Longest Post EVER

I'm currently on a flight back to Fort Lauderdale, and can honestly say I'm pretty excited to be headed there! It's been exactly two weeks since I've stepped foot into my apartment and am ready to go to my gym, sleep in my own bed, and get some clean clothes. Two weeks ago I left for a four-day trip with planned layovers in New York City, Chicago, and Las Vegas. Keyword here is "planned." Due to weather, our flight from NYC to Chicago was cancelled, and we ended up spending two nights in NYC. Unfortunately, we didn't get much warning about the cancelled flight, so we weren't able to go do anything super fun in New York. Despite the rain, another flight attendant and I did venture out to Union Square and split a gourmet carrot cupcake. Delicious! The next morning the crew and myself deadedheaded (meaning we got paid to be transported to meet our next flight, but did not physically work the flight) to Chicago where we met our plane that was headed to Vegas. Very randomly, a girl who I went to WIU with was on my Chicago to Vegas flight. Fun to see a familiar face on my flight! Although I have flown into Vegas several times, this was my first layover there. My friend, Maria, our first officer, and myself went out on the strip for a few hours. We all had fairly early show times the next morning, so I doubt this will go down in the record books as my wildest Vegas trip ever, but we did have fun. Not to brag, but after feeding the quarter slots all night, I did come out $.50 on top. That you, Vegas! Late on Friday evening I arrived back in Fort Lauderdale and I spent the evening at Maria's. Since I am still car-less (gurrrr) Maria, being the awesome person she is, stayed up until 4:00 A.M. and drove me to the airport to catch my 5:45 A.M. flight to Saint Louis. The stars all aligned perfectly and I made it on my flights from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale on the first tries! The last time I had been home was the first week of May. Four months is just about my being-away-from-home limit, I start getting cranky after that. From the moment my plane touched down in Saint Louis I was busy, but I seriously loved every minute of my visit. My sister in law, Stacy, picked me up from the airport, and we may or may not have rocked out to a couple Lifehouse and Adele songs on the drive home. After a quick nap and saying my hellos to the fam, I headed to my friend Cassandra's wedding with my high school girlfriends. The golf course wedding was beautiful, and thankfully the rain held off for the ceremony and reception. I had an awesome night drinking too much champagne, dancing, and laughing with some of my favorite people in this whole world. Last September when Lindsey, one of my best friends since I was five, got married, I worried that being a married women may change her and make her more mature. After engaging in a "who can lick out the tiki torch flame" competition with her, I think I have nothing to worry about. We even completed the night with her father in law providing five of us obnoxious partygoers with a sober ride home. I'd go as far as saying I'm actually benefiting from this married friends business.

The next day after attending church we had the entire Schutz clan together. It only lasted one hour, but for those 60 minutes all 12 members were in the same place at the same time. I'm pretty sure it only happened because I begged them months in advance for us all to take a family Christmas card photo to ensure we wouldn't have to send out holiday greetings featuring individual pictures of mom and dad, all three siblings with their families, and then Kelsey, the single, solo, party of one sister. Thankfully they all obliged. Even at 23, being the baby of the family still has major leverage in the Schutz family On Monday, Jackie was kind enough to loan me her Dodge Challenger to drive to Macomb for the day. Not gonna lie, I kinda felt like a B.A. when I drove the beast. In all reality though, I was a nervous wreck the entire time I had it in my position, and seriously topped her out at 60. I met up with my former supervisor from Catholic Charities, Carrie, for lunch at Chick's. Then, I had ice cream with the hilarious April Hutter, and I finished the day visiting one of my favorite families, The Zanollas, for dinner. Working at Disney, I've met a lot of kids in my time, and I can honestly say these kids are off the charts on cuteness levels!

Tuesday I drove to Springfield and met my best good friend, Jenny Raabe, for some excellent sushi. That girl sure knows the way to my heart! Afterwards I spent the night at my sister's and was assigned the difficult task of being " baby rocker" from about midnight to 7:00 A.M. for the newest man in my life, Joseph. He is such a sweet baby, he seriously never cries!

The next few days I spent around the farm, biking, hanging out with the nieces, attending both of their open houses, trucking with my dad, and spending time with my mom. I even had the privilege of dropping both girls off at school one morning. Lana, the fourth grader, is officially too cool for school. Let me rephrase that, too cool for ME at school, as she refused to hug me as she left the van. Ouch! Friday morning, my mom, Stacy and I went to Peoria to visit my aunt, uncle, cousin, and my cousin's new baby, Sam. While we were in town we also got to see my great Aunt Kate, who is 91, in amazing shape, and has an awesome, upbeat attitude about life. I hope to be that perky at 91! Friday night I attended my cousin Blane's high school football game. My only thought after leaving the 40-0 game was how thankful I am that I was able to cheer for winning North Greene Spartan football teams when I was in high school. It was painful to watch! After the game, my friends and I had an entertaining Weiner roast together and then hit the local watering hole, The Horn. Speaking of painful games to watch, Saturday I drove to Columbia, MO to watch the WIU vs. Mizzou football game. I left during the third quarter, but rumor has it the final score was in fact 69 to zip! Rough weekend for my Alma matters, indeed! As much as I do love football...players, the real reason for my Columbia trip was to see my friend, Jenn, whom I had not seen since graduation. As is usually the case with good friends, we picked up right where we left off a year and a half ago! So good to see her! Sunday I drove back to White Hall and arrived just in time for the Schutz family's big Sunday lunch. Impeccable timing, eh? After an afternoon nap and five-mile bike ride with Kristen, we had the last hoo ra for my homecoming. Twenty people came over for some delicious soup mi Madre made, and we ended the evening with a competitive game of Apples to Apples. I value all of my friends, but there's just something extra special about the big group of fiends I grew up with. Maybe it's the fact that we can all tell stories about each other from 15 years ago. Or maybe it's just that I never laugh as hard or as genuinely as I do when I am with all of them. Love, love, love them! This morning I quickly said my goodbyes and and "I'll see ya in a month" and headed back to the mother ship, aka the airport. My mama drove me to Saint Louis, and I think we're doing better with this whole distance thing, as we only started crying as we pulled into the airport this time. After our initial big hug and telling one another goodbye, we parted ways at the terminal drop off. With tears in each of our eyes, we waved goodbye to one another as we each prepared to return to what has become our new normal...living hundreds of miles away from each another. The captain just announced our initial decent, and as I peak out the window from my free middle seat I can see the ocean. Looks like I'm home.... my other home. :) Hope you all have a great week!