get around...

Hi. I still don't have Internet. Well, not technically. My computer pieces are still in a box. Actually most of my life is in a box at the moment. Which has been quite chaotic the past few days. Monday morning I dug around for ten minutes trying to find a bra (which is precious time when your sometimes - cough - running a tight schedule anyway), grabbed a tank top out of the dirty clothes hamper, and tried to pull myself together with shiny lip gloss (maybe it would detract from my smooshed together ensemble). I drove to a new office space to unpack more boxes (seriously, I should be having nightmares about cardboard by now), and have yet to settle into either space yet.

The great news is I have three awesome roommates. And so far I'm adjusting back to community life pretty well... haven't even left my pajamas in the bathroom yet. The great thing is I'm remembering all the wonderful reasons having roommates is so, well, wonderful. For example, Bridgette knocked quietly on my door this morning to wake me up in time for the lunar eclipse. We ran out in the dark in our bare feet through the wet grass to get a peek. I felt like a kid again. It was great.

So anyway, until sometime - maybe next week hopefully - my boxes will be put away (that sounded confident... right?), I will have Internet again, and my life will be somewhat back to normal.

Side note - I miss my Kansas friends (and those temporarily in IL). We'll talk soon when things aren't so hectic! And I'll be in KS soon - just not far enough east. But I finally finally get to go to the lake and play in the water this weekend!

i've got sunshine...

Hi. I'm supposed to be packing, but... it's not happening. So here's the scoop on our vacation instead. It was awesome. We ended up traveling over 3000 miles, through eight states, and had lots of bonding-time in the car. It was a bit nuts. There are many stories, but I'll give you a quick run down. The trip started with a four-hour delayed plane ride back from Phoenix. Poor Maggie and Laura waited in the airport parking lot for hours, all packed up and ready to go. I thought I would never get there. We left Denver on Thursday at 10pm, drove in three-hour shifts through the night, and made it to Portland by 7pm on Saturday. ...And only ran over one deer in the process. Yikes.
In the next few days we worked our way through Oregon and California along the Pacific Coast Highway (my first time to CA and the Pacific), stopping in the Redwood Forest, driving through a tree, and ending up at a campground 30 miles north of San Francisco. The next day was full of all-out tourist attractions, with rides on the street car, cable car, and over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is such a cool city! Along the way we picked up another friend at the San Jose airport and stopped at a friend's house in Carmel. Another first - riding a yellow banana tandem bike. Let me tell you - not as easy as it looks!
On our way back home we stayed on the strip in Las Vegas - New York, New York - and, being the big spender of the group, I gambled away $2. Maggie did actually make twenty dollars playing Roulette... a win that I claim partial ownership of because I (very convincingly) talked her into quitting while she was ahead.

The last leg of the trip through Nevada, Utah, and Colorado was beautiful (well, minus the Mojave desert) but our hineys were ready to be home. At one point Laura looked over at me and said, "Rachelle, I think you know absolutely everything about me. I've talked about everything. I don't know if I have anything left to say." So we cranked up the NOW 5 CD, listened to the whole thing three more times, and counted mile markers until we were safely home.

And home sweet home it is.