Pictures

Here's the album of our trip, or at least the link...

I am trying to find a way to publish the slide show in this blog but I am having a frustrated time doing it

Enjoy

http://picasaweb.google.com/crburton1/blakeandchristinastripfromthewestcoasttotheeastcoastaugust2008?pli=1&gsessionid=TN-owrtohunj3cmzwspmpq 

And Blake goes home

After letting Buster outside to do her business, I feed her and giver her her meds and try to go back to sleep for a few more hours, it was 6:30, although Blake has completely spread out all over the bed and I have to wake him up and move him over, which I do. We fall asleep cuddling for a few more hours. Once we wake up, I send him away to pack while I give Mattie her meds and make breakfast. Our last breakfast together for 3 months. It was sad. But we got through it, and got ready to go. The plan was to get to Grand Central Terminal early so we can spend some time with each other before he got into a taxi and off to JFK. In case your confused, driving in Manhattan is Crazy, and driving to JFK airport is also crazy. If he were to take subways to the airport he would have to transfer to about 3 or 4 different airports, crazy. So we took the train into Grand Central and sat at a table for an hour in a half. We did good. We were not an emotional mess like I thought we would be. Its okay. Then after some coffee, the "make a box" game on a napkin (Shannon you know what I am talking about :) ), a slice of pizza we began to make our way to the outside world were that dreaded taxi awaits. Once there, we hugged briefly and before I burst into tears I almost shoved him into the taxi and off back into Grand Central, and on my way home. Once on the train I tried to read, and I was even texting Blake but sitting on that train felt so different, lonely. Another transition that I must overcome. Yesterday was hard, my eyes hurt, and my heart ached, but its going to be okay, I will just get through this week and then school starts and I will be too busy to miss Blake. Then November will be here and after a visit with my grandma Blake will be here, then I will fly home for the holidays. All will work out in the end.
Here's the plan now. I will post another blog with all the pictures from our trip, then I will post a blog about once a week keeping tabs on all that I am doing... I miss and love you all and will see you all soon. :)

Our last big aventure into the city

Thursday August 21, 2008 was our last venture into the big bad city, and we conquered! Our plan was to hit up Strand's this awesome used bookstore down in Greenwich Village, which is very close to Union Square so getting was was a piece of cake! We are pros navigated down the 4-5-6 Subway line (which takes you to Union Square). This store was pretty cool, its the 18 miles of books, and you can buy books by the yard... Pretty cool, no. Do you want to look hip and pretentious? Then go to that store and tell them you wanna buy 1 yard of books and your interest include: music, photography, philosophy, post-modernism, and classic literature... POW you've got your pretentious collection of books for you perfect apt in New York. Hahaha, just kidding. But really this store is fantastic. There were so many books to look at the Blake starting texting me, "I'm lost, were are you?" cause I kept wandering about (and for those of you that know me, I like to wander).
Afterwards, when we had our matching Strand Bookstore messenger bags (yes, we are hip) we took the shuttle train over to Time Square, preparing ourselves to be overwhelmed. And YES, I finally got a "WOW" out of Blake (that is of course, a wow out of the bedroom, tehetehe) Time Square for those of you that haven't been there is quite intense... Image all the people at Disneyland on a very busy day in July, then add Las Vegas without the casino but all the bill boards, lights, and glitter. Then add Los Angeles with all its shops, glitz, and people trying to buy your soul for $5.50 a tour ride and you've got Time Square. We passed the ABC building, and MTV (oooh how exc...WHO CARES!) and rows and rows of shops, giant telepromters, television screens, ads galore, a tour bus on every corner... And tons, and tons of people! We walked around for roughly an hour in a half (in the meantime eating a slice of pizza and peeing in the Hard Rock cafe), then stopping for a Murphys Stout in this fancy little bar called Playwrights Tavern (and when we walked in the bar keep stated, "The restaurant is upstairs" to which I replied, "We want to drink BEER!" and I always get what I want. :) Okay, not really, but I like to try. Afterwards we quickly made our way back to Grand Central and off on the Metro-North back home. We bought some wine and ice cream for our last dinner together... The night was sad, but amazing at the same time. Our meal was excellent, we had wine first in the backyard rehashing the last two weeks, then making some promises to each other which will have to somehow last these next two years. Then dessert and bad TV for a little while, before collapsing into each other arms in violent sobs and tight embraces, and afterwards falling asleep in each others arms to emotional exhausted to move for a glass of water. The last day was approaching fast and we tried to prolong the sunrise, but alas we did not make it. Buster (the awesome dog that I am going to help take care of when Trish is away working or spending time with family) woke us up early morning because she had to pee. The day had begun.

"Eat a hot dog" part 2

Our second day into the city we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Central Park. This day was superb! We didnt stay in the Met too long, lots of people, and I think we were a little over Art (we did a lot of that before leaving home). But we did see the Superheros Fashion thing which crossed superheros costumes and fashion, pretty cool-we saw the original outfits of batman, catwomen, iron man, and others that I forgot (from the new movies). We then went into some modern art and the impressionists and saw works from Picasso, Warhol, and some cool feminist/racial/social problems works, oooh and some Greek and Roman statues. Then off to Central Park-this place if freaking huge! We wandered for miles it seemed only to get lost a few times... But we did find "Strawberry Feilds" park-where there is a John Lennon memorial. A guy I am guessing hangs out there playing nothing but John Lennon songs and will dance around if there is a camera on him... Very amusing. Blake and I were then famished, we wanted food. The plan was to find this restaurant called "Tavern on the green" to have lunch. Finding it was a little difficult, and somewhere between Strawberry Fields and the Tavern there was a hot dog stand, and Blake finally, FINALLY was able to get a hot dog from a New York street vendor, he was happy and the hot dog was everything he hoped/thought it would be. It was happy times. The Tavern was crazy expensive! CRAZY, there were two courses that you had to have (both courses at $20) and the sandwiches were about $18.... So we thought no, and found a restaurant away from the park.
After eating we tried to find our way back to the subway that we needed and almost got lost. We took a subway a few streets across town, then had to get off and walk about 5 blocks north and 1 ave east. We ended up walking through uptown Manhattan and right next to Rockafeller Center. Pretty cool, indeed. All the apts had doorman, even Saks 5th ave (which is the ave we were off of). When we finally found our stop (underneath the NY City Library) we were happy people. We made it back to Grand Central and to our train, the Metro-North to White Plains. Home by 5, we made leftovers, and sat on the couch watching Family Guy and Project Runaway... I was nice a recuperating. Our final trip into the city was the next day. We had to physically prepare, and mentally prepare. Sad times ahead.

Day 12: "Eat a hot dog!"

Today was our second day into the city, and we are figuring out our way nicely. The subways aren't as scary as they were last year, and even walking around the city doesn't feel as foreign to me as it did last year. Its kinda like walking through LA except with tons more people. We went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island yesterday; Central Park and the Met today. We have had so much fun!
The Statue of Liberty was nutty, you get put on a boat after going through security first of course, and this guy in front of us in line had so much crap with him it was ridiculous, are you really going to need your laptop, and nail files with clippers to see some gift from the French when probably a few years ago you were eating "freedom fries" geesh, REALLY?!?! No, is my answer to that one. But we got there safely beside that guy with the evil nail cutters-he wasn't even allowed on the boat-poor you and your family. Liberty Island was neat, we got there, got food, then wandered around. You had to have a "monument pass" before actually gaining access into the pillar that the Ms.s stands on, which of course we didnt have, you must book that weeks in advance. So we walked around, took pictures from the sides and of Manhattan. Then we waited in line with a million of other people before piling into another boat to go to Ellis Island. By this time we were beat. We walked the 2 stories of exhibits before looking up Pat's families name and heading outside to take a picture of it, "The Avedisian Family" We found them! And I got pictures. Pretty cool huh? Then after trying to find some of my own families names we got frustrated and headed to the mainland. After again waiting forever in the hot sun with tons of little kids around, we piled onto the boat and headed back. While on the boat this family had two little kids with them and nowhere to sit so they sat them inside their strollers and waited out the ride. These kids were not having it! they were crying and screaming and pulling each others hairs, the oldest child was twisting in his chair, screaming and flailing about. The parent were obviously stressed out, and when they tried to leave the father was slowly pushing the kids out of the boat, when some other stupid fat old man got all angry with him, "LEARN HOW TO BE PATIENT, WE'RE ALL TRYING TO LEAVE, BE PATIENT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" EW! The flabbergasted parent looked at this man and said, "I have two screaming children, what do you want me to do, I am trying to get through just as you sir..." The other man held the stroller back and pushed his way through rudely without any regard for anyone else (let me also remind you that there were about 200 people trying to get through 1 door on the bottom floor of this boat, people were coming from 3 stories up and while we were exiting there was one man at the door yelling at us to keep coming, move faster, and watch your head, it was hot, the waves were rocking, and there were children screaming as if they were being executed!). So the man with the children replied, "Hey, why don't you be patient" but that comment was ignored. We were off the boat and easily navigated ourselves to Union Square were we were meeting Christian. We stopped at this coffee shop and bar, where everyone who worked there looked like a model, no joke, they even had this attitude about them, "we're the pretty people, don't talk to us." heh, well we had some drinks, and off to meet Christian for dinner. Dinner was good, expensive, but good. More beers. Christian was good also, his dreams it sounds like are coming true. Living in Manhattan, playing music all the time, and teaching music; it was so nice to see him doing so well.
Are next trip into the city was not quite as eventful, but we did almost, sorta, kinda get lost, but not really. And Blake finally got his hot dog.
More tomorrow.....

Mattie is sick. :(

Mattie started sneezing sometime between TN and VA (yea for state abbreviations!) and greenish/yellowish goo started coming out of her eyes, it was sad times. When we arrived here in NY she seemed to be getting better, no more yellow/green stuff from her eyes in fact. Then she became lethargic even though the sneezing was also to a minimum. So yesterday Blake and I decided to take her to the Pet Smart in Yonkers to get her check out and to sign her up with their pet insurance plan. Well well, she was sick. She was constipated and had to receive an enema which was given to her without sedatives and oh my god, the noises that came out of her mouth were scary. The whole office was on fire with her screams! She also has an upper respiratory infection and an eye infection thing going on. This means 3 different types of medicine to give to her all at once. Not fun. In fact I just finished giving her her medicine and she was so pissed at me she would not come near me. She was hiding behind my laundry basket and when I walked by she would hide down under the couch. :( But she also got some food, so she will be okay. :) She can't hate me too long. The vet recommended pumpkin in a can to mix in with her food since its high in fiber and so far so good. She seems to like it just fine, she just ate a good portion of her food. Which makes me very happy. Now we are just waiting with bated breath to see if she has a bowel movement, goodness, we are exciting aren't we.

Day 9: Welcome Home

Today has been the first full day of living in my new home. My first trip to Target (and goodness, as we pulled into the Target parking lot someone pulled into and exit only, and I was honked at numerous times for driving too slow, and taking too long at stop signs and stop lights, Lauren especially, people drive like shit out here!), and my first trip to the grocery store. Today was a good day. Blake and I ran errands, we leisurely got up and had breakfast, showered and all that fun stuff. Then off to the crazy parkways (aka freeways) to get to Target-which is in Mt. Vernon. Then downtown Bronxville in order to get some food stuffs, but first to the local coffee shop, "Slave to the Grind" then the local bookstore-which now Blake wants to go back and buy tons of books....hehe, he is such a nerd. I reminded him that he works at a bookstore and thus gets a discount....hmmm I see I'm the smart one in this relationship, ha, although I did just move across the country to go to a school I cannot afford to get a degree that I as of right now have know idea what I will do with once I graduate. I'll let you all decide who's the smarty here. :)
I'm now unpacked, had dinner with Blake and Trish (which if she lets me I will post a picture), and now we are off to watch a fun filled movie: Manhattan Murder Mystery, by Woody Allen. Tomorrow is my interview, wish me luck, I miss home, but not too much.... My adventure begins now.

Day 7: "Now I actually feel like we are on vacation!"

We leave TN Thursday morning at 7am and the "continental breakfast" offered was sugary store bought muffins and bad coffee, I know that we really shouldn't complain about a free breakfast, but come on! South, really you need some better food, and more imagination!
We get to my uncle Brian's house after 2 and were greeted with cheese, green peppers, crackers, cucumbers and good dark beer; now thats what I'm talking about! Then after all that was said and done we continued to drink beers while he made us a nice pasta, broccoli cheese, frittata and it was amazing... Ahh to have good food again, it felt great!
The next day we (My uncle Brian, Blake and I) went in to DC, well for me it was the 2nd time, I was a pro...Blake not so much it was his first, hehe
Washington DC is great, I like it there so much! We started on the "Mall" which to many, and maybe only in SoCAl means a huge place with overpriced stores where people are dressed way too fancy to buy a pretzel at Aunt Annie's. Goodness. Anyways, the mall is where all our nationals monuments are housed, aka the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument, (which is quite a phallic representation for our country, hmmm a psychiatrist could have a field day with whomever decided to erect that big boy...oh by the way those puns were totally intended :P ). So we started there and went directly to the Capital building because you need to get tickets on a first come first serve basis before being directed through the building by at least 8 different people, intense! We went through at least 2 different security screenings and was led on this nice cookie cutter tour of the building. Don't get me wrong, it was incredible! the aucoustics alone were incredible! There were statues of freedom fighters, past presidents, Nancy Pelousi's office, etc. Then we sat in the HOR chamber, "The Gallery" which was interesting and I learned a slight Latin lesson (ask Blake cause I don't remember what the phrase was that I read).
After that we went to the Library of Congress, and after finding the main building we actually saw the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, but also the Bill of Rights, pretty cool! Then off to another room that housed all that was left of Thomas Jefferson's library which he sold to Congress after the first time the White House was set on fire and I think they bought it for like 24 g's (although I don't think they referred to money as g's yet).
Afterwards we saw all the monuments, the WWII, Vietnam, Koren War, Lincoln, and the very famous Washington Monument. At this point I was exhausted, in fact I think we all were but we made it across the mighty Potomac River and peek into the Arlington Cemetery before crawling into the Metro station to go back to Brian's house. We made another awesome home cooked meal, while drinking beers and wine...which retrospectively maybe wasn't the greatest idea, because soon after I was falling asleep and talking to Blake from the dreams I was having, haha. I was physically, and emotionally exhausted after all this was the last stop before the final treck to New York.

Okra Anyone?

So this post comes to you all a day late, I am now sitting at my uncle Brian's house in Ashburn, VA watching John Adams. I have a full belly and two beers in me. We had (FINALLY!) an awesome warm home cooked meal of pasta, broccoli frittatas and fresh baked bread.  There is a thunderstorm making a racket outside, a panting dog and scared kitty in the next room. I am comfortable, and my cat is getting there.

And now about yesterday. :)

We were in Tennessee yesterday hanging out with my Aunt Sharon. It was amazing. I cannot really remember when the last time was that I saw her or even her family.  Blake and I had a great time.  They took us in, fed us, and made us comfortable before taking us out to dinner and giving us a tour of their town.  We got to know my cousins while we were there, Bryce (sp) and Jessica (ooh who just had the cutest baby boy, Trevin hes only 4 months old!). Later my uncle George came home with fresh okra for me to try. This is apparently the thing to eat in the south, and  I have a huge bag of this stuff! Its a green veggie for those of you that have no idea what this is. Apparently the way to eat it is to cut it up into little pieces, and batter it up then fry it (which seems to be the way of the south).  I want to try all the ways to eat it: fried, sauteed, steamed, and who knows what else. oOh and I have fresh apples from someone's trees, which one could also find tips on how to pick apples on the local news. super!  I think the hardest part about being in Tennessee is the fact that we were in the "sticks," all through the state we were in the "country." It was hard to understand people because of the accents, and slightly disconcerting to see so many people sporting the confederate flag like it was Prada or something. According to my aunt its as if some think that the south is going to rise up again and take over so they gotta wear that damn flag proudly. haha.  However, there is a sad side to all of this, apparently the literacy levels are really low, and to become a teacher all you need is a high school degree.  A lot of government money for education never reaches the south and many people suffer because of it.  Some people also are afraid of progress and will do whatever they can to prevent it from coming to their towns (like a golf course, or electricity). I almost wish there was something that I could do to bring more education to these ares, or trust, or jeez anything. Or maybe I am too must of an idealist.  

(now check out pictures of my family: Jessica and her son Trevin, 3 months old, and my aunt Sharon; my uncle George, and aunt Sharon)

I'm So Over Southern FOOD!

We are in Tennessee today, and its georgous! It's lush, and green everywhere! We are constantly driving through mountainous areas, its beautiful. There's ivy here that looks as if it is some alien creature that is slowly taking over the other plant like and then turns these trees into horrible looking ivy-monsters. Its great! Tomorrow We are off to see my Aunt Sharon, which is going to be awesome! I don't think I have seen her in over 5 years, and I have never really met her family, (well maybe once or twice when I was a baby, but pphhh that doesn't count!).
Blake and I went out to dinner tonight at this restaurant next to our hotel, and it was such crap! Everywhere I go there is nothing but deep fried fatty food and sweet god damned ice tea! I can't even get eggs without them being over-cooked. Last night at the restaurant/bar that blake and I went to in Oklahoma, Blake ordered a chicken finger basket, and what he got was super gross. deep-fried chicken fingers, french fries, toast, and white gravy...gross! I don't think that my stomache likes me very much right now. Tonight at least I ate eggs, toast, and avacado but when I ordered it the waitrees, even though she was super sweet, looked at me like I was crazy. Of course, she did just finish going over all the different types of steaks we could eat, and boy she was excited to tell us! I want to go to my uncles house to eat, he has good food! OOh but my Aunt is getting us some yummy foods too! Very excited to finally see some family that has some good foods to eat. (and the restaurant that we went to didn't even sell beer, blasphemy!)
and check out some pics from the road, and the super kitty, Mattie!

Day 3: F'ing Rain!

So its day 3 and no driving today, grrrr.  There is thunderstorms all over where we are supposed to drive today and this is annoying! Today we were suppose to drive through the rest of Oklahoma then proceed through Arkansas and settle into Nashville Tennessee by tonight.  Well that plan was shot to shit, the main storms are sitting on Arkansas.  There is flash flood warnings all through Arkansas, and from what Blake's cousins says, the storms out here are hard and fast (I dont want to hear any "that's what she said jokes!" ) :D , So we stayed. Another night here at the Best Western in Oklahoma... Don't get me wrong this place is nice! We have a king size bed and a huge room! I think its even bigger than the room I stayed in at grandmas place. The continental breakfast is even better than at the Econolodge we stayed at in New Mexico. We are going to go to the happy hour tonight, I hope, and drink beers for $1.  If the storms don't let up we may have to stay here on more night, grrrrr...... We may not be able to see as much of Virginia as I wanted to, but that would just mean Blake would have to come back to see more of the East Coast. :D and that makes me SMILE. 

 

Day 2: Armadillo's are in the Road!

We left New Mexico somewhere around 6:30am, and watched an amazing sun rise. As Blake and I were packing my car back up, I tossed Blake's very expensive sunglasses on the passenger car seat, which of course he sat on, UGH! thats how the day started.  I then got on the wrong freeway, going west and we needed to go east. It was aweful! We went about 10 miles in the wrong direction!  After getting through New Mexico, we entered into Texas. Texas is very strange and very bland.  Ranches, cows, grains and grass was all we saw.  As we entered into Texas the welcome sign stated "The Proud Home Of George W. Bush" talk about scary.  A sign was posted as soon as you drove through the stateline which stated all the speed limit laws and there were a ton, oh and a city has the name "Bushland" hmmm coincidence? I don't know.... I fell asleep though the last half of that drive through Texas, and missed the welcome sign to Oklahoma, but Oklahoma is definitely prettier than Texas.  Although I think we spotted about 6 or so Armadillo corpses on the side of the road. It was tragic, what the hell is going on out here to have road kill of soley Armadillos? HUH?  Anyways now we are here in a comfy king size bed relaxing and watching some of Die Hard 3.  It is now 11pm here (in the last two days we have lost two hours of time in this crazy time zone thing!) so I must sleep. We must get up at 5am to drive to Nashville, Tennessee....

More to come tomorrow night. :)

(ooooh the pictures are from Texas, and the cross is known as the largest cross in the western hemisphere or something like that)

Hello All!!!

We are now in Gallup, New Mexico and we're exhausted! We made it here in almost exactly ten hours, and now after a hot shower and hot meal (beer included) its time for some bad tv, updating the blog and relaxing Mattie. 

She is doing fine by the way. She made it ten hours in the car, she was restless at first. Then after about six hours of driving I think she was so emotionally exhausted she took turns sleeping on both Blake and My laps. It was adorable!

Well Check out the pictures from the road, cause I want to go to bed now. We are getting up at 5 am tomorrow! I miss everyone!

http://picasaweb.google.com/crburton1/day1thecargallupnewmexico/

**To see pictures: Copy and paste in the web browser and it should work**

My Last Day

Well here it is~ My last day. I don't quite know how I feel about this at this moment: excited, scared, sad, nervous...haha, hungover. I said my goodbyes to some people last night at Skosh's in Costa Mesa, (I am really going to miss that bar, its such a lovely place to hang out at). Last night felt like a Borders reunion of past employees and all that was missing was Robbie and Dorothy, I was ecstatic to see everyone there last night. Now I have to get my lazy ass out of bed and pack up my car, figure out how I am going to stuff all of my clothes into 1 suitcase, and tie up any loose ends left in my room and bathroom.  Its going to be quite an adventure  

I'm Moving

I'm moving in less than a week. I'm a little sad, and nervous. I don't know what to really expect~but at the same time I am pretty excited. Our road trip is going to be amazing, I cannot wait to get into my car with Blake and just drive across country. He's hasn't done a lot of traveling and I have not seen the US this way, so our trip is going to be super exciting. We had a going away party last weekend at Dina's house, it was a lot of fun. Beer Pong, paper, rock, scissors with James, and being thrown in the pool all are highlights of the event. I saw some old friends, called a few old/new friends, and fell asleep around 1:30 (stupid naesua) and was horribly hung-over the next day. Luckily my sister took wonderful care of my and fed me around 3pm (which helped out a ton), and with the loving support of my Blake all was well. I am really going to miss everyone.