So this month I have been working pretty much all red eye flights. I actually don't mind the schedule since I am a true night owl at heart. One of the only downfalls to this month's schedule is that I have very few overnight trips. However, I managed to make up for it by having a great time on my one layover of the month in Boston.
I'm on line with my friend Maria this month, which makes trips 100 times more fun then getting stuck with a senior flight attendant who routinely eats a bitter sandwich for breakfast every morning, and probably should have retired about five years ago. Last week we spent a full 30 hours in Boston, which is such an awesome city with tons of things to do and see. We started our morning by hopping on the subway and heading down to the Quincy Market. For being a born and raised country girl, I'm quite proud of myself for learning how to maneuver around on the subway in so many different cities! There were so many food choices there, it was hard to pick just one place to eat. Sticking to my true classy form, I took Maria to Dick's Last Resort...the restaurant where you pay to be insulted and eat mediocre food. There is actually a Dick's Last Resort in Chicago that I have already been to several times, but I'm always highly entertained by this restaurant and continue to come back. The restaurant is famous for making dunce caps out of white paper and writing insults on them. As we sat down I was reading the hats of some of the other patrons and was amused by one little girl's hat that read "I eat my boogers." I also enjoyed another women's hat that read, "Yes, this is a padded bra." I wasn't quite as amused though when our waiter came to our table and awarded me a hat that read, "I'm not as hott as I think I am." Rude. We then spent the afternoon watching some really talented (and some really strange) street performers. The weather in Boston was fabulous, and it was a nice change to be outside for an entire afternoon without feeling like I just took a shower, fully clothed.
Because my family does things slightly unorthodox at times, my brother Chad and sister in law Stacy ended up buying a car last week in a town that is just about 20 minutes away from me. In order to pick the car up, Stacy flew down to Fort Lauderdale and was able to spend a couple of days with me before driving the car back to Illinois. I still had to work during the nights, so I think we actually only spent a grand total of about 12 waking hours together. I was still pretty impressed we were able to cram in a day at the beach, lunch at Rattlesnake Jake's (once again, do I know how to pick a classy joint or what?), and of course frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf. I also made her earn her keep by taking out our trash, airing up my bike tires, and fixing my computer. It was a very short impromptu visit, but I always love getting to spend time with my family!
I usually try to pick up during my days off if I know I'm just going to spend my days being lazy at home, but this past week I decided to take a little staycation for three days. It was so nice to sleep, clean my apartment, lay out, and hang out with friends. Ahhh, I'm relaxed just remembering those three days!
Love to you all!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Ten Thoughts
1-Time goes by so freaking quickly. I just got my bid packet for the month of August...AUGUST! How crazy is that?! Ya wanna know when time didn't fly by? Second grade! I remember staring at the clock during spelling time and thinking at times the clock had actually gone backwards. I'd like a happy medium.
2-My trip to Alaska was AWESOME! It was gorgeous there, and I was able to see a glacier, a Moose, and lots and lots of mountains. I think I had my sweatpants and beanie off for maybe 20 minutes of the entire trip, so to say I was cold there would be a major understatement. The best part of the entire trip was getting to spend time with my cousin Lindsey. It's creepy how much we are alike.
3-After training for a half marathon last year, and being really disappointed that I wasn't able to run in it due to a scheduling conflict with work, I've decided to give the whole half marathon thing another shot. If all goes as planned I'll be running in the Miami Rock n Roll Half Marathon on December 11. I start my training on August 1st. Wish me luck!
4-Crystal Light Strawberry Kiwi packets, delicious!
5-Last week my nieces Lana and Bridget, and my cousin Ashley flew down to spend a few days with me in Florida. They are some of my very favorite people and I had a blast with them! While we were in Boca we hung out at the pool and the beach, rented funny movies, ate way too much ice cream, and went to Boomers, where we rock climbed, rode go-carts and bumper boats, and played arcade games. Over the weekend we went to Orlando and hung out at Disney for a few days. I was really impressed with how well the two little girls did with being away from home for five days, being as young as they are.
6-I'm going to try to ground myself for the month of August. I obviously LOVE traveling, but I'm ready for some time at home during my days off. I'm hoping to get back to Illinois for a visit in September. However, there is a certain baby that is due in August, and I'm not actually sure how long I'll be able to stay away once I start seeing pictures.
7-I've been primarily working red eye flights this month, and as horrible as that sounds to some people, I've actually really enjoyed it thus far. I have no problem staying awake all night, the passengers sleep the entire time (therefore, they aren't ringing their call bell and bothering me), and I don't have to deal with traffic on my to and from the airport. I think it's a win win situation.
8-I am now the proud owner of an iPhone. I've actually been against the whole smart phone craze for quite some time, because frankly I don't really think they're necessary. However, I have to admit that I love it and it's made my life 10,000 times easier. I no longer have to carry my laptop with me on trips, nor call my family and friends to google things like flight times, train schedules, directions back to my hotel, etc. I think they all appreciate me having the phone too.
9-During the summer it rains a lot in Florida. Like seriously everyday at 3:00 in the afternoon it pours for about an hour, and then it's sunny again. Weird.
10-A lot of my friends have recently gotten real people jobs. Like they work at insurance agencies, loan offices, marketing companies, probation departments, schools...it's weird. With that being said, I'm very proud of how accomplished all of them are. A lil shout out to Allison, who had her first day of work today! I think I did well in the whole picking out friends department, if I do say so myself :)
2-My trip to Alaska was AWESOME! It was gorgeous there, and I was able to see a glacier, a Moose, and lots and lots of mountains. I think I had my sweatpants and beanie off for maybe 20 minutes of the entire trip, so to say I was cold there would be a major understatement. The best part of the entire trip was getting to spend time with my cousin Lindsey. It's creepy how much we are alike.
3-After training for a half marathon last year, and being really disappointed that I wasn't able to run in it due to a scheduling conflict with work, I've decided to give the whole half marathon thing another shot. If all goes as planned I'll be running in the Miami Rock n Roll Half Marathon on December 11. I start my training on August 1st. Wish me luck!
4-Crystal Light Strawberry Kiwi packets, delicious!
5-Last week my nieces Lana and Bridget, and my cousin Ashley flew down to spend a few days with me in Florida. They are some of my very favorite people and I had a blast with them! While we were in Boca we hung out at the pool and the beach, rented funny movies, ate way too much ice cream, and went to Boomers, where we rock climbed, rode go-carts and bumper boats, and played arcade games. Over the weekend we went to Orlando and hung out at Disney for a few days. I was really impressed with how well the two little girls did with being away from home for five days, being as young as they are.
6-I'm going to try to ground myself for the month of August. I obviously LOVE traveling, but I'm ready for some time at home during my days off. I'm hoping to get back to Illinois for a visit in September. However, there is a certain baby that is due in August, and I'm not actually sure how long I'll be able to stay away once I start seeing pictures.
7-I've been primarily working red eye flights this month, and as horrible as that sounds to some people, I've actually really enjoyed it thus far. I have no problem staying awake all night, the passengers sleep the entire time (therefore, they aren't ringing their call bell and bothering me), and I don't have to deal with traffic on my to and from the airport. I think it's a win win situation.
8-I am now the proud owner of an iPhone. I've actually been against the whole smart phone craze for quite some time, because frankly I don't really think they're necessary. However, I have to admit that I love it and it's made my life 10,000 times easier. I no longer have to carry my laptop with me on trips, nor call my family and friends to google things like flight times, train schedules, directions back to my hotel, etc. I think they all appreciate me having the phone too.
9-During the summer it rains a lot in Florida. Like seriously everyday at 3:00 in the afternoon it pours for about an hour, and then it's sunny again. Weird.
10-A lot of my friends have recently gotten real people jobs. Like they work at insurance agencies, loan offices, marketing companies, probation departments, schools...it's weird. With that being said, I'm very proud of how accomplished all of them are. A lil shout out to Allison, who had her first day of work today! I think I did well in the whole picking out friends department, if I do say so myself :)
Friday, June 24, 2011
The Good Life
Since I'm aware I've severely neglected my blog these past couple of weeks, I decided I should take advantage of my some free time to scribble something down while I'm laying on the beach. The only problem with writing on the beach, well besides my hand being too greasy from sun tan lotion to grip the pen I'm writing with, is that my mind is complete mush. I'm 100% relaxed with nothing on my mind. So forgive me if this post is lacking the comic relief it's usually laced with. Like Forest Gump's dad, my creative juices are on vacation!
So to answer your burning question of, "What in the world has Kelsey been up to these past couple of weeks?" I can respond to that with one simple word, WORKING! Thankfully for me my work is always mixed with a lot of play.
I've been very fortunate this month and have gotten to fly with really great crew members. During the past two trips I was able to fly with friends of mine that I went through initial training with. The first trip I flew with my friend Lia and we had overnights in Myrtle beach, South Carolina, San Juan, and Orlando. I love the Carolinas! My family used to vacation in Nags Head, North Carolina and that is when I first fell in love with that area. It just feels so beachy and quaint there! I literally feel like I'm living in a real life Nicolas Sparks book! My friend and I went out for a nice dinner there and the next morning I went for a run on the beach, one of my very favorite things to do!
We only had about 12 hours in San Juan, but I still made time to go lay out by the gorgeous pool at the resort where we were staying. The company I work for has contracts with different hotels in each city we layover, so we usually always stay at the same hotels. Because I obviously have a lil bit of a stalker, President Obama just so happened to be in San Juan at the exact same time I was. Coincidence, I think not! This was actually a pretty cool thing as this was the first time an acting president had visited Puerto Rico since President Kennedy in 1961. Several major roads (as well as the airport) were shut down for a couple hours while the president was in town. As a result of this, my crew and I were relocated to a hotel that was closer to the airport. The new hotel was actually a resort, and I loved it for the mere fact that we were greeted with complimentary coconut ice cream upon our arrival. All of the locals were elated that Obama was in town, and nearly all of them were wearing some form of Obama memorabilia.
After asking my cab driver his thoughts on Obama's visit he informed me that he wasn't sure why the president had decided to visit the island, but Obama had his vote! In fact, he had all three of them as he held a drivers licence in Puerto Rico, Florida, and New York. Hmmmmm
The next night I stayed in Orlando. This layover could not have come at anymore of a perfect time for my friends Lita and Sari as their air conditioner had just bit the dust. Something about it being 90+ degrees outside didn't exactly make them excited about sleeping in their upstairs apartment. I always love seeing friends on layovers, so I was more than happy for them to bunk up with me for the night. We spent our exciting night watching CNN and eating Papa John's. What can I say, we know how to party!
I returned home just long enough to do a few loads of laundry, grocery shop, bike ride to the beach, hang out with some friends, pack my suitcase, and hit the runway again! My friend Dan is actually still on reserve and didn't even know he would be on the same trip with me until the day we were leaving. The first night of our trip we layed over in Washington DC. I love having lay overs in this city as there is a ton of stuff to see and do. As soon as we got into our hotel, we hopped on the subway and headed down the Pentagon Memorial. The memorial was really neat and reminded me a lot of the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. At the memorial there is a bench for each person who lost their life on 9/11 at the Pentagon site. It was set up in chronological order so that the oldest person's bench is the first one in the memorial and the youngest person to loose their life is the last. Growing up my family and I always visited national monuments, and I always appreciated them, but usually they were for things, like World War II or the Battle of Shiloh, that I obviously had no emotional ties to. It's just very bizarre seeing tributes to 9/11, as I remember that day very clearly. After viewing the memorial, we continued our touristy activities and visited the capitol as well as the White House. I'm pretty sure Obama was at the White House the same time I was. See what I mean about him following me?
We spent the next two night of our trip in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I had a severe moment of weakness and went shopping. I'll be regretting that in about three weeks when the ol Discover Card bill roles in. Atlantic City has a really cool boardwalk right by the beach that Dan and I went strolling on one evening. Apparently I had some good Karma coming my way because as I walked into one of the many fudge shops along the boardwalk the owner informed me they were closing for the evening and was wondering if I wanted to take all the leftover samples home...FO FREE! If Heaven tastes anything like Rocky Road Fudge, then shoot me now!
I had half heartedly mentioned to Lita on the last day of my trip that I was off for the next two days if she wanted to come visit. I was very surprised when she text me back and said she's be there in the morning. Apparently you don't have to twist this girl's arm to get her to spend two days on the beach. One of my favorite parts of living in South Florida, is that when I have the time to completely relax, it really does feel like a vacation. Lita, Sari, my roommate Stephanie, and I had a great three days eating, drinking, sleeping, and catching some rays!
Have you all heard OneRepublic's new song, Good Life? It pretty much sums things up for this girl! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZhQOvvV45w
Love and miss you all mucho grande!!!
So to answer your burning question of, "What in the world has Kelsey been up to these past couple of weeks?" I can respond to that with one simple word, WORKING! Thankfully for me my work is always mixed with a lot of play.
I've been very fortunate this month and have gotten to fly with really great crew members. During the past two trips I was able to fly with friends of mine that I went through initial training with. The first trip I flew with my friend Lia and we had overnights in Myrtle beach, South Carolina, San Juan, and Orlando. I love the Carolinas! My family used to vacation in Nags Head, North Carolina and that is when I first fell in love with that area. It just feels so beachy and quaint there! I literally feel like I'm living in a real life Nicolas Sparks book! My friend and I went out for a nice dinner there and the next morning I went for a run on the beach, one of my very favorite things to do!
We only had about 12 hours in San Juan, but I still made time to go lay out by the gorgeous pool at the resort where we were staying. The company I work for has contracts with different hotels in each city we layover, so we usually always stay at the same hotels. Because I obviously have a lil bit of a stalker, President Obama just so happened to be in San Juan at the exact same time I was. Coincidence, I think not! This was actually a pretty cool thing as this was the first time an acting president had visited Puerto Rico since President Kennedy in 1961. Several major roads (as well as the airport) were shut down for a couple hours while the president was in town. As a result of this, my crew and I were relocated to a hotel that was closer to the airport. The new hotel was actually a resort, and I loved it for the mere fact that we were greeted with complimentary coconut ice cream upon our arrival. All of the locals were elated that Obama was in town, and nearly all of them were wearing some form of Obama memorabilia.
After asking my cab driver his thoughts on Obama's visit he informed me that he wasn't sure why the president had decided to visit the island, but Obama had his vote! In fact, he had all three of them as he held a drivers licence in Puerto Rico, Florida, and New York. Hmmmmm
The next night I stayed in Orlando. This layover could not have come at anymore of a perfect time for my friends Lita and Sari as their air conditioner had just bit the dust. Something about it being 90+ degrees outside didn't exactly make them excited about sleeping in their upstairs apartment. I always love seeing friends on layovers, so I was more than happy for them to bunk up with me for the night. We spent our exciting night watching CNN and eating Papa John's. What can I say, we know how to party!
I returned home just long enough to do a few loads of laundry, grocery shop, bike ride to the beach, hang out with some friends, pack my suitcase, and hit the runway again! My friend Dan is actually still on reserve and didn't even know he would be on the same trip with me until the day we were leaving. The first night of our trip we layed over in Washington DC. I love having lay overs in this city as there is a ton of stuff to see and do. As soon as we got into our hotel, we hopped on the subway and headed down the Pentagon Memorial. The memorial was really neat and reminded me a lot of the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. At the memorial there is a bench for each person who lost their life on 9/11 at the Pentagon site. It was set up in chronological order so that the oldest person's bench is the first one in the memorial and the youngest person to loose their life is the last. Growing up my family and I always visited national monuments, and I always appreciated them, but usually they were for things, like World War II or the Battle of Shiloh, that I obviously had no emotional ties to. It's just very bizarre seeing tributes to 9/11, as I remember that day very clearly. After viewing the memorial, we continued our touristy activities and visited the capitol as well as the White House. I'm pretty sure Obama was at the White House the same time I was. See what I mean about him following me?
We spent the next two night of our trip in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I had a severe moment of weakness and went shopping. I'll be regretting that in about three weeks when the ol Discover Card bill roles in. Atlantic City has a really cool boardwalk right by the beach that Dan and I went strolling on one evening. Apparently I had some good Karma coming my way because as I walked into one of the many fudge shops along the boardwalk the owner informed me they were closing for the evening and was wondering if I wanted to take all the leftover samples home...FO FREE! If Heaven tastes anything like Rocky Road Fudge, then shoot me now!
I had half heartedly mentioned to Lita on the last day of my trip that I was off for the next two days if she wanted to come visit. I was very surprised when she text me back and said she's be there in the morning. Apparently you don't have to twist this girl's arm to get her to spend two days on the beach. One of my favorite parts of living in South Florida, is that when I have the time to completely relax, it really does feel like a vacation. Lita, Sari, my roommate Stephanie, and I had a great three days eating, drinking, sleeping, and catching some rays!
Have you all heard OneRepublic's new song, Good Life? It pretty much sums things up for this girl! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZhQOvvV45w
Love and miss you all mucho grande!!!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Happy One Year Anniversary To Me
This past week I celebrated my one year anniversary of living in Florida. It's crazy to think that it's been one full year since Kristen and I loaded up the Corolla, and made the long drive all the way down to Orlando. It's been an awesome and exciting year, filled with lots of changes! One year in and I have apsolutly no regrets about making my move!
This past week was super fun, but left me very sleep deprived! I am loving knowing my work schedule in advance, it's so much easier to make plans when I at least know in general what I am doing from day to day. Saturday morning I flew from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and ended up in Orlando. I spent my afternoon napping by the pool, and then my friend Kane picked me up for dinner that evening. After dinner, we ended up going to a country line dancing bar called Aligator Ally. Aligator Ally turned out to be a plywood palace that makes the Hunter's Horn (a Greene County establishment) look like a classy joint. The inside of Aligator Ally was complete with a mechanical bull as well as a DJ booth set up in the back of a Ford pick up truck. All of the patrons definitely seemed to be frequent flyers at Alligator Ally as they seriously had a line dance to every song that was played! There was even a cowboys only dance, which involved an interesting game where the men would throw their cowboy hats on the ground and try to get the hat back on their head while doing a handstand. This must be some type of a mating call ritual that they do in the south??? Although we were the only three sober people in the place, and that my friends Kane and Khadz were the only non white guys in the building, the night is still a success in my book!
The next day I had an easy one leg flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I had never had a layover there before, so I was super excited to explore Old San Juan. Thankfully one of the other flight attendants I was on the trip with was from Puerto Rico and was kind enough to serve as my tour guide. We first went to a local coffee shop and had a great latte made from beans grown locally. Then we met up with one of her friends, Franklin, who just so happens to be a salsa instructor, and went dancing at a club called Latin Roots. Now I may be able to tap dance with the best of em, but salsa dancing is not exactly this midwesterners forte. Franklin was very talented in the dancing department, so talented in fact he was able to make me look like a not half bad salsa dancer. One of the live band members even commented that I wasn't bad for a gringo!
The next day I flew back to Fort Lauderdale and then on to New York. My friend Lita was already in New York visiting family and friends, and my friend Christina, who I met while working at Disney, was awesome enough to take off of work and meet us for an afternoon in the city. This was actually my first time ever in New York City, and I had a flipping blast! First of all it was wonderful for the three of us to all be back together again. To me, I consider someone a good friend when we can go months without seeing one another, but then pick up right where we left off. I feel beyond blessed to have many of those close friends in my life, and Lita and Christina are definitely two of them! The girls were already downtown, so I had to take the subway all by myself. After traveling all over the U.S., I am 100% sure that midwesterners are the friendliest people in the country. Even in Chicago, the people are just friendly. New Yorkers, however, not so friendly! It was like pulling teethe just to get someone to answer me when I asked if I was on the train that went to Times Square. Anywho, I finally figured it out and met up with the girls. We spent the day exploring the Time's Square area. We window shopped in the Diamond Distract, I, of course, would have bought something, but I just didn't really see anything I liked.... We then ended the day the way every day should end, with Sushi!
The next morning I flew back to Fort Lauderdale, and Lita actually flew with me. She was warned (threatened) to be on her best behavior. Thankfully she did as she was told and I had no outbreaks of laughter while doing the safety demo. I then continued on my travels for the day and flew to Cancun and then finally back to Fort Lauderdale where I ended my four day trip. I was home for a grand total of 12 hours before I headed back to the airport for a two day trip.
During my two day trip I flew from Fort Lauderdale, to New York, Myrtle Beach, and then ended my day in Chicago. My friend Eric picked me up at the airport and after scarfing down a delicious Chile's salad, we biked on Lake Shore Drive and spent the afternoon at North Avenue Beach. For the record, Chicago was WAY hotter than Ft. Lauderdale. Holy crike, being outside Wednesday was like sticking my head in an oven! After biking back to Eric's apartment, I headed over to by best good friend Allison's new apartment. I was pretty worn out from my crazy week, so it was so nice just to get to hangout with her and have life chats. Our relationship has definitely evolved from our good ol college days as it was a Wednesday night and both of us were yawning uncontrollably by 9:00 P.M.
I made it home yesterday morning, and was elated to spend the day in my bed! I seriously have been running on four hours of sleep or less each night and it has taken it's toll on my body! I slept for six hours during the day, and then was able to sleep nine hours last night. This is one tired girl!!!!
To celebrate one year of Florida living, I decided to treat myself to a little you-did-it gift to myself in the form of a new bike! I just got it this afternoon so I haven't even taken it out for a test drive yet, but I'm stoked about it! I love bike riding and besides my keyboard, it is the second object I have most missed since living in Florida. She's a blue and white Schwinn, and after doing a little research it seemed like the best bang for my buck. I'm so excited to for my many bike riding adventures!
And now for the low light portion of my week. All of my girlfriends from home are currently on vacation in Lake of The Ozarks, most likely laying on noodles in the lake as I type :( Thankfully they haven't completely forgotten about me, as I've been receiving some entertaining phone calls. My brother, Brock, has also been really sick this past week, and ended up having his appendix removed. He is still in a lot of pain and was readmited into the hospital again today. My parent's used a natural conseques approach while raising us four kids. I respect them so much for that and think it has taught me so much more about life than I would have learned from simply being spanked or punished. I love living in Florida! However, a natural consequence of living 20+ hours from home is that I do miss out on things, and sometimes it's a little rough. Now I'm playing the world's smallest violin for the world's saddest story. Ok, ok in all reality life is good, I have no complaints :)
"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." Arthur Rubinstein
This past week was super fun, but left me very sleep deprived! I am loving knowing my work schedule in advance, it's so much easier to make plans when I at least know in general what I am doing from day to day. Saturday morning I flew from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and ended up in Orlando. I spent my afternoon napping by the pool, and then my friend Kane picked me up for dinner that evening. After dinner, we ended up going to a country line dancing bar called Aligator Ally. Aligator Ally turned out to be a plywood palace that makes the Hunter's Horn (a Greene County establishment) look like a classy joint. The inside of Aligator Ally was complete with a mechanical bull as well as a DJ booth set up in the back of a Ford pick up truck. All of the patrons definitely seemed to be frequent flyers at Alligator Ally as they seriously had a line dance to every song that was played! There was even a cowboys only dance, which involved an interesting game where the men would throw their cowboy hats on the ground and try to get the hat back on their head while doing a handstand. This must be some type of a mating call ritual that they do in the south??? Although we were the only three sober people in the place, and that my friends Kane and Khadz were the only non white guys in the building, the night is still a success in my book!
The next day I had an easy one leg flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I had never had a layover there before, so I was super excited to explore Old San Juan. Thankfully one of the other flight attendants I was on the trip with was from Puerto Rico and was kind enough to serve as my tour guide. We first went to a local coffee shop and had a great latte made from beans grown locally. Then we met up with one of her friends, Franklin, who just so happens to be a salsa instructor, and went dancing at a club called Latin Roots. Now I may be able to tap dance with the best of em, but salsa dancing is not exactly this midwesterners forte. Franklin was very talented in the dancing department, so talented in fact he was able to make me look like a not half bad salsa dancer. One of the live band members even commented that I wasn't bad for a gringo!
The next day I flew back to Fort Lauderdale and then on to New York. My friend Lita was already in New York visiting family and friends, and my friend Christina, who I met while working at Disney, was awesome enough to take off of work and meet us for an afternoon in the city. This was actually my first time ever in New York City, and I had a flipping blast! First of all it was wonderful for the three of us to all be back together again. To me, I consider someone a good friend when we can go months without seeing one another, but then pick up right where we left off. I feel beyond blessed to have many of those close friends in my life, and Lita and Christina are definitely two of them! The girls were already downtown, so I had to take the subway all by myself. After traveling all over the U.S., I am 100% sure that midwesterners are the friendliest people in the country. Even in Chicago, the people are just friendly. New Yorkers, however, not so friendly! It was like pulling teethe just to get someone to answer me when I asked if I was on the train that went to Times Square. Anywho, I finally figured it out and met up with the girls. We spent the day exploring the Time's Square area. We window shopped in the Diamond Distract, I, of course, would have bought something, but I just didn't really see anything I liked.... We then ended the day the way every day should end, with Sushi!
The next morning I flew back to Fort Lauderdale, and Lita actually flew with me. She was warned (threatened) to be on her best behavior. Thankfully she did as she was told and I had no outbreaks of laughter while doing the safety demo. I then continued on my travels for the day and flew to Cancun and then finally back to Fort Lauderdale where I ended my four day trip. I was home for a grand total of 12 hours before I headed back to the airport for a two day trip.
During my two day trip I flew from Fort Lauderdale, to New York, Myrtle Beach, and then ended my day in Chicago. My friend Eric picked me up at the airport and after scarfing down a delicious Chile's salad, we biked on Lake Shore Drive and spent the afternoon at North Avenue Beach. For the record, Chicago was WAY hotter than Ft. Lauderdale. Holy crike, being outside Wednesday was like sticking my head in an oven! After biking back to Eric's apartment, I headed over to by best good friend Allison's new apartment. I was pretty worn out from my crazy week, so it was so nice just to get to hangout with her and have life chats. Our relationship has definitely evolved from our good ol college days as it was a Wednesday night and both of us were yawning uncontrollably by 9:00 P.M.
I made it home yesterday morning, and was elated to spend the day in my bed! I seriously have been running on four hours of sleep or less each night and it has taken it's toll on my body! I slept for six hours during the day, and then was able to sleep nine hours last night. This is one tired girl!!!!
To celebrate one year of Florida living, I decided to treat myself to a little you-did-it gift to myself in the form of a new bike! I just got it this afternoon so I haven't even taken it out for a test drive yet, but I'm stoked about it! I love bike riding and besides my keyboard, it is the second object I have most missed since living in Florida. She's a blue and white Schwinn, and after doing a little research it seemed like the best bang for my buck. I'm so excited to for my many bike riding adventures!
And now for the low light portion of my week. All of my girlfriends from home are currently on vacation in Lake of The Ozarks, most likely laying on noodles in the lake as I type :( Thankfully they haven't completely forgotten about me, as I've been receiving some entertaining phone calls. My brother, Brock, has also been really sick this past week, and ended up having his appendix removed. He is still in a lot of pain and was readmited into the hospital again today. My parent's used a natural conseques approach while raising us four kids. I respect them so much for that and think it has taught me so much more about life than I would have learned from simply being spanked or punished. I love living in Florida! However, a natural consequence of living 20+ hours from home is that I do miss out on things, and sometimes it's a little rough. Now I'm playing the world's smallest violin for the world's saddest story. Ok, ok in all reality life is good, I have no complaints :)
"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." Arthur Rubinstein
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Here There And Everywhere
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be on an aircraft that not only broke down once during my day trip to New York, but twice. Now, I know I usually seep with sarcasm, but in this specific case I truly was elated to have my flights delayed. I was happy because this delay made the plane land in Fort Lauderdale twenty minutes into my guaranteed day off. As a result of this I was awarded an extra day off, which I always gladly accept. With this extra day off I now had six days off in a row, and decided to head back to Illinois to spend a week with my family and friends.
The commute back to Illinois was crazy! I hadn't down much planning since the trip was very last minute, and hadn't thought about how difficult it would be to fly standby on a Friday after work. I won't bore you with all the details, but after not making it onto three separate flights, going through TSA security four times, and sprinting from one end of the Atlanta Airport to the other carrying my stilettos, I finally arrived in Saint Louis around 12:30 A.M. Saturday morning.
My week at home was great! Chad, Stacy, and Lana were out of town for the weekend, but Bridget opted to stay at home with me. I miss both of those girls so much, and I loved getting to spend so much time with Bridget. She is truly one of my very favorite people in this whole world. She is sweet, kind, funny, loving, innocent, and creative. I just wanna put her in a time capsule and keep her as a six year old Bridget forever. Although the rainy weather didn't corporate so well for our planned bike ride we made up for it by playing Barbie's, watching Tangled (cute movie, BTW), playing dress up, and giving each other pedicures. Fun times!
Some of the other highlight to my Illinois trip were...
-Homemade Gaily dinner with my friends
-Eating Guadalajara
-Mowing my parents yard (not even kidding, I seriously love mowing)
-Going to the little girl's dance lessons
-Spending an entire day with my sister painting Baby six's bedroom
-Seeing bridesmaids with my girlfriends (very funny, movie)
-Biking, picnicking, and shopping in Grafton with Kristen
-Watching my cousin Ashly play softball like a rock star
-And last but not least attending the high class event of the year "The Carny" with Lana and Bridget
Thankfully I fly for free and was NOT charged a baggage fee for the extra five pounds I brought back with me....on my hips. If the expression you are what you eat is true, then just call me Kelsey Homemade Pizza-Stromboli-Ice Cream-Tagalongs-Blueberry Muffin-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie-Stuffing-Schutz!
I was at home in Fort Lauderdale for a grand total of 18 hours before I packed up the 'ol suitcase and headed out again. I spent two night in Atlanta and had an awesome crew! On the second night of the trip a fellow crew member and I went out and explored Atlanta nightlife. I was a fan!
After arriving back home I worked two more days doing day turns, and was then off for three more days. As soon as my plane landed from Nassau, Bahamas I headed over to the Southwest terminal and hopped on a plane to Orlando in order to work a few shifts at Disney. I'm pretty sure that by the time I'm done going out to eat, shopping, and seeing movies with all my friends in Orlando, I pretty much just break even on these "work trips."
In other exciting news, I was awarded a line for the month of June! This is awesome because I now know my schedule for the entire month and will no longer be on call, WOOHOO! I'll be working quite a bit and I have some fun layovers that include Atlantic City, New Jersey (tax free shopping?! Yes, please!), San Juan, Puerto Rico, Orlando, New York City, and Myrtle Beach. The only downfall to this is that I didn't get the weekend off that I had planned to go to the Lake of The Ozarks with my friends from home. I still haven't completely ruled out going for only half the weekend, but even that may be difficult to swing. Ugh, being an adult is hard work sometimes!
Hope everyone has a great week! Hugs!
The commute back to Illinois was crazy! I hadn't down much planning since the trip was very last minute, and hadn't thought about how difficult it would be to fly standby on a Friday after work. I won't bore you with all the details, but after not making it onto three separate flights, going through TSA security four times, and sprinting from one end of the Atlanta Airport to the other carrying my stilettos, I finally arrived in Saint Louis around 12:30 A.M. Saturday morning.
My week at home was great! Chad, Stacy, and Lana were out of town for the weekend, but Bridget opted to stay at home with me. I miss both of those girls so much, and I loved getting to spend so much time with Bridget. She is truly one of my very favorite people in this whole world. She is sweet, kind, funny, loving, innocent, and creative. I just wanna put her in a time capsule and keep her as a six year old Bridget forever. Although the rainy weather didn't corporate so well for our planned bike ride we made up for it by playing Barbie's, watching Tangled (cute movie, BTW), playing dress up, and giving each other pedicures. Fun times!
Some of the other highlight to my Illinois trip were...
-Homemade Gaily dinner with my friends
-Eating Guadalajara
-Mowing my parents yard (not even kidding, I seriously love mowing)
-Going to the little girl's dance lessons
-Spending an entire day with my sister painting Baby six's bedroom
-Seeing bridesmaids with my girlfriends (very funny, movie)
-Biking, picnicking, and shopping in Grafton with Kristen
-Watching my cousin Ashly play softball like a rock star
-And last but not least attending the high class event of the year "The Carny" with Lana and Bridget
Thankfully I fly for free and was NOT charged a baggage fee for the extra five pounds I brought back with me....on my hips. If the expression you are what you eat is true, then just call me Kelsey Homemade Pizza-Stromboli-Ice Cream-Tagalongs-Blueberry Muffin-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie-Stuffing-Schutz!
I was at home in Fort Lauderdale for a grand total of 18 hours before I packed up the 'ol suitcase and headed out again. I spent two night in Atlanta and had an awesome crew! On the second night of the trip a fellow crew member and I went out and explored Atlanta nightlife. I was a fan!
After arriving back home I worked two more days doing day turns, and was then off for three more days. As soon as my plane landed from Nassau, Bahamas I headed over to the Southwest terminal and hopped on a plane to Orlando in order to work a few shifts at Disney. I'm pretty sure that by the time I'm done going out to eat, shopping, and seeing movies with all my friends in Orlando, I pretty much just break even on these "work trips."
In other exciting news, I was awarded a line for the month of June! This is awesome because I now know my schedule for the entire month and will no longer be on call, WOOHOO! I'll be working quite a bit and I have some fun layovers that include Atlantic City, New Jersey (tax free shopping?! Yes, please!), San Juan, Puerto Rico, Orlando, New York City, and Myrtle Beach. The only downfall to this is that I didn't get the weekend off that I had planned to go to the Lake of The Ozarks with my friends from home. I still haven't completely ruled out going for only half the weekend, but even that may be difficult to swing. Ugh, being an adult is hard work sometimes!
Hope everyone has a great week! Hugs!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
California
Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! Hope everyone gets to enjoy some delicious tacos, fajitas, and margaritas today.
The only super exciting news worthy event that has taken place since I last wrote was my trip to California. Three of my other flight attendant friends and I all had four days off and decided what better to do with four days off then go to California. I had actually never been there, so I was pretty stoked about the trip. We were able to fly out to Los Angeles on Virgin America Airlines. This airlines is awesome! Not only was the crew super friendly, but the planes made me feel like I was more so in a nightclub rather than a metal tube with 200 of my closest pals. Each seat has a personal screen that allows you to watch movies and TV, listen to music, and even order your food. Very cool!
We arrived in Los Angeles with little to no agenda, which is personally how I travel best. The first day we roamed around Hollywood Boulevard, and got pictures with several stars on the Walk of Fame. As we were outside the Kodak Theatre, a guy, who introduced himself as the as a production assistant with the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show, approached us and asked if we were interested in being in the audience that evening. I'm not exactly what you would call the world's biggest Jimmy Kimmel fan, but what the hey! We had a few hours before we needed to return for the taping so we quickly found a cute Mexican bar, and entertained ourselves there. A few hours later we arrived back at the Kodak Theatre and were very surprised to find out that we'd be sitting front row. My friends and I did get to meet Jimmy Kimmel, and he made several jokes at our expense about flight attendants being cell phone nazis. I can now officially say I've been made fun of by a celebrity. The guest that night was Martin Short. For being a comedian, I acutally did not find him to be all that funny. I was slightly disappointed that after viewing the show I made it into all of two clips. Show biz is just so tough these days!
The next day my friends and I went to California's Six Flags. It was pretty much just your typical theame park, but it was awesome to see all of the mountains from so high up. I was also able to meet up with my friend Ryan, who interned with me at Disney and now lives in California. It was a great two day trip, and I am definitely eager to go back.
This past week has been very slow work wise. It's difficult to have much of a routine when I never know wheather I will be working or hanging out at home all day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that next month I will be blessed with a line, which allows me to know my schedule for the entire month and no longer be on call.
Have a great week everyone!
The only super exciting news worthy event that has taken place since I last wrote was my trip to California. Three of my other flight attendant friends and I all had four days off and decided what better to do with four days off then go to California. I had actually never been there, so I was pretty stoked about the trip. We were able to fly out to Los Angeles on Virgin America Airlines. This airlines is awesome! Not only was the crew super friendly, but the planes made me feel like I was more so in a nightclub rather than a metal tube with 200 of my closest pals. Each seat has a personal screen that allows you to watch movies and TV, listen to music, and even order your food. Very cool!
We arrived in Los Angeles with little to no agenda, which is personally how I travel best. The first day we roamed around Hollywood Boulevard, and got pictures with several stars on the Walk of Fame. As we were outside the Kodak Theatre, a guy, who introduced himself as the as a production assistant with the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show, approached us and asked if we were interested in being in the audience that evening. I'm not exactly what you would call the world's biggest Jimmy Kimmel fan, but what the hey! We had a few hours before we needed to return for the taping so we quickly found a cute Mexican bar, and entertained ourselves there. A few hours later we arrived back at the Kodak Theatre and were very surprised to find out that we'd be sitting front row. My friends and I did get to meet Jimmy Kimmel, and he made several jokes at our expense about flight attendants being cell phone nazis. I can now officially say I've been made fun of by a celebrity. The guest that night was Martin Short. For being a comedian, I acutally did not find him to be all that funny. I was slightly disappointed that after viewing the show I made it into all of two clips. Show biz is just so tough these days!
The next day my friends and I went to California's Six Flags. It was pretty much just your typical theame park, but it was awesome to see all of the mountains from so high up. I was also able to meet up with my friend Ryan, who interned with me at Disney and now lives in California. It was a great two day trip, and I am definitely eager to go back.
This past week has been very slow work wise. It's difficult to have much of a routine when I never know wheather I will be working or hanging out at home all day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that next month I will be blessed with a line, which allows me to know my schedule for the entire month and no longer be on call.
Have a great week everyone!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Make New Friends But Keep The Old One Is Silver And The Other Is Gold
This past week was a lil thing called, AWESOME! On Thursday I picked up my friends Jenny and Andrea from the airport and drove to Orlando. This was not only Andrea's first visit to Florida, but also her first Disney World trip. I felt like a proud mama as I drove her into the Magic Kingdom parking lot. We spent Thursday night in Magic Kingdom and squeezed nearly every attraction into our six hours in the park. We topped the night off with fireworks and ice cream. What more could you want out of life? Not only was I stoked about having my friends from home visit, but my roommate from Orlando, Alex, who now lives in Colorado, was also in town for the weekend. Us four along with my friends Dean and Lita all spent the day together at Animal Kingdom and Epcot. I think it's safe to say I've become a Disney nerd. Like I literally get way too excited about showing people the parks. I guess it's just a part of life I'll have to live with.
On Saturday morning Jenny, Andrea, and I headed back to Ft. Lauderdale. When Jenny and I were 16 we went on our first ever vacation together to Florida. On this trip we discovered one of the best gourmet, authentic, Italian restaurants known to mankind: Cici's Pizza, home of the $5.99 buffet. We ate there at least four times on our week long vacation. Unfortunately Cici's Pizza hasn't quite caught on in Illinois, so Jenny was beyond pumped when she laid eyes on Cici's. So obviously, we had to make a pit stop on our way back to South Florida. Carbs, carbs, and more carbs, mmm good!
That night we spontaneously decided to go to a Dierks Bently concert. As we were walking up to the box office a husband and wife approached us and handed us two free tickets. At first I was pretty sure it was a scam, but it turns out they just had two extra tickets and figured we could use them. Kindness in this world is still alive and well! The concert was amazing! It was at a really small outdoor amphitheater, and for some reason hardly anyone was there. We literally sat about fifty feet from the stage. It was by far one of the best concerts I'd ever been to. Side note, security gets really touchy about fans waiting by the stars' buses after concerts, even if you do claim he personally invited you to his tour bus. The nerve...
The rest of their visit was spent laying on the beach and lounging in my living room watching The Office episodes and movies from our childhood. We did squeeze in a night of dinner, drinks, and a drag show with my Ft. Lauderdale friends at my roommate's uncle's restaurant. I can't say that I had ever experienced anything quite like it before.
Like visits with people I love usually do, it ended all too quickly. Tuesday morning I took their bums back to the airport. As much I would have loved to return home and wallowed around in self pity about how much I'd miss them, I had to report for work just as I was dropping them off. All of this lovely weather that has been going on in the Midwest has been causing delays, which creates lots of really friendly passengers (insert sarcasm here). Since Tuesday I've been flying all around the country and spending each night back in Chicago. I've been able to hang out with my friend Eric the past couple of days who graciously supplied me with a much needed fix of Portillo's and deep dish pizza. At 4:30 A.M. (just writing that time makes me queasy) I'll be on my way back to the sunshine state.
Hope everyone has a great Maundy Thursday!
On Saturday morning Jenny, Andrea, and I headed back to Ft. Lauderdale. When Jenny and I were 16 we went on our first ever vacation together to Florida. On this trip we discovered one of the best gourmet, authentic, Italian restaurants known to mankind: Cici's Pizza, home of the $5.99 buffet. We ate there at least four times on our week long vacation. Unfortunately Cici's Pizza hasn't quite caught on in Illinois, so Jenny was beyond pumped when she laid eyes on Cici's. So obviously, we had to make a pit stop on our way back to South Florida. Carbs, carbs, and more carbs, mmm good!
That night we spontaneously decided to go to a Dierks Bently concert. As we were walking up to the box office a husband and wife approached us and handed us two free tickets. At first I was pretty sure it was a scam, but it turns out they just had two extra tickets and figured we could use them. Kindness in this world is still alive and well! The concert was amazing! It was at a really small outdoor amphitheater, and for some reason hardly anyone was there. We literally sat about fifty feet from the stage. It was by far one of the best concerts I'd ever been to. Side note, security gets really touchy about fans waiting by the stars' buses after concerts, even if you do claim he personally invited you to his tour bus. The nerve...
The rest of their visit was spent laying on the beach and lounging in my living room watching The Office episodes and movies from our childhood. We did squeeze in a night of dinner, drinks, and a drag show with my Ft. Lauderdale friends at my roommate's uncle's restaurant. I can't say that I had ever experienced anything quite like it before.
Like visits with people I love usually do, it ended all too quickly. Tuesday morning I took their bums back to the airport. As much I would have loved to return home and wallowed around in self pity about how much I'd miss them, I had to report for work just as I was dropping them off. All of this lovely weather that has been going on in the Midwest has been causing delays, which creates lots of really friendly passengers (insert sarcasm here). Since Tuesday I've been flying all around the country and spending each night back in Chicago. I've been able to hang out with my friend Eric the past couple of days who graciously supplied me with a much needed fix of Portillo's and deep dish pizza. At 4:30 A.M. (just writing that time makes me queasy) I'll be on my way back to the sunshine state.
Hope everyone has a great Maundy Thursday!
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