Growing Up

My baby brothers are growing up! I spent this past weekend at my Moms with Sammy and Little Joe. They were well behaved and I had a great time with them. Sammy is 14 and is finally to that stage where he is no longer a little kid or as irritating of a teenager ;) He is getting somewhat mature and has developed a great personality that I always knew he had. He's a bit of an air head, but we have always said that Sam would loose his head if it weren't attached. This past weekend he went to brush his teeth and grabbed a pain reliever tube similar to Icy-Hot and used it as toothpaste by mistake, then he went into the other room with his tongue sticking out cause his mouth was numb. We diffidently teased him for that the rest of the day :)

Road Trip 2010!

My road-trip this year with Damon went alright. The trip to NYC was great and the night in Pittsburgh was wonderful. I really like Pittsburgh and want to see the city again and get more of a feel for what I think of it. It's not too far away from Fort Wayne after all. I have to admit part of the reason I want to visit cities in the next couple years is that I would like to start thinking about where I want to live. I know I don't want to be in small town Fort Wayne after I graduate, but I enjoy being near my baby brother while I am here. I would love to live in San Francisco, but I know I could never afford to live there. I enjoyed NYC, but only as a vacation place. I enjoyed D.C., but not sure if I would want to live there. I still haven't visited Chicago(I know it's surprising since I live so close), but location wise that would be fantastic. All I know is that I want to stop living in a small town. When I graduate, whatever direction I get a job, I'll go. But enough of my rambling...about road-trip 2010 :) When Damon got off work last Saturday from the bank he came and picked me up and we headed the 6ish hours to Pittsburgh for the night. When to a local sandwich dive and to their overlook of the city. It was a nice day and night. Next morning I woke up way way too early because I was so excited for The Warhol museum, but we ended up ready so early that we were able to go back to the overlook during light before the museum opened. I love all the bridges and water of Pittsburgh. Then I was the first person through the doors when they opened the museum :) It was a smaller collection than I thought it would be but still amazing! Plus there was only one room we were allowed to take photos in, so that kinda sucked, but oh well. It was totally worth it!
Then after the museum we headed the next 8 hours to NYC(we thought it would be 6) and eventually made it to Cathy!!! I have really missed Cathy :/ As always it was a bit strange seeing my bestie after a year away and yet talking to her every day on the phone, but I think we got over that quick as always. Then the next day, Monday, Cathy went to work and Damon & I went to China Town and Little Italy. I enjoyed Little Italy a lot, especially all the crosses they had to look at in the little shops and street vendors. We know how I love my Celtic crosses. Then Cathy got off work and we met her back at her apartment and rested awhile. All three of us then headed to what was in hindsight not the brightest of all ideas, but I'm glad we did it. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge does not look very long, but it is 1.14 miles long, which isn't that bad I guess. The fact that it rained and got my socks and shoes all wet did not help with that, lol. The we went to dinner, talked and went to sleep!
Tuesday Damon and I were in a need of a break from each other, so I hung out at Cathy's apartment while he went to Christopher street to see the Stone Wall area. Then he came back later and Damon and I went down to see Times Square at night. It was surreal. I have always seen photos of it and I don't even think it's possible for photos to do it justice. It's pretty much amazing the amount of ads and consumerism in such a small area of space. Still the most amazing part of the week to me was stepping out of the subway station into all those lights. I might be a loser ;) Oh and The Toys-R-Us and other stores there were fantastically fun to go through! Wednesday we tried to get started early but well we did a lot already so were a bit sluggish, eventually we made it to Battery Park where we got tickets to go to Liberty Island :) See The Statue of Liberty was the one thing I really wanted to do while there, well other than see Cathy. Had fun be touristy at Battery Park and then rode the fairy to see The Statue of Liberty. I have to admit that I always imagined her like twice the size she is. But considering how long ago she was built she is still pretty giant. It was a nice time and I would have enjoyed just spending time on the island for longer because it was beautiful. We took one of the last faery's back and headed back to Cathy for the night. On the way to the subway station we walked Wall Street. It was spiffy and had a lot of security! Got to Cathy's, then went out to a Karaoke bar, but were not able to perform a song :( Had a couple issues but eventually made it home for the night in a NYC cab. Thursday Damon and I spent most of the day in drama :( but eventually worked it out and when Cathy came home with her friend we headed to Atlantic City! Cathy and her friend had a concert to go to, so Damon and I went along for the ride since neither of us had seen Atlantic city. I gambled $10 with the intention that I would loose that ten just the same as if they were arcade games. Unique arcade games ;) First time I've been to a casino, probably the last, unless I make it to Vegas one year. It was sorta fun, I ended up with $15.75 in the end. Go me! haha. The concert lasted longer than we had thought it would and we ended up back at Cathy's when the sun was coming up. Friday Damon and I went to Rockefeller Center and 5th Avenue. It was neat, but not as amazing as I was expecting. Then again I didn't really know what to expect. I did enjoy going past Radio City Music Hall and there was an amazing Gothic looking Cathedral on 5th Avenue. Then we headed to Stone Wall area to meet Cathy for dinner, but she wasn't able to make it because of how tired she was from the night before. She was awake again when we got back from dinner so we went out to a club later that night. Saturday was so freaking hot! None of us wanted to move it was just so humid. So we rented a couple movies and the three of us hung out in Cathy's room all day because that was the only room with some sort of air conditioning. It was nice though, after all we were all tired from our long week. So we just chilled and talked and basically did nothing all day. . Then bright and early Sunday morning Damon and I got in the car and stayed there for the next 14 hours and all through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and finally back to Indiana! It was a long drive back for sure. Over all I had a good time on the trip. If I could do it again, then I'd fly and spend longer there so I'd be able to hang out just me and Cathy cause I didn't get to see as much of her as I wish I could have. However, I did get to see Cathy, so I guess I can't complain :)

p.s. there are about a million photos of my trip up on facebook because I do love to take pictures and it was a once in a lifetime trip!