i left for iowa monday evening. brett dropped me off at the airport, 45 minutes later i was in the air and on my way to chicago. everything went smoothly, got my bags, drove to the hotel, checked in, played angry birds for an hour (dangerous addiction, people) and finally passed out. i stayed up way too late for having to get up at 5:30 the next morning, but if you’ve played that game you can vouch for me when i say it is SO HARD TO PUT DOWN. you’d think stupid golden eggs wouldn’t be enough to have such a grip on a person’s life.
i got up, showered, and followed my boss to our meeting. i have a hard time with 7:30 in the morning, so i drank a 5-hour, plus my coffee, and had a muffin. i don’t know how i’d never had a poppy seed muffin before, but i’d never had one until halloween weekend, and now i love them. especially the ones at T.K. tripps–they are to die for. if you don’t have a T.K tripps in your area, i feel sorry for you. because they are incredible and they serve them during brunch with warm butter and i can’t think of anything more awesome for a sunday brunch. besides mimosas. but i’m not ballsy enough to do that in public.
ANYWAY, the meeting was actually a preliminary design review so it wasn’t your typical meeting. which means it was long. which means it lasted from 8 in the morning until 6 at night. which means that i almost died twice during the entire thing and the only thing that saved me was the chocolate cake and mountain dew and my cell phone. i was texting brett every couple hours, mostly because i don’t have the attention span required to sit through one of these things. the overall event was very informative and interesting–i enjoyed 90% of it. but 10 hours in the same room had me twitching in my seat to the point where people probably thought i had to pee. it was difficult, but i learned a lot. and more than i ever thought i would know (or need to know) about kernel separation.
we went out to dinner with everyone afterward. my cousin met up with us, so it was nice to see her. i ordered a caesar salad thinking it would be, you know, a regular salad. with lettuce and parmesan and croutons and dressing. it wasn’t. it was 5 pieces of lettuce with a mountain of mushrooms, banana peppers, onions, no croutons, and dressing. i was sad. i hate mushrooms, and onions, and banana peppers. to top it off, my pasta alfredo made me feel sick to my stomach. or it might have been the whiskey sour i ordered that had absolutely zero sour in it, a splash of sprite (maybe? it had bubbles), and entirely too much whiskey. that was the only drink i had that evening. and for the entire trip.
i got up wednesday morning to fly home and i made sure to wake up early enough to go by a kohl’s or a target to get new sunglasses. i broke mine. again. i found a kohl’s and didn’t find sunglasses, but i did find more sweater dresses and matching jewelry. next time i break my glasses, i’m going to a gas station. or a CVS.
i flew home (i’m skipping the long part about where i almost didn’t get a seat on my connecting flight and had to walk 85 miles through chicago o’hare just to get my stupid ticket), and brett picked me up at the airport. i walked into the apartment, and to my absolute amazement, he had vacuumed, cleaned the dishes, taken the trash out, wiped down the table, and made the bed. i had been dreading coming home (not really, i never dread coming home, i just hate cat litter) and finding kitty litter all over my bathroom floor, and then i came home to this. and it made me so happy. i am truly lucky and i don’t think i can say that enough. my man is incredible.
we hung out and watched the last episode of dexter and relaxed for the remainder of the evening. thursday was a government holiday so we didn’t have to get up early the next morning. but we probably should have.
first of all, my car was still in the shop. the guy called and told me that the problem was actually in the transmission (they thought it was a spring but that wasn’t the case) so instead of $300, it would cost $2000. a bit more than i had hoped for. originally, brett and i planned on going to get boxes and start packing on thursday. but plans quickly changed when i realized i needed to get a car instead. we are actually moving out of our apartment today (friday) and don’t get the u-haul until tomorrow, so having only 1 car would be a bit of a pain in the ass. especially since i still want to go to my welding class tomorrow. transportation NIGHTMARE.
we went to toyota because for as long as i can remember, i’ve wanted a toyota tacoma, black, extended cab, lifted, shiny toolbox in the back, the whole nine yards. we looked at prices on what i wanted and as it turns out, i have expensive taste. toyota is not cheap. and while they are great cars, i don’t wan’t to (read CAN’T) spend $27,000 on a used truck. that’s just not happening. so we headed to the ford dealership near our apartment. i was kind of bummed because i couldn’t get the tacoma, and i didn’t really see anything at the ford place either while we walked around. and then finally i saw a black F150 in front of me and i felt the urge. i felt the THIS IS MY NEW CAR feeling and the butterflies and i knew i was getting my hopes up.
i don’t really have any credit aside from my best buy credit card that i got in march (note to readers, if you don’t have one, don’t ever get one). i don’t think the march-november time frame on a jointly paid credit card from HSBC is really a great credit building achievement so we told the salesman that i wanted to see if i could even THINK about buying this truck before i got let down in the end. we filled out a whole mess of paperwork and when they told me that i would be approved, i think i shed a tear. i mean, i make good money, i don’t have kids, my rent is split with brett so we really don’t pay much on the apartment, and aside from that and a few bills we have totally disposable income. on paper, it makes sense that i would get approved, but since i had to have my mom co-sign on my BEST BUY CREDIT CARD, getting approved for a loan on a car seemed a bit out of my league.
i was more than pleasantly surprised. so i am the proud new owner of a ford F150 FX2 sport. it is black and shiny and i couldn’t be happier. also, i’m fairly certain that brett will try to steal it if i don’t keep an eye on it. next step == learning to park it correctly.
the car buying process took out a good chunk of our day. we got home around 6:30 in the evening and still had to start packing. and surprisingly, we got most of it done. or maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me because the apartment is in shambles. i hate moving, and i REALLY hate moving again after 6 months. this town house has GOT to last us at least a year or 2. hopefully at that point we’ll be ready to buy a house. who knows.
i don’t think i can even cram anything else into my schedule today. after i leave work, i have to go to the treasurer’s office to pay property taxes on my car, go by the rental office and drop off november rent for the townhouse, get the keys, and go to the apartment. pick up brett, who is going to take me to the transmission shop to pick up my car. drive my car to the ford dealership and get the plates switched. then come back to the apartment, start loading up the truck, and then begin the moving process. which will last all weekend. my mom gets here today, brett’s parents get here tomorrow, and hopefully we can get a lot of the moving done tonight and leave the heavy lifting for brett and his dad.
this is the ONLY scenario in my entire life where i actually can say that i can’t wait until monday.