As for the issue of the horrid Jane Austen, I must confess that the movie was not that bad. At least, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. (My expectations were severely low, after all.) But I must say that I am just so tired of the whole “oooh, you’re horrible, I will hate you forever / no wait, I love you but there’s some conflict so we can’t be together / no wait, I love you & you love me and the conflict resolved happily so we’ll get married and have thousands of babies” formula. Yes, I know that Jane Austen probably invented the formula, but let’s face it, it’s been done. to. death. However, getting to spend time with the girls before and after the movie was awesome, so I really can’t complain. And I think we might now have plans with all of them for New Year’s, so that’s very cool.
In totally unrelated news, I’ve been waiting to write about this because I didn’t want to jinx it, but I think I can officially say it now: Kris is moving here next month! I’m so excited, she’s been my best friend since college and I absolutely adore her, and she’s wanted to live in Seattle since long before I ever moved here, so I’m really happy that she’s coming. She’s had a few almost-moves in the past, but something always came up (usually money-related) that kept her from doing it. But she found out that her boss wants to retire, which means she won’t have a job after mid-January, and there’s nothing else to really keep her in Memphis. Her boss is also giving her at least two months’ severance, which is enough to cover moving expenses and the last few repairs she needs to do to her house to put it on the market. She’s going to move in with us for a month or so while she looks for a job and an apartment. (Poor Dave. He has no idea how loud our house is going to be after Kris shows up.) So it really is going to happen this time. And here’s how I know that it’s definitely going to happen: last night, I booked myself a one-way plane ticket to Memphis. Well, actually, I’m flying to Little Rock because it’s several hundred dollars cheaper, and then I’ll rent a car & drive 2 hours to Memphis. Because, you know, it’s just such a long way to drive by herself, so I’m going to drive with her. And her dog, Lucky. It has nothing to do with just wanting an excuse to take a 4-day road trip with my best friend, singing Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco songs at the tops of our lungs and making each other laugh until we have to pull over and find a place to pee. Oh no, nothing like that. But hey, it’s a non-refundable plane ticket, so she’s locked into her end of the deal now. Hah!
Anyway, I’m flying down on January 19th – which, for those of you keeping track, is three days after my 30th birthday – and we’ll set off the next day. I’m hoping that we’ll make the 2400 mile journey in four days, but I’m a little skeptical of how a very tiny Mazda is going to fare on the very big mountains of Wyoming. (In January. In case you missed that the first time.) Dave is being given the responsibility of acting as our road trip meteorologist. We’re going to check in with him once or twice a day for weather updates, to make sure we aren’t going to be driving head-on into any major snowstorms. It should be fun. The dog is going to make it interesting; I’ve driven thousands of miles with Teenie in the car on multiple occasions (and flown with her several times too), but I’ve never traveled with a dog. The only aspect of it that makes me nervous is finding cheap motels on the road that have pet-friendly policies. I’ve snuck my cat into motels before and it was pretty easy. But it’s a bit more challenging to be stealthy with a 50-pound dog who really likes the sound of her own bark. Unless we can put her in a hat and a trenchcoat and teach her to walk on her hind legs. That might work.
But who cares? Best friend is moving to town!!! Yay! Happy dance! Lots of exclamation points! Whee!!!
All Red Roof Inns everywhere allow you to bring your dog into the room for an extra $10 a night. It’s a nationwide policy. You have to sign a little statement promising to walk them only in “designated areas” around the outside of the hotel (always on a leash, never by the scary little pool) and pay for anything they destroy. Most Travelodges do, too.
Bella was an awesome travel companion when I was moving to and from Florida. She conks out every time the car goes above 55 mph for more than two minutes at a time and only wakes up for rumble strips and potty breaks. Fred, on the other hand, cried in his carrier for seven hours straight, from Miami to Pooling, Georgia. When I let him out, he sat in my lap for two minutes like a cute little cat, then defiled one of my houseplants in the backseat and puked on the map. When it comes to road trips, I am much more pro-canine than feline. 🙂
You’re going to need some excellent playlists.
See, Teenie is the easiest-traveling cat ever. She never shuts up at home, but when we’re on the road, she gets scared so she goes totally mute. (She does the same at the vet.) And even if you open the kitty carrier to let her roam around the car, she stays put. Ostrich syndrome, I think. The downside was that she’d then run around the motel meowing all night. My mom & I eventually decided that she had a quota of meows per day, and since she’d been quiet in the car, she had to get them out of her system while we were trying to sleep. Which was not so fun. But she does great on planes, most people don’t even know that I have a cat in the mesh duffel bag under the seat in front of me.
I didn’t know that about Red Roof Inns or Travelodges, so thanks for the tip. I’m usually a Motel 6/Super 8/Best Western kind of gal (um, only on road trips; I try to stay in nicer places on vacation), and they tend to be a little inconsistent on their pet policies. I think it’s up to each individual location. So that’s good to know.
Such happy news! Sounds like fun!
I’ve wanted to move to Seattle for the longest! I wanted to move there after I graduated, but I met Guy and all of that changed…
I am envious.
Watch out, Seattle!!
🙂
Yay! Congratulations to Kris on taking the big leap (to Seattle)!!