Airport Security

This is what I have learned while getting ready for my flight on Thursday:

Our country's terrorist threat level in ORANGE and this apparently means the threat of terrorism is high.

Carry-on's are limited to one bag and one personal item. Personal items are purses, laptops, shoulder bags...

There are strict rules allowing anything liquid on board. Anything liquid in a carry-on bag or personal bag has to be in bottles no greater than 3.4 oz and these bottles have to fit in ONE quart sized clear plastic zip bag (they specifically mentioned it could not be a fold over sandwich bag) and there is a limit to one bag per person. Liquids include lotion, liquid foundation, face wash, hair spray, ect.

Be prepared to take off your shoes, jacket, jewelry (this includes ALL piercings. If the metal detector goes off and its because of your piercings you will be asked to remove them)

Don't wrap presents. Security personnel will unwrap them for inspection.

Put all undeveloped film in carry-on luggage. The checked baggage screening will damage the film.

Carry-on bags have to weigh less than 40# on American Airlines and no bigger than 45 linear inches.

I am still not completely sure whether you can take a flat iron in carry-on luggage. (If they refuse to let me take mine, I will be royally pissed.)

They recommend getting to the airport an hour and half before your flight is scheduled to depart.

Be ready to board at the departure gate 15 mins prior to scheduled flight or risk losing your seats.

And don't expect the airline to pay for anything that gets damaged along the way.

It almost would be easier to drive!

Little things I love about you

1. they way your hair fro's out when you run your hands through it
2. the special freckle on your right cheek
3. the way you drive, especially a manual... such confidence
4. the way you look in your motorcycle get-up
5. your ability to get out of trouble
6. your Curve cologne.. always takes me back to when I was 13
7. how you and Siera sleep on your backs, side-by-side
8. the way you love your family
9. your tattoos.. they represent part of you
10. because you love me

Decisions and Babies

To begin this blog, I must make sure you know the plan Chase and I have. Graduate college (accomplished!), work here for a couple years, take travel assignments so that we can see everything we have always dreamed about (and make great money while we are at it), settle down, start a family. I don't know how many years before the family thing happens. I just know it can't be right now. Now back to purpose of this blog. As a nurse in this area, most of my patients are elderly. And without fail, sometime throughout my shift, I will be asked by one of these patients if I am married and if I have kids. They ask me other questions as well, probably from some instinctive urge to know something about the person they are trusting to take care of them... or they are just lonely, but those two question I can always bet on getting asked. My answers is always the same " yes I am married. no i don't have kids. waiting to grow up. I am only 21." Their answer is invariably "21 is old enough." In their generation, probably so. Mine generation, probably not.

One night, I went through all this with a patient. Instead of the answer I expected, he told me this..... His daughter fell in love with her highschool sweetheart, graduated highschool, got married. But they put off having kids because they wanted to get through college (this story is too close to mine). They kept putting it off after that until one day they found out she had cancer. I don't remember what kind now, but he said she had to have a hysterectomy. It crushed her. He told me to live in the moment because you never know.... Soooo yeah I was double-thinking the things I thought I wanted and the order I want them in. It is funny how we all make a billion decisions everyday thinking we have all the time in the world. But we just don't know. So, what do we do? We make a decision, hold tight, and pray-really hard-that it all works out in the end.

By the way, I am sticking to my plan.

Chase and His Tank

Chase loves fish. Chase loves fish tanks. Chase loves Petco because the sell both. To be honest, I have always been envious of those people who have a passion, or just something they enjoy enough to spend hours everyday doing whatever it is they love. In Chase's case, researching saltwater tanks, different fish, coral, sand....I still am not completely sure what all he looks at... But I notice that he loves it and that makes me happy. He works hard to maintain his tanks and I have found it can be a hard job. I usually try to become mysteriously absent when that starts to happen though.. He recently joined a club call 'Keepers of the Reef'. They have meetings every month and what is really cool is that they help new members get started (because starting a reef tank can be expensive). Chase had already been given an emerald crab and some coral. He is very excited about all this and it is contagious. There is always something new about the tank when I get home and he loves to show it off. So, here are some pics of his second love......

Browsing Myspace

Browsing myspace can be bittersweet. I see the ppl I, for the most part, grew up with getting married, having babies, at out-of-state univerisities studying to become doctors, lawyers, teachers. I browse the profiles of the ppl I loved and the ones I never could get along with. If I knew then what I know now, I think I would have done things differently. But then, I guess, I wouldn't be who I am now. The things I didn't try out for because I was too shy... wasting away beautiful days crying over the boy who wasn't really worth it... being worried about failure but not realizing that I had the rest of my life to think about that.... Now that I am older, I can appreciate all those ppl I went to school with for their own personalities, the things that made them uniquely different from everyone else, without the prejudice of an adolescent. And I wonder. If given the chance to change anything, would anyone really choose to not change a thing?

Flight to Dallas

I am leaving for Dallas on May 28th. Mom and I have decided to fly and I have never flown before. I am very excited!!!! I love visiting my family in Texas. I always make it a point to drive by our old house. I can't help but wonder what my life would have been like if we had not moved and I have grown up there. Would my mom have been a nurse? Would I? .. I try to talk to my Grandma on the phone as often and I can. It makes me sad when she says she wishes I was there with her. I wish I could be. How hard it would be to only see your child and your grandchildren a couple times a year, and if times are hard, less than that. That is how I know I will never leave my Momma. I may travel, but I will always come back home to her.

And so, here I am trying to pack for the trip. I do not want to check any bags so I am trying to fit everything into one carry-on bag (thank goodness I have a big purse). I am a heavy packer, always have been. I like to plan for the unexpected. It is hard for me to only bring what I need, not necessarily everything I want. It reminds me of a quote from a book I am reading by Jodi Picoult:

"You can boil your life down to a single suitcase, if you desperately have to. Ask yourself what you really need, and it won't be what you imagine- you will easily toss aside unfinished work, and bills, and your calendar to make room for the pair of flannel pajamas you wear when it rains; and the stone your child gave you that is shaped like a heart; and the battered paperback you revisit every April, because it was what you were reading the first time you fell in love. It turns out that what's important is not everything that you've accumulated all these years, but those few things you can carry with you."

I just keep telling myself that Grams doesn't care what I bring as long as I "come home". And she is right.

To Chase

Congratulations on Graduation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We all love you very much.

Can't wait to travel with you, baby!

When I Feel Frustrated

When I feel frustrated I............

1. Roll my eyes.. A childish habit, but one that is hard to control.

2. Refuse to listen to any suggestions to solve the problem no matter how wonderful it is. I am one of those ppl who beat their head against a brick wall (for several minutes..sometimes hours) until I realize the best answer is coming from the person I have been ignoring all along.

3. Sulk.

4. Have an insane urge to lay down and sleep. Maybe it is an unconscious desire to dream the frustration away.


When I Feel On Top Of The World I......

1. Laugh frequently.

2. Want to go out to eat.. I must associate this with celebration..?!?!

3. Make silly jokes

4. Gives hugs and kisses

Idol Concert

Wellllllll, I know this may sound dorky but I really enjoyed American Idol this year and am thinking about booking tickets to see their concert. It would be something to look forward to this summer and the tickets really aren't expensive. I'm looking into the St. Louis, MO concert which is on August 29th at 7pm. My momma is interested... hopefully Chase would like to go..Eva Lauren..Karla and Darrell. If anyone is interested let me know.