Back home

Well, we made it home yesterday around 6.30 pm CST. (It's so weird to be back on Central time now, I was finally used to Eastern!!) Everything looks so different now! The leaves are mostly on the ground and when we left they were mostly still in the trees. When I went out to get the paper this morning the skyline looked so strange absent the skyscrapers I've been used to seeing up north! I also went to grab Pip's leash before I realized he's still at the kennel! (We pick him up this afternoon!!) It's strange without him when we're on vacation, and it's REALLY strange without him at home. All his stuff is here, and it looks like we have a dog, but where is he?? I hope he had a good time. A new pet store just opened about a mile from our house so we'll take him there this afternoon after we pick him up.

We FINALLY found Ikea yesterday. The internet directions were ALL wrong and we basically ended up in a bad neighborhood in the Newark area. We saw a sign to IKEA, and then no more signs. The weird thing is the only IKEA I've ever seen was back in Feb when I was in Newark on a business trip. We were stuck on the runway for over an hour and from my window I was punished by staring at it the whole time we were waiting for take-off. Little did I know THAT was the IKEA we were looking for! Just as we were about to give up, head back and hop on the Jersey turnpike we saw it!! So, we headed in and were instantly in love. Of course it sucks that we couldn't buy anything big, but we did decide when we move next spring all our furniture will come from IKEA! If we stay in this area we're (seriously) going to rent a U-Haul and head to the ONLY Ikea in the southeast - Atlanta. Why do we only get one??? And they just built that one within the past two months.

We made our way down the SLOW NJ Turnpike, back through Philly and on to the airport. There was no drama related to our flight, but I was stuck across from a 'noisemaker'. You know, the person who CONSTANTLY must be making a sound of some sort. First he had some dinner. I swear his chips were reproducing!! Then he was apparently trying to suck the bottom of his cup up his straw. You're out of liquid buddy!! Give it up!! Then he proceeded to eat all the ice in his cup. Next he was on to a crossword puzzle which meant he constantly clicked his pen the whole time he was trying to come up with answers. FINALLY we could turn our electronic devices on so out came the ipod (for me). I had my music kind of low b/c I just started reading Pride and Prejudice (I've had it over a year now!!). I thought I heard snoring, so I looked over to Brent, nope, and guess who??? Noisemaker. Head back, snoring away. So, I may have some hearing loss due to the volume my ipod was cranked up to. He did wake up when beverage service came through and he downed his coke AND ice by the time the steward had gone from our row (Row 4) to the back of the plane (Row 14 - very small commuter plane!!). When the steward came back through he asked Noisemaker if he wanted more ice and I thought about leaping out my seat, taking a chance that there were no air marshals on such a small plane, and tackling him if he said 'yes' but thankfully he wasn't interested! He promptly went back to sleep with his head down so the snoring was more muffled. And of course, the second we landed he was on his cell phone. Some people are just TOO important.

The airports were crammed yesterday with tons of families starting to travel for the holidays. We came home, headed back out for some groceries and dinner and unpacked everything. The hairbrush I thought I had lost somewhere along the way was actually here at home the whole time. Sweet! Today we have a ton of laundry to do and I think I may do a short run this weekend. I hate that my long run schedule got off, but I still have plenty of time left (or so I tell myself). I want to do this week's long run on Friday, since the Memphis half is the following Sat. I want to have some fresh legs!! I am ready to get back on my healthy eating and back in my regular exercise routine.

I'm also totally in the holiday spirit after seeing all the beautiful window displays in NYC. I may start crating the holiday decs down out of the attic today. I'm a tree-a-holic. I own 12 artificial trees, big ones. (With my allergies a real one is not a good thing.) Our main tree is 9.5 feet, and I LOVE it. My first job ever was at Hallmark when I was 15 and I've been hooked on Christmas ever since. I'm really not sure how many ornaments I have, but it's bad. I have gotten better, primarily due to a comment an older woman made to me at a midnight ornament premiere about 2 years ago. She said I was the youngest addict she'd ever seen and then invited me to join their club that meets once a month to discuss ornaments. I decided I did NOT want to be that obsessed, so I have backed off some. I still get some of the vintage ones - I have a 1977 Hallmark ornament for the year I was born & I like the old Olympics ones and stuff like that. I know one day my relatives will sell all this crap on Ebay so I'm slowing down so they'll have to make money some other way.

Cya later!!