I Voted!

I voted today! It was the first time I ever had. Yeah, I know I shouldn't have waited so long to become interested in politics, but at least I finally did. It only took about 15 minutes. The line was moving pretty quickly thank goodness. I would have hated to stand in line forever for a 2 minute process. It was really easy too. I couldn't have asked for a less painful experience. I even got an "I Voted" sticker. And since I was already at the library I decided to go inside. I had never been to the Cedar Park library - pretty sad considering it is practically right across the road. All I checked out was a DVD (it's free and way cheaper than renting one :) ). But now I have my library card and can go whenever which I definitely plan to.

There are a lot of cool things coming up.

Tomorrow night some of us are going to this haunted house. I really don't like haunted houses, but I think maybe this year I can do this. However, after looking at the website, I am definitely already a little scared. The important thing to remember is that it's not real, and no one is really trying to harm me. We'll see how far that goes. :)

I've also been invited to go play bunco with some girls - some I know and some I will be meeting for the first time. I don't even know how to play this game. I better get started on my research. :)

Let's not forget the most important thing coming up - my birthday! Yay! It's also election day, but yeah, I'm more excited for my b-day! What can I say? I'm selfish like that. :) Kidding - I am anxious to find out how this whole election turns out even though I'm pretty sure I already know. However, it would be nice to not turn on the television until November 5, but I'm sure I will. I am positive that this birthday will go so much better than the previous years which sucked beyond belief. It's definitely time to break this streak of bad b-days.

There is a tactical short stick seminar coming up at the TKD school. It's open for anyone so feel free to come. Bryan and I will both be attending - at least that's the plan. It's being taught by a 7th degree master which I happen to think is pretty damn cool.

I will also be doing some of my classroom observations the first week in November. And I'm eligible to start substituting on November 1. Good times!

Oh, and don't forget that daylight savings time ends soon - very soon...sadly.

It's getting colder. It's still warm during the afternoon, but definitely a lot nippier during the night and morning hours. I can smell winter on the air which makes me excited for Christmas and the trip to Mississippi but not so much the cold weather. However, it's nice to start wearing some different clothes. I was getting tired of the summer ones.

A recent picture of the cats - one I have deemed synchronized napping:


Sites that I think you should check out:
MTV Music which has every video ever. It is really awesome and definitely a time waster, but it's pretty cool to pull up any video by a simple search. I still probably like Launch better because it gives you your own station that plays music or videos based on past ratings. It's nice to leave on and forget about.

Renaissance Fair!

So it has been over a week since I posted. I'm a bad blogger!

There isn't much to note from last week. I missed a lot of classes in the latter part of the week and all weekend. I paid dearly for this last night. I did attend a sword class at TKD Friday night. That was just my second one. We started learning the form. I'm starting to collect a lot of martial arts stuff in my head. It's definitely time for me to review ALL of it until it sticks. I started Tai Chi last night so that's martial art number 3. Whew. I'm exhausted just thinking about all of it. It is definitely a balancing act. I can't really see doing Tae Kwon Do long term. Especially when you look at how much Kung Fu has to offer in the matter of material compared to TKD. I most likely will get my black belt and be done with TKD. I hope that doesn't make me sound like a loser. And no I'm not just getting my black to be a black belt; I actually am paid up until then so I should take advantage of what I paid for.

The only other thing that happened last week of note was Friday. I was finally able to attend the substitute orientation for Austin ISD. It was from 8 AM to 2:30 PM. I have to admit I was pretty worn out. I'm just not used to that whole work day mentality sadly. However, I hope this will change VERY soon. I can start subbing as soon as November 1! Yay! The Austin ISD substitute system is pretty advanced and cool. You can secure jobs just by logging on to the system. However, there will probably be a lot of early morning phone calls for a lot of the jobs. This means I have to be up and ready (or ready to get ready) every morning. This may be what I have to do until the summer time as finding a teaching job in the middle of the year while not impossible is going to difficult.

I have been emailing back and forth with a school in the Leander ISD and am scheduled to do 8 classroom observations there during the first week of November! Yay! I love advancement.

This weekend was super fun. After the sword class Bryan and I went out to eat and then over to Ben's to discuss the upcoming Kung Fu festival (ask me more if you're interested in starting a martial art!). It was fun to brainstorm with everyone, but eventually Bryan and I were too tired to think. We left and ran to Wal*Mart to purchase a few last minute camping must haves (sleeping bags, lantern).

Saturday morning's alarm clock came much, much too early, but it couldn't be ignored. We had to roll out to Amy and Jason's house to meet everyone and head out to Plantersville, TX for the Renaissance Fair. It was about a 3 hour drive - very scenic and nice. When we arrived at the camping grounds we chose to camp out in the normal a.k.a. "rowdy" section (bad idea!). I knew we should've chosen the quiet family campground when I saw a sign that was the definition for pandemonium. We set up all of the tents (a first for both Bryan and I). However, we did get it up, and it stayed up. We did have help from everyone else. I have been camping once before, but this was Bryan's first experience.

After everything was finally set up we got dressed in our costumes (4 out of 6 of us dressed up) and headed to the fair. That place was crazy! I couldn't believe how many people dressed up. There was sooo much to do and see and eat! They had shows galore, games, a garden, animal rides, a petting zoo...you name it, they had it! I was loving it. I wanted to see it all and do it all. I think we did about all you can do for one afternoon. We made sure to eat a lot. We also played a lot of the games which were things like knife throwing, ax throwing, bow and arrow shooting, etc. We saw 2 shows - ded bob which was hilarious and the jousting which was pretty cool too. I definitely want to return next year.

I just want to thank Amy again for sewing me that lovely and totally awesome costume. Without her I wouldn't have just worn jeans. It definitely made the experience that much better to get to dress the part.

Camping that night was fun up until sleeping time. It was fun just hanging out by the campfire talking with everyone and roasting stuff and eating it. By the way - roasted snickers = yum! I had my first s'mores - not that awesome actually. Oh well, I still ate 2! :D

It was cold, but thankfully the sleeping bags kept us pretty warm throughout the night. Unfortunately at 1:30 AM the douche nozzle next to us decided it was time to turn on his generator. It was sooo loud. I probably would've slept quite nicely through the night if this wouldn't have occurred. I couldn't go back to sleep for hours! It sucked. I wanted to go home at 2 AM - seriously! I was so miserable all of Sunday thanks to this lack of sleep. We got everything down and packed back up and back home in good time. I was glad to see the house again because I was anxious to sleep in our bed. Jason came over and gave me a birthday present (The Simpsons Movie). He didn't stay for long. And finally it was time to sleep...and sleep I did.

Here are the pictures from the Renaissance Fair:
Album 1
Album 2

Here are the videos that I took of the jousting:

"I Love It When You Sing Songs About Murder" - Bryan

Saturday night Bryan and I ate dinner at Jason and Amy's. We hung out for quite a while. It was loads of fun. I hadn't been to their house yet so it was cool to see where they live finally. Amy showed us this hilarious video. Thanks Amy, it's been stuck in my head since. :)

Sunday was a take it easy kind of day. We walked around the outlet mall for a while just enjoying the people and the pleasant weather. What did we buy? Starbucks and a piece of chocolate to share of course. Why else would you go to the mall? :) After window shopping it was time to buy the real stuff - groceries. We came home, and I made one very delicious Dorito casserole. Jason stopped by for a little while.

Monday was a pretty good day indeed. Because we had to go to the Weezer concert that night we decided to go to the morning class where I was able to get the remainder of the white belt material. Now I just have to practice, practice, practice which I have been doing trust me. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this Kung Fu stuff. ;) After class it was breakfast time in Leander. When we got home for some odd reason I got the urge to run. Bryan had sent me a great article on sprinting, and I really wanted to try that. I have never really sprinted for exercise before. It was actually pretty cool. It was extremely demanding, and I felt it quickly. My legs aren't sore, but there are parts of my legs that are - parts that I have never really used before I suppose. I think I want to make this part of my workout. Actually I need to bring back my workout. :) I have definitely forsaken it. I'm just glad I do all this martial arts or I would be soooo lazy and out of shape.

At 5:30 PM we headed downtown for the concert. We arrived a lot earlier than we had expected to for rush hour so we made our way over to the nearest coffee. It was fun to walk around downtown. I always enjoy just being there. We still got in our seats with plenty of time to spare.

The opening bands (both of them) SUCKED!! Weezer was good. They sounded just like they do on the cd's. They played all of their hits which I loved. However, they just didn't really have anything going on stage. I can't say it was "fun" to watch. The lead singer is weird. He did some pretty crazy stuff that left us saying "huh?". Toward the end of the show they brought out a bunch of local musicians with every instrument imaginable to play 2 songs with them onstage. That was pretty cool, but perhaps they should've been a little more selective. :)

Here are the pictures that I took from the concert:
Bryan becomes a Weezer
Me n Bryan
Angels and Airwaves 1
Angels and Airwaves 2
Angels and Airwaves 3
Angles and Airwaves 4
Angles and Airwaves 5
Bryan
Weezer!
Weezer 2
Weezer 3
Weezer 4
Weezer 5
Weezer 6
Weezer 7
Weezer 8
Weezer 9

Here are the videos that I took from the concert (some of them are this crazy guy dancing):










Tuesday was a lazy day for me - surprise, surprise. Amy came over after she got off work. She made me an outfit to wear for the Renaissance Fair that we are camping out at this Saturday. It should be tons of fun. Several of our friends are going too. I can't wait. I have never been to anything like this before. I went to TKD and finally bought all my patches. Now I have to sew them on. Anyone willing to help? Pleeeeease??? Monday was Ravi's birthday so we met up with everybody to eat after classes were finished. It was a lot of fun. For some reason my side of the table got on the topic of ghosts, and we all shared our stories. Despite this I still slept like a big baby last night.

Today (Wednesday) there is nothing going on...at all. I like it this way. :) I did receive an email from Leander ISD saying that I passed my background check and they were working on setting me up for classroom observations in 2 schools. This is incredible news after all of the aggravation I have experienced in trying to get this set up. Tonight I'm going to Kung Fu and then doing my last online class for my certification!

Recent picture of the cats (OC and Mallos):

Almost 26..Aaaah!

I can't believe that my 26th birthday is almost here. It's pretty scary. I'll console myself with presents...yay! I'm kidding. Every year I'm VERY aware of that 30 year old mark that is ever approaching. Remember that list I made? It's all the things I want to accomplish before I'm 30. I haven't forgotten this list. It drives me a lot when I'm making decisions. There are many things on this list that I have been working toward. There are some that I have completed. However, there are many that I haven't even tried yet. I'm not worried (yet) about completing the list at this point. I am aware, however, that I am getting closer to the deadline.

Despite the fact that I am going to be older and that I canceled that awesome party I had planned, I am still looking forward to my birthday. Bryan is paying me back for his birthday. I reminded him daily that his birthday present was so awesome. Poor guy! But now the tables have turned. He tells me it's awesome, but I have no clue what it could be. I do like the excitement.

Want to know what isn't cool about my birthday this year? It falls on election day. I don't want to share my birthday with the results of this crazy election. Ah, can't it ever just be all about me? :)

Well, you can call this shameless promotion if you want but....just in case you were worried about what to get me for my birthday, I went ahead and saved you the trouble. There's this really awesome site called Kaboodle.com. You can organize lists of all the things your heart desires. It's really easy to use. You might find it can come in handy as the holiday season approaches. Here is a my list: My Wishlist. Haha...yeah, my heart desires a lot! :)

The last few of my birthdays were pretty crummy...ok, very crummy. I'm extremely optimistic about this year. I really look forward to spending time with Bryan and downplaying the fact that I'm getting older. I really want to challenge myself in my next year. I've achieved a lot in this past year. I both want to grow these aspects as well as develop some new ones.

In unbirthday related news:

I FINALLY received a breakthrough in the classroom observation dilemma. Yesterday, I was able to receive the form that I needed to fill out to observe in the Leander ISD. Considering how difficult this was, I may just do all 20 in Leander. This is the district I'd prefer to teach in since this is where we live. I know that may be a far fetched dream for my first year, but well, that's what I want. I'm still willing to put my time in anywhere. I just want to teach and get my career rolling.

I was able to score 2 tickets to see Weezer this coming Monday for only $10.15 each. Granted they aren't in the front row, but they aren't in the nose bleed section either. This was a promotion for 101.5. Thanks - we will really enjoy the concert!!

That's all for today. I'll try to do better and post more often.

Granny Was Right.

Ugh, what a week! This week has really been trying my patience in a serious way.

The first sucky thing about this week was that Bryan was out of town until late Wednesday night. It really stinks when he has to go away on business. I completely understand and am fine with this, but the house just feels so empty when he's not here. Even the cats miss him. It was nice to get have him home. We ate at Kerby Lane on the way home from the airport. That was the one good thing about the trip. :D

Next up was Tuesday. Tuesday I was supposed to go to an all day orientation thingy in order to start subbing for Austin ISD. Well, going does not mean you will actually get to sub, but you can't sub without going. It's weird - I know. Anyway, I woke up at 5:15 AM and was ready to leave at 6:20. I wanted to get all the proper paperwork together before I left. This is when I discovered that I had lost both my driver's license and my debit card. Brilliant. So, after spending all this time getting ready and making my lunch, I had to stay home. I turned the house upside down, looked in both vehicles, and called Bryan in NYC like he could help me. The stupid things were nowhere to be found. Yay me. So, instead of finally getting the opportunity I had been craving I spent the morning in a huge pity party. I felt so dumb and mad for losing these cards. And Granny was right - I would lose my head if it wasn't hooked on. Ah, Granny and her wisdom.

The good news is that there are 2 more opportunities for me to attend this orientation. I can go next Friday. It sucks, but at least there is the option. And Thursday morning after barely being home, Bryan went into my car and found both missing cards which made me feel even more dumb. How could I have not seen them? I had already had my debit card canceled so I'll just have to wait for the new one to come. Luckily, they let me keep my Batman design (score!). I still need to get a new license before my birthday on November 4, but at least I don't have to try to get it before Friday.

And the last thing that's been going on this week is classroom observations. I STILL can't get any answers from any of the 3 school districts that I'm trying to observe. NOTHING! No one answers their phone or can seem to help me. I am at my breaking point over this issue. The only thing I can thing to do is actually go to the office. At least this way they can't just ignore my call or not return my messages. I really don't have the time to play around with these people. I have a deadline to meet. I don't want anything holding me up from receiving my certificate in a timely manner. I am doing several lessons a week and am slowly but steadily creeping towards the finish line. I can't believe how frustrating this is become. Trust me, you do not want to be around when I make the calls - a rant almost always follows.

With the crazy week Bryan and I decided to have a lazy night at home last night. It was much need and very nice. But that is over, and today is conditioning class. I can only pray it's not quite as brutal as last week. That shit was crazy! And tonight is sword class....oooooooh! I look forward to it. I rather enjoyed myself last week minus the barely being able to walk from conditioning class part. :)

I gave the cats a bath last night so everyone is currently clean and smelling very nice. Also I was able to clean the house from top to bottom on Wednesday before picking up Bryan. Currently everything in the house is super clean, and I'm loving it. Too bad with 3 cats it doesn't stay for long.

Weekly Roundup (Because You Care)

I think this week has been about getting back into the swing of things after our trip to NYC. It feels good to be back in both of my martial arts classes, but it has also been apparent how much you can loose in as little as a week.

Monday:

It was time to hit the books again. I missed a lot of time to advance in my teaching certification curriculum. It felt good to back to learning. Doing these classes has reminded me how much I enjoy learning. I should do more of it in my own time and not just when I need to. We should NEVER stop trying to learn. I'm sure when I'm a teacher I'll learn a lot I didn't know. My students will surely teach me things as I try to teach them. :)

Bryan and I decided that perhaps Kung Fu classes was better skipped in order to gain a night to just rest. It was probably best though it did nothing to help us get back into the swing of things.

Tuesday-Thursday:
The middle of the week was nothing exciting. I just worked on my classes and hung out here at the house. I went back and forth to both schools. So far I seem to be juggling my martial arts okay. I even got 2 stripes in one class at TKD (for form and target drills). I was surprised to get my form stripe since I only just got my belt. Perhaps things are finally starting to come a little easier to me now that I've spent several months doing this. Easier but not easy! It should never be easy. TKD and Kung Fu both keep me on my toes. I have to keep my brain sharp to remember double the material as well as do the right thing at the right school.

Bryan and I did celebrate 8 months which is exciting. I can't believe how close we are to a year. It still seems like yesterday that I met him.

Friday:

Friday was a good day. It started early. Bryan and I were both up and ready for our conditioning class. That was the hardest workout I have ever done. Seriously, that was crazy. We both had wobbly legs directly after class was finished. We then went to breakfast with some other students and then finally back home. I tried to start setting up my classroom observations again but found it difficult. I can't seem to ever get a hold of the right person or get the right answers or instructions. Sigh. I'm feeling anxious about these because they are due by a certain period. It's not necessarily close, but I don't want to take any chances.

Friday night I started the sword class at TKD followed by Han Mu Do (self defense) and finally a forms class. OMG! This was so hard after going to conditioning class that morning. Sword class was super fun though. I got to spar with it in the first class - super cool! Han Mu Do was okay. I don't really like self defense even if it is the most practical thing that martial arts can teach me. I just really suck at wrist locks. Since it falls in between 2 classes that I do like it would be kinda silly not to attend. Besides, I'm paying for it! :)

Saturday:
Saturday was a long day. Bryan had black belt class at 9 AM. At the same time I had to do another online class for my teaching certification. I then read material for my next teaching activity while I waited for Bryan to finish up. When he was done, we went out for lunch and then for tea. Mmmm... With our tummies full, we had to make it back to the school so I could do my class. Finally after all of that we were finally ready to go home.

We hung around the house and then met Jason and Amy at the movies to watch An American Carol (the worst movie ever made...seriously). Then we ate at out (again!). Finally it was bed time.

Bryan at tea:


Sunday (today):
Today was a VERY lazy day up until I had to take Bryan to the airport. He's off on another business trip to NYC/Maryland. Now I'm sitting at home bored and a little lonely.

By the way, Bryan and I are still limping around complaining about our sore muscles induced from conditioning class on Friday.

Taking A Bite Of The Big Apple

The last of the installment of our New York trip has arrived my friends. Rejoice!

Saturday:
Saturday was a day of food...soooo much food! I had to start the day with the second online class for my teaching certification. It was a good class, but I was glad to get back to the trip. :) First off was a lunch with all of Bryan's family and a couple that was friends with Bryan's dad. It was a full table and the conversation was great. We sat around talking and eating food and drinking coffee for quite a while. Finally it was time to eat again...yay! I was excited because we were going to New Jersey to eat at Red Lobster. I love fish, but I wasn't hungry yet. Somehow I still managed to put away over half of my food. Ugh! I was so stuffed when we left the restaurant that I could barely walk to the car.

Sunday:
There wasn't much to do on Sunday but get pack and get ready for the trip home. Thankfully for the trip home I was able to score 4 Xanax. I took one about 45 minutes before we left for the airport. This is the first time I have walked into an airport without feeling queasy. Bryan did some research before we left and found this site. One of the suggestions was to ask to meet the pilot. Bryan asked, and he came over to talk to us. He was super nice and from Texas. It really did help to meet him. Now at least I had a face to the voice on the intercom. It helped to see that he didn't look tired or drunk. I took another pill about a half hour before the flight. I was asleep before everyone got settled in. Unfortunately some little girl screaming woke me up for the takeoff so I took another...hehe. I ended up taking them all, but I slept for the entire flight! This was so awesome for me and just what I had dreamed of.

Jason picked us up from the airport and drove us home. It was soooo good to be home. I was ecstatic to see all of my cats. I began to take pictures of them because they were so cute and obviously happy to see us return.

After we got settled in Bryan suggested we have one last bad meal at the newly opened Buffalo Wild Wings by our house. It was delicious!

Here is the last album of pictures from New York and our arrival home:

Album 4


Here is a video I took of Bryan's parents' cat - too cute!!

In A New York Minute

As promised here is all the juicy details about our trip to NYC (minus the trip home - separate post).

Wednesday:
Wednesday was our first full day in the Big Apple. We had to wake up super early to get into the city at to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I got to ride the ferry and subway for the first time. Ah, little country girl in the big ole city. :) The Met was very cool. We basically stayed to the modern art section. It is always exciting to see the artist's works that I studied for so many years. Bryan even discovered some artists that he like as well as many that he didn't. :) We both decided that we love Klee and Close. We had to make pretty quick passes through each room just to get in that 1 section! However, we did take some time to sit and reflect on one very awesome Pollock.

From there we went through Central Park stopping here and there to get some pictures in. We grabbed a hot dog (yummy!). We discovered a castle which we climbed to the top of and got some awesome pictures. Upon coming out the other side of the park it was time for lunch! We met Morgan and Anthony at a nearby restaurant. After stuffing our faces we headed to the The American Museum of Natural History for 3 exhibits. We started at the planetarium for a show called Cosmic Collisions (very cool!). It was narrated by Robert Redford (ooooooh!!). :) Then we went to the IMAX they had to watch a movie on ancient sea monsters. Finally we caught the Snakes/Lizards exhibit. We were soooo exhausted at this point, but we weren't done.

I had arranged to meet an old friend of mine that I went to high school with who currently resides in NYC. He met us, and we went to an awesome dinner. It was great to see him. It was the great way to end an awesome day in Manhattan. Finally, it was time to take the Xpress bus back to Staten Island and bed!

Thursday:
Thursday was a good slow day hanging out in Staten Island. Bryan took me for a little driving tour of where he grew up. We stopped at a pier and walked out of the water. It was really cool to see where he grew up. I love learning about his past. We grabbed some coffee and headed back to the house. We had an awesome family dinner, and then we all went our for dessert and coffee.

Friday:
Friday it was time to go back into the city. We were up early to make the trek back into the city. We got off at Times Square. That was pretty awesome. There was so much going on, but I liked it. We grabbed some breakfast (pizza for Bryan and a gyro for me) which we ate on the bus that took us to a cruise. That's right, a cruise! It was a 3 hour cruise that took us all the way around Manhattan. It was kinda long but very interesting. I saw the Statue of Liberty (very beautiful) among many, many buildings....hehe. There were tons of awesome sights along this cruise. There's probably no better way to see a little bit of everything.

After the long, cold, and windy cruise we headed to Chinatown (crazy place! but very cool). The whole gang at dinner here, and then we split up. We were able to get in a little shopping here. I snagged a very cool NYC t-shirt. We went to a martial arts store; they had some super crazy stuff. Bryan and I then headed to a jewelry store owned by a guy he used to know. Finally it was time to go back to Staten Island.

I'll tell you about the rest of the trip including the ride home in the next post. :) Here are the pictures that cover this portion of our trip:

Album 1
Album 2
Album 3

Getting to NYC

So as not to overload all of my readers with a huge post, I've decided to divide up the NYC trip into more than one post. Enjoy!

As many of you know I was not looking forward to flying to New York. I was definitely excited for the trip, but I had been in an ever increasing state of anxiety in regards to flying there. Every day that the scheduled flight grew nearer, the worse my anxiety got. By the actual day of the flight, I wasn't sure I could actually board the plane. The entire day I was nervous to the point of puking. I made myself eat lunch so that I wouldn't get sick when I took the Benedryl.

Wendy picked us up right on time and dropped us off at the airport. After we got seated at the gate I took 3 Benedyls. I ended up take 3 more later during the flight. Although I felt lightheaded, I never did sleep. My adrenaline pretty much pumped for the entire flight.

As the plane started to make its way to the runway for takeoff, I wanted off BAD - so bad in fact I started crying! Yes, I cried. I'm not even ashamed to admit it because if they would've given me the option, I would have gotten off. I hate takeoff. It feels weird and is completely terrifying.

I didn't do much better for the rest of the trip. I really wanted to be asleep, but I just couldn't relax enough to do so. I was so nervous I was shaking for a large part of the flight. I also like to rock back and forth and move my leg up and down at a ridiculous speed. I partly do it because I hope if the plane shakes a little I'll trick myself into thinking it was just me. I also do it because I can control it.

We went over a storm at one point, and therefore, encountered some turbulence. I lost it. I hyperventilated. I know that's bad, but again, I'm not ashamed. I was scared out of my mind! And Bryan was so good to me. He did his best to calm me down. And though he probably thought it didn't make a difference, having him there made all the difference in the world. I know I got us quite a few funny and annoyed looks. I can't believe he was so nice and comforting about the situation. He must really love me! :)

FINALLY after a little over 3 hours we reached our destination. I know this is odd, but I actually enjoy landing. At the point where you can tell what cars are, I get pretty excited. All of the anxiety melts away, and I am able to enjoy myself and the landing. It was awesome to see all of the lights; there were soooo many! It was quite breathtaking, and I'm glad I got to witness it. Landing is actually kind of fun. I've never experience a bad landing so I still enjoy it.

I have decided that flying is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. However, it really was worth it (I can say this because I'm alive!) because we had an awesome trip. I probably would never have gotten to experience the things I did if I hadn't boarded the plane. I also am convinced that I have a true phobia. I have already looked into some options to getting over it, but more on that later.

In the next post I'll tell you all about our adventures in NYC. :) There are tons of pictures.