Travel Difficulties

It's official, I should have been blonde.

Upon arriving at the Denver airport after a long day of travel, I started to worry because I really didn't recall where I had parked. As I was ruminating on how fun it would be to wander the parking lot of the west terminal aimlessly, I realized that I had not seen my car keys in my purse. Though I was *hoping* they were in my luggage, I did vaguely recall taking them out of my purse early in my trip and putting them on the table at boyfriend's house. After gathering my luggage and rummaging through it (nothing like seeing a grown woman flinging her underwear about the terminal) I realized, that yes, indeed my keys were in Little Rock. Of course I do have a spare set of car keys in my apartment, but that wasn't going to help me get in my car.

I managed to find a way to get home - the Denver public transportation system has a convenient bus system that would only cost me $6 - but that didn't solve the problem of how to get into my apartment. I called the office and after a little convincing, they agreed to unlock the door of my place before they left for the day since I would be getting home after business hours. After bussing it back to the complex, the problem became how do I get through the gates which of course are locked and accessed only with a key (in Arkansas) or a key card (which of course is in my car). I only had to wait a few minutes before a car came in and I ran dragging my suitcase behind me to get in the gate behind the car.

Now I'm in my apartment with the plan of bussing back to the airport tomorrow with my spare set of car keys to retrieve my car, borrowing an apartment key from the office and having a duplicate made, then picking up my poor pooches who had to spend another night at the kennel.

Oh and to top it off, my cell phone which is my only means of communication has a battery almost completely drained. And my charger??? The main one is in Little Rock and the spare is in my car.

Yeah, red heads aren't the brightest either.

Boyfriend 2.0 - a much needed update

So it turns out that my new(er) man, "Boyfriend 2.0" was a much needed and welcome update :) I now feel it's *safe* enough to include him on my blog and not incur shame in the event that he shamelessly dumps me.

This past week was a nice mini-vacation that included the often dreaded, and feared by all ... meeting of the parents. After flying to Little Rock, we traveled to Branson, MO to celebrate the 85th birthday of my granny with all of my mother's family who were gathered en masse at my aunt and uncle's lake house. Certainly an opportunity more stress inducing than a simple dinner with the parents given that all of my assorted aunts, uncles and cousins were present, as well as a generous supply of beer. Luckily Boyfriend 2.0 was well up to the task and fit in marvelously.

For my parental test, we made a slight detour through his hometown of Fayetteville, AR for brunch with his parents. We didn't get to spend a great deal of time with them, but I'm pretty convinced that they didn't totally hate me at first sight. Though he has yet to get a full report.

The picture above is the requisite cheesy old time photo that was our souvenir of our Branson trip. It was either that, a tshirt, or a mountain dulcimer ... I went with the photo. My cousin Joe was totally grossed out that they were loaner fishnets - they were just thigh highs and it didn't even occur to me to be disgusted.

In addition to this most recent trip, Boyfriend 2.0 recently traveled to Denver in early June for a get away on my week off. We went to the zoo on a beautiful sunny day, traveled to Estes Park and toured through Rocky Mountain National Park, ate Thai food quite a few times (Little Rock is sadly devoid of any quality Thai food). He passed quite the test when meeting JCR, one of my dearest friends who gave him a two thumbs up which is quite a feat for a girl who closely scrutinizes even the color of her neighbor's home. Below are pics from that visit, including a few that boyfriend (who is a wanna be amateur photographer) took of me.





Probably the most interesting event from his trip was our overnight babysitting duties for my friend Chrissy's infant twins. Chrissy and hubby had a wedding to attend in the mountains and I had offered my services. As a trained NICU nurse, how hard could it be to watch a pair three month olds?? I had arranged this gig prior to Boyfriend's plan, so I was surprised when he voiced his willingness to extend his trip knowing that 24 hours of baby watching would ensue. I have to say that it was a blast!! The twins (a boy and a girl) are absolutely adorable and it wasn't long before Boyfriend was feeding and burping like a pro despite having never attempted such duties. It was essentially 24 hours of changing diapers (which I did not make him do ... I have it down to an art form after 3 years), bottle feeding, and attempting to soothe the screaming child with reflux who is incredibly adorable when he's smiling, but quite loud when refluxing. We took them out for a walk in the park in the double stroller and between the two of us managed quite well. Despite my enjoying the experience, I still ask the universe to only grant me ONE (1) healthy child at a time if you please :) I honestly don't know how Chrissy does it!!

Hopefully this will satisfy some of those blog readers out there wondering, "what on earth is going on with Jenn's love life?" and "is she even still alive at this point?" I'm posting this from the Northwest terminal of the Little Rock airport and hoping to compose a Disney post while laying over in Memphis......

Yes, I haven't blogged!!

The cries from the reading audience have become a roar, yes I know that I need to update my blog! I just haven't been in a writing mood the past month which is stupid because A LOT has happened. I'm flying to Little Rock later this morning (meeting up with boyfriend for a trip to my granny's 85th birthday party in Branson with a quick stopover at his parent's home in Fayetteville) and I'm hoping to get some text written on the flight.

Items to look forward to ....Jenn goes to Disney World, Jenn starts marathon training, Jenn's boyfriend visits her in Denver, adventures in babysitting and of course a report from the whirlwind weekend of family meetings.

Hang in there, I'll get to it!