Sanguine Expectations: Latress on the menjay

Ever since I moved here, some 3 years ago, I've had friends tell me that they'd come visit. "Oh my gosh, I want to come out there sometime!" ...but they never came. I mean, I don't blame them, tickets are terribly expensive, which is why I've never gone back to St. Pete myself. Anyway, when Allison told me she was going to visit, I thought, yeah of course you are.
Until she booked the flight.
Then it was for real.

So let me just summarize her stay here:

-First off, I compromised myself to babysit the Ellsworth kids. I moved into their house for about a week, drove their sweet Jeep (you can start the car by pressing a button on the key. what?!), and most importantly, took care of their 5, that's right...5...kids. We had Becca-14, Cami-13, Amy-9, Abby-6, Josh-3. They were great, no joke. Fighting was very minimal, they were very obedient, and very helpful. I think they taught me more than they realized. For instance, they taught me that I need to be financially ready for kids. One day one I took them to the movies. Then to get Coldstone. Then ordered pizza. Yeah, we spent about $80 that day. They also taught me that I need to be mentally ready for kids. One day, I woke up and found Josh upstairs by himself just singing and playing with trucks...naked. Where did his clothes go? Why on earth did he even take his clothes off? I do not know. All I know, is I'm too young to constantly be thinking for other people. I can barely keep track of my own life! But they did, however, help me realize that I can't wait to someday be a mom...I think I'd be pretty bomb at it!
...Oh, and they taught me to have respect for people with big families. Note to self: Have less than 5 kids. Kthanks.

-After the babysitting gig was over, Allison and I could do more grown up things. By grown up things I mean shopping. And by shopping I mean hitting every major mall in the area. Superstition, Fiesta, Tempe Marketplace...we hit them allllllllll. I never knew I could get sick of shopping...but I most definitely did. It was nice though, we got caught up on each others lives, I got a little taste of home. OH! She brought me the Longoria-Rays shirt that I've been dyyyyying for. We spent a lot of time listening to California Girls and whatever terrible music is constantly repeated on the radio. We hit Red Robin, where Alli experienced their glorious burgers. We hit Bahama Bucks which never lets us down. We hit QT, more than once of course, to get our caffiene on (and get headache pills, since she had this ongoing headache). On her last night, we hit Jack in the box, where the cashier couldn't believe that she'd never eaten there before. Afterwards, we took an adventure through Las Sendas. We nearly lost our voices from talking so much. We laughed hard...we went CRAY CRAY!

Anyway, it was really refreshing to have someone I grew up with come to visit. It used to get really hard for me when everyone around would talk about their junior high experiences...the memories they all had together and the crazy classes and teachers they endured. I would sit and listen, and even though their stories are interesting and entertaining, I never had any input. For once I could actually converse about my middle school experiences...the memories we had together and the crazy classes and teachers (or lack of) we endured. It was also nice that even though Alli and I hadn't talked that much, we could still get together and have such a good time...like we'd never been apart.

And for your viewing pleasure: