O-Town Bound

This is a long one, so get your coffee, and have a few mins to sit and read...just an FYI! Also, a video montage will be following this blog in a few days of my trip to O-town!

Just got home from my 10 day trip to Orlando and it's good to be back with Darin! It all started super early on Friday morning Sept. 10th, also Allison's wedding day!! Left Bahamas at 7am, landed with my awesome sister to pick me up in Orlando at 1:30pm. From then it was a whirlwind! Hair appointment at 2:30, dropped my stuff off at the Tierney's (stayed the weekend to watch the pups),ran around to multiple stores to find white sandals for the wedding, back to the house, got ready and off to the wedding which we made it by 6:02pm, the wedding is at 6pm. Now when I say that I got ready, I really meant was using a bathroom, mirror, and bedroom with Laura, Teya and Tera with Bryleigh running somewhere, needless to say it was chaos. I think I changed outfits 3 times, Laura 3 times, and Teya twice...it was like a sorority house, lol! The wedding went great thanks to an open bar, dancing and an awesome photo booth!!

Saturday I got up to eat breakfast with my parents and Craig, then headed off to my cousin's son's 1st birthday party! Teya, Justin and Bry came along too since Teya slept over all weekend. There was a huge blow up slide for the kids to go down, snowcones and an annoying dog at the house next to the park that continued to walk along the fence and bark at the kids having a good time. It was nice to see my family most of the day though I wish I brought my bathing suit to go down the blow up slide, Justin was the only smart and brave adult at the party. After the party we (Teya, Bry and I) went back to the Tierney's and sat by the pool. Justin and Craig went "boarding" in Clermont then came to the pool, most intense part of the day was watching Bry barf everywhere...is normal for her when she swims, it was just a lot as she tried to make it to the grass and ran through it, LOL....eww! :) My favorite part of the day though was telling Jenna (Tierney's dog, and i'm her BFF) that we were going to Jersey Mike's for dinner. If you know me well enough you'd know that in the past i'd go to the Tierney's house and Shelby and I used to bring Jenna to Jersey Mike's with us. So, all I had to say was Jersey Mike's and she knows exactly where she's going and gets SUPER excited!! We park, and let her out, she runs right to the door and waits, so I let her in and she says hi to all the customers and then helps me eat my turkey sub! MMMmmmmm so good! The funny part is watching her when we get home as Sadie and Casper smell her and she stands so tall (she's so small) with her little tail wagging acting like "yea, I got to go, and you didn't", little priss :)

Sunday was my family party at my aunt and uncles house (Sarah & Tom). We did a big bbq and pool party with margaritas and awesome cheese dip. Some family had to drive in town from Jax and Melbourne to join us. Thanks to my family for making the trip over to come see me!! Hopefully we'll be back for Thanksgiving!!!

Monday I had some appointments, went shopping for a little bit with Teya and finally went to my parents and unpacked there. Finally home, mom made dinner and I pretty much stayed up with Laura and had a sleepover in her room with Casper too.

Tuesday I got up early to go to the court house in Winter Garden to "change my name". Everyone says how long it took at the court house and they sat for hours and blah blah blah. I had a feeling I was not in the right spot, so I went outside and called a social security number to find out I had to go to the social security office NOT the court house. So why does everyone say how long they were at the court house for and making this huge deal over it?? I was about 10am by the time I made it to Semeron Rd and Gaitlin Rd where the Social Security office was, got my number and I was in and out in less than an hour. Now I just had to wait for the next day to change my bank and drivers license stuff. Me and mom got Chick-fil-a, and went to mine and Craigs house to clean a little and organize some of the wedding gifts that take up the whole 4th room! I got to see Liz, Mo and Tera at happy hour Flemings style....I looked so forward to having a glass of red wine with Liz, she would be my "wine" partner in life I think.

Wednesday was fun! My dad took off work to "hang out with his daughter"...so he thought, but what we really did was coffee from Dunkin Donuts, DMV, DMV, DMV (yea we went back and forth 2 times because I didn't have the right "form") and the bank. So my father daughter time was spent driving from home to DMV and back again a few times....ugh, but i'm officially a DOTY, after being married for 3 months! Thanks daddy for driving around all morning with me!! I love you!! For lunch I met my new family, the Doty's, at UNO's. Got to see all 5 of them, and had a really good buffalo chicken quesadillas. Since my dad took the day off we made plans to go skating (yes, the ones with 4 wheels) in Winter Garden. I have skates from when me and Darin went though our "skating" phase of the relationship lol. They're white with pink wheels!! Totally cool! Teya, Justin and Bry came too, it's was Bry's first time, and it was something i'm very glad I didn't miss because we laughed (nicely) so hard! My dad is just as great of skater as I remember from being little. One of my fav things as a kid was skating, lots of my b-day parties were at skating rinks, and my dad always was in the competitions and won! A proud kid I was as my dad ruled the skate floor! I loved dragging behind hanging on to his pockets, we could of been a great skate team me and him!

Thursday I went to my old office for a little while, and was supposed to meet up with Alan for lunch but he and I went to 2 separate Pei Wei's...oops! I headed to UCF side of town for dinner and wine night at Kaley's place, got to see her and Shelbs new apartments all decorated and cute with mom Tierney's magical touch! I went to Shelbs first for a little while Kaley was still in school, since I didn't eat lunch yet we decided a small snack from Pei Wei would be fine, we had a few hours till dinner. On the way Shelb and I get hit from behind. It was one of the hardest hits i've ever felt in an accident, resulting in both of us grabbing our necks immediately after it happened, and a headache shortly after. BUT....the car looks great!! A loose license plate spot light, and 2 little scratches later, I can't believe that's all that happened. I thought for sure, we'd walk around the car to see a HUGE dent and the trunk pushed in...GO MAZDA 3 !!! Dinner was fabulous! Kay and momma T made chicken stuffed with mozzarella, pesto and presunto with broccoli on the side with a glass of wine to sip on.

Friday my mom and I went through ALL of the wedding pictures, and ordered so many!! We signed up for CVS and Walgreens to get the special 50 free for first time users with 25% off your first purchse. After using my name, her name, and making Laura her own accounts (Laura, ask mom your passwords if you don't know about this yet...oops), and about 400 pictures later, we only paid about $35!!! My mom is such a penny saver, i've learned from the best! We also ordered the announcement/thank you's, I can't wait to see those, we had to really order them, not do the hour photo, so I haven't seen them. Craig and I headed to BJ's Brewery by the Millenia Mall for happy hour and met up with Sarah and Tom (aunt & uncle), also Sam from my old job came. It was Maureen's birthday too, so we went out to Hagan's Irish Bar afterwards to meet everyone....always a good time there!!

Saturday was an EARLY morning....per Alan Jackson....we had to be up at 7am leaving for Gainsville area to go to Devils Den dive and snorkel spot. Surprisingly we left by 7:45 with 8 of us! Wouldn't believe it, but I was there! The drive was nice, I rode with Mo (Maureen). We practiced our bubble gum blowing skills which aren't as good now as they were when we were kids. Possibly having the wrong gum, when other members stoped to potty, we went to walgreens to scout out new gum hoping this kind would be better....no bueno. Oh well, gave us something to do for 1.5hours! The dive/snorkel was so neat, the cave was so cool!! The water was FREEZING!!!! I pretty much enjoyed watching everyone...I stood waist deep for over an hour, finally swam to the other stairs for about 5 seconds and I was done. There was no sun since it was a cave, so it was already cold down there. After the dive/snorkel we went to Rainbow River Springs where you rent tubes and a trolly takes you to the beginning and you relax in your tube for a 2 hour river ride. That was cold too, but the sun was out so I got in this time. Pictures and video to come....I slept the whole way home, and then for like an hour more at Craig's. He and Chris got a new projector for the movie room and hooked it all up with the speakers and everything and we watched 2 movies....it's SO SO cool!!

Sunday I got to go to church with my parents, stoped by the Doty's on the way home, ate lunch at my mom's and then Laura, Teya and I were off to the movies. Justin picked Teya up from the movies, so we were saying goodbye (outside of the car) and we turn around to Bry wild child in the front seat, with the a/c blasting, windshield wipers full speed, all 5 windows rolled down, hazard lights on, blasting the music at full capacity, while she's on her knees in the driver seat holding 10 & 2 going nuts trying to turn it left and right! lol.....hopefully that's not foreshadowing when she's 16 driving down 1-4, LOL!! She's so crazy, I love it!

Monday I grabbed breakfast with Jenny, got a couple last minute things, and headed to the airport but on the way had to stop and pick up Darin's "fixed" laptop i'd dropped off earlier in the week. My mom is so cute, she parks and walks me all the way to the security line, and she'll wait till I put my belt and shoes on, and blow one last kiss to me through the crowd of people. I'm glad I can say I have a mom that does stuff like that, a great mom! So off I go to Freeport and Darin. My trip doesn't end so smoothly...When I was in the states I mangaged to grab 6 iphones from people off Craig's List. I had them stuffed and hidden places in my suitcase so when I went through customs hopefully they wouldn't find them and I wouldn't have to pay duty!! I'm in Miami waiting to leave and I know a guy Dan from Freeport so I said hi to him, and then our fav bartender Lenny was on the flight home too. He sat right behind me....weird knowing people on your flight, but then again not many flights go to Freeport so I guess i'm bound to know someone! I reach Freeport, get up to the customs desk;

lady: how long are you here for?
me: 7 days
lady: where are you staying
me: a friends house and then the Lucaya hotel
My heart is POUNDING, I have no clue why, like they won't let me in the country or something lol...so I pass though her and get to my luggage. I stand, and wait, and wait, and see fimilar bags go by, and wait.....my luggage never made it!! OMG! So I close down the airport after filling out a paper. My bag should be here by 2:30pm tomorrow the lady tells me. I get to the customs guy and he was just being dirty flirty with me but he wasn't searching my bags yet where I had 2 more hidden phones, so I flirted back, PHEW he let me go by, then he says "wait!" and i'm thinking, oh crap! i'm busted, they're gonna hold me till someone pays, what if they found out I was here longer than 10 days on my last trip and they deport me...AHHHHH...so I turned around, "yes?" I asked...he says "do you have any black family members?" and i'm like "no, well I do have a cousin that is, and she's adopted" totally not getting what he's talking about, and he says "so where did you get that a*s from if your not related to a black person?" holy crap, I hit him and said eww gross and covered my butt and ran out of the airport.

Today I did get my things, and I made friends with a guy in customs so when I got my bag I went to him, he just asked if I had food or gifts, no and no I said so he let me go through. PHEW!! No search was great!! So the phones are safe, and i'm safe, and we didn't have to pay duty on a thing!!! So here I sit with the shop closing, 3 hours later, and i'm finally done this super long post!!