6.28.12

My days are all running together and I don't remember where I have left off and what all happened when so if I start repeating myself that explains why.  I guess the last time I posted was right before my day off.  It was a great day off and much needed break.  I attempted to sleep in but of course failed.  I spent most my day laying out on the deck.  The weather was great, not too hot.  It would have actually been too cool if I had gone down to the beach.  I got caught up with family and friends and even got to enjoy a nice nap.  My roommate and I went into Atlantic City for dinner and stopped by the casino to play some slots.  It was successful for me.  I put in $20 and left with $80.  It was so exciting and I wanted to just keep playing but I was on a losing streak and wanted to still come ahead a winner. 

Yesterday was back to craziness as usual.  We had a morning of crafts and I made a bracelet, which has already broken, and painted an ugly shell.  We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.  Everytime I go I think I will get a burger but always end up with the salad.  But it is a really good salad.  We let everyone do a little bit of slot machines and one of my guys ended up winning over $40.  That was exciting and I love seeing everyones reaction when they win.  I have a difficult traveler this week in the sense that he does not ever want to buy anything.  A lot of what we do is go shopping so he always looks so bored.  But I was successful in finding him a bracelet today, one of those made out of the cord.  But after that he was done.  I had a couple battles with a headstrong traveler yesterday but everything ended up working out and today was much better.  He doesn't like being given directions and takes offense even when it is not directed towards him.  Last night was the water show and out of everything that was not true on our travelers packets this week, they were serious about one of my guys being afraid of hieghts.  It was bad.  I did not think we would get him back down the elevator to the first floor.  Then our house manager was getting him down and the elevator went up instead of down.  Luckily this is one of the glass elevators that makes it easy to see everything around you.  The water show was neat and I even splurged and got ice cream with everyone last night, only because they had marshmellows to put in the chocolate ice cream.  It is the best!

Today was up early and off to Cape May.  Cape May point is still my favorite place.  I love the little shops there and the people are so nice and give everyone a discount.  I found a hoodie today for only $9!  The shops in actual Cape May are usually not very successful but the weather was nice and there a few goodies to be found.  Tonight was movie night and we watched the Sandlot.  There was only 2 of us, me and my roommate, that have seen that movie.  It was awesome and I had forgotten how good it was.  We actually had almost everyone down there watching it.  Usually we lose a few after the movie has been chosen.  I got to talk to my mom and brother tonight.  That was good.  I miss the family but still enjoying my time here.  I am so not going to be ready to go back to classes when I get back home!

6.25.12

I'm doing good, it has only been a couple days since my last post.  And it has been a very choatic couple days for sure!  I was expecting sunday to be pretty chill and have some time to kind of decompress from the crazy week but I knew that was blown when we went to wake the travelers up and one of them had had an accident sometime in the night but was too embarassed to tell anyone.  He was trying to take care of it himself but it was bad.  I made a couple trips to and from the train station but no train rides for me.  The traffic was terrible partly because of a music festival that has been in town and partly just because it is getting busier as it gets warmer here.  Cleaning should have gone nice and smooth and quick, but of course it did not.  After cleaning, grocery store and Sam's we finally sat down about 8pm.  I had the scarriest ride in the van.  My poor co-worker, one from England, is not comfortable driving the van and almost killed us all...a couple times.  She was so nervous and we were so freaked out, it had to of been terrible for her too.  But we made it back alive and in one peice.  I got a traveler in Sunday night (trips end on sunday and new one begins on monday).  His luggage had gotten lost on the way and he had somehow misplaced half of his money.  He is suppose to have a c-pap machine but decided not to bring it and wants to spend all of his time talking on his phone.  Lovely!  His luggage was delivered about 2am this morning, luckily I was not the one that was up to get it.  We did get to sleep in a little bit which was nice.

The best word I have to describe today is interesting.  All my guys (I seem to always have the guys in the group) were here relatively early and they got settled in before most everyone else arrived.  This group is a lot lower functioning than the last and it will be interesting to see how all of the staff deals with everything.  I'm not sure anyone's information packet was the correct information and there are a lot more issues with almost every traveler than was given to us.  This makes our lives difficult.  It has been storming almost all day and we thought it had cleared up enough to take everyone on a walk down to the boardwalk but that turned into a disaster.  We had one person have an accident before we ever made it there and one staff had to bring her back.  Then as soon as we got to the boards it started sprinkling again so we headed back to the house.  By the time we got back, we had some very slow walkers, we were soaked.  I turned it into a dancing in the rain kind of moment to try to distract everyone from the choas  but it was ok.  The group this week will be very slow moving and take a lot of interaction.  But I am off tomorrow and plan to sleep half the day.  Hopefully it will be sunny and I can get some beach time in then my roommate and I, she is off with me, plan on trying to get in a movie and dinner.  I am excited for a little bit of relaxation. 

6.23.12

Good grief...I am behind on my blogging and it is really hard to find the time to keep up with it.  This week has been crazy!  I didn't sleep at all the night I was back in Philly and we were up and ready to go by 4am.  Breakfast had and to the airport by 5am.  No issues there.  Everyone did really well and the other traveler that we were meeting was on time.  Even our trip through security went pretty smooth.  After walking up and down the airport for an hour and a half to and from the bathrooms (of course everyone had to go at different times) they were loaded up on the plane and I was back to my train trips.  Made perfect timing for the first train was even helpful to a lost traveler.  He was heading to Atlantic City and was not sure of the best way to get there.  I explained that I was headed there and I would show him the way.  We had to wait in the main train station for over 2hrs for the train to AC but at least I had company.  It turns out he is from the west coast and has mutual friends with one of my friends.  I guess the sky diving world is pretty small...lol. 

I got back to the house and attempted to rest for a little while but was unsuccessful.  I did finally meet my roommate for the summer.  I was really worried when I walked into my room and there was stuff everywhere.  But it is all organized now and we are good.  She will be good company.  She is from Seattle and will be staying at the house for a year.  It was a pretty calm night thursday night which was good because I was exhausted.  Except for the one little issue...We were sitting in the living room watching a movie when one of the travelers from the dining room says there is water dripping.  Ok, so the water was not just dripping.  It was pouring from the ceiling!  Apparently one of the bathrooms on the second level had over flowed and had been running for a little while and it was leaking through the ceiling.  The team split up and we got it all under control.  First crisis of the summer resolved pretty easily. 

Friday was our trip to Cape May.  We were up and on the road pretty early and made it there is time to visit Summer's Point before lunch.  They have the cutest shop there and they are super nice to all of us.  Many of them give us discounts or deals.  One of the places gives the travelers each a couple Cape May Diamonds.  After Summer's Point we had a picnic by the lighthouse.  While unloading everything the bucket of sandwiches got over turned into the parking lot.  At least enough of them were saved to get us through lunch.  By the time we got to the shops it was really hot and we could not stay out in it long.  One of my travelers kept getting so upset because he did not have enough money to by the things he wanted.  It is his first time away from his group home and he was getting so home sick.  We had left a couple messages with his staff telling them that he just wanted to say hi but nobody would return his call.  Made me kinda sad.  He has lived his whole life with his parents and they just passed away recently so his group home is new to him too.  The poor guy is just so sad.  We got caught in a big storm on the way home from Cape May.  We couldn't go more than 20 mph on the highway.  Luckily our Scottish driver was at the wheel and was just fine with the rain.  The travelers were not too excited about it though.  We made it home before the rain hit the house and got everyone in but our plans to go to a concert on the beach were ruined because of the weather.  Everyone was kind of disappointed but we had a dance party in the house.  It was a lot of fun for them. 

Today the weather was nice and clear and we made a trip to Smithville.  Those shops are cute, kinda village like.  My guys had been waiting on the collectors store all week.  They were all into music and Elvis and were very excited.  My same guy that was low on money had issues again today and it was hard to get him to understand that we had to make choices and somethings just weren't do-able.  After Smithville we explored with a new route, that turned out how we had hoped, and went to lunch at Olive Garden.  Everyone did soup and salad and I can not believe the amount of soup and salad that was consumed at that table.  Everyone had a limit of 2 servings of everything but they all ate their full 2 servings.  After lunch we went to the AC aquarium.  That was pretty neat but there was a lot of traffic getting there due to a music festival that is being held this weekend and they had music at the aquarium today too.  It is a small aquarium but it is cute and we only had one blow up.  Same guy with the same issue.  He didn't have much money left and wanted something from there.  After a little cussing, and throwing paper and storming around, I calmed him down and we were able to find something that would work for him.  Tonight was taco night and all the staff put on sombreros and mustaches to bring out dinner.  The travelers LOVED it!  We got everyone packed up and ready to go home tomorrow and I think all staff is worn out.  Everything by the end of today was hilarious and saying are becoming things of entertainment.  Some of the good one from this week are "let me tell you something" "shoes for the baby" "donuts" "alright baby" "teenagers work in the summer, right?"

Overall I think it was a successful first week at the shore house.  This summer is going to fly by.  I can't believe I have already been here a month.  I am a little disappointed though,  I got a few minutes away from the house today when I ran up to the grocery store and tried to call my mom, my brother and Lisa and nobody would answer their phone.  I finally got a hold of my brother on his work phone and he said that it serves me right for running off halfway across the country.  What a nice thing to say...jerk (and those that don't know my brother, yes, he was kidding).  Anyway,  I miss the family and some others back home (eghm...Lisa) but am loving what I am getting to do. 

6.19.12 (Philadelphia Trip)

I made it back to the Shore House after 5 days in Philadelphia.  The trip was amazing, the people were amazing and I had a great time.  There was so much that went on this weekend that I had to take down notes while I was on the train yesterday just to hopefully get all the highlights in.  I can now say that I am completely comfortable with the train systems and pretty confident that I can get where I am trying to go without many problems.  I started this weekend early Thursday morning with the train from Atlantic City to Philadelphia then from the station there to the airport.  There was a little confusion meeting up with the trip leader but we got it figured out and had no issues with a gate pass to pick up our first traveler.  That night was pretty relaxed with only 3 travelers.  Once all travelers arrived Friday morning it was off to the zoo.  I had a nice little battle with one of the seat belts in the van.  For all this new technology a middle seat belt should not be all that difficult, coming from the ceiling to clip in to go across and clip again...ugh.  I felt like an idiot.  But, I finally won and we were off.

Apparently the Philly zoo was the first zoo in the US.  But for that status I was kinda disappointed.  There were a lot of monkeys, a rhino and a couple of zebras.  They had the same kinds of animals in different places throughout the zoo so there were not really very many there.  They did have this cool hot air balloon thing that would have been neat but they said it was too windy to go up that day.  For the record, and maybe just from being used to the wind, but there was very little wind that day.  All of the travelers were exhausted by the time we left and I was kinda worried how they would make it through everything else for the weekend.  But some dinner at the diner and to bed relatively early they were good to go. 

Saturday we were set to get on a trolley at 9am to take us downtown for a tour of the city on a double decker bus.  We knew we were in trouble for the day when we didn't get on the trolley until almost 10am.  Then we had to go to a bunch of different hotels to pick up other people.  It was very unorganized and the little guy didn't know how many people he was picking up where and we had to go back and get people that he left.  The seats were very slick and with every turn I was trying to stay in my seat and keep travelers in theirs.  We finally got downtown around 11am and got onto the bus.  That tour was really cool.  I know I am getting old because that was my favorite part of the whole weekend.  All the history facts and the art were amazing.  I did not realize how much art there was in Philly.  They have a program that they offer people who have been arrested for graffiti to go through a program to get a certification to do murals throughout the city.  There were a lot of interesting things on the outsides of the homes.  Some had plaques with a flag above it.  Depending on what plaque was on the outside of your building used to determine which fire station would service you.  If you didn't have the right plaque then certain fire stations would not help.  There were a lot of shutters on the buildings and this was due to the city used to tax by the number of windows that you had so people started covering them up when the tax man came around, so they switched to taxing by the number of stairs you had.  Any renovation that have been done in these areas had to be back to original so all these cool things are still there.  The bus took about an hour and a half.  There was a time in the last half hour when we kept hearing a siren.  It was everywhere we went.  Even the tour guide guy was trying to figure out.  It turns out is was one of my guys making the noise.  You couldn't tell by looking at him that he was doing it and it was very realistic but it took a good 5 min for me to figure it out. It was all pretty funny.

After the downtown trip we went to a Philly Union soccer game.  We did not have a handicap sticker since we were in a rental van but there was no way our travelers would have been able to walk from the main parking to the entrance of the game.  The trip leader had no issues telling the parking attendants where we were going to park and did not care what they thought we should do. It was awesome.  Even though they said there was no extra parking in the preferred area we did anyway.  There were a lot of booths outside the game and everyone had fun winning free stuff. When it was time to sing the national anthem they had to show the words on the big screen.  Really?  Is it that bad that people don't know the words anymore?  I was blown away! Then I almost had to give a middle aged jerk a piece of my mind.  He decided that him and his daughter needed to get up during the middle of the game to go get ice cream.  One of my girls couldn't get out of the way fast enough for him so he started grumbling and making statements about "these people need to be kept at home" and "people like this shouldn't be allowed in public" I was so pissed!  A million different things went through my mind to say to him when he came back.  Fortunately her decided he needed to go a couple rows up to get around us and I was proud of his daughter when she refused to avoid our travelers.  This dude should be learning things from his teenage daughter.  Some people really irritate me! After the game we went and had dessert at Denny's and our poor waiter was beyond stressed.  You would have thought he was running the whole place by himself...very dramatic.  It was after 11pm by the time we got back to the hotel and got everyone to bed.  It was an extremely long day and everyone, including me, was exhausted. 

Sunday was the day everyone had been waiting for...Dorney Park.  Some of the faces the travelers made on rides was hilarious.  I couldn't even think about the ride we were on from laughing so hard at their reactions.  Most everyone was very excited to be at the amusement park and I rode most everything with them.. Even this biggest roller coaster in the park. It was terrible...but fun.  The traveler that I was riding with on that one of course chose for us to sit in the very front.  At the end of the ride he was hiding his face and asking why he couldn't just ride with a normal roller coaster rider...lol.  I guess all my screaming was embarrassing for him which made it all the better.  We got stuck in a line while they decided they needed to put a new car on the roller coaster.  Then we got stuck in the line with the staff that were too busy flirting around with each other to let people in.  Which was the same ride that the car in front of us stopped on the track and the staff did not know how to start it and we had to wait forever while she attempted to push this car by herself.  Luckily the other staff finally realized that everyone was backed up on the track.  After 8hrs of amusement park fun we headed back to the hotel. 

Monday morning was a trip to the aquarium.  There was a really neat hippo exhibit and we were there in time to see them eat and swim.  They were pretty amazing.  The same area had really neat jellyfish and sharks but once we got out of that area the rest of the aquarium was disappointing.  There were these people with cameras that kept stopping us everywhere for group photos.  The first one or two were ok but getting everyone together for group photos every few minutes got old.  After the aquarium it was time for the trip to end.  Everyone went home and I was finally on the train back to the Shore House.  The weekend was full of excitement and it was like taking 5 grown kids under the mental age of 10yrs old to every kind of attraction possible.  But I would not have traded it for anything.  I have had the most amazing opportunity to be doing the most amazing thing for the summer and I am just trying to take everything in as it happens. 

I made it back to the Shoe House in time to meet the group that has arrived for this week.  Was off on Tuesday and started to write my blog but there was too much to go in it so it has taken me two days.  I caught up on sleep and laid out in the sun.  We went and had a nice dinner last night and hung out on the boardwalk.  Today was a morning of playing games and lunch at The Hard Rock, a little bit of time at the casino, then a trip back to Philly for me.  I am only here for the night and will be helping with the drop off for the Hawaii trip that leaves early in the morning.  Unfortunately, I will be having to be up by 3:30am to get everyone ready to be at the airport no later than 5am.  So it will be no sleep for me tonight and a long day tomorrow.  I will update my blog as much as possible but I think finding the time will be difficult. I attempted to upload a bunch of pics here but was having issues so everyone can find them on my Facebook in the Summer 2012 album.     

6.13.12

Made our trip to Cape May today.  I have to say, it was very nice.  It is different from the other places we have been bc the shops aren't on a boardwalk and they are a lot cuter.  I am thinking I just might have to get a couple little trinkets there.  The weather was very nice while we were out today and we even got our walk/jog in before it started raining again.  I did a little speed walking while Laura jogged tonight and I was not aware that it was going to make me that sore!  I will be lucky if I can move in the morning.  But it is up early to get the train to Philly.  A little nervous about all that since I have only seen the train station and airport there but after 4 days I will be a pro...lol. 

I got a msg from my brother this morning that he went sky diving.  Sooo jealous and can't wait until I get the chance to jump out of a plane.  Because of the weather there have been a lot of people out surfing and I am determined to have my go at that as well.  I could get used to this living at the beach thing although I am so done with all the rain.  I'm pretty sure we are reaching the point of all the rain I have ever seen put together into this place.  I am ready for my hot sunshine back...lol.  I won't be taking my computer with me to Philly so I am going to miss my posts for the next few days but I'll be sure to write about everything when I get back.  I am really excited that all but one of the staff (my roommate) will be here when I get back and our first group of travelers.  I am done with the down time and ready to get this chaos started!!!

6.12.12

Missed posting yesterday because the time I usually spend posting I was talking to Mom.  It is so weird talking to her so little but enjoyed the catch up we had last night.  We haven't had the best of weather the past couple of days.  Yesterday morning we did some orientation then spent some time on the beach.  It was pretty cloudy and the wind was blowing like crazy so we didn't last long.  I went back out for my 3 mile walk/jog last night.  I have skipped out on that for a few days but took my time down from an hr to 45min.  That was pretty cool.  I got up again this morning and went out but only made it 1 1/2 miles in 30 min.  I just couldn't get my stiff body moving.  I have been so sore all day.  I guess that means I need to move a bit more.  This morning we waited around for the handy man to not show up then took our routes  for some of the day trips we will be taking.  Went to the bowling alley and to Ocean City but the weather did not cooperate so it was a short trip.  I probably should have gone back out walking tonight but did not.  If it is not raining in the morning I will go. I am hoping for a clearer day tomorrow since we are going to Cape May and I have not been there yet.  It would be nice to get the chance to take some pics.  We have decided we have a problem in this house with our obsession over watching American Ninja Warrior and America's Got Talent.  ANW I had never seen until I got here but get really into it.  AGT needs to hurry up and get to the Vegas part so we can get through all the people that suck.  Tonight they put someone through on a pity vote!  What is this show coming to?!?  Only going with a short post tonight since I did not sleep much last night and was ready for bed a few hours ago.  Just waiting on my sweet Ambien to take me away...lol

6.10.12

I missed posting yesterday because we were out late and I was beyond ready for bed by the time we made it back to the house.  But it was a pretty good day. We slept in a bit and then went to the beach as soon as everyone was up.  We spent about 4hrs laying out and I even ventured out into the ocean yesterday.  It was a little cool but a lot of fun.  After our picnic and some more laying out we made it back up to the house for showers then a walk into Atlantic City.  We made it to the first casino and walked out to the boardwalk intent on going down a ways to a little beach bar place called "Sammy's"  but we didn't make it.  We noticed the first place right outside the casino was having its opening weekend and we were just in time for happy hour.  We ended up staying there the rest of the night.  Had a nice little appearance from a  Jack Sparrow look alike and danced it up for the band that was playing.  They were a fun group and loved our singing with them and dancing.  We met a group that was there for a bachelor party and they sang and danced with us for a bit.  We found some hot dogs before our trip back to the house, which were terrible.  The hot dog was bad, the fries were bad and even the Sprite was bad.  We had originally planned on eating when we got to the boardwalk around 5ish so you would have thought that by the time we ate at 2ish it would have been amazing no matter what it was.

Today was a nice chill day.  We slept in and went down to the beach.  There was no wind and was really warm out there today.  Made it back into the ocean a few times today and enjoyed some more sunbathing.  I even got a nap in when I came back to the house.  After dinner tonight we had a nice competitive game on Monopoly.  It was terrible.  I spent most of my time in jail and was the second one out.  Uno went much better for me and I even taught the girls how to play chess.  I am not that great at it but it makes me look good when they don't have a clue...lol.  Now it is off to bed for an early start in the morning.  I am pretty excited for the end of this week when I make my trip to Philadelphia for the weekend then the start of back to back travelers. 

6.8.12

Today was pretty relaxing.  The girls went out and about doing their thing this morning while I slept in and read my book out on the patio.  I managed to get my sheets washed and all that fun stuff.  After lunch we went down and layed on the beach for a couple hrs.  The weather was pretty nice while the sun was out.  Once it went behind the clouds it got a little chilly.  No new sunburns for me today although my chest is peeling from my last burn.  Tonight we went and did some more shopping and walked around the mall.  Not much great to report for today.  I've had a lot of stuff going through my mind that I am trying to avoid dealing with but I think it has come to the point that I can't just put it off.  I hate that I let myself care for someone that doesn't care back.  As much as I keep trying and holding out hope that it will happen...it just doesn't.  But by this time next week I will be busy and won't have much time to think about it until I return home.  I still hold out hope but it great need of distraction!

6.7.12

Well I have to say that today was much more interesting.  Start out the morning with an exciting little driving assessment by a very strange man.  I knew I was in trouble when we first got into the car and he thought he had to explain to me what a hybrid was and how to drive it.  Come on dude...and I have to say I did not really care that it is a new vehicle for him and his company and how much they had to spend on repairs for it.  The best part was when he decided he needed to show me a trick to parallel parking (this is after I had already done it right myself) He backed up too far and knocked down his own cone...lol.  I told him he made one of them disappear and he told me...no, he couldn't have.  But I watched it.  His excuse was the wind coming in from off the ocean, which was in front of us and the cone was behind us.  And this guy was suppose to be showing me...ha!  After an hr in the car we got to move on to the van.  He did not believe me when I told him I was fine driving the van.  By the end of it he was talking about how comfortable I was and that I had good spacing and he doesn't tell that to everyone...this poor dude.  He was bad and he smelled REALLY bad.  Being stuck in a car with that for 2hrs was a bit much. 

The afternoon was quiet and rainy again.  But then we took a walk into Atlantic City and spent some time in the casinos and had dinner.  Laura and I both won tonight and were so excited.  It wasn't much but it was very entertaining to us.  Once we won we decided we had to cash out and leave.  It was really nice to get out away from the house and relax.  It was much needed for all of us I think.  Tomorrow all the girls are taking a trip down to the Social Security office and to take the van in for service.  Luckily I get to skip that trip.  I'm thinking some laundry and clean up my room a bit then maybe take my book down to the beach until they return.  I'm sure it will be an all morning ordeal if the SS office here is like anywhere else.  I just hope the weather cooperates with my plans!

6.6.12

I got a msg from Mom today asking how I was since she has not seen a blog from me in a couple days.  I guess I should try to keep up with this.  I wish I could say that things here have been fantabulous and I just haven't gotten the chance to sit down and write, but that is not the case.  Things around here have been pretty slow and I have had way to much time to let my mind wonder.  It always seems to cause more problems when that happens.  Being in a different place and around different people has been difficult these past few days.  I am ready for our travelers to start showing up so I will have a distraction.  There is only so much you can enjoy of shopping and cleaning.  As much as I knew I didn't have a big idea of what this summer would entail I had hoped I would be so busy I couldn't stress about things.  On a good note I am doing the Philadelphia trip next weekend.  That will be nice to see more than just the train station there and it will start the chaos.  When I get back from that trip the house should be full of travelers. 

The new girls are a little quite and have never worked with anyone who has disabilities but I think they will catch on pretty quickly.  One of them yesterday asked how I was so tan...lol.  Me, the tan one out of the group.  Crazy!  But it is true, while everyone else is just burning I am starting to get a pretty nice little color.  The weather here has been cold and rainy so we have not gotten to get out much but today was a little nicer and we spent a couple hours on the beach.  It ended up getting a little cool but it was definitely nice to sit in some sunshine for a little while.  Yesterday we painted one of the bedrooms a nice bright yellow, which I love.  Although the other girls think it is a little much.  We did a little artwork today for the room and I am really kind of impressed with it.  I will take pics when we get it hung up tomorrow.  I have to go through van training tomorrow and I am not really looking forward to it.  There is only 2 of us doing the training but it will take 4hrs.  An hr each in a little car so the guy will know we can drive then an hr each in the van.  It is rumored that this guy doing the training does not have a lovely sent and is not the most enjoyable person ever.  But maybe it was just exaggerated, I hope.  It would be nice if he would just be like, yep you got it, but I am sure that will not happen.  The other girl taking it with me is really nervous about driving the van so it may be interesting.  Hopefully we will come out all in one piece. 

I am hoping I can get some good rest tonight and things will be looking better tomorrow.  This stress is not any fun and the only way I know to get around it is not have time to think about it...

6.3.12

Survived my birthday away from home this year.  It is weird being surrounded by everything and everyone new.  Overall it was a pretty good day but a little tough too.  I am ready for our travelers to start showing up so I will be too busy to think about home.  Today was a little rough.  Laying out on the beach yesterday I attempted to get rid of my tan lines on my shoulders and across my chest.  Not such a good idea.  I am kinda lobstery and anything I wear hurts so bad.  I just keep thinking that soon the pain will be gone and the tan will stay.  I have gotten a lot of sun and am loving the nice glow.  Me and Laura are still working onn staying on our fitness plan and try to pull inspiration everywhere we can.  Tonight it was watching the makeover show.  That guy lost 100lbs in 3 months!  It makes what we are striving for a blah...lol.  But we are still going strong.  The hardest part is going to be the food.  Getting the excersizing in is easy.  I am up and moving so much more than when I left Texas and it feels pretty good. 

But back to the day...we went shopping in Ocean City today.  They had some cute liitle shops and I enjoyed walking on the boardwalk.  We even got to see a beach wedding.  It was so cute.  We arrived just in time to see the wedding party come in and the bride.  It was beautiful and I can't wait until the day I get to get married barefoot on the beach :)  After the shopping we stopped at a restaurant that overlooked the boardwalk we normally walk in the evenings.  I was not overly impressed with their food and am really suprized at how little I have wanted to drink lately.  It is just not appealing to me when I think about it.  I don't really feel like going to the clubs here and dealing with the crowds.  I would much rather take my book and sit on the beach.  I think that is where I will be spending my days off once the travelers start arriving.  We have 2 more staff that come in tomorrow evening.  They are both from England, I think.  It will be kind of nice to have more hands in on the cleaning but Laura and I have been getting along so well and have such a great system going working together.  I'm sure it will be fine and they will just mesh right in.  I am more worried about the last 2 staff that come in like the days the travelers do.  They will have no time to bond with us or get adjusted.  But they have both been here before so it will be alright.  I am not sure waht all adventure tomorrow holds for me but I am sure it will involved some more cleaning and definately our 3 mile walk.  I even started a count down for when I go back home (sad huh?)  I am trying to take everything in and remember, I probably will never get a chance to do anything like this again.  But some days are a little rough.  Come on busy craziness!!!

6.2.12

I have almost been blogging 2 weeks and have only missed a couple days.  I think that is good for me. Of course we will see how it goes once we get into the full swing of having travelers every week.  But I have to say, I am kind of proud of myself.  Yesterday was suppose to be a half day of cleaning and then a nice afternoon on the beach but the weather did not want to cooperate so it turned into a massive full day of cleaning.  We were all exhausted by the time the travelers floor was finished.  It has been determined that I could never be a housekeeper or a maid.  Blinds, baseboards and toilets are not my friend!  After our success in cleaning we still went on our 3 mile walk (in the rain) and we even attempted to jog some.  We also watched a TERRIBLE movie last night.  I think it was called "Last Kiss" or something.  I suggest not wasting your time on it.  By the time I made it up the stairs for the last time last night it decided to storm like crazy.  So I had to just make myself go to sleep.  My room is great for the view of the ocean...not so great for the sound and light show of a storm!

Since we completed so much cleaning yesterday we did not have to do as much today.  Picnic lunch on the beach was great.  We even all put on sunscreen today.  Apparently we are not all that great at it though because we have sunburns in every area that did not get covered.  It is kind of funny.  After a few hours on the beach we headed into Atlantic City.  Tried my hand at the slots and discovered real quickly that I do not enjoy it all that much.  It is fun as long as you win but overall not that entertaining. I enjoyed the people watching much better.  There are some crazy people out here, that is for sure.  We had a drink at this cool little beach bar place and dinner. It was nice to get out and relax for a bit.  When we got home I had flowers from Mom waiting on the porch for me :)  Tomorrow the plan is shopping in Ocean City.  It will be weird not being home or around my friends for my birthday but I'm hoping for a memorable one here in New Jersey tomorrow.  I got a couple pics in today but will take the camera and get some tomorrow. 

Funny of the day:  Eating dinner tonight, we had some Chinese food.  Laura (co-worker from Scotland) took a bite and found a chili pepper.  Description was:  It is was like falling face first into fire!  In her words, it was the worst 20min her mouth has ever experienced.