Thursday, September 20, 2007

Raise your hand...

...if 4 days went by entirely too fast! *RAISES HAND*

it hasn't been 4 days yet, but my parents ship returns tomorrow at 7 or 8 a.m. and by the time they get off the ship, it'll be 9 or 10 am and they'll get home about 11 or 11:30 am

That's like...24 hrs from now!

Seriously! I can't believe it either!

Apparently my sister has been getting calls from them, but not me...Hmmm I blame Marlin because he was on the phone on Tuesday when my parents were at Catalina Island and probably tried to call her, so they called my sister instead.

I know they're okay, or I would have gotten a phone call from Carnival or something, but I'm just this worrywart when I don't know what's going on with my parents. Yes it's because they're my parents, but also because if something did happen, I'd be out of a place to live and I'm so NOT about to live with my sister. Gang infested LA is not my idea of a place to live.

But I'm going to stop thinking negatively. I'm going to go back to journaling for my scrapbook and identifying which pictures I'm going to use, where they're going to go and what caption I'm going to use. I also need to make sure I have enough stickers. Oh! I need to dig out my Creative Memories bag because I have some stuff in there I can probably use. Hell, if I found that bag, I'd probably find my original baby book and pictures! Those have been missing for like 3 years!

Mmm! Lasagna for breakfast, lunch and dinner today! haha I think I'm pretty good at making food last, though I think tomorrow I'll get something from like Rubios or the Chinese food place so that my parents don't have to cook dinner...and maybe my sister and her kids could stay? Hmm Actually, I'll go to the grocery store today, get something there and then tell my sister when she picks up the kids. yeah. a welcome home dinner.

Off to plan!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Scrapbook text

So I'm working on my scrapbook and I'm doing the text for a lot of the pictures and I'm stuck. I know what I want to say, but I don't want it to sound too cheesy, but at the same time I want it to be cute. lol

This is what I have. Tell me what you think.

On September 5th, 2007 I embarked on my cross-country Greyhound Bus trip. My parents, Mary & Richard Elliott, dropped me off at the Greyhound Bus Station in Downtown Los Angeles and after a wait of about 45 minutes, I was called to board my first bus.

City Time Layover

Los Angeles, CA 09:00 a.m. ----

San Bernardino, CA 10:10 a.m. 20 mins

Indio, CA 11:50 p.m. 15 mins

Blythe, CA 01:45 p.m. 30 mins


In Blythe, I grabbed lunch at a truck stop McDonalds and as boarding the bus, Border Patrol questioned each passenger as to their country of citizenship.

I'm a US Citizen thank you very much!


Now leaving California

Now entering Arizona

City Time Layover

Phoenix, AZ 04:35 p.m. 1 hr

Tuscon, AZ 07:45 p.m. 15 mins

Now leaving Arizona

Now entering New Mexico

City Time Layover

Lordsburg, NM 11:45 p.m. 16 mins

Adios New Mexico!

Hola Texas and September 6th!

In El Paso, I changed buses for the first time. It was a very scary and exciting time. Despite it being 3 am, well really 4 am when we got back on the bus again, there was a lot of people in the bus station and Spanish overload!

City Time Layover

El Paso, TX 02:50 a.m. 1 hr 10 mins

Van Horn, TX 07:00 a.m. 30 mins

Ft Stockton, TX 09:30 a.m. 20 mins

Junction, TX 01:05 p.m. 15 mins

In San Antonio, I changed buses again. This time, I was a little more confident about traveling alone and I was able to enjoy myself and people watch.

San Antonio, TX 03:50 p.m. 40 mins

And for the third and last time, I changed buses in Houston. I'm getting to be a pro at this changing buses thing!

Houston, TX 07:75 p.m. 1 hr 15 mins

Orange, TX 10:45 p.m. 15 mins

Adios Texas!

Hello September 7th, Louisana, Alabama & Florida!

City Time Layover

Baton Rouge, LA 01:45 a.m. 45 mins

Mobile, AL 05:30 a.m. 1 hr 15 mins

Pensacola, FL 7:50 a.m. ----

In Mobile, I was able to take a bathroom shower. I wasn't the only one who had the same idea, either! There were about 5 or 6 girls/women, freshening up in the ladies bathroom. I went into the large stall, did my thing and came out feeling a bit more refreshed.

And now I'm in Pensacola! Let the fun continue!

Does it sound too cheesy?

Okay, back to work I go! This is kind of fun! LOL

OMG I'm never going to use another bank again!

In Florida, I had to use the ATM and it was a BoA. The closest WAMU was 300 miles away! So anyways...BoA charges me $3 to get money out, and then MY bank charges me $2 for taking money out and $2 inquiring about my balance! I don't even reemmber inquiring about my balance!

To take $60 out of my account (which I needed for my return trip since I'd be buying other things along the way home) I was charged $7 in fees! That's crazy! I wasn't even chagred that much to use my card in freaking Mexico when I went in January! I'm so pissed off!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Pictures all up

I don't know when it happened, but I have all my pics from my Florida trip on Photobucket. Note: September 2nd ISN'T from Florida, but it's still part of my 25th b-day celebration.

I have my first 4 days printed, and I just sent over the pics from my b-day to be printed. They'll be done first thing tomorrow morning (10 a.m.) and I'll pick them up about Noon (if I remember lol).

Eventually I'll start on the album itself. Scrapbooking at church either happens the 23rd or the 30th so I'll see about staying/going back for that so I can really work on them. I think that'll be the only way I'll have motivation to get the album done. But crap! I don't have the pics from my AZ trips printed. I'll have to have those printed the next time I get paid.

Oh yeah, and that write up? It'll be up next. I'm half way done with it. :)

Monday, September 17, 2007

They got on the ship safely

Just got a call from my parents. They made it safely on the ship. I guess they were having their first meal on the Lido Deck at the buffet.

I hope everything else goes smoothly.


Now to plan what I'll have for dinner the rest of this week. I'll probably go to Longs Drugs and see what's in the frozen foods department...or maybe hop the bus to Ralphs and get some food. Hmmm whatever I decide, I have to do it after Marlin and Jasmine leave...they're sleeping right now.

Oh and something I hate...the tv schedule has changed. I don't know when my usual shows come on anymore. It's very frustrating. But TMZ comes on at 6:30 tonight. I'll have to watch it.

Bon Voyage parental units

Al got here at 215 and my dad got here at 230 and all 3 just left. I should have gotten a picture, but oh well.

They'll be back Friday around noon.

I was going to say something else, but I forgot. again, oh well.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Write up pt 1b

I'll have to do the write up from my days on the bus later. Here's from when I arrived in Florida.

Friday
I arrived in Pensacola, Florida Friday (9/7) morning and my brother was waiting there for me. He got my bags and we were on our way back to his house in Crestview. I think he lives about an hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes away. I'm not sure.

Friday afternoon my brother made lunch (some pasta and bacon dish that was really good) then we (Nieves, the girls and I) went swimming, but Marta wasn't feeling well, so she didn't get in the pool. She was having more fun throwing things into the pool and watching them splash in my face. LOL

That evening I called Marissa and we kind of planned out what we were going to do Saturday for the concert. Nieves showed me all the scrapbooks she'd been working on and kind of got me into doing that as well.

I didn't get to sleep until a little after 1 a.m., I believe


Saturday
Had cereal for breakfast (even though I wasn't hungry), watched a bit of cartoon with my nieces, then around 13:30 a.m. we headed for Eglin Air Force Base and to see the airplanes that are on display. Stupid me, I forgot my camera so I couldn't take pictures. I took a few with my cell phone, but those are kind of crappy. Nieves has some other ones that she's going to e-mail to me that I can include in my scrapbook. Then we went to the BX (Base Exchange for those who don't know) to look around. I was going to see if I could find a digital camera, but I didn't get a chance to. Instead I got this fuzzy blanket and pillow.

Left the base altogether and after playing txt message tag with Marissa, I got a hold of her to find out what time to meet her then we (my brother, Nieves, the girls and I) went to AC Moore. AC Moore is like Michaels Craft Store, but BETTER! At least better than the Michaels I've gone to. I got some scrapbooking supplies and headed back to the house to drop everything off then head to Marissa's.

Marissa's recap of the concert was awesome, so I'm not going to expand upon it anymore. LOL I'm lazy.I'll add my recap of the concert, but first I will say that I had to stuff my camera because they weren't allowing them in and I was so scared I was going to get caught. But I didn't. After the concert we stood outside to see if any of the guys would come out and while we were waiting it rolled to midnight and Marissa, Gee and Victoria sang happy birthday to me. Hee! Marissa dropped me back at my brothers at around 2 a.m. He was still up waiting too. And Marissa didn't get lost on her way back to her house from my brother's. LOL I went to bed right when I got to the room.


Sunday (pictures to be put on PB later)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

When I woke up, my brother was making waffles. I had chocolate chip waffles. Then we got ready to head to the beach. I had no intention of getting in the water, so I didn't put on my swimsuit. I had on pink shorts and a pink tank top and my flip-flops. I did take my towel to sit on and dry off my feet though. We got to this one beach and it was pretty packed so we went to the Eglin Beach (a beach on an air force base…can you believe that?! haha) and staked our claim. The sand is so white and beautiful. It really looks like snow! And the water is this pretty clear blue color…nothing like the watch and sand of the beaches here in Cali! I took about a quart of the sand back with me! The water got me kind of wet so I just got all the way in.

After being there for about an hour, a few people in the water started freaking out because "something was out there". At the time, I was sitting on the shore and happened to look out into the water just in time to see a dorsal fin come out of the water and go back in. My first thought was "OMG a shark?" but then I saw a tail flap and was like "OMG a dolphin!" because the splash was too small to come from a whale. Within seconds, more people saw the dolphins swimming out there - pretty close to people, might I add - and they raced to the water. The dolphins hung around for about 15 minutes, then took off when there was too many people around. Nieves stayed out by where they were swimming and she said that under water, she could hear the noises they were making and that it was awesome. They were a good THREE FEET in front of her! As the excitement of the dolphins was dying down, this little girl freaked out because something swam by her foot. Her mom was calm about it and was like "Sweetie, that's just a sea turtle." I looked out in time to see the shadow/reflection of it swim off. Of all times NOT to have an underwater digital camera! We left the beach about 1 p.m. headed to the fabric store then back to the house to get changed for dinner.

My birthday dinner was at a place called Okinawa. It's a Japanese Restaurant (duh) and sushi bar. There's a hibachi where the cook does the meal right in front of you…Benihana though I've never been before. The chef was making some funny jokes while cooking. He made a volcano out of onion rings. There was flames everywhere. It was very cool! Then, what I'm most "proud" of was the fact that I was able to catch a little piece of shrimp in my mouth! The guy was a couple feet away from me when he tossed it, but still…I CAUGHT IT AND DIDN'T CHOKE! Nieves got a picture of me AFTER I caught it. The shutter speed on my mom's camera was too slow to capture me catching the shrimp in my mouth. I think my brother tried and then this man that was also at the table tried.

My brother, Nieves and I (the girls slept through it because one of them is scared by the show) had Hibachi Shrimp and Scallops and sushi (Alaskan and Tuna). We finished eating and the waitresses came by with a pineapple boat thing and candle and sang happy birthday to me in English and Japanese. Hearing it in Japanese was really pretty. We also had ice cream and a fortune cookie. After that, but before we left, I opened my gifts - a blue purse (Nieves has a brown one like it) and a cross necklace with faith imprinted on it.

We got back to the house about 10 p.m. and Nieves showed me some stuff on the computer and we watched a different version of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. This particular version the group of ten were stranded on this mountain top mansion as opposed to on an island. And just like in the past, I got scared by it and had to sleep with the covers over my head and the lights on. Lol Every time I watch that movie, I have the same sleeping reaction.


Monday (pictures to be put on PB later)
I didn't do much this day. Around 11:30 a.m. Marissa picked me up and we went to Red Lobster for lunch and then to The Boardwalk to ice cream and I bought some souvenirs. I got back to my brother's house and then we went to Wal*Mart so Nieves could make copies of the pictures I brought. I bought a couple of movies, some scrapbooking stickers and some postcards for my scrapbook. Got back to the house and watched another Agatha Christie movie before going to bed.


Tuesday (pictures to be put on PB later)
My last day in Florida!

We woke up kind of early. There was a lot to do. Nieves wanted to clean the house so that we could take pictures, so while the cleaning was being done, I was outside with the girls. They finished cleaning, the girls got dressed, I finished getting dressed, and then we headed to a mall like place called Destin Commons. Nice outdoor shopping and a little play area for the kids. So of course, the kids played there and just as we were getting them to dry them off from playing in the fountain area (if you've been to Universal City Walk, it's like there…the water shoots up from the ground) when it started to rain. Within seconds, it was pouring! We barely made it inside to where the bathrooms where before it really came down. We waited it out for a while and when my brother came back from the car with the umbrellas it had stopped raining. We walked around the area more, and got in the car before heading to this one mall that Nieves really want to take me to…I think she just wanted to got o the mall because she'd been wanting to get the girls another pair of shoes so they wouldn't always have to wear sandals.

They got me to the Greyhound station at 5:30 p.m. and my bus wasn't scheduled to leave until 6:40 p.m.


I'll pick up from there later. I have work to do!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Just some pictures

I'm too lazy (and it's too much work) to include the pictures with the write up I need to do, so I'll post the links to the pictures here. Not all of them are up (I have about 200 altogether) so save the links (if you want) and check back later. pictures are broke down by their days. I know that 9/6 only has 1 picture...that was all I took that day lol I was more interested with LOOKING rather than taking pictures. I should have done both. haha

there be lots of pictures here!

Write up to come later.

I'm home!!

6 1/2 hours late, but I made it home!!!

*dances*

I already miss being on the bus! haha!!

I'm going to work hard to get that recap done before I forget too much of it...even if I have to go day by day, it'll get done!

But I'm home. safe and sound. and I forgot to get the names and numbers/e-mail addresses of the friends I made on the bus. Oh well.

soon all public entries will become private.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

See you on the 13th Blogger!

I leave tomorrow morning for Florida. I'll be on Greyhound for 2 days and 22 hours (or there abouts).
-------------Trip to PENSACOLA, FL-------------
09/05/07 09:00am GLI-1418 * Depart LOS ANGELES, CA
09/06/07 02:50am GLI-1418 * Arrive EL PASO, TX
09/06/07 04:00am GLI-0404 * Depart EL PASO, TX
09/06/07 03:50pm GLI-0404 * Arrive SAN ANTONIO, TX
09/06/07 04:30pm GLI-7270 * Depart SAN ANTONIO, TX
09/06/07 07:45pm GLI-7270 * Arrive HOUSTON, TX
09/06/07 09:00pm GLI-1262 * Depart HOUSTON, TX
09/07/07 07:50am GLI-1262 * Arrive PENSACOLA, FL

I don't know if I'll get online (let alone LJ, GJ, MySpace...etc), but I will try.

I leave Florida September 11th and will be back home September 13th - roughly 2 days and 20 minutes? my math sucks.
-------------Trip to LOS ANGELES, CA-------------
09/11/07 06:40pm GLI-1243 * Depart PENSACOLA, FL
09/12/07 11:50am GLI-1243 * Arrive DALLAS, TX
09/12/07 01:05pm GLI-1437 * Depart DALLAS, TX
09/13/07 07:00pm GLI-1437 * Arrive LOS ANGELES, CA

That's my little schedule for the traveling part of the trip. While actually IN Florida, I only know that I'll be going to the concert with Marissa and that's about it. I checked the weather and it looks like it's going to be icky while I'm there...thunderstorms are predicted for a few of the days I'll be there.

But the rest of today? That'll be spent cleaning my room. My mom is always after me to clean it. I don't know if I'll be able to post tomorrow before I leave, but if not, look for a voice post sometime tomorrow.