Nashville Video

Hooray! Who's excited!? Everyone should be! Why? ... cause its the Nashville Video!!! 

Last days of Colorado...

So I sit here at the computer our 2nd to last night in Las Vegas. I am trying desperately to get motivated to write. I was exhausted after the night we had last night (more to come later) and Ciara and I were trying to figure out what we could do that would be fun tonight. We were both really sleepy. I was downloading music on my bed and closed my eyes for a brief few seconds while listening to the wonderful voice of John Mayer. For a tiny smidge of a second, I was back in my apartment in Orlando, the windows open, wonderfully fall scented candles lit, lights off and John Mayer playing. I was laying on the couch in our solarium and breathing in the sweet humid air. You never realize how much you miss home until you're gone. I would literally kill to be on the beach right now. When I left Clearwater for Orlando four years ago, I missed home so much. Everytime since, I get this elated feeling when I cross back over the Courtney Campbell bridge knowing I'm almost home. The windows are always down and the music always up. Most people that moved from Clearwater have said the same thing. You feel at home once you hit the bridge.

Well that bridge is almost 3,000 miles away now and I can't smell the humid air, the salt in the air, the coast. The air here is dry and harder to run in. It's not that I don't enjoy it here, because I do, and it's not that I'm not looking forward to California, because I couldn't be more excited; it's just that for now, it's not home...

That small, quick, half dream, half wish of my place back in Orlando made me so homesick. Not homesick for home neccessarily, but homesick for my own place again, my things that have a place, my scented candles, my windows, my humid air.

Oh John Mayer, look at how you confuse me...

Either way, I was in a coffee shop mood. I finally found one online that was close-ish and open with the possibility of live music, but I went to get Ciara and she was asleep. Bummer.

Either way, I should fill you in on the rest of Colorado.

Friday we went to Boulder. Boulder is this artsy little joint smoking town where I am convinced everyone was a hippy. It was interesting. I loved to people watch there because it was such a unique brand of people. We stopped at the Apple store first to visit Aaron, a guy I knew from high school theatre who had just relocated to Boulder like a week and a half before. He was working, but we wanted to say hey. After a quick discussion about hanging out after he got off work, Ciara and I decided to explore. We went down Pearl Street where you can do lots of fun things and the hippies run rampant. It was ecclectic and awesome and we had a blast. When Aaron got off work, he met up with us and we went to this place called Boulder Baked. (Yes it qualifies for both meanings... like I said, Hippy capital of the world I'm sure.) We got delicious cookies, and brownie sundaes. They were AWESOME! Then Aaron showed us around his apartment and we left to go meet up with Ciara's aunt, uncle and cousins at Buffalo Wild Wings. Apparantly out west, they call it B-Dub. (BW...) We stayed the night with Ciara's Aunt Jill and played a board game with her cousins. It was a good time. Aunt Jill stayed up to talk with us until four am. She is awesome.

The next day we stayed around the house at Ciara's dad's and maybe did something else. I don't remember. It's been like two weeks.

At one point, on Sunday we went to Pueblo, Colorado. We met up with her family friends there and we all went surfing behind a boat. The water was freezing and we had permanent goosebumps... but it was a lot of fun.

After that we had another tire blow out. It was the same one as before, they had not changed the valve stem though, so it broke. After Joey (Ciara's family friend from here on out will be called her brother) and his friend helped us out we were on our way to Salida, Colorado. It was SUCH a cute town with almost nothing in it. We had fun though, went to this cute little coffee shop and walked near this creek. It's smack in the middle of nowhere, but adorable. After that we went to go get the tire fixed and then we were on our way to Grandma's. We played in the hot tub there that night and baked delicious chocolate chip cookies the next day.

After one night with grandma we headed back to her dad's and packed up most everything. He made a great dinner and we hung out with Joey that night. He came over to watch a movie and we layed a fajillion blankets outside and watched it. We woke up the next morning early and headed out to Vegas.

YAY for Vegas!
BOO for miserable long drive...

Mountain running, baseball, car tag, vodka. A week of interesting...

Ok, so more about Colorado.

Monday we were in a ridiculously giddy mood because the night before was so awwesome.

But Monday morning we got ready to head to Evergreen to visit some of Ciara's really really really close family friends which may as well have been family. They have two boys who are 18 and 16 and Ciara sees as little brothers. We got there later than planned but hung out at their house for awhile. We had dinner with the whole family and Joey's (18) girlfriend. After dinner we all went to Joey's room and had a homework party on four different computers. Matty (16) is still in high school so he played the Wii or something I think. Anyway after homewoek, all five of us watched the movie Accepted. I had seen it before, but it is still a pretty humorous movie. We stayed in Matty's room that night. The next morning Matty was in school and Joey was home for awhile, so the three of us ate breakfast and then Ciara and I headed out. It was still pretty early. We made it back to her dad's by about 11am and decided to lay out by the pool for awhile. Ciara was editing video number two and we had a good time by the pool. Although the lady checking us in the door (where you have to sign in to use the clubhouse facilities) yelled at us for only being in a bathing suit. "You can't just come in here in bikinis!" It was kind of humorous. After we layed out for awhile, we went back to the house and got some lunch and then both decided to go on a run. We were both gone an exceptionally long time and I loved exploring around by myself. I ran through the neighborhoods (holy hills!) and then I found this great trail where I saw some elk? maybe and then there was this little tunnel that was the path but it was under the two lane street so for about twenty feet it was covered. I stopped there and had a serious dance party all by myself. For a good twenty minutes. After my run I came home and Ciara was already back and showered, so I jumped in the shower and then we hung at home for awhile and went to the mall a little later. Ciara got a bunch of new t shirts and then we made it back in time for dinner. I think we stayed in that night.

On Wednesday we had planned to go to Boulder (and hang out with Aaron!) but we got a late start and it was kind of gross outside, so I headed up to the clubhouse to work on some homework for a couple hours and then later that night we went to a Rockies baseball game. It was fun, (minus the huge loud guy behind us). So there was this huge, loud guy behind us, and when I say loud I don't mean screaming, "hey batterbatterbatter" or "Go get em!" or even,
"@#$!" but he was just plain obnoxious. I think his friends were there because he gave them free tickets. He sang every single song you can imagine, all of them off key and super loud into our ears. Ciara sent me a text about him (you can't just talk when he's RIGHT there) that said, "Guy behind us equals intense" and it was so true. If you know me or Ciara or both of us at all, there is not much that weirds us out or makes us go, "Geesh. That guy...." This guy took the cake in all his annoying ways. Anyway, the Rockies won in the 9th inning and it was a good game. We walked around downtown for awhile and then met up with Joey, his girlfriend Christie and like five of their other friends at a Sonic to get ice cream.

All of Joey's friends were super too much to handle. That is until everyone left except Joey and Brandon. Then they were hilarious. I think his friends were fine one on one. We played Car Tag that night. (For those of you who don't know, it is an awesome game! If you want to know how to play, let me know and I will tell you) So we played Car Tag at Mills Mall until a security guard kicked the boys out. It was late so we went home.

Thursday we had planned to go to Boulder and were getting ready to go when Ciara's dad told us he was taking off work so we could go play in the mountains. We did. We spent the next couple of hours driving through the mountains and a little hiking and taking pictures. We picnic'd at the top and headed back to go to another one of Ciara's family friend's houses for dinner. We got back home and dressed and headed to the Swaimes for dinner. Don and Lisa made wonderful tacos and we sat outside and talked for awhile. Ciara and I were then headed to a Russian party downtown at this place called The Church. There was no cover and free drinks until ten. Back in Orlando if Ciara and I went out we didn't even leave until like 10. This was new to us. But we went in, and the party was hosted by Stoli vodka and so we got our free drinks (a few of them) and hung out for awhile. Met some people and gave them fake numbers and left by midnight.

***We parked right by JONAS BROS. FURS**** <---- um awesome!

I'll finish Friday-Tuesday at another time. Vegas is beckoning.

Who are those guys? Oh yes, talented, interesting people.

Ok, so Colorado. Finally. Sunday night in Colorado after we ate dinner and relaxed for a bit, we decided to head to downtown Denver and see what was up. Ciara and I both had on jeans, black shirts and striped sweaters. (Seems like unneccessary information, but I needed to add it for later)

So we get into the car and start driving and then decide to go to the Blink 182 concert. We felt we had to, since we had been following them half of our roadtrip at this point. In Kansas City, Missouri we stopped at a McDonalds to get coffee to drive half the night and this totally stoned kid in line behind us, Jeremy, was talking to us about how he won free Blink 182 tickets from Doritos or something. He was from Oklahoma and invited us to party with him there which we politely declined and said that Blink had played in Kansas City that night (while we were corn maze running and eating dinner). The next day driving through Kansas, we were behind the Blink 182 equipment truck for awhile. (we took pics) and when we got to Denver, they were playing there. We felt it neccessary to join them.

So we used Cali to find Fiddler's Green in Denver and make it there are park for free. We each put $20 in our pockets and grab our ID's. The plan was to try and get two lawn seats for $20 total, but would go up to $20 each. After trying to haggle with some gentlemen who weren't budging on their scalper's price, we decided to walk around the venue. We walked through the tour bus area and around the back. When we got to the back the venue was to our left and a five level parking garage to our right. We were walking down the side street between the two. We see some people at the top level watching the concert, so we figure that we could see from there. We run up the stairs and find out that in fact, we can see the entire stage and big screens for the concert. We watch Weezer play for a little while and then decide to go get our cameras and come back.

So we scurry down the stairs and head back to the car to grab our cameras and Flip (Felipe) the flip cam. We make it to the car and realize that we both have to pee really freakin badly. So we look everywhere we can to see if there a bathroom readily available other than inside the venue, where we can not go because we don't have tickets. We settle on a hill facing away from the venue and into a retention pond. That's right suckas. We peed on a hill. You can be jealous.

We make it back up to the parking garage and took our spots near the stairs. The stairs were right in the middle of the garage. To our left was the ramp and to our right were the stairs, and much further another attached parking gargage and a set of stairs in the back right corner. There were a lot of people up there now, maybe about 25 or so and some high schoolers started to light their joints. It was the time between sets, so no one was playing. About ten minutes later, two older security guards came up the ramp and shooed everyone down a flight of stairs and were guarding the stairs to the left near the ramp. Everyone obliged, but the problem was you couldn't see anything from the 4th floor. We tried to be sneaky and hide behind a car on the 4th floor, but the guards didn't care and we realized it was because you couldn't see anything. So Ciara and I decided we needed to get away from all those people and figure out how to get back up to the 5th floor.

Now here's the thing, we like Blink 182, but we wouldn't go out of our way to see them in concert. Probably ever. But this was different, we needed to see them because we had been following them since Missouri and it just seemed right that we do just that. So, we went up the back staircase and left our striped sweaters (which would give us away) in a pile with my shoes (which were noisy) We crawled out the back staircase watching the security guards the whole time and crawled along the wall dividing the two attached garages. We leaped around the corner and sunk against the wall there to wait for our next move. We had to cross two drive through areas dividing the two garages, you know, with the arm that goes up once you pay or whatever. There was a space in between them just big enough for two girls. If we sat on each other pretty much. So the first one was easy because the wall of the other parking garage covered the view of us. We sat in the small space in between and watched the security guards until their back was to us and then Ciara crawled over. I waited until they weren't looking again and ran over. We crawl against the wall in the 2nd parking garage now and finally make it to the window area that has bars on it but you can still see out of it. We look up and, alas, you can not see the stage.

We were very disappointed but we were determined to see Blink. Even if for five seconds. So as were waiting with our backs against the wall, curled into the fetal position, Ciara peeks around to see if the security guards are gone. Five seconds pass and she is gone. I wait a couple seconds to see if she will poke around and tell me she made it safe. After about 20 seconds go by, I peek over the side of the garage and see her halfway across the parking lot back to the staircase in the middle. I check real quick. No security. She is hiding behind an 18 wide wall thing that sticks out and is marvelous for hiding behind. duh. So I run to her. And fall on her. And we are both crammed into this little niche in the parking garage. Then we take turns running to the next one and FINALLY find our little space crammed against the side of the stairs where the guards can't see us. It was intense. We couldn't clap or yell, but DANGIT we saw Blink 182!

On their last song, we decided to head out and go wait by the tour buses like total creepers. Or like teenage girls. Whichever. We realize the security guards are gone and we retrieve our sweaters and shoes. Anyway as we are walking along the sidewalk, we see that the gate is wide open and there is no more security, so we walk right into the venue. We move our way down the lawn and hang out like we belong there amongst a cloud of smoke smelling strongly of pot. We got to watch the last four or five songs of the encore from the venue FOR FREE!!!
Afterwards, we meet up with one of Ciara's family friends, Matty, and hang with him until he finds his ride. Then we decide to go over to the tour buses.

We walk past a group of people standing around and continue to walk up the tour bus row. We assume the bands are all inside their buses already, but we wanted to see anyway, thinking we could catch a glimpse and have a good story or something.

As we walk back (after we realize all the curtains are drawn and no one is coming out anymore) we come across the group of people standing over to the side talking. Ciara and I decide to walk over and see if they are someone from the concert or something. We are standing there, two guys facing us and a small mob of people watching. Everyone is talking and totally chill. Then the two guys start to sign autographs and take pictures and Ciara and I flip out a little. So I rummage through my purse and find a deposit slip and a business card from my bank. I hand her the business card and we have them sign our papers. We tell them we don't have tickets because we snuck in, and they applaud us. Isaac and Matt are their names and they are quite possibly the nicest random strangers I have ever met. We get to talking with them and tell them we are on a road trip and everything. They like our story. I think. At least they seemed to enjoy it and it didn't seem like fake enthusiasm.

After awhile we walk away and call everyone we know who is still awake to try and figure out who is on tour with Blink so we can figure out who we just talked to. We come to the conclusion that it is either Motion City Soundtrack or Taking Back Sunday. Either one is awesome. We wait for traffic to die out and siton a curb. Some guy walks up to us, about our age, and tells us that we're going to get yelled at. We ask why, if he's in charge, and what for, and he tells us we just will. He accuses us of being sixteen in which we correct him and hes nicer after that. We tell him we were hanging with "those guys" pointing at Isaac and Matt. He's like, "Oh, you were hanging with Taking Back Sunday" Ciara and I pinch each other. He then tells us his name is Justin and he does the promotions for Chester French, which was one of the opening bands. We go to that tour bus and Adam, the lead singer from Taking Back Sunday is there hanging around talking. After awhile, we decide to leave the tour bus because it's lame and Adam left. We walk past Isaac and Matt again, now knowing they are from Taking Back Sunday and stop to ask them why they are still hanging outside. Another Matt comes over and has a megaphone. They went and got ice cream from their special "band only" area and stayed around their bus. All of us talked for a little while. One of the Matt's, the first one, had a broken foot from "rocking out too hard" and explained the entire process to us. They were so cool and super friendly and chill. The Matt with the megaphone was HILARIOUS. He starts whispering in the megaphone and goes, "The definition of irony is whispering into a megaphone." And we basically died laughing. We stayed there until about ten minutes before they were ready to leave for Salt Lake City, Utah and then we left. And were stoked the whole way home.

One Stubborn Video... finally complete

We just made it to Vegas... Jenny will update later. But for now, the video on our trip from Atlanta to Nashville is finally complete. Shortest travel time... but longest editing. My computer kept being full and mean so it took me a while. But alas... here it is...

Just your average day...Unless you are Ciara and Jenny

We made it to Denver Saturday late afternoon. We both unloaded most of our stuff at Ciara's dad's house. This would be our home for the next week ish or so. Then after the exhausting three prior days, we napped. Much longer than we had planned. Either way, we woke up and got ready to go to Ciara's grandparents 75th joint birthday bash. We donned cute dresses and heels and drove to the place it was held.

It was a night of fun and relaxation and dancing and eating and laughing. Ciara got to see her whole family which she enjoyed a lot, and I met some people I hadn't yet and saw some I hadn't seen in years. Overall, it was a really nice night. We made it back to her dad's and completely crashed.

On Sunday we both woke up and made our way up to the clubhouse at the condo place so we could access the internet. I blogged and did homework for about four hours. Ciara popped in and out a few times, but mostly spent it hanging out with her dad.

We went to this really yummy pizza place in Golden called Woody's. I totally reccommend it. We Nom nom nom'd on bbq chicken pizza. DELICIOUS.

After we got home we layed around for awhile and let our food digest. We wanted to do something, but we didn't know what, so we settled on heading downtown...

Little did we know that downtown was not in our plans but instead a night of CRAZY awesome fun!

Kansas is the opposite of everything that is good...

Okay, so where did I leave off? Right... we arrived at Ozark at 1:30 in the morning and hung out with Kelsey and Jo.

After much catching up and talking about life, we all eventually went to sleep around 3 or 4ish.
P.S. the beds there were super comfortable... especially for a dorm.

Kelsey came in the next morning at 8:45 after her class to see if we wanted to get breakfast with her. It took Ciara and I a few minutes to get up, but once we did, we managed to make it out to the car in the rain and get some Special K and some Nutri-Grain bars. We went back into Kelsey's room and the three of us and her friends ate some breakfast. Ciara and I got dressed and then went to class with Kelsey. It was a lot of fun. It was (and correct me if I'm wrong) 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. The teacher prayed for our trip to California too, which was awesome. It was an interesting class as well.

Afterwards we met up with Bryce and all hung out for just a little bit. Always too short when I see them... :(

We had to say goodbye so we could go fix the flat tire and be on our way. The plan was to drive to Denver that day (Friday).

We had Cali direct us to the Goodyear and after explaining the situation and unloading the trunk for them, they changed the tire really speedy like. Then the part I was dreading... paying. I went up to the counter and it was only $14! The tire was replaced for free and they just charged me for the insurance on the tire. I was ecstatic. I imagined it costing aout $70, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Off to the corn field maze we would go!

We got to the corn maze a little after five on Friday. We were the first customers of the 2009 season! CELEBRATION! The maze is the largest in the world and it was awesome. It was totally muddy and we were surrounded by corn. It cold have been scary. We got rid of the shoes and ran amuck through the muddy fields. It was awesome. We pretended to be Susie Mae and Lilly Jane and talked reallllll southern like for a long time. We took lots of pictures and some video and eventually found our way out of the maze. It was super awesome.

Darkness ensued.

We blew a fuse in the car that we used for the ipod, the cell charger, and Cali, so we had to stop to get another at a gas station in Kansas City. After we fixed Jose up real nice, we drove to Kansas City and ate some dinner downtown. They have a super cute downtown area and the dinner was delicious. We both had turkey and avacado sandwiches.

Our original waiter was replaced by a female waitress. The two obviously had some tension. They argued behind the kitchen window and Ciara and I made up stories for their lives.

We decided not to drive to Denver that night because it was a ten hour drive from Kansas City. LAME! My mom, fortunately, got us a hotel in Hays, Kansas. Kansas sucks by the way...

Imagine the most gorgeous view of mountains up ahead of you, and the raging surf of the ocean behind you. Green grass pastures and wildflowers everywhere. Cloudless, bright blue skies, gorgeous air. Tall trees and vast lakes. Okay.... now Kansas is the opposite of all that. It is brown and gray and horrible.

So here we were staying in a hotel room in Hays, Kansas. Which is like one of three cities in Kansas. But the continental breakfast was good....

Onward to Denver!

Your mom

The blog below encompassed Thursday September 3, 2009

Missouri had more to offer than we expected.

Leaving Nashville was bittersweet. At least for me. We had so much fun there and it was a great experience. But we also knew we had a lot of fun to look forward to.

I was driving leaving Nashville. The GPS (from here on out we will call her Cali) told us to go north through Kentucky and Illinois and into St. Louis. It was 20 minutes longer than the direct route to Joplin, and we would get to see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. So we obliged. Cali can sometimes be a bitch, but she gets us where we need to go.

When leaving Nashville, I wanted to go to the post office and get some stamps, and Ciara wanted to go to Target and get a large water bottle to carry around like my awesome Gatorade one Windy got for us at camp. So I drop her off at Target, (because I didn't need anything) and go park the car. When I come in, I see Ciara walking down the aisle with an armload of Special K Red Berries.

DISCLAIMER: If you know Ciara and I at all, you know we are cereal fiends! We could seriously eat it everyday, much like the goldfish song. But all I do is look at her, mouth agape, and think, "Oh that girl." She had four boxes of it in her arms. As it was our car was JAMMED packed and not an inch left for anything AND we already had six boxes of Special K in the car.

So, as I walk up to her, she turns around and just says, "Go to the cereal aisle". About forty seconds later, I emerge down the same main aisle with my own four boxes of Special K and we die laughing. Here was the thing, if you bought four boxes of Special K (and it was about $0.40 cheaper a box already here) you got a five dollar Target gift card. So we did. Each. Eight more boxes were added to our already huge collection and packed car.

So back to the traveling story, I was driving through Kentucky where the speed limit is 70. Very quickly it changed to 55 without much warning. I slowed down, but not enough before a cop saw me and pulled me over. My hands were shaking and I instantly forgot where everything was (it is all together in the glove compartmet though mom, don't worry. (: ) Well the cop comes over and all I'm thinking is "CRAP!" <--- that is the nicer version of what I was really thinking. So this cop struts over and I roll down my window and he asks me, "Did ya'll see them signs that said 55 for the speed back there?" I am unsure what to say. So I ask, "How fast was I going?" He says (really friendly), "67. But I don't see any workers, and those signs..." and trails off. Then he asks for my license. Shakily I remove that from my purse which is half buried behind me, and hand it to him. I am hopeful because he doesn't ask for insurance or registration. As he takes my license, he looks at it and goes,

"Where ya'll headed?"
"St. Louis for now." I reply
"Hmm. Okay. Did ya'll hijack a Special K truck?"
"Yes" Ciara says.

We all laugh. I am still hopeful.

He returns about a minute later and states in his southern boy accent, "Ya'll drive safe and have fun. Good luck."

I almost peed my pants I was so relieved.


Onward we go. We take I-24 through the south west side of Kentucky and into Illinois a bit. At some point we switch driving and Ciara gets us to the St. Louis arch. It is huge, and brilliantly bright in the fading sunlight. We jump out, and take pictures for a good half hour or so. I touched the side of it. The metal was hot, even in the cooling night sky. It becomes dark and we decide we should leave in order to make it to Joplin at any kind of decent hour. We ate some dinner and were off again.

The drive to Joplin was dark, and sleepy and we had to play a lot of Britney Spears to try and keep us awake. After awhile we switched to worship music and had a good hour of relaxed quiet.
After that though, we were both exhausted and Ciara wanted to switch driving again. We pulled into a gas station, got some coffee (which as of today, I think I have the caffeine shakes because I have had so much) and were on the way again. About fifteen miles from Joplin, Ciara and I hear a noise, "flwap, flwap flwap.." I instantly know what it is, and go, "That's the tire." Literally thank God there was an exit about a hundred feet away. I pull off. We see a gas station that is all boarded up and one light illuminating the sky. Could it be, our saving grace, a place to change our tire??? Well sort of. It was an adult video store. That's just our luck that it would be.

We look at each other and we can smell the fear in the car. Perhaps it was just the tire burning away though. We have no choice but to stop at the porn store. FOL. So we get out and pull everything out of the trunk quickly as we can. I quickly change out of my dress and into shorts and a t shirt. We heft the spare out of the trunk. Ciara bends down to start the jack and I reach into the car and grab the huge pocket knife my dad sent with us, (which prior to, I had rolled my eyes at and thought, "Oh dad.") But we both felt safer that we had it then. I'm standing directly above Ciara, watching guard while she starts the jack when this creepy as heck guy comes out of the video store and is watching us with the creepiest of faces. It's at that point I get really scared. Ciara and I are both strong and athletic, but in a situation like that, we may not be strong enough. The guy then gets in his car after I flash the knife his way, but he doesn't leave. He leans over to the passenger window, facing us and starts making sexual faces at us. Ciara doesn't see any of this, because she is jacking the car and I'm on guard. All she hears is me yell, "No!" and tell her to stand up. We are both now facing him, not looking away, staring quite possibly the man who could kill us, straight in the face. All I'm thinking is 'do not look weak. Look brave. Look assertive. Flash the knife some more.' So I do all of those things and then Ciara says, "You can leave now." real bitchy like. I was proud of us. The sketch ball drove away. But then another car drives up a few minutes later and all I'm thinking is, CRAP AGAIN??? I was on the phone with my dad. I figured it would look safer if whoever came up to us thought at least someone knew where we were. Then this tall skinny man stepped out and in the flaming-est voice I ever heard said, "Oh girls. You got a flat. This is no good. And that jack is horrible." I could have sworn I heard angels singing. He was so gay and I never felt safer.

He helped us out and fixed our flat and we were on our way back to Kelsey's.

Finally we arrived at Kelsey's wayyyy later than planned, and exhausted. But Kels and her lovely roommate Jo were up and waiting for us. It felt so nice to be safe and warm and ready to sleep in a comfy bed...

The three of us make good company

Five or six days later... here I am again, writing. It is 4:17 in the morning (My birthday!) and we are in a hotel in Hays, Kansas. Can I get a "whatthehell?" It is the only time I have had to blog, seeing as most computer time is spent doing homework. So here is a recap. I apologize if the details are lacking, for you see, so am I currently.

Monday morning we woke up in Atlanta at Katie's house. After showering and getting ready for the day, Ciara and I packed up the car and got into Katie's car. We went to this delicious little place called Doc Greens. I recommend their salads. FANTASTIC! Ciara and I got the same one- obviously... and we had a good long hour lunch or so and tried to catch up more with Katie. After a few quick goodbyes, Ciara and I were on our way... but then. No! We plugged Cali (our GPS) into the cigarette lighter in my car and decided to find a Panera to waste time. Not really. I needed the wireless for my classes and Ciara needed to edit videos (see previous blog posting) for your viewing pleasure.

Two hours later, we made our way to Nashville. It was a dreary, rainy, country song filled drive. About twenty minutes away from Nashville, we called Michael (our amazing host) and he was going to meet us somewhere off some exit. Ciara was driving and I was busy dancing in the car most likely. We waited for him at an Applebees in the parking lot for a few minutes. Then I got to meet Michael. He was awesome. He took us to this really good taco place right across the street from Vanderbilt University and we talked, laughed and people watched. Then we went back to his house and dropped off our stuff and got ready to go out.

He took us to this really cool bar called the Flying Saucer. They have like a fajillion different beers on tap, but naturally Ciara and I wanted a girly drink. They pretty much had nothing but beer, so finally we figured out that they could make us a rum and coke. It was okay, not the best I've ever had. But the bar was super cool. :) We hung out there for awhile, then headed back to Michael's. We were exhausted.

The next day (Michael took off work while we were there..:) ) he took us to a park on Love Circle. It was really cool. You could see the whole Nashville skyline. We took a lot of pictures and some of them are really cool. I'll see if Ciara can get some posted on here soon. Then he took us to Fannie Mae Dees (I think) park, where you could climb a dragon made of mosaic tiles. Also really cool. Well Ciara climbed to the top (in a dress) and was ready to get down, letting me stand in front of her to make sure she didn't flash anyone (other than me). Well along comes this 12 year old girl (probably a lesbian, we think) and doesn't leave, even though it was so obvious that Ciara was trying to climb down. That girl wanted the top of the dragon spot to read her book so bad. So because this girl is standing there and not leaving, Ciara ends up having to stand on Michael's shoulders and slide down his back. Or something like that. It was awkward looking. That is all I know. There was also this super awesome tunnel there that we took pictures in too.

Then we went to the rich mall and then the grocery store to get stuff for dinner. We went back to Michael's and made hamburger helper SUPREME (which was probably the best I have ever had) and cookies and brownies (that we intentionally undercooked). We watched Sunshine Cleaners and then layed on the couch for like an hour talking. With the cats Tom and Lolita (Alfred and Shelby).

After a short sleep, we woke up Wednesday to go to the Opry House store and Opryland and the hotel. It was really neat. Reminded us of Gaylord Palms in Orlando. We obviously took a lot of pictures there too. Ciara stamped her whole arm with a Chi Omega stamp she found in a gift store. That was interesting. We ate lunch at this place called Noshville (which was good, but overpriced) and then went touristing around town. After we went back to Michael's and got ready for the day some more, then we met up with their friend Charlie and the three of us at this Mexican restaurant where Ciara and I split a pitcher of mango margaritas. Michael helped a bit. We went home and made our peace with saying goodbye to Nashville.

Thursday morning we headed out of Nashville and left for Missouri....

It is so late. I will try to catch up tomorrow. I am only two ish days behind now... but do not fret, for Missouri stories are the craziest yet.

Ya'll Come Back Now, Ya Hear?

Well, we are almost packed up to leave Nashville. And a little sad. We had a blast with Michael, and he had a blast takin care of us two crazy cats as well. He had to go to work before we finished packing the car, but I just got a text from him that says he wants to quit his job and move out to Cali with us. After reading this text to Jenny, she laughed and said, "It sounds CRAZY when other people say it!"

... oh our life!

Atlanta here we come.... or... were!

.

Incase you can't watch this video, try youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VfL-CCY1JI

Ok, so finally we have some downtime to write and edit videos. We left Clearwater on Sunday the 30th much later than expected. Much later. Our original plan was to leave at 9am, and realistically 11am. We didn't even meet up until 3pm and then took another two and a half hours to make sure we had everything. After tearful goodbyes with our parents, we left Clearwater. But, not before we said goodbye to Anessy... and then returned to my house to get our forgotten jewelry.

After a quick gas fill up right before the Courtney Campbell, we were on our way. The drive to Atlanta was long and kind of boring, but we did our best to make it interesting. We stopped at the Indian River exit on I-75 to get our free sample of orange juice. I should also say right here that we are planning on stopping at every stop where billboards count down for a long time prior to the exit. Well, we got our free juice at the sketch place, and were off again.

The drive consisted of many, many made up interpretive music videos. It was awesome.

We got out at the border and took a picture with the state line sign, which didn't turn out very well, but was fun nonetheless. We made one more stop right across the border of Georgia to get some cheap gas. Upon pulling in, we realized that we could also get a free cone with fill up. So we did. Actually we asked for a cup (which was more ice cream and easier to split.) Finally around 12:30 we got Katie's and hung out for a bit. Her house is so cute. It's narrow, but really long, and adorable. Her roommates are all art people, so the house it super original. When you walk in there is a cute living room area directly to the left and a bedroom on the right, where their gorgeous British roommate is living for a few months. Then a few feet further there is a bedroom on the left and a bedroom on the right. Then a bathroom and laundry room, another two bedrooms and bathroom and then the back of the house has an adorable kitchen and dining room right across the longest hallway in a house I have ever seen. Katie showed us her fish, Max, and helped us make our couch beds up for the night. We all stayed up talking for a little while, but we were all exhausted and went to bed shortly thereafter..



There will be more later... we are just super busy. This was day one. Currently we are in Nashville though.