Putting on the fake house

With Dad (and my grandparents) coming tomorrow, a large chunk of today was spent getting the house in enough order so that it looked like we were mostly on top of things (in other words, the "fake house"). The rest was at Kohls, where we finished up our shopping for Jamaica. I got a lighter hoodie (as in not black or teddy-bear-fur-lined) and several camis, which, after the long trip to New York and Company, was all I really needed (and a coverup for the beach, which was actually from Wal*Mart).

We are (for the most part) READY!

Carlisle: first and last day

If today had a theme song, it'd be "One Short Day" from Wicked. Everything today was just bang-bang-bang, because one can only fit so much stuff (and so much food!) in one thirteen-hour period.

The day started out with breakfast at this really cute diner that Dad and I actually had breakfast at when I came up. It was a tough call, but I chose blueberry over chocolate chip pancakes at the last minute simply because B comes before C in the alphabet. When all else fails, go to the tried-and-true alpha-beta.

We met some of our "invisible friends" for coffee (actually hot chocolate and a couple sodas) this afternoon, so I got to chat up with my friend Julianna for the first time in about two years. Naturally, we discussed everything that nobody else at the table would understand, so we got ourselves our own small island so as not to confuse everybody. (We also met for ice cream, which was delish as well).

After watching the Derby (which started at 6:30 rather that 6:05) it was back to the feedbag for meeting some of Mom's college friends for dinner. Again, more great food that I probably should have restrained myself on. Then again, why not go a little all-out? It's the weekend.

All in all, a really good day. Too bad tomorrow is going to be 10 hours of driving.

Surprise!

We aren't in Alabama. We just had to write that so as not to reveal to Dad that, actually, we were going to Pennsylvania to surprise him for his birthday. Aren't we good at lying? (Even though we were all close to bursting by the end?)

Oh, and Mike, some of the kids at the party, and I all went to see Wolverine at 9:30 this night. It wasn't quite as epic as the trailers made it seem, but a night out with friends to see an overrated movie later that we should is good for you every so often.

Happy Birthday, Dad! (Even though your birthday is tomorrow.)

There was blood...

...and tomorrow morning, there will be more blood. We all started watching There Will Be Blood at about 9:30 and decided to save the final hour for tomorrow morning when Dad started to fall asleep.

Blogging from Harrisburg Airport

My flight back to Kentucky (by way of Chicago O'Hare) is delayed, so I have about and hour at the airport. On the plus side, though, there's an outlet in the terminal and free WiFi. I'm IMing with Maya, and just catching up on my Internet rounds. There's nothing terribly exciting to report, but free WiFi makes me happier than almost anything else, and so I figured I might as well get one thing out of the way.

I'll be back in Kentucky late afternoon, though.

End of Carlisle Adventures

Dad and I just got back from the evening's activities. We went out to eat at one of his favorite local places---AliBi's, which is this really nice pub-restaurant. I had perhaps the largest burger I've ever had, and most likely one of the best.

After dinner, we headed over to the theatre at Dickinson College to see the youth theatre perform Mulan. It was really well put together! They only had 19 rehearsals before dress rehearsal week, but it was more or less flawless. Mulan herself was a freshman at one of the high schools, and had a lovely voice with a lot of vibrato that, as I know, people her age typically only dream about. Mushu was also quite adorable, and she seemed to be having a lot of fun.

To top off the evening on a sweet spot, we had a bit of ice cream. I had strawberry, which I haven't had in awhile. I was craving a change from vanilla---so this is to you, Mom! I had a flavor for once! So I believe I did you proud.

Carlisle update

I landed at about noon, and after spending a little time exploring around Hershey, Dad and I headed over to Carlisle. It's a really nice little place, awfully quiet and everything's so close together.

We had dinner at this really cute Italian place called "Vinny's Italian", much like a neighborhood version of Fazoli's. Then (after a brief stop to CBS to get some cough drops and batteries) it was to the movies to see Slumdog Millionaire. To put it in a word?

EPIC.

Off to see the Wiz---er, Dad

In ten minutes we'll be off to the airport (by way of McDonalds for a quick thing of breakfast) so I can get on my flight to go and see Dad. I need to turn the computer off, though, so to be short and sweet, I'll post when I get there! (Or several hours afterwards.)

PS- Aubrey, since there is sadly no WiFi in the middle of the sky yet I still have my word processor, you can bet your lucky stars that I'm going to write a chapter or so.