whirlwind

(on the way to South Haven. Too bad it was only in the 70s that day.)
I am lazy, so I'm going to direct you to my flickr site. Link in the sidebar, look for the square with the pictures in it. There are pictures of mostly Chris, Cherie and their time in Kzoo, but there are also pictures of the surprise guest (!!) Joey, my new favorite drink (amaretto sour, which at first sounded disgusting), Mr. Ryan Dinkgrave, who was kind enough to visit and go out to dinner (and patient enough while we drove around kzoo trying to find somewhere open!) with Chris, Cherie, Joey and I, stuff we saw in D.C., etc. etc.
I had a blast in Kzoo. I was so happy to see Chris and Cherie there, I've missed being around them a lot. It was really awesome to get to see Ryan and Joey and for them to travel across the state to hang out for a few hours. Ryan gave me a CD with a few different albums on it, all of which are amazing (and the MP3 CD works in my car's CD player--wooo).
I got to hang out and catch with some of my favorite Kzoo (although some not for long) and Michigan people: Katy, Erin M, Kim, Bill, Emily, Dan, Petro, Brian, Jen, Kate, DJ, Clay, Josh F, Mike, Scotty and Traci! Amazing! I think that's everyone. I was lucky enough to get to see just about everyone I wanted to and luckily ran into a few people. I finally got to see the new Harvey's, revisited the Green Top, eat at Shawarma King, Saffron, and Crow's Nest, laugh a lot, and hug everyone I've missed so much. Erin, Chris, Cherie and I got to relive (sort of) horror movie night with Slumber Party Massacre and Tom Collinses! I hung out at Rocket Star a lot. Katy and I got Culver's, went to the cottage and wondered if the pontoon was moving. I got the best voicemail ever from Chris and Cherie (Doritos! A whole bag of Doritos!). Chris and Cherie helped my family have the best grilled meal ever. We went to South Haven and walked around, unfortunately on the only day that was in the 70s! I finally got to try Summer Thyme Cafe (delicous!!) and catch up with Jen and Kate. I also got to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter OotP with Megan, Mike, Scott, Chris, Cherie and Katy (the tradition lived on!). It was pretty awesome.
This is such a mess of thoughts! BUT I loved seeing everyone's faces and no longer just hearing your voices or reading your letters/emails. I hope that I convinced a few people to move down to Virginia or at least visit. haha.

Okay, so, our trip back deserves a story. We hop on a train from Kzoo to Chicago. Eat in Chicago. Get on a train leaving at 7:05 PM, supposed to get into D.C. at 1:05 PM. We sleep really bad because the lights are kinda bright in the train and there is a baby in front of us that will. not. stop. crying. (mostly because the mother and grandmother with the baby weren't choosing very effective methods to quiet a baby down. "Stop that" and "quiet now" are probably not going to fix whatever that child needs) We end up being SIX HOURS LATE. Yes, SIX! Frieght traffic, signal problems, brake problems, you name it-- we had it. We ran out of food on the train. People missed trains. We were certain that we'd miss our 5:50 train to Williamsburg because we were schedule to come into D.C. at 6:10 (this was changed about 5 times while David was waiting at the D.C. train station for our train to Williamsburg. It went from 5:15 to 5:35 and so on... ugh) We talk to the attendant as we're all waiting to pull into the station and I ask him if there's another train to the southeast part of VA. He tells us that that train to Williamsburg/Newport News can't leave until the conductor on our train gets on there. WHAT?!! Holy crap! How lucky! So, we ended up on the same train that David was on and we all headed to Williamsburg. Meg and I were exhausted. What an adventure.

David tagged me to do this thing:

Five (5) things about me you may not know:
1. I get really nervous and anxious going out to a public place, party, get together, etc. unless I'm with people I know really well. Like I'm talking jumpy, sweaty, etc. (I know this happens to most of you, too)
2. When I was little, I thought that I was safe from ghosts and goblins if I had a cat with me or if I made some sort of music (singing, whistling, humming, etc.)
3. Alternate dream careers: Radio show on NPR, singing in a band, photographer, owner of a coffeeshop (who didn't see that one coming?! but seriously, since I was a teenager, I always wanted to own a cafe)
4. I am really paranoid and scared of losing memories.
5. I get really annoyed when people hold back because they are absolutely petrified of what someone else will think of them. I hate seeing people hold themselves back from something that could be an amazing memory, moment, adventure, or fun! One life to live, people! (this is probably because I was like this all through middle and most of high school and I still get a little like this.)

Tag, you're it:
1. Miss Fancy Pants
2. Natalie
3. Emily H
4. Jen