A Little Summary

Theme Song: Bob Sinclar - Beat the Clock

Steven and I have returned from our long-ass road trip - but! Maybe it's because I'm driving, or perhaps because I am now wise, antiquated and redoubtable, a 13-hour car ride isn't the dimension-spanning and nearly insurmountable experience it was in my childhood. I mean, the mere thought of having to wait 13 hours in the car to get to grandma's was unbearable and usually caused a spontaneous impatient jumping fit. My sisters and I were horrible on car rides.

We spent most of our time relaxing - reading, hiking, biking, walking, socializing, etc. I discovered that Steven is much more impervious than I to the vagaries of my mother's mother's extreme mothering (bahaha). She always thinks I'm too thin and would be delighted to see me obese. I lost my temper at least twice (on the sidelines, in Steven's direction, sorry!) after being asked 6 times in 10 minutes if I was sure I didn't want toast with jam or sandwiches or brownies or tuna or cherry tomatoes or chocolate almond ice cream, etc. ad nauseum... She can't seem to grasp the fact that after I eat a meal, I am not immediately ready to start on yet another meal. I'd finish dinner, and she'd ask me what I like to eat - I'd list out a few dietary staples like yogurt, tuna, and cereal. She'd start assembling the items on my list with alacrity, perhaps hoping that I'd decide to eat them all at once, right then and there... Grar!

I can't stand being taken care of. It's really ungraceful. Grump grump grump.

We took the South Shore from South Bend to Chicago early one morning, and spent hours exploring the wharves, Michigan Avenue, and the Shedd Aquarium - which was kind of disappointing, as many of its exhibits were closed for renovation. We couldn't stay long and had to sort of guess when the South Shore would be leaving from Roosevelt Station, and found ourselves in some, er, interesting social situations (or at least I did!). Chicagoans are nuts.

We wandered all over Grand Haven on bikes and by foot, stopping occasionally for various foodstuffs including Tip-a-few burritos, homemade blueberry coffee cake, awesome pizza and ice cream with crazy cousins, and goodies from my favorite childhood candy store. We strolled along the pier and the riverside, ambled around town, hiked around in the woods and bluffs and enjoyed each other's company.

I got pulled over on the Ohio toll road. Blah! We left at around 8 AM on Saturday, got in around 11 PM because we stopped for dinner, and ended up staying up till 2 anyways. Sunday was a lazy day! I cleaned up kitty-related messes (only ONE pooptastic explosion while I was away, heaven was smiling upon my kitty-sitters), unpacked, posted a few pictures from the trip, and jogged a 3-miler to dispel the lingering guilt over how horribly I ate last week.

It was soooo good though.

Boo. Back to work. :\