3 A, 3 AM...Eternal

While my body is back in Milan, my mind is certainly stuck in the East Coast, time zone that is.

It took three rather uneventful flights to get from Jacksonville to Milan, and while uneventful is good any time you are in a large object hanging over the ocean there were certainly some interesting points to take note of along the way. First, on the flight from Charlotte to Frankfurt an Italian family sat down in the middle four seats, parents and two small girls. Cute as ever, those little girls. I'm sure one day they'll be embarrassed to discover that mom just dropped their pants in the middle of the airplane to put them in something more comfortable. No big deal, you say, they're little! You're right. Whatever. Oh, but then mom changed right there in her seat too. Thank goodness a blanket was on hand. Next, an American guy in his late 50's sat in the window seat next to me. He sure liked to talk and if anybody has plans to recreate Ocean's 11 and needs a safe cracker, I think I know just the man for you. Lastly, I was semi unconscious by the time I got on the last flight to Milan. I have to be one of the worst sleepers in the world and I slept through most of the flight, except for when they started serving a snack. Of course, you wake up for the food, right? However, I was quickly nauseous as I looked around at a cold pile of mashed potatoes with relish (?) mixed in with a small hot dog/sausage thing and a sweet pickle on top. Scoop it all up with the breadsticks that were included. No thank you. The guy across the aisle ate two. I wanted to vomit just smelling it.

But, luckily I was able to avoid the airplane lavatory and deplaned in Milan. With a hundred pounds of baggage to claim and two carry-ons I was a bit concerned that my "this won't be a problem" attitude would result in a major problem once I was left to manage all the bags on my own. However, I found a cart and wheeled all the baggage and bought a train ticket into the city, so I only had to wheel the bags down a escalator ramp, on and off the train and to a waiting taxi. Twenty one Euros later and I had made it home- very thankful that bringing all my junk back worked out okay.

See all those square utility totes?

Now my shoes, scarves, hats and
 gloves are all nicely organized!

It was like Christmas unpacking it all! I had forgotten what was even in the first bag, since I packed it a few days after Christmas. The entire bottom half was filled with all my thirty-one organizers which probably provided Lori Brown with a very nice holiday season, reaping the benefits off my gigantic purchase! You too can have a well organized closet if you buy six of every item in their catalog!!


After arriving home yesterday I went straight to the grocery store and then unpacked most of my stuff. In hopes of getting back on Milan time, I knew that a nap was not a good idea, so I worked on putting some things away and then had a well deserved glass of Prosecco while chatting with Kate. By 8:00, I was in bed and totally passed out. Of course, one shouldn't expect things to be easy, so naturally I was up at midnight watching NCIS and finishing watching Moneyball, which I had started on the plane, and finished the book I had been reading. At 2 am, I chatted with Becky, who's 8 hours ahead in Okinawa. So, at least my lack of sleep was productive. While awake, I couldn't help but think about the KLF song, 3 AM Eternal from back in the day and praying that I would fall asleep again. Thankfully, at 5:30 I did fall back asleep and slept until 10:30. I made myself get up, knowing full well that I had to try to get on the right time schedule!!

And now, I'm writing this post in an effort to STAY AWAKE just a little longer! Back to work in the morning, so I don't have the luxury of sleeping to all hours if I can't sleep overnight. And, given the crazy noises seemingly coming from the roof of my apartment building, who knows how much sleep is possible. It sounds like a group of construction workers are hammering away on top of our heads!