Adventure to the Bahamas -The Day Before

Two weeks ago today, I got in a car with three people, headed toward Florida to get on a ship for the BAHAMAS!! Those three people? My super-awesome friend Anna Leigh, her mom, Mrs. Jeannie, and the fun-loving Mrs. Theresa. None of us had been on a cruise before, so yay for new experiences!

I spent the night with the Acords the night before, and they don't usually have coffee. It was getting on around 9 AM and I was like, "Um... This is selfish, but I'm an addict and I need some coffee.... heh!" Mr. Rocky jumped up to make me some, but he didn't have to, because Mrs. Jeanie was on the phone with Mrs. Theresa, who was at McDonalds. Problem solved. The dear Mrs. Theresa brought me some coffee, and I knew everything was gonna be alright.

Mr. Rocky packed our luggage in the trunk, Anna Leigh and I settled down in the back seat with munchies, blankets, and dvds, and so we set out. Mrs. Jeannie took the wheel under the guidance of Anna's GPS, and Mrs. Theresa rode shotgun. And we drove. And drove. For hours.


For lunch, it was decided that we would all write down our top four choices for lunch (on a ripped up napkin) and whichever place had the most votes is where we would go. Subway won! The subway we found had a Dairy Queen beside it, and all of a sudden I really wanted some fries. So I decided to get a DQ chicken wrap, which I ended up regretting because it was tiny and weird. However, the fries were fantastic and that's what mattered. Then we drove even more, finally making it to our hotel about 9 hours after we started.


Anna Leigh and I plopped down on the sleep number beds as soon as we arrived. We played with the settings and laughed for probably half an hour, til Mrs. Jeanie called out outside to look at the awesome pool. By the way, the most popular sleep number is 35. The perfect balance between soft and supportive. The pool was pretty sweet. It had a waterfall rushing over these big landscaping boulders, and a nifty koi pond. It would have been nice to go for a swim, but we got there too late, and had to leave too early in the morning.

All the way to the hotel we kept thinking of things we needed. Fake nails, chocolate, deodorant, wrinkle release spray, blo pops... you know, important stuff like that. A Wal-Mart run was definitely going to be a necessity. We also decided we needed to find a Cracker Barrel for dinner since all of us but Anna needed a real meal. It seemed perhaps if we just drove around we would find what we wanted. We drove one way. Nothing. We drove another way. Nothing. That plan wasn't working so well, so we stopped at a pharmacy and asked some lady where we could find a Cracker Barrel. She gave us really good directions, told us there was, mercifully, a Wal-Mart right beside it, and suggested we visit the Atlantis hotel on Paradise Island once we got to the Bahamas.

So, we headed out following the girl's directions without a hitch, and found the Cracker Barrel. I have never been so excited about roast beef, mashed potatoes, and macaroni in my life. My heart flooded with joy at the thought of it. And rightly so. Anna asked if it fulfilled my expectations, and I told her it quite exceeded them. It was the best ten dollars I've spent in a while, topped off with a biscuit and blackberry jam.

With our stomachs much happier, it was time to head to the next-door Wal-Mart. We sallied forth, made our purchases, and headed back to the car. Mrs. Theresa realized that this trip (which had been pretty dramatic for a simple trip to dinner and Wal-Mart) was definitely worth documenting, and forbade us enter the car. Henceforth she found an optimal space in the parking lot whereat the Wal-Mart sign could be see above our heads. The camera found a place on top the car, auto-timer was set, and the picture was taken! Time to move forward!


Who knew forward would be so confusing? Richard the GPS voice told us how to get back to the hotel from our current location, but we passed the exit he told us to take. We got off at the next one, so he told us to get back on the interstate by turning left in a couple hundred yards. We approached the place to turn and were stunned to find not a clearly marked ramp, but what looked like a vast emptiness instead. "I'm not turning into that cow pasture!" Mrs. Jeanie said, so we did a U turn. It didn't make sense for it to be a cow pasture, and surely Richard was right, so we headed toward the left turn again. "Take it slow, Jeanie. Nobody's behind you, just go slow. It DOES look like a pasture!" said Mrs. Theresa from the passenger's seat. And so she did. Of course, it was not a cow pasture. It was not well lit, but it turned out to be a normal on-ramp, and we made our way back to the hotel drama free, with Anna Leigh and I contentedly eating gummies and chocolate.

Once we got back to the hotel it was time to make preparations. Getting ready for anything can be a fiasco when there are women involved. Increase the number of them, and the insanity increases exponentially. Anna Leigh and I had to lay out all of our potential outfits and corresponding jewelry, and invite a panel of judges to help us. Oh, the indecisiveness of us! We made quite a mess of the contents of our suitcases, deliberating which pants would be best for which day, and showing off our formal dresses. Mrs. Theresa's enthusiasm for everyone's dresses was very gratifying, and we were quite satisfied with our selections. Finally, casual and dinner dress were chosen for the next day, we re-packed our bulging suitcases, and went to bed.

Happy February!

Hello, people.

In my blog absence, I have been to the Bahamas, and been sick.
And who knows what I did with all the time in between, because that was only two weekends.


Of course, I intend to write about my 3-night cruise with Anna Leigh, but sometimes my good intentions don't turn out so well. I have the trip to Florida chronicled in splendid Caitlinesque detail, and the adventurous dance party night fairly well covered, too. Other than that, the rest of the trip is still waiting patiently to be written about, and if I don't do it soon I shall forget.

The problem is once I start writing, I write in exact detail, and end up with a Very Long Story. And then it's so long, I'm not sure anyone will want to read it anyway. So, with the prospect of the documentation becoming a Very Long Story No One Wants To Read, I put it off.

Now you know! But I will try to get around to it, and give you lots of pictures to break up the monotony. And you all seem to enjoy my writing, even when I think it's boring, so I shall give it the benefit of the doubt.

At any rate, moving on to other things: Today is Groundhog Day. Which, honestly, holds no significance for me. I usually forget that it's groundhog day and don't find out the results of the foreshadowing (or not) til days later.

So, happy groundhog day! May winter leave soon. It was quite a shock being in the Bahamas for 3 lovely, warm days, and coming back to the cooold weather. Not that I'm complaining - I'm glad I live in GA where it almost never gets below 30.

P.S. If you would like to buy something from my shop, now would be a good time... Sorry. :)

P.P.S. Oh! By the way, I made a really cool beanie for this kid I know, and I failed to take pics and write a pattern. So, tomorrow, he's wearing it to church and I WILL take pics and write a pattern. And I shall show it to you because it's awesome.

That's all.

Caitlin

I'm still busy!

While absence of blog updates may lead you to the conclusion that I've not been up to much,
let me assure you that the truth is quite the opposite. I may not have been blogging, but I have certainly been busy. One thing with which I've been occupied is crocheting, of course.
Let me show ya:

Khaki and Brown Cabby.

Earthy Hippie Hat.

Blue V-Stitch Beret.

Happy Woolen Bird Friend.

These last two I conjured up last night. Blue hat was created while I was watching Kronk's New Groove, and Birdy during Pirate of the Caribbean.
All freehanded, as usual - straight from my little noggin.
Yay!

Wait, well, I did use a pattern for the cabby, but I'm the one who wrote the pattern,
so it doesn't really count as using a pattern. :P

In other news, I went to Savannah and had a lovely time. I've decided that I would like to live there for a summer and ride my bike around everywhere, frequenting coffee shops and parks with books and such. How very picturesque it would be.
As if.
haha.

So, anyways... what's new with you?

Caitlin

P.S. SCHOOL'S ALMOST OVER!
I love my job, but I'm glad next week is the end. ;-)

The Ski Trip Post!

Soo, it's about time I finally tell y'all about that ski trip I went on!
The thing is, once you let so many days past after an event you wanted to write about, the freshness kinda wears off, and you sort of forget what exactly it was you wanted to write.
Sad, isn't it?
But I'm going to see if I can't dig those highlights back up. :D

Firstly, I would just like to say that the people in my Sunday School class are awesome, and doing anything with them is fun. We could sit in a room and stare at each other and it would be fun.
... Maybe. lol
Maybe not. We've kinda done that before, actually. That's how Sunday School starts sometimes.
Aaanyways.

The ride there was fun.
Gracie called me! We hadn't talked in a while, so that was good. 'Cep for the not being able to hear her very well part.

We stopped and had dinner at Chick Fil A. Everybody needs to go there once with Allison so you can avoid all the terrible things we inconsiderate customers do to the place! And don't order a milkshake from her. Please. Trust me on this one.

I was the last one to finish eating, as usual.
I dropped my fries in the parking lot.
I hadn't gotten to eat them because my mouf hurted.
I was sad.
John couldn't save them.
They told me not to drop my drink too.
It was too late.
But I saved it before it spilled.

I have a feeling this post is going to get long. We're not even in North Carolina yet.

You know, I actually don't remember much else except for that it was a fun trip, and the hours passed really quickly.

Once we were settled in the hotel, Anna Leigh, Andrea, and I stayed up WAY too late relaxing. There was this CD... Ohhh man. It might would have been relaxing if we could have stopped laughing! This guy talked you through all these steps to help you relax. You had to tense up all your muscles, and then let go. "Feel the tension flying away from your toes as you breaathe iinn... one... two... three... and out... one... two... three... You may feel some twitching sensations in your neck. **soothing voice** This is normal."

I pretended to have a spasm when he said that. :D I'm totally cracking up just thinking about it!
It was hilarious. Then you were supposed to feel like you were floating... and imagine gradual immersion into a relaxing, warm bath. We had a hard time getting up Friday morning after all that relaxation.

As great as the skiing was, it was just being with my friends that was the best part.
I've never seen that much snow in person before, so that made me smile. :D Skiing was like flying. And not being able to stop. Ha! I just couldn't figure out how to make the stupid "snow plow" technique to work, so I would start sliding down the hill, faster and faster, with the wind whistling in my ears and burning my eyes, unable to control my speed, whooshing up and down the fun little hills down the slope... and praying "this is COOL! ...dear God, please don't let me hit somebody!" It was awesome. Except for the falling down in the middle of the slope 3 or 4 times and taking like 10 minutes to get the stupid skis back on. Then I decided it was quittin' time.

I went in, got some cappuccino, and sat down for a chat with Allison.
It was the strangest chat I've ever had with a friend.
I like romantic movies - she hates them.
She likes southern gospel music - I hate it.
I like my coffee with sugar and cream - she scorns any such thing.
She thinks some guy is totally hot - I think he's cute. Which is completely different, btw.
I like birds - she doesn't.
She likes weird country songs - I don't.
I love skirts and dresses - she hates them.
She likes... well, I ran out of things right now, and you get the point.

So I call her my dear Polar Opposite, though I suppose that's not exactly true, because we both like the Bourne movies and Kung Fu Panda.

Anna Leigh and I wrote notes to God on the nightstand. We were surprised to come back after going out for breakfast to find our scattered notes stacked neatly with the pen beside them.
We wrote God another note to thank him for the maids.
I wonder if they read them all...

Why did they give me a weird little coffee mug at the breakfast place? Everyone else had great mugs, and mine was small and funny shaped. They obviousy had a random assortment instead of a set. I liked that. I think it's kinda homey. Allison didn't.

On the ride home, we stopped at the Tanger Outlet in Commerce.
Philip told us we had half an hour, and then we were leaving.
Girls: "let us out! which stores should we hit first?!"
Guys: "we'll just hang here... what's the point getting out?"
I snagged some good deals. :D

I didn't realize how heavy my cute little suitcase was til I got home and had to carry it myself. Methinks having nice guys around to hold doors and take your luggage is awesome. Thanks, boys!

We were all kinda zoned out on the trip home, mostly. My iPod died. I played the same game of solitaire like 8 times, trying to win it. I finally gave up and started a new game.

Some favorite memories of each person:
Laura - Your discovery of the creepy elevator! I'm sad I missed out on seeing the creepy man.
Allison - You sitting at the table with me discussing our differences. Hilarious!
Katie - You lent me your other ski bibs. I accepted reluctantly, but I ended up really liking them. Thanks doll!! And we're both beret-wearers. Yay!
Andrea - You got me back for yelling at you. I totally wasn't expecting that. LOL
Anna Leigh - You cracked up so much when I scribbled out the scary face on the window... :D I still don't understand why it was so funny, but it was a great moment!
John - You almost killed Laura before we even got done with ski school. Priceless!
Joe - Your story about how firemen can shut down the highway anytime they want was great. You were all like "and we're like "yeah? watch us."" ... ha!
Philip - You tried to help me get the hang of snowplowing, and I got worse instead. You made a valiant effort, though, and I thank you!
Scarlett - You laughing at the weird man telling stories about his janitorial experiences.

I cracked up again thinking about that last one... You had to be there...

So, I guess that wraps up this post. I hope remembered a sufficient amount of amusing things to make it worth your time to read. :D
God has blessed me with great friends, and great opportunities.
Hopefully I'll take the opportunity to blog about Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Caitlin

In Other News...

That's one of my favorite blogging phrases. In other news...

Laura and I are going home tomorrow. I'm ready to go. I didn't think I would be, actually, but I am. Especially since we were at home very little for the three weeks before we came. I miss my family, and my crazy bird.

So, yesterday Laura, Aunt Cindy, and I had our serious girl-time. We talked on our way to the mall, then we did some shopping, and then we had dinner at P.F. Chang's.

Shopping was great. I got two really cute shirts, and an amazing pair of pants at Old Navy. Only, they're way too long even when I wear my tallest shoes. But I think I've figured out how to fix that without botching them. And I got some great denim walking shorts at JC Penney's.

Dinner was SOO good. The best part. I love Chinese. We all tasted each other's food, and each liked what we chose best. And choosing was hard. Lo Mein with chicken, beef, pork, and shrimp. SO yummy. I ate my whole meal with chopsticks. Go me! I didn't know I was so talented. ;-) It's chopsticks for me whenever I have Asian food from now on. lol I had the leftovers for lunch today. But I used a fork.

We went to the beach again last week. And it was smelly and nasty, due to the weather having washed a bunch of seaweed ashore. We didn't stay long. On our way home, a friend of Aunt Cindy's invited us to come swimming at their community pool! So, we did, and it was a blast. It was the coolest pool ever. With a big, fun waterslide. Yay!

We've rented tons of movies the past week. We had a 3 in a row marathon last night. After watching a bunch of bittersweet/depressing movies, we finished with Martian Child. Aunt Cindy fell asleep and finally decided just to go to bed, so we watched it all by our lonely little awake selves. :D It was really good. Very heartwarming. Recommended.

After my post about my favorite things on Etsy, I was contacted by Helen of ShereDesigns on Etsy. Maker of the super-fabulous cute little bird ring that I so love. (She's ordered slippers from me before.) And guess what she did? She proposed a trade. That I send her this beret for that ring.

Is that cool or what? I am telling you, I was so excited I scared Anna and Sarah. I jumped up and down and clapped. And squealed "Yay! I'm so excited" more than a few times.
That's just pretty neat, if you ask me.

I also made a sale, and had 2 people message me to ask if I could make something specifically for them. So, Etsy wise, it's been a good week. Now I just need to make another sale so that I can buy supplies to please these nice people who want special orders. :D

Also, some dear, dear people have paid for Laura and Mama to go the prayer advance with me! So, we're all going! And I'm rooming with my Sarah-friend! YAY!!

Our youth group might be going to Six Flags on Thursday, and I really want to... so I hope that works out.

Friday, I'm having my wisdom teeth out. I hope I won't be useless for the rest of the weekend, but I'm sure I will be.

Next weekend is the Prayer Advancce. The Tuesday after that is my birthday! That's only two weeks away!

After that, I think the excitement will finally be over. At least until October, when we're going on vacation with the Looneys. I hope camping with the Looneys, and making at least one visit to the Fontenot's house can be managed sometime between there.

I just said ALL of that, but I really just wanted to tell you guys I thought it was cool that I used chopsticks close to effortlessly, and that I'm getting the ring I like so much. :)

Pray we'll have a safe trip home tomorrow, pretty please.
Love to all of my friends!

Me

Highlights

Speaking of highlights, my hair has lightened up rather a lot since I dyed it. Which sort of disappoints me, but oh well.

But that was just an aside thought. I'm actually here to
tell you about the highlights of the past few days.

Let's see. Well. Today Laura and I went to Publix. On our way, we were talking about how we forgot to tip the pizza guy Saturday night. He was a nice pizza guy, and he had way awesome dreads, and he deserved his tip. But I called in the payment on the phone, and completely forgot to tip him. Which made me feel absolutely dreadful. The pizza place is next to Publix, so we were saying wouldn't it be nice of us to go in and leave him a couple dollars. But I decided I didn't feel bad enough about it to just walk into a store and say, "here's some tip money for the guy with the dreadlocks... I forgot to tip him the other day... so, could you give it to him?" (What were the chances of him actually being there, right?)

So, we went to Publix, remembered everything on the list but the cream of chicken soup we needed for dinner, and headed home. I drove around the back of the store to leave. It's faster that way. Some guy putting boxes in a dumpster looked at me like I was crazy. And as we passed the back of the pizza place, lo and behold! "Hey, stop!" Laura and I said simultaneously. "It's the pizza guy!" "Quick, do you have money?" I stopped the car, and Laura frantically dug out some money. I snatched it from her, saying "quick, I think he's leaving!" and hopped out of the car. "Hey, wait!" I yelled to the startled pizza guy, who was getting is his car. He turned around. "Hi. You delivered our pizza the other night, and I forgot to tip you. So, here you go." He grinned and said thanks, and we left.

And I really don't care if you think it's silly - I believe God put that pizza guy in the right place at the right time so that we could give him his tip. I felt bad about forgetting it, and so God helped me out. Hopefully it brightened that guy's day. And I sure wish I knew his name just so I wouldn't've had to write "pizza guy" so many times.

I know pretty well how to make a short story long, don't I?

Saturday morning we all went to the park. Uncle Guy pushed Alli in the stroller, the girls had their roller blades, and Laura, Aunt Cindy, and I just walked. It was a nice, enjoyable walk. We got to the mile marker, and knew it was time to turn around. The girls were getting tired, and a storm was rolling in. After unsuccessful attempts at placing a bet on who could get to the car first, Uncle Guy declared that whoever ran the mile back fastest would win 50 dollars. Laura dropped out quickly, because she'd already been running. So it was just me and Aunt Cindy. And it didn't take long for my legs to start burning. We jogged, by the way. There's no way we could have full out run the mile.

We got close to the end, and the finish was in sigh. I seriously thought my legs were just going to stop. Aunt Cindy's a good coach, though. Very encouraging. We weren't too far from the water station that marked the end of the mile when she yelled "Now I'm gonna beat your booty! woo hoo!" and went into high gear. And then I realized, there's no way I was going to put my poor dear legs and lungs through that torture and not win. So I ran ahead and won. Yay me! Now I have 50 dollars. And I know that I'm capable of jogging a mile without stopping. That's something I haven't done before...

It was pretty neat though, because I honestly didn't think I *could* run anymore. And somehow I did. Hooray!

See? Another really short story dragged out into 3 paragraphs.

What else? ... We went swimming in a big fancy shcmancy, really nice hotel pool Sunday. That was cool.

...Um... Laura and I made sure to be online for Daniel Gardner's live broadcast today. Funny stuff there. If you're not familiar with Daniel Gardner, check out some of his videos on youtube or the website : www.thinkgardner.com. You don't have to like them, but I rather enjoy his random sense of humor.

In other news... I'm suffering from perpetual hunger. I think I'm going to have to get a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats before I go to sleep or something. I always have weird dreams, so it doesn't matter if I eat before bed or not.

I registered for the Prayer Advance this week. That's happy. Except for having to pay the late registration fee. :)

I thought I would share with my dear sisters these wise tips from my uncle.

"When you have a husband, your main purpose in life is to NOT move his stuff. And don't try to change him."
"Once you get married, don't try to kill your husband."

*nods head sagely*

And so, I leave you now.
Have a good week.

A Lovely Day

Once upon a time, Caitlin got up on a Tuesday morning.
She took a shower. It was enjoyable. She had a cup of coffee. It, too, was enjoyable. She got ready to go to the beach.
And that is exactly what she proceeded to do, along with her sister, her aunt, and two of her 3 little cousins.

They arrived at the beach, rented chairs with an umbrella, and applied sunscreen.
Then Laura, whose sunglasses had been regrettably left behind, ventured back across the street, accompanied by Caitlin, to the Dollar Tree. To purchase sunglasses, of course.
After standing in line, and checking out 3 items, none of which were sunglasses, they went next door to Publix.
Dollar Tree has unreasonably ugly sunglasses, and Publix has unreasonably priced sunglasses. But Laura found a pair that would do, and they finally headed back toward the beach.

The water was warm, and the waves were calm, so the cousins all had a lovely time swimming while the aunt sat in the shade and read a book.
A valuable lesson was learned this day - shade at the beach means nothing. Ample amounts of sunscreen are required wherever you may happen to be, due to the unfortunate reflection of the sun's rays on the sand. All members of the little party came away a much brighter shade of pink than when they had arrived. A much more painful pink shade of pink, I might add.

Caitlin was enjoying herself quite well, swimming in the sea, when Laura called her forth. "I have something to tell you!" she said. "We're going parasailing! Aunt Cindy has gone now to sign us up!" Something in Caitlin's stomach lurched a little. But it's not every day one gets to go parasailing. Moments later, a boat pulled up, and they were helped on by a friendly red man with a mustache and a long, long ponytail. And to make what could be a very long ramble into a much shorter ramble, a few more moments later, Caitlin and Laura were all harnessed up and ready to sail.

And so they did. Caitlin squealed with glee as the wind pulled them away from the boat, and then with terror, as she imagined horrible things happening if the cable should chance to snap. Once all of the rope was let out, and they were at least at eye level with the city skyline, she relaxed, and let go her death hold on the straps. It was silent and beautiful. Sadly, excepting the seagulls below them, the most interesting thing they spotted was a plastic bag. But it didn't matter, as the ride itself was amazing.

Once again on shore, Caitlin took another dip, had some snacks, then rested on the unoccupied chair under the umbrella. She feigned to be napping, but she was really straining to hear the party beside them. There was an adorable little boy, speaking in the cutest accent. Perhaps British? Caitlin was uncertain, and knew that it was silly to be intrigued... people are just people... but their accent was cool, so there.

Around 3 o'clock, they packed up and headed home, driving through quite a storm the last part of the way.
They arrived home, had dinner, showers, tidied up and such, and the little ones were put to bed.

Then Caitlin and her aunt proceeded to watch the last 3/4 of North and South. And for those curious minds who happen to recall that this was currently Caitlin's favorite film, you may or may not recollect that this was now her 5th time having watched it. Happy for her, she watched the lovely ending twice through, due to her aunt's premature slumber. The movie had ended, the credits were rolling, and Caitlin looked over, smiling to ask if the ending was satisfactory. Aunt Cindy's eyes were shut. "You've just slept through the ending, haven't you!?" Caitlin asked incredulously. Aunt Cindy rolled her head in partial recognition, but still asleep. Caitlin nudged her. "You've slept through the ending" she said. Poor, dear Aunt. She'd tried so hard to stay awake. And so, after many minutes of wrestling with the unwilling remote control, a satisfactory re-starting place was found, and the dear Aunt commenced watching the last 5 minutes. She was well pleased.

Of course, the Uncle would have to walk in and say something to the effect of, "oh, it was quite wonderful. All it needed was a Mr. Darcy." Objections were made to this mockery, but what are grown men for, but to tease poor women out of their minds when they simply want to enjoy a happy ending?

Nevertheless, all's well that ends well. Even with aloe-covered shoulders, quite a lovely day this turned out to be.

We're in Florida!

Hi!
Tuesday morning, Laura and I were dropped off at the airport a little around 6:30 AM. Our flight wasn't until 9:10. We were expecting a long, boring, miserable wait, but somehow the time went past pretty quickly.

We checked in our baggage, and one suitcase was 4 pounds over the limit. The fee for that was close to 30 dollars, but the nice girl at the desk advised us to move any jeans we may have in there to another suitcase, and that would take care of it. So, standing there fighting to pull things out of a half-zipped suitcase and cram them into another one was a little awkward, knowing there were people in line behind us who probably wanted us to hurry up. But it was much less painful than 30 dollars. :D

After we went through security, we decided to kill our time by riding the concourse to the international side of the airport. We got on at gate C, (we had headed there first to make sure we knew where we needed to be) then rode all the way (shoot - I just spilled some coffee on myself.) to the last gate, then AAAALLL the way back past C, past baggage claim, to where we wanted to be. It was a fun ride. lol

We walked around looking for breakfast. Laura got a cinnamon something at McDonald's. I had pretty much decided I wanted yogurt and granola or fruit or something, but had no idea where to get it. We went to Starbucks to get some coffee. Turns out, they have yogurt and granola and fruit parfait thingies. So, I got one. It was good, except for the blueberries. They were more like... chewy fibrous lumps. Weird.

As I was eating, I noticed a guy that looked like some sort of hippy beach bum sitting in a comfy chair, reading something. And then I noticed he was reading a Bible. And then I noticed that he was focusing intently, and writing stuff down. And then I was very impressed that a guy in starbucks was studying his Bible.

And then I thought how it's kind of sad to be impressed when you see someone reading a Bible. This country was founded on the Bible. Everyone ought to know it and love it. It should not be uncommon to see young men reading and studying the greatest book that exists instead of sports magazines. But it is.

Laura and I sat down in comfy chairs, too, and she read a Narnia book while I wrote in my journal. We decided it was much nicer to kill time in a Starbucks than by sitting, waiting, at our gate.

We went back to our gate, where there were no empty seats. Fortunately, it was much closer to time to board than I thought it was, so we didn't have to wait around too long. I left Laura with our stuff and went to get a bottle of overpriced water. By the time I came back, it was time to board! Hoorah!

I love flying. I hurt my neck looking out the window. :P My favorite part is takeoff. Watching the ground get further and further away... so cool. Especially when the plane tilts... Awesome.
The flight was relaxing and uneventful... although the man in front of me smelled kind of funny.

So. We got to Tampa, and waited for our bags. Got them, nearly had my arms ripped off carrying them to Aunt Cindy's car, and then headed home. Or home for now, anyways. And my poor shoulders were sore from carrying our suitcases for the next two days. Blast us girls and our need to carry everything with us. And I don't even like what I packed. lol

Aunt Cindy and Uncle guy left a couple hours after we got here for a little vacation. Sarah and Anna are also on vacation visiting some relatives. So, it' jut been me, Laura, and Alli. Very quiet and uneventful.

We've eaten leftovers all week. I have NO IDEA how to only cook for 2 or 3 people. I tried. And we still have had gobs of leftovers. Seriously. heh.

So, um... kudos to you if you read this whole post. It seems kind of boring to me. I'm sorry. I wanted to write a funny, interesting post, but... I thought I should write something, so I just started rambling. And this is what happened.

Have a good day. :)
Me

Return of the Redhead and other Short Stories

Once upon a time, a couple of years ago now, Goldilocks dyed her long, curly hair red. It was very red. It was supposed to wash out, but it never did. She did all sorts of things to her hair during the next two years. She cut it, cut it some more, turned it blonde again, and cut it some more. Not quite so very long ago, she dyed it strawberry blonde. She decided to let it grow out. Then she dyed it plain blonde. Once upon yesterday, she colored it yet again.
Goldilocks is no more.












She's a redhead.

At least for now.

The End.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once upon a time, CaitiJo got a message from a nice lady named Billie. Miss Billie wanted a warm, soft, yellow hat for her dear, sweet head. CaitiJo made two different hats, and Miss Billie picked her favorite. She bought it and loved it. CaitiJo was very happy to have made Miss Billie happy, AND to have invented a cute new pattern! Sadly, she had shipped off the hat without writing down how she made it first.

One day, she sat down at the computer, and stared at the pictures of her hat until her eyes hurt. She wrote down what she saw, and tested it. It wasn't quite right, so she reworked it til it was. She took more pictures, then put the hat away, because, well, who wants to buy thick, warm hats in the summertime?!

The hat sat there, lonely in the storage bag for some weeks, while CaitiJo continued to work on slippers and fingerless gloves in silly oblivion.

After sending some gloves to Autralia, where it's starting to get pretty cold, CaitiJo realized that it doesn't make sense not to sell cold-weather stuff when she's shipping internationally. So, today, she fixed up her pictures, and created a new listing for the hat inspired by Miss Billie.

Now CaitiJo wants to make more, but needs somebody to buy this one first so she can afford more yarn.

The End.

________________________________

Once upon a time, Caitlin was very tired. She decided to write a blog post anyways. She wasn't really sure why. Especially since she needed to be packing.

It's very important to pack when you're going away to live with relatives for 4 weeks. It would be terribly inconvenient if one went to stay away from home without packing first. Of course, packing does no good unless you bring your luggage with you.

Perhaps you can tell Caitlin is tired? Perhaps you can't.
Perhaps she'll go get some water and say this is The End.
...
yep. She will.
The End.

Random Ramblings of a Miscellanist Mind

Yes, that's the name of my blog.
And now it's the name of this post. Because I wanted to name this post, and couldn't think of anything.

Well, well, looks like I've done it again. It has been a whole 12 days since I blogged last! And so much has happened! I suppose instead of telling you all about it, I'll have to settle for giving you a little peek.

To begin with, Etsy has been huge on my brain lately. I'm up to 32 sales. And I can't stop spending hours looking at vintage dresses, and drooling over handmade soaps.
I just bought a bar of exfoliating cappuccino soap. With real ground espresso beans.
Imagine that! When I start craving a nice cuppa too late at night, I can just go take a shower, and smell like a cuppa. LOL I can't wait for it to get here.

I'm also eagerly awaiting the arrival of my plain jane white foam head. I have some hats that are ready to be listed - they just need a head to sit on for their photo shoots.

Not to mention, I'm pretty excited about the 3 packages sitting beside the door, waiting for me to send them across the US tomorrow morning. ;-)

Check out some of my new stuff:



So, anyways. Now you know about that.

But the MOST exciting thing EVER happened while I've been away from my blog.
Some of my super-bestest friends and I went to Wisconsin.
It's sort of a long story, but we basically all went up to see a girl named Rachel we got to know through online chatting and letters. She was having a huge going away party 2 days before she left to go to China. She didn't know we were coming, and she was SO surprised!
It was great.
Great big hugs to Rae and Becca. I miss you guys.


So, 5 girls and 2 moms in a minivan all weekend... going straight up to the other side of the US. Definitely very interesting. And memorable. I'm going to have to buy a new photo album, and devote the whole thing to pictures of the trip, we took so many. If you'd like to see some, check out my facebook albums.
On the Way
Tour of the Countryside
Metropolis

Sadly, I haven't uploaded the pictures from the party, or the ones from hanging out at the Rodriguez's house yet. I'll get to it. :) I think those 3 albums should keep you busy for now.
Until I load the others, here are a few favorites (I stole them from other people...):


It was a really amazing trip. Of course, we spent almost 3 days in the van, and only 1 day actually in Wisconsin, but it was totally worth it all around. :D

I'm glad school's out now. I got some pretty great gifts from my little ones. I'm going to miss them. My Julia isn't going to be back next year. She's going to "big school." ... Now I won't get to be Aunt Caitlin anymore! *sniff* I'll be okay.

:)
Hope you're all enjoying your Memorial Day!
Have a great week!
Love, Caitlin