Ivy is now on her way back home to Florida. Let me tell you, this has been one of the quickest and most fun weeks of my life. She’s wonderful. The perfect houseguest. She did dishes, even made her bed. WOW. She’s so great.

Sunday, we went to the All Church service as planned. It was neat; outside in Germain Amphitheatre. The service was nice. Afterwards, we went to BW3 to get some wings. Since Ivy is vegetarian, she only had a Diet Coke. After that, we went to Chris’s grandfather’s for a family reunion thingy. That was interesting. My most memorable moment there was the lemon cake. MAN was that yummy. I do love lemon so. Mmmmm. Ivy and I ate a lot of that, then brought some home as well. Sunday evening, we hung out at Chad and Christy’s and made apple bread.

Monday, we were lazy most of the day. I went to the chiropractor and then we went to the grocery store. After that, we cooked yummy stuff! As Newsies played in the background, we made pizza calzones (homemade dough) and spaghetti. That was such a yummable dinner. For dessert we had glazed lemon rounds. Talk about delicious!!! Ivy was nice enough to leave the recipe for me! 🙂 Of course, I can get it off of her website at any time… Heh.

Tuesday, we did some shopping at both Easton and Polaris Fashion Place. Ivy fell in love with this kitchen gadgety store, and then we just hopped around from place to place looking at things. We went to Gameworks where Ivy played DDR, and we also got our picture taken in one of the sticker machines. (Apparently, these machines are not as cool as the ones in Japan). I’ll have to scan them for you.

After shopping, I had a small meeting at church with Garth and Mike regarding our small group. Then it was off to the mall for dinner, then to Garth’s to bake a yummmy 7up cake! Garth seemed VERY pleased that we were not only using his kitchen, but using it to make sweet delectables! After the small group meeting, which went well I think, we watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jim Carrey was amazing in that movie, and I LOVE Kate Winslet. Always have. 🙂 I didn’t enjoy the movie as much as I could have because all of a sudden, I was in REAL pain. My lower left back, the kidney area, was killing me. The pain just kept growing and growing and there was nothing I could do to calm down. The drive home was a haze. I remember Ivy talking about a song she thought she knew, and she wondered if she’d be a good driver. I remember taking my bra off because I didn’t want anything to be restricting to me and causing more pain. We got home and SOMEHOW I managed to sleep for a few hours. But then I had to get up and pee, and that’s when the pain came back FULL FORCE. The thought of waiting 6 more hours until the doctor’s office opened sounded like torture, and it erased my hesistation of going to the ER due to their ridiculous $100 copay. I got dressed and needed help because I was hurting so badly, then I went to alert Ivy. She was already up for some reason, so I told her what was going on and gave her Chris’s cell phone number so she could call him if Aidan woke up. She gave me a hug and told me to feel better. Then, off to the ER Chris and I went. We got there about 4am. I got checked in, tested. I had a CT Scan which was neat. The doctor (Craig) was nice, and said that I had a 3mm kidney stone. Yikes. 🙁 Then I had an IV that filled me with fluids and NICE pain meds. I was pretty happy after that, albeit exhausted. I slept most of yesterday which SUCKED because it was Ivy’s last day here. But she got a lot of writing done with does not suck. And I feel better which absolutely does not suck.

We got to the station a bit after 11 this morning. We shared some french fries and lemonade, and then it was time for her to go. 🙁 She got approached and questioned about her pentacle, and the lady kept saying “It’s not from GOD!” Ivy said “It’s MY interpretation.” Go, Ivy! We shared a few big hugs, then she really had to go. I was sad. I loved having her here. She’s fun and laid back and loves to cook and bake, which makes my tummy very happy! 🙂 We’re definitely going to miss having her around. *sigh*

So, the best thing is to start planning next year’s visit! 🙂 I’m not sure if I’ll go there or if she’ll come here again, but I know one thing for sure. I can’t go another five years without seeing one of my best friends ever again. Amen.