At Baggage Claim, Ya Gotta Take the Luggage in Your Name

Hello. I'm now back in my cozy bed in Deutschland. I've missed this bed so much! I've missed my whole room! And my dad and the countless number of pets, too. I'm just happy to be home!

Winston missed me. He's been following me around all day.

We had a pretty easy trip back. It was long but at least there wasn't any turbulence or medical emergencies. I don't know why but "if there is a doctor on board please indicate so with your flight attendant call button" tends to be said on most of my flights. We did, however, have a bit of a delay leaving JFK. We taxied out to the runway but it turns out our plane engine was broken so we had to go back to the gate and wait while the maintenance men fixed it. I watched all of Jurassic Park while this was going down. Yes, Jurassic Park. I'm already aware of how cool I am so there's no need to mention it. I also watched The Princess Diaries, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and Pretty Little Liars while in flight in case you were wondering. Delta has added so many movies to their system. They had everything from Charade to The Lorax to Jane Eyre to The Hangover. It was ridiculous but very much appreciated. What was not appreciated was the seat. It was so uncomfortable for whatever reason. I felt bad reclining it because of the man behind me and, therefore, I was sitting straight up the whole time. It was probably good for my posture. Just go with it.

Baggage claim. This was slightly embarrassing. You know how when you're standing in baggage claim, you watch the bags coming up and before they drop on the conveyor belt, you try to see if it's yours? Well, I do that. I saw my purple suitcase come up and as it dropped, I and everyone else saw two tampons hanging on for dear life out of the newly formed hole in my suitcase. Before it made its way to where I was standing, I made it through the entire five stages of grief. First, I was in denial. It just couldn't be my bag and I was not picking it up. Second, I was pretty upset. Who put that hole there allowing this to happen?! Then, I hit the bargaining stage. I asked God if He would be willing to make the tampons disappear if I gave Delta it's Sky Mall magazine back. It was a no go so then I hit the stage of depression because, honestly, this was pretty tragic. By the time the suitcase made it's journey to me, I was already accepting the fact that I was going to have to pick up this sad looking suitcase. So I did. One tampon managed to fall back into the suitcase while the other fell completely out and made a few trips around the carousel until who knows finally ended it's ride.

If you're wondering how this could even happen, I'll tell you. I just throw things into my suitcase because who the heck cares?! Well, now somebody the heck cares. Me. I always thought I'd be the only one to see the mess I make out of a suitcase. Oh, me and the security people but I'm sure they see worse things. Thanks to my cheaply made suitcase, I'm now investing in a cosmetic bag, you know, in addition to new luggage.

A Star on the Wrapper

I'm not a risk taker. Well, when it comes to my hair I'm not a risk taker. Never will you ever see me putting neon colors in my hair (even if it's temporary) or going all Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus on it. Nope. Can't do it. I don't have the guts to do such things to my beautiful hair. Yes, I just called my own hair beautiful. The hairdresser said it herself first though. She said I have beautiful, thick hair. She also said I had enough hair for five people. It makes drying and straightening it quite tedious. Anyway, I was asked if I wanted a trim or a cut. I said a trim. Sounded the safest. I was asked if I wanted to keep the layers and have it thinned out. Yes and yes. Then the whole process started.

I've posted before about how much I hate getting my hair cut. It's just not a fun time. First comes the hair washing. There's something about someone massaging my head and ugh, everyone says it feels so good. I just feel all awkward. Then the actual cutting starts. Something different happened this time though. As I'm sitting there staring at myself in the mirror noting how unflattering the cape was on me (really, nobody can make that look good, I don't care who you are), a lady walks in with two puppies. They were the cutest little things I ever did see! So adorable. They were little, fluffy, white fur balls. They were eight weeks old! The lady who had them asked if I'd like to hold one. Well, duh! So I sat there holding a puppy as my hair got cut. The hairdresser just smiled and talked to my mom, who was also there getting her hair cut. I seriously just sat there stroking the puppy and picking off any hair that fell on it. The sweet thing just fell asleep. I was off in La-La-Land totally disregarding my surroundings and, before I knew it, my hair was done! I think someone should bring a puppy in every time I get my hair cut. I'll be honest though and say you can't really see a difference from before my hair got cut and after it got cut. I kind of like it that way. Nothing to risky!

Told you. It's okay, you can laugh. The only real difference is that there are more layers, its more flippy at the bottom because of where it hits my shoulders when I sit up straight, and it's a bit softer and healthier now that the split ends are gone. I forgot to ask to have my bangs cut. I'll just keep pinning them back until I can go have them cut. I still can't get over how cute those puppies were though. I wish I had a picture of that!

P.S. I ate a Tootsie Pop while doing my homework today. I was chatting with Amanda at the same time. She told me that if there was a star on my wrapper, I could win a free lollipop. There was a star on my wrapper! I then started going through all the Tootsie Pops in the halloween bowl and unwrapping them. I did get a look from Papa while doing this but, hey, free lollipop? That's worth it. Every one of them had a star on the wrapper. Sketchy. I decided to Google this madness. Turns out it's just a rumor. So there I sat...disappointed and with nine unwrapped lollipops.

Who Freakin' Knew?

I always wondered how they got coffee ice cream to taste exactly like a light & sweet iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts. Oh my yumminess! I thought it was magic. I thought it was heaven. I thought it was flavored. Turns out it's not magic at all. They use milk, sugar and coffee in this ice cream. The same ingredients to a perfect iced coffee. I didn't realize any of this until Breyers decided to advertise "now with rich, roasted Colombian coffee!" on their box. So I'm standing there in the kitchen at 12am, in my BYU-I shirt no less, thinking, "what are the chances of this being false advertising?" Please be false advertising. Please, please, please.

Not this tooooo.

Just Sit Right Back & You'll Read a Tale, a Tale of a Fateful Trip

I never thought I'd be able to say I was stranded at sea but that's what I was today. Stranded at sea.

My cousin, Eva, and I have been going out with our fathers every morning to fish. We load up the boat, head to the dock and off we go! Today, we left around 8 and headed out to island hoping to catch the big one. Nope. Nothing. We go to another island and same deal. Another island, same thing. Eva and I decide to quit on the whole fishing thing and just dive into the water. 

On the way back home our dads make one more stop at a sandbar to try one last time. Eva and I just lay on the boat hoping to dry off before finishing the ride back. We were talking about how if we had to get wet again we'd be pretty upset. 

Well. Our dads return empty handed, get in the boat and attempt to start the motor. That's right. Attempt. It's broken. We have one little paddle that does nothing so we're just kind of bobbing along and going with the waves. Eva asks her dad, "How deep is the water here?" "About 3 feet deep," he says. She jumps in surprising us all. "Didn't see that one coming," her dad says. At first he thought she fell in. I just thought she was crazy. Anyway, she grabs the rope and starts pulling the boat back to shore. She's so brave. I just sat at the very front of the boat watching her. No way was I going in there. Especially after watching 'Soul Surfer' the night before coming down here. 

Then my uncle gets out to push. Then my dad gets out. So I'm just sitting in the boat knowing I should help some how but refusing to enter the water. My dad leaves the boat and gets to shore to find his car, meet us at some boat ramp...I don't know. Meanwhile, I'm still bobbing around in the boat, my uncle is pulling it and Eva is sitting at the other end of the boat. We go under a bridge...still walking with the boat. Then my uncle hits mud. He's up to his waist in mud, water on top of that and hanging on to the boat saying he can't hang on any longer. I honestly thought he was going to drown. 

I don't know how but we finally get to shore. Eva and I had to stay with the boat while our dads worked some stuff out. My mom calls as we are waiting. "What are you guys up to?" Siiigh.

Did I mention I feel guilty for not helping?