Accutane - Start of Month 2

So I have officially been on Accutane for one whole month. Today starts my second pack of pills. Yay! One month down, four to go. I hate to say it, but my skin has broken out more this passed week :( It was looking so good a week ago and I thought I would just go straight into clear skin. Not so. I had quite a few zits this week. Mostly around my mouth area. My cheeks and forehead remained clear though. But I have noticed that there may be a lot of zits, but they're small and go away quickly. So I don't have to stare at them for days on end, which is nice. No new side effects really. I've read on some message board that people get some eczema in small patches in odd areas. I think this is beginning to happen to me on my elbow. The skin feels bumpy and there looks to be some red bumps. Probably not noticeable to a random person, but I can feel it. That's the least of my concerns though. My lips seemed to get worse, but better in recent days. The sides of my lips cracked and have hurt like hell. The only relief I have gotten is using Clinique's All About Lips treatment. It has made them not throb like they have been. It's a white paste that dries clear. It has helped tremendously. I got a sample at Sephora and am going to buy some. I also have been using Eucerin Aquaphor. It's been good for constant reapplication, but it doesn't really help with the pain. I also got two samples of Clinique's Super Moisture lotion and Super Moisture Intense. They're okay so far. The Intense one smells bad for some reason. But I can't see them working any better than the Ponds dry skin cream I've been using at night. So there's not much new this week! That's good and bad lol. Hopefully I'll be clearer next week!

Old Navy Sample and Share

My friend Candice and I got the great opportunity to participate in an Old Navy Sample and Share! It was so exciting! We got to try on lots of different Old Navy clothes and put together awesome outfits, but we specifically based everything around Old Navy Sweaters. We tried all different kinds like cardigans, cable knit sweaters and v-neck sweaters. Such a fun time we had! Here are all of our looks that we came up with!

Thanks Old Navy!

Accutane - Week 4

More good news to report for Week 4! My skin is continuing to look fabulous. I've even less breakouts this week. I've gotten a few small ones just as of yesterday or so, but they're tiny and I don't worry about them. Those kind tend to dry up and disappear in a few days instead of lingering like they used to. Anyway, my face is still red. It looks like I have a slight sunburn. It's more noticeable when I put makeup on because I'll look really white in some areas and red in others :( I'm still dry, but nothing too horrendous yet. The same with my mouth. I've been feverishly searching Pinterest for homemade beauty ideas for my skin and hair. I'm excited to try them out! I'll blog about that after I see how it does. I went back to the dermatologist yesterday and heard good things and got questions answered! I had a list for her since it's all so new still. I should limit my alcohol intact severely, which is what I assumed since this drug effects your liver. So it seems as though I'm going to have to say no more often since more alcohol has shown up lately :/ My craziness skin texture is normal and it's just Accutane pushing everything to the surface. We discussed my dry skin and how much I loved it. She said I should stay fairly dry once I'm done with the medicine completely, which is exciting! She also said since my face hasn't really exploded yet, it probably won't, WHICH IS GREAT!!!! So maybe I won't have to hide from every body like I thought I would be doing. She said month 3 is a turning point for a lot of people though for some reason so we'll see then. I've noticed this past week that my blackheads have shown up a lot more and I have more of them which sucks. My pores were fairly small before and now I see more dark spots around my nose and cheek area. She said the Accutane should be pushing all of that out, so that's exciting to know they should go away. On a sad note, when I mentioned that I wasn't horribly dry, she said it would probably get worse which sucks. I'll deal with it when it comes! Anyway, I've decided to use a night cream because what I've been using is good, but my skin isn't dewy at all. It's like it absorbs my Olay moisturizer and would drink a lot more if I put it on my face. I've also put on a Neutrogena SPF 35 moisturizer on top of it for sun protection. So with 2 moisturizers and no dewy skin, I decided that's great for day time so I'm not shiny, but not for night. So I used my mom's Ponds dry skin cream and it made me dewy and stayed that way. So I lathered it on last night and it had been absorbed this morning which is good. So that's a plus! I assume my blood work was fine as well because I did all of my stuff so I could get my new pack of medicine, so hopefully the doctor won't call with any bad news. OH and on a GREAT note, she mentioned the rectal bleeding could be because your entire body goes dry, including mucus and things like that. So I was probably just dry down there, because I have had no more problems whatsoever. My nose also isn't peeling off because I'm not sick any more. She also said I could take an antibiotic while on Accutane, depending on what it is. So, I could've gone to the doctor 2 weeks ago so my green snot could've gone away. Oh well. You live and learn. Until next week!

Accutane - Week 3

So I am very happy to say that week 3 seems to be better so far! I wouldn't have said that this past weekend, but today, I'd say so! My week was good. The crazy bumps and orange textured skin is still around, but I didn't think it would really go away until I'm off of the medicine completely. I usually break out mostly around my chin, nose and mouth. Well, I got a little scared that I was going to have a terrible IB (initial breakout) period because all of these semi-huge white bumps started coming up around my mouth area. I just knew my face was going to explode sooner or later. Well, I got some more zits, one big one, but none of them came from those large bumps which is funny. I have had a lot of people tell me that your skin is different and your zits are different. That's truly the best way to describe them even though that's not very detailed or specific when I know I wanted every detail possible when I was searching for answers. But, I haven't gotten any zits in the areas that were always clear (forehead). I have gotten a few zits around my chin and mouth like always, but they are small with white heads, but the white heads never fully develop like before. Then the zits don't hurt and they dry up very quickly. I had a few that were noticeable this past weekend like I said and I wanted to hide from people, but my friends kept telling me I was insane and insane for being on Accutane anyway. I've noticed everything looks much better today though for some reason. My friend told me the upper part of my face looks like baby's skin which was great to hear! I do admit, not being oily is fabulous. I'm loving it. I was so used to being a grease pit. If my hands were ever dry, I'd just dab my face and use the oil from it. My hands were dry no more. Gross, I know, but reality. Now, I'm dry all of the time and have no excess oil to wipe away. Therefore, my skin looks great since it's not so freakin shiny all day! I'm not used to being matte all of the time! It's also nice to have clean hair after a day of not washing! I could get used to this! That kind of happened all at once too. I noticed it one day. I woke up and wondered why my hair was so clean looking. Some more side effects this week have included: dry scalp and face (duh), nose bleeds and dry nose, possible yeast infection (AGAIN!), headaches. Now, I have a sinus infection and I'm not sure how much that has effected my Accutane symptoms. But I do know that I've blown my nose about 100 times and it's super dry on the inside and out, so I know that symptom is enhanced. I also had bloody boogers and dry nose before I was sick. But today I had a little bit of a nose bleed. I'm on my period too so that has been an issue with knowing about an oncoming yeast infection. And I have a very low tolerance for caffeine, and I had some today, and on top of being sick, I'm not sure how that's effecting my headaches. I haven't been moody yet though and most importantly, I haven't seen any blood when going to the bathroom number 2. That's a huge praise. I pray that it wasn't anything to begin with and that I am fine. That's about all of the craziness I can think about right now. Hopefully the craziness will stay away from me. I've been praying for it too! Let's hope I'll have more good news next week! I also head to the dermatologist for my first month of blood work. I pray that goes well for sure!

Accutane - Week 2

Well, I don't have much good news to report for week 2, because I wasn't taking Accutane this passed week. I had some small, but somewhat serious side effects. I think I bled a little from my colon. Just a little pink, but I'm not sure and got a little scared. The doctor said to stop taking it for a week. The side effects had stopped the day she told me that but I followed orders any way. So, today, they told me I could restart it. If any side effects happened, I had to stop taking it all together which would really suck. But I'm optimistic! Oh, I also got a yeast infection from taking it :( I'm not sure if it was just from Accutane, because it could have been a number of factors, but I'm assuming that's it. That's surely gonna suck if I get them a lot while being on this medicine. Anyway, referring to my post last week about the skin texture issue, I did do some research. From what I know, and what my doctor told me, I believe the Accutane is pushing every thing to the surface, which is what it's supposed to do apparently. So that's normal. But after being off of it for a week, my skin's texture has returned to normal, so that's good to know for when I'm finally off of Accutane for good (and hopefully acne free!). So, now I know not to freak out so much when stuff happens. Plus, I go to the doctor in 2 weeks anyway, so I'm glad I'll have 2 weeks under my belt to see how it does and I can get a doctor's report and hopefully my blood work will come back good. But, I will say, my pimples are different even after being on it for one week. I've gotten a few large ones on my chin like I normally do, and they have white heads, but they're very small white heads and never developed like they did before. They actually never fully came up and the zits just stayed big and red which is odd. They've never done that and I didn't put any thing on them either. So who knows. I hope my face doesn't explode soon like I keep thinking it's going to :/

Accutane - Week 1

So yes, I have started Accutane for my skin. I know it's not that terrible like most people who go on the medicine, but nothing has seemed to help my skin after 2 years. So I bit the bullet and decided to take it. So hopefully after 5 months, I won't have to worry about acne any more for the rest of my life or super slippery, oily skin! I have decided to document my journey here week by week. Week 1 has been very uneventful. I have been waiting for side effects to start happening. No mood swings, no depression, not even dry skin, yet. So today, I have seen a change. My face is oily yet dry. My lips are slowly becoming drier. My face has hurt today, it's been sore. It feels like a bad zit is forming under the skin essentially, but there were no zits earlier today. I actually seem to have clearer skin. Not just my face, but my back and chest as well. But a very scary thing I noticed earlier this evening was the texture of my skin on my face. It has become bumpy and not smooth whatsoever, when it was before. I assume it's my oil glands? I can feel it when I run my fingers over the surface. I hope that goes away and doesn't mean I'm going to have an unreal acne explosion since my face is essentially clear right now. I'm going to research the skin texture issue. My nose is also starting to dry out. It's cracking in the bottom nostril area and I'm getting more bloody boogers like when I go visit out west since it's so dry. It's going to get painful. I'm going to invest in saline solution! I'm also combating any sort of bodily dry skin with baby oil. I don't have any dry skin yet, but I'm sure it's coming, so I figured I'd get a jump on it, especially since we're having a cold snap this week and lots of wind from Hurricane Sandy! Anyway, the baby oil is fabulous and cheap. I love it. I may continue to use it after my Accutane journey is over. I'll be back in a week with a new report!

Oh yeah, I have a blog.

So I always seem to forget that I have a blog. Oh yeah, here it is, unwritten in/on? since 2010. A year and a half. I didn't even finish writing about my Backstreet Boys cruise, which was like the highlight of my entire life. I'm a slacker. A blob. A ridiculous blogger. Do I even get that title? Anyway, I thought I would bring it back for a while, or until I forget again haha. So I have decided since watching Joe Cross' "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead", that I am going to attempt a 10 day juice fast. If Joe can do 60 days, surely I can do 10. My goodness. If you haven't seen this documentary, I HIGHLY recommend it. It was incredible. He healed himself of his sickness just by eating vegetables and fruits. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it - God made it, it comes from the earth, it's good for you. Once man gets ahold of food, it turns into doo, full of pesticides, hormones, etc. Keep it healthy. Anyway, I'm going to attempt it and hope I can do it. The main reason (other than weight loss) that I want to try this is for my skin! One of the women in the documentary that Joe convinces to try the juice fast, her skin looked unreal at day 10! Her skin wasn't bad before whatsoever, but it just glowed, it looked magnificent. I'm hoping this can help just clear up my skin. I'd love to not take my antibiotic or put any crap on my face but moisturizer and sunscreen. That would be amazing. So we'll see. Anyway, I have decided to blog about my experience, day by day. Hopefully it'll help me stay distracted from not being able to eat whole food. It'll keep me occupied as well! I'm so excited! Most people have lost an obscene amount of weight. Joe Cross lost 80-90 pounds in 2 months! That's unreal! I don't want to lose that much obviously or that quickly, but 15-20 would be great. I'm going to see how the 10 days go and adjust accordingly. You obviously can't eat immediately after the 10 days or you'll gain all of your weight back. Slowly add back some whole veggies and fruits. Then other things too. Hopefully my stomach will be so small, I can barely hold anything haha. I'm excited. When I did my fruit flush a few years ago, it was only 3 days, but I lost 6.5 lbs and kept it off. I just cut out processed food most of the time. That seems to be what most of America needs to do. Any way, I'm gonna document my journey on here just to remember it all!

Backstreet's Back Alright! - Day 2

So our day began in sunny Key West. What a nice change from semi-cold, rainy Miami. Ew. Key West was beautiful and warm. So nice. So Megan and I got off the ship and went to explore Key West. It's pretty small so we could walk everywhere. We found Duval Street, the original Margaritaville, and the sign where the interstate system began. No lie. Mile 0 starts there. Kinda crazy. The southernmost point of the United States is there too but it was a little too far to walk to. Anyway, we went to an internet cafe for a good hour haha. I had some key lime pie. It was good. That's about it. We met some BSB fans from California that took our picture for us. They were super nice. Back to the ship we went.


We went to the Question and Answer session once we got back. It was about an hour and a half long. Fun stuff. Not much to say about it honestly. It was formal night on the ship that day too, plus the BSB Masquerade party. So we got to wear our fancy dresses. Vanity night as Megan called it haha. I was excited. My dress was new with pockets! So we got all dressed up and went to dinner. P.S. Carnival has this warm melting chocolate cake that is unreal. No lie, I got it 3 nights for dessert. It's like brownie soup. Amazing. I want it now. Anyway, after dinner, we went to the Masquerade which was a lot of fun. Everyone was dressed up with fun masks. Megan made both of ours and they looked amazing. So awesome. I can't believe they turned out so well. So, let me just tell you, these deck parties that were every night, didn't start til midnight or later. So we were dying by that time and weren't super pumped to party. But we stayed til about 2am I think and decided to call it a night. We weren't sure when the boys would start door knocking anyway.






That's another thing! A staff guy told us in the hall that Nick would be coming around to knock on fan's decorated doors to meet them after the Masquerade. Well Nick even told us this during the Q&A session earlier. So we were super excited. Well, we didn't wanna stay up all night and no one show, but we also didn't wanna take off our makeup and be in our pajamas if they did come. Solution? Sleep in our dresses. That's just what we did haha. It was so funny. Here we are in our formal dresses with hair and makeup done laying in bed with the covers over us. So the hallways and walls weren't sound proof, so we heard people all weekend long up and down the hallways. About 3:30am I hear someone next door somehow. I jumped out of bed and yelled at Megan to get up! I went and opened the door to look and there was security guard standing next door. He said, "Shhhhh....Shut your door." So I did and ran back in the room and got Megan to zip my dress up, fixed my hair, and for some reason realized my breath probably stunk, so we both stuffed some mints in our mouth. By that time, someone knocked at the door. We both opened it and it was AJ! Simultaneously we both gave a high spirited "HI!" It was so surreal let me tell you. So he came in and Megan went to shake his hand, and he took it and kissed it, along with mine :D Then, he looked around and told us our room was messy. I wanted to say, well, I'm sorry, we don't have a suite like you, but I bit my tongue haha. he asked if we wanted a photo and for some reason we didn't bother getting individuals, we got a group shot, but it was SO good! I was very pleased. After that, I said, "Hey, do you have a second?" and he said sure. (side note) All cruise long they were rushing them here and there to do stuff so we never thought we'd get actual time with any of them, thats why I asked beforehand. Anyway, I had my BSB pages out. I almost didn't give them to him, but I thought, Cortney, you've been working on these for your entire adolescence almost, give him the f-ing pages. You said you were going to all of those years, now grow some kahunas and DO IT. So I did. I prepped him by saying, "Now, you're gonna think I'm insane, but...." And he stopped me and said, "No, trust me, I won't" haha. So I started flipping through the papers and told him in a round about way that I had written I Love BSB 100,000 times and had counted them all. Megan, God bless her soul, she thought to take a picture as I was talking to him, now I have actual proof. Love her. Anyway, about this time, I started to shake. When he first got there I was just really excited, but not nervous. Well, I could feel my hands shaking and see it in the papers. I was anticipating his reaction and thought, what if he hates it? Well I didn't have to worry about that because he responded with a "This is pretty fucking cool." I could not of asked for a better response :) So after that I somehow found the page that has like 3,500 on one side and showed him. I don't know why, but I did. He blinked a few times and said, "That hurts my eyes." Haha! I said, "I know mine too, I don't know how I wrote that small back then." I think that was all. I wish someone could of filmed the entire thing. So then he signed some autographs for us. He signed Megan's cd and I didn't have anything, so I got a piece of paper out of my purse and he wrote, I Love You 1,000,000,000,000 times. SO GREAT! After that he left and handed the pages to the security guard. I kind of handed him him the manila envelope I had them in so they wouldn't get messed up and he took it graciously and said that would probably be a good, safe place for them. He was quite nice about it, I was surprised.





After he left and the door shut, Megan and I both screamed! Ohhhh we sat and reveled for a good 20 minutes about it. We replayed the entire thing over about 5 times. She took a picture of me with my autograph too. I look so giddy haha. We were so glad we heard it, woke up, and had slept in our dresses. Such an amazing experience. And of all of the members to come knocking, AJ came, and I got to give my pages to him. I don't know if Nick's reaction would of been as good as AJ's. Who knows. I was thrilled with the entire thing. So, we put on our pajamas and went back to bed about 4am. I think I laid there a good hour, not sleeping, running on adrenaline.

Backstreet's Back Alright! - Day 1

So I definitely forget I even have this blog until I go on a trip somewhere and want to remember every detail. The Backstreet Boys cruise is one of those trips. AMAZING. Such an unreal experience I tell you. Jesus was on our side the entire trip. Everything was in our favor somehow. Praise God for it!

So our trip begin Wednesday night. Megan came to the house and we got stuff ready for the cruise. I was quite nervous about this because we're only acquaintances, not even really friends, minus facebook. She went on my trip to Italy and Greece with me, but we didn't really talk. She was with Interior Design. But we became facebook friends regardless and I saw that she loved BSB as much as I did! So other than facebooking each other, I saw her last April when she came and gave me a check for her airline ticket. Then she came Wednesday night. Haha. I prayed we got along alright and we did :) So anyway she came and we got stuff together for our door decorating contest and talked for a while then went to bed early since we had to get up at 2:15am. Ugh. It was more of a long nap than a night of sleep. We went to bed around 10pm I think. So then dad took us to the Groome Shuttle place for our shuttle to Atlanta. Our ride was good, only us and another guy so we had plenty of room. We made it to Atlanta fine, no issues checking in, finding our gate, etc. Our flight went well and we made it to Miami in one piece WITH luggage intact. I was so afraid we'd lose it and have nothing for the cruise.

We got a taxi to the ship then and checked in. We were early so we had to wait about an hour and while we were, we heard screams! We jump up and see Backstreet walking by! Ah!!!! We about crapped our pants with excitement. We were taking pictures along with other fans and some people next to us asked who that was and we told them and they said, Oh crap. Let's go home now. Haha. So we checked in and went to eat lunch. About an hour later, we see Howie waltz in the door, no big deal right? We were like WTF!??!!?!?! ITS HOWIE! He was with his wife and child obviously but there he was eating like anyone else. We just kind of assumed beforehand that they'd be under lock and key the entire cruise and we wouldn't see them unless it was at a scheduled event so it was crazy to see them out and about. Well then not 20 minutes later Brian walks in too! We were sitting next to some Latin American fans and they FREAKED OUT. Woah. Like me and Megan were excited and were giddy, but these girls about had a heart attack. One went over to Howie to show him something and came back weeping. That would of been me 8 years ago haha.

So Brian starts signing some autographs and taking pictures so me and Megan run over there to wait. Well then he stops and says he will a little later. Well we wait about an hour and he starts again. We had been there the longest and somewhat expected to be first, but people kept crowding in from all sides. No lie, I was kinda scared. I couldn't move and people kept pushing. So finally Megan gets to the front and pulls me up there for a picture. I apologized since I almost stepped on Brian (he's short) and I said, I'm so sorry, thank you so much, we've been waiting a while. And he said Oh I'm sorry and I didn't want him to think I was complaining cause I wasn't, but I said oh no no no you're fine! So our picture is UBER close to our faces since the security guard was right there and there was no room either. But it's good and I love it!


So after all of the excitement, we had to go check in and get our wrist bands and stuff. That was an incredibly long line that we got to the front of luckily. Afterward, we go to our room and wait for our luggage. While we waiting we see the cruise has put on a BSB channel full of interviews, concerts and music videos. We watched like little girls for a while haha. Then it was time for some BSB events. It was Backstreet Boy Family Feud and the Dating Game. We went to the theater that all of the events would be at and we had the last row, last 2 seats. No lie. Plus the seats weren't real, they were folding chairs and hurt like crap. But any seat was pretty good since the place was so small. But they had picked girls out of the crowd to play these games and stuff beforehand apparently. We thought it was random but it wasn't.

We went back and decorated our door for the door decorating contest. SO much fun! Our door looked awful compared to other doors we saw. People put so much effort into them and we just didn't plan like they did. We'll know better next time.


After that we got ready for the cocktail party that was on the deck outside and for dinner. It was fun, but not a lot going on. We sang to songs and took lots of pictures. We got lucky and Nick, Howie and AJ all walked right by us and shook Megan's hand! We went to dinner afterward and were greeted by 6 other people at our table. Weird people. I joked with Megan that if she had turned out weird, I'd been stuck with weird people the entire trip haha. We had a mother and daughter from Florida, two girls from Virginia who were yankee transplants, another mother and daughter from Pennsylvania, plus a weird creeper dude who was middle aged from New York, on this trip ALONE, AND had been on the New Kids cruise before. Woah. We got him moved the next night lol. So during dinner, we were about to fall over from exhaustion. No lie my face almost landed in my food. So, the deck party didn't start til 11pm and we opted out because we figured if we didn't sleep again, the next day would be shot too. So we went to bed.

Slacker

What a slacker I am! I haven't updated since Thailand, which was, unbelievably, a month ago already. Wow. Time has flown. Nothing important has happened really either haha.

I've just been working, midterms, working out, finishing my bedroom, halloween costume. I finally moved into my new room! Yay! It looks great! SO much room. I can't get over it. I could have a disco in here. We just ordered my chair this week too, and it was on sale! Success! We got my dresser mirror too. It's all coming together. Then, I'm gonna have to figure out how to decorate. Eh. Not real sure.

I'm gonna be a garden fairy for halloween. So exciting! I made my tutu, pink, ivory and blue. It's quite poofy. Much more than I thought. Almost too much. Kinda makes me look fat. I'll just have to flatten it some. The tights I ordered don't match. The color chart was wrong, so I'm irritated. I'm gonna dye some I think. I need some pink flats. I got the fabric for my top, blue, shiny and sparkly. It was on sale too :) So pretty. I'm gonna make it one-shouldered. Kinda toga-like. I got lots of flowers, butterflies and bees to put on the top too. Hence, garden fairy. Yay! I've been practicing my makeup too. That's the hardest part actually. There's so much to choose from and so many ideas. I've been trying to wittle them all down. We'll see. Something pink and blue. Of course :) I'm excited. I got pink wings at Walmart for 5$ too. That was great. Not much else to say. I'm quite boring I know.

Christin is in town! Yay! She'll be leaving soon though. Quick trip.

Going to Gatlinburg this weekend with the girls! Becca, Allison, Sam, Sarah and Julie. Hope it all goes well with no drama. And I hope it's chilly weather :) I'll update about that when I come back. Pics to come!

Thailand Day 7: La Korn

So, the Thailand trip has ended. Yes, folks, that's right. I'm heading home. I'll add some more on here when I officially get back into the States, but I figured now is as good a time as any to update on my last full day here. I sure do hope I can make it through the plane rides and that they're magically shorter going home. That happens sometimes right?

So I met Christin at Healthland today for an oil massage. I was hoping to get Jed? as my motorbike driver for the last time and tip him well and say thank you for driving me all week, but I got some other guy instead. He was nice, but smaller than me and much older. He seemed to have a hard time balancing me on the bike haha. Anyway, we got to Healthland in one piece considering he went a new way than I was accustomed to and I'd only been there once before. But Christin and I got 90 minute oil massages. I had no idea what to expect. All I knew is that I didn't wanna be naked in front of anyone, regardless of if it was a woman. Well I went and had to shower first for some reason and then laid down on my stomach on the table. And I guess I also didn't realize for a while that it was a total body massage, not just a back massage. That's what I'm used to seeing everywhere.

Anyway, all was well until she started digging into my back! What is with these people and trying to dig your bones out of your body? I mean honestly! The rubbing and partial kneading was great, but not in certain areas. I would cringe and almost yelp when she dug into my lower back. Apparently it's MUCH more sensitive than I realized. So are other parts of my body. I know this now after having them rubbed and kneaded to death twice. I had to tell her to be soft on my back. She wasn't as soft as I would have liked. So then, I kept my underwear on, like I thought I was suppose to. Well apparently not. She pulled them half way down my butt. That wasn't embarrassing at all. I didn't necessarily mind her massaging my butt over the sheet, but not sans-sheet. Then I had to flip over and I covered myself fine and all. Well, then she lifted up the towel covering my boobs to massage my waist. I wasn't okay with that. At all. I haven't ever felt that violated actually. It's not like the gynocologist. I prepare myself for that and know what's gonna happen. I didn't here. Ugh. Anyway, it was pretty good overall I guess. Not sure how it'll compare to a massage at home. I don't know if I'll ever dish out the money at home though compared to buying one here for so cheap haha.

Christin and I decided to go hang out afterward and pack up. We ate dinner at a little street cart thing next to her apartment. The guy who owned it spoke great english. I had spaghetti haha. It was okay. Pretty good for Thai standards. Christin hated her food. It wasn't that great. So we went to the 7/11 and got sandwiches haha. Off to the airport to sit and wait soon. Not looking forward to that. I sure do hope I sleep most, if not all of the flight to Japan. Say a prayer. Update more later on the 2nd half of the trip.

Thailand Day 6: Yin Dee Tee Dai Ruu Jak

So today was much more eventful than the past couple have been. I got to hang out with Christin at school for the majority of the day. I got over there to eat pizza with them at their party, but it was all gone by the time I got there :( Anyway, Christin and Andy told me to eat the pizza sitting at Chris' desk. Haha. I thought he wasn't there at all for the day, but apparently not. I found out later from Camille and Stacie that he was asking around who ate it! He was asking when Christin and I went on a lunch break to get a foot massage. So funny. Christin just died laughing. That made the day great.

So the foot massage was much better than the thai massage. Much less painful. We're gonna go get an actual oil massage tomorrow I think. The masseuse better close her eyes is all I have to say. Anyway, I went with the student teachers to their apartment after school while Christin tutored. They all live in tiny rooms with a bathroom. Kinda sucks. But it was cute.



So we went to MBK and met Christin at McDonalds for dinner. They had a tuna pie on the menu. Yummy. Anyway, we went and shopped for a while. I'm so excited! I got one of those awesome Thai dresses that are beautiful and it fits great! I also got a mint green silk robe, a thai shirt, and 2 vases with those pretty flower arrangements for my new room. I hope it all fits in my luggage! Ah! Gotta pack tomorrow and get ready to say adios to Thailand. Back to the States and to the real world. Ugh. I'm not looking forward to work. Blahhhhh.

Thailand Day 5: Sa Yan Sa Was

Today was good. Christin originally had to be school until 5:15pm! Ugh. But, as it turns out, she didn't have after school duty or something like that. So I got to roll in to BCC at 3pm. Earliest yet! Jed (#7 haha) flagged me down and took me to school again and he didn't even ask this time where to go, he just took me haha. So I sat and waited for Christin to come get me and I loved marveling at all of the boys in their uniforms and their socks pulled up so high on their legs. Good times. I guess it doesn't matter there since everyone looks the exact same. That's a good thing right?

So Christin got me some mango and sticky rice! Yummmmm! It came with coconut milk to pour over the top and it was awesome. I see why she ate her weight in it last time she was here. She took me to her office area which was quite fun to see. I wasn't expecting the layout at all. Long rows of desks all together with individual areas for each teacher. Quite cute I must say. I got to meet Christin's Hawaiian friend, whose name I can't pronounce. But she gave me a hug and was the nicest person ever! I wasn't expecting all of the affection but it sure was nice even if she was a stranger. Camille and Stacie had desks over there too so I sat and talked with them for a while. Then they invited me to go to the salon to get hair and nails done. Teacher Knock sp? was taking them over by her house so I went with them and let Christin go tutor. Well, it took forever to get there because of traffic and then the salon was tiny with 4 girls working, 1 of which only did nails. Thank goodness I wasn't getting a pedicure. I just got mine painted. They look awesome too! My hair was another story. It looked really pretty but I feel like I lost half of my hair from the process. She washed it and scrubbed my head so hard it was horribly tangled when I sat down to get it worked on. Well she started combing through it and then quit. She instead started brushing it with a round brush and drying it that way since I was getting it curled. It took a while but it looked beautiful when it was done. I felt like a million bucks. I've never gotten my hair done before just because. I didn't have any special occasion obviously. It sure was nice though :)

Afterward, Teacher Knock took us to her house and we had dinner with her and her husband. They are the sweetest people ever. I absolutely love that her husband doesn't speak a word of english but he will sit and have a full conversation with you and you'll understand what he's saying. So fun. We found out he LOVES cowboy stuff too. How ironic is that? Belt buckles, cowboy hats, country music. You name it. So Teacher Knock called us a taxi and we all left. She explained to the driver to take the student teachers to BTS and then take me to TIT Tower. So all was well and then the taxi driver got lost. Ha. He pulled over and asked someone where to go. We were on the right road, we just hadn't gone far enough yet. It was kinda funny and nerve wracking all at the same time. But I got back okay. That's all that matters.

Ohhh and FYI randomness. I was talking to Camille about Matt, just in passing and her and Stacie both tried to convince me to not pursue that. I was kinda shocked honestly. They proceeded to tell me how nice and great of a guy he is, but that he's lazy and I could do WAY better. Well I wasn't really gonna take their word for it but all 3 of the girls were kinda adamant about it, so I guess I will. Plus, Camille said she has a friend from Cleveland she wants to set me up with who she thinks would be perfect for me. He's cute and a big guy, kinda like Adam. She said he dates a lot of girls like me. So she's gonna set something up and we'll see how it goes :)

Thailand Day 4: Yin Dee Ton Rab

Today was good. I always get excited to sit and relive all that's happened while on this trip but then I realize most of the excitement has already happened since we did all of the major things this past weekend. I'm fine with that, I kind of knew that coming in to all of this. I'm glad I got to do it period, regardless of when.

So, today I went and met Christin at school around 4pm. I had to go get a motor bike alone again but today was good because Jed and the Thai Mama were there waving me over haha. They were funny and super nice. We didn't die and I got there in one piece, dry. That was a major thing. Jed slowed down at each puddle which was nice of him. So I sat and waited for Christin on a little bench and got to stare at all of the Thai kids running wild. Woah. That place is crazy with 6,000 kids. That's still unbelievable to me. I saw all sizes and ages. The uniforms of all Thai students everywhere makes me laugh. I guess they don't ever get to wear what they want like some schools do back home? I see that in a lot of foreign countries actually. Maybe that's why they're grades are better, they take it more seriously than we do. Oh well. Not worrying about it.

Anyway, Christin showed up and Tiffany, Stefanie and Camille were there too. I found out they were coming with us! Yay! They're super fun. Then they called Matt and he joined us as well :) We went to a mall of some sort that I can't remember the name of to eat. I had noodles and pork dumplings. Quite good, minus the noodles, which made me sad. They were kind of fishy tasting. Matt suggested I get them, but forgot to mention that they're cold. Ah. But oh well. I'm glad I tried it. We ended up going to get Christin's iphone fixed again and went to see waiing Ronald McDonald! Ah! Success! I was quite thrilled with it. Something so American that has been made Asian. I love it. So we had a photo op there and went to a nice coffee shop to grade papers.


It ended up being more of a heart to heart about boys than grading actually. Love those. It was good. Afterwards, Christin took me to the Red Light District. That's quite the place let me tell you. She informed me about the ping pong shows. I don't want to ever see that. All of those poor girls though just waiting for some guy or girl for that matter, to come along. A lot of it I just can't imagine. That's how people live. They do they for their families or are forced to work that way. It definitely makes me thank God for not having to do that. Praise Jesus again.


We headed back after that and I was quite proud. I stayed up til 10:45. That's the latest I've been up all week. Yay! By the time I get accustomed to it I'll be heading back home. Bleh.

Thailand Day 3: Yai Puan

So today was much less exciting than the past two have been. Christin had to go back to the real world and go to work. Work sucks. It's ruins my fun. Boo. Oh well. So basically I sat in her apartment most of the day. It actually went by pretty quickly though. I was pleasantly surprised.

I walked over to the 7/11 and got some coffee. Came back and called mom and dad. They were thrilled. Did some homework and went to the gym. Even though it's nice to have a gym here, it was comical I must say. I tried to use the treadmill and it didn't work. I found out later from Christin that it required 10 baht to work. Shut up. So I used the bike for about 30 minutes. The weight machines were all inclusive and were somewhat difficult to use. So my workout consisted of cardio and a few bicep curls. Oh well. Better than nothing right? Anyway, it's set up real pretty with glass windows and doors all around so it makes you feel like you're outside. Well, the doors were open too, so that made it 80000 degrees inside. Not that I don't in general, but I sweated like a pig. I was literally drenched. I'm sure people walking by were laughing. But afterwards, I walked outside to look and there was the glorious pool! So nice! I'm gonna have to try that out when Aunt Flo takes a hike soon. It sucks to be a girl.

Well when I came back to her apartment, I decided I'd be a great friend and clean her bathroom for her. Well I cleaned most of it but then started feeling horribly sick. So I almost finished it. I think bending over the tub is what finished me off. I drank some water and tried to eat some pizza. Bad choice. I spit it out. So instead I ate some cheez-its and took a shower and took a nap. I felt much better after that. I think not eating consistent meals is making me dizzy. I don't know how Christin eats a cookie a day. Oh well. I felt much better once I ate some more.

So I got ready and had to meet Christin at school. Ah! On my own in Thailand! I had to find a motorbike person, tell them where I wanted to go and not get screwed out of my money in the meantime. I'm not gonna lie, that's the most nerve wracking thing I've done thus far here. Well I walk out and see a bunch of guys sitting there. No one even approached me for some reason. So I approached them. I had a piece of paper of where to go and how much money. He kinda looked at me. He obviously didn't speak english. He handed it to another guy and he knew where to go and said 40 baht? And I said a definite yes. So I hiked my dress up and we went. No side saddle for me. He didn't bother giving me his extra helmet though which I found quite odd. But I made it there in one piece, paid 40 baht and found Christin. SUCCESS! So I have to do it again tomorrow. Hope it goes as well. I hope I can find Christin's Thai mama or Jed. Haha. That name cracks me up. They're super nice.

Oh, so I met Christin and David. It's nice to finally meet all of these people she talks about. He's from England. We went to Paragon! Crazy place I must say. It was full of lots of tourists too like Christin said. We ate the infamous cowmanguy for dinner. It was quite good, especially the soup. Yum. Then, we met Joey and went to the phone place. Then on to MBK, an indoor mall market thing. It was great! It was huge too. I got a beautiful scarf (that I didn't need at all considering I have like 4 blue scarves) for $2! I'd pay like 15 or 20$ at home for that. I also got a really pretty silk/satin Thai maxi dress. It will barely cover my boobs, but it was cute and it fits. It was cheap, like everything else is here. The baht is my friend. Oh, funny story I have to laugh about or i'll cry instead. We saw those pretty dresses that Christin bought me before but didn't fit. Well the one I picked up the woman motioned it would be too small because my boobs are too big. Yay. She pointed over to the dresses that were bigger, and more expensive for me. Yay. It's nice to be called fat twice here. I need to start keeping a tally. It looks like it's gonna be an ongoing thing.

Thailand Day 2: Kop Koon Kah

I am quite proud. I must say. I'm forcing to update this blog about every single day of this trip so I don't forget a thing and I'm actually doing it! Success!


So today we went to a floating market with the student teachers and Christin's boss and husband. Teacher Knock and her husband are the sweetest people. SO kind and her english is great. So Christin and I had to be at BCC to meet them and we ended up having to take the motor bikes there. Well I got to meet her Thai mama and the guy that takes her to school almost every day. They were super nice, but we had to go separately and they each went a separate way. Well, it was fine but then I started to get worried because I realized Christin may not be there when I got there and I could get lost, plus the driver kept trying to ask me something and I thought he was asking me where to go! AH! I was kinda crapping my pants at that point. So he stops on the side of the road and I was like, are we here? There was a set of stairs and he told me I had to walk up the stairs and across the road and there the school was. I was okay with that because I could see the school. So I get over there and see no Christin. I ended up waiting about 10 minutes and I was drenched after walking that short distance. So the hair immediately went up. *Note to self: Don't wear hair down in Thailand. Ever. So she shows up and she said she was freaking out not knowing where I was. Ha. I had no phone either if I did try to call her somehow. Oh well. We were good.

So we drive a while to floating market. There were little vendors/shops around there with people selling EVERYTHING. I can definitely see why Christin doesn't buy food and keep it in her apartment. There is food everywhere, always, on every corner. And it's cheap. It's good too! The coconut pancake I had was awesome! I could get into that. So, we go and get on the little boat and buy a watermelon smoothie. By far my favorite food so far here. It was incredible. Who knew straight watermelon could be so awesome? This little boat was so neat and so very Thai! I definitely feel like I'm getting the most amazing Thai experience. Very Asian, which is what I wanted. Let me tell you about this boat though. It's not made for tall people, nor is anything else in Thailand. I feel like the jolly green giant everywhere. I had to sit sideways because my legs were too long to sit straight forward. Crammage. Minus that, the boat ride was perfection. Little Thai homes all along the water, people going by that were actual floating markets with all of their goods/food to sell. It was amazing. The Thai people sure are nice too like Christin said. I feel like I'm in the south :) People wave constantly and smile. Part of me thinks its because they are that nice, but another part of me thinks it's because we're tourists. Either way, it's great that everyone is so friendly. So this boat ride took us on a number of stops to see awesome stuff. We went to a temple first that was amazing. Exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to see. We went to a flower garden that was cool and a few other temples. Oh, something funny. At the flower garden, all of the Lee girls, Christin and I took a picture together and there was a little Thai girl on the tour with us who was probably 9 or 10. She was watching us and asked to take a picture with everyone. She was so excited and said, "Thank you" in english to us afterward. She was all smiles. It still amazes me how people are so interested in us. I don't know if it's an American thing or a foreigner thing in general. Like at the Crocodile show the other day, there was another little girl who looked to be 4 or 5 sitting a row down from Christin and I. Every time I looked that way she was staring at me. It sounds conceded but all I could think was, "Do I look like Barbie to her?" I assume she's never seen or seen very few blonde people in her life. I'd probably stare too if I hadn't. I kind of like this attention considering I don't get it at home. If you wanna feel good about yourself, go to a country where your looks are minority. Watch people stare then.

I know we, or just I, sweated like a pig the entire day. I had quite a few people comment on my sweating, which means it was REALLY bad and worse than I thought. I should have just foregone makeup and worn a bandana on my head to absorb it all. Ah. Oh, I bought some stuff today too. Got a green bracelet for Ashley, a pair of owl earrings that are UBER cute for myself and an Asian fan. Super excited. My first souvenirs. Can't wait to find a cute Asian top/dress like Christin has. I love finally coming to a country where the dollar is king and I can get a lot of stuff for cheap. Yay! After the boat ride, we came back to the floating dock area and had lunch. We got noodles! YAY for noodles finally! They follow me wherever I go around the world and it's amazing. So good. Oh, and back to being tall in Thailand, it blows. We sat at these cute little Thai tables with little stools and all. Sounds fun right? Wrong. I had to contort my legs in order to fit and eat my food haha. It's all good though. I had a good time.


Christin and I were deciding what to do after we left the market and Christin had the bright idea of getting a massage. Yay for massages! Camille and Tiffany came with us too. We went to Health Land right near the BCC. Let me tell you, when you walk into that parking lot, all you see is nice cars. NICE cars. You see where the people with money go for sure. They were valeting them left and right. The place was super nice but packed. We had to wait a little bit in order to get a private room for the 4 of us. I got to wear those crazy huge scrubs too. Very comfy, even though they weren't super huge on me considering I'm huge to begin with. But anyway they were good. So, I had no idea what to expect. A 2 hour Thai massage. Well, it was painful let me tell you. Kinda scary considering it was my first massage ever. My little lady was fierce too. I wish I had known the word for, not so hard, but all I could remember was "lang, lang" which means harder. I definitely didn't want that. I just kept thinking about as she worked on each limb or area of the body, about how sensitive certain areas where in general even when I wasn't being massaged. Gah, I had to cringe and hold on to the bed sometimes. The real sensitive part of my calf where I have a hematoma, she kept kneading. Ugh. I wanted to cry. My inner thighs are more sensitive than anywhere else and she kept kneading those too. Meanwhile, I kept thinking, I can't wait for her to get to my back because that's where I really need the massage. I wish I could turn over when she did finally get to it. It was the most painful thing. To make it worse, she kept using her elbows in my lower back and at one point it hurt so bad I moaned and to make it worse, she laughed! I should have farted on her like the girls told me to. Lunch must have given me gas because I really did have to fart the entire time. I had to concentrate on holding it in. Well to make it even better, at the end she patted the area near my boobs and my waist and said, "Big big". Gee. It's nice to be called fat here. I didn't want to tip her. Maybe I should pat her head as I look down on her and say, "Short, short". Is that as insulting? Or I could be real mean and point my foot at her as Christin says is like giving the finger. I'm not that mean. Only sometimes. *Be like Jesus Cortney. Be like Jesus* I keep telling myself that.

We headed home after that on a red bus thingy. That was interesting. Out of all of the transportation so far, I think I like the tuk tuk best. The motor bike is cool too, but I'm more comfortable on the tuk tuk. My butt and feet don't hurt at the end. It's odd not being in a car all of the time. It sure does make me appreciate my car at home though. It's real easy to hop in and go wherever I want, whenever I want. That's not an option here. It costs money to go places. People here don't have a lot of money. I get that. Praise Jesus for my car. I got a ham and cheese sandwich for dinner that Christin likes to eat all of the time. It was good with ketchup on it. Yum. Oh and I love Thailand more now. We ordered pizza the other night and it came with ketchup packets taped on top. I freaked out! I didn't bring any because I ran out of time to get some at home. I'm glad I didn't know obviously. Christin said they put ketchup on a lot of stuff. Yay for my condiment of choice. I think that's about all we did for the day. Came back here and attacked the internet like I've been doing lately. Forced myself to stay awake later so I wouldn't wake up at 3:30 again. Boo to jet lag.

On to tomorrow!

Thailand Day 1: Sawadee Kah

So the Thailand trip has officially begun! Finally, after months of waiting and thinking September was never gonna come, it did. So we'll just begin with the fabulous 28 hour flight schedule I had.

I slept about 5 hours on Wednesday night (8th) to get up at 3:00am. Woah. It came quick. So I finish packing, and head over to the airport and get there around 4:10ish? Sounds good considering I have a 5:40am flight, right? Wrong. No one even showed up there to take my luggage til 4:45am. I about crapped my pants. I was so irritated, but then again it is Chattanooga, so people aren't bustin down the doors because the airport is so crowded. So I go to check in and I'm holding my breath because I'm worried about my luggage being over weight. Well, Christin's bag was 37 lbs or so, no big deal. Well, my suitcase was 55. AH. I about crapped my pants. The guy put a heavy tag on it and said, "We don't care here, but Japan might." But then he says, wait, why don't you put some stuff from that suitcase into this one?" What a novel idea! And it worked, so no baggage fee for me. Yay! Ohh and he also informed me that since i wouldn't be getting to Tokyo until the next day technically, I couldn't get my boarding pass until I got there. WTF is that? I tried not to worry about that just yet.

Anyway, as I'm sitting there waiting, Emily and Carter walk up! How funny. I had no clue they were gonna be there and they were going to Atlanta too, but on a different flight. They were going to a wedding in Seattle and were shocked when I told them I was going to Thailand of all places. Let me just make a little side note about that, I absolutely LOVE to see people's faces when I tell them I'm going to Thailand. It ranges from shock, confusion, and envy. It's great. No one understands why I'm going haha. Anyway, I fly to Atlanta, no big deal right? Wrong. I've never been in Atlanta airport alone before and I got lost at a time when I didn't have the luxury to get lost. I had about 20 mins to find my gate before boarding began. So I got off the plane and booked it. Well, I had to take that stupid subway, concourse changer thing. So I think I get to my concourse and walk all this way and I end up right back where I had started. How does that happen? I went back again and saw where I had missed the escalator to go upstairs, dumb people put it where you can't see if you're walking from the opposite direction. Anyway, I made it in time and all was well. Well, then I started to worry that my luggage wasn't gonna make it with me since I didn't have alot of time between planes. Ugh.

So I get on the plane and have an exit row seat on this flight. Success! I forgot I had picked one out. It was so nice and roomy. Well, I had this semi-cute guy, who got less cute as the plane ride went on, sit next to me. He didn't say a word to me for about 10 minutes and I was like, okay, this is gonna be an ipod flight. Well, I was wrong. He started talking and did not stop for like an hour. I heard his entire life story, more so than I wanted to know and all kinds of other stuff. Ah. But he was nice none the less. So, that flight to Minneapolis went by quick, it was only 2 hours. Well then I get to Minneapolis airport and have 6 hours to kill. Bah. So as soon as I walk off the plane I turn right and see, A. A gate screen B. A bathroom C. Starbucks. Life is good right? Everything I need right there together. And to top it off, the Starbucks had a sitting area with it that had outlets to charge your stuff! So I basically parked myself there and ate breakfast at 10am, when I had been up 7 hours already. I was hungry. I called the folks and reassured them I was okay. 2 flights down and not even 3/4 of the trip was over. Boo. So I sat around and then wandered around for a while. Marveled at all of the Brett Favre/purple Viking stuff that was everywhere. Those people are just as bad as TN with orange. Haha. So I find my gate that's suppose to be my gate in a few hours, I was a wee bit early, and took a seat. I had the chance to sit and listen to all of the Minnesotan people talk while I tried/pretended to read my book. I actually listened and tried to keep a straight face since I wasn't suppose to be listening obviously. It was great. Sounded like something straight out of Fargo. Oh, so while no one was around, I walked over to the stewardess and told her about the boarding pass drama for Tokyo and she printed one right out for me. Apparently I had waited enough time to be able to get it. She sure did save me some worry. Thank you lady!

I went and had some Subway later on even though I wasn't hungry. I didn't know how long it would be or when I would eat again on the plane. After a while, I noticed people trickling in for the flight to Japan. I guess I never thought about it, but most people were Asian. Duh Cortney. I think I assumed that would just be on my flight to Bangkok. Wrong. So I board the plane, which let me tell you, is usually 30 mins before on domestic flights. Well, for international, boarding time is an hour before. Well holy crap, if you think you have a lot of time in between flights, you don't, unless you've got like 5 hours to kill. So I didn't have to wait as long at the airport. Yay. I was worried the entire time about this flight, not because it was 12 hours, but because I picked a window seat that had 3 people to a row aka I have to crawl over 2 people to pee instead of just one. Boo. I hate doing that. But luckily, the 2 ladies next to me were UBER nice. One was a Christian too! Praise Jesus! Well then she ended up moving seats so me and the other lady had an empty middle seat which was the best possible option really. We weren't crammed in together. It was great. This flight did suck, but not nearly as much as I thought it would. I didn't watch any of the movies though and they played effin 4. I didn't wanna see any of them, not even a little. Boo. Ohhh and I was planning to have my own personal tv on my seat. Didn't happen.

12 hours later I arrived in Tokyo. Yay right? Yay wrong. If I thought I had little time in Atlanta, I had even less time in Tokyo. I was kinda sad about that too. I wanted to people watch a little and look for a Harajuku girl haha, plus I wanted to stand and not sit for a while. Well neither one worked out for me. It took so long to actually get off the plane that when I got into the airport, my next flight was already loading. BOO. Oh and to make it even better, the Japs think it's best for some reason, to make everyone who has a connecting flight, go through security AGAIN. WTF is that? I'd already been through, why do I need to do it again? Ugh. That took more time and they took my water which pissed me off since I had bought it in an airport. Whatever. So I'm practically running to find where to go, which is not easy to find btw. I had someone white and American help me. Ha. So I make a quick pee stop and then as I get to my gate, I'm one of the last people to board! Ah! So all is well, minus me worrying about luggage transferal again. Oh, and each seat this time had a personal tv. That was a welcome sight considering it was a 7 hour flight. Well I sat next to Kim Jong il's brother, also known as little Elvis on this flight. He had these gold glasses with this detail on the side that looked remarkable Elvis like. I don't know, but it was funny. He didn't say a word to me. Ha.

So this was by far the WORST flight out of the four. No joke. I kept thinking it was a different time then it was and I was wrong. I thought I had 2 hours left and I had 4. Oh the distress I felt at that was awful. After an eternity, I made it, only to see the pouring rain and no thing to connect our plane to the airport. Great. We had to get on a trolley that took us to the airport, then go through Customs, then go get baggage, then exit. This airport is insane and I don't like it. Christin kept saying how it wasn't very big. Negative my friend. I disagree. It's got the oddest layout ever. So as I finally find my baggage claim area and find my luggage! YAY! That was the first task, now the second was to find Miss Christin. So as I walk out, she just happens to be walking by. Lucky me, she said she had been pacing because there were several exit areas. So I stopped and dropped my luggage and we had our airport moment like she likes to talk about so much. It was so great to 1. See her since it's been a while and 2. To FIND her so easily. I was truly worried about getting lost there. It all went so well I couldn't have asked for anything better. PRAISE JESUS. So we make our way out and get a taxi. Yes, they have those pink taxis everywhere that I saw while she was student reaching. Unreal. And let me tell you, she said she can't speak Thai. She lied. She was awesome at it. We had this funny cab driver too. So we head to her apartment and I had someone carry my luggage for me to the elevator. How nice! Kop Koon Kah!

It's about 1:30/1:45am by this time. So I call my mom on Skype and she screams with joy when she finds out it's me Hahaha. It was great. She goes, "Are you in Japan?" Japan mom? Really? I was like no, I'm with Christin. I'd shoot myself in the face if I was just now to Japan. So I talked to her for a few minutes and then played on the computer. Well then it was 2:00 or 2:30 and I was informed we were getting up at 5:30 to go to the Tiger Zoo with the other student teachers! Success! So I worried about only sleeping 3 hours, well I slept 2, maybe. Jet lag is fun my friends. I was up at 4:15am, staring at the ceiling. I just knew I was gonna keel over by 11 or 12 that day, but amazingly enough I didn't! So Christin and I get a tuk tuk to take us to her school. Now, that was fun. That's a good way to travel. So we meet Prateep at school, our tour guide for the day and the other student teachers. There are 5 of them, 4 girls and 1 boy, but someone was sick, so there were 6 of us for the day and they were all SUPER nice and the boy was cute too. I'm still trying to see if he's single, I'll keep you updated :) I'm really glad we got to go with them. So, in a nutshell, I got to experience all of Thailand in one day. It was amazing. If I had to go home the next day, I'd be satisfied. I got to see that much. So we sat on the bus for a while and drove out of Bangkok to Pattaya for the beach. Well we stopped to pee along the way and my first experience with Thai bathrooms had squatty potties. Yes, squat over the pot. No comodes. I about crapped my pants, I forgot Christin mentioning this a while back. Well, I sure am glad I had been practicing squat peeing at home anyway just for hygenic purposes because it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. Then we headed to the beach, which wasn't much of a beach really because it was road, sand, water. Not much to see, but it was nice. Christin and I went picture crazy. Prateep got us cute little chairs and a table to eat at and he ordered all kinds of Thai food. Woah. We basically had 'lunch' at 9:00am. It was all great though. I was surprised I liked so much of it. We cleaned up and headed to the Tiger Zoo!


So the Tiger Zoo was amazing. There aren't other words to describe it. It was just amazing. Oh and btw, I've noticed, most Thai zoos will cater to one animal type, but have 50 million more. Like there were elephants, crocodiles, pigs, bunnies, etc. here, even if tigers are there main animal. So we first went to the elephant show. That was funny and kinda sad. I don't think they have animal cruelty laws here like they do at home. A lot of the elephants had been branded with a number or symbol. So sad. But it was like watching Dumbo haha. The show was good and then we headed over to see some tigers! They were all in pens obviously but I was kinda bummed because I thought they would be more out in then open I guess, or more accessible like when Christin went before. But we found baby tigers in a separate area. They were in pens too and they had bottles to feed them through the cage and I was like, ohhh no no no. I want to hold them. But they had one over in another area where you could pay to hold it and feed it so that's what we did. Christin and I did it and split the cost, then they took it away and we paid again so I could hold it and we got a little baby one! SO PRECIOUS! AH! It was adorable! By far the best thing ever. It gave Christin a sloppy kiss haha.


After that we went to the Crocodile show. How boring. Those people are dumb. Those crocs wanted to do nothing but eat their faces off. We looked at our tiger pictures instead. Then we went to the tiger show. Now that was good. Very entertaining. After the show we went to see the monkeys! SO funny! Naturally, we had to get a picture made. Then we left to go back the city. Christin and I made a pit stop outside Paragon to check on her iphone. Holy crap it was typical Asia! I've never seen so many people! We took a motor bike back to the apartment. I was VERY apprehensive about it at first but it was actually quite fun. We came back to her apartment and crashed afterward. So, funny story, kinda. I was on the computer and saw the time was 9:00pm. All of a sudden the jet lag and only 2 hours of sleep hit me like a ton of bricks and I was about to pass out. So I told Christin I was gonna go to bed and she said, "Cortney, it's only 8." I said, "Is that a cruel joke?" I realized the time on my computer was from home, not here. I wanted to die. So I forced myself to stay up later so I wouldn't wake up at 3am. I finally went and to bed and Christin said I was out cold. I didn't move. I don't remember moving either until about 6am this morning. It was the best sleep I've had in a while. Yay. On to day two!

Edward Cullen. In The Flesh.

So yes, it happened. I. Met. Robert. Pattinson. No lie. Words cannot describe this momentous event. It was as great as my future meeting with the Backstreet Boys will be in December. Who would of thought? I get to meet my 2 favorite 'people' in the world, less than 5 months apart? Life is good. Jesus is good. Maybe I'm not his little joke anymore @CWalk430.

So, I know I'm a slacker for my posts on here aka my trip to New Orleans I've done nothing about that was 3 weeks ago ha. I figured I'd better blog about this NOW since I need to remember every detail possible. So let's begin on Friday night.

I met Megan and Sarah at the mall to carpool. We decided to go to the Railroad Museum to see what was going on. They had already gone to the house in Georgia earlier in the morning but said there was about nothing to see since you had to be so far back from the set and the trees were in the way. So they didn't see much of anything regarding Rob. Well we went over to the railroad and there was nothing there. It looked like a ghost town. We thought maybe they'd have crew or set up or whatever going on, but nothing. Megan had already been there earlier in the week and saw them putting the circus name from the book on the side of the cars, but no one even acknowledged her presence honestly. They weren't allowed to say anything. They eventually told her, yes we're filming a movie, we can't tell you anything else. So, we went back and nothing was there now. We will see today and tomorrow. Anyway, we head down to the Read House. We heard/figured he was staying there since it's so nice. Well we parked and started walking around the hotel. Eventually, we see groups of girls here and there. We all smile at each other and nod because we know why we're all there. We ended up talking to this group of girls who had been there a while and they didn't know much. Well not 5 minutes later, someone walks by and goes, Rob just walked in. So we RAN in to the lobby and he was gone. They said he'd gotten on the elevator. Okay, strike one.

Well we go around the hotel lobby a while and kinda wait, stalk, poke around, ask some people if they know anything. Well we ended up over by this window in the back that overlooked the valets. We figured he'd be getting in or out of a car right there. Well we got nothing and saw a pizza man show up. Well we decided to get on the elevator with him and see where he was taking it. Yes, very stalkerish I know. Well it ended up not being his room, we asked the pizza guy. Plus, a girl answered the door. Anyway, we realized he's probably on the 6th floor because it was the preferred floor and there was only one room with a balcony. We figured he'd stay in there so he could smoke whenever he wanted. Well we went back downstairs and saw some policemen outside by the valets. People had started to gather and we heard them say they had to leave. Well we kinda hid and didn't have to go. Well, Megan was over by the lobby and she ran over to us and said, "Come on!" So we ran over there and he was being escorted into a back door that was covered in paper (the door was all glass windows). All I see is the door shutting. My heart broke. Strike two. Throughout the night I realized I was always 2 seconds late every time.

So, we go into the bathroom and who walks in? Ashley Campbell! We both did a double take for a minute and had a moment of recollection. She had previously invited me to hang out with her and her friends at the ChooChoo because they had gotten a room. That's before we knew they weren't really staying/filming there. Anyway, we told her our story and she goes, "Oh crap! He's in the back room of the bar where we are." So we went with her into Porter's Bar. She knew two or three of the workers in there, plus they were Rob's waitresses in that room. You could see through the door where we were sitting, but no Rob. He must have been on the other side of the room. Anyway, there were flat screen tv's in there and mess, plus a lot of people. The director, producer, crew and obviously Rob. Well he had a body guard sitting outside the door so no one could go in. Well we stayed for about 2 hours waiting to see what would happen. People in the bar with us slowly started to trickle out. You also knew the people there were stalking because it was a bunch of girls our age. P.S. Sarah Warren, Emily Broyles and Libba (dont know her last name), who all went to Boyd, were there. Kinda funny.

So we leave the bar and notice the body guard and security are on their phones saying something about a police escort. Well we decided he was gone already and we missed him, plus they were making people leave who weren't hotel guests. Then Megan comes running over to us and said he just went to the bathroom with like 8 people and came out and left! We missed him again by a minute! Strike three. I was so sad. Both of my friends had seen him at least and I hadn't. Well then a guy who was sitting near the bathroom said he heard someone near Rob mention something about Big Chill. So we went over there just to see if he would show. Well, he never did, but some of his crew did and that got us all excited. We all made stops at Hair of the Dog, Market Street Tavern and Big River. No such luck. We called it a night after that.

So I went with Ashley Spurling back down there last night and Megan ended up meeting us. Candace and some friends were also driving around to see what they could find. Well, I honestly didn't have a lot of hope for last night. I thought, we got lucky on Friday by him coming into the hotel when we were there. We had no clue about him last night or any info. So we went back to Porters Bar and the waitress remembered me from the night before. She told us she was sorry but he wasn't coming down there tonight. They had all the paper off the doors and stuff. She also said he had ordered room service earlier in the day and that was all. Grr. We weren't happy. We didn't know to stay there or go out now. Well, we're drinking our wine and Megan comes running in and says Candace is at CBC (Chattanooga Billiards Club) and he's there! So we leave immediately and walk over there, bad idea. It was described as being really close but in reality we should have driven and there was parking. Bleh.

Well, Megan informed me that they were upstairs and she could see him. She was looking at him. She got there literally, 5 minutes before us and they had let her up. When we got there, there was a rope and a woman standing in front of it not letting any one through. She said something about waiting 45 mins to an hour. I. Was. Fuming. To top it off, Jessica was there somehow before us with her friends so she was in front of us in line when we had told her where to go. She had no clue about Porters or CBC. We told her. If she got to go up there and I didn't, I was slitting someone's throat for sure. Well, Megan came down and tried to tell the woman that we were with her but she said no. Well, I'm standing there looking like a hot mess, literally, I was sweating bullets from walking so far so fast. Well it was probably more like 20 or 30 mins and like 15 or 20 people came from upstairs and left. Well she let us in and I ran up there and found Megan and Candace. They all cheered and I immediately said, "WHERE IS HE?" Nicole said, sit down right here and look to your right. So I did and there he was in all of his glory. So close. So perfect. He was in a black baseball hat, white tshirt, dark colored button up shirt that was open and jeans. He looks just as good in person as he does on tv.

So I sat there and stared for a while, I was in shock. He had SO many freakin people around him too. And I noticed it wasn't necessarily fans or anything, it was people from the crew/movie and body guards. Woah. These body guards were something else. They made Adam look small. They were probably 6'5 and up, huge dudes. Well there were 4 of them or so and they faced away from Rob's table toward the crowd. They were blocking him basically. No photos were allowed either. If you tried, someone said they got right in front of you and stood or put their arms up or whatever. We were even threatened not to look at him or stare or they'd ask you to leave. Well, Jessica somehow got a table next to his that was empty. So we went over there since we had such a good view. A few minutes later a crew member that was with Rob's party came over and started talking to us. After a while he goes, "So are yall Rob fans?" We were kinda quiet and didn't wanna freak out obviously, but we just said yeah and shook our heads. Then he says, "You want me to bring him over here?" My heart stopped. We were kinda non-chalant about it and said well sure. So he goes over there and says something to Rob, who looks over at us. He comes back and says he'd be over to say hi in a few minutes. Well we about crapped our pants.

Well it was about 20 minutes later and lo and behold, here comes Robert Pattinson over to us. Not us to him, him to us. It was unbelievable. I know we were all just holding our breath. He said hi and we all simultaneously said Hey! With too much enthusiasm I'm sure. So, we're basically in shock and screaming all at the same time because it's so loud and we can't hear anything. Well I've got Jessica on one side, Megan on the other and another girl next to me basically hogging him the whole 5 minutes he was there. We kind of just asked him about Tennessee and how he liked Chattanooga. He said it was good, but he'd only been here 2 days so this was the first place he'd really seen. This girl and Jessica told him some places to go see or eat or whatever. We all were hunched in and listening/screaming/staring the entire time like little obsessed stalkers (I know we are). So he's talking off and on to us and the crew guy he knows. He's cutting up, laughing, smiling, joking. He was real personable and nice, but also clearly wasted. You could tell he was half there. Like he was in his right mind and all, but just really buzzed/happy. His eyes were real heavy and half open when he blinked. It was kind of funny. Well then he asked us what we all did for a living or in general. I was screaming, "I'M A TEACHER!" but Megan kind of took over and was talking about having a classroom and starting Monday. Ugh. I was a little irritated I couldn't get much in the convo, but then again I was so amazed I couldn't have thought of much to say. When people were talking I told myself not to look at them, but look at Robert. Look at Rob Cortney. Rob. So I stared like everyone else in amazement. GOSH, he was gorgeous! His jawline that I love so much looked amazing. Ohhh me. What else is there to say? He left after that a few minutes, we all said bye.

Oh, and I almost forgot! The first thing Megan did when he came over was ask if we could get a group pic with him. He said, "I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to." or something along those lines. So he wasn't taking pics with anybody. But I decided I was gonna take one before we left, regardless of what happened because if they kicked me out, who cares? I was going home anyway right? Well we started talking to a new crew guy who was super nice and after a few minutes I remembered Rob and looked for him and he was gone! He had left completely! I was so mad! I thought he'd gone to the bathroom, not the back exit. Ugh. So he was gone and we decided to leave too. We walked back to the hotel and there was a mob of people outside the valet entrance waiting for him. Well we decided to wait too just in case but he never showed. Someone on my yahoo group said he went to an undisclosed location or bar and she was there. It was after he left CBC. But I don't know about that. I felt so bad though. We walked up and people were speculating, asking where he was, and I go, "I just met him." This poor little girl's face, who was about 8 or 9, just sank. She ran over to her mom and goes, "Mom! That woman just met him!" I kind of felt bad. But I know I put it on facebook right after it happened and I was bombarded with comments and all like 2 mins after I posted it. No joke. It was so funny. Most people were like, you're stalking paid off huh? Yes sir it did indeed.

So, before all of this happened yesterday, Sarah Hurst and I decided to get a room at the Read House for tonight. They were kicking people out if they weren't guests. So we got one in the hopes of seeing him. And now I almost wish I hadn't since I had a full conversation with him. But oh well. Sarah wants to try, especially since she's driving an hour from Loudon. And my new goal is to get a picture of some sort. Everything else is icing on the cake, I know I know. I wouldn't change last night for anything. So we shall see. Wish me more stalking luck! It's only gotten better every night!