic at Children's
44. Belts
45. American Eagle jeans
46. Sperry Top-siders
47. Google
48. My watch
49. Sunday afternoon naps
50. Washington Redskins, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Capitals, the US Men's National Soccer Team
51. The Flow game on my phone
52. My Disney pillow I've had since I was a baby
53. Envelope moistener with adhesive
54. The ability to hit golf balls at a driving range
55. Twitter
56. Paychecks
57. Letter openers
58. Sweat pants
59. My aunts, uncles, and cousins
60. TV shows on DVD
61. YouTube
62. Hoodies
63. Laughing
64. Living within walking distance of my dad's house
65. The Bible
66. Jillian Michaels' workouts
67. The time I had with my grandparents
68. The advances in medicine in my lifetime
69. The beach
70. Southwest airlines
71. Spontaneous dance parties
72. Breakfast sandwiches with hot sauce
73. Dunkin Donuts
74. Live music
75. Live theater
76. Musicals
77. My college experience
78. Waking up this morning
79. A roof over my head each night
80. Living in Maryland
81. Phones breaking within the warranty period
82. Health insurance
83. Family get togethers
84. Coupons
85. My allergies not attacking me this fall
86. Text messaging
87. EZ Pass
88. Having braces straighten out my teeth
89. Car insurance
90. Pictures
91. Christmas music and movies after Thanksgiving
92. Tissues
93. Purpose face moisturizer
94. Other people who are knowledgeable in things which I am not
95. Amazon wish lists
96. GPS
97. Caffeine free soda
98. Friendly and helpful customer service people
99. Board games
100. You for reading this blog :)
So there's my list. There's plenty that I left off of it. Actually there's probably more that I left off of it than actually wrote. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?
You may have noticed that I changed my biography for this blog as I'll be expanding it to include my health stuff since day by day that's becoming more an active part of my daily life. I'll still be including my travels. My next post will actually combine both as I talk about my first visit to this great nation's capital city. For now though, here's a list, in no particular order, of what I am grateful for this Thanksgiving.
1. My faith in a God that I believe is all powerful, all knowing, and ever present
2. My mom, my dad, and my dad's wife
3. My brothers, sister-in-law, and almost sister-in-law
4. My two best friends and their husbands
5. Ice cream
6. My job and coworkers
7. My nephew (he's the cutest almost 10 month old on the planet)
8. My mom's dogs
9. My iPhone
10. My college diploma
11. My friends from college
12. The young adult small group at my church
13. My Sunday school kids
14. The color pink
15. Popcorn
16. Netflix
17. Pandora radio
18. Humidifiers
19. Cassie the Corolla
20. Rewards points on credit cards
21. Cream of wheat not tasting like oatmeal
22. Reese's peanut butter cups in any size or shape
23. Decaf coffee
24. The Wizard of Oz
25. On Demand on cable
26. All things pumpkin flavored
27. USA Today's daily crossword puzzle
28. My one boss' black lab that comes to work with him on a pretty regular basis
29. Facebook
30. Writing this blog
31. Reading Rants from Mommyland, The Bloggess, and Momastery
32. Emery boards
33. Chapstick
34. Tervis tumblers
35. Drinking straws
36. Old coworkers that turned into friends
37. The ability to walk/jog 3.2 miles on a consistent basis
38. Flannel sheets
39. Books, books, and more books
40. The used book store near me
41. My church
42. Short work weeks
43. My cardiologist and the ACHD clinic at Children's
44. Belts
45. American Eagle jeans
46. Sperry Top-siders
47. Google
48. My watch
49. Sunday afternoon naps
50. Washington Redskins, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Capitals, the US Men's National Soccer Team
51. The Flow game on my phone
52. My Disney pillow I've had since I was a baby
53. Envelope moistener with adhesive
54. The ability to hit golf balls at a driving range
55. Twitter
56. Paychecks
57. Letter openers
58. Sweat pants
59. My aunts, uncles, and cousins
60. TV shows on DVD
61. YouTube
62. Hoodies
63. Laughing
64. Living within walking distance of my dad's house
65. The Bible
66. Jillian Michaels' workouts
67. The time I had with my grandparents
68. The advances in medicine in my lifetime
69. The beach
70. Southwest airlines
71. Spontaneous dance parties
72. Breakfast sandwiches with hot sauce
73. Dunkin Donuts
74. Live music
75. Live theater
76. Musicals
77. My college experience
78. Waking up this morning
79. A roof over my head each night
80. Living in Maryland
81. Phones breaking within the warranty period
82. Health insurance
83. Family get togethers
84. Coupons
85. My allergies not attacking me this fall
86. Text messaging
87. EZ Pass
88. Having braces straighten out my teeth
89. Car insurance
90. Pictures
91. Christmas music and movies after Thanksgiving
92. Tissues
93. Purpose face moisturizer
94. Other people who are knowledgeable in things which I am not
95. Amazon wish lists
96. GPS
97. Caffeine free soda
98. Friendly and helpful customer service people
99. Board games
100. You for reading this blog :)
So there's my list. There's plenty that I left off of it. Actually there's probably more that I left off of it than actually wrote. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?
Monday, November 5, 2012
#16 - Rhode Island
November 3, 2012
This trip had an early and unusual start. I knew my flights were going to be funny when I got the 'A' group for both of them. Shout out to Southwest for always creating an enjoyable flight. Anyways, there were only seven people who purchased tickets for my flight to Providence and only four of us showed up. It was the first and probably only time I'll be the first passenger to board the plane. After a delay due to some software glitches, we were off and I was sound asleep like a baby. We landed a little late, but that was fine with me.
The airport in Providence is the largest in which I've ever been. I walked the long walk over to get my rental. Enterprise hooked me up with a new (~2,000 miles) Chevy Sonic. Besides a few weird things like having trouble with my blind spots, it was a sweet ride. It was also dark gray. My rental in Connecticut was dark gray. I own a dark gray car. Coincidence much? I headed off to get breakfast and then went to the Roger Williams Zoo.
How cute is he? She? This was in the Australasian house. I saw some animals at the zoo that I had never seen before and some old favorites of mine. The zoo also was hosting a jack-o-lantern type exhibit and they had a bunch of pumpkins all over and even some hanging in the trees. I actually spent a good bit of time at the zoo because there were so many animals to see. As I was heading through one of the last groups of animals, a bird pooped on my backpack strap. Lucky me. The zoo also had two bald eagles. They were rescued and are unable to fly well so they don't have any sort of netting over them. I only got a picture of one of them as the second one seemed to be laying down. I've been telling myself that it was just sleeping. After the zoo, I headed back into the downtown area to park at the mall and walk around before a special event at Macy's in the largest mall I've ever been, Providence Place.
Oh hey, Clinton Kelly! He was there for his Makeover America tour. I watched him critique a few women then the fashion show started and I left to walk around more. I then came back just as he was walking out to do his book signing. He's really tall and very funny. His quote of the day was definitely, "The higher the boobs, the closer to God." Ladies, go get your professional bra fitting if you haven't in the past year. I saw some beautiful buildings while I was walking around and a random group of what I assume to be military reenactors marching down the street. Providence has a weird clash of the artsy students of Rhode Island School of Design and the ivy league students of Brown. It was very apparent in the city that both schools consider Providence their home. It also is a modernized city that still has historical routes. I loved seeing the different eras come together in the city.
Providence was a great way to end my little tour of parts of the northeast. I currently don't have any plans to travel to new states so I need to get back to the drawing board and figure out where to go next. I've had a few friends express interest in coming with me on trips so hopefully some of those can work out. In the meantime, I'll continue retracting my steps through the states I've visited. Don't forget to check out all of my pictures from this trip via the link on the sidebar.
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