Laxin'

Ahhhh, it's Monday.
And you know what? I love this Monday. Why?
Because I didn't have to set an alarm and we are taking our sweet ol' time getting started.

Yesterday was long, but the drive went by surprisingly quickly. I was surprised how awake we were yesterday morning at 5AM, having had a late night on Saturday! We spent the first part of the driving recounting the fun of the Lampo Christmas party - good food, great videos, surprise disturbances, police officers with silver briefcases and all... and also dreaming about what we would do with the gracious gift given to all Lampo employees out of the silver briefcases.

And the rest of the drive, we tried something new...

Saturday while running around getting our to-dos done, we swung by the library and took out some books on tape. One of which we didn't realize would do us in for most of our travels. And wouldn't you know, after getting in last night after an eleven hour and seven minute drive (including stops) we'd only made it through half of unabridged reading of The Fellowship of the Ring. Genius! I mean, not that talking, games, and playing around with the iPod aren't usually fun but an audiobook just adds a whole new experience to travel. Especially when it's a well-loved story that we've watched a thousand times over but it's been years since I had read it and never since Cliff had.

So anyways, we're here at Mom's in Virginia Beach, now - trying to come up with some ideas for what to do today. But we're in no hurry, and I kind of like that. I pretty much just want to hang out with Mom (as much as she's able, since she's still got to work), Marcus, and Cliff and get in a few essentials. Essentials being: slurpees (even in freezing weather), Utz potato chips, a visit to the shore, H&M, and quite possibly a visit to Famous Uncle Al's.

Looking Forward To This Weekend

It's astonishing how quickly things can go from busy to, kablooie. You know, where everything sort of explodes all at once. Suddenly, you become aware that your stomach is ravenous because you forgot to eat breakfast, you think you may have forgotten to turn off approximately five lamps in the apartment before walking out the door, and all you remember from the drive into work was the consoling and comforting voice on the other end of the phone (thanks Smudd) and you don't actually remember driving... at all.

That's no good. But when the unexpected happens, you just move forward and do your best to toe that tricky line between total mental/emotional breakdown and complete peace. You're probably laughing, thinking that line doesn't exist. But oh, does it ever.

We've been looking forward to this weekend for awhile now. But now, it's so needed. Here in an hour or so we'll drive east until we hit that gem of a city known as Pigeon Forge where we'll settle into our lodge for a weekend spent hanging out, investing in our marriage, reading, praying for some recent life developments, playing in the mountains, taking pictures, and doing some shopping. Good company and relaxation are about all I've been hanging my hat on for the last twenty hours or so, and I can't wait.

While we're gone, don't forget to vote in our "Cliff Post" poll on the top right hand of the corner of the blog which will be up until Sunday! I didn't tell him I was doing this and when I showed him my diabolical schemes, he thought it was great and told me he'd wait to make his decision until the final results were in.

Hope you all have a FANTASTIC weekend!