Oh, the Places I'll Go!

Today is the last day of Part One (weeks 1-2) of Jamie's Excellent Adventure.  Although I did my race recap right after ODDyssey, I didn't chronicle my travels to Philadelphia.  I also took zero notes while I was traveling, vacationing, and enjoying the hell out of the last week, so I'm using this post to record every thing I can think of.  It'll probably be long, but it's been amazing, so hopefully it'll also be entertaining to read.

The Journey
I set off from home just about 6 am on Friday the 6th.  Without doing a whole heck of a lot of research, I felt like I wanted to make it into Virginia on the first day and then have a shorter but more stressful (DC, Baltimore, and Philly traffic) day the second day.  I listened to the radio, sang loudly, and left my cruise control on almost the whole day.  I split up my food breaks and my gas breaks so I wouldn't be in the car for more than three hours at a time.  And I have to say, I really enjoyed that first driving day.  I didn't quite make it to Virginia, but as it turns out the town I stopped in was 10 miles south of the border.

Random thought I had at 1pm that first day: "I've been driving for 7 hours now.  That's how long I have to finish the Disney Marathon.  I think I might've preferred running."

On the second day, I found myself all of a sudden confused that when the speed limit slowed to 55 heading into DC, suddenly the slow cars around me were going 75.  The previous day, with a speed limit of 70, I was the fast car at 75-80.  I also think I stopped for a total of 3 tolls: one at the tunnel in Baltimore, another random one in Maryland, and the cover charge for the privilege of entering Delaware, which should have just had a sign up that said "closed for construction."  I eventually made it into Pennsylvania and had an "I am woman, hear me roar" moment when I realized that I had actually made it all the way there, all by myself.

And then I ran a half-marathon.

The Destination
My first week in New Jersey was actually pretty quiet.  I bummed around Jackie's house quite a bit, drove around the area (literally for the first time by myself, since I didn't get my license until college and then the only other times I was here I was with Scott), did some shopping and A LOT of eating...  After the stress of the end of school, start of grad school, leaving my old job, packing, driving, and racing I was perfectly happy to decompress and just relax.  Of course, "relaxing" at Jackie's house is an adventure all on its own, what with the kids and the toddlers and the pets.  I have to say I totally love it as a temporary visitor, but I'm better suited for a quieter existence!

The Active Part of Vacation

this IS our warm-up routine!

On Saturday the 14th, I did a 5k with Jackie's whole family.  The course was a small circle that we were told to lap 10 times (though I did 11 laps to make it 5k by RunKeeper standards), and every time I passed the girls they would ask what lap I was on.  Their response was always "so am I."  So I'm not really sure how far anyone else actually ran but I was proud of them for going out and doing it!

...and I also had a 5k PR, so I'm pretty proud of myself too!

oui, je suis une artiste!

Saturday night, Jackie and I went to one of those "drink and paint" places that was having a fundraiser for a group she belongs to.  We drank, ate, and painted.  I think they do a really great job running the place, because there were about 15-20 people there, and no one's painting was completely awful.  They were all also very different, as you can tell by my painting (on the left) and Jackie's (on the right).  There are things about my painting that I don't love, but who cares?  I'm still going to hang it up at home somewhere, probably with all of the paintings I bought at thrift stores.

the family that jazz hands together...

On Sunday (Father's Day), I went up to New York to spend the day with my cousin Jenn and her family.  I drove to Trenton and then hopped the train to Penn Station, where I met up with Jenn and the girls.  We hopped on the subway to Hell's Kitchen, where we had a huge amazing Greek feast (and every time we turned around there was another plate of hot pitas straight from the oven).  Trip and the girls then headed off on their own NYC adventure day, and Jenn took me to see Violet, my first Broadway show in more than 15 years.  (the last was either Miss Saigon or Beauty and the Beast)  I requested Violet because it stars Sutton Foster, and she didn't disappoint.  In fact, the whole cast was great (I bought the soundtrack), but she was radiant.  We both cried too.  There's something so magical about being on Broadway.  The theaters are old and beautiful, the performers are the best in the world... major goosebumps!  (by the way, here's the Tony's performance from Violet, in case you are interested)  The day wrapped up back at Jenn's for dinner, a subway ride (by myself) back to Penn Station, and a train back to New Jersey.

Also, I (allegedly) saw a dead body while I was headed back to the subway station.  There was a man laying on his back, not moving, and an EMT jumped out of a fire truck, walked over and looked at him, and then asked the people standing around what was up.  The guy's head was blocked from my view by a mailbox or something, but he definitely wasn't moving.  Since the EMT didn't immediately check his vitals or anything, I decided that he must have been obviously dead.  My crosswalk light changed, so I didn't get to stick around and find out the rest of the story.

Tuesday the 17th found me back in Pennsylvania, this time for dinner with Dawn and Mark.  I was really glad they were able to meet me, since Dawn was my closest cousin growing up and we haven't had a chance to really catch up in far too long.  We caught up on each other's life stories (between all of us, there was a lot to discuss!), dished some family dirt, and had a genuinely wonderful time.  And despite being full from dinner, I couldn't resist swinging through the Sonic drive-through next door for an orange slush for the drive back to NJ!

Dinner the following night became a mini high school reunion.  Originally planned for Tom and I, it turns out that Bill and Vicky were also able to come out.  Bill showed up with a folder of letters and postcards from the college years that had me cringing, laughing, and crying.  Our relationship has been from the beginning quirky and uniquely us.  I love him so much, and continue to be grateful that he's in my life.  The four of us laughed so much during our dinner I think we all hated that it had to end.

Dinner did have to end though, because I was up bright and early Thursday morning to spend another day in New York.  This time, my hosts were my cousin Alexander and his girlfriend Megumi.  Alexander promised me a day of hijinks, and he didn't disappoint!  They picked me up at Penn Station and our first stop was the Houdini Museum.  The museum displays were moderately interesting, but the visit took an unexpected turn when the man behind the counter asked "would you like to see a trick?"  We then had what was basically a 20-minute private magic show by this guy, who truly knew his stuff.  He transformed dollars, hovered coins, and did a lot of fun card tricks.

We then took the subway out to Brooklyn, where we had lunch at a Vietnamese sandwich shop (yum!) and then went to this place called Film Biz Recycling, where they sell and rent items used by TV and film production in NYC that might otherwise end up trashed.  We returned to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge.  I'm not sure why this was so exciting for me, but it was such an amazing moment.  Walking toward the city, seeing the Statue of Liberty and the new World Trade Center building to the left, midtown to the right, and the cables and iconic structure of the Brooklyn Bridge straight ahead... Wow, I just loved it!

The Brooklyn Bridge: possibly my favorite half hour of vacation

We then stopped for margaritas and a snack at one of their favorite kitschy bars before doing a quickie tour of the financial district.  They rode the subway back to Penn Station with me, I got a bagel, and then hopped the train back to Trenton.

Side note: I had the pleasure of sitting next to a drunk man on the train back from NYC.  He was simultaneously hitting on me, sexually harassing me (thank you for telling me that your thumbs, like your d---, were large), making racist anti-Muslim comments about the man across the aisle (who was black and speaking French, so I think perhaps he wasn't personally responsible for 9-11), telling me about his wife and kids, and talking about how much money he makes.  Really though, he was harmless and got off the train long before I did.  Had he been staying on until Trenton, I might have jumped off at some point and taken a later train.  It was kind of fun chatting with a random stranger though, even a creepy one.

Yesterday, Jackie and I took the kids to Great Adventure.  The park was pretty dead -- the longest we waited all day was 30 minutes, and a bunch of coasters were actually walk-on.  I got to take each of the babies on Dumbo-like rides, and rode coasters of varying scariness with the older girls.  I think I might have ridden ONE coaster that was there when I was younger.  That park has changed a lot!

The past week has been full of memories, lots of walking, and lots of late nights and early mornings.  Today was my last full day in town, and I spent it doing homework and laundry.  I took myself out to Bobby's Burger Palace for dinner (yum!!) and started getting my things together.

I'm so sad to be leaving.  It turns out I feel South Jersey roots that I didn't know I have.  I'm happy I got to see so many of my friends and family members, but also bummed about the people I couldn't connect with or spend enough time with.

On To School
I leave tomorrow morning and head to State College.  My one week summer intensive course starts on Monday at 8:30 and I'm definitely looking forward to getting started...but I'm also terrified at the same time.  It's been a long time since I've set foot in a classroom and actually tried.  I guess we'll have to see how it goes!  Hopefully I'll have another "I am woman hear me roar" moment on Friday when I'm done with the class!

Get off My Lawn!

Being childless, I mistakenly assumed that I wouldn't turn into my parents.  After all, why would I?  But alas, it seems God has a sense of humor.  A sick, sick sense of humor.  

Back in September, I had the following exchange with a coworker:

Co-worker: I'm hungry

Me: do you want my applesauce?

Co-worker: Nah

Me: then you're not really hungry!

This was a classic Jamie-Mom exchange through most of my childhood.  You can substitute thirsty or bored as well.  Apparently bedroom cleaning was a valid boredom buster in her eyes... I still disagree with that one!

Last night, I channeled my father and was genuinely mortified.  A small child (6-8 years old, I'd guess) wandered up to my screen door last night and was looking into my house.  He made eye contact with me and a smile started to brighten his face.

Me: Go home.

Him: Why?

Me: Because you don't belong in my doorway.  GO AWAY!

("Why?"??? I'm going to throw a "this is what's wrong with kids today" in at this point, just to increase my crotchety points.  But it did annoy me.)

I know it seems harsh, but it was about 8:45 at night.  It was pitch black behind my house, and there are no children that age living in my building or the buildings on either side.  I don't understand why this boy and the other two he was with felt compelled to play behind my house.  At the time, I thought they were the little unsupervised monsters who live across the street from me - who once stood on top of a construction sand pile and threw rocks and dirt clods at each other.  I went upstairs for bed at 9, and could see a group of adults a few buildings down, also yelling and carrying on, so at least the kids weren't completely unsupervised.  They finally left my backyard a few minutes before I was going to yell out the window.

So anyway, I guess it's official: I am the "get off my lawn" guy of the neighborhood.  Oh well...I guess someone needs to do it!

A More Legitimate Review of the Year

I haven't been really great about blogging this year, so you might not know what a great year it's really been around here.

Travels

We started the year with a quick weekend trip to Ft. Myers to visit the O'King side of the family, and then did a two-night mini cruise on Disney's newest cruise ship, the Dream. 

In September, we took a road trip that included the Georgia Aquarium, the Penn State campus, Philadelphia, the NJ shore, and Hilton Head.  We had such a wonderful time... I can't believe I didn't blog about it.

We wrapped up the year with another cruise, this one our "last hurrah" before I start school.  We celebrated our anniversary and Christmas in style, and got to see the new Muppets movie onboard rather than get off the ship in Nassau.



The Cousins doing "jazz hands"



Family Visits



In addition to our January trip to FoMo, it seems like 2011 was the year to reconnect with family.  Mary and Richard's 50th anniversary party in August turned into the biggest family reunion in probably 20 years.  We spent two days in the parks with different groups of family and had a great time at the actual party as well.

I also got to spend Thanksgiving with Mom and Michael.  This was the first "family" holiday we've had in what feels like a million years.  Sadly, Scott had to work, but I brought home lots of leftovers for him.

Changes...in Shades of Blue

I got a new car, we painted an accent wall in our bedroom, and I decorated the garage.  (well, I decorated half the garage.  I really am planning on finishing that one day!) Blue was definitely the signature color of 2011.

Culinary Adventures

I'm getting much better at cooking big chunks of meat.  My favorite cut of pork is the "butt shoulder," which is the butt or shoulder, and makes a darn fine spaghetti sauce and/or pork roast.  I'm a huge fan of beef short ribs, and made a new cut - horseradish-crusted brisket - for Christmas.  We also killed a pair of lobsters this year.

Entertainment

We finished up our second subscription series at the Straz Center in Tampa and decided to not renew for a third.  Shrek and Billy Elliott were wonderful, but overall we were disappointed in the shows we saw and this season's shows were mostly outside our interest.  We put some of our theater money into Sea World annual passes.  We haven't really made use of them as much as I'd hoped, but I've used the time we spent practicing photography.  I also got Scott a subscription to GameFly for his birthday and he's played about a million shoot-em-up games so far.  He'll also get a lot of use out of it once I start school.

I think that's most of the highlights.  I'm looking forward to finding out what 2012 will bring.  I'm expecting big things...

Tip of the Hat(s)

We spent New Years Eve 2007 at the Grand Floridian, having dinner with Rose and Gary, followed by stupid hats and fireworks.

(there is a Christmas tree in the background, so this does count as a Christmas picture. Because I said so!)

Between Vacations

I spent August 24-27 in a whirlwind of family fun.  Of course, I'm a terrible blogger and didn't bother to record anything of note at the time.  Now on the eve of another "memory maker," I'm going to throw up a random list of things I want to remember about how wonderful it was to be with everyone again.
August 24 - evening - dinner at Downtown Disney with Rose, Gary, Mark, Dawn, and Scott.  Good food and wine, followed by a trip to Goodings to pick up ponchos for the tourists!

August 25 - Magic Kingdom with a ton of people! 

Our original plan was to meet up with Dawn and Naomi and their respective spouses and children, sign them in, and go off with just Dawn and Mark.  Then 7 others showed up, including Jenn and her family, so we stuck with the crew long enough to ride Pirates (not a good idea with a tiny baby...she wailed through the whole thing, and everyone on the boat was throwing me the "bad mommy" look because I was holding her!), Hall of Presidents, and Haunted Mansion.  By the way, the new and improved Hitchhiking Ghosts at the end of Haunted Mansion blew my freaking mind! I want to go back again and again and again!  After that, we bailed on the family fun and headed home... with a Dole Whip pit stop.  Mmm...magical Magic Kingdom treat...

August 26 - Happy Birthday Scott!

The day started with a little birthday brunch for my halfway-to-70-year-old.  Actually, it started as a little brunch and ended up being me feeding 11 people and trying to keep the stress away from Scott.  Note: I've never even really participated in Thanksgiving dinner (besides the pies).  I was so proud of myself - sticky buns, a bread casserole (with pancetta...that I fried...with splattering oil), individual chicken pot pies... and the only thing we didn't do from scratch was mashed sweet potatoes from our local favorite BBQ place.

Then we napped.  I needed it!

The evening was spent in celebration of Aunt Mary and Uncle Richard's 50th anniversary. In addition to the planned activities - dinner, musical performances by some grand kids, and a DVD of 1950's home movies that made me laugh and cry - we brought a little entertainment of our own.

I bought these 2 11x17 picture frames on clearance a few months ago, for the purpose of using them as silly photo props.  I brought them with me and stashed them in a corner until I saw a photo op.  As soon as the frames came out, they were like catnip for the kids, even the camera-shy ones.  People were squeezing as many faces as they could, going 3D and popping out of the frames, and generally laughing and having a good time.  I got major brownie points for bringing them along!

Alicia as Richard, and Richard as Mary

I was also a (small) part of the night's most fun surprise: "Flat Mary" and "Flat Richard" - customized masks of their faces, perfect for taking even more ridiculous pictures!

After the evening's fun and frolic, we asked everyone to take a pair of masks home with them, and to take pictures where they live.  Our plan is to create a travel diary of The Adventures of Richard and Mary.  I hope people remember to take pictures!



August 27 - Another day of Park Hopping, this time with Rose and Gary, Laura and Richard, Alicia, Alex, and Megumi.  We did almost all the "E-Ticket" rides at the Studios and at Magic Kingdom, got caught in a monsoon, and had lunch at Prime Time Cafe.  Some of the highlights for me:

Laura and Richard's 10th Anniversary Hoop-La!  We got them bride and groom mouse ears and anniversary buttons. Everywhere we went, people congratulated them.  They got up on stage for the Indiana Jones show, got shout-outs from parade performers, and generally got a lot more attention than they were probably comfortable with.  It was awesome!

The new Star Tours was so much better than I expected it to be!  There were 9 of us, which apparently qualified us for our own private ride.  I was the "rebel spy," (you'll understand when you ride it) and Alex was yelling back at the screen that he wanted to turn me in.  Our tour saw Chewbacca, Yoda, and JarJar Binks.  The 3D is great, and the simulator motion matches the image on the screen pretty seamlessly.

Riding Big Thunder Mountain with Alicia and literally laughing until I started to sob.  Because the lap bar was set to my legs and she's so much skinnier than I am, she got tossed around a lot.  The first dip, I thought she might fall out.  From then on, I just couldn't stop laughing.  By the time we pulled into the station, I had tears streaming down my face. When I recounted the story to Scott, people were looking at me to see who the sobbing freak was!

Laughing to tears again on Space Mountain. I was in the front of our rocket, and every time we went through a jarring turn on sharp drop Alex would yell "woah, Space," as though he was trying to get a horse to stop. It just got funnier and funnier.  Honestly, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun on Space Mountain!

Having great seats for both the Electric Light Parade and Wishes. Thanks to this, I was able to learn about what I'm now calling the "shaky shaky" feature on my camera and get some killer pictures of both without a flash.

And of course, we brought Flat Mary & Rich along for some killer photos "where Magic lives," but I won't be previewing those quite yet.

Driving home after a marathon day in the parks, with sore wet feet and total exhaustion setting in, it was hard for me to not get emotional.  I miss them all already - not just the ones I had a chance to "play" with, but the ones I only saw at the anniversary party.  I met some new extended family members, made a baby cry in terror, and took a zillion pictures (of which, about 50 came out).  We had a fabulous time - even better than we were anticipating - and look forward to seeing everyone again.

Happy Birthday Christina

I realized this morning that today is my baby sister's 10th birthday.

I haven't seen her since she was two.

This is the last picture I have with her.

I think we'd all agree that I don't casually toss around the word 'hate.'  Like most hateful words, I think it's a little stronger than is generally appropriate.  But today Christina kept drifting into my mind, and every time I had to make a conscious effort to not hate her mother.

This isn't the first time I've asked for strength to stop hating her.  See most of March 2006, or this extra-special entry from April of the same year for past examples. 

But unlike my fiery-hot rage of five years ago, this is different.  This is the quiet defeat of someone who has quite literally lost her family.  It's heart-break.  It's knowing that, in being the bigger person and not complaining to my dad about her back-stabbing and manipulation when I had the chance, I let her win.

This afternoon, I read a painfully beautiful account of how one of my favorite bloggers said goodbye to her dying father.  I cried for her, and then I found myself crying for me.  Honestly (and it's my own blog, so screw anyone who calls me selfish for this) I was jealous of her.  I was jealous that she had that kind of relationship with her dad.  And I was jealous that she was able to say goodbye.  I'm pretty sure that if my dad died tomorrow, I wouldn't be on the list of people who'd be notified.  Whenever I run into him, I find myself overwhelmingly grateful just to know that he's ok.  It's a pretty crappy way to go through life.

I don't know what Christina looks like now, how tall she is or whether her hair is still curly.  The last time I asked about her, Dad said she was on the honor roll.  Maybe she still is. I hope that she's happy, and that she turns out ok, despite living in Mother Gothel's alternate universe.

Happy birthday, baby sister.

Cousin Awards

On Facebook today, my cousin Alicia implied that she’s my favorite cousin. I countered by joking that Steve is my favorite. (Steve, for those of you who didn’t grow up with us, is older and tortured us and forced us to call him “Uncle Steve.” We were literally terrified of him.) And then Laura proclaimed herself “Most Conveniently Located” cousin, which she is. This got me thinking about my extended family, and I tried to think up ridiculous superlatives for each one of my cousins. (there are many more – these are just the children of my mother's siblings with whom I’m friends on Facebook)

Alex – Most Recently Facebook Friended Cousin
Alicia – Cousin with Citizenship in the Most Countries
Aubrey – Most Collegiate Cousin
Beth – Best Roller Coaster Buddy Cousin
Dawn – Closest in Age Cousin
Jeff – Curliest Haired Cousin
Jenn – Cousin With the Best Holiday Newsletters/Worst Cousin to Play Circus Acrobats With

Joanne – Cousin Most Likely to Give Good Financial Advice

Laura – Most Conveniently Located Cousin/Cousin Who Had the Best Wedding Food
Naomi – Most Pregnant Cousin
Steve – Most “Uncle” Cousin
Suzanne – Westernmost Cousin

I could never pick a favorite, a prettiest, or a smartest. I loved growing up with the ones aged from Jenn to Dawn. I’m grateful to be close with many of those younger and older. And I’m sorry to have lost touch with the ones who aren’t on this list. These folks were the closest thing I had to siblings until I got married and inherited an honest-to-goodness sister (in-law). Anything I learned (or didn’t learn) about sharing or cooperation probably had something to do with them.

And of course, I heart them all!!

Double Nickels

Happy Birthday, Mom!



Maybe now that you have matured to 55 you'll stop trying to steal Carol's family.

BWAHAHAHAHA

Self-Writing Posts

The problem with blog posts that write themselves is that they don't publish themselves. Below is an e-mail exchange between me and Janette, about an e-mail exchange between me and Scott. It's a week old. Sorry for holding out on you for so long!

Janette,

I thought you’d get a kick out of the e-mail exchange between Scott and me this morning…

ME: And did you notice the two clumps of Elph hair upstairs in the hallway? I can tell you they appeared between 6:05 and 6:30, and that when I saw Milo at 6:30 he had a clump hanging off his mouth like the “bad kitty” on the pajamas!

SCOTT: Yeah,I heard the ruckus when you had just gotten into the shower, but it didn't continue for more than five seconds. I figured it was the two boys, guess I was wrong!

ME: Well I guess Elphie wasn’t happy with him at all. When I was toweling off, she was “hiding” (really, I guess she thinks she’s invisible) behind the orange shower
curtain and TWICE Milo went to jump into the tub and she swiped at him mid-jump
and made him fall. It was kind of hilarious, but poor Milo missed out on his morning “fresh” drink.

SCOTT: awww! I feel bad for both of them! I've seen them both this morning, not sure about together though

ME: Nah, don’t feel bad. It’s what siblings do. Well, I assume it’s what siblings do. Didn’t you and Janette ever rip each other’s hair out? ;-)

SCOTT: nah, just hand to hand combat, and mind games. :)

* * * * *

Aww, poor kitties. Well, the drama is just part of being siblings.

We bickered a lot. Scott was a PEST, at least that's the way I felt when I was in my teens (remember the age difference). I kept my bedroom door locked from the time he learned to crawl until I moved out. I swear-to-gawd he learned to walk by pulling himself up on my bedroom door knob and letting himself in. LOL!

I only remember hitting Scott 'for real' once, though we did have the very typical sibling wrestling matches. We were arguing over something stupid and forgettable and he was clearly losing when he suddenly and very dramatically yelled 'OW!!! Whaaaaaa! Mom, Janette hit me!!!! Whaaaaa!' And I hadn't laid a hand on him, the little snot.

I knew I was going to be in a world of trouble so I did the only reasonable thing. I smacked the holy crap out of him. I figured if I was 'going to do the time, I may as well do the crime.' That was one of the very few times in my childhood when I remember getting into real trouble. But I'm certain that smacking him up front prevented years of resentment.

Ask him if he remembers it, he was only about 6 or 7 years old at the time. I can SEE it like it was yesterday, we were standing in the hallway just bickering away until he became a little drama queen. Let me tell you, that was the first and last time he ever tried that little trick!

Other than that the worst thing I ever did to him was pull the warranty to the refrigerator out of mom and dad's dresser and tell him that it was his adoption papers. Much drama ensued and it took mom forever to convince him otherwise. THAT was awesome!

Beach, Nap, Food, Repeat

Before our vacation, I had made very simple plans: beach, nap, food, repeat. Today, we spent a little under 2 hours at the beach, then showered and headed out to lunch at Aunt Rose's (where we also saw Gary and Aubrey and Laura). No nap. I've been in a sort of zombie trance for the past few hours, even after the tasty dinner we had at Scott's restaurant of choice.

I posted family pictures to my Facebook vacation album, but for here I thought I'd stick with another beach photo from last night. With a little editing, this picture might be really sweet.

If you'll excuse me, I'm off for cookies and then bed.

Dedication

I'd like to dedicate this Lovely Listing to Janette. See if you can figure out why!

Nope, it's not the tiger climbing the walls.

Nope, it's not the themed bathroom. (Actually if I were dedicating the listing to Scott, it would be for the bathroom. He likes turtles!)

Don't see it? OK, fourth picture down (has gravity-defying vines on the ceiling). See it now? All the way on the right? Dude! There's a ukulele right there!

Yep...that was the whole point of this entry. And now, 6 dozen unborn sugar cookies and two unborn apple pies are crying out for creation. Oh yeah, and Scott's gifts need to be wrapped. I think I'll start with the presents...

A Plan!

I'm meeting up today with Laura and Richard for lunch. They did the Food & Wine Festival yesterday, and are going back home today... after lunch with meeeee!

I'm glad I have cousins, since the "siblings" I have didn't enter my life until after age 20. It's nice to see them, even if it's not nearly often enough.

Probably the Last to Know

Once a website is featured on abcnews.com, it's probably safe to assume the rest of the Internet has already seen it. Except my mom. So mom, this one's for you:

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com

The name says it all. Unfortunately, I'm guessing the ABC attention increased their viewers by a lot and it's taxing their servers. If at first you don't get the page to load, hit refresh until it does.

If only I had any awkward family pictures to share... Sadly, my dad was always smiling for the camera, and I don't have any weird wedding pictures worth making fun of. (that last one might be the best... the "no one told me we were supposed to look angry" photo)

For a Good Cause?

My cousin Alicia is running in a very interesting charity 5K - dressed in an inflatable sumo costume!

This gruelling challenge will have us lugging our impressive frames on a 5k run to raise money for web-based educational systems to help developing countries. The money raised will be used for innovative IT software to connect the world's most remote schools to online learning tools. If I reach my goal, its estimated that it will connect one secondary school in the developing world.

Honestly, she could be running for beer money and I'd still pitch in. Apparently in my world, humiliation = cash. Must be all the reality TV I watch!

I wish I could have given more, but she's in the UK and the exchange rate sort of sucks. So help me out - click on the link above and send her some money. It really is for a good cause!

Mullet Jamie and Clown

From the comments of my last entry:

mamajoy said...
you never had a mullet!

Here for your mocking pleasure is the photo I lovingly call Mullet Jamie and Clown. If that's not a mullet (and I still think it is), it is definitely the most tragic hair cut to befall a fourth grade girl. Ever. Plus, I'm looking a little "special" in that photo!

Mock-Worthy Things in this Photo:
1. The hair
2. The expression on my face
3. The multiple shades of pink that don't quite go together
4. The yellow sunglasses dangling around my neck by a red cord
5. The "totally 80's" white button-down shirt under a sweatshirt

Cool Things About this Photo:
1. That clown in the picture with me was the head clown - he had a whole page in the program
2. Grandpop bought me a PROGRAM! That's one of those things parents never shell out the money for!
3. I also came home with a stuffed elephant.
4. It's the circus! This was the only Ringling Brothers program I ever saw as a kid. I don't remember anything about the show, but I know I loved it and wanted to go back every year. I've only been to one circus since, and it was in 2002 with Eric. I probably paid for both tickets.
5. The expression on my face. Sure, it's laughable, but that's a kid positively squeeing with excitement.

Skulls & Bones

"I don't know, doc. All of a sudden, it felt like my skull was being crushed..."

Yep, this is what happens when you set me and Scott loose with skulls and a digital camera with fresh batteries. Of course, while we were horsing around, we missed the hippo swimming right along the glass wall behind us.

And for anyone with Facebook who saw my status yesterday and wondered what 1-2-3 Whee is, here's a blurry action shot to help explain:


From left to right, that's Trip, Molly (in the stroller with her tongue out), Jenn, Kara and Scott. It's hard to tell who is having the most fun!

We had a whole lot of fun at Animal Kingdom today, despite a little afternoon shower and the humidity that followed. The whole park smelled like Vo-ban, which was a little disgusting, but we made it through. In addition to everyone in the photos above, Aunt Mary and Uncle Rich were also around. Anyone with Facebook will see pictures in the coming days. For now, you'll just have to believe me that they were there.

I love my family a whole lot. We're a whole lotta fun!

Oh Mah Achin' Feet

I spent the day today at Epcot with my cousin Jenn (that's Jenn A, as opposed to Jenn K, who comes with her teenage friends and not her husband and cute kids) and the aforementioned husband and cute kids.

And ever since I left them, I haven't stopped telling Scott what a great day I had. Precocious kids are the most entertaining thing ever!

Of course, tomorrow I'm looking forward to sleeping in and not walking 3 miles in circles!

Loser!

CNN.com still hasn't updated their electoral map to include North Carolina and Missouri. That's problematic because North Carolina ends up being the tie-breaker for my contest with Janette.

That being said, both ABC News and The Daily Show (not kidding... watch last night's show!) have called North Carolina for Obama.

She and I called three states differently. Here's the breakdown:

Indiana:
Janette
Jamie
Results

Montana:
Janette
Jamie
Results

North Carolina:
Janette
Jamie
Results

We both called Missouri for McCain, so it doesn't really matter to us how that one ends. This means I lose by one state. I was closer on the electoral count, but that was just our tie-breaker. She won the actual state count. Still given that Janette is a news junkie, I'm proud that I made it as far as I did.

Bring on lunch!

Family News

So this is the coolest thing I've heard in a little while: My wittle cousin Michelle is on the new season of Survivor! I guess that means she's not to wittle anymore!

...and I guess I'm going to have to add one more show to the DVR this season!


Watch CBS Videos Online

(and because I'm a nice cousin, I'm also not going to post the toothless toddler photo of her that I found this afternoon)

I've been racking my brains, and I honestly don't think I've seen Michelle in almost 15 years. However, she is the original owner of my car. I was a little sad that she didn't mention Frances in this video clip. Oh well...maybe in another episode! ;-)

Pictures

There's an incredibly violent war being waged between my stomach and its contents. I think it's food poisoning, but Scott disagrees. At any rate, I'm not really much for words right now, so here's some random assorted photos...

1 2 and 3 are (obviously) a pair of sand hill cranes in the 7-11 parking lot. It made me sad because you could tell from their behavior that they are used to being fed by people. And I don't think they sell bird food in the 7-11.

4 is Mom and Joanne at the sponge docks. OK, at the shoppes (if you saw them, you'd spell it that way too) at the sponge docks.

5 is Milo's monkey, which mysteriously appeared nestled in one of Scott's shoes last week. You never see Milo with the monkey, but it's never in the same place twice!