Covering the Comencement and Comglomerate

So, yeah, it's been nearly a month since I've left for Virginia and yet still I haven't done the traditional flying blog, let alone my trip blog.
In my defense, may I please add that in that time I have: driven to Denver twice to hang out with Stephanie, watched children multiple times so mother and father could have a few dates, filled out 2 applications in person, 15 online, had an 35 minute interview, a 2 hour group interview, had a prayer conference, gone to 2 different libraries approximately 7 times, did laundry 3 times at the parents house, hung and ordered pics for my mother, completed yet another all-nighter (or rather a partial-nighter), edited photo's from VA for a very anxious young man and his wife, celebrated Mother's Day with the family, gone on a fishing picnic, went camping for a night, dressed up as a super villain, hung out at a garage sale, dug through somewhere between 30 to 80 very interesting old books, went Frisbee throwing at 10pm, broke my computer cord, bought a cheap cord that ended up melting things with the charging box thingy, returned the second broken cord, received a second slightly more expensive computer cord, hung out with a friend I haven't seen in months, went to DIA in pouring rain, had a ladies bible study, put out the church calendar for June, saw a partial eclipse, washed my "brown" dog twice, rebuilt approximately 24 Lego airplanes, started a part-time job for two weeks, got "fired" from the part time job after two weeks, celebrated memorial day, helped weed at my parents house for two days, got sun blisters, had an amazingly crazy 3 year old birthday party, welcomed my sister and her husband to Colorado, started the process of booking my first wedding shoot, and so much more, I'm sure.
So go easy on me.

I've decided to combine the classic "people-watching-in-an-airport-blog with my trip blog. You know, kill two subjects with one blog. You must know that I write airport bogs the moment they are happening. And I have to write them out with a pen, not electronically. Things just come better that way. I don't, however, do this for the time that I'm actually in the state I'm visiting. Otherwise they would probably be cooler.... or maybe they wouldn't... Anywho- enjoy...

FLYING TO VIRGINA:
I've got to stop doing these early morning flights out of Denver. It's one of the best airports for people watching but these early flights, one, make me way to tired to care about watching, and two, there isn't a ton of people to watch this early. I felt bad about being unsociable and facing the widow so I tried to wake myself up, by whistling. But what song came out of my mouth? Brahms Lullaby. Yep. I'm that cool. So as I was going through security they were checking everyones boarding pass, looking for something specific. That's a comforting thought, no? There isn't much to report on my flight to Midway, other than this person doing a complete bobble head. Oh, yeah, that's me. As we're landing there was a group of people talking and I hear one of the dad's pipe up referring to pacifiers falling on the ground, "With the first one you wash it off and disinfect it, with the second you lick it off, and with the third, you let the dog lick it." I feel the man speaks truth. As we're waiting to get off, all super patiently of course, there was this adorable, bald, round headed little tyke totally flirting with all the guys- raised eyebrows, grunts, coy looks and all.
It must be the time for sports teams to go traveling- I've seen no less than 11 matching tee shirt/ sweats groups pass by. And then there is this large group of college aged kids, guys dressed super nice with ties (no, not the white shirts with black ties, with a name tags pinned neatly to their pocket type of nice) and girls in skirts. I'm closish to MBBC and I so bad want to ask them the reason for the dress. I thought I was going through Saabreen withdrawal when I thought for sure I heard a collar jingle 3 times and couldn't find a dog to fit such noise. But I just heard 7 barks and I don't think humans that are barking in this said manner are allowed to stay long in airports, at least with out close supervision by men dressed in black with dark sunglasses. So I totally forgot to pack a pen in my carry on bag. You would think I would learn. You should see me covertly looking under chairs and in seat pockets for one. When I told mom I forgot a pen she asked if I had a knife so I could write in blood. Ummm....in an airport. Can someone please explain to my mommy why this would most likely not end pretty?? Ha! Just kidding. So I caved and went looking for pens in the airport. What can I say? Boredom and tiredness don't make me wise. But then I didn't feel right buying a $2 pen with a credit card so I got Pink Lemonade and yes, the pen was also pink. Dude, this dog better stop barking- He's making me want to go find him at all costs and I just know if I leave, my seat it will get stolen. It was with great trepidation that I left it to go find a pen. And yes, you better believe that I'm in the kids section watching cartoons (which are mainly super dumb and I don't even know them, except the good ol' Yogi Bear). It sounds a bit racist but I mean it in the nicest way, but you can tell that you're in IL. There's a much higher percentage of African Americans here. And they don't got that sweet southerner accent here. It's definitely like a gangsta twang, and it's oh so hard to remember that I'm from Colorado and I don't have an accent. Pity really. Do you ever kinda want to get a wheel chair, at the airport mainly, although other places might be cool? You get to go to the head of a lot of lines, and I mean, you don't have to walk and get lost. Am I right? Why is it all pilots are old? I mean I guess that means experience, right? Forgive my random musings. I'm kinda weird on no sleep. What's the proper seat manners in an airport? I mean, you give your seat to one elder person, when someone who needs it more just walks up....


VIRGINA:
Now that it's been so long since I've been there I'm not sure that I remember all of it too well. I do know it was a lot of later nights with earlier mornings. And really it was the mornings that got me, naturally, but it was worse with the 2 hour time difference. And since I don't remember the small details very well now, I will mainly tell of that time with pictures. I'm sure you will enjoy that better than my strange ramblings anywho. So here you go...

This is what happens when you try to frost cupcakes in a professional manner with frosting in a jar (except the other cupcakes that someone made the frosting for us)..... at least that's what happens when I try to do that.

Smiling away as she makes the poof balls....

Roderick made a nice little speech at the President's umm... thingy.... that ummm... we went to ummm... on Friday night.... you know before the graduation.... with only family there. What do they call that anywho?? And yes, he received an award too, but my camera was focused the lady's hair in front of me instead of Rod receiving it..whoops. It was nice hair...

 So the funny thing about this little balloon arch thing. It was so hot that the balloons kept popping but we never knew when that would happen. It was like having our own fireworks. And this table... we spent all day staging it  just right to fit everything perfectly on it. Yes, that's how my sister works.... it's kinda crazy but we love her. ;)

 Made them pause the mad panic (ha) to get a picture...
Check out these cookies. A friend from "downstairs" made them. And she made the frosting for the cupcakes (which was amazing). And I'm sure she did much more too. She was pretty cool. I mean, check out those cookies.  I have to note that the saturation on these pictures is not bumped up. The party was naturally this bright.

I have to say that this table was one of my favorite places to hang out. It was so bright and all the food on it was so awesome. It was a very photogenic table too....

 A sampling of the candy table. Every type of candy on the table was specifically chosen by Roderick, as he's kinda picky about the candy he eats. This table didn't have a chance to be "staged" as the time just ran away from us. It was quickly set up just minutes from the start of the party... But I think it was pretty cool... even if we were sweating bullets to get it out there. :)

I mean- how cool is this cupcake???

The theme was "It's So Sweet To Be Done." Laura's been planning this party for about a year- partly because that's the way she is but also to giver her something to do to help things out. No wonder it was pretty smooth and all the details were well thought out.

Yes- my very organized and detail orientated sister even thought of small toys, bubbles, and crayons (all of which matched her color scheme of course) for the small kids coming. I mean- seriously- who thinks of the tiny details like that? She's kinda cool that way.                                          

 And then the actual graduation....

 
The only proof that I was actually there. I'm a photographer- behind the photos, not in front.

 The graduate on stage...

 One of the hardest goodbyes for Laura (and probably Rod as well)....

 I will say that I was so glad to get back to the land of dry. And I was so glad that I had received an inhaler for the last cold that I got. It was seriously hard to breathe there. There was alot of errands, baking,  prep, eating, talking, decorating, sweating, playing, walking, laughing, cleaning, and even a freak intense rain storm the night before the party. But I believe all the goals were accomplished. And that pretty much sums up the Virgina part of things.

FLYING TO COLORADO:

So security is very small in Norfolk. I notice that there is a same lady with two little, cute, but a big handful boys and their grandparents are on my flight again. It's a bit harder going through security with young kids, and the littlest one, who happened to be wearing a batman shirt, started crying. One of the security guys said, "Hey man, Batman don't cry!" I wish I knew Batman that well. I mean- how else would he know that?The mom must have had at least a bit of a vacation though- she's super tan now. Ha! There's a lady talking Hunger Games on the phone beside me and I kinda want to jump in to correct some of her statements. Not that I'm a super Hunger Games nerd but I have read the books and I've got this thing when people tell things that are wrong. So I just write about it. lol. So this lady has this interesting book beside me. She keeps falling asleep so I get to read a page or two unnoticed. It's called Praying Effectively for the Lost by Lee E. Thomas. I find this a bit humours due to the fact that I'm missing part of my own church's prayer conference. It intrigues me. So I wasn't supposed to change planes this time but something was wrong at the airport and we had to switch planes. It was all okay because we got to board first and they had to hold everyone for the flight attendants anyways. But oh, let me tell you. I've regretted that plane change ever since. It was by far the worst experience flying ever. Not that there was turbulence. No, I'm all for turbulence. I wish there was more sometimes. You know, crank that epic cello music as you rock along. No, turbulence was not the cause of my distress. It was the fellow in the seat next to me. At first I reconciled his lack of understanding of personal space to a cultural difference. But after the sixth time he drank his ginger ale and rubbed his elbow up the crook of my arm I started getting seriously disturbed. And then there was this whole like hand on the armrest creeping toward my leg that made me jumpy. I was trying to be understanding as I did that whole pull-the-tray-out-and-rest-your-elbows-heavily-on-it-to-squish-his-hand move. But what really put me over was this like slow reach he was doing toward me at the very end. I don't think that was necessarily necessary. In fact I'm pretty sure it wasn't. And when he covertly looks at me out the corner of his eye (no direct eye contact was made) and then pretended indifference every time someone walked by in the isle, well, that just put me over the edge. I spent the last part of the flight sitting sideways in my seat jammed against the window pretending to read my book. At least I know what to do in a situation like that again. But let me tell you, if anything would have happened, even accidentally, that man would not have walked off that plane with a straight nose. It wasn't the greatest end to my travels.

And there you have it. My boringly, exciting trip to Virgina.

Learning martial arts,
Ti-Ti