They call me Kansas: July 2006

So in the midst of my little scavenger hunt, I brought Alex into work with me on Thursday! Her mom said it was okay for her to miss a day at camp, so I picked her up in the morning and we stopped by Freddy's for a donut and Starbucks (the Strawberry Frap, no coffee!). She came into work and listened in on my phone calls and watched me enter orders. She helped one of my co-workers out with some of his filing and I even let her enter one of my return authorizations! We headed to lunch around 1pm and grabbed some pizza at Rocco's. She was pretty impressed with how BIG the pizza slices were, and couldn't wait to tell her mom! After we ate, we walked downtown to Pioneer Place and walked around a bit and then headed back to the office to grab our things. I dropped her off back at camp, and walked her in just to make sure she got to where she needed to be. As we walked up the stairs to the Rec, I heard my name being screamed from one of the rooms and saw a few kids I knew and Alex's older sister, Alicia, who's working there this summer! I said goodbye to Alex and peaked in to the other room so I could say HI to Alicia and say congrats for H.S. graduation and I got bombarded with hugs. There were probably 9-10 kids in there that I either taught in children's church or work with in Literacy Club!! It warmed my heart and I think I'lll be ready for the school year to begin!!

Here's a few pics from Alex and I's lunchtime adventure...

I have the bestest friends in world! SO... I was in KS last week visiting fam and friends back home. (Pics and stories from that vaca will be coming in a couple weeks!) I flew back into P-town on Monday and as soon as turned my phone on, I had a text from Andee...

Somewhere over the rainbow, a bday scavenger hunt begins.
What to expect, where will I go, and where, oh where shall it end?

Huh? First of all, Andee does NOT send text messages. In fact, I've been scolded before for sending them, b/c that costs $$! So I was a little confused, but in order to avoid the wrath of AndeeLynn, I was just going to wait til I got back to work to shoot her a "what the heck?" email. Violet arrived at the airport to pick me up and says, "So, I'm suppose to tell you something, but I don't remember it. I thought about calling Justin, but I'll just email it." Again, Huh? Here I am thinking Mia had a message for me, like I got a new pretty pink dress or something... but then she goes on to say, "Did your mom give you something?" WHAT THE...? I replied, NO... what the heck are you talking about? I'm thoroughly confused at this point, then remember Andee's text... ooohhh... things started to make a little more sense! So Violet and I headed off, she takes me by their new house, and I had told her the week before that I would want to go to lunch. At first she said she wasn't hungry, but by the time we made it downtown, she was starving so she took me for Thai food. We ran into Sara in the parking lot, she asked if I had eaten, and I told her we were getting ready to go to lunch. After lunch I started digging through the mass of emails from the past week, and Violet sent me my next clue...

Welcome back Stacie, so glad you are here.
We've kept it nice and hot, to bring you good cheer.
Work's been good, but pretty busy too,
Be sure to answer every consumer call, even the ones that don't have a clue.

Alright. So I was on guard for a consumer. It took awhile, and Violet had me stressing because she thought maybe she messed things up by taking me to dinner. Well, I figured I'd just wait and see. Later that afternoon, I noticed a phone number that was just like ours here at work. I answered already assuming to get played. I heard the voice, checked the extension, and sure enough... Marty. He started by claiming to have a pair of shoes for 4.7 years and they were defective. I asked what he wanted me to do about that, and he said he wanted me to help him. When I said I didn't think I could... he was like DANG IT! I immediately asked if he had a clue for me! :-) This was fun!! I struggled a little bit with this one, b/c he read it so dang fast, but here's what I came up with...

At 7:15 am leave Tyler behind and don't look back
SoBe is the place where fun awaits,
Look for the shiny truck, with KS plates.

Huh? First thing I thought of... isn't SoBe a beverage? I was pretty confused on this one. I had talked to Violet later that day and she had asked what my clue was, and she was just as confused. We were both on the internet trying to search for it, adding other letters in there every once in awhile, but couldn't come up with anything. I had to leave b/c Andee was picking me up for her soccer game, so Violet said she'd research a little more and give me a call later that night. SO... after the soccer game, Andee was trying to be non-chalant about prying for info... but I called her out about acting like she didn't know what was going on. I told her my clue and she pretended to rack her brain, and eventually suggested that maybe it was that SohBet place over on Killingsworth. The light turned on in my head and I knew exactly what she was talking about. So it was off to bed early, since I had to be up at the CRACK OF DAWN for my next destination!

TUESDAY: Now normally, Andee's up at 7:30... but for some reason, Tues. morning she was up roaming around at 6:45am? I asked why, with a smile on my face, and she tried to blame it on me being all noisy in the bathroom. Sure...!! So I head to SohBet and go inside. Stand there for awhile by myself... and then Andee pulls up and parks!! hehe!! She comes in with a tiny package, with Tonka truck wrapping paper and buys me coffee!! Happy Tuesday to me!! Inside the box were some beautiful silver hoops that I've been wanting... Thank you AndeeLynn!! Now, Andee had already given me my next clue before I left the house (trying to trick me) and it said to check my blog when I got in to work. So off to work I went...

Later that morning a new blog appeared on my website... not just a comment... but a POST!! I knew it had to be Violet, b/c she's the computer genius... not to mention she has every user ID and password I've ever had...

Words of Wisdome for Wednesday, July 26th
You've been hacked! Happy Birthday Stacie!
There is a place
where we should meet
only if you find
Alberta and 29th Street
You must be there
at 12:29
because that's the place
where we will dine.

Cool! Now I knew the clue was from Violet and I could've sworn she said something about being my lunch date at some point, so I thought I had it figured out. I told the girls I had to leave for my mystery lunch and I was off! I get there and I wasn't sure where I was supposed to go. I was standing on the corner, contemplating which restaurant I was supposed to be at, b/c there were 3 different places to go! I hate that feeling of not knowing what to do, so I called Violet. I was like, "OK, why do I look like a hooker standing on the corner... where am I suppose to be?" she immediately screams, "WHAT, you're there? It's TOMORROW!!!!" What? She said the clue had WEDNESDAY in big letters & even had the date... flip. So my dork self jumped back in the car and headed back to the office, with a quick pit stop at Taco Bell. Son-of-a-buck. Atleast I knew where the corner was now, I just had to wait for WEDNESDAY!!!

WEDNESDAY: Lunch attempt #2. Made it to the spot, however, still confused as to where I was supposed to be. I stood on the corner for awhile, then decided I might as well get some sun while I wait, and I spotted a little boutique down the street, so I crossed the street to get into the sun and started walking down the street! All of a sudden I see Ms. Givens walking towards me and I hear "Kansas"!! Relief! She hands me a business card that says...

Your next clue... look behind the big K

She let me pick a restaurant and we chatted over yummy burritos and quesadillas! Good times!! Immediately my mind starts churning trying to figure out what the "big K" is. I get back to the office and fill Sara in, and she seemed confused. Join the club! I chatted with Violet and she seemed just as confused. Me, on the other hand, thought I had it all figured out!!! The only big K I could think of was K-mart, which doesn't exist out here anymore, but it's on Jantzen Beach, a shopping area here in P-town. Then Andee sent me an email asking if I wanted to go to Home Depot with her, which just happens to be behind where the Big K used to be... how convenient. Can't get anything by me!!! :-) So I let Andee know I'm on to her, talking about the old K-mart, Home Depot... yeah I'm coming with you, like I'd miss out on my next surprise!!! Well, by the time I got home, she was thoroughly confused and had NO idea what Stacey's clue was. I didn't believe her at first, but she actually had to call Stacey and ask for some help!! :-) It was hilarious!!!! So we go home, watch our So You Think You Can Dance show and hit the sack.

THURSDAY: As I'm headed out to my car in the morning, I get in and notice a card under my windshield wiper. It has a big K on it! Hehe... I get out to retrieve the card and Andee's poking her head out the door, telling me to read it out loud. I couldn't even finish the 2nd line before tears started rolling down my face, and I couldn't even talk. I could tell instantly that it was from Lily...

Curly hair, tons of mousse, and loves to eat
With wonder twins the good times just can't be beat!
Red barron pizza, homemade cookies and endless movie nights
Our blockbuster gear was comfy, but that don’t make it right!
My most favoritest times are chillin with my girls,
and you Kansas are the bestest in the world!
Tho I can’t be there in person, I hate to miss out on the fun
So I’m excited to participate in this scavenger hunt!
For more good times with nothin’ but crazy love for you
Just give me a holla, and I’ll share your next clue ;)

Andee had to run in and get me a Kleenex, I finally made it through the clue and hopped into my car to call Lil! The next clue was short, simple and to the point...

Go to the Applebee's by Lloyd Center at 5pm!

Sweet! I figured this must be the grand finale!!! The whole week had been so much fun!! :-) I headed to Applebee's, assuming everyone that had been involved would be there... and at this point, half-convinced that Lily would be there, too... but I knew I couldn't get my hopes up, since the timing wasn't all that good with her dad's surgery & all. I showed up just after Andee and I saw Sara sitting at a table... and the stories started flying!!!! Not one clue got pulled off exactly as planned... but the little creative mishaps made it all the more comical!!! Violet showed up and even more stories came up and the laughter couldn't be contained!! It was funny to hear how many things got mixed up, re-routed, folks were adding new clues and somehow 1 whole day & clue got skipped!!! It was hilarious!!!! Unfortunately, Sara had to jet early, so she was gone by the time Stacey got there... and Justin joined us towards the end of the evening, too, which was awesome!! I rarely get to spend time with those 2 without little princess running around fighting for our attention, so that was pretty special!! The insanity continued until around 10pm. The waiters were making fun of us for hitting both happy hours and letting us know that rent was not included in the tab! Fun times!!

This was probably one of the coolest things anyone has EVER done for me!!! I will never forget this!!! And the thing I love most is that it involved all the people that I care about from different facets of my life!! Andee, Violet, Sara, Stacey & Lily... thank you SO much!!! I love you guys!!!