Afterprom

At 23, I feel a bit old for Prom. Apparently, though, I don't look it.
Since Merry's boyfriend Ben is a teacher, and his friend Nick is a substitute teacher, to keep them company while they chaperoned the After-Prom Party, Merry and I crashed the affair for some awesome bowling, which I totally rocked. Plus we got free cotton candy, which is always a good thing.
Then we tried to leave. They wanted me to "sign-out," believing me to be a highschool student. I nearly had to pull out my drivers license, and Nick had to vouch for me. I didn't realize I looked that young.

As my moving date approached, Kyle (yes, from the Gettysburg trip) made a repeat appearance, wandering around the harbor with me, scandalized that in the months I'd lived in the area, I'd spent so little time in Baltimore itself. We also hit up the Baltimore Zoo. Very depressing. Don't go to the Baltimore Zoo.

For my last day, Nick took me to the Baltimore Aquarium, where I tried to push him into the Shark Tank. Someone else must have already had that idea though, because they'd taken precautions against such things. Major bummer. The Cheesecake Factory afterwards more than made up for the lack of shark-week inspired drama.

The drive back to NH was thankfully uneventful, although painfully long. Bailey has been tormenting my little sister's dog since we got here, but the wanton destruction of cardboard boxes and toilet paper has apparently stopped, so I have no qualms about letting my cat chase the dog if that's what it takes to keep her occupied and entertained.

Mom's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Gettysburg

I went to Gettysburg once as a little girl, with my mom and my sisters. I loved reading about the Civil War, and was ecstatic to get to SEE where things happened.
It rained. The whole time. And every electronic tour-guide thingy pronounced it "get-iss-berg" which annoyed the crap out of me.
But hey, it was still cool. Place names I'd read about a thousand times, like Devil's Den and Little Round Top were actually real, and I could climb all over them. I could actually SEE where Pickett's charge was.
Fast forward about a decade or so:
A college friend from freshman year (for those of you who don't remember, that was in New Jersey) called me up. Apparently both of us were about an hour away from Gettysburg. Daytrip!
Kyle, who had been to Gettysburg a lot more frequently than I had, suggested meeting up at this quaint little restaurant for lunch, then making a day of it. When he was telling me about it, I'd thought he was exaggerating, but no: the Dobbin House actually DOES have THE BEST french onion soup ever made. It's ruined me forever. Now I'm going to have to drive all the way back to Virginia anytime I want french onion soup.
We also had rum drinks and actual food, but who cares about that.
Then we wandered into the Guest Center in search of a map, or really any sort of guidance. They suggested an Auto Tour, but who wants to see everything from a car? We were told we wouldn't be able to walk everywhere. We rolled our eyes; we're twenty-something. Clearly we know better.
So on foot, we set off. We wandered around, probably in circles and zigzags, for HOURS. After a brief stop at Friendly's for sundaes, we were off again. We ended the day watching the sunset from the top of Devil's Den. 11:30 a.m. lunch, wandered all day, half an hour for ice cream, wander somemore, and left at 8:30 or 9ish at night. Looking at the map, we HAD covered just about everything.
Yep, we showed that Info Center Lady: You CAN walk it... as long as you're willing to not be able to walk the next day (my feet were KILLING me).

Stuff

I gave my notice at work. I don't have anything lined up, or a solid idea of where I'm going, but I will NOT be here after the end of May, so in my mind, that's a start.
Now normally, I'd be panicked without some sort of plan, even if it was just a back-up plan, but for some reason, I'm not. I'll be okay.
So I've been half-packed to move for over a month. That might have something to do with why I don't feel nervous about leaving-- I can't WAIT, so it's hard to think past move-out day.
As I've been sorting all my things and packing, I've discovered everything I own can be placed into one of four categories:
1) Necessities/Practicalities: Things like a toothbrush, food, pillow, towels, bike, REAL maple syrup, pocketknife, knee brace and the bare essentials of clothing.
2) Fluff: Things I WANT, that may make my life more interesting or fun, but I don't actually NEED to survive from day to day, like computer, dvds, pens, and most people would say books, but I list them in that first category.
3) Memorials: Pictures, trinkets I picked up in foreign locales, presents people have given me...
4) Everything else. I don't know why I have this stuff, I rarely use it, don't really want it, but can never seem to find it when I'm throwing stuff out or using things up.
My mission in life, for the end of this month, is to completely eradicate that fourth category, and severely weed out the second. Bailey's been helping by eating or otherwise destroying everything she doesn't think I really need (clothes, computer cords, headphones, cardboard boxes for packing things, my bike...)