Vacation, St. Louis, the 80s and other craziness

Oh man, I have been forgetting to blog! When I last posted, it was during my week off and I'm already forgetting what else I did during the week. Sorry if these catch ups are boring, but I like to blog about for when I get around to scrapping. :)

The rest of my vacation...
Wednesday: Saw Up in 3D
Thursday: Went to Houlihans with Randi, then we went to Crumbs in Hoboken to get cupcakes. On our way home, we got rear ended. We were ok. So was the car. But we were shook up. So after that we went for some retail therapy and I bought some new sneakers and new cons and hit the sale and Bath and Body Works. Later that night, Randi came with me to karaoke.
Friday: Went with Randi and Kerry to crash the middle school teacher's party. Then we went by Tapas, and later I hung out at the Rover, of course.
Saturday: Taylor & Kylie's dance recital. Very cute but too long and boring!
Sunday: Went to see Night at the Museum and then went to open mic night.

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So after my crazy week celebrating my birthday, I had a very shocking return to reality on Monday. My best friend Betty's mom passed away. It was an accident and it has been a very hard time for Betty. I hope you will keep her and her family in her thoughts and prayers. It seems kind of strange to include this in this long post. The week was just very crazy - work was a mess and I was worrying about Betty and trying to keep lots of our friends updated.

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After a short week at work, I left for St. Louis on Friday to hang out with my friends Holly, Amanda, Amy and Carrie. I got to the airport extra early only to find out my flight was delayed an hour. I hate flying and waiting around didn't make me feel any better. But eventually, we were off and when I got there the gals greeted me with a "Jersey Girl" sign, which I thought was super cool. We stopped for dinner at a sports bar. Poor Amanda was upset the Red Wings lost. And back at Holly's house we were up late chit chatting.

On Saturday, we did some shopping. We went to a yarn store, Archivers (never been to one before - I was like a kid in a candy store) and then Claires for some more 80s accessories. We got to see Holly cool studio where we picked up her equipments for the Lolipop Smiles shoot. Then we stocked up on snacks and booze for the 80s party that night, set up for the party and hung around with Holly's mom and some of her family.

So we dressed up all crazy for the 80s party that night. Some of the outfits were so awesome. My best friend from college David drove in from Columbia to hang out with us at the 80s party and even posed for a Lolipop. I hadn't see him in about three years. And we rocked out to 80s music and American Idol karaoke. It was such a blast. But then the party wound down and we had to take Amy to the bus stop so she could go back to Milwaukee.

On Sunday, I broke Holly's shower! I pushed down the button thingie that makes the shower stop and it got jammed up. I felt horrible! Holly is pretty handy, though and made a few trips to Lowes to get it fixed. (I hope it's working now Holly!) Good thing they have a 2nd bathroom!

In the afternoon we went down to see the Arch and took lots of photos. I wasn't up for going to the top. Those little carts looked like Ferris wheel cars and I hate those. Not for me! We checked out the gift shops and museum and took lots more photos of all the stuff in there because we are goofy like that. Then Holly drove us around downtown. We had dinner and some drinks at the Hard Rock and then took a tour through Forest Park on the way back to Holly's.

Back at Holly's we watched True Blood's season premier and then Twilight. Good vampire night.
Then in the morning, my flight left first so the girls drove me to the airport in the pouring rain. But despite the yucky weather, my plane got back in good time.
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While I was away, I missed the service on Friday night for Betty's mom. I told her I would stay, but she wanted me to go have fun. I had called Mom when I landed in St. Louis to find out how things went and I thought it was so nice that Mom, Randi, Grandma and 2 of my mom's friends went to support Betty.

She also told me that they all met up at our house and while they were leaving for the service, Penny snuck out of the house! No one closed the doors or fence and Penny was around the corner before anyone knew it. Some of my sister's students were out there and helped her catch the rotten pug!

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This week, I've been on furlough. It's been another crummy rainy week, but I don't mind being off. I haven't had a headache in ages. I'm sleeping well. Next week will probably be a different story.

I mostly hung around with Randi, did some shopping at Target, saw The Hangover (freakin' hilarious), hung out at the Rover, did a little cleaning and bummed around the house. I've been hooked on reruns of the West Wing (I stopped watching around season 4 and the Alan Alda/Jimmy Smits episodes are awesome). The big highlights of my week included ordering an iPhone (woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!) and going to a crop Saturday. I haven't been scrapping lately, so it was good to have some mojo again.

Today, I went by my brother's for Father's Day. Kylie couldn't wait to show me her new big girl bed with her new Hannah Montana bedspread. And the girls put on their recital costumes to put on a show for us. Fun stuff.

I am going to be so bummed this week going back to work. I haven't worked a full week since before Memorial Day. It's going to be rough! I'll catch up on posting my layouts soon. Tonight I'm going to hang out with Penny (who I need to feed) and watch True Blood and enjoy the last bit of my time off.