Rhode Island Is Not Interesting

No offense to anyone who lives in Rhode Island, but I have to say I find it pretty uninteresting. Specifically we were in Providence (the state capital) for 4 days/3 nights Tues-Fri. We were there as part of the Evangelical Theological Society's Annual Meeting. The company I work for has a large booth there (5 booth spaces actually) and a pretty significant presence. This year was a little different for me with different assignments and goals, not working at the booth nearly as often.

I got a lot accomplished and felt good about the first couple of days. By the last day, Friday, I was feeling pretty antsy to be back home. It was a lot of walking around - everything nearby was attached by walkways, but it was all still pretty far apart. I got a lot of exercise, but it certainly flared up the fibro and the pain was nearly unbearable at times. There was only one time when the pain was so intense that I thought I might pass out. Thankfully I was with my dear, good friend Monica whom I've grown very close to and appreciate soooo much! She was my roommate there, and she knows my limits and how hard to help push me and when. I felt very blessed to have her alongside me. That made the pain so much easier to bear. And I'm thankful to my other coworkers who walked slowly with me when I couldn't speed up, and even carried my backpack for me when it just wasn't going to be possible for me (thanks Amy!).

I spent one evening with four of my female coworkers and it was such a tremendous blessing. We had so much fun together and I'm so thankful for each one of them. The last day there, Monica & I were not assigned to help tear down the booth so we took the trolley for some sightseeing. Boy, was that not exciting. We had fun with it, took a bunch of random pictures, saw the first ever Baptist church in America, ate some good food, and got stuck in some weird, unexpected places via the trolley not going quite where we thought it would. Providence really has nothing to see. If you're going to that area, I'd certainly choose Boston, a mere 45 minutes or so away, or New York City, further away but definitely worth the drive! Providence, Rhode Island, shouldn't really ever make it on your to-see list. I don't think. Spend time visiting other more exciting locations.

On top of that, our hotel wasn't nearly as great as I thought it'd be. You'd think Westin would have a reputation to live up to. They didn't even have towel racks in the bathrooms or thermostats you could adjust to less than 68 degrees!! Good grief. There weren't vending machines so you had to go to a store on the 2nd floor of the rotunda building to get anything and they had limited hours. There were two towers and we were in the east tower, the 9th floor. The convention center was connected on the opposite end of where we were. Convenient, eh?

I must say though, it was big, connected by walkways so you didn't have to go outside, and overall it wasn't the worst place to be at. It was just weird and had some unlikeable quirks! But the bed and the shower were MARVELOUS! How strange that some of my worst pain (in my tailbone) wasn't there until I got back and spent the night in my own bed. Hmmmm. Makes me wonder again about our mattress. Something for us to think about....

The trip as a whole was fun, difficult, stressful, exhausting, wonderful, and sometimes tons of fun.

Right now... I'm feeling exhausted and frustrated. I spent all of yesterday on the couch or in bed, trying to relax enough that I could have some ounce of energy this week. Friday night as we waited for our delayed plane, Tim called and told me our dryer broke. Awesome. So today was Tim's family's Thanksgiving at his mom's, so we brought our laundry over here to do while everything was going on. The three loads and just 3-4 hours it'd take at our house turned into like eight loads and 7-8 hours (still going and we got here at 1) in their washer and dryer. Not a big deal, very thankful we could do this, just feeling exhausted and stressed. We leave again after work on Wednesday for my mom's house about 5 1/2 hours southwest of here for my family's Thanksgiving.

I'm tired just thinking about packing and leaving again. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

On that note, I guess I better go. Thanks for listening to me ramble. Thanks also for all those who prayed for me with this trip. I needed and appreciated your prayers. I didn't do quite as bad as I could have, but it was a struggle. As always though, I deeply appreciated the chance to go and found some huge benefits from it. I also really enjoyed getting to know several of my coworkers better. I'm still very glad I went. Now on to the next thing if I can just make it through the next couple of days, along with my chiropractor appointment on Tues and our search for a washer and dryer. Ironically we'd been planning a washer/dryer set for ourselves for Christmas, it's just that now it's a must and needed more quickly.

Oh and also tonight my sister-in-law gave me a major haircut... quite a change. I'm excited about it though and look forward to having to do less with my hair!

Okay, seriously bye for now.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!