Craziness always happens right before vacation

I meant to post right before we left for vacation, but things got out of control a few days before. The good news is that I took the GMAT and did a lot better than my practice test results showed. I went into the test knowing that I would take it again at least once, and that helped my nerves a lot. I am hoping to take it again by the end of May so that I have time to just practice, practice, practice. At this point, it's about fixing my verbal since I did surprisingly better on the quant. Who knew? I used to be much better in verbal until I started working in finance. Ha!

So yeah, Thursday, March 25th I took the GMAT. Then, right after the test, my poor mother calls to tell me that Southwest bumped her off of her direct flight from Raleigh to Ft. Lauderdale b/c they were overbooked. How rude, right? Well, they sent her to Tampa to then proceed to Ft. Lauderdale. It would have been fine but she checked in luggage so she was committed to following the route that Southwest sent her on. After hours of waiting in the Tampa airport, it turns out that the next flight was also overbooked. So, mom had to fly to Jacksonville before finally reaching her destination. Man, I am never flying Southwest again if I can help it.

Friday, March 26th, I headed to the Salvation Army Worship Center to get some things done for the upcoming Silent Auction. I was glad that some ladies showed up to help me plan out some things like decor. Hopefully, I can still remember what I need to do so that I can get everything done these last few days before the event!

Right after my meeting, my poor sister-in-law (forever known going forward as Big Sis) called to let me know that she and her best friend waited hours at the Dulles airport only to be rerouted to Tampa instead of Miami. The original plan was for everyone to meet in Miami, where our cruise was leaving from. Mr. J and I were going to drive down to the seaport since it was cheaper than hopping on a 45-minute plane ride. Then, my in-laws discovered that it was cheaper to fly to Tampa and drive down to Miami. All great since it was planned ahead. However, now we had two extra people we weren't expecting the day before the cruise. We have some great relatives since a cousin hooked us up with a rental car discount at the last minute. We rented a minivan as soon as everyone arrived at the airport on Friday.

Saturday, March 27th, at 4:30am, we all packed into the minivan and headed to Miami. Everything else was smooth sailing and our family cruise began with a great bang!

Lesson learned though: expect the unexpected, especially right before a family vacation!