So Far in Dallas

To start, this has been such an eventful, amazing, incredible... surprising trip! Not to mention, it's one of the most memorable trips of my life, by far. Let me do a not so brief overview for you!


My flights on Thursday were largely uneventful, which is a GREAT thing. You know well that I'm not a huge fan of flying, so when there was only the normal amount of turblence during the taking off and landing times, I was very thankful. But as soon as I got to Dallas, the memories just started hitting me quick... bam, bam, bam.


First of all, I have to admit a small amount of disappointment.... I thought when I got off the plane in Texas that all the men were going to be wearing cowboy hats and boots and all the girls were gonna have on lots of make-up with real big hair. Would you believe that is not the case?!?! What the crap!! They look just like the people back home. I thought Texas was it's own little country of big hair and cowboy attire down here.


Then, while I was at baggage claim, my mom calls me and tells me, "I think Farrah Fawcett has just died. I saw something about it briefly on AOL and I think that's what it said." So, you know me... I love the celebrity news and gossip... LOVE IT!!! So, I couldn't wait to turn the news on as soon as I got to my hotel room. But, in the meantime, Amy picked me up from the airport with both of her kids, who are so sweet and cute, but that little Lauren... I could just EAT HER!!! She is the sweetest, most loving little angel.... I miss her already. Anyway, it was so great that Amy and I genuinely hit it off right away, it was immediately like I'd known her forever. I love that. I love when I meet people (especially ones I admire so much!) and we start talking non-stop just like we've known each other forever. It just doesn't get any better than that. No awkward moments... no weird silences. Just fast friends!


So, we drove around a bit. She showed me her castle in-progress, and I went to my hotel to get all settled in and do a little Dallas shopping. Of course, upon checking the news I saw that, indeed, Farrah Fawcett had died. I was so sad. Sad stuff affects me. You know this, so I went to check out the mall, trying not to think about it. And while I was walking around, I heard a couple talking about Farrah Fawcett's death and they said something about Michael Jackson in relation to it. I didn't know what they were talking about, until I was walking back to my hotel and my mom called me AGAIN and was like, "Umm.. Michael Jackson just died." What?!?! Are you kidding me??? Anyway, so during my free moments, I am guilty of being one of the ones who has been consumed by all this endless coverage on the news channels about these deaths.


But, anyway, yesterday... SUCH an amazing day!!! Amy picked me up at 8:30 and we went to her studio, where she went over TONS of business ins and outs with me, then, she took some pictures of me. I did horrible. I'm NOT great model, I definitely prefer to be behind the camera, but anyway, I can't wait to see them, because SHE did them!! :) Then we went to the best Mexican restaurant that I"ve ever eaten at. Yes, my Fayetteville friends... even better than our beloved Micasita's. I, too, did not know it was possible to get better than that, but it is. In the afternoon, we drove into downtown Dallas, which I COMPLETELY fell in love with. I love big cities. I think I was really meant to live the big city life, because I was just enamored with those big, tall, shiny buildings. They're fabulous. I haven't been in a city like that since my mom and I went to NYC for my 18th birthday and I loved it just the same. Anyway, we did a shoot with two brides, who are sisters and one of their grooms in this amazing city loft with gorgeous brick walls, paper lanterns and twinkle lights hanging from the ceiling. Blown away is the best way to describe my feelings about this day. Completely blown away. After the shoot, we went back to the studio where she completely went through her work flow with me.


Needless to say, by the end of the day, both of our brains were mush and while we were eating dinner, we were both staring with glazed over eyes. :) But that sweet Lauren was sitting with me and I just wanted to steal her and keep her with me because her sweetness reminded me so much of my Emma.


And to top my incredible day off, one of my oldest, dearest friends, Mary, and her husband drove five hours down from Little Rock just to spend a few hours with me!!! :) They got to the hotel around 11pm and we went and had some drinks at Logan's and TGIFriday's. We again got together for lunch today for a couple of hours and they headed back to Little Rock. They are really amazing. How many friends would drive 10 hours just to spend like 5 hours with you??? Not too many. I'm a lucky girl!!! Lots of great friends in my life who I know love me! :)


Then, this afternoon, Amy picked me up for our final moments together to bring me to the airport. The weird thing about what I'm about to tell you is this.... I FELT like something weird was going to happen today all day long. I could just feel it. When I was packing my pajamas in my bag this morning, for some reason, I was thinking... I probably shouldn't put these in my dirty clothes bag, I may need to wear them again before I can wash them. So I didn't. I folded them up nicely and tucked them away with the clean stuff. Then, even though I got to the airport super early, I had a feeling I wasn't going to make my flight. So strange. I just kept feeling it. LIke I was not going to leave Dallas today. But, then, as I was sitting on the uncomfortable leather chair thing watching flights take off and land, I watched our plane taxi up to our terminal, the jetway went out, the passengers disembarked. I studied their face, because... you know, I wanted to see what their mood was. Wanted to make sure they looked relaxed and not like they'd just been holding onto their armrests for dear life. They looked fine. Like they'd just had a perfect flight, so I suspected my funny feelings all day were just due to my being nervous about making it home in one piece.


Then, when my flight was almost due to start boarding, I felt like I needed to get something to eat. It was so strange, I just knew I wasn't going to be able to eat for a while. I can't explain it. So, I ran real quick to get something fast to eat and when I walked back to my terminal, I looked at the board that has the flight info on it and all of a sudden, my 4:35 departure time had changed to 5pm. My heart sunk. My connecting flight in Memphis was immediately after my landing time there. There was no play room. I could not be delayed, or I would miss that flight. So, I began to panic a little. I've already been away from my kids for two days.... I CAN'T be gone another 24 hours!!!!! So I called my mom and filled her in, thank goodness she didn't totally freak on me. I really worried that she might, even though it's something that is totally out of my control, I worried. After I called her, I started texting my friends because I needed to spread the word that I was stuck in Dallas. I don't know why, I just did. So, then the guy at the counter announced that this flight to Memphis was not looking promising because the plane had some major mechanical malfunction. So, I got in the line that was already super long and made the call to reschedule my flight. I stood in this line from like 4:30 until almost 7pm!!!!! Did you process how much time that is??? 2 1/2 hrs, people!!! After all that waiting, my fellow passengers and I had become quite good friends. You know I'll talk the ears off a complete stranger without even thinking twice, so now I have lots of new friends who live all over this country. When we'd all been issued hotel and food vouchers and also given a $100 voucher towards our next flight, we went to collect our bags and catch the shuttle to the Holiday Inn Express. I was hoping it was going to be the same one I'd been staying at at Vista Ridge, but it wasn't. Nonetheless, this hotel is very nice, but once we got to the hotel, we again had to wait in line from just a little after 7 until right around 8pm or so, because most of our flight was here trying to check in. So, anyway, now I'm here, waiting til the morning when I can hopefully catch a very perfect plane that is flying directly to RDU without any layovers anywhere. So, this time tomorrow, I should be safely at home with my sweet little babies. I miss them SO MUCH!!!!!


I am SO eternally grateful for this amazing opportunity to learn to hopefully create for myself what Amy has created for herself. I have so much to look forward to, I cannot wait to get busy!!! :) Thanks friends, for reading this really long post void of pictures. :)