Dinner with the roommates

L and her roommates are getting along! They all went out to dinner last night at the Chocolate Avenue Grill.

Obviously in Hershey.

All four of them. All smiling.

Cheers! Looks like L is the only one who isn't 21.

L got a burger and fries.

I love that she sent a screenshot of the conversation between her and her manager. Sounds like she's doing a great job, as usual. She says she loves it there ... even more than Disney. What?!?

Memorial Day

View from my porch. We had beautiful weather for Memorial Day. Andy went golfing early then slept the afternoon away. Our outing was two blocks away to Walgreens to exchange the propane tank so we could grill hamburgers for dinner.

E sent this picture of Azula and Spud sporting their patriotic neck scarves I made.

Chicago puzzle

My puzzle partner, August. I found this puzzle while I was in Washington visiting E.

The building part wasn't too hard to put together but the sky took us quite a while.

Saturday stuff

Andy did the first shift of donuts yesterday so I went with Allison to some yard sales so he could sleep. He didn't sleep though. HE trimmed the bushes and went to Kohl's. Anyway, we had a good start to the yard sale season. I got the Longaberger basket for $2. It wasn't priced and Allison asked what the owner wanted for it. She said it was special, a gift from her cousin, so $2. Wonder how low the price would have been if she didn't like her cousin. Allison got lucky at one sale and bought a few almost-new Vera Bradley bags and a pair of Allbirds shoes.

This Christmas lightbulb garland was free (the guy wanted a dollar and said no so he said to take it lol). It's so tangled. I'll probably end up cutting it apart. At least it was free.

Then Allison and I went to a nursery in Chicago Heights. I bought one of the baskets of yellow flowers, called Callie Calibrachoa.

I also got this little sedum called Lime Twister.

It was a beautiful day so Andy and I went to Fitzgerald's. There was no afternoon band scheduled for the patio but it was nice and quiet.

I thought this was kind of cute - dandelions in a little water bottle. I don't think Andy agreed. I sent L a picture and asked her if it was classy enough for the Hershey Hotel since it's good enough for Berwyn. She replied lol. And then she said she saw her first famous person (actress E.S.) and she was fan-girling.

A pretty sunset over Irving.

L’s first week

L hasn't sent too many pictures this week but this was her lunch on Monday. She gets free lunch every day while working. That's a nice perk.

We drobe by this too fast to get a picture when we were out there so she sent me one from her day off Tuesday. The letters are shaped bushes that are brown so they look like chocolate. There's even a Kiss on the end.

Also on her day off, she was hanging out with her roommate C. Fingers crossed the roommates all get along for the whole summer.

L described this an an "internship thing" that's for the cooler where they sell chocolate poolside. I didn't get much more of an explanation but love getting pictures regardless.

Then she sent this. Now I understand.

These are foods served at the hotel that they had L try - salmon, wheat grain, pasta and beef short ribs. Definitely not her usual meal choices. The most surprising thing? She said she liked them all!

They’re clean now

Did a load of laundry and ended up unknowingly washing and drying a pair of Andy's dollar-store glasses. They seem to still be in fine shape. Andy said they should be nice and clean now.

Me and L

When L was home before going to Hershey, we went shopping to Woodfield Mall with Allison. The mall still had its Mother's Day photo opp up so L posed for some pictures with us. Again, I'm sure she was more excited than she looks. You can see some of the new thigh tattoos she got while she was home.

Together again

We've had separate visits from Schubert and Mango (aka Pina) this spring but yesterday they showed up together!

In full bloom

My clematis are looking good.

Another angle.

The irises. What a difference a week makes.

Graduation party

Andy and I were tired yesterday so we skipped church. We did, though, go to a friend's daughter's college graduation party. There was so much food. When my friend M has a party, she goes all out.

She’s official

L got her Hershey ID this morning at orientation. Looks like she might need the afternoon to touch up her nail polish. Unfortunately, I found her black nail polish while cleaning up the living room.

Moving in

Beautiful drive from our hotel this morning to Middletown.

Her apartment is really nice - she has her own bedroom and bathroom and it's across a very small parking lot to the clubhouse where the pool and workout room is located.

We met two of her roommates, one from New Jersey and one from Ohio, and they both seem really nice. They all are working in food and beverage and have the same major. Fingers crossed they get along.

They did say it's a "sweet" internship.

L drove us to Hershey. Might take a little getting used to driving on all those hills.

This is the Hotel Hershey where she'll be working. (Notice the bushes shaped as HH for Hotel Hershey). We went in and had a look around.

This is the main lobby. It's a fancy place.

Our next stop was Chocolate World. So busy and so much chocolate.

Andy wanted to go on the ride that takes you through the experience of how a cocoa bean becomes a chocolate bar so he could get candy at the end. The candy was a small Hershey bar so not too exciting. L doesn't look thrilled but she was hungry, poor thing.

We stopped to buy her some groceries and got back to her apartment to see that one of her roommates brought a pineapple plant - the symbol of hospitality. Nicely played.

L drove us to the airport. It's very close to her apartment. Again, I'm sure she's more excited than she looks.

It was so not busy. Guess we're used to the craziness that is O'Hare. I kind of loved it.

Drinks and nachos at the airport while we wait for our plane to Newark, N.J.

We were the first ones on the plane ...

because we were upgraded to first class but the flight was maybe 40 minutes. We got one drink when we got on the plane, the flight attendant gave us a second one and then it was time to land.

Bye, L! I'll see her in July when the aunts road trip out there for her birthday.

In Newark our plane was delayed but we went to the United Club for about 15 minutes before getting to gate, then to find out about the delays.

It was the nicest United Club I have ever been in. Too bad United didn't message us about the delays earlier so we could have lingered longer. We got to O'Hare around 1 a.m., walked out the doors and Allison had just pulled up to take us home.