travel

The “I Forgot My Clothes” Post

October 14, 2020 by Michelle Filed Under: Life Leave a Comment

Apparently 62% of Americans over-pack their suitcases when they travel, according to an article put out by Nordstrom. I was not of that 62% last weekend when we made our trek up to Kentucky. Nope, I was in the other 38% of people who, I guess like me, forget their clothes for their trip.

Yep, you read that right. About 45 minutes from our Kentucky hotel last Thursday afternoon, I looked at Andrew and said, “Did you happen to grab my tops that were hanging in the closet doorway”. Silence….
It was one of those moments where he looks like “uh-oh” and I just laughed. I mean, it wasn’t like we were going to turn AROUND and drive 7.5 hrs back home for two tops on hangers. That’s ludicrous.

“Well, I guess I’ll get to go shopping when we get there!” I announced happily. I think Andrew thought this was some sort of wicked plan plotted against him and DJ. To leave the kids with them so Dana and I could go shopping. mwahahaha.

We checked into our hotel and promptly changed the kids into their swim suits so they could play in the indoor pool with daddy supervision while the mommas went shopping.

Guess where we went? Target of course! It was literally a stone’s throw from our hotel, thank you Jesus.

It was cheetah-everything! I found the swimsuit {far right} on clearance – and it’s MUCH cuter on your person than on the hanger. And that pink top is ah-dorable. The dress in the back is still up for debate but it was on clearance too. I got one other top that’s not in this photo, but you’ll see it below in the picture with Dana from Sat.

This top above is fall perfection. It’s a light sweatshirt material, structured with a poofy sleeve…I need this top in about five other patterns.

It was slightly cooler on Saturday so I got this light long sleeved option with flowy sleeve.

For having forgotten my clothes, I think I did pretty good. My friend Ann saw some of my posts, called me and said, “Where did you find a boutique to go shopping!?” #targetforthewin.

Take Me Away…

September 11, 2016 by Michelle Filed Under: Life, Travel Leave a Comment

Still playing catch-up for the Blogtember Challenge! Friday’s post-prompt was: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? Why?

This one was easy for me. There’s one place I have just been craving to visit and hope to in 2020…

Italy. More specifically, the countryside. The vineyards. The places less traveled.

With Andrew having taken his wine class earlier this spring, there is so much we want to taste and discover in Chianti. chianti-italy

Along with the countryside, I really want to see Cinque Terre – “five towns” and all its colorful beauty, overlooking the Ligurian sea. cinque-terre-italy

Of course I want to see all the popular places – Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sistine Chapel the Colosseum, etc. colosseum-italy But I really want to be immersed in the people and culture and be a part of the every day and not just the tourists.

So here’s to three years of saving and planning…to be able to take the trip of a lifetime…

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How about you…where do you want to go, and why?

Weekend Getaway To Shelton Vineyards : Part 2

April 21, 2016 by Michelle Filed Under: Food & Drink, Travel Leave a Comment

Hey Hey y’all! On Monday, I shared with y’all about our trip to Shelton Vineyards, and the cars! Oh, the cars! I want a Triump convertible and Andrew wants an old Jaguar {it really was gorgeous!}.

Today’s post is more about the experience we got with the actual vineyard tour, the wine and the FOOD!!!

The whole purpose/reason for this trip was for Andrew to do a tour and tasting with his wine class from USC. Tough life I know.

So when we got there the first item on the agenda was a lunch at their Harvest Grill. We were all there on time {I was impressed by this young group of students!} and we sat down at two very long tables. There were 27 of us.

The Grill had a specific menu already planned out for us and I dare say that the hardest part for these young adults was picking out their wine choice. One young lady kept saying that they were all “wine snobs” and that this shouldn’t be so difficult. My choice? A blackberry-fused-wine sparkler and it was amazing.

We had fantastic food – I had a smoked pork shoulder {what!?} and The Devil’s Triangle for dessert. 20160416_133523 Don’t you want to eat right now?! Y’all that ice cream had cinnamon in it…

After our 2 hour lunch – no lie! – we had a few minutes to go look at all those great cars again before our wine tour.

Our tour guide was Gill – the winemaker and vineyard consultant at Shelton Vineyards – he was the best of the best. His profile on their website states, “With a 20 year background…he is uniquely qualified to direct the efforts of our vineyard staff…and grape production.” So true. He was quite fantastic!

He had a wonderful sense of humor and provided great knowledge to all of us on his behind the scenes tour of the vineyard and wine-making processes.

With our wine glass in hand 045

We started off on our tour… 046 050

I have to tell you that all of their wines are quite delicious. Whites, reds, all of it.

After spending some time inside tasting, we went outside to look at the grapevines. {That’s Gill up there ↑}

It really could not have been a more perfect day. Do you see that sky?!

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A few things that I learned…and that totally make sense are: 1. rows are planted north to south so that they get full exposure to the sun as it rises from east to west. 2. they pick the leaves on the eastern facing side but not the western {afternoon sun is the hottest! and those little grapes need shade!!}.

Another something that I thought was interesting: 062 061

Then Gill told us about the harvesting and pressing process and we went back inside for more tastings. 070

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These are all the names of the folks who have bought a barrel like those pictured above… You can get your own, with custom-printed plaque for $645! 073

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Their oak barrels literally come from all over the world. I learned what all the codes mean below ↓ AO= America Oak; Mis=Mississippi; H=Heavy toast; TH=Toasted Head →these two mean that the insides and heads are charred; 2014=The year the barrel was made.

That is your wine lesson tonight. Your welcome.
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Our tour lasted about an hour and a half, and once we were done we were free to do more tastings in their shop. Andrew and I opted just to purchase a couple of bottles to bring back home, and finish meandering through all those great cars!

Since we had made a short getaway out of this trip, we decided that we needed a great spot for dinner so we asked the locals where to go. Of course they mentioned Harvest Grill but since we’d had that for lunch, we were looking for something else.

Wouldn’t you know it? By the time we considered all of our options, we decided that the great food at H-G was what we really wanted so after resting for a bit in the hotel room, we went back to the vineyard for supper. Just in case you were wondering, we rode with the top down the entire time we were there.

I didn’t take any pictures of our supper…though now I’m thinking I totally should have. My meal was delicious and quite lovely – salmon with crab meat, asparagus and Parmesan risotto. Y’all. Andrew ate my food it was so good. Don’t get me wrong, he wanted me to get the risotto so he could eat it! He got his own tasty meal also!

After dinner we took a stroll around the grounds one more time. Enjoying the quiet and the beauty.

And this is where I leave you… 20160416_195608 20160416_195935 20160416_200751

The third and last post about our trip will hopefully come this weekend – when we’re in between birthday parties! Reynolds turned 3 yesterday {how can it be?!} and our friends – Dana & DJ – will have a one year old come Saturday! Whoo hoo! Happy Birthday to everyone!

Good night!

Christmas In New York 2015

December 14, 2015 by Michelle Filed Under: Life, Travel 13 Comments

Hey Friends! I am SO happy to be able to share with y’all our fun adventure to The Big Apple…at Christmas time!

It was a super fast trip for us, and I’m going to do my bestest at reliving it all for you, via jpeg! 🙂

First, I have to tell you that while Andrew was trying to upload all his pics to Google+, he deleted them off his phone. So we had a bit of a mourning session Saturday morning when he realized they were all GONE. Thankfully, we’d only taken a few selfies with his phone…oh, and all the footage he’d gotten of me ~~figure~~ ice skating is gone too…so that was kind of sad… I did, however, text a few pics to myself so that I could send them to my mom while we were there so I have a couple.

Ok, so here goes. Monday after work we drove to GA to drop off the kiddos. My parents are pretty much amazing and this makes the second time this year that they’ve kept our kids for us so that we could go on a trip {Andrew and I know how important it is for us to have time together just the two of us}.

Tuesday evening was our flight. As we had planned out this trip back in September, Andrew had stated that he wanted to wake up in the city. So we left Tuesday night. Of course our flight was delayed…by about three hours…

We landed at LaGuardia airport literally at midnight.

001 We’d gotten to my parents’ house the night before after 11pm. We were so exhausted; we literally shut the NYC airport down. The workers who were still hanging out at the baggage claim desk were all saying that they could now go home and “Good night!” to each other after we all claimed our luggage.

So we woke up in the city and the first thing on our list was Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

But wait, an important phone call…

It is so beyond incredible. Wait until you see the night-time photos {keep scrolling!!}.

Up from Rockefeller Center is 5th Avenue…which is donned with lovely shops like this Saks Fifth Avenue…and her castle on the outside, and window displays beyond your most beautiful imagination!

After a brief stroll past Saks, we made our way down towards Radio City because we caught the 11am Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes show!

Just a few lights on our way…

Inside, the delicate crystal Christmas tree was insanely gorgeous!

The music hall was lit up with giant snowflakes on the ceiling!

Not a very good photo, but for part of the show we had to wear 3-D glasses!

The music was so fantastic, at times we forgot it was an actual orchestra {they were lifted on a platform for the very beginning, then sank down into the pit}.

These costumes….they were awesome!

They were amazing…simply amazing. I loved every bit of this show!

The precision of these Toy Soldiers was impeccable!!!

Up for a little sight-seeing?

The Santa number was just too great! I’m not sure who loved it more, the kids or the adults!

Ok, so the graphics were insane during the show…but for this snowflake number, there were these huge clear beach balls with snowflakes in them that were radio-controlled. I can’t even. Meanwhile, look at the background of the picture above ↑ and compare it to the one below ↓. See. graphics. insane. {sorry the one below is a little wonky…not sure what happened there}

And then we get to the true meaning of Christmas…the Nativity.

I’m not kidding when I tell you…Andrew looked at me and said: “THAT is a live camel. A real-life camel.”

Yep.

I absolutely love this scene…complete with real sheep, donkeys and camels…

The finale…

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When I tell y’all that this show was great…IT. WAS. GREAT. It went by so fast, was full of music and fun…AND it held the Nativity story, which was just Spectacular! If you go to NYC at Christmas, you have to go…it’s just so good!

After the show we walked back up to 5th Avenue and ventured into St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It seemed to be a thing…everyone was going in, so we sort of felt like we had to… Turns out, mass was about to start! ha! Anyway, enjoy a few snaps I got of this gorgeous structure!

One thing I didn’t get a photo of were all the Salvation Army folks – they were either playing their own musical instruments or had some great Christmas music or Kirk Franklin {are you with me?!} playing on a sweet boom-box…and they were dancing!! So good. Only in NYC!

The NY Library and Bryant Park were next.

There was a part during the Christmas Spectacular that Santa threw the wreaths onto the necks of the lions…this was just too fun! And yes, they are massive!!

The tree at Bryant Park was just glorious in red, white and blue!

We thought about ice skating here, but it was so incredible crowded…all the time! I don’t know if you can see it or not, but towards the bottom, there’s a little girl skating, holding on to a penguin {above the guy in the blue jacket looking at his fancy camera…}. This was so cool! We saw it closer the next night, but they had these penguins for beginner {kids} skaters…it glided along the ice, while holding the kids up. Anyway, I thought it was pretty great!

These men…they were playing cards and in my mind, they are all named “Sal” 🙂

Bryant Park was just down the street from where we stayed when we went to NYC back in 2012. It was the place we went almost every night while we were there. We would have a drink and sit and watch the city move… It was so great to be back there seeing how it morphs into this great shopping venue meets fantastic food, mixed in with ice skating.

On our way back to the hotel for a little respite before the event that this entire trip was made for, we stayed on 5th Avenue. Everything I’d seen told me that we had to see the window displays…and it was all worth it!

Lord & Taylor…we could see her from afar. We took a few daytime photos, but they were lost…Here’s what it looked like under the canopy of lights

And the windows…

The Advent calendar….where all the windows were NOT all opened at the same time {made for taking a photo rather difficult and yet, fun?!}

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This one is for Reynolds…the kid loves an owl.

And seriously, the details of this clock are ridiculous.

I just wanted this red dress

Gingerbread men dancing with a house on their heads…bahaha

And the confection shop…

What fun our first day had been so far!

Oh, and this was hilarious. There was a group of Asian people wanting to take photos with these police officers right outside the Empire State Building…and 20 feet from them there were Asian NYC cops…it was funny.

As I posted on Facebook Wednesday night, the entire reason we booked this trip was to see Andrea Bocelli at Madison Square Garden…it was all Andrew’s idea. Back in September or whenever it was, he asked me if I had the choice between Vegas, Chicago or New York City, which would I choose. Well you can take Vegas and throw it in the trash for all I care {I mean it’s fine, but it’s not fore me} and then it came down to when. When Andrew said “December” it was a complete hands-down winner for NYC. We’d never been at Christmas and I’d heard so much about how beautiful and magical it is…so we checked flights and hotels and got some incredible deals so we booked it and then got our tickets to the concert.

We ate dinner at an amazing little French place called OCabanon. Does anyone else think it funny that we ate French food before hearing an Italian sing?

The food was insane. Insane. Fresh pasta, or “noodles” as I called them. Best seafood pasta I’ve ever had. Best noodles ever. Andrew asked at the end of our trip which meal was my favorite, I said the seafood pasta. When I turned the question on him, he laughed and said, “your seafood pasta! Those noodles!”

On our way to the concert we stopped into a little local place across from the venue for a drink and it was beyond slammed. Everyone was talking about the concert – everyone was going.

He has the voice of a tenor angel.

We were told that photography/videography was strictly prohibited…

I saw phones everywhere…people were not obeying the rule.

I mean, we were in the stinking nose-bleeds. It’s not like I was going to get a close up of any possible blemish and blast it all over social media.

The concert was simply fantastic. He had several guest singers, a violinist and flutist. All completely incredible.

It was such a fun night for us to be there with all these New Yorkers…Italian New Yorkers who were just loving every bit of this man. And in spite of his blindness, he could feel the love from this enormous audience. I don’t think there was an empty seat in the place.

We would not let him leave. I think he did four encores. And when he sang Frank Sinatra’s “New York New York” the crowd went bonkers!

My favorite, which he did not leave out, but was at the very end, was “The Prayer”.

We sat until the place was almost empty, thankful to have been a part of the fun evening for all of these “locals”.

The end of day 1 was amazing.

I give you a selfie with our neighborhood clock tower in the background.

Day 2.

Who can go to NYC and not try to get on The Today Show?

Not us!

Al was outside more than all the others. We were a little late getting there so we were about three rows back and I’m quite certain we did NOT make it on television for our 15 seconds of fame, or whatever it is now.

But. It was fun to see the crew, including Wrangler.

And Thursday the selfie stick was in hand…so selfie #1

On to Central Park or if you’ve seen “Date Night” – “THE Central Park!”

My short list of activities/things to see/do included ice skating in Central Park. Funny thing was when we asked the front desk person at our hotel they didn’t even know about it. Wollman Rink is just inside the south end of the park… And honestly as magical as the thought of ice skating in Central Park sounded…the reality of it was so much more so.

When we got to the rink it was just before 9:30am…it didn’t open until 10 so we took a stroll up the path, sat down on a bench and watched the world go by. I was fascinated by the number of languages I heard while sitting on that bench for just a few minutes. Andrew and I played the “Date Night” game – What’s the Story? to try to figure out where people were from, what they were doing, where they were going, etc.

Back down at the rink around 9:45 the line was starting to form so we joined in.

Laced up and ready to go!

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I think you can tell from our faces that we were pretty excited to be there. We had the most fun. I only busted my tail once, when I took my eyes off the horizon and tried to take a video of Andrew! But it was so worth it!

We left the rink when the school buses dropped off about 50 kids who had never skated before. They were all doing that scream-laugh that’s really hilarious at first and then well, it just gets loud with that many kids and the magical hour of skating just became LOUD. We did, however, sit and watch them all clinging to the wall laughing and yelling at each other in terrified glee. It was great.

After we left the rink we were bound for some food. Wouldn’t you know it, we stumbled upon another set of these pop-up shops that are seemingly in every park of NYC at Christmas…

Andrew was fancying an empanada so we pulled up to this bright orange bench and enjoyed the scenery and a really delicious bit of chicken pastry.

Next we continued our stroll looking for the restaurant district…which we discovered wasn’t quite where we’d been told it was…and then, on the right hand side of the road was…

Tavern On The Green.

Ok, so three and a half years ago when we were in NYC, it was closed – due to renovations. Others said it was permanently closed. So when it wasn’t showing up on my map, I thought it WAS closed.

We walked up the back, there was a man in white cleaning off the side walk…”hmm, I mean, I guess it could be open, but there are no cars…”

We continued to the front and saw this beautiful red berry tree…

It is stunning on the inside. I have no idea of what it looked like before but this was completely gorgeous!

And then we ate really amazing food…

We had to get a pic in front of their tree 🙂

I think at this point I posted on FB that it had been a magical day thus far…it really had been.

As we sort of made our way back thru midtown, we went thru Times Square.

This billboard was fantastic.

We made a pit-stop in the Disney store to pick up a few sursies for Reynolds and Eliza Jane.

Do you see us?

First CFA – it’s two stories and the line of customers was out the door and around the corner…the best thing that ever happened to NYC!

Macy’s and their Peanuts window displays {night time photos are below – KEEP scrolling!!!}

A really cool walkway…

For all of our friends that told us to eat pizza…Waldy’s was AMAZING!!!! $8 for a pizza and it was delicious! Oh, and a soda came with it! WHAT?!

After the pizza we went to our room and Andrew took a nap while I worked for about an hour.

The last thing on our short list was to see Rockefeller Center all lit up at night.

First, Eataly. If you’ve ever been, you know how amazing this place is. I literally could wander around for hours. HOURS.

Pasta, pasta and MORE pasta!!!!

Say cheeeeeessssseeee!

And this one was for Reynolds…yes, Nutella goes with everything! An entire section dedicated to all of your Nutella dreams…

Next stop, Saks Fifth Avenue…remember the photo from the very beginning – the castle on the outside of their beautiful 5th Avenue store? Meet their light show!

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The lights of course were set to music and yes, I did take a video while we stood on the corner with a thousand of our closest friends…and completely in awe of this beautiful sight!

The Rockefeller Plaza and the tree.

Oh, and about as soon as we took our selfie and I got this really great shot of the tree, this happened…

Anyone wanting to propose at Christmas time, this guy just raised the bar for you.

Hello?! Private skating in RC…with thousands of people gasping and then screaming and clapping in joyful celebration along with you?! Bless.

The soldiers were a favorite…

On to Times Square where things got a little interesting. First of all…see all the ruffles of pretty colors in the photo below? This, er, individual was laying on the ground. And then there in the corner of Walgreens there started a little scuffle between another person and a few NYPD officers. So then the ruffled mass got up with all his belongings and moved closer. At this point, I wanted to run for my life, unsure of what was about to happen with the scuffle in the corner {it was loud…}. Andrew? No. No, Andrew wanted to go closer. And he did, while I clung to my selfie stick ready to start swinging…

Thankful for the officers that subdued the troublemaker and allowed us tourists to continue as we were. 🙂

Another one for R.

{I’m sorry if you’re bored at this point..but really, you shouldn’t be!!! It’s almost over, just a few more pics!}

Ok, so after the thing with the dude and the officers, I was ready to go somewhere less exciting. Like Bryant Park.

I’m telling y’all…this place…the skating rink was always packed!! We sat down and watched the experts and the beginners. We laughed, we “ooohhhh”‘d with them…it was such fun.

Looking back towards Times Square…the lights…it’s just so bright!

I had heard that the Empire State Building would be lit up in red and green…this is not red or green or even a combination thereof…

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But still, it was pretty!

Back in front of Macy’s and their window displays of scenes from Peanuts!

They were so cute!

On our quest for dinner we were trying to decide what nationality we’d not visited for food and somehow we’d totally missed Italian…back to Eataly for our last meal in NYC and it was fantastic!

One random photo for you, from the subway

And that’s it, friends!!!! I hope you enjoyed your jpeg tour of NYC at Christmas! We loved every minute of being there. We saw all the things we wanted to see and did all the things we wanted to do in our short stay.

If you’re going this year or any year for that matter…at Christmas, see the lights, see 5th Avenue, GO to the Rockettes AND ice skate! Either in Central Park or Bryant Park {but go early!!!}.

Thanks for being so fun and allowing me to share this adventure with you!

Another Flight Adventure

October 26, 2015 by Michelle Filed Under: Life, Travel Leave a Comment

Yesterday was probably THE craziest travel day I have EVER experienced…ever. Who knew flying from Columbia, SC to Kansas City, MO would be such a crazy adventure?!

It’s so unreal…even now, looking back.

My adventure began in Columbia just before 10am. We got to the airport…Andrew, the kids and me. He wanted to bring the kids in so they could see the airport and give me a grand send off. And then watch “my” plane as it took off into the great blue sky.

We got in the airport, and the line for the check-in was a little longer than what I’m accustomed to in Columbia…..Weird, but no major red flags. As I was trying to figure out which line I was supposed to be in, Andrew motions to the person behind him and said, “That lady just said the flight from Columbia to Charlotte is cancelled.”

“Why are we not even surprised by that?! Why do I still think that I can get a flight OUT of Columbia!?” – a rhetorical question, mind you.

So I stood in line as people were trying to determine what they were doing and what needed to be done. One worker was herding people out to the curb so that they could get into assigned taxis.

When it was my turn at the desk, I handed over my ID and told her that I was supposed to be on the Charlotte flight. She quickly pulled up my itinerary in her computer system, handed me my ID and said, “You need to go in one of these cabs, I’ll take care of updating your ticket…..you’ll check in in Charlotte.”

Slightly frazzled, I whistled at Andrew and the kids, pretended to race R out to the curb and made my presence known: “Lucas. Here!”

I kissed our babies and nearly forgot the hubs, until he reminded me that he was “the most important one!” and got in the cab with four new friends.

Andrew stood at the crosswalk waiting for us to drive by…he and the kiddos were all waving and blowing kisses to me. It was the sweetest.

For one of my new friends, that ride was probably the longest of his life. He would have 20 minutes to check in and get to his flight to Austin, Texas, if we got there in time.

We pulled up to the curb in Charlotte right around 12:25pm.

The original flight I was on from Charlotte to Kansas City was leaving at 1:15…I still had time if they could get me in fast enough.

I walked up to a kiosk.

It couldn’t find me.

I spoke to someone from American Airlines who let me in this “people with special cases only” sort of line… Where I stated my case.

The lady told me I’d been rebooked for Monday, on a flight to Dallas.

“Dallas. Who’s going to Dallas?” She asked me.

“I have no idea, but I’m not.” I replied.

“Were you ever going to Dallas?” She asked.

“No. I wasn’t ever, nor do I want to now. I’m trying to get to Kansas City – MCI.”

I stood there for 20 minutes.

My original flight from Columbia to Charlotte and then Charlotte on to Kansas City was ALL cancelled.

All other flights for the day were either cancelled or full.

The lady I was working with told me I would have to talk to a Supervisor. Mr. Vinny appeared and was busy at that moment with a shift change….

Another lady came over and from the way she talked, she seemed to be someone in an authority-type position.

Her back was to me…I said, “M’am.” She turned to face me. “Hi {smiley face}, I’ve had a heck of a morning already and am waiting for a supervisor…but I’ve waited almost ten minutes now…”

As I trailed off, she told me to follow her. She was a manager and would get my situation sorted out.

I quickly followed behind her.

She pulled up my itinerary…and as her eyes scanned the computer screen, she was visibly frustrated by the chaos I’d already experienced.

“They did you a great dis-service, m’am and I’m so sorry. They sent you up here with no flight.”

……………………………………………………………………………

After another seven or so minutes she told me that there was a 7:50 am flight the next morning that I could fly standby on, and that I would definitely have a seat on the one in the afternoon that got into Kansas City around 5pm.

I’m not the type of person that thinks fast on my feet. I process things. This was no time for my brain to function slowly.

I thought, I am NOT spending an entire day in this airport tomorrow.

“If you can’t put me on that earlier flight then I just can’t do it. How can you get me back home? Back to Columbia.”

Mr. Vinny came over. “Mrs. Lucas? I’ve been working on your situation…” He told his manager what a disaster this had all been and that he had me sorted out. As he was mostly talking to her, he was showing her my new flight information.

“Chicago? She’s not going….”

Yep. He’d booked me on a flight to Chicago. Nope, I wasn’t going there either.

I could see the disappointment all over his face.

He said he would get it figured out.

The manager asked me if I would have a seat in this other area, so I didn’t have to keep standing.

I called Andrew. I called my friend Kelly, who I was going to be staying with and working with over the next few days and gave them updates and talked through what the possibilities might be.

I gave Mr. Vinny twenty or so minutes and he finally reappeared with a boarding pass. “Mrs. Lucas, I have you on a flight to Houston {Texas} tonight, overnight there, and fly to Kansas City tomorrow morning. You’ll be there by 11:15am.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work. I’m supposed to be in meetings all day in Wichita.” I told him.

I was running every possible scenario through my pea-sized brain. How is this going to work? Who’s going to pick me up from the airport? Is this even worth trying to get there now? Maybe God just doesn’t want me to go…

I called Kelly back and told her about the “new” flight.

“Yeah, I have to leave the house by 6am” she stated. “We would bee in meetings all day…..what if you flew into Wichita….no, that won’t work either…” {Praise the Lord b/c if I had to tell these people about a new city, who knows where I would end up!!}

After Kelly and I decided that it just wasn’t worth it, I asked one of the workers if I could speak to Mr. Vinny. A few minutes later he appeared.

“This isn’t going to work….if you can’t get me there tonight, then just send me back to Columbia.” I told him. He shook his head “no” and said, “I’m so very sorry…I just can’t get you there today.”

He said he’d work on getting me back home.

So I waited…

He came back with a boarding pass for Columbia, told me to go back up to the customer service counter to check my bag and I was good to go.

As I waited in line, Andrew called… “You’re on the 1765 at 4:14 to Kansas City” he said.

“What?!”

“Tell her you’re on the flight at 4:14….tell her to pull her list…you’re on it.”

She couldn’t find me. She said I wasn’t on it. “Does he have a confirmation number he can give you?” She asked, all the while looking all over her screen for my name to be included in their log. It wasn’t there…

As I relayed all this back to Andrew, he was sighing and clearly frustrated. He was going to call AA back to find out my number.

Meanwhile, after trying to convince this person that I was in the log, and clearly I wasn’t, I said, “just get me back to Columbia please…but I have a question about that now also. Why can’t y’all just put me in a cab? Because at this point, now, I have to check my bag, go thru security, wait for a plane, get on the plane, when I could just be home by then.”

She laughed and said, “Let me go find Mr. Vinny so we can put an end to this story.”

I wasn’t sure if she was being nice or sassy at that point…

She came back and said that management wouldn’t approve paying for my cab.

So I gave her my bag. I took my boarding pass and I made my way to gate E.

I got thru security. I got to my gate and then I went to get some food. It was around 2:30. The only things I’d eaten since my egg at 8:30am was a pack of animal crackers that I’d thrown in my bag right before walking out of the house.

As I waited to place my order, my phone was blowing up. Andrew was calling “Let me call you right back.” I was tired. I was emotionally drained. I had been so excited about this trip, seeing my friend and then everything was dashed.

My phone started ringing again. As I held it up, I noticed several text messages from Andrew…

“Hey…” I started.

“Did you get it? Did you get my message? I figured you weren’t getting my texts…”

“Get what? What are you talking about?” I asked.

“YOU’RE ON THE FLIGHT TO KANSAS CITY. YOU’RE ON THE 1765 AT 4:14!!!”

I felt dazed and confused…what was he saying? And why did he KEEP telling me this when NO ONE at the dang airport could see what someone on a phone could see?!

“No. No, it’s done. I’m on a flight to Columbia, I’m coming back home…”

Never in my life had I ever felt more like he didn’t WANT me to come home!!! He had called whoever he called and did whatever he did to assure I was on that dang flight at 4:14.

He all but yelled in my ear, “GO!!!!!”

I sighed, picked up the food I’d just ordered and ran back to my gate.

Another precious lady stood there almost waiting for me and my craziness to appear at her desk.

I sat my things down and tried to explain to her, as briefly as I could, what had happened to me that day. “I’m on this flight to Columbia, but my husband just said that I’m on the 4:14 to Kansas City and here’s my code” and I held up my phone for her to see that text message.

“What in the world?” she asked. “Lucas? Your name is Lucas?”

“Yes m’am.”

“Yep, you’re on that flight.”

{Shock. Disbelief. Confusion. Dismay.}

“Then why couldn’t that lady at the very front check-in see that?” I asked.

As this point another lady had walked up.

“You know we’re American now. Everything is messed up. It’s a great big mess. You should complain.” She told me.

I kind of laughed. CLEARLY it is one GIGANTIC mess…I was exhibit A-1.

“Now what?” I asked “what about my suitcase?”

After telling them that my bag was on the Columbia flight, they looked at each other and said, “Oh, you have to go to customer service and see if they can get it changed over for you.”

They gave me directions and I was on my way.

I got to that line and about 25 people were in front of me.

Great, I thought…this could take forever. It was 2:45pm. I had to be boarding one of 2 planes in an hour.

By about 3:15 it was my turn. I got to the counter, showed the Columbia ticket to the lady and said, “I can’t even go thru everything that has happened today for you…but, my suitcase is on this flight….but I’m now on THIS flight, and need my bag moved over…can ya’ll do that?”

She looked at me like I was nuts.

“Now, what? How is your bag on one flight but you’re on a different one?”

I went thru the whole story for her. She looked at me like I had 3 heads…and got up and walked into the side room.

She came back and said, “Yep, you’re on this one and your bag is headed for Columbia.”

Duh. That is what I just told you…

She picked up her phone…..and put it down.

She looked at me and said that she was trying to get someone in baggage to pick up.

She called again…and this is what happened to the best of my memory:

Her: Hey, I need you to find a bag that needs to be moved over from Columbia, CAE, to MCI.

M-C-I.

Kansas City.

…………..

Her: Yeah, it says you haven’t scanned it in yet.

………………

Her: Yeah, I’m calling because it’s on the wrong flight.

What information do you need?

Lucas.

AA…..123.

Needs to go to MCI.

M-C-I.

She hung up the phone, looked at me and said, with not much confidence, “I’ve done all I can do.”

Great.

I smiled. I thanked her for her time…and I walked away.

I had less than 20 minutes to get from terminal E to terminal B.

I texted Kelly to say that we might have to do some shopping when she picked me up…who knew if my bag would actually make it or not.

I fast-walked thru the airport to gate B2. I sat down. I could barely believe that I was waiting to board a plane to Kansas City. Part of me thought, I’ll get up to the counter, hand her my ticket, and some alarm is going to go off and she’s going to tell me that I’m not REALLY on the flight.

I texted Andrew my update. “Made it to the gate and the guy I’m sitting next to is legitimately snoring.”

Group 4 got called up to board. I got to the scanner, it scanned and she said, “Have a nice flight!”

I’m in! I’m ON the plane to Kansas City!!!

Incredible.

It was a smooth flight…we landed a few minutes early and I made my way to baggage claim.

This was the true test.

Oh, but wait, as I made my way to the baggage claim area, I got a text from Kelly: “Ah! My car is dead. My battery died while waiting!”

Of course. Of course your battery died while you were waiting on my flight to get here.

I laughed. There was no other way to respond.

“LOL!”

As I stood there at the baggage carousel, I called Andrew and said, “I think we should make a wager as to whether or not my bag will show up here.” I was convinced that it would not.

The machine started and bags were popping up and plopping over, waiting for their owners to claim them.

In great anticipation I waited.

So many black bags look exactly alike. I know what mine looks like, upside down and backwards….

I saw it come over the edge, the red and white shoe string was there. The turquiose luggage tag was just as pretty as it could be coming over that little ledge. I raised my hands in the air, closed fisted, and gave a little squeal, “YES!!!” {A couple of people may have looked at me and questioned my enthusiasm over a suitcase…}

I took a picture and posted it to Instagram…”never been so happy to see this!” Of course all the friends that “liked” it didn’t know the full story just yet….now they do!

I saw Kelly drive by outside and I ran down to where she was parked.

“I can’t turn the car off!” she said.

We hugged, we laughed, we were in utter disbelief that I was actually there.

I called Andrew to check on him and let him know I was in the car with her.

We joked about Kelly’s dead battery and about how I just wanted to include her in my day of chaos…to which Andrew said via the phone, “Well, it’s no fun unless you can share it with your friends!”

What an adventure, indeed.

I am thankful to have made it, safely. And to be in the company of this dear friend and her family. I’m excited of the agents I’m going to meet over the next couple of days and the fun we’re going to have together.

And I hope my flight home isn’t quite as um, entertaining…

The Bag ‘o Tricks

June 25, 2015 by Michelle Filed Under: Being a Mom, Travel Leave a Comment

We made the long {llllooooonnnnggggg} treck down from Columbia, SC to Amelia Island, FL today. It really wasn’t so bad – it took us about 5 hours to get here. But literally about 100 yds. from our destination Reynolds AND Eliza Jane lost their minds. Crying/Screaming blew up our car in one unanimous, awful sound. Andrew and I did our own version, which usually makes R start laughing but not this time…he could not be consoled…at least in the beginning.

She just needed a bottle…he, however, needed something from the bag ‘o tricks.

When my parents kept the kids for us a couple of months ago, while we were in the Bahamas, I put together what I called a bag of tricks and told my mom to keep it near her on their long drive back to GA.

When I put together our checklist for this trip, I literally included “bag of tricks” along with things like diapers and wipes. The necessities, you know.

If you have kids, you probably have a bag ‘o tricks…you may call it something else, like the “quiet bag” or some other creative name.

It’s purpose? To entertain your kids. Whether to keep them from hitting/pinching each other {and driving you completely bananas!} or just to give one something to do while the other sleeps. We don’t have a tv or dvd player in our car…instead we have a bag of tricks.

It includes great, functional favorite things of the kids.

Books. Lots of books. Picture books. Books with things to touch and feel. Books with flaps that reveal little secrets. Books that we know by memory…

Musical toys. Toys that play “Old MacDonald had a farm…” Toys that play music and make one child sing his little heart out.

Toys that can be chewed…for a baby that is teething.

Toys that invoke creativity.

Toys that bring comfort.

We made it. We’re here. The bag ‘o tricks is strewn all over the floor in the den…and the kids are playing with the telephones and remote controls…

Maybe I could pare down our bag to just include remotes and phones for the next trip… :-/

How do you entertain your kids on long trips?

Airline Adventures – Getting to Exuma

May 3, 2015 by Michelle Filed Under: Life, Travel 4 Comments

For the most part, I blog as a way to remember things because I include a lot of details in my posts. Details, of course are the things that would first be forgotten so you could think of this as sort of my diary, but wide open for the world to read. {Your welcome}

I also blog about certain events because I find them either completely ridiculous {in a funny way} or because my life is completely nuts.

This falls under both of those categories, ridiculous and nuts.

This post is about last Sunday, the 26th of April. The day that was to be the first day of our vacation…with no kids.

Last Saturday was Reynolds’ 2nd birthday party. My parents came from GA and after the party was over and our kids {didn’t} have their naps…..we loaded up Grammy and PopPop’s van with clothes, diapers, wipes, food, bottles, sippy cups, and the “bag of tricks” {which included favorite toys, books, etc.} and off they went, back to GA for the week.

Andrew and I were slightly nervous…for them, for us…we’d never been away, the both of us, at the same time, from our kids. Our kids have never spent a night away from our house without us…

This had the potential to be disastrous, and even more so since Andrew and I were about to leave the country. {I was sure to send mom a copy of my ID and insurance card…}

I’m happy to report that my parents and our kids were perfectly fine with us gone. 🙂 Praise the Good Lord.

So last Saturday evening we packed and I guess it was around 10 or maybe even a little before, Andrew got a text from US Air saying our 7:35 am flight from Columbia to Charlotte had been put on a delay, until 8:45 am. I don’t even understand how there can already be a delay the night before. We took guesses, well Andrew did, about why the delay was already present….and then we went to bed.

We were at the Columbia airport by ten after 6 the next morning. Plenty of time to get checked in, through security and well, wait.

I think it was around 8:15 that Andrew went and stood in line at the terminal counter to talk to someone. Just about 15 minutes later he was talking to the representative and waved to me to come over. Uh, oh, I thought. I got to the counter and he said, “Just in case we need you or your passport.” Great.

Turns out that our 7:35 am flight was delayed even longer….9:45 was the new time, which mean we would miss our flight from Charlotte to Miami and then Miami to Exuma. {I’ll provide more details on Exuma later….you’ll want to go.}

What to do. What to do.

We were getting this ho-hum, sigh, sort of response from the representative. And I’m standing there thinking, what about all these people that are going to miss connecting flights? Don’t they care?!?!?!?!? Where’s the dang shuttle?!

Next thing I know she’s telling us that we’re rebooked on a flight from Charlotte to Fort Lauderdale, then Fort Lauderdale to Exuma. We just had to get on the plane from Charlotte, that was leaving at 10:50 am. It was 8:35. We’re never going to make it I thought.

She called to baggage and asked them to return our suitcase to the ticket counter. We took our new boarding passes and ran for the doors. “I’ll get the car if you get the bag” Andrew said.

We got to the door and the bag was there. Thank you, Jesus. We grabbed the bag and out the door we went, running for the parking garage and our car that had just been parked a few hours earlier.

We jumped in the car and Andrew called his parents. As we paid the fee for parking {seriously?!}, he asks his dad to meet us at such-and-such exit, at the old seafood restaurant.

We were there in about eight minutes. His dad pulled in just a couple of minutes later and after hopping in our car, we were off to Charlotte.

“How’s the traffic? What’s the time?” Were the questions I got from Andrew. I had become the navigator.

I sat in the back seat, with my heart racing, thinking there is no way on this green earth that we will ever make this flight. But. I pulled up google maps, there was one accident and on incident reported. 1 hour and 35 minutes it said.

We’re never going to make it.

“An hour”, I replied. “Looks good.”

I mean, why am I going to bust my mans shins when he’s done so much to try to get us there.

I just prayed that we wouldn’t get pulled over.

We pulled up to the US Air sign at 10:25 am. Andrew said, “You go thru security while I check the bag.” I’m just doing as I’m told at this point.

I went to security where the nice TSA man said, “Are you priority or special class?” In my own mind, yes, yes of course, I am BOTH! “No, sir, but I’m going to miss my flight, it takes off at 10:50. My husband is trying to check our bag…” He said I was “fine” and motioned for me to get in line. Only about 25 people in front of me. Which I felt like was sort of amazing. We just might have a shot at this I thought.

Then I looked over at Andrew and he has his hands about even with his chest and he’s waving them not crazy, kind of calmly, but I could tell by his face that he wasn’t pleased with what he was being told. He called me and said, “We may have to get on another flight, she is saying we didn’t get here in time to get the bag on the plane. But go on thru security.” Just as I was about to hand my passport and boarding pass to the TSA agent, the one I’d talked to when we first arrived came up and said, “There’s a guy in a green polo trying to get a bag on a plane. I told him he could come thru priority.” “That’s my husband” I smiled.

On the other side of security I waited. And paced. We had about 8 minutes to get on the flight.

Text message….”New flight. Come back. Need your passport.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I walk to the ticket counter and the nice lady won’t look Andrew in the face. I could tell he was upset and I’m not sure what the issue was, all I know is that we were no longer going to Fort Lauderdale. Now, we’re flying direct from Charlotte to Nassau, Nassau to Exuma.

I’m totally ok with this, as long as we WILL be on a plane. The flight was leaving at 11-something, but we had time.

Back thru security.

For those keeping track, this was my 3rd time thru security in less than 5 hours….same country.

Andrew says that the conversation with the ticket counter lady went something like this:

Her: You didn’t get here in time to get your bag on the plane. You have to be here 30 minutes before your flight to get your bag on the plane.
Him: Yes, I realize that, but my original flight was delayed by two hours and I was going to miss my plane, so I just DROVE from COLUMBIA to get on this plane.
Her: I’m sorry, but you didn’t get here in time.
Him: In the name of SERVICE, is there NO ONE who can come get my bag and put it on the plane? What are you doing for the next 15 minutes? Can you not take my bag to the plane?

I love that man. He would have done it. If he was working the counter and some random dude rushed in like he did, he would have taken the bag himself to the plane. {If he’s allowed, I guess…}

I posted a picture on Instagram at this point, stating that Andrew was going to sleep and that I needed a doughnut and a cocktail.

You would too.

Thankfully we got to Nassau with no problems. We got off the plane, went through customs, got our suitcase and then was supposed to go thru some other form of customs, but instead we received stickers saying that our bags had been checked when really, we were just welcomed and waved through.

Hilarious. What now? We were to walk outside the building we were in, take a right, and go in the building for domestic flights. Because now that we were in the Bahamas, Exuma was now a domestic flight. Great!

Bahamas Air. Ticket counter. Check the bag, new boarding passes….new security line.

Side note, people in front of us LEGITIMATELY put a pizza on the security scanner. I’ve never seen such.

Andrew asks, “How many times have you been through security today?” “This makes number four” I laughed.

We went up to our gate and sat. It was deserted. Is anyone else flying on this plane, I wondered.

3:15 pm was boarding time. There were a few other couples that had come over by that point, but there was no sign of any crew-members. Certainly no one to man the desk.

Um…..

“We’re on Bahamas time now, Babe” Andrew stated….”everything is -ish. 3:15-ish. You know?” Ah. I wasn’t aware. I’m more of a prompt-ish kind of girl.

Shortly thereafter the crew showed up. A pilot got on his personal cell phone and called someone, “….Yeah, there’s no one here….We can’t get on….we need someone to open the door.”

“This should be interesting” I said to Andrew.

Andrew had already warned me in the beginning of the day that we would most likely be on a prop-plane to Exuma.

Not so much. We boarded a jet. Someone asked how many people were boarding….16.

Sixteen people on this huge jet.

Just so you know. If you board a large jet with only 16 people. That doesn’t mean that 1. it will take off earlier than originally scheduled or even 2. that it will take off on time.

Nope. Not here where everything is now “-ish”.

“We’re taking on more fuel, please unbuckle your belts” we were told a couple of times by an attendant. The first time she said it I guess her accent was too thick because not a sole of us 16 knew what she was saying, or what it meant. Why were we UNbuckling our belts? We’ve been conditioned to buckle them…

“Ooooohhhh, yes, more fuel”, we finally got it. Un-buckling is in case the plane bursts into flames. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!?!?!?!?!

“So, what does that mean?” I said to Andrew. I mean, are we going to be here for an hour? Will the plane really catch fire?! Good grief!!! Just get me to Exuma for crying out loud!

I’m tired, I thought.

I always sit by the window, even if Andrew’s boarding pass says he has the window. Here’s my perspective: If you’re going to sleep, which he will, you don’t deserve to have the window seat. The views are wasted on your closed lids.

I got the window seat. It was insane what I saw. I couldn’t believe the colors. Breath-taking.

The couple in front of me and the couple across from Andrew both had large cameras with fancy lenses. I just have a great Nikon Coolpix. {Works great for me, and I can handle it with one hand.}

Anway, so at one point the couple across from Andrew is going nuts taking picture after picture and the guy in front of me is trying to shoot thru their window – across the plane. I’m looking out my window in complete awe. I see what’s happening in front of me and I say, “Hey, um, I’m sure it’s great over there, but take a look out of your window.”

“OHMYGOSH, THANKYOUSOVERYMUCH” He said.

I mean….it was closer…

So we landed at the Exuma International Airport. It was smaller than my house.

Probably not really, but it was seriously small.

We passed it while landing on the runway and I said to Andrew, “Is that the airport?!”

“No, that’s probably something for those private planes over there.”

Ha. WRONG.

We were told no photography. I’m not sure why. Were they embarrassed by the size of their airport?

We exited and took a picture next to the welcome sign.

Then there was a sweet lady telling us to come this way and make this turn. “Wait there”, she said.

Wait? Where? On the sidewalk, next to the road.

Wait. What?

No waiting room. No baggage claim. No, all of that is WAY overrated.

“Sooooooooo, what are we doing?” several of us were confused. One guy walked across the street to get a beer from Kermit’s restaurant. I’m not kidding when I tell you that it was called Kermit…and it was green.

There was a lady in a red shirt…holding a clip-board, who had ours and several others’ names on it, as going to Emerald Bay Resort. She checked us off and said to wait for our bags, “They’ll come right here.” And she pointed to the walk way from which we’d just come.

……..

“Seriously? Our bags are just going to come right here?”

They did. A golf cart brought the baggage cart to the walk way and it was like a “here are your bags! come and get ’em!”

We did. The lady in red hailed a Taxi.

“Do we just get a Taxi?” I asked her.

“No, I’ll call them up” she corrected me.

Oh. Okay.

Janet was our driver. Born and raised in Exuma. The most beautiful place on earth.

We shared a Taxi with Matt and Jessica who’d just gotten married the night before and were running on very little sleep.

It was a short, 15 minute drive {on the wrong side of the road} to our resort.

And it may have been a crazy adventure getting there, but man, was it ever worth it.

Here are some pics from the air…flying from Nassau to Exuma. Imagine the colors more bright and beautiful…a camera just cannot capture the brilliance of real life.

Tomorrow I’ll share with you pictures of the actual resort. Right now, I have pictures on my phone, the ipad and the camera…and I need to organize them a little, but I promise, it’s worth the wait.

We found out that we were on the jet because the sailing regatta had just ended and they needed to “get all these people off the island”. And also the reason for all the {tiny} sailboats in the pictures above!

And here’s the going past the airport while landing…..don’t blink, you’ll miss it 🙂