Turkey, Tettrizini & Travel....

The Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving I drove the hour to where I meet their dad when we swap them, then came back home and packed up for my weekend in HOTLANTA!!!!

Wednesday my boss GRACIOUSLY let us close the office about an hour early so I could get on the road. WOO HOO!!! I was driving along, boppin to some tunes... crossed the border into South Carolina.. woo hoo!! Cheap gas!!

Kept going till i got down to Greenville.. which is about an hour south of my house. Found a station that said "$1.54" and pulled in. I reached over to get my wallet out of my purse and found....

A BIG hole where my wallet should be. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I had LEFT my wallet at home. An hour away. And it's ALL Sonic's (the drive-in, not the hedgehog) fault. See, I gone there at lunch to get an Egg Nog milkshake - and they don't' HAVE them. HAD they HAD them I would have attempted to PAY for it and I would have realized I didn't have my wallet. Thanks for NOTHING Sonic.

So I must turn around and drive the hour back to my house. But remember why I stopped... to get gas... why? Because I was RUNNING LOW.

(Side note - here is a brief sketch of my travels from Tuesday night through Sunday afternoon. Each line represents a trip)(Map is not to scale)

Okay, back to the story. I'm driving home, UP BIG MOUNTAINS... (that guzzles gas for you flat-landers) and the gas light comes on in my car. I still have quite a ways to go... Oh Jesus please help me get home and to a gas station... oh Jesus please help me get home and to a gas station. At that very moment... the traffic stops on the interstate because of construction.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I was sure my goose was cooked at that point... but it let up and I got to my exit... I got to my neighborhood... I got to my street... I got to my parking lot.... I got my wallet... I got back in my car and went to the NEAREST gas station. My tank is a 14 gallon tank. I put 15.252 gallons of gas in my car. Thus leading me to conclude that this is what my car looked like:

Well... I FINALLY made it to Atlanta... what should have been a 3 hour trip took 5. I got there and saw Mr. B for about 10 minutes, then finally pulled up to Kat's house. I was so glad to see her... and that LOVELY guest bed.

Thursday morning I woke up and was excited to see I'd made it to another Thanksgiving!! At my age, you know, nothing is a guarantee. Kat's kitchen was a bee-hive of activity. She put me to WORK.... Here I am making pudding!!

Kat's Mom had gotten some really beautiful floral arrangements. We had to keep them hidden though, because the kitties liked them JUST a little TOO much!!

After slaving away all day, and watching kitties try to break into the oven to eat the turkey, it was time to eat. There were 11 of us. Kat & Mr. Kat, Kat's girls, Kat's mom, Kat's brother, Kat's brother's roommate, and Kat's Long Lost Cousin & Husband. We all stood in the living room, ready to thank the Lord for this meal. Kat suggested one of her daughters pray. Much... discussion followed:

In the end Kat asked me to pray and I was more than glad to because I was HUNGRY.

ALL the food was WONDERFUL. Despite her assertions that we were not going to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal, we had a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

And that thing with the wing... it's a turkey. I know.. it looks WAY too much like a Vikings helmet.

Kat, Mr. Kat, Long Lost Relatives (From now on known as Mr. LLR & Mrs. LLR) and I sat down at the table together. Mr & Mrs LLR talked... incessantly. They just moved, corruption, coffee cans with contraband in them, pain, daughters, scrap booking... and a whole bunch of stuff I just tuned out at some point. Here's Mr. LLR and his noise pollution:

Mrs. LLR has some... issues... she seemed either physically incapacitated or drunk. Whichever it was this picture doesn't do justice of her hair flipping (she NEEDS bangs) and facial... covering...when she talked.

Kat, Mr. Kat and I were on seconds for the Family LLR was even through their first servings because of their yapping. After the meal poor Kat's mom got trapped on the couch with Mrs. LLR who was going on about all things... crafty.... poor Kat's mom.

Because I work for lunatics, I had to head home Thursday night so I could go to work Friday for 5 hours. It was a nice night for a drive. I had my wallet.

I went to work Friday. The phone rang 3 times. 2 times it was people I work with telling me they decided not to work that day after all.

The office closed at 1, and I headed back to Atlanta. Again, I had my wallet. Mr. B and I met to do some shopping and then had a LOVELY picnic supper in the rain... don't worry, we were under some covering so we didn't get wet. We had a really good talk, and some REALLY good kissing... *sigh*... then I headed on to Kat's.

Later that night Kat, Mr. Kat and I went to a local watering hole for some trivia!! I got to meet some of Kat's friends. They were SUPER DUPER cool and NEATO and FUN!!! We had a great time. We didn't win. Damn Tettrizini. Here we all are gathered around the table.

We headed home and I crawled into that WONDERFUL bed... I called Mr. B before I went to sleep and said something about how I can't ever sleep past 8. Um... yeah... I woke up after 10. If you are EVER in Atlanta and need a NICE place to sleep, I HIGHLY recommend the larger of Kat's 3 guest beds... it's wonderfully comfortable and the covers are cozy!!!

When I finally got my lazy arse out of bed, Kat and I headed out to do some shopping. First we went to have MEXICAN food... it was NUMMY. The conversation was STIMULATING!!!

Then we got to the shopping. Now, I know Kat's daughter follows my blog, so that's about all I have to say about that. But here's a picture of Kat... shopping.

THEN we went over to Target. WHICH was a madhouse! There were NO carts. NONE... it was cut throat carting. You had to wait for people to get finished in line and then hope they weren't going to use the cart to carry their single purchase of a preemie onsie out to the car. Well. I got a cart. Kat was then in the area waiting for this next cart, and made eye contact with a guy coming from the registers, when this BEOTCH swoops in and takes the cart!!! Kat was going to kung foo chop her.... see... (I like a good action shot)

Now... here's where you all get jealous. Mr. B met us at Target. Yes. Kat has met Mr. B. In fact Kat got to witness Mr. B sneaking up on my from behind. Which I still don't understand how that worked since I was watching the door. But here's a picture of it:

We headed back to Kat's and had some nummy leftovers for supper. Kat's girls were just GIGGLY pusses to be sure... I have never seen 2 sibling crack each other up like they do....

Mr. B and I went out that night - we went to an old Monster Movie - there's this awesome place in Atlanta that does old monster movies with a floor show beforehand. SOOOO funny. We saw "The Creeping Eye"....

Sunday morning I headed out... up to Knoxville to get the girls... it rained the WHOLE WAY THERE.....

Because of the holiday traffic it took 7 hours to drive home... by the time we walked in the door I was BEAT. Then I realized.... I was OL... mother hubbard.... I had pickles and milk and condiments. Were I pregnant, i would have been in luck....

So I dragged my sorry butt to the store, loaded up on a couple items, came home... and crashed on the couch.

Thus ending my lovely, wild, Thanksgiving weekend.

Serendipity

When love feels like magic, you call it destiny.
When destiny has a sense of humor, you call it serendipity.

(It's important for this story to understand that while everyone here calls me Lizzy, in the real world I go by Beth)

I met Mr. B in person for the first time in March of this year. He flew up to visit me, and we had a wonderful weekend.

We talked. We laughed. He took me out for a wonderful dinner. We kissed. We watched movies. We ate ice cream. We talked some more. We cried. We ate really big burgers (one of us ate more than one). We talked. We kissed. We drank coffee.

By the time I took him back to the airport, we both were finding that this was much more than either of us had realized. The feelings we were both having went far beyond what either of us were expecting. They were deep. The connection between us was strong.

I cried as I left him at the airport. I didn't expect to feel that way. I was confused. What should I do with these feelings? What did I want from this relationship? What did he want?

I think as he was flying, he was having some of the same thoughts. Where did he want this to go? What decisions did he need to make?

He was headed to a work thing at that point, and then a couple days later headed back home to Atlanta. We both were so happy to have found each other, but still... questioning.

He got off the airplane in Atlanta, and was walking through the terminal. And then he noticed the song coming through the speakers.... a song from those great purveyors of soothing airport music - Kiss. Which song?

Beth

(Happy 10 months and 1 day Mr. B.... They haven't made the words yet that adequately express how much I Love you. Thank you for wandering into my life. Thank you for your Love)

Finally!!!

*Disclaimer - I forgot my camera in the car*

Did you noticed that I caved.

Yeah… for all your “good for you’s” and your “go go girl”… I caved. Kat made a deal I could not refuse. (Thereby making Kat the… Godmother)

The girls and I woke up Saturday morning and headed down the road. It was a GORGEOUS day and we listened to the Wicked soundtrack the whole way. Gert had the map and was following the blue line as we went along. It is a long drive and they did really well.

We finally made it to the greater Metro-Atlanta area. Essie spied the sign for Dave & Busters and wanted to go there… BADLY. Maybe next time. She then took the map and navigated our way to the mall where we were to meet… well… we knew we were meeting Kat & a “surprise” friend, but that’s all I knew.

Arriving to the mall a little early, The Ladies and I wandered around the mall a bit, being accosted 3 times by the man with the hair straightener kiosk. Now, I’d love one of those thingies, but I wasn’t about to go to lunch where there were SURE to be camera’s, with one piece of hair straightened. So I brushed him off… I don’t like those pushy Kiosk people.

It was finally time to head to Maggiano’s. We went through the revolving door (3 times) and then decided to take a seat on the bench in the entryway. Essie asked who we were watching for and I shrugged and said “I have NO idea.”



So we watch.. .and wait. 2 Stunningly GORGEOUS women walk up, and Essie says “They look like bloggers.” And looking.. they did seem to look familiar, but when the only picture you know of someone is a ¼ inch square avatar, it’s a little hard to tell. WELL, Essie was right, they WERE bloggers!! It was SHANNON & ANGIE!!! They recognized me and thus the excitement began!!!

We started chatting about this and that, speculating who the “mystery” bloggess was who was to grace us with her presence. My children showed off their incredible show off skills. I was immediately struck by how completely at home I felt with Shannon & Angie!

THEN

The door revolved and in walks…

KORI!!!

Now there was a surprise!! I had just seen her 2 weeks prior and had NO idea she was planning on joining the fun!!! Of course one of the first things we had to do was check for matching socks!!

We then all stood there, yapping, waiting for KAT!!!!!!!!… who finally showed up… and then proceeded to sit in her mini-van… I think she was waiting to make a grand entrance. Which she and her Katie did... Really, those girls know how to take over a room. You could tell Kat was pretty proud of herself and her little surprises....

Kat's phone then rang, and it was the final "surprise" person... and the were an hour away. Of COURSE we didn't mind waiting, and she was gracious enough to up the speed to 95 so we could eat as soon as possible. Kat took her drink order while on the phone... she was apparently very thirsty.

So, she called again when she was about 10 minutes out, and then rest of us went and sat down, ordered drinks and kept up the chatting... when... who should walk in???

LULA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh how exciting!!! I adore Lula and have been dying to meet her!!! She is all I thought she would be and MORE!!!!!

At one point my Gert completely freaked Miss Kori (Germaphobe) out by slurping a noodle straight out of the community spaghetti bowl.... From then on the whole bowl was considered "Gert's Spaghetti"

Here's a group shot of our table. Are we not gorgeous!! And Lula, that sharp eyed girl, spotted Michelle Obama at the table next to us and was quick to point it out to the whole restaurant.

Our waiter was really good... he knew what was in everything. Believe me... I know... I asked.

Kori is quite the little detective.....

And a LOT of fun with a spoon and VERY protective of her Creme' Brulee.....

As we were standing outside the restaurant after we ate, Lula did a little evangelizing with the cranky people....

Sadly then Lula had to leave... bummer. The rest of us headed over to Kat's to hang out and yack some more... (as in talk, not as in puke, though apparently Kori was borderline after Kat's driving....) When we got to Kat's, several ladies had to go potty.

Then we took our drinks out on the deck and officially started the Mommy Blabbers Sorority. And had a little finger intervention with Kori... she's better now. Really.

Time went MUCH to quickly, laughs were MUCH to hard, oxygen was much to scarce, and before we knew it, Shannon, Angie & Kori had to leave. So we took the traditional picture-at-Kat's-house... you'll notice we followed the "no hips" rule:

The Ladies and I were spending the night at Kat's. Sadly, and ironically, Kat's cat had ingested some... gunk... and wasn't feeling well. But still let me snap this pic

Kat and I then sent the children else where and we sat down to chat. Here is a close up, cat-eyed view of our legs while we were chatting. I adore that Kat... I can tell her anything....

After The Ladies went to sleep, I headed out to spend some time with Mr. B. He wore a plaid shirt, just for me. The humidity was starting to REALLY mess with my hair but he said he loved it. We had a wonderful time together, of course WAY to short....

The Ladies & I slept in Kat's AMAZING guest room. That's me on the left, Essie in the middle and Gert on the right... like you couldn't tell.

When we awoke in the morning, Kat had made pancakes!! And GOOD ones at that!!! I'm telling you - that Kat is the hostess with the mostess.

After a lovely breakfast I told The Ladies it was time to go. My bedhead & I gave Kat a big hug

And we headed home.

My turn

I know a great many of you have read Kat & Kori's versions of our day together... and honestly, I don't have a whole lot to add. The only thing was I thought it was neat how the three of us just totally gelled. You know how sometimes with 3 people you start to get an odd man out, and though I am undoubtedly odd, I am neither a man, nor was I out. We laughed and laughed and suffered through horrendous waitressing (I never DID get offered more french fries... humph). And then spent a lot of time at Kat's with more laughter....

After leaving Kat's I went to see Mr. B. We were supposed to go to a haunted house, but ended up having a very deep heart-to-heart conversation. I know that it was a night I will treasure for... well... the rest of my life. I've never been loved like this before... ever.

Sunday I headed home, and the leaves were SO beautiful! I ended up taking the VERY long way home and honestly... my camera just can NOT do justice to what I saw... but here's some attempts: