coming back is always rough

wednesday morning i woke up and was just a little bit 'off'. you know how it is, you just don't feel quite like yourself. it was probably due to two things; 1. the fact that i realized the night before that i had lost my license and 2. knowing that i would be going home. assuming of course, they would let me on a plane with no real id.

i got up and packed, hoping that i would find my license in the process. after all, i had my credit cards, money, everything else. i was sure that it had to have slipped out in my bag. but as i finished packing, it was still nowhere to be found, and there was nothing i could do.

so deb and i headed towards the church where we were meeting mihaela at a bakery across the street. deb and mihaela have been friends for nearly the entire time deb has been living there. she and i met shortly after deb had moved. she knew the sister of my boyfriend at the time, so there was an instant connection. of course, the fact that she is an amazing woman who i am always happy to be with, didn't hurt. so every time i go to new york, we always get together with mihaela. it is a strange friendship in that we don't email or call..at all actually. but when we spend time together it instantly picks up where it left off, which is always laughing and sharing stories.


this time was no exception, and it was fabulous to see her again.

after lunch, it was finally time for deb and i to get our nails done. i love getting my nails done in new york. manicures are my most consistent personal grooming splurge, and the ail place across from deb's apartment does the best manicures i've ever had. by far. so nails are always on the agenda when i visit.

and again, i was not disappointed.

we headed back to deb's and chilled out, and finally it was time for me to head to the airport. i admit it. i was nervous. i didn't really know what would happen. i was using my king's dominion season pass with my picture and no name, and my voter's registration card with my name but no picture. and basically, i just got lucky. i was more concerned about the tsa agents than the airlines, and that is where i got the most resistance.

they looked me over a few times and sent me through a special line where they bomb sniffed everything, pulled everything out, patted me down--you know, the works. but they let me through, and i was relieved.

about 45 minutes before my flight i decided i wanted to change my seat, so i went to the desk, where i was told my gate had been changed. no announcements had been made, and had i not wanted a seat change, i would not have had a clue. and that was just the beginning of my problems.

at la guardia each terminal has separate security, so when my flight gate changed from c to d, i had to go through security a second time, with not much time to spare. fortunately, i passed the bomb sniffer again, and made it to my gate just in time. except that when i got there, they were changing the departure time from 6:45pm to 8:15 pm. since i had been there early to make sure i wouldn't have problems, this was not making me happy. what made me even less happy is the flight didn't actually leave until about 9:30pm. by the time we left i had been in the airport for nearly five hours all to take a one hour flight.

oh but the comedy of errors was not yet concluded. when we arrived at national, we were told that our bags would be on carousel x. after waiting for about 10 minutes, the natives got restless. our flight had not been posted yet, so i wandered down to all of the other carousels. it wasn't posted anywhere, so i headed back. after thirty minutes with corey circling outside the entire time, i finally approached an agent who said 'they haven't come out yet. wait, let me check.' as it turned out, they had come out, about 25 minutes earlier, but it had never been posted. i was the first from my flight to figure this out, so i shared the wealth and was finally on my way.

all told, i spent 8 hours in transit. i got home to wet kisses from the puppy and then realized she was virtually covered with ticks. so i spent a good amount of time removing them and panicking over the 'bullseye' she has on her belly. now i've got to get her to the vet asap to see if i can stop lyme disease.

needless to say, i'm ready for another vacation, and fortunately i will be leaving town again soon. this time for work, but it will be low stress. anyone got friends in dallas? i will need to be entertained!