The Arrival

So after my day with my dad shopping and giggling to the strange books at Urban Outfitters, I got to spend some time with my childhood BFF Madi.  She and I have been best friends since the first day of class together in first grade!  I even wrote a paper in school about the day we met.  Our friendship has never wavered in all these years.  I have so many photographs of so many vacations, parties and events in my life; Madi is in so many of them.  She knows all my secrets.  Some day when I make it to the Olympics Madi is the person who I will have to keep the press from talking to!

Friday was the quiet before the storm.  We drove out to the lake house late last night.  There were fireworks being shot off all along the route.  Traffic  would be hauling along and then come to a stop as people slowed to watch the amazing color spectrum exploding in flashes before their eyes.  The next morning was a late lazy day of tubing on the lake, water balloon fights, great food and old friends.  I even managed a little nap after hours in the sun.  Dinner was amazing; mom always tries to feed her former students well at the lake.  Perhaps it is a surrogate mom thing. We had fruit salad with a secret sauce that my former calculus tutor JJ (now a student at Baylor) named “mama sauce.”  He and I used to eat bowls of it.  Ally loves apples so I kept sneaking her mine.  I am really not a big apple person; except as applesauce on my steak! We had basil pesto pasta with sundried tomatoes and bacon.  I kept sneaking Marisa’s bacon.  In the morning mom and I jumped in the car and headed to Lexington.  I had a book to read, movies to watch and lots of road food!

We finally arrived in Kentucky after a straight 12 hour haul. I read a book most of the way, and jammed to some great tunes.  I think mom is much more appreciative of hip hop after several hours of hearing me singing it!  Just kidding, I think every generation is meant to torment the previous one with their music.  We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner Saturday night and it made me think of my friend Courtney Bauer.  Her family loves Cracker Barrel.  When we went to shows together we ate there a lot.  I bought a bunch of blue packaged candy for Molly and Sadie’s “welcome to the house” bags I am making up tonight.  I love shopping at Cracker Barrel even more than eating there.  I could spend hours just reading all the strange packages and taste testing the candy.

Well on Sunday, mother and I waited anxiously at Starbucks to pick up Jessica Hainsworth at the airport.  She flew in from NY to be my groom at NAJYRC.  She is a great friend who dropped her summer plans to help me in KY.  Thanks Julia for letting Jessica come on such short notice.  I promise we will stay out of trouble.  J

After we got Jessica we headed to the house to unload, and then went to the grocery store for supplies.  Finally, I got to relax and wait for my guy to get here.  Yes, I am talking about Sjapoer!  He will always be the number one guy in my heart.  I am sure he will love to hang out at Reese’s place this week.  I hope we can avoid the severe heat we have had the last few years here in KY.   PS. No matter how hard you try and how well you plan, inevitably you forget something.  For me this year it was buckets! I have TONS of bucket hooks but no buckets. Looking for a feed/tack shop right now to grab some for SJ!