Has it set in yet?

This all came about pretty fast and it's still kinda sinking into my brain! There are only 17 days left until I go. I have to make sure I pack as much as I can in that little carry on suit case that I'm allowing myself. At least it's only a weekend! If I check one bag it'll cost $25 each way. I would much rather save $50! Plus, I can have my luggage with me at all times. Then I can avoid waiting forever for all the bags to unload from the airplane.

Everything has been booked. Hotel is booked, but not paid for until I arrive. Flights are booked and paid for. All having window seats with even numbers! And most importantly, the ticket for the Glaminar has been purchased! I also broke the news to my Mom that I'm going. She was alright with it, but she's nervous that I'm going alone. I'm going to miss her and Ben so much while I'm away. Ben said he'd go, but it's so close to the holiday season that he can't.

I am so excited to go! I've been following Kandee's blog for a few years now. I remember when she had her first Glaminar last year and I never thought that I'd ever go to one. Especially one so far away! I'll be three time zones away from home! :o

17 days...

It's official...

I'm going to Reno!!!

Step two complete!

A few moments ago I booked my hotel in Reno. It's the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino and I booked it for November 12 and 13. I was going to book the flight and the hotel together through Expedia, but I would rather be sure I can stay where the Glaminar is being held. It's bad enough I'm going to have to get a taxi to and from the airport to the hotel. I don't want to have to be traveling all over Reno! Haha!

All I have to do is see how much I have in this paycheck and I can buy my ticket for the Glaminar. Even if I have what I usually have, it'll be enough for my ticket. This pay should have my Columbus Day holiday pay, which will make it a little bit more than usual. I'm going to have to skip out on paying a few bills this month, but I'm never late on payments. My credit is crap anyway, so fuck it!

My weekend was so perfect! On Saturday, Mom and I went to the Menlo Park Mall and she bought me soaps and goodies from Lush for my birthday. Then Ben got out of work early and took me to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania to spend the night. Our hotel had a hot tub which was soo nice! Saturday night we went to dinner at the Copper Kettle, which was a little hole in the wall place that had incredible food. Thank you Urbanspoon! We shared a bowl of lobster bisque to start. Ben had a steak with BBQ sauce and cheese on top and I had crab cakes. Both were delicious!! We then went back to our hotel and relaxed with some wine and bailey's in the hot tub. I was with my sweetheart and couldn't have asked for a better birthday weekend. On Sunday, we drove home and stopped at the Lehigh Valley Mall. Ben got me new makeup brushes from Sephora, two eye shadows by Make Up For Ever, the new Poppy Coach perfume, and a makeup box. He's such a wonderful boyfriend. When he gave me my gifts, I let him open his birthday gift too. I bought him an Ipad which he loved! Our birthdays are pretty close, mine is October 17 and his is the 31.

Enough for now! I hope I can be buying my ticket late tomorrow night!! I thought this picture was pretty neat.

Constantly pondering...

So I've been doing a lot of thinking about what it is I want to do with my life. There's always been the option of going back to nursing school to get my LPN or RN. I also would love to do cosmetology or make-up artistry. After a lot of thinking (and more thinking), I am seriously considering going to beauty school. It's something I really love doing. I've been a CNA (certified nurses aide) for almost four years and I still haven't gotten any ambition to go back to nursing school. I know I'd be good at it, my heart's just not in it.

What really got me thinking is when I thought about going to this Glaminar (make-up seminar) in November. I thought to myself, "why can't I do this?". I mean, I'm really good at doing my own makeup and love doing hair. When I'm at work, I always get compliments on how beautiful my makeup is. A lot of people I've been talking to agree that I should go for it, including Ben. I love that he is willing to completely support me in anything I choose to do. My mom on the other hand, would be disappointed if I chose this line of work. She's always wanted me to be a nurse. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the work I do as an aide. I just don't know if I could do it and be happy.

So, my first step to possibly going to this Glaminar was complete: I got the days off that I needed from work. Now, I just have to wait until I get paid on the 21st to see if I can afford it and if there are any tickets still available. It's on November 13 in Reno, NV. I would have to go alone, but I'm alright with that.

There are two different classes and if I'm going to travel almost 3,000 miles, I'm going to both! I would want to go to both regardless of where it was held. Kandee, the woman who's running these events, have them in a lot of big cities. This one happen to fall on a weekend I would have off. I am up for this adventure! She's going to teach everything there is to becoming a makeup artist and how to apply perfect makeup. I've been following her blog for a few years now and the thought of actually meeting her and going to this is surreal. It's a now or never thing because she's pregnant and won't be holding another Glaminar until god knows when! Let's hope everything works out because if it does, I'll be in Reno this time next month!! :)


This is a picture of Ben and I at Niagara Falls on August 21. I still have to put up pictures of our trip to Canada.

Down to the wire

I'm happy to report that we'll be leaving in 5 days 14 hours and 35 minutes for Canada! Can you tell we need this vacation? Work has been beyond stressful for the two of us. We both keep telling each other that we may not come back.

There is still so much I have to get done before we leave. I took a half day on Sunday so we can get a head start to Montreal. But I have to make sure we have all our stuff packed and ready to go by no later than Friday. We're going to see The Dangerous Summer in concert Saturday night so there will be no last minute packing on that day. I'll get out of work at 11 AM Sunday so Ben said he'd be at my house when I get out so we can leave.

Poor Ben has a late night game launch tonight so I only got to see him for about an hour for dinner. He'll get out at 1:30 AM and then has to work early in the morning. He's going to be so tired! At least he has off Wednesday and most of Thursday. Early Thursday morning he has to help with an inventory in Bridgewater I think. I'm also off on Thursday so we can finish up any last minute things before we leave. As long as we have our money and passports and the clothes on our backs we're set! Haha if only it were that easy!

Ben's really getting excited to leave the country. I hope he loves it as much as I do up there. It's going to be such a nice romantic getaway for the two of us. I can't begin to explain how excited I am that I get to spend an entire week with my honey! Just the two of us and the open road...adventure awaits...

Bruised and weary

So in exactly two weeks Ben and I will be in Montreal!! Can't wait! Anyway, this week was pretty damn busy and exhausting. As I said, I was going to go to Mayhem Festival on Wednesday. I did "technically" get out of going with my ex. Ben knew a guy who won VIP tickets and wanted someone to go with them. I was able to get my friend Carrie to take my seat with my ex and I went with mystery man Mike. We did all ride together though which was beyond awkward.

My ex is quite the spiteful bastard. Not only was he on the phone to his Florida slut with all of us in the car, he disappeared for most of the day. It doesn't bother me that he has someone, it bothers me that he tries to rub that in my face. I would never have Ben call me just so he could be tortured to hear our conversation. I couldn't even imagine if it actually ended up being just him and I going to that concert. He probably would have just left me to fend for myself. At least Carrie, Mike and I all stuck together until the end when we had to go to our seats. We also drank entirely too much before we went into the concert. Between the two guys and myself we drank an entire bottle of rum. Mike was also taking percocet so that was really safe with all the booze we had. That's alright his seats were tenth row, so do whatever. I enjoyed the show and also got to see my other friend Mike who I had no idea was going.

Ben and I went to dorkfest in Connecticut this past weekend. We went after work on Friday and left this morning. That was a tiring weekend! There were about 40 people at this and I think most of us were completely obliterated. Ben and I drank sooo soo much! I haven't been that drunk in years. We both got sick but so did a bunch of others. I felt bad for Ben because he felt much worse than I did on Saturday. He was more headachey and I had a sour stomach. I didn't realize until we got back how bruised I really got. Did I mention we got to sleep in tents in the unusually cold 50 degree nights? The first night wasn't too terrible because we were wasted and didn't realize how uncomfortable sleeping on the ground really was haha. I'm glad the weekend is over though. This gathering was a whole group of people who post on this Internet forum. So I was the only "outsider" and that did make it pretty awkward. Also, we've come to the conclusion not to drink for a long LONG time! I'm going to wrap this up because I'm looking forward to sleeping in a real bed :)






14 days...

A change in the weather

I'm happy to write that work has been better lately. It will be getting even better in a week because we're changing assignments! Sunday will be nice because Ben and I both have off from work :)

So, one thing I'm not looking forward to doing is hanging out with my ex boyfriend this Wednesday. We're going to Mayhem Festival at the PNC Arts Center. Now, I am excited for the concert itself, but I really don't want to deal with him. I don't even want to think of how awkward it's going to be. We did plan on going before we broke up in March. It doesn't help that this concert will last for like nine hours. Well, enough with that.

There's only 23 more days until Ben and I leave for Canada!! I am so excited I can barely stand it! We're going for a whole week. A whole week of relaxing and just getting away from everything. I did need to get my brakes fixed before we go but I'm pretty sure we're just going to take my mom's car. Either that or Ben teaches me how to drive manual so we can take his car. I told him once we go up there...we may never come back...

Completely Drained

Words can't describe how horrible work has been lately. It's getting to a point where it's effecting me. Headaches are getting worse, I'm more irritable, my hands and arms have been slightly numb, and no matter how much sleep I get I'm still tired. I have no problem working in a stressful environment, but this job gets more stressful by the day. I really hate to complain, but this is driving me crazy.




Luckily I have off tomorrow, not like I am doing much of anything. The only chance of doing anything would have been on Sunday, and I have to work an exchange. I'm not sure what's going on tonight either. Ben said something about going to a party after he gets out of work at 10. I was going to stay at his house tonight, but he has to work early so I don't know if I will or not. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day...



P.S. 37 days!

Exhausted!

The cleaning finally stops! I've been up cleaning on my day off since I came home from Ben's house at around 8 this morning. I'm thankful for the air conditioning because in the sun it was 105. It's going to stay really hot for a while too. At least I didn't have to work today. It's always intolerably hot in that building!

Tonight we're going somewhere near Philadelphia to have dinner with a small group of people. It's a bit of a drive, but I so happen to be in love with the company so it all works out! I suppose I should think about getting ready. I'm still not really sure when Ben is getting out of work. By the way...40 days...

We need a vacation!

Only 44 days left until we leave for Canada. Ben and I really can't wait to go. We may go insane if it doesn't get here quick enough! Come on vacation...I really need to get away with my honey <3

New to this!

This is my first time blogging anything, so you'll have to bear with me! My name is Jackie and I love to travel. I will be going to Canada with my awesome boyfriend in August. We will be going to Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, and Niagara Falls. We're both really looking forward to this because we REALLY need a vacation. We both have incredibly stressful jobs. To be honest, we may never come back from Canada. I've Been to Canada five times and I love it. If it was possible, I'd live there. The people are so different up there. In New jersey, people are always in a hurry and so rude.

Anyway, my boyfriend's name is Ben. He's such a sweetheart and I'd be lost with out him! He's never been out of the country, so it's going to really be an adventure in August! We're planning to leave August 15 when I get out of work and stop in Montreal. We're going to spend the next day there and the afternoon of the 16th, leave for Quebec City. There we'll stay until morning of the 19th and then make our way towards Toronto. After staying in Toronto for two nights we'll leave on the 21st to see Niagara Falls and then head home.

So lets see if it all actually happens that way! I always try to be very organized when I travel. I want to make sure we see what's worth seeing and eat what's worth eating and of course, have enough money for it all!

I suppose that's all for now. I'll post more about past trips and put some pictures up later.