Vacation
So I guess it's been a few weeks ago now I finally took some time off. 9 whole days as a matter of fact. 9 whole days off of work, and still got paid. It's been quite awhile since I've done that, and it felt good. I battled for months over where to go, who to see, etc. I ended up making a list of the places I wanted to go and the people I wanted to see and then realized few people have time off during the week to visit and also had to list how long it had been since I had seen each person. Then there was the weather to take into consideration, there are trips that can be done over the winter (since starting in January I will have 17 days of vacation/Paid Time Off to use on my whim. I ended up planning a trip to Michigan. The plan was to drive up on Friday and stay with LeighAnn over the weekend, then I splurged and got a great hotel room about an hour north from there right on the lake for the night, and then head through Michigan on Monday and stop and see a few people, have dinner at my favorite restaurant and then head to my parents for the remainder of the vacation. Things changed a bit because I went with the flow and just tried to enjoy as much time with people as I could.
The 6 hour drive wasn't as bad as I was thinking it could have been but I made it up there and no soon than I parked my car we were pretty much headed out to the bar to meet some of her friends. I had only met one of these friends before but they were a great group of people. We spent the evening having drinks at their favorite dive bar with a really cute waiter who wore an amazing pair of blue camo boxer briefs, how do I know you might ask? Well he showed us, it was just that kind of fun night. lol.
Saturday we met up with some more friends to watch the Michigan/Michigan State game at a sports bar by her house and much fun was had. That night we had the Zombie Apocalypse party. It's quite the conversation that has led to this party, but it went well. We had a brain shaped jello mold loaded with vodka, brain shaped rice crispy treats, and some really bad zombie movies. At the beginning of the party each person was given 2 bait cards. As we watched and critiqued the zombie movies and what the survivors were doing wrong, if someone said something stupid you gave them your bait card and at the end of the night whoever had the most bait cards was going to be our zombie bait so the rest of us could get away.
Well needless to say, 1 simple comment and I got like 12 bait cards at once. All I said was "Hey, that zombie's pretty cute, could I keep him tied up as my pet?" I mean really if he's tied up what harm could come to anyone in the compound? Yeah, I guess I deserved them, but we laughed so hard all night long. She has some pretty amazing and very cute friends, yes I may have flirted a bit, but it wasn't going to get me anywhere so it was harmless.
Sunday she treated me to her famous New Mexico style enchiladas that she used to make me when we were in college, I love them and hadn't had one in so long. It was amazing. Throughout the weekend we decided that I would head north for the night and then come back and pick her up and we would go to Detroit together and make it a road trip as it was also her favorite restaurant. I knew it would be a ton more fun driving to Detroit if I had company, especially her and I.
So Sunday I was in Muskegon, Michigan. The hotel was beautiful, the room was great, but there is NOTHING in Muskegon, NOTHING. It didn't matter much I had a king suite with a jacuzzi, so I didn't need to leave the room. I enjoyed some much needed me time and some great naked hot tubing gazing out over the lake as I sipped on my beverage. It was very relaxing and well worth the money, which was an amazing discount since it was off season.
Monday and I went and picked her back up and we drove to Detroit and got to eat at our favorite place, and even took two to go orders back with us, two a piece. lol. We drove by some of our old favorites, we walked through campus which was so creepy to me, it's so different and while it sometimes feels like yesterday was creepy to realize I graduated from there 9 years ago already. Oh but we had some laughs. On the way back to her place (2 1/2 hours away) we stopped and saw an old friend of mine and had dinner with her between classes and had a good time and then headed back to GR.
I had planned on heading to my parents but our road trip conversations had just hit an ultimate depth level and I wasn't ready to leave so I decided to stay another night. We hung out with her friend Cara for awhile and then I finally fell asleep. Tuesday I drove to my parents and spent the rest of the week/weekend catching up with so many people and running around like crazy from place to place trying to cram in as much as I could in 5 days. I did pretty good and didn't get any messages from people upset that I wasn't visiting them, of course I think they got the hint last time. I have priorities when I visit the old home front, my family and those that think enough of me to call/text/email/facebook with me in the year that I had been gone. I realized over the last year I had too many "friendships" that were totally one sided and I just stopped worrying about them so much.
I had a great vacation, so much laughing and catching up with people. I even hit up the club on Tuesday night with some of the old club goers and had a dragalicious night as always. I did realize though that I enjoy my time off more if I'm with people. While I enjoyed my time in Muskegon just relaxing and doing nothing, I had really wished I had brought people with me. I get bored pretty easily now if there isn't something to be done, but I managed o.k and learned that for next time.
I felt bad for the directions I wasn't able to go this time, but there are just so many people that I care about and care about me in all different directions, it's so difficult to manage a trip to them all in such a short time. I plan on extended weekends all throughout next year to hit up those that I missed, because I really did/do miss them. You know who you are.
I will probably not do another 9 days stretch again as it really screws up my paycheck, no third shift premium, no overtime, it was just not good, but I don't regret it, I just learned from it and enjoyed it all the same.
There was an interesting conversation that I heard at my parents when I was there, though that is tomorrow's blog post, that little morsel I've been chewing on and processing since.
Anytime anyone wants to have a Zombie apocalypse party though, just let me know because it was hilarious!!!
The 6 hour drive wasn't as bad as I was thinking it could have been but I made it up there and no soon than I parked my car we were pretty much headed out to the bar to meet some of her friends. I had only met one of these friends before but they were a great group of people. We spent the evening having drinks at their favorite dive bar with a really cute waiter who wore an amazing pair of blue camo boxer briefs, how do I know you might ask? Well he showed us, it was just that kind of fun night. lol.
Saturday we met up with some more friends to watch the Michigan/Michigan State game at a sports bar by her house and much fun was had. That night we had the Zombie Apocalypse party. It's quite the conversation that has led to this party, but it went well. We had a brain shaped jello mold loaded with vodka, brain shaped rice crispy treats, and some really bad zombie movies. At the beginning of the party each person was given 2 bait cards. As we watched and critiqued the zombie movies and what the survivors were doing wrong, if someone said something stupid you gave them your bait card and at the end of the night whoever had the most bait cards was going to be our zombie bait so the rest of us could get away.
Well needless to say, 1 simple comment and I got like 12 bait cards at once. All I said was "Hey, that zombie's pretty cute, could I keep him tied up as my pet?" I mean really if he's tied up what harm could come to anyone in the compound? Yeah, I guess I deserved them, but we laughed so hard all night long. She has some pretty amazing and very cute friends, yes I may have flirted a bit, but it wasn't going to get me anywhere so it was harmless.
Sunday she treated me to her famous New Mexico style enchiladas that she used to make me when we were in college, I love them and hadn't had one in so long. It was amazing. Throughout the weekend we decided that I would head north for the night and then come back and pick her up and we would go to Detroit together and make it a road trip as it was also her favorite restaurant. I knew it would be a ton more fun driving to Detroit if I had company, especially her and I.
So Sunday I was in Muskegon, Michigan. The hotel was beautiful, the room was great, but there is NOTHING in Muskegon, NOTHING. It didn't matter much I had a king suite with a jacuzzi, so I didn't need to leave the room. I enjoyed some much needed me time and some great naked hot tubing gazing out over the lake as I sipped on my beverage. It was very relaxing and well worth the money, which was an amazing discount since it was off season.
Monday and I went and picked her back up and we drove to Detroit and got to eat at our favorite place, and even took two to go orders back with us, two a piece. lol. We drove by some of our old favorites, we walked through campus which was so creepy to me, it's so different and while it sometimes feels like yesterday was creepy to realize I graduated from there 9 years ago already. Oh but we had some laughs. On the way back to her place (2 1/2 hours away) we stopped and saw an old friend of mine and had dinner with her between classes and had a good time and then headed back to GR.
I had planned on heading to my parents but our road trip conversations had just hit an ultimate depth level and I wasn't ready to leave so I decided to stay another night. We hung out with her friend Cara for awhile and then I finally fell asleep. Tuesday I drove to my parents and spent the rest of the week/weekend catching up with so many people and running around like crazy from place to place trying to cram in as much as I could in 5 days. I did pretty good and didn't get any messages from people upset that I wasn't visiting them, of course I think they got the hint last time. I have priorities when I visit the old home front, my family and those that think enough of me to call/text/email/facebook with me in the year that I had been gone. I realized over the last year I had too many "friendships" that were totally one sided and I just stopped worrying about them so much.
I had a great vacation, so much laughing and catching up with people. I even hit up the club on Tuesday night with some of the old club goers and had a dragalicious night as always. I did realize though that I enjoy my time off more if I'm with people. While I enjoyed my time in Muskegon just relaxing and doing nothing, I had really wished I had brought people with me. I get bored pretty easily now if there isn't something to be done, but I managed o.k and learned that for next time.
I felt bad for the directions I wasn't able to go this time, but there are just so many people that I care about and care about me in all different directions, it's so difficult to manage a trip to them all in such a short time. I plan on extended weekends all throughout next year to hit up those that I missed, because I really did/do miss them. You know who you are.
I will probably not do another 9 days stretch again as it really screws up my paycheck, no third shift premium, no overtime, it was just not good, but I don't regret it, I just learned from it and enjoyed it all the same.
There was an interesting conversation that I heard at my parents when I was there, though that is tomorrow's blog post, that little morsel I've been chewing on and processing since.
Anytime anyone wants to have a Zombie apocalypse party though, just let me know because it was hilarious!!!
Sounds like fun, and I'm SO glad you included time for yourself!!!
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