The Works

So, it's 11:15 and I am finally home from my busy day, realizing that I promised promised PROMISED I would write today. Well, for those of you who are timing, I did not make the midnight cut-off for the CST. It's been a long day; I'm sitting in my sweatpants with two of my Grandma's famous Kit-Kat bars next to me (her recipe, but I made them), my Nalgene full of water, and my bed right next to me...so warm and welcoming. But alas, I hardly ever take back a promise.

This past weekend, my friends Lindsay and Brendan (in from Chicago) and I ventured to the bustling city of Great Falls, MT. The purpose of the trip was to visit the Sip n' Dip at the O'Haire Motor Inn. Both are world-renowned and famous, of course. The best part of the Sip n' Dip (and basically the only reason we went) is the mermaid that they have swimming in the pool behind the bar. For serious, check it out! Anyways, I'll get to that later of course.

We got there after a three hour drive and met our friend Lukin, who was in Great Falls taking a motorcycle safety course (with the price of gas nowadays...). We subsequently decided to venture into downtown Great Falls, where we were greeted by hmmmm no one in the downtown area on a beautiful Saturday evening (70 degrees) besides a few meth addicts and a large church of Harley-riders. A bit odd. I actually saw more people hanging out in one alley than we passed in a few blocks on the sidewalk. Well, that's neither here nor there, but the picture of the town may give you a slight idea of the rest of our weekend. We ventured out to a "Mexican" restaurant and were so happy when we stumbled upon a "Mexican" restaurant off the main drag. There were cars there, so we figured it must be good. WRONG. If only we could have captured the surprise on our faces when our "tacos" showed up in hard-shells. Hmmm. This "Mexican" restaurant may have been a slightly American restaurant, trying to pull off a Mexican reputation simply by having a Mexican name. We hadn't even considered the option that our tacos would show up in hard-shells...ahhh, our naivety.

Lindsay and Brendan really excited for the O'Haire Motor Inn - straight out of the 1950's!

We may have found Jesus in Great Falls...literally, he was everywhere.

Anyways, following dinner we headed to the Sip n' Dip Lounge, which is within the O'Haire Motor Inn. Oh yes, another really important part of the Sip n' Dip is "Piano Pat", who has been playing the "synthesizer" at this place for 45 years. 45 YEARS! That's a long time. Anyways, so she started her music and the mermaid was a'swimming. She wan't your typical "Ariel" mermaid, but according to the waitress, "[they've] been having a lot of trouble with mermaids lately". This came up only after we thought the mermaid went on a short break and she didn't return - apparently she hadn't felt good and had to go home. What?!?! The mermaid can't leave....that's what we travelled for! We were frustrated. But, we spent the rest of our night getting to know the Great Falls area (I probably won't ever return) and just having a grand ol' time. We topped the evening off with an amazing cheese pizza before going to bed. Yum.

Lindsay and I

Me, Lindsay, Brendan, and Lukin enjoying a fun night

Morning time came, and we eventually checked out to head back to Missoula. We knew we needed breakfast. Well, downtown Great Falls is home to a Hardee's. Yes! A real, live Hardee's! Hardee's was such an integral part of my childhood with its playlands and two locations in Manitowoc...ahhh, birthday parties and that merry-go-round. So fun. Anyways, they also have the best hash rounds a person could ever dream of, and that's what brought us to Hardee's. Don't worry. We didn't actually eat a meal there. We just went through the drive through to order two large hash rounds to take with us, before we stopped for breakfast 2 miles down the road. Lippi's Kitchen. This is the place to be, I tell ya. Sunday morning - the place was packed. We figured it had to be amazing, but later on we had our doubts. Our waitress was slightly hmmm...not nice, we could say. After spilling Lindsay's coffee on her because she wasn't looking when she slammed it down, the waitress kindly took our orders--French Toast for both Lindsay and I, and an omelette for Brendan. Safe and easy. About 20 minutes later, I noticed that two women at a table next to us had received their breakfasts, even though they had entered the restaurant after us. The nerve. They both had apparently ordered French Toast as well, because that is what they got. Well, then our food came out. Eeek! Lindsay and I both received plates of French Toast Sticks (from the freezer!) and a sausage patty. Yuck. I could've gone shopping at Sam's Club and made that in the microwave at home. Well, we looked at the ladies next to us, and they looked at us. They looked at their food. They looked at each other. They shrugged, and began eating. I said, "I think we have their food, and they have ours. They totally know it." Well, sure enough, the waitress flies out of the kitchen and says she messed up. Lindsay and I haven't touched our plates. Hmmm...but the other women have. If you were a waitress, what would YOU do? Well, if you were the waitress in Great Falls, you would simply switch the plates, even though the other women had already started eating. But of course, one a plate with a half-eaten piece of French Toast was put down in front of Lindsay, you would use a used fork to stab the half-eaten piece and take it away. Then you would kindly tell Lindsay that you would bring her another. Ey-ey-ey. My toast was already buttered and dunked in syrup. So, basically we sat there and looked at each other, saying "Did that really just happen?" Yes, it did. And we laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Really. It happened. The waitress didn't even attempt to step into the kitchen to pretend that we were getting new plates. It was quite obvious that they were used. Ahhhh, life. The good times.

Although this is a "horrible" picture, the look on their faces sums up our experience at Lippi's Kitchen

And then we laughed about it! Used French Toast...ahhh, good times.

Sunday night after returning to Missoula (by the way, it hit 78 degrees on Sunday...but it's cold already again), I had a potluck for my Intergroup Dialogues course that met in the beginning of this summer. Good times.


And then today, I was asked to participate in an art project where I was supposed to put some sort of abstract feeling of my power onto paper. As I watched everyone else appear as if they had a clear sense of what they were doing (while my paper remained blank of any "real" feelings), the result was me bursting into tears in the middle of class. I don't know why. Haha, it was a bit odd, but I think it's been a culmination of just all the emotional changes that I've been going through in my life, my extreme frustration with my graduate program, and my personal inability to really be a "spiritual" person, like I see so many other people being. But I've talked to people about it, and it's all good. No worries.

Anyways, I think there's a lot more that I could write, but I am pretty tired and have to get up super early tomorrow - another long day, yikes. When will school be over?!?!