Momma Visits and Boyfriend Visits – my past too weekends

I swear one of the reasons that I never stuck with journaling is because when I get busy I never keep up with it. I’m really trying I promise, and this is how I plan to make up for it… the purpose of this blog post is to report on the last two weekends in one entry, because two very special and important people came to visit me, and we had a lot of fun. (Be warned - this post is going to be lengthy).

Part 1 – Trouble with Trains

Last weekend, my Mom came to DeKalb. We decided to experiment with Midwest trains for all travel purposes…this proved to be not such a great idea.

For one, I’m not sure what we were thinking - we’ve never been all that good at trains.

This is a picture of my mom and I in England at a train station in Kingston (the suburb of outer London where I lived during my semester abroad as an undergrad). See the train behind us? That’s the one we were supposed to be on.

It left without us.

Now this particular train experience wasn’t passenger error, but rather idiot driver error. We’ll get to this later on.

First off, as soon as my mom got to DeKalb we dropped off some things at my house and immediately went out for manicures and pedicures before going out for dinner at my favorite pita place (further fueling my addiction to amazing Greek wraps and hummus). Here we are at Pita Pete’s, where you can see my lovely nails.

After dinner we rented a couple of movies and got some Ben and Jerry’s for the rest of the evening.

The next morning I made coffee and we got ready to drive out for a fun afternoon in Chicago and so she could catch her train back. 

Unfortunately, something was amiss at the Amtrak station that afternoon. Sure enough just as we were saying our goodbyes, we got a call alerting us to the train cancellation. Upon further information, we discovered that a train on that track had derailed earlier. Luckily no one was seriously hurt, however when asking why the train had derailed, the woman at customer service told us that trains sometimes derail if the conductor needs to slam on the breaks to avoid HITTING A CAR!
…WHAT!?!?!

If you are reading this, I very much hope that you are not the type of person who would race a train to avoid waiting a few minutes for it to pass, although if you are I’m judging you. Negatively. People can get seriously hurt in train accidents and train derailments! It’s not just a question of whether you and your car will survive! Ok, I’m getting off my soapbox. Long story short, my mom ended up spending an extra night at my house. This ended up being great, because she taught me how to make homemade soup and bread. However, now we know that as a rule, the train system between Michigan and Illinois is somewhat unreliable.

Part 2 - Apple Cider, Pumpkins, and Travel Success

The next weekend Eric came to visit! 

We went to Jonamac Orchard for some nice carving pumpkins to put our artistic abilities to the test.

Naturally we weren’t about to go to an apple orchard without stopping inside the general store for some homemade donuts, apple cider, and caramel apples. Trips to apple orchards are one of the best things about fall (maybe even the best!). But since it was getting cold, we hurried back to the house to start carving.

My gentlemanly boyfriend generously let me carve the pumpkin that could stand up on its own, taking the one that needed to lie on its side for himself. Thus, my jack-o-lantern design was rather traditional (and pretty cute, if I do say so myself).

Cute vampire pumpkin J

Eric’s couldn’t stand up by itself, so he had to get more creative. He wouldn’t let me see it until he was done, but upon finishing I was very impressed with the “ship in a bottle” theme.

Laker for a lifetime.

They looked very nice and festive flickering on the stoop.

The next day, Eric had a work obligation in Chicago early in the morning, so I spend the majority of the day catching up on all my grading as well as studying for an upcoming exam. Nothing motivates me to reach my goals like the prospect of meeting up for a fun dinner in the city. After making my final comments on each student’s midterm, and reading a couple of papers I needed to know for the exam, I hopped in the car and headed out to Chi-town for dinner with the traveling business man.

Not only were my last two weekends highly productive, but they were also fun and filled with loved ones, and were enough to recharge me for an intense week or two.