We'll start from the top. I already posted about the surprise party that was thrown for me on the eve of my arrival. I think I also mentioned my car troubles. The car situation ended up being difficult, but educational. My mechanic called and suggested that we trade in the car because the wheel bearings are so expensive to fix. My parents heeded his warning, and we decided to go look for a new car as soon as I arrived in Florida.
This is how the trip to Florida started: Jeremy had plans to go to Dollywood that Thursday, but instead of listening to my family's insistence that he leave earlier than 3 PM, he decided to leave as late as possile. He also left his phone in the park, so it took him and his girlfriend until 3:30 to get on the road. Then they hit a traffic jam. Basically, we didn't end up on the road until 6, when we promptly hit a traffic jam. I'll go ahead and say that we weren't really out of town until 7 PM. Mind you, the drive to Jacksonville, FL from Knoxville, TN is about 9 hours. As you can guess, I was thrilled. Anyway, we made it to Florida around 2:30 that morning, then I proceeded to get up at 10 the next day to start the search for my new vehicle.
I started out at Carmax test driving a Nissan Versa. This was when I realized something tragic about my "ideal" car: it had no automatic locks or windows. It's not like I'm extremely picky, and it's not like I have tons of money to spend on a car, so I knew I couldn't be too particular about the car I was going to get. The lack of automatic locks and windows, however, was inexcusable for a car that was made in 2008. It later became apparent that Nissan had decided that the Versa was so bottom-of-the-line that it didn't even believe that the 2011 models needed the automatic accessories. This was very disappointing. My mother and I ended up spending until about 6:30 that evening looking for a car, with no luck.
The next morning, my mother, father, and I decided to go check out one final dealership that had a 2011 Nissan Sentra with low mileage. As soon as we saw it and test drove it, we decided we would purchase it. It's adorable, and I couldn't be happier to have it (even though I now know almost everything ever about bottom of the line Nissans).
As soon as the car was purchased, I set out preparing the food for the party that my family was hosting later on that evening. We prepared pulled pork, BBQ chicken, zucchini and goat cheese mini-sandwiches, mini banana bread loaves, potato salad, a veggie tray, a meat/crackers tray, and boiled shrimp. It was a lot of work, but it ended up being really worth it! The party went over fantastically.
On Sunday my mom, brother, CJ, and I went to see Brave (my second time seeing it), and it was great. My mom got a little emotional, but it was still a really great movie. I recommend everyone see it. After the movie we were all pretty exhausted and not looking forward to the 10 hour drive that we would be making the next day, so we all retired early.
The next day we set out to Greenwood, SC to stop by and see my Granny Mac for lunch. We made it around 1 PM, and had a delicious Granny Mac Spaghetti lunch. She surprised us by having most of the cousins, one of my aunts, and even my great uncle and aunt were around to eat with us. It was so good to see all of them, especially since I'm not sure about the next time I'll get to go down to the farm.
So, now I'm back in Knoxville where my life (once again) has taken an interesting turn. While I was on the farm, I decided to show CJ the pasture. I didn't remember to wear tennis shoes, but I didn't think much of it. While we were walking, I got bitten by 6 fire ants. Two bites are on my left big toe, the other four on my right ankle. I made it back to Knoxville without incidence, but as soon as I woke up this morning I knew there was a problem. My ankle is swollen to at least twice it's normal size, and my big toe is just...well...gross. I went to the Minute Clinic and the nurse practitioner told me that the bites are already infected, and that I need to take antibiotics four times daily to prevent it from getting worse. It's awful. I can't really even walk around the townhouse to do normal-people things. I'm also afraid that I'm being terribly whiney about the whole situation. The pain, however, did not stop me from making s'mores cupcakes and delivering them to Naples this evening. I told Lawson I was going to bake something for the Naples crew, and I was not going to let them down!
To conclude this rather lengthy entry, I just want to say that even though this break has been a little rough, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of my friends and family. You all mean so much to me. So...here's to hoping that rest of this break from school only gets more fun! (and less interesting...)
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