Preparations:

I don’t know if it’s because he’s a Leo, but Cody is a worrier and because of this I have to be a mega planner.  I never in my life considered myself a Type “A” person but after planning our trips over the past eight years, I have to admit I totally am. I’m not a hard A though… the things I plot are more guidelines and suggestions rather than concrete rules.  I had to horn in all my organization skills for a Roadtrip that’s less than a week away.  We’re driving from Cypress {Houston}, TX to Venice Beach {Los Angeles}, California.  I’ve done hours of research, using multiple resources, and of course, using my two favorite Microsoft programs: Power point & Excel.  Since we’re driving and traveling with our dogs, I used spread sheets & Google Maps to route our stops.  Our plan is to stop every 300 miles {3.5-5 hours} so we can give our booties & puppies’ mini breaks; we’re calling them Booty Breaks.  This is a link to our route there if you want to check it out:

{To see our route for the way home click here: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=216583424838974774130.0004c11398e6b4351bd42&msa=0&ll=31.203405,-106.479492&spn=18.47594,40.693359}



Here are my estimated stops:

I’m the most excited about watching the sunrise over the Grand Canyon, which is something on our bucket list.  I was ecstatic to learn that dogs ARE allowed on all the trails and that you’re allowed to drive your own vehicle on certain trails as well.

I’ll be posting every night {or while Cody is driving} to let you know if we stayed on schedule, if we stopped at our suggested locations, & review the places we did visit.  I couldn’t find any websites or blogs that actually listed their step by step stops so I hope this is helpful to someone one day. 

Here is a list of the websites and apps I used to plan this trip:

House rentals {that are Diesel friendly}:

·VRBO ·Home Away ·Flip Key ·Vacation Rentals ·Google

Cheapest gas:

·Gas Buddy {app}

Restaurants:

·Travel Network ·Food Network ·Yelp ·Bringfido.com · Urbanspoon.com

Roadtrip Stops:

·Google Maps ·Yelp ·Bringfido.com · Lots of our friends recommendations ·Travel Network ·Food Network

Code Word: Pervy

Our instant message conversation this morning:

Miles, Jeannie 7:38 AM

When did it become okay to stop putting veggies and cheese in my eggs?

Gosh

Cody Miles 7:38 AM

punch in the baby makers I tell ya

right in the womb

Miles, Jeannie 7:38 AM

well, it was a punch to my taste buds

I’ll tell ya that much

Cody Miles 7:39 AM

I didn’t feel like cutting onions and jalapenos masters

I sorry miss ma’am  it won’t happen again

Miles, Jeannie 7:39 AM

and cheese was just too much

I swear... i give an inch you take a mile

Cody Miles 7:40 AM

I sorry miss master miles

Miles, Jeannie 7:40 AM

sorry isn't going to cut it this time

Cody Miles 7:40 AM

I’ll take my lashings now...

Miles, Jeannie 7:40 AM

oh no, you won't know when they’re coming.

Cody Miles 7:40 AM

just don’t let the chilre'n sees it

Miles, Jeannie 7:40 AM

at least the bacon was good

who is this?!

this isn't Cody

this is Matt

Cody Miles 7:41 AM

hahaha

no its me

Miles, Jeannie 7:41 AM

liar!

what is our Heaven code word then

Cody Miles 7:41 AM

Booba

isn’t that it? 

Miles, Jeannie 7:42 AM

GASP

NO!

Cody Miles 7:42 AM

what? yes it is

was it something about our belly buttons

Miles, Jeannie 7:44 AM

I can't believe you

if I died today you couldn't find me in the future

this is BS

I’m blocking you!

*shakes head*

Cody Miles 7:44 AM

what is it?!  

Miles, Jeannie 7:44 AM

PERVY

THE WORD IS PERVY!

Cody Miles 7:44 AM

that’s right!!!

Miles, Jeannie 7:44 AM

IT'S BEEN THAT WORD FOR 8YRS!

Cody Miles 7:44 AM

Hahahaha

Miles, Jeannie 7:44 AM

I KNOW THAT'S RIGHT

cheese and rice!

Cody Miles 7:45 AM

well i try not to think about dyeing haha

Miles, Jeannie 7:45 AM

you worry about dumb stuff

and don't plan for our eternal future

Cody Miles 7:45 AM

I won’t forget it now ;)

Miles, Jeannie 7:45 AM

I’m happy I am

geesh

Cody Miles 7:45 AM

Hahhahhaah

Miles, Jeannie 7:45 AM

I’d be wondering around

muttering "pervy?"

Cody Miles 7:45 AM

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Miles, Jeannie 7:45 AM

pervy?

to all these randoms

Cody Miles 7:46 AM

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAAAHAHAHA!!

Miles, Jeannie 7:46 AM

and then I’d probably find a pervert

that thinks I'm coming on to him

and says it back

then I’d be with the wrong guy

and I’m sure there are going to be swarms of Jews there

so Booba or Bubeleh would NOT be our code word for Heaven

Cody Miles 7:47 AM

OK... Pervy it is. 

Miles, Jeannie 7:47 AM

are you sure?!

can you remember that

Cody Miles 7:47 AM

I won’t forget it now haha

Miles, Jeannie 7:47 AM

I would hope not

Cody Miles 7:48 AM

so we went from cheese on your eggs to finding each other in heaven with code word pervy haha

Miles, Jeannie 7:49 AM

that seems about right

Cody Miles 7:49 AM

love it haha

and I love you

Miles, Jeannie 7:50 AM

love you too

Allow me to clarify the above conversation for those of you that aren’t aware with why we have a “code word,” for Heaven. 

When I was younger, I would attend weekly youth Bible classes and on one occasion we spoke about marriage and how to move on if/when your spouse passes.  I was taught it is okay to remarry but I raised my hand and asked, what I thought to be a good & genuine question {but apparently everyone else knew the answer to},  “If your spouse dies, and you remarry, which one of them do you spend eternity with in Heaven once you all pass?”  There were chuckles & a few *bless her hearts* and the response was,

“When you get to Heaven, your relationships & ties that you had on Earth, are no longer in existence.  Once you arrive at the pearly gates, everyone knows everyone, you won’t know your mother from a stranger, etc…” and I was heartbroken.  My first thought was, “My aunt Kay won’t know I was her niece?” But now that I’m older, I see why this concept is so great, because everyone is family, you’ll love and support them, and they’ll love and support you, but I can’t help feeling like I would want to know if I had a closer bond with someone over the next {not very Christian, I know, I apologize}.  Since we take on different forms once we leave our Earth bound bodies, I knew I wanted to have a code word with my husband so when we’re floating around, or what have you, in Heaven we could find one another, and 8 years ago, after refereeing lovingly to Cody as pervy {short for pervert} we decided that would be the best code word for us.  We don’t think anyone else would have the gall to use that word in Heaven, or at least we hope not!

I Must Look Really Pretty Today

My company recently “baby boomed,” so there are a lot of new employees, those employees drive cars, which they have to park, creating a lack of parking spots at my building’s parking garage.  Why am I telling you this horribly boring tidbit of information?  First of all, rude!   Second, It’s for a good lead up, so just stay with me, and third, after you find out what “pretty,” act I committed this morning you’ll understand the back story.  What happens if we don’t get a spot at our company’s parking structure?   We have to park on the 5 & 6 floors of the Galleria Nordstrom’s parking garage that is located across the street from our building.  Since this is somewhat of a journey, I like to wear flip flops & carry my heels, so I don’t ruin them.  

Okay, so what’s the story?  We again parked at Nordstrom’s parking garage, I wore my hot pink flip flops, crossed the street thanking our crosswalk security officer, got into our building, stepped into the elevator, hit 9 & 5 {Cody’s floor} and took a deep sigh because I’m living the dream... As we’re progressing upward Cody touches my raggedy old pair of wedges I recently replaced with a new pair and says, “I thought you weren’t wearing these anymore?”  I look down puzzled & reply, “Oh no!  I grabbed the wrong pair!” then immediately noticed that I did not grab the wrong pair, I wish I grabbed the wrong pair… My right was indeed my raggedy old espadrille wedge BUT my left shoe was not… My left shoe is my brand new taupe cork wedge that is also an inch & a half taller… the elevator dinged, Cody stepped off laughing under his breath and I turned to the 2 suits that were getting off on our executive floor and simply said, “I have two different shoes… it’s okay, you can laugh.” And they did.  We all laughed together.

In my defense, they do look similar, which was the point since I’m replacing the haggard pair, BUT one is nude-the other taupe, one is a espadrille-the other cork, one has a knot detail-the other a flower thing, and one is 3.5” tall-the other is 2”, and since there is a height difference, I’m walking with a little extra swag.  Look out playa’s I’m tagging in to play. *oh geez*

No one should have multiple stories of this nature, but it’s me, so of course I do.  The first time something similar like this happened I was walking down a wedding isle… intrigued?

My friends Chris & Kara were getting married & I was Kara’s maid of honor. 

Kara graciously bought all of her six bride’s maids shoes for the wedding.  They were a very pretty shade of navy blue that matched our dresses perfectly.  She was living in Virgina at the time so she brought them back with her from there.  On one of the days we met up she handed me my box of shoes, I opened it, took out the left shoe, tried it on, *kiss your finger tips because you’re doing that Italian thing* Muah! They look smashing.  I handed the box back to Kara so all the shoes would stay together.  A week goes by, it’s the day of the wedding, our hair is all done, our make-up fantastic, we’re getting dressed, all that’s left are the shoes.  I grab my box of size 7’s, put my left shoe on and then I go to put on my right, but it’s not there… there’s just another left… “Oh no…” yep, there were two lefts in my box, no joke.  After quietly freaking out and making a phone call to Codiy {who was an usher} to go to Payless to buy me a pair of navy blue or black heels, I told Kara.  We all had a moment, but knew it would work out in the end, no worries… wrong.  The wedding started on time {which never happens!} so Cody didn’t make it in time.  Thankfully we walked arm in arm with the groomsmen so Chris’ best man, Beau {who’s awesome} supported me as I strutted down the isle in two left shoes.  Once on the stairs I simply crossed my ankles to hide the entire side of my foot that was hanging off the shoe.  It was brilliant!  {I love that story}

PS 

In case you were wondering: Instead of saying blond moment, dingy, etc… I say “pretty day.”  It’s not fair to other woman if you’re smart AND beautiful so whenever you do something not so smart, my theory is you’re just balancing out.  So I must look really pretty today.

In honor of today’s mishap here are two songs:

“Boogie Shoes,” by KC & the Sunshine Band

“SHOES,” by this guy who’s name in the video is Kelly

Prom Pose

Going to prom is a big event in people’s lives; it’s an even bigger deal when you’re Autistic.   My little brother, Anthony, is going to prom this year with a few more boys from his special needs class.  He turned 22 on Saturday {Cinco de Mayo} so this is the last year he’ll be able to attended a prom.  Tony, as he likes to be called, has Asperger’s Disorder which is a milder variant of Autism {which loosely translates to: he’s a high functioning Autistic man.} 

He’s very sensitive, sweet, repetitive, loves video games, is good at math, music, & science, but lacks social skills amongst a few other things.  Something that can be seen as a downfall is how “normal” he looks, he gets picked on a lot because people can’t tell he’s special by looking at him, they think he’s just “weird,” and EVEN THOUGH no one should be picking on anyone, let’s face it, kids can be cruel, and it’s hard to be him, so the fact he gets to attend prom with all the other seniors is pretty major feat.   Not only is he going to prom, he also has a date, who’s in college {he loves to point that out}, she’s the special needs director's daughter who agreed to go with him, which proves that some people can be fantastic! 

Over the weekend {on his birthday} we took Tony to Men’s Warehouse to get fitted for his Tux that was donated by a man we’ve never met {another fantastic humane}. 

The mystery good doer also donated a tux for Aaron, another special needs boy.  It was so cute watching them both try everything on and making their decisions.  Aaron requested a white tux with a black shirt {like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever},

but we quickly nudged him into going with a white shirt instead, but he’ll still be rock’n a white tux, don’t worry.

When ask, Tony replied, “Let’s go with classic black.” Then he looked up and noticed this ensemble and added, “I want that entire look…”

When we pointed out that his date will be wearing a blue dress, he said, “Yep, and I’m wearing purple.”  Well alright, we’ll just ask the florist {who’s donating the flowers, so amazing!} to put a purple ribbon on his dates corsage and a blue ribbon on his boutonnière, problem solved. 

We’re currently trying to find a limo service to donate or discount a car for the group that’s going.  We want them to have the full experience.   Some people don’t understand why things needs to be donated, “Why can’t you just pay for their stuff like everyone else?”  I can understand where you’re coming from, you don’t have the familiarity with the cost that goes into raising someone with these disorders, I’ll give you a hint, insurance doesn’t cover all their medical cost… Moving on.  While celebrating the rest of Tony’s birthday I offered to take photos of the group before they ride away to dinner, I jokingly said to my Mom, “Awe, I wish Cody & I could go to prom as chaperons, that would be so neat, not only to watch Anthony and to take pictures, but to go to prom with my husband!”  I thought nothing more of it, but this morning I received a phone call that turned my Monday completely around!

“I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it, I’m about to lose control and I think I like it!”  Why the 1982 Pointer Sister reference?  Beside the fact that the song is amazing… We’re going to prom!!!  My mom was talking to Mrs. Copelen {sp?}, Anthony’s teacher, and she told her how Cody & I offered to take photos of the group before leaving to dinner, Mrs. Copelen was very appreciative and added how she wished someone could tag along to take photos of the entire night, my mom, remembering my comment from two days prior, told Mrs. Copelen how I already mentioned that, and voilà, we’re going to prom!

I'm now in planning mode.  I demanded a corsage from Codiy, he laughed, but he knows I’m serious.  Those that know me, KNOW I immediately thought, “What am I going to wear?!!!  And how am I going to style my hair??!!”  but we’ve got that figured out.  Yes we were asked at 10:00 am but I’m shocked it took me this long to nail it down {it’s now 3:30 pm}.

Cody will wear his 3 piece heather gray suit from our wedding, a white button-up shirt, with a polka dotted bow tie.

I’ll wear this gorg backless black 1950’s inspired dress with black satin wrist gloves and either the shoes shown here, or a pair of polka dotted pumps.  Choices, choices, choices...

I’m up in the air about my hair style, I want it to be retro to match my dress, I have to talk to my hair stylist to see what he think!

I'm going to take a massive amount of photos that I’ll be sharing on here for sure.  Pray/Wish us luck that everything goes smoothly & that someone will donate a limo for the evening as well!

Happy Prom Anthony!