12/31/04 Pre-trip

Hello, it's me again. I thought I was done writing; however, I have more to say. Shoulda figured. Bret and I have had a good couple of days here. What a great way to start off the Bowl-Game-Trip-o-rama. When we met up on Tuesday the 28th, Bret, my mom and I ate dinner, and then we opened Christmas presents - but THEN! I gave Bret some directions to a place he had no idea what/where it was and said, "we're going on an ADVENTURE!" I drove, because he had been driving all day and because it was fun to say things like "oh, we're here" when we had stopped at a traffic light by a gas station. It's fun trying to confuse him - and often very easy. Haha!

Eventually, I saw our destination glowing in the distance. There stood the Mormon Temple and millions of Christmas lights on trees all around. We saw the living nativity, the Christmas trees decorated with different cultural themes (countries?) and then walked through a room of nativity scenes from around the world! It was nice to share one of my family's traditions with him.

The following day we did what every boy loves to do ... go shopping. But this was no ordinary shopping experience. We went to Tyson's Corner = HUGE 2-level mall. It's nothing like our little NRV Mall in Christiansburg. Our trip was successful. Bret and I both bought shoes (although I might return mine), and I got to visit with my roommate Jania, who now works at the Hecht's there. She gave me a 20% discount on an already 50% off item! Bret got to visit the Lego Store, and I had to drag him away from the $300 Star Wars Millennium Falcon model. Oh, and we went to the L.L. Bean store to check up on uniform ordering (girls' skirts) because I'm a slacker and haven't actually ordered them yet. If I go and order them there we get FREE SHIPPING! By the end of our trip to the mall, we were worn out! We went home and chilled out after dinner and watched Sea of Love, a surprisingly scary and suspenseful movie starring [a young] Al Pacino.

Tuesday, we slept late and made clay figures. Bret should show you his ice-cream eating alien and its pet bunny. At five, we went to Clyde's Tower Oaks Lodge, an Alaskan- esque, fancy-shmancy place with "mmm" good food. Then, we went to see Spanglish. Very good movie. 3.7821 stars. Go see it. Then, we went home to do our New Year's Countdown, drink sparkling cider, and continue to make toasts to random things like banana hammocks (ahh!) and cute furry puppies (aww!) That's how we celebrate. Yeah, we're weird.

Okay, really fast 'cause Bret needs to get on the road... He's now sitting across from me in a Souvlaki-like place in Rockville and wondering when I'm going to stop writing. Anyway... time to go. Thanks for your attention. Class dismissed.

Have a great time. Be safe. And wear your water wings if you go in the pool.

-Gina