America the Beautiful

I am so impressed with our government! My passport expired Februay 6 this year (it's been 10 years since I renewed it because I was going to live in France! Aaaaah!) and standard passport processing times are six weeks. I was waiting until after Christmas so that I would have the funds to renew, and finally shipped it off the last week of January, and it was received at the processing center in Philadelphia on Saturday, January 30.

Counting from then, six weeks took me to Saturday, March 12, which for some reason still made me a little nervous for our planned Saturday, April 30 departure, but AJ looked up those passport centers you can renew at in person if it's an emergency just in case.

Last night on Monday, February 8, I had an express mailing envelope in my mailbox, which was weird because I wasn't expecting anything. It was from the US Government. My heart dropped - they probably require more stuff, or I didn't pay the right fee. But maybe it's something else... as I'm opening it I feel my passport inside and think "shoot, they even sent my old passport back to me."

Imagine my SURPREESE to find a brand new, beautifully updated and valid until 2026 passport! That was barely a week of processing!!!! I was so happy, it made me feel very patriotic lolololol! Our government processes passports faster than yours! Now can our government give us maternity leave and equal pay for women and rights for all?? LOLOLOLOL.

In other news, the Super Bowl was fun. We were at AJ's friend's house. It was my cheat day, and I made myself sick on hot cheetos, pizza, sea salt brownies, thumbprint cookies we brought from Trader Joe's, and beer from playing flip cup. Anja and her boyfriend Hannes came down from LA as well, and Anja reminded me of when she spent Super Bowl with me and my then-boyfriend at his house in Santa Barbara in 2008-- eight years ago!!!

Good ol' faithful San Diego Chargers shirt

#drunkies

AJ won $100 on a years-old bet with a friend that Peyton Manning would win another Super Bowl before he retired, AND he won $125 out of one of the betting pools - I was so jealous!! I asked him to buy me a Starbucks with his winnings and he said "Maybe" LOLOLOLOL.