Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Friends-A-Flying


OHmuhgosh. The past week has been a whirlwind... a whirlwind, I tell you! Wow. It has been action packed. I have been from suitcase to suitcase to bag to suitcase and back... and I have good news: I am finally home for a few days and all of the laundry from aforementioned suitcases is washed and hanging delicately in my closet, fearfully awaiting its next packing. I will be going to Jacksonville briefly this weekend to see my little baby niece, Evan, dance and tumble on stage in what I'm sure will be a ridiculously cute recital. She is three and funny as could be... and is a human Shazaam App! She can name so many songs and artists... it's unbelievable! In a restaurant or in the car, she will spontaneously drop knowledge on you: "This is Taio Cruz", or "This is Benny and the Jets"! It's amazing! I can't wait to see her... and heaven knows- if that girl knows the lyrics to the recital song, she WILL be singing as well as tumbling and dancing! She's awesome.

Angel Evan

So on Saturday night/wee-hours-of-Sunday morning, I got home at about 1:30am from babysitting. I tried to go straight to sleep, but of course (since I had to be up at 9am by the latest), I couldn't fall asleep, so I went to bed around 2:30am. As sure as the dawn, my good and always ready-to-go friend, Kaleen, called me chipper as a chipmunk at 8:45am. She and three of my other friends from Jacksonville were on their way down to Orlando for a hairstylist expo called Orlando Premier Beauty Show (I think). It was held at the Orange County Convention Center, and it was HUGE! I didn't get to go in (and neither did Kaleen) because I don't have a cosmetology license, but the venue was gigantic and there were hairstylists everywhere.

While the girls were at the hair show, Kaleen and I hung out around Orlando, spotting all kinds of hair "styles" that I'm sure many overzealous gals consider art. In my opinion: there is a rather thick line between hair art and hair flop which many stylists with too much time and dye on their hands confuse for a thin line... and proceed to overstep. I saw everything from pink and purple chunks (and I mean chunks- we ain't talkin' peek-a-boos) to rhinestones in the hair to downright questionable haircuts. Many "hair show alerts!" sounded that day. I mean, honestly-- don't these styles exist to get attention? Good news for anyone seeking attention with this stuff-- you got it! Congrats! As long as you like your style- that's all that matters! I know that.

Sunday night, the girls and I went downtown to enjoy a tail or (eeehhhh) two. We bounced around to a few bars and had a blast making fun of each other and hugging and laughing and doing all the stuff good friends do. I love them so, so much. They all possess characteristics I wish I had- I think we all compliment each other well.

Yayyyy! Friends!
Kaleen, Theresa, and I

Monday morning came too soon for all of us, but the girls had a class to attend and wanted to pick up some good deals on the last day of the hair show, so they had to hurry off to the convention center. Katie assured Kaleen and I that they would be quick and that we should pick them up at noon, which gave Kaleen and I about an hour and a half to run some errands (I had to go to the bank and she wanted pickles from Publix. I intervened on the pickle run because it is just too weird and she doesn't eat the pickles, she just drinks the juice [barf], so we didn't do that... call me a bad friend, whatever.) Noon rolled around and I called Kate and she said they would need another half hour. Kaleen and I were driving around aimlessly at this point, so we went to International Drive to see what tourist traps would snag us. LOW AND BEHOLD: Helicopter Tours, $20. Sold. SOLD SOLD SOLD! We went in thinking it would be a long shot, or that we weren't dressed right, or that the $20 gig was a tease. It wasn't. It was all true and the girl behind the desk informed us that the whole process would take about 30 minutes. WHAT?! PERFECT! All we had to do were sign our names on the dotted lines and get weighed! Done deal.

Our helicopter, which we named Choppy
Spontaneous Kaleen, anxiously awaiting our adventure!

Next thing we knew, we were flying over Orlando! (Laughing as I type.) We were so obsessed with ourselves for being so spontaneous. It was so fun and I think the helicopter pilot wanted to nose dive into I-4 because all Kaleen and I could do the entire 3.5 minutes (that's the $20 deal) was say, "OHHH MYYYY GODDD!!!!". I think we both saw most of the tour from behind the screens of our cameras, because truly all a 3.5 helicopter ride is, is a "GUESS what I did" kind of thing, and of course you need photographs to prove it. Well, we have the pics to prove it, my friends- and it was awesome. I told Kaleen that I will know I met my dream guy if I am still living in Orlando and he says on our first date, "Okay, we are going on a helicopter tour of Orlando!" (Only that time, it has to be one of the better tours... Sister has done the 3.5 minute one and is ready for the $325 extended edition!)

Ready for liftoff!

What fun. It was a great weekend. Time to get back to studying for my boards. Waahh-wahhhh.


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