Sam's Birthday Weekend

 I needed to get a photo with this mullet when we were out!

Soooo I am supposed to be writing on a Sunday to update this baby, but i got home from CF in the afternoon and was too busy (and exhausted) to get round to updating. 

Packing is going well. Pretty much everything is done. I have my 2 suitcases ready to go (minus last minutes) and my carry-ons. Today I packed and shipped my one box. I was shocked at how cheap it was! I got quotes on 50 lb boxes from several places (USPS, UPS, FedEx, and several local shipping companies). All of these options were between $500 and $600. Needless to say, I decided not to go that option unless I did not have to. I even looked into cargo shipping companies and those sites were people bid on the cost they are willing to pick-up and deliver your shipments for. Those were way more expensive or did not ship to the UK. lame. 

I had it in my mind that I would just do the 2 suitcases and carry-ons, but after all the strategic packing I could muster I still had things I wanted. Sooo I decided to just ship one box full of things I thought were lighter - my vintage hats, belts, tights, leggins, headbands, etc. That one box ended up being 24 x 18 x 18 and weighing 31 lbs. I was not looking forward to shipping that baby. Finally drug it over to the USPS today after shoving it in my little car (that's soon not to be mine anymore!) around 3:30 pm. It took ages to fill out the customs form but luckily I had already made up my detailed list of contents and values. My grand total to ship it priority (I had no choice, but priority was actually the cheapest option anyways) came to $131 and will arrive in 6-10 business days. I am thrilled at this price! I am sure that I will need to pay a customs fee when it arrives, but definitely could not replace all of those items for anywhere near that number. Well worth the money spent as long as it arrives in one piece. Added bonuses - I got free insurance on it AND I should arrive in the country before the box does. My goodness that's exciting!

Super pumped to have that ticked off my list of things left to go (it's kinda a long list for having only one week left, lol). I have a feeling this week is only going to get busier. At least that will make the time fly by!

So to get on with the title of this blog. I spent from Wed the 1st to yesterday in CF with Sam for her birthday.  I loaded up the puppies and headed out before 11 am (impressive time, I thought considering all the things I had to do before I left the house), arriving around noon. I put the puppies in their decorated collars and headed for Sam's door....to find her not home! After several phone calls I find out she is at a massage and her boyfriend arrives to let me in. Sam gets in about a half hour later, totally not surprised since she parked next to my car. She was, however, pleased that i brought the puppies with me.

We had a really fun super extended weekend - ate the cake made out of donuts, went to the craziest session of Zumba at the local gym where we learned a squawking hawk dance move, rented some movies, etc.

On Friday she had a birthday party for which we made up some good food and had her friends over. That was followed by time at a karaoke bar where the DJ would not let us sing. I was pissed because he didn't know me as the famous karaoke star from Menomonie that I am. lol. When Jared found this out he got all puffed up and paid the DJ to let us sing a tune with 2 of Sam's friends. All in all it was a good time. The apartment was left a disaster at the end of the night, largely due to a vomit issue by Jared. lol. 

Saturday we had lunch with our family and some of our parent's friends at Red Lobster. We then attended the UNI basketball game. We saw a fun halftime show of a unicycle family that did some really neat tricks on like 8 ft tall unicyles. I got to meet the UNI president and the Recreation/Alum guy due to a family friend that attended the game with us being alum and his son donating the money for the McLeod Center. We beat the rival team that stole the 5th best player in the state from UNI. Best of all, I got to do the interlude dance again! Love that dance! It's clearly the best thing to come out of UNI ever. If you don't know it then you should check it out here! It is a song from a band called Attack! attack! and the dance was made up by some UNI students a few years ago. I will be bringing this to England with me!

We did not do too too much the rest of the time together, but it was some great sister time for sure. I had a wonderful little break in CF and even picked up a few new t-shirts that I am super excited about. Now that I am back things are starting to feel a bit unreal - almost like I am living in some strange dream. I am in a complete fog as my time of leaving rapidly approaches. I think this is a good thing because I would be quite intolerable if I were to express my excitement all the time for the big move! lol.

Keep checking back here, I have a feeling as the date approaches (one week to go!!) I will be using this to help cope with my utter excitement.