fluffy towels

I bought a Yankee Candle car freshener for the Honda today.  Fluffy Towels.  Tomorrow at around 9am I'll get into my fluffy flavored car and for the fourth time say goodbye to my house for, what is for me, an extended period of time.  Tomorrow I'll take a solo drive to Buffalo where Rachel has already been since yesterday.  The drive should take me around six hours.  I'm excited to see my other family (the Popsons) but always get very sad to leave this one.  Especially knowing how far I will be going.  It will officially be the farthest I've ever been from home.  

 I already miss Florida and everyone in it. I miss my coworkers and my friends.  I even sometimes think of some of my regulars from the restaurant and wonder how they're doing.  Goodbye's are always far less dramatic than I picture them to be and Florida goodbyes were no exception.  Not any less sad- just less dramatic.  We were going to stop at the beach and dramatically say goodbye to the ocean, but when the hour came we decided it was unnecessary.  We even canceled our plans to go give Patte one last Cheerio.  At the last minute we decided this idea was also over the top and the memory of our duck friend would be enough to sustain us. Besides, we didn't have any Cheerios.    It was also not so dramatic leaving Jupiter since we only drove a few hours north to visit Rachel's friend Heather in Tampa. Goodbye Florida! We'll miss you! Oh....hello again Florida.  Tampa was a great time.  We sat in Heather's living room and caught up then went out dinner at a restaurant on the water.  I wasn't feeling well that night so I sadly had to stay in while everyone went out to see a band.  We had to wake up early the next day and face our longest drive of the week to Atlanta and I didn't want to risk getting sick.  The next morning we woke up, almost on time, and finally said goodbye to Florida.  The trip to Atlanta was like pulling teeth.  Teeth we desperately needed in order to enjoy our first Top Chef dinner ever.  We thought the ride was going to take between 7 to 8 hours.  It took 10.  Also, don't forget we both have cars still and had to do this on our own.  We hit about four pockets of serious traffic.  Thankfully, the restaurant had no problem moving up our reservation to later.  We were exhausted.  Dinner was fun.  It could have been very fun.  The food was good. We probably could have enjoyed it more.  It was very unfortunate but I'm still glad we got to go.  I couldn't stop thinking of the pillows at the hotel the whole time which I wish wasn't the case.  Atlanta seemed pretty cool but no exploration was done.  After dinner we went straight home and went to sleep.  The next day we arrived at cousins Lindsey's and James' house around 2.  They greeted us on the lawn with baby Brayson and dog Broker.  They had just bought property and wanted to take us to see it.  We went for a very uphill hike with Brayson on Lindsey's back to see the property and then sat by the lake to drink a beer and throw rocks into the water.  It was so nice being in the mountains again.  Later, more family came over and we made dinner and I spent the night blowing bubbles so Brayson could run through them, laughing hysterically.  He was always brave when one accidentally popped in his eye.  I asked Lindsey if I could have him but unfortunately for me, she said no. Fortunately for you, the adventure continues.  Day four after breakfast we climbed back in our cars (which both smelled like Wendys at this point) and drove to Charlottesville, Virginia to visit Lindsey's sister Andrea and her husband BJ.  They immediately took us to Dave Matthews Wine Vinyard for a wine tasting.  It was beautiful and the wine was actually very very good.  They told us that this part of the Virginia is becoming the Napa of white wine.  The whole area was gorgeous and wasn't at all what we expected from Virginia.  The downtown, we were shocked to find, was actually somewhere that seemed...ideal for us to live.  It was young, artsy, packed with restaurants, super clean, surrounded by farms and vinyards, full of places to hike and then beach is two hours away.  If this adventure goes past San Fran, Charlottesville, Virginia now stands as a strong contender for destination number five.  Virginia.... who knew.  We were supposed to visit Kate and Kate in Penn. the next day but Kate #1 was feeling under the weather so we decided to make the final push towards Monroe and surprise my family by arriving a day early.  Six hours later I walked into my house to find my mom making homemade Chicken Soup over the stove.  We've spent the past week relaxing, losing every inch of tan we had, watching Real Housewives with my mom and eating. Eating a lot.  My mom let me make the gravy (meat sauce) and meatballs while she supervised.  It came out great and I plan on making it for Rach's family this week.  I got to see Nicole, Aunt Jackie, Grandma, Aunt Judy and Donnie.  I love my family.  We went into the city on the one super sunny day we had and squeezed about ten friends into one day.  It's been really nice to be home, especially for so long.  We really get the best of both worlds whenever we come to New York.  In Monroe we wear slippers and in Buffalo we wear party hats.  Tomorrow my slippers come off.  Oh also... we're not homeless!  It just so happens that my good friend Linda lives in San Fran.  It also just so happens that one of her roommates is moving out of his room on May 1st and her and her roommate Robin need to fill it.  We just have to go through a credit check with the landlord which should be no problem.  We're still going to wait to get there till around May tenth or eleventh though.  Funny how things always just seem to work out.  I have a lot, a lot,  A LOT to be thankful for and to look forward to.  But tonight...tonight I'm going to enjoy my slippers. -lj