Touchdown: Nashville...finally...

It was a great week and 2 days. Should have been a week and 4 days but apparently United just doesn't care that much. Oh well, not my problem. I have better things to do with my time. Like blog. :)

I decided to hold off blogging during my 2 days of delay because I was worried that I might meet further delays if I complain too much. It was a weird to have an extra 48 hours of life in Medford while wook was en route to Nashville anyways because we had non-refundable reservations (we booked through Priceline to get uber deals - if it wouldn't have been for my delay, it would have been a good deal, lol).

Anyways, I decided that it was a good thing I had those extra 2 days to myself. I had had my hair cut the night before my intended flight date, and I just wasn't in love with the shape. So I had my hairdresser thin it out Saturday afternoon (which was awesome because she wasn't scheduled to be in but because my sister, Hayley, babysat her kids for years before she went off to school - I was in. Yes. Score one for genetic connections.)

That Saturday night I was also able to reattack my luggage and take out what I didn't think I would need, which was a good thing as Ohio turned out to be varying from 45 to 65 degrees. Wtf? Where's the artic tundra of a good ol' fashioned Midwest winter? Apparently it was in Portland, as they got a record 19" of snow. Go figure. I leave, it arrives. Although a bit North, it was still no where near Middletown, Ohio.

The trip across went off without a hitch except for one large delay I encountered in Denver. (Thank goodness that Ticket Lady booked me non-stop from Denver to Nashville otherwise Satan's horns would have spurred from my head as I screamed in tongues at every counter attendant I could lay my firey eyes on. Okay, I'm done.) The first delay wasn't no big deal. 40 minutes. That's a sinch. But then it went to an hour and 20 minutes. The final count was a little over 3 hours. My original connection was supposed to be like 45 minutes. Just perfect to get from one gate, to the bathroom, and to the next gate. But no. Each time the time was pushed back more, I called wook. "Houston...we have a problem." I can't remember how many times I called him, but later he told me that he was getting the feeling I was going to get a cancelled flight. No, thankfully. It turns out that our first delay was because there wasn't a free gate to load. Then apparently our plane got taken to assist in getting out a badly delayed flight. Okay, I get it. I can handle a little delay in the holiday season. But at least tell me the ultimate time I'll be sitting with my back to the wall, legs streched out, watching all the other flights leave on time. So finally the Airport Gods stole a plane for us to finally get us to our destination. Let's just say when the gate announcement for "Now boarding, Flight Who-Cares-The-Number-Just-Get-My-Ass-There to Nashville," there will whistles and cheers.

So as I rolled my little carry-on luggage to the exit of the airport in Nashville, after taking a tinkle stop (I don't know, I just can't pee in the claustrophobia-inducing airplane toilet), I called my parents to let them know I arrived. Finally! But just as I was yacking to my mother about who knows, I hear this, "hello..."

Holy crap! I totally just walked past wook. He had gotten bored with picking his butt in town so he bought a crossword puzzle and camped out at the terminal exit until I got in. I couldn't believe it. Mr. I'll-pull-up-you-jump-in-no-romantic-hugs-or-other-forms-of-affection actually came in to see me. Definitely didn't expect that. I was speechless for a milli-second. And he was so much cuter than I remembered, which is a great way to start a mini vacation. "Mom, I gotta go...*click*." I think she understood.

And the math just so I can make myself sick: 7 months, 25 days, 7 hours. Ugh. Never again, unless Uncle Sam is involved.

So we took to playing around the city, enduring the low ball temperatures of 26 degrees. I did think I would freeze. Let's just say we spent a lot of time in the car seeing places because there's a butt warmer on my side. :)

Nashville has the only full-size replica of the Pantheon in the world. Pretty cool. And of course we went to venture inside. But of course. Closed on a Monday. Makes perfect sense. Grrr...

And I gave wook my camera to take a picture of me. Well, what I wanted was a picture of me and the building. But he found my butt a better focus. Go figure. Boys...

We didn't last very long. A small walk around the building and we were back in the car, consulting the GPS oracle for a coffee shop to a.) get a warm liquid in us, and b.) get Ashley a little caffeine. Let's just say I was mentally drained over the past few days. So we sat in a coffee shop and just chatted in-person (which is a really fun thing to do versus Skype and texting) before we headed off to play in Borders/Barnes 'n Noble (I forget which it was).

Here's pretty much the only cool, non-blurry picture of the city at night that I had. It was hard to want to take my hands out of my pockets as the temperature didn't crest 31 degrees. And sadly it didn't snow. It was a gorgeous and fun city. And the best part was the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Mmmmm, mizithra. Delicious!

I would just like to remark on the 2 infamous instances of our trek into the book store. Now with both of us being of college majors that revolved around novels, books, journals, etc., we have a love for the paged and spined collections. But since I only had a carry-on and with wook moving soon, we figured we were just in for perusing. We hit every genre as we made our way around the 2-story piece of novelistic heaven. I did happen to scroll the journal section as I was creeping up on the end of my current haven of thoughts and other stimulation. The only breaker was that the lines were only on one side of the page. Hello??!?...that likes wastes half the tree. Ugh. People. So I was quickly deterred. We were also in the Fiction section as I enjoy checking out the Classics (like Tolstoy) that are still on my list. One on display was Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. A great description of the meat-packing industry of Chicago prior to the FDA. Gruesome and gory, a great read. "I recommend it, wook."

Fast forward to after dinner.

Wook and I decided to open a couple presents each to tie us over until Christmas with wook's family. It is customary for us to get each other books as we're never done with educating ourselves and there is just something awesome about getting a book for a gift-giving occasion. It's an excellent way of remembering an occasion.

Anyways, I unwrap my first gift which is a book on eco-chic living. Oh wook. You're going to create a monster. And after reading it in less than 24 hours, I would like to admit that I have an even greater dislike of plastic now. It makes me crinch. But not to start a rally, I'll keep the story moving.

My next gift was a book too, I could tell. How can one not? But as I unwrap the awesome polka dot wrapping paper (I love polka dots!), I notice a familiar cover. It's Upton Sinclair's The Jungle staring back at me. So I look at him and ask him when he bought this. "Like a month ago." Uh oh, did he get scared when I called this specific book out at the bookstore. "A little." Sorry for the minor heart attack. Woops. But good thing I had stellar reviews of it. Plus, now he'll be more excited to read it. After he gets done with his Vampire Survival Handbook. (Yes, I'm awesome. I know it.)

Fast forward to the day after Christmas (we waited to open presents until wook's half-sister, Tayler, was around for the festivities).

I took to feeling the other presents wook had for me under the tree when he wasn't looking, and was intrigued that I felt another book under the tree. I didn't know what other piece of literature he could get while I was busy with Sinclair. Well fast forward to the unwrapping moment. I was surprised to find a new journal. A polka dot one. One with lines on both sides of the paper. Wook said he had a sweating moment as he couldn't remember whether the one he got me was lined on both sides. And the kicker: it's made of post-consumer materials. And he mocks me for using my reusable grocery bags. And here he is feeding my habit. Yay.

Here's a shot of the infamous traffic which we encountered in our trek up to Ohio. Random gridlocks of traffic, creeping along. Ugh.

Ahhh...

Hmmm...

Really...

All in all, there were 4 accidents like that on the 5-turned-7-hour trek up. Let's just say the roads were a little slick, and the bridges were even worse. But at least no one looked seriously injured in all the accidents we encountered. We did have a near-miss at the tail end of our trip. As we pulled into Grandmoose's parking lot (yes, Grandmoose, nicknamed from that "moose"), we missed wook's dad's truck barely. Patch of ice. I did what you're not supposed to do. I braced for impact. Good thing wook corrected, without over correcting, and just parked us in 2 spots. We'll fix that later. I need to get inside. I need a drink. And I think wook needs to check his shorts.

Overall a great trip. I acquired lots of great stuff for the holidays, including The Office board game, Serenity by Jan candles (another Office gig), oh ya...and 5 lbs. gained from Grandmoose's cookies. Too good to not consume. Ya. Let's just say I have until I see wook again to get back into shape. Man. Good things the holidays are only once a year.

So I'll wrap up the world's longest blog. Okay, maybe not. But my butt is numb so your butt has got to be numb. Hmm...I think I'm going to make some chocolate moo juice (that's Collin-speak for chocolate milk. Go figure.) :)