The Whole Shizbang

this is going to be a long one. settle in.

first of all, my first day there started with a 5 a.m. drive to the airport, popping a happy pill, and consequently a flight i barely remember taking. after some relaxing, we had lunch out with the rev's brother dupont and his girlfriend lori. then came the attempted trip to mud island, the seeing juno, and then what i forgot to mention: a trip to the ZOO! we have to squeeze in a zoo on every visit, apparently. this time it was at night for memphis zoo lights, the holiday-themed light extravaganza with very few animals out for viewing. except this panda:i covered most other high points in the other post, so we'll skip ahead to new year's eve. after spending about half the day at his office with a brief pause for mcdonald's, we headed for another oft-visited locale for us: the botanical gardens. it was a simply gorgeous 63 degree day in memphis, so we took advantage and took a long walk around the garden.pete found a dinosaur. after that luxurious walk, we headed to the grocery store and then home to prepare a tray of bruschetta for the new year's eve party at his parents' house and to beautify. we pretty much turned out hott, as you can see. after spending some time eating a bunch in germantown, we headed out to meet up with another couple to head to the new year's eve extravaganza at the peabody hotel in downtown memphis. (see how i purposely did not tell you where we were going to be in that other post? i didn't want so many adoring fans to show up.) met up with them, headed downtown, and partied it up...cowboy mouth and lord t & eloise performed, along with a DJ which made for some good dancing. we had literally a movie-moment new year's, a moment i have been consistently reliving for the past few days. there was a loud countdown from the crowd packed around us in front of lord t & eloise, followed by a balloon drop at the stroke of midnight and us pretty much wrapped up in each other as the balloons muffled all the noise around us and everyone nearby went nuts. i tried to catch the moment but for some reason i must have been distracted, putting off my aim:either way, it was magical. after midnight was declared, we danced for another hour and a half and enjoyed the party, including witnessing some couple drama (pete) and getting randomly hit on (me) when abandoned momentarily. we finally made it home and to bed, not waking up til 11 on new year's day. we had a nice quiet day, grabbing lunch with dupont & lori again and running to germantown to say bye to the reverend and mrs. reverend senior. then it was off to the airport. this is never my best time, and i held true to my regular breaking down into a sniffling mess upon being forced to go through security. he had to literally push me over to the start of the line. hate it. another happy pill and blurry trip home later, and i passed out cold only for a twelve-hour work day yesterday and a nine.five-hour work day today. then i went shopping and blew my xmas gift cards, am now doing laundry and enjoying my sage & citrus candle from yankee candle, and listening to the rev's new playlist feature. all-in-all an absolutely perfect, relaxing trip as always with nary a dull moment and zero unhappy ones (disregarding the whole having to leave memphis thing). ready to head back at any time.