Would you like a wee spot of tea?

My sister and brother-in-law have been living in Glasgow, Scotland for the summer. Brian got an opportunity to work on his PhD research over there at the University of Strathclyde. They have loved it over there. Kelley has probably liked it best since all she does is go to coffee shops, tour museums and walk around the beautiful town. :) Just kidding. She actually has work to do since their flat does not have a clothes dryer or dishwasher. And she has been keeping a blog and keeping her Etsy business up.My family thought it would be a perfect time to visit the United Kingdom and Ireland since Kelley and Brian were already there, so we bought the plane tickets and starting planning (by we, I mean my parents and Kelley). We headed out of DFW August 19th. It was a long 2 plane rides over there, but we eventually got there! We met Kelley and Brian at the airport and took a taxi to their flat. Their flat was small, but perfect for them. It was a two bedroom and had a cute little kitchen, living room and bathroom. (Sorry for all the pictures in advance)

After dumping our stuff off there, we walked down to The University of Strathclyde to see where Brian works. 

After that we caught a bus to Loch Lomond and toured it on a boat. It was beautiful! It wasn't Loch Ness, but it was still pretty, even without the chance to see Nessie.

We found a cute little tea room to eat at and then headed back to Glasgow. I tried Irn Bru, the popular fizzy drink there. It tasted like Big Red. 

When we got back we took a double decker tour bus ride around the city. We learned all about the history, art and landmarks of Glasgow.

It was dinner time by the time we finished the tour so we ate at a restaurant that had Scottish food. Brian ordered haggis and made everyone try it. It actually wasn't too bad. It was similar to meatloaf. After stuffing ourselves we went back to the flat and mom and dad went to their hotel. Kate and I got to stay at the flat with Kelley and Brian. The next morning we rode a train to Edinburgh. We got to tour The Real Mary King's Close. It was really neat. It is a warren of 17th century underground streets, spaces and abandoned houses that were partially demolished. We toured some of the rooms of the houses underground and they had recreated events that happened there. There was a murder scene and a death by plague scene that really made you glad you did not live in that era. The tour was about an hour long and was SO worth it. After walking the underground streets we headed over to the Edinburgh Castle.

It was built in the 12th century and still stands today. We got a tour of it and then walked around the dungeon, The Royal Palace where the Crown Jewels are kept and took some pictures by Mons Meg, a cannon given to King James II by Duke Philip of Burgundy in 1457 that could fire a 300 lb. stone 2 miles. 

My mom and Kelley decided we hadn't seen enough so we went on a train ride to St. Andrews. We visited the golf course and actually got to play putt putt on it. I won't tell you who won because I don't want to brag.

After hitting birdies and pars we went back to Glasgow to eat dinner at Vespbar on Aston Lane. We ordered the meter long pizza! This was probably my favorite meal while there! Duh, pizza. 

And we destroyed it.

While we were walking to Kelley and Brian's flat we encountered a drunk-off-his-butt character. My dad asked what he was looking for and the inebriated man replied, "A woman of the night!" My dad told him to go on because all of us women were his. We got a pretty good kick out of it. The next morning we got to sleep in and not get up at the crack butt of dawn (yes, Penny's, I stole that one from y'all) and headed to Cairnryan, Scotland where we caught the ferry to Belfast, Northern Ireland. On the bus ride over my mom made friends with a nice Irish fellow and his wife. His accent was so heavy my mum had to say "What?" after everything he said. She enjoyed talking to him though. The rest of us kind of ignored the guy until he asked Brian if he watched much boxing. Brian said he liked the good ole days of boxing with Muhammad Ali, etc. With that being said the Irish fellow started listing off names of Irish boxers that none of us, including Brian had never heard of. He was so surprised that we hadn't heard of them. Hello! We are from America and we just said we don't watch or keep up with boxing. Anyways, we had many laughs at his expense. I have rode a ferry before so I knew to expect a boat that fits about 40-50 cars and the sitting area is metal benches on the top or middle of the boat. When the boat came to dock I was very surprised. It looked like a cruise ship! It was huge! We walked on and found 3 different sitting areas (comfy chairs included), 2 bars, a game room, 3 restaurants, a kids playing area, a store to buy most of anything you wanted and slot machines. It was awesome! We got off in Belfast and walked around a wee bit, and then ate at Robinsons Bar. 

Friday we got up to catch a train to Dublin. We checked in at our hotel, The Pearse Hotel, then ate at Bewley's for lunch. After that we decided to take a tour bus around the city and see some sites. 

We got off at the Kilmainham Gaol and toured it. It is the biggest unoccupied gaol (jail) in Europe. The British built it in in the late 1700s. It is full of history, and it imprisoned many of the most famous people involved in the campaign for Irish independence. Our tour guide was great and told us all about the escapes, hangings, crowding and conditions of the prison back when it was in use. He said that at one time the prison held 9,000 people. It was made to accommodate around 800 prisoners. Also, he told us that children were arrested for petty theft. The youngest was 7 years old; he stole a loaf of bread because he was hungry. There was a museum at the entrance of the prison and it had the sign in book of the jail that said the name, age, offense and sentence. So many people that got arrested stole coats or food to stay warm and feed their families. There was no segregation in the cells either. It was sometimes 5 or more people to one cell. They had no heat and only one candle that they could only use one hour every night. This was one of my favorite stops on our trip. 

We decided to go back to the hotel and order pizza and then walk around the Temple Bar area in Dublin. While we were walking we saw some amazing street musicians. They were playing really neat Irish songs.

The next morning we got up and walked to Trinity College and took a tour of it. We were going to go inside the Old Library and see the Book of Kells and the beautiful library, but the line was too long and we had a bus to catch so we decided we would come first thing the next morning. 

Everyone was hungry by then and guess what we walk by? McDonalds! Yes, we had McDonalds over in Ireland. It wasn't bad. It reminded me of obese America, made me feel at home. The next tour we took was a bus tour called The P.S. I Love You Tour. It went out to the countryside and we got to stop at the spot they filmed P.S. I Love You at. 

We also stopped in Glendalow where monastery ruins from the 12th century were still standing. We walked around hearing about the history of the monastery and taking it in. 

There were two lakes nearby that we walked to (I found a cave along the way, and of course had to go check it out). 

Walking back out of the cemetary part of the monastery my dad buried a coin right behind Richard Kelly's headstone close by where the monastery monks lived. My dad said in 15-20 years we should go back with our kids and dig it up. When we got back to Dublin we ate at a Chinese Buffet just for Brian and then got ready for our pub crawl. We met two musicians at a bar where they played Irish songs and told us the history behind the Irish music then followed them to another bar. They were pretty fun guys to listen to. 

The next morning we walked to Trinity College to see the Old Library and The Book of Kells since the line was too long the day before. The Book of Kells is an illustrated manuscript of the 4 gospels in the Bible. It was illustrated by monks in 800 AD. It is so detailed that it must have taken a really long time to finish. It was really beautiful to see. After the Book of Kells section of the library we went into the Old Library of Trinity College. This is a still working library of really old books, but all the books are in order of size. Not subject, not author not even by number. All the small books are at the top and then they getter bigger as you get to the lower shelves. I'm not sure how they find any book there.

After the library tour we caught the DART to Howth, a peninsula suburb of Dublin. It is a fishing community that has been growing over the years. We heard they had awesome fish and chips so we stopped and got some. They were really good! We also saw a huge seal begging for food at the dock. We headed to the airport after that to catch our flight to London and so Brian could head back to Glasgow. We caught the Underground to our fancy hotel, The Andaz on Liverpool St. The hotel had free Wifi, free adult beverages, free cookies and snacks, heated towel racks and slippers to take home with you. It was one of the nicest hotels that we have ever stayed at. 

We decided to walk around downtown London to find a place to eat, but we kept walking and walking and walking and there were no restaurants anywhere. That is when dad got a little heated. He was hangry and tired of walking so much. So that made mom mad and we had a mini meltdown. They talked it out before we moved on and after that everyone was in a much better mood. We found a place called Nando's to eat at that was tasty and just what we needed. The next morning we caught the Underground and headed to Westminster Abbey. We walked by Big Ben and then toured the Abbey. 

You weren't allowed to take pictures, but as most of you know I don't like following the rules so here are a couple of the Abbey. 

We hit up Churchill's War Rooms after that. It was so cool to see the actual rooms they slept, ate and worked in. We had a headset that told us about each room and had audio of a couple of conversations that Churchill and others had. I really enjoyed walking around underground taking in all the history.

After that we found a sandwich place and had a picnic lunch in a park. After everyone was full and rested we went over to Buckingham Palace and walked around the outside of it. No, we did not see the Queen. We did see some of the Royal Guards though. 

After our little time in London we headed out on a train to Bath, England. We stayed in a cute bed and breakfast in walking distance of downtown. It was a two bedroom and two bathroom with a full kitchen and had more amenities than we were expecting. After a great night's rest we got up and toured the Roman Bath Rooms. The Roman Bath Rooms were built in Bath because of the natural hot spring found there in 60 AD. The hot spring still flows today and is a wonderful temperature to take a bath in. The Romans built room after room around the hot spring to make the building a spa for the richest of Romans. It included a steam room, massage room, cold pool room and private rooms with a small pool that the hot spring flowed into. It was really neat to see the baths and how they were still standing after all these centuries. 

Kate and I found this little place called Sally Lunn's House that had great reviews so we ate there for lunch. The specialty was the bath bun. It was an oversize bread bun that you could choose a sweet or savory topping to go on it. I got the best one with cinnamon butter on top! Yum!

After that Kate and I decided to go shopping while Kelley, mom and dad saw some more sights. We all met up to get on a bus that took us to Stonehenge. On the way there we passed one of the 16 white horses of the UK. The white horses are hill figures made of chalk. The white horse is a symbol of the British Royal family. We finally arrived at Stonehenge and toured it. We took a couple of goofy pictures while there. 

There were also burial mounds all around Stonehenge that fascinated my dad more than Stonehenge. After we got back to Bath we ate at an Italian restaurant and headed to bed early. On Wednesday we headed to the train station to catch multiple trains to Glasgow. Mom and dad were obsessed with looking at the maps and dad always had to have his compass on.

It took a while to get there, but it definitely beats riding a bus. When I went into the bathroom I saw this funny note on the wall and when the door shut a recording of a woman came over the speaker and read this exact sign. It made me laugh. 

We met Brian at the train station and headed to Kelley and Brian's favorite Indian restaurant, Mother India's. I was very hesitant, but they wanted us to go so bad so I kept my mouth shut. Most of it ended up not being too bad. The nan was WONDERFUL! I'm glad we could go to their favorite place to eat there.

The next day we flew back and headed home. I wanted to also share a couple of new words I learned from the UK and Scotland:

Rubbish - trash

Biscuit - cookie

Wee - little

Toilet - restroom

Chips - french fries

Lift - elevator

Crack - conversation

Cheers - thanks/bye

Queue - line

To let - for rent

Mind your step - watch your step

Nappies - diapers

It was a whirlwind of a trip, but we got to do and see so much that I wouldn't have changed anything. Thank you so much mom and dad for taking us and sharing this experience with us! Thanks Kelley and Brian for showing us around and being our tour guides!

Colorado with the Penny family

This past weekend I was welcomed by the Penny family to join them in Colorado to relax and hang out with everyone. My plane left at 6am on Friday the 19th of July so I got to the Houston airport at 4:45am that morning and this is what I saw.

I was very surprised at how many people were at the airport so early. The security line was moving fairly fast, but when I got to the front of the line I heard "Flight 168 to Denver, final boarding call". THAT WAS ME! I got through security and ran to my gate (which of course had to be the furthest one down) and got on the plane! I wasn't even the last to get on, I was second to the last. :) That was the closest I have ever been to missing a flight. I guess my mom was right telling me I needed to get there earlier than I thought. We landed in beautiful Denver and I was going to head to Mike's gate to wait for him right outside. Well..... since I was one of the last ones on the plane they had no overhead room for my carry-on so they had to gate check it. I said that was fine since they give it back to you right when you get off the plane. I got off the plane after we landed and I stood in the walkway. A flight attendant asked me what I was waiting for and I told her that I gate checked my bag so I was waiting on it. She said that Frontier always takes all the gate checks to baggage claim. Uh! That means I have to go out of security to get the bag then I can't wait at Mike's gate! Uh. So I went towards baggage claim and asked the information desk if I could grab my bag and go back in. They said I would have to get another boarding pass or escort pass to get back in! So I asked what would happen if I just leaved my baggage there and came back for it in 4 hours. He said he would not advise to do that because they might lose track of it or it would take too long to find it. So I went and got my carry-on and went to talk to the Frontier people. They were not helpful at all. They said that I was out of luck because Mike wasn't flying Frontier, he was flying Southwest. I explained that I told Mike I would meet him at the gate, but she wasn't having it. She suggested that I talked to someone from Southwest. Well I was determined and frustrated by that point so I went all the way over to Southwest. The lady there was very helpful and asked if I was assisting a passenger. Well yes, I sure was. So she gave me this pass to get back to the gates. 

I like Southwest! Oh and Frontier does not give free drinks! Stupid. Fly Southwest. Anyways, I went back through security and sat at Mike's gate and waited not so patiently. His flight finally came in and I finally got to see him in real life. :) It was great. I didn't want to let go of him. After we talked for a bit we went over to Issac, Xianne and Everett's gate to wait for them. While we were sitting there Mike said he had something for me. I opened it and it was a beautiful blue necklace with matching earrings. I liked it so much, I put it straight on. Isaac and Xianne got off their plane and I finally got to meet them. They live in Singapore so they are the only ones of the Penny family I haven't met yet. We also got to meet their 3 month old addition, Everett. He is adorable. I was looking through my pictures and the majority of them are of him.... Hum.

We all walked to the baggage claim so we could meet up with Ruth and Mrs. Penny. They were SO excited to see everyone (mainly Evie). I got a sweet picture of the new grandparents meeting the little one.

Everyone was hungry for lunch so we all piled in and stopped at a Wendy's. Everyone forgot about their appetite and crowded around Everett and took turns holding him. 

Mike is a natural.... :) He was so good with Everett. I was very impressed. Anyways, after eating we split up so Everett could go meet his great grandma, Nonny. Mike, Juni, Elijah and I headed towards downtown Denver to tour the Coors Plant. We got there and the line was an hour long. We didn't have much else to do so we waited an hour for our 3 free beers (or in my and Elijah's case, unlimited Dr. Peppers). The tour was neat. It kinda smelled bad, but what do you expect when they are making that god awful stuff. It was cool to learn about how they make it and how they are making beer 24/7.

After the tour we went to the lounge area where they gave free drinks. Mike and Juni tried 2 different kinds and Elijah and I had some yummy Dr. Pepper! After the tour we went to eat in Idaho Springs at Beau Joe's Pizza. It was AMAZING! And I am a pizza connoisseur so you know it was good! We got two different kinds and we devoured both of them.

After a delicious dinner we headed to the cabin in Estes Park. The cabin was right on the Thompson River that feeds from the lake in Estes Park. It was beautiful. We tried to start a fire in the fire pit, but the wood was too wet (and later we realized that there weren't supposed to be any open fires). We headed to bed early and I slept SO well. The windows were open and the river was all you could hear. It lulled me to sleep. The next morning we got up and Elijah and Juni were kind enough to go get some breakfast stuff then we decided to drive through the Rocky Mountain National Park and see the sites. It was beautiful! I couldn't quit looking out the window. I was mainly looking for wildlife so I could point it out to the guys. We did see all different kinds of wildlife including these.

Our day involved a lot of driving, but we had the best chauffeur there is. A man that has driven probably 60 different cars, knows everything about cars, has driven on the autobahn, drove his new BMW from South Carolina to California, driven all around Germany and takes corners so that it scares you, but you never flip. :) We stopped at a couple of places in the National Park and took in the view.

We found a cool place to get out and eat lunch and hike. We ate our sandwiches and then the cool kids (me and Elijah) went to hike while the lazy ones (Mike and Juni) stayed in the car. I definitely forgot how hard it was to breathe up there in that altitude. We got pretty high and then decided to turn around and go back. I did get the scoop on Jess, the new girl in Elijah's life, though. :) She seems super cool. After driving around some more we headed back to the cabin in Estes Park to meet up with the rest of the family. Mike got to dress Evie after his daddy gave him a bath.(I helped)

By then Mike's uncle, aunt and cousin had arrived to Estes Park so we met up with them at their cabin and got to chat for a while. We called the rest of the family and all headed over to get some dinner at Smokin Daves. It was a BBQ place and it was delicious! We got to talk to everyone and catch up on what people were up to.

We headed back to the cabin and went to sleep. On Sunday morning we woke up and all of us except Mr. and Mrs. Penny and Everett went to eat breakfast at Mountain Home Cafe. It was so yummy, everyone was stuffed. We headed back to the cabin and decided to go hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It took a while for everyone to get ready and get all together so Mike and I only had a couple hours before we needed to be at the airport so we decided to stay back with Juni and just relax while the others went on and hiked around. This was the last picture we took with most everyone.

After everyone headed out Mike and I decided to go on a walk around the lake. It was a bit further than we thought but it was really good to spend some alone time with him. We met a couple that went to A&M (well the husband did since girls weren't allowed when he attended). We got to talk to them for a bit and they said they live in Austin right now. Small world. After the walk Juni took us to the airport and we walked to Mike's gate and I stayed until he got on the plane. My plane was a bit late in leaving but I got back to Houston and then College Station safe and sound. I wish so much that I could have stayed longer, but I guess that's what I get for being a grownup and having a real job. :/ Also, during the trip I gave Mike a hard time about some stuff, but I was completely kidding. I like to rag on him sometimes for laughs, but all joking aside he is one of the best, wise, talented, caring, gentle, encouraging, Godly men I have met. I am so thankful that he is in my life and that he has brought the Penny family into my life.

North Carolina Visit

This past weekend I got to visit the best boyfriend in the world! He is in Cary, North Carolina for the summer doing an internship with John Deere. I headed to Raleigh on Friday after work and got in around 12:30am. Mike picked me up and when I saw him he had flowers in his hand. It was a beautiful bouquet of all different kinds of flowers. He has given me flowers before and every time I am amazed how well he is at picking out bouquets. I am not sure where he picked this ability up, but I like it!

We drove to his apartment and chatted with his roommate, Tyler, for a while. Both of our birthdays have come and gone while he has been in North Carolina so we both decided to exchange gifts when I got there. I asked if he wanted to give each other our presents tonight or just wait until tomorrow and if you know Mike, you know exactly what he said (Yes, he knows he needs to work on his patience). So for the presents.... Mike told me over the phone that I would have to "earn" one of my presents. This made me very curious, but I was up for the challenge. He made me close my eyes and held out a picture that he drew. He told me that I had to guess who it was. I knew immediately that it was Nolan Ryan on the mound winding up to throw a pitch. He said I was exactly right. :) (He should've know I would get it, I know my Rangers!) He also got me a puzzle! He knows I love puzzles. This puzzle was cool because it was of all the ballparks around the US. I can't wait to put it together and frame it. It was his turn next to close his eyes. In my mind I thought he would really like one of the presents and laugh at the other one and the other two were just average. I bought him a John Deere A&M hat, an Amazon gift card and a car decal that said A&M. He really liked those. :) I also got him a trash grabber. It's that metal long thing that when you squeeze the handle it grabs the thing that you are trying to pick up. He kind of got obsessed with them at the Texas Trash Off we did a couple months ago. I heard him say that he wanted one, so I got him his own! This was a mistake. He kept playing with it and grabbing everything in sight, including my Michael Kors purse! Uh. I got a small picture of what he was like as a kid. :) The next morning we got up and went to a garage sale that John Deere was putting on. We got there around 10:30 and basically everything was already gone or picked over. We weren't allowed to go into the building, but we did get to see the lawnmower that Mike has been working on. He showed me what piece he was trying to improve and explained his projects to me. I like knowing what he is working on, it helps me picture it when he is trying to describe it over the phone. After the garage sale we hit up a restaurant called Joyce and Family. It is known for it's North Carolina soul food. Man, was it soul food. Fried chicken, corn, collard greens, mac and cheese, ribs, black eyed peas, cornbread and lemon meringue pie.

It was a buffet style, so it goes to say that we were pretty stuffed by the time we were paying Joyce and heading to the car. After lunch we decided to go shopping. Mike wanted some sunglasses and he bought some awesome Oakleys. I think they look great on him. Don't you? 

After shopping we went to see World War Z. It was actually pretty good. It was intense at times and I had to tell Mike that we shouldn't hold hands since he was jumping at every zombie that popped out in front of someone. :) We headed to the store and picked up some things for dinner after the movie let out. I was craving a salad (which I have hooked Mike on too!) We picked up some yummy things to go on the salad and I cooked up some chicken and we ate a yummy home cooked dinner.        

                              

While we were out we rented Broken City so after dinner we watched that. We turned in early that night since I had gotten in so late the night before. The next morning Mike said he wanted pancakes so while he showered I whipped up some cranberry pancakes. They ended up being pretty yummy (he thought so too). 

After we put on our Sunday best we went to Mike's church he has been attending, Grace Fellowship Church. It was about 90% black, and they had amazing worship and a great message. Mike told me that they liked to worship out loud, and he was right. It was a really good service. The people there are SO welcoming too! I met about 20 different people and everyone remembered Mike's name. I see why he goes back week after week. After church let out we went to eat lunch at the neat Greek place called Greek Fiesta. It was very tasty! 

We thought about taking a nap after lunch, but then Mike suggested we hike around a lake that him and Tyler had biked on before. I was definitely up for that, even though sleep did sound pretty good. We drove over to the trail and it was way more beautiful than I had thought it would be! It was like walking through a forest. There were trees everywhere! 

The trail had hills and dips and bridges and even a pipeline that Mike decided to walk on. That little daredevil!

We got to a section of the trail that was secluded and it overlooked the beautiful lake that the sun was setting on. The trail makers decided to put in a bench at that spot (very smart decision). I sat down on the bench and Mike got on one knee and.... itched his mosquito bite. What did you think I was going to say...? Anyways, we just sat there and talked about how glad we were that we got to see each other even if it was for a short weekend. It was so relaxing just walking the trail and talking to my man. We even saw three bucks cross the path! It was cool. (I'm glad I didn't have my gun on me, the elderly couple near us probably would have given me a long talkin to.)  After our walk we decided to go eat at Panera Bread. We got all the way there and then we both realized we didn't have our wallets! We turned back and went all the way back to Mike's apartment and got some money THEN ate dinner. We watched a couple of episodes of Fringe and then had to go to bed since Mike had to drop me off at the airport at 8am so he could be at work. We got up the next morning, ate and headed to the airport. Leaving him this time was hard because it was just long enough to get used to him being around. I knew I would see him in July in Colorado so I could bare it better than the last time I left him. The trip was wonderful and worth every penny to see my Penny. (Those kind of jokes I learn from Mike). 

My 25th Birthday!

I turned a quarter of a century old yesterday. I can't believe I am that old! I know you old people are like  "WHAT?! She is so young!" but I feel like it was yesterday when I came home on my 16th birthday and my silver Honda Civic was sitting outside my house with writing on the windows saying "Happy 16th birthday!" and all my close friends were inside waiting to celebrate with me. Yesterday morning I got to get up extra early and go get my license renewed! How about that for a birthday celebration? I made sure to dress cute, put on makeup and make sure my hair was okay since this is what the last license looked like.... YIKES!

Thankfully I knew to get to the DPS early so I ended up being the first one out the door with my temporary license in hand. I went into work after that and had a good day at work. I got to wear a new shirt I bought the day before. I really like it, I think it is my new favorite shirt. :) Around 10am a guy came and delivered 2 dozen homemade cookies from my mom and dad! They got Lovin By The Dozen (Kim Burford) to make them and deliver them to my office. They were SOOOO good. My parents are the best!

I left work a bit early and headed to Houston to meet up with Sophia. We met at the Bingo Hall right next to her apartment and waited in line for over an hour. We got about 20 people away and they said that they had reached the 700 limit capacity. 700?!?! I had been there for over an hour waiting! Well unbeknownst to us, people get there at 4:30 and save spots for the slackers that get there right before Bingo starts at 7pm. We were upset especially since Sophia called earlier that day and spoke to a lady that said we shouldn't have problems getting in because there were only two of us, and if there was a problem to tell someone that we needed to talk to her. I encouraged Sophia to tell the guard to let us talk to the lady, Ms. Imma Liar, about letting us in and remind her that Sophia called earlier. The lady said that she couldn't do anything, that they were at capacity. Well we were both upset, but we didn't want to ruin the night so we went back to her apartment and ate burgers that Sophia got. They were so good! After that we decided to go down by the Galleria and get dessert at The Grand Lux Cafe. We talked and talked and laughed a lot.

It was so good to catch up with her since she has been in Houston for the summer doing an internship with Phillips 66. We had a great time and I had to leave around 9 so I could get back to College Station. My 25th birthday was great! Maybe I didn't get a new car, but I did get to talk to all the important people in my life. :)