Surprise! My Weekend Home

Liz's Bachelorette Party Saturday night in NYC
(From L to R: Melissa, Chrissie, me, Liz, Natalie, Kelly. Not pictured: Ludia, who had to leave at 4 am and was getting her one hour of sleep!)

Long before my trip to France, I had planned on coming home for a weekend in October for my friend Liz's bachelorette party- but I had to keep it on the downlow since we made it a surprise affair. Everything worked out perfectly, and I had a blast this weekend! (Along with the hangover from hell...)

I barely slept but every second was worth it. I flew into Newark at 1am on Saturday, and Erin picked me up. We went to the Edison Diner like old times before going back to her house. I can't remember the last time I slept in East Windsor, so it was nice. I was home again. After only five hours of sleep, we were up and out the door to meet up with my mom, sisters, and Shane's mom for lunch at La Piazza, an awesome restaurant in Allentown I used to always go growing up.

Courtesy of each of my moms bringing a bottle of wine, I had a lovely buzz going on after our couple hours of bonding and stuffing our faces. Shane's mom brought me to the Hamilton train station and I got pretty choked up on my hour ride into the city. Okay, okay, actually I all out cried like a total loser. It had been almost a year and a half since I had the pleasure of riding NJ transit into my beloved Manhattan. I missed the smell and the graffiti more than I care to admit.

I was in a cab soon after my arrival into Penn Station where I met up with Liz and the other bridesmaids. We began drinking immediately and got ready for the evening's festivities. From dinner to a drag show to a dance club to the final bar we ended up at- it was a fun night all around. I think it's safe to say parts of the night became blurry for all of us, as any successful night out in New York should be. I know Liz had an awesome time too which makes me happy. Now I have the wedding to look forward to in a few weeks!

After four hours of sleep, I woke up and made my way back to Penn and took the train into New Brunswick where my Dad picked me up by the Rutgers Bookstore. Ah, nostalgia at its finest.

Which reminds me! I vaguely recall meeting a girl in the bathroom of one of the places we were at who was a student at Rutgers living on Senior Street. That was so three years ago for me. Small world though!

Anyways, I spent Sunday at my Dad's playing off my hangover the best I could. My stepmom's father, "Papi," passed away a week ago, so I'm glad I was able to see "Nani" while I was home. I hugged her so tight. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like losing your husband after 55 years of marriage. Both of my grandmothers had to deal with watching their husbands go first too. Just awful. RIP Papi.

I was back on a plane I nearly missed at 6:30 pm and eventually made it to bed around 1am this morning.

So, it was a short but sweet weekend home, but I definitely made the most of it- family, friends, a great night out in NYC, a diner and a real bagel are totally worth my current state of exhaustion.

I have not spent a weekend in Killeen for an entire month now. Woohoo! And at least this weekend I have Austin City Limits to look forward to! I don't have my tickets yet, but I'm going to make it happen for sure. After all, The Gaslight Anthem is coming to town. Psh, like I'd miss that...

I'd like to finish this post by announcing that it is almost less than 100 days until the end of deployment. Thank fucking goodness, because I have been pretty insane lately over missing Shane.

So insane I don't even have an appetite just yet for the box of Entenmann's cookies my mom sent me back to Texas with. Hopefully tomorrow will be a different story.

Thanks to my family and friends who made this weekend an awesome one :-)