Busy Bee

Friday was such a great day. We had lunch in town at this cute little place called The Best Cellar. I had a turkey sandwich and the most delicious mashed potatoes ever. Afterwards we went into the town of Boone - home of Daniel Boone and Appalachian State University (which is the most beautiful college campus I've ever seen). We went to the Mast General Store and stocked up on old-fashioned candy right from barrels and souvenirs and even two little wall hangings that match my living room decor to a "t". Then we went into the town of Blowing Rock, another adorable town, and I found another antique-looking wall hanging that matches perfectly from the store Andrew dubbed "The Copper Store" that I was not allowed to go into. PS. It's actually called The Brass Exchange and I wish I had listened to him!

Afterwards, Mrs. Kisz and I visited Johnny and Virginia (and Zoe!) at their condo down the street. Virginia bought/found all this old furniture, stripped it down, painted it white for the bedrooms and black for the living room, then distressed it herself using a sander to make it look antique. I got so excited and inspired!

We were all tired, so we had sandwiches for dinner and then vegged out in front of the television. Mrs. Kisz and I pulled another one of our up-all-night-having-girl-talk nights and I think we finally hit the sheets around 2am.

Saturday we had a nice breakfast out on the porch in our rocking chairs. The skies looked a little scary but we didn't let them intimidate us. We took a drive to Grandfather Mountain and drove to the top. There is a swinging bridge that connects two of the peaks and it is a mile high up in the sky. I got lots of beautiful pictures and Mrs. Kisz spotted me from one peak to the other and I think she got a couple great shots on her camera, too. I got another souvenir (these aren't for me, by the way - I don't really do souvenirs - a certain someone who wished he/she could've taken the trip will be surprised when he/she sees the little souvenirs I picked up) and then we headed halfway down the mountain. There were animals in their natural habitats - bears, cougars, eagles, otters, and deer - and a historical/nature museum. Again, lots of great pictures that I will post as soon as I get the right equipment!

All the driving and sightseeing finally caught up to me and I passed out in the car on the way back to Beech. We stopped at Lowe's so the Kisz's could buy a new grill because theirs hadn't survived the trip from Florida. Then we stopped at Fred's General Store and picked up a bottle of North Carolina Scuppernong wine, delish! Johnny and Virginia ironically invited us over for beer and wine because they knew I was leaving in the morning, so we visited with them for an hour or so. We went home and Mr. Kisz grilled streaks and Mrs. Kisz made another fabulous dinner. We all went to bed early.

I woke up sad knowing I had to leave and my body insisted on being tired, but I knew I had a long drive ahead of me so I tried to get moving at a reasonable hour. Of course that didn't happen but we had a big breakfast and they helped me load up the car. Rags went swimming that morning, for the second day in a row. Now let me explain: Rags hates water. Hates baths, hates being sprayed or splashed, hates puddles (avoids them at all costs on walks) even hates when I take baths because he thinks the water is going to hurt me or something! Well Beech Mountain has a stream that goes along the entire walkway and Riley loves going in it. I think Rags got curious and started wanting to walk along the water on the first night. On the second day, he got brave enough to take a drink for the stream and decided it was good water and took lots of drinks from it. He got his paws wet and tried to get a drink from this little waterfall, but fell in and got wet. He didn't seem to mind that much. By Sunday he was all about it. He went in way over his head and swam around like a dog is supposed to! He secretly loved it but was trying to act all nonchalant about it. I was sad to put him in a car for 14 hours but knew he would love being around Shaggy (my dad's dog who is from the same dog parents as Rags, just a different litter) and going up to our lake house.

I got in the car around noon. After I took the "scenic route" off the mountain, I got into the center of Beech Mountain, then Boone, and then eventually got on 77 north. That led to 81 north in Virginia, which I was on forever. It also goes through West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. It rained the whole way minus West Virginia, which of course we are only in for a half hour. Then I got on 84 east which was the worst road ever, literally. Potholes everywhere, no lights, trucks driving way too fast, constant construction meaning only one lane open. I wanted to cry. I also wanted to give up for the night and get a hotel, but I was so close (yet so far) so I hauled the last three hours as quickly yet safely as I could. After 14 straight hours of driving, I got to Longmeadow only to find my parents' house, and the entire neighborhood, without power after a lightning strike. My dad met me outside at 2am with a battery-powered lantern and helped me with my bags. Within ten minutes of pulling in the driveway I was passed out in the guest room. All the Red Bull and coffee was making my mind race and my body jitter, but I was so exhausted that I passed out anyways.

Power came back on around 5am and the air conditioning came with it. It's pretty hot here so that was nice but I had to get out of bed and turn it down - it was too cold! Around 7:45am the dogs woke me up wanting to come cuddle, so I got up and checked my email for the first time in almost 20 hours. I had an email from 6:30 Sunday night from Andrew, letting me know he arrived safely in Israel that morning and had spent the entire day at the beach. He's now seven hours ahead, so that means he wrote the email at 1 something in the morning so it must have been a good, full day :) We probably won't get to talk much over the next few weeks but hopefully we will both be too busy to notice.

I should be tired, but I'm not. I think I still have so much caffeine in my system. My body is tired but I can't sleep. I am going to stay in bed for a few hours just to relax. I still have to watch Army Wives from last night. I'm going to see if Jason or anyone else from the Springfield Falcons, my old job for those of you who don't know, wants to get lunch later. I am excited to see my mom when she gets home from work because she was obviously sleeping when I got home and I was sleeping when she got up this morning.

Tomorrow Bryan and I are going out on the boat as long as it's nice out and then going to Mohegan Sun and staying over for the night. There will be lots of pictures and another update after that!

Life's a Beech

Well I made to to Beech Mountain. The drive wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. We left promtly at 4am, stopped around 6:30am in Turner County, Georgia for a short break where I called Madrid only to find out at 12:30pm over there, classes had just ended for the summer and everyone was at the bar celebrating! What a life! We got to Norcross (Atlanta suburb) at 9:15am and I got to Beech around 2:30pm after another Spanish phone call, several pit stops, and a tank of gas for $3.74/gallon in South Carolina.

Their house here is gorgeous. The air is so clean and cool. We took the dogs for a walk around the hiking path and then had dinner out on the balcony. Andrew called us on Skype so we all got to talk to him through the computer and we even got to see his new Umbro soccer - I mean futbol - shirt on the webcam.

I don't know how, but I never slept from 3am-11 something last night. Now of course I'm exhausted but we are going down into Boone for lunch with some friends of the family, including Johnny and Virginia who also live in Dunnellon November-May. We are going to call Andrew because we don't get international service up on the mountain. He's leaving for Barcelona soon and then flying to Israel tomorrow for two weeks, then going straight to Pamplona for the running of the bulls. Sick!

Bryan called me last night to tell me his mom could get us a hotel room at Mohegan Sun, world's largest casino which happens to be in Connecticut, Monday or Tuesday night. Yesssss. Free drinks all night and no one has to drive home! So depending on when we get it, I might leave here tomorrow instead of Sunday, but we'll see. Probably not :)

I forgot the cord to upload my pictures from my camera, but I'll get one when we're in town or as soon as I get home. I've already taken so many!

It's a Dramamine dream

Actually, unlike the lyrics of "Little" by Something Corporate, I took Benadryl. So I could sleep. At 8:30pm. And it's working.

I am getting up at 3am and getting on the road by 4am. Hopefully I will be in Beech Mountain, NC by dinnertime.

Please keep me, Rags (the dog), and Callie (the car) in your thoughts and prayers as we make the 600+ mile journey in the Southern heat. And Andrew, too! He is taking a bus to Barcelona and then flying to Israel for two weeks. My Jewfro is going to Israel!

I'm kind of a big deal

Not really, but my press release did make it to the main page of the University of Florida Web site. It's the "Heartsaver" one under the InsideUF header.











And this is proof that I actually got credit for it, unlike most PR interns (our bosses usually steal our byline).













Now back to working hard... or hardly working? :)

It's a long trip alone...

...which is why I'm glad the UF College of Journalism and Communications Graduate Program is coordinated by a woman as spectacular as Jody Hedge. Not only does she forward our roommate ads, job postings, and other random classifieds to the entire list-serv, she is saving me from driving 1/8 of my trip alone.

A journalism student about to graduate from the Masters program needs a ride to Atlanta so she's going to come with me on Thursday. I've never met her but Jody gave her the stamp of approval so she'll be my co-pilot on the five hours and 330-ish miles from Gainesville to Atlanta. She's going to give me money for gas, which I guesstimated that it'll take us an entire tank of gas, so $30 or so each. I'm more thankful to have someone in the car with me (other than Rags of course) from 4am till around 9am than I am concerned with the money.

I bought fabric and a pattern to make an apron today. If Mrs. Kisz can, she said she will help me sew it. If not, my mom will have plenty of weeknights to teach me while I'm home. The fabric is a gorgeous black and white toile. I am going to be a real Southern woman, cooking and baking in my kitchen in an apron! Hahahaha... me... a woman... that's hysterical!

Long Live Redbox

Since I am used to being spoiled by Andrew's ability to download any movie we want before it even comes out on dvd, I have been forced to give in and go to the movies and/or rent them like normal people. In the past year (up until the past month) I've seen three movies in the theater - Atonement, Charlie Wilson's War, and Jumper. In the past month I've seen Iron Man and Sex and the City and rented 27 Dresses, PS I Love You, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Bucket List, SemiPro and I have No Country For Old Men upstairs waiting for me for when I'm done watching the new episode of Army Wives tonight. A normal person might go broke renting all of those movies but I am Redbox's best customer. Whoever decided that dvd rentals should only be $1 a day is a genius. The end.

Another "It's Official"

It's June 20th which means it is officially summer. Really? I thought it was summer three months ago when we started seeing the temperature in the 90s every day. So now I guess it's acceptable for it to be this hot?

Happy summer... bah humbug.