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Whew. What a weekend! And it's not really even over, although it will be by the time you read this.

As I'm typing, I'm sitting on the floor in the Detroit airport, plugged into the wall, full from my sandwich and Mrs. Field's cookie, and wearing my shades to cut down on the glare from the big airport windows.

I might look a little strange. I feel a little strange - tired, missing my family, wishing I'd had more time with my new and not-as-new friends, and still trying to process everything I heard and learned this weekend at SheSpeaks.

Later this week, maybe even by tomorrow, I'll have some fun pics to share with you and a recap of the whole shebang.

But until then, will you do me a favor and take this survey about my blog? Thanks. You're awesome.

What I Learned from Summer Vacation

Why do I feel like I should be sitting in a classroom with my fading tanned legs sticking to a hard plastic chair as I type that? Oh, yeah, maybe because learning from a vacation is that ultimate essay prompt that takes most of us back to middle school.

Thankfully this post does not include acne, big bangs or angst-ridden crushes on boys six inches shorter than me.

Anyway.

After traveling out of town for an entire week and taking a few days to recuperate reflect, I’ve come up with a few insights into myself, my child and the world.

Yup. I’m deep that way.

1. As much as I tell myself I’m over my worry problem, really, it’s just around the corner, waiting to consume me. After my parents picked up Annalyn, I was knocked over by anxiety. The combination of leaving my daughter for four days and knowing that she would be flying on a plane without me was just too much.
2. Praying and leaning on Jesus is still the answer to my worry problem.
3. Taking motion sickness medicine (at least the over-the-counter kind) does not keep me from feeling nauseous when flying. It turns out reading SkyMall is the only way to distract me from the motion sickness.
4. Mark and I are mountain people, not beach people. Please don’t get me wrong! We are so very thankful for our vacation, and we had a great time. And the ocean? Even on a rainy day, it is beautiful. But I think most people tend to enjoy and appreciate either the beach or the mountains – and we’re the put on sturdy shoes and hike up a trail kind instead of the fling off the flip flops and walk in rocky sand kind.
5. I could have been a dolphin trainer. Seriously. I realize an overweight Midwestern girl who just admitted she prefers the mountains may not be who you think of when you think “dolphin trainer.” But not too many years ago (okay, many years ago), I thought a lot about pursuing a career in training dolphins for children’s therapy. Since I don’t enjoy the science, though, I assumed that career path was not for me. Turns out that having a psychology degree qualifies a person to train dolphins, though. Psychology, as in the subject I once majored in and actually did minor in. I don’t think I still want to be a dolphin trainer, but this realization kinda, sorta rocked my world.
6. Cheese grits are good stuff. (This is less something I learned on vacation and more something I knew but had forgotten.)
7. I am the only person in my family without an unlimited texting plan. Therefore, I am the only one whose phone bill will be unusually high next month, since my brother and mom decided texting was the easiest way to communicate between our hotel rooms.
8. Traveling with three people means a lot of luggage. And when one of those people is too little to carry her own suitcase and diaper bag? Well, let’s just say we did not have enough hands in the airport! (Three suitcases, three tote bags, one purse, one stroller, one car seat – and no, we cannot juggle.)
9. I love the timber industry. Okay, not really. But I love seeing the tall, skinny pines lined up in perfect rows. Even though I am fully aware that companies who make paper or something have planted those trees, I like looking at those trees and imagining that God is just as concerned with straight lines as I am.
10. It does not matter how clean you leave your house and how often your friend checks on your cats. If you neglect them for 8 days, they will pee on your kitchen counter.

What have you learned lately? This post is linked to OhAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday and Musings of a Housewife’s What I Learned This Week.

Did you say photos? Vacation photos?

Well, since you asked.

Seriously, I found out after posting the link to Flickr that you have to sign in with a Yahoo account. And since not everyone has that, I figured I'd better put the pictures on here.

I wouldn't want you all to revolt. Or protest. Or whine. Oh, please don't whine as you beg for just a peek at my 367 vacation pictures.

Brace yourself. Here they come. (A few dozen. Not 367. I promise.)

A flamingo was just waking up as we entered Sea World on Monday.

I don't remember where this was in Sea World. But it sure was purty.

Yay! The dolphin show! Or, as we found it to be: the dolphin and people and birds show. Seriously, we didn't expect the acrobats and birds, but they were all incredible (if a tad bit cheesy).

Would you laugh if I told you that I cried during the Shamu show? Because, um, I totally did. Mark mocked the sappy "Believe" theme, and I can't deny that it was a bit over the top. But I'm a sucker for sap, I guess. (Oh, please, who am I kidding? This is not news.)

On a side note, the Shamu show is also where we thought we lost our video camera. When we went to pack the camera on Wednesday, we couldn't find it anywhere. We just knew that it had fallen out of my purse (stupid hobo bag) or been snatched. I sat on hold with Sea World for half an hour, only to learn that no, nobody had turned our camera into Lost & Found. Thankfully (thank you, God!), it was just buried in the backpack. Still not sure how it got there . . . but I don't even care. I'm just so glad our camera (and videos of Annalyn) didn't disappear.

Back to the pics.

What, you thought I went to Florida to take pictures of palm trees?

My friend Kevin told me about Celebration, Florida, a planned town built by Disney. Unfortunately, we planned to check it out on our beach day. The one where it rained a lot. What we saw from the car, though, was beautiful.

I think this is self-explanatory? Unless, like me, you don't know what Downtown Disney is. So, I guess I should explain after all. Just in case. Downtown Disney is essentially an outdoor Disney mall. It's a strip of stores and restaurants, and it may or may not include Pleasure Island. I wasn't quite sure. But I am sure that it was a lot of fun. We didn't actually go to any of the Disney parks, so I was glad to get a little bit of time in the world of Mickey. (After all, we needed to buy a Mickey shirt for Annalyn somewhere!)

This would probably be a good time to tell you about the ferry adventure we had on the way home from Downtown Disney. But . . . no. I think I'll save that one for later.

Do you see this? My brownie sundae? It was ridiculous. That's about all I can say about it. We tried to eat a light dinner (this was an unsuccessful venture, since we ate dinner at a delicious pizzeria), because we'd heard about Ghiradelli's ice cream shop at Downtown Disney. Don't worry - we walked off at least a tenth of the calories we ingested as we shopped. But it was sooo worth it!

I was real excited to visit the Lego Store. I'm not sure why. It was pretty cool. But I'll admit: we were darned tired by the time we reached it. So I snapped a few (a lot) photos, and we headed home.

Well, we tried to head home. But like I said, I'll tell you that story later.

More Legos.

I have never wished more that I had a good camera phone with e-mail capabilities. Because I would have Twitpic-ed this for sure. As this motorcycle passed us, I noticed the couple was not wearing helmets. But before I could even open my mouth to start my usual rant about stupidity and helmet laws and all that, I saw the milk crate on the back of the bike. With a DOG in it. A dog! And that dog didn't have a helmet. Or a seat belt. Or anything to keep it safe! I was appalled! I wanted to call PETA! Or the police! Or the Ghostbusters!

But instead, I asked Mark to speed up a little so I could take a picture.

On Tuesday, we drove to Clearwater. I'd read all about the incredible sunsets, the white sand, the dolphin cruises. What I didn't read about was the thunderstorm that covered most of Florida that day. We kept hoping that we'd outrun the storm, and for a couple hours, we did. But it never really got sunny, and halfway through our walk on the beach, it started raining again.

Fortunately, I was prepared. With a big black umbrella in my purse. I'm not sure who looked more silly - Mark, trying to do his best Baywatch run back to the car, or me, sauntering along the sand, proudly holding my umbrella with a broken spoke.

But you know what? We still had fun. We drove down the coast (or was it up? I forget.) and found a great Italian restaurant in Tampa and overall, had a great day.

The Gulf in Clearwater. Can you see the sun shining? Wayyy back in the corner there?

Our little bathing beauty.

On Thursday, we drove north to meet my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, and our sweet baby who we hadn't seen in four days. And I'm not quite sure who was more excited - her or us!

The second we set her down on the sand (after a picnic lunch and lots of sunscreen for her and me - except my back, which is officially peeling today), she plopped down on the towel and popped that leg up in the air like some sort of beach model.

I have no idea where she learned such a thing.

Annalyn was excited to see us, but she loved spending so much time with her A-ee and Bompa (otherwise known as Allie and Grandpa). I think she's gone into withdrawal since we came home!

What is this? (I promise, several of us were within arm's reach. I just cropped us out.)

Once she got used to the warm ocean water and the gritty sand, Annalyn was perfectly happy to sit in the ocean and let the water rush over her as she played with her bucket.

So happy that she pitched quite a fit when it was time to go. But who wants to talk about that?

After all, who would believe this happy girl would throw a fit?

Oh, how I wish I'd had my camera handy when that happened, though. My sweet daughter, who hasn't sucked her thumb or pacifier for about 18 months, curled up in the fetal position, stuck her thumb in her mouth and sobbed her little heart out.

All because I didn't want her to get sunburned.

(Did I mention that I forgot to put sunscreen on my back that day? And that I had to go buy a loofah on a stick at Target today?)

Ahem.

Annalyn would not tolerate the very cute and comfy (cloth) floaties we bought specifically for this trip. She did, however, put up with the baby floating ring that - as we discovered a couple days later - was built for babies a few pounds lighter than her.

For a baby who loves taking baths, she wasn't all that impressed with the swimming pool. She was a little more energetic the day we swam in the afternoon, but the morning swims? Not so exciting, I suppose.

Long story short, my great uncle - who we went to visit - ended up in the hospital on Friday. So while my parents spent the afternoon visiting him, we went with my brother and sister-in-law to visit the only plantation open to the public in Thomas County: Pebble Hill.

It was beautiful, and even though it was blazing hot that day, we had the chance to take some great pictures on the grounds. (Kids under 6 weren't allowed in the main house, so we wandered around outside - and enjoyed the air conditioned snack shop - while James and Lauren toured the house.)

When my mom called the hospital to find out what was going on with my uncle, she found out that the lady working the information desk was from Pavo, the same small town my great-grandad (my mom's grandad) was from. As a matter of fact, she taught at the elementary school - and taught my aunt way back in the day. Later that afternoon, when Mom and Dad were at the hospital and trying to track down my uncle, the security guard went the extra yard to find him because he knew him, too.

So, as we chatted with the info guy at the plantation while we waited for James and Lauren to finish their tour, I thought I'd give it a shot. I told Mr. Taylor how we were in town visiting my great-uncle and great-aunt, but that my uncle had gotten sick and went to the hospital. I told him their names, and he said, "Oh, yeah! We're in a club together. We went on tours together!" Turns out "a club" was Kiwanis Club, and tours had something to do with their church. So as we waited and finally stopped sweating, we swapped stories about who in our family and his cheats while playing cards.

"Small world" deosn't even begin to describe that place.

We didn't see a sign saying not to climb on the ancient carriages. So we took full advantage of the old-fashioned photo opp.

"Are you finished taking pictures yet?"

Sorry, baby, no.

This photo was taken at the plantation, not on the plane we took home. But if you can imagine taking this face, adding some hysteria and lots of ear-splitting screams? Well, then you might be close to imagining what the passengers of our TINY (34 passenger) plane between Tallahassee and Memphis endured.

Reportedly, Annalyn was an angel for my parents on the flight down. And I am so thankful. Honestly, I really had to pray myself down from overwhelming anxiety about the whole leaving my daughter and she's going to fly without me thing.

But my, oh my, I probably should have spent some of that time praying for our flight home. Because the first hour of the first flight? Complete torture - for Annalyn, for us, for the other passengers and for the kind flight attendant.

It was so bad the flight attendant moved us from the back of the plane to the front. It was so bad that not only was my body covered in sweat (I get sick when flying and did I mention the turbulence?), but I also ended up sobbing myself. It was so bad that the pilots could hear her through the door and sent ear plugs back for the other passengers.

It was bad.

But we survived. And I promise you, we will nev-er fly with a toddler again, barring any life and death emergencies, of course.

And that, is the end of my vacation photo show. Hope you enjoyed it. I know I did!

And now that I see Jill is saying she loves vacation (as I do, obviously), I'm linking up to her. Go check out Things I Love Thursday!

Hi, may I help you?

Here in Kansas City, we have a chain of BBQ restaurants that is famous for the greeting each customer receives. As you walk up to the counter, the energetic folks at Gates BBQ will shout, “Hi! May I help you?”

Although, to be honest, it sounds a tad bit like, “Hahmehaheppyou!”

Last week, we spent several days in the South. And I lost count of the times I was asked, “May I help you?” The difference down there? It wasn’t followed up with some smoked meat and fries tossed onto a platter and pushed down the cafeteria line. No, what came next was outstanding customer service and, more often than not, amazing food.

(Not that I’m complaining about Gates by any means. I’m just saying that our Southern eating experiences were something completely different.)

I’m so accustomed to mediocre or even lousy service that for the first couple of days, I honestly thought we were “lucking out.” It actually took me about four days to realize we weren’t just reaping the rewards of some good restaurant karma; we were experiencing that wonder we hear about, but rarely get to see firsthand up here in the, ahem, North.

We were experiencing Southern hospitality.

And ooooh, I loved it! Southern hospitality – from the friendly waiter at Chevy’s and the apologetic waitress at Flipper’s who gave us a discount after the cook put sausage on the sausage-free pizza we ordered to the helpful hotel desk guy who drew me a map of (wrong) driving directions from Orlando to Tallahassee and my Aunt Roz who welcomed us into her home and offered “something cold to drink,” which meant apple juice or Coke – works for me.

For more tips on what works, visit We Are THAT Family.

And for a few vacation photos, check out my Flickr albums.

I'm back.

And a teensy bit tired. But that's nothing a night in my own bed won't cure. I can't guarantee I'll be up to my blogging norm around here this week, but we will have our Bible study chat tonight.

So, please, if you're interested in talking (or reading) about Weeks 2 and 3 of Me, Myself & Lies, join me here at 8 p.m. CST.

Chat with you tonight!

We interrupt this blog for an important announcement:

I won't be here next week. But instead of letting this place “go dark,” as they say, I’ll be posting articles I’ve written for other blogs.

• First – no, I don’t know who “they” are or what “go dark” really means.
• Second – yes, I will stop using the quotation marks like they grow on trees.
• Third – do you think it sounds too fancy if I call guest posts “articles”?

Oh, there I go again with the quotes. I don’t know what’s come over me.

As I mentioned last week, I’m on vacation and (mostly) out of commission. I hope you’ll still stop by, but if you need to take a vacation, I’ll understand.

{Hmm…what does it mean if you take a break from Giving Up on Perfect? Does that mean you automatically become perfect during that vacation? Interesting…}

A few more things while I’m at it:

• We will not have Bible study on Monday. We’ll resume next Monday (the 6th) at 8 p.m. CST to discuss the homework from Week 3. Just a reminder – our memory verse is Philippians 4:8.
  
• Do you read Simple Mom? Tsh wrote a great post last week that I’ve been dying to share. It spoke so much to me, to my life – and I just know it will bless you, too. Or make you think. Or both. Check it out: The Clutter You Can’t See.
  
• My new favorite blog is Diary of a Southern Drama Queen. Leslie Ruth writes about her life, and I don’t know what it is – the diary? the southern? the drama queen? – but she cracks me up. And we’ve already decided to be BFFs if and when I move to Tennessee. Totally.

All right, now. You all don’t have too much fun while I’m gone. I’ll catch up with you when I get home!

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Sing it with me, now: “But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”

Next week, we are going on a family vacation. Mark and I fly to Orlando on Sunday, spend a few days avoiding the Mouse and soaking up the Florida humidity sunshine, then head north to join my parents, Annalyn, and my brother and sister-in-law. My great aunt and uncle live in a little town in southern Georgia, and we’ll spend a few days with them.

After we’ve had all the family togetherness we can stand – and then some, I’m sure – we’ll get on a plane with Annalyn and fly home.

[Side note: Should you be a thief reading my blog (and really, if you are, I have to ask: why?), I’ll just warn you. My very sweet friend Erin will be stopping by often to feed my cats. And we have extremely nosy protective neighbors. So, I guarantee it is not worth breaking in to find that, seriously, one of my prized possessions truly is a 20-year-old VCR.]

Sorry ‘bout that. Just needed to get the public service announcement portion of this blog post out of the way. Now, where were we?

Oh yes. Something about wants and needs and 95-degree heat.

We are so excited for this trip. As you might recall, we planned this getaway to celebrate my 30th birthday and our 10th anniversary. Granted, our original plan was Jamaica . . . and our second plan was San Diego . . . but really, anywhere with a beach and no work and, for a few days, no kiddo will be all the fun we need.

So far, the plans include a trip to Discovery Cove, Sea World (thank you, Facebook friends, for voting in my poll!) and the beach. We might check out Downtown Disney, the town of Celebration or the Space Center.

But we’re keeping our options open. After 10 years of marriage, we’re still two wild and crazy kids, so the possibilities are endless.

Umm, okay, actually – at least one of us was never wild and crazy. So we’ll probably visit the Space Center. That’s pretty much a museum, right? And, okay, we might also pass out and simply sleep for 12 hours. Who knows?

Let me say it again: we are beside ourselves excited about this trip!

But a couple weeks ago, I couldn’t stop myself from focusing on all the things I’m not going to get to do, thanks to this vacation.

First of all, I don’t get to see Dierks Bentley in a free concert downtown. Smitty and I went last year, and he put on a great show. For FREE! But Mark missed it, thanks to this thing called a job. So when I saw that Dierks was coming back this summer and doing the same free show, I thought, “Oh, good! Mark can plan ahead and take the day off!” I was all sorts of happy about this. Until I saw the date – smack dab in the middle of our vacation. Of course! Of course Dierks would come to my town when I’m in someone else’s town!

Then, Chelley informs me that she and Mel are coming down to KC for a baseball game. Oh, great! You can stay with us! Yippee! Wait for it . . . yes. You’re right. They’re coming the week we’re out of town. Because apparently, it’s important to see a certain team play the Royals. (Perhaps I should point out here that Chelley and Mel are baseball fans and I, surprisingly, am not?)

Finally, as if these two blows weren’t enough, let me tell you a little story about a man named Shaun Groves. See, Shaun is a contemporary Christian singer – or, as he calls himself, a soft rock star. And, oh yeah, he’s also a big proponent of releasing children from poverty.

These days, Shaun travels all around, both overseas to see and share the work of Compassion and around the country to give free concerts and talk about Compassion. And a few months ago, he wrote on his blog that he was looking for places to give concerts this summer.

Well, I immediately contacted our worship pastor and said, so politely, “We must. Do this.” And he, ever so politely, said, “Great idea, but it’s not going to work right now.” Because I am pushy annoying persistent, I even had the nerve to ask a second time. But that guy stood firm: it’s not a good plan for our church right now. Okay, fine, I’ll survive. Even though I’m sad.

But then. Then! I see a comment on Shaun’s blog that mentions him playing a show . . . in a couple weeks . . . in Thomasville. Whaaaa? That little town in southern Georgia that my great aunt and uncle live in? Um, yeah – it’s called Thomasville. And we’re going to be there in a couple weeks! So I scour the Internet and finally track down my answer. Here's what I discover: Shaun Groves is playing one of his awesome free concerts / Compassion talks . . . in Thomasville, Georgia . . . on June 27.

In case this crazy long story has made you lose your mind or at least forget when and where I’m going next week, let me explain. Shaun Groves’ concert will take place 5 days before I get to Thomasville.

So close. And yet . . .

But you know what? I’m pretty sure that despite these things I’m going to miss, we are still going to have one amazing anniversary trip/family vacation.

I’ve got my flip flops, my sunscreen and two great books. I’ve got my baby packed and her bag is stocked with lots of snacks and toys for her first flight (eeek!). And I’ve got the most awesome husband I could ask for, holding my hand, ready to hit the road.

It turns out, the Rolling Stones might be right. You can’t always get what you want. But sometimes God blesses us with exactly what we need.

Aruba, Jamaica, Ooohh, I Wanna Take Ya...

Being responsible is not always the fun thing to do.

I realize that’s an obvious statement, but it needed to be said. I want to celebrate my 30th birthday and our 10th anniversary by going to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. Is that asking too much?

Okay, so maybe it is. At least, it is when you have too much debt and want to someday (soon?) buy a bigger house and have more kids. And when you want to travel to another city to take weekend classes to change your career. And when you're trying to be a better steward of all that God has blessed you with.

[Insert heavy, dramatic, unnecessary sigh here.]

So, instead, I’m looking at San Diego. There’s still a beach. And lots of fun things to do. And oh yeah, it would cost about $1000 less than Jamaica! Has anyone else been to San Diego before?

How would I look in dreads?

My 30th birthday will be in December, and our 10th wedding anniversary will be next May. So I've told Mark that I want to go on a tropical vacation to celebrate these two occasions. Have you all been to any all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean? It's scary to think about spending so much money to go somewhere I've never seen! (Can you tell I haven't traveled on my own very much?!)

Coming to you...LIVE...from Florida!

I've spent the last three days in Tampa at a golf and tennis resort. I'm here for the Agricultural Media Summit, representing my company at a trade show and hobnobbing with reporters who write about things like cows and fertilizer and tractors and everything farm. So tonight, before I pack and go to bed so I can get up for my very early flight, I'd like to tell you the best and worst things about my trip to Florida.


Best:

• I ate the biggest pork chop I've ever seen tonight, not to mention the chocolate cake I had to split it with my co-worker - after all, I'm making myself weigh in tomorrow when I get home!
• The staff at this resort has provided the most outstanding service I have ever received in any capacity. I guess I don't normally pay enough to be treated this well? (That's a slightly sarcastic comment - who, me? - because I believe customer service is sorely lacking in the world.) All kidding aside, the people who work here have been amazing, offering above average service with a kind smile. The bellman who told us about the umbrellas in our closets, the shipping guy who searched, found and delivered extra boxes for us to use for our extra supplies (from the trade show), the waitress who explained Tampa traffic patterns when we asked about getting to the airport on time, the gift shop lady who gave me band-aids out of her desk when I was going to buy them - these are just a few people who were just fantastic in providing service to me, a lowly conference attender at their swanky resort.
• I met some fun people, like my new friend, Lucy, who's coming to Kansas City next week to try out for American Idol. She even sang her audition songs for us, and she's really good!
• I learned that rum punch is quite tasty (unless it's heavier on the rum than the punch and then it's not nearly as fun - for me, at least).

Worst:

• Florida is ridiculously humid. I mean, there should be another word for how humid it is here. I've been calling it oppressively humid, but that might be a bit much. But just saying "freaking humid" doesn't cut it. It's so humid - and hot, of course, but in July that's a given - that I actually said more than once that I'd rather take all of my clothes off than stand another minute of the oppressive and stifling heat and humidity. For the record, I did NOT take off all my clothes. Although I did take two showers yesterday. It's bad. I've been to Florida in July before - I distinctly remember sweating more than I've ever sweated before. At least then I didn't have to look professional. I couldn't even pretend to look cool - what 17 year old girl visiting Disney World with her parents can?
• I brought new shoes. New shoes that cut my feet to pieces. New shoes that immediately rubbed blisters on several different parts of my feet.
• Because this is a resort and not a hotel, our room, the main building, the trade show building and the restaurants were all in different buildings...meaning I had to walk through the wall of humidity on my sad, sad feet constantly.

OH! I forgot another BEST thing - my bed! Normally, there's at least three, if not four, of us in the bed at home. (Our cats truly believe they are people and deserve the biggest bed in the house - they'll make room for us if we promise to be real nice.) I got a whole bed, an unbelievably comfortable mattress and duvet, plus four smushy pillows all to myself!

And now for another BEST thing. I'm going to pack all my stuff, go to bed, and before I know it I'll be back home, seeing my baby, enjoying normal humidity....and missing the palm trees, bellhop and cleaning service!

Does Anyone Have Any Ideas?

I'm planning a trip to the great white north (Minneapolis, as well as a detour to small-town Wisconsin). Does anyone out there - anyone at all? - have any ideas about what to do in this town?

(Yes, this is a shameless stunt to get comments from hobbitsister and melilot, but I really am going to MN later this year!)