7:45 a.m.

Welp, we are finally here folks! Well, not quite…I’m still at the airport as I type this. But still…I almost didn’t make it this far, thanks to last night’s events.

(I also would like to note that I am typing/chowing down on McDonald’s Blueberry Banana Nut oatmeal. Which every bone in my body fought against, as I am not a fan of the entire McDonalds establishment to say the least and totally try to be that person who NEVER goes there. But. But but but…. I am here, I am hungry and out of all “healthy” airport foods, this oatmeal seems to be the less of all airport evils. (What is the most evil of evils? Their iced coffee I got to wash it down. You would never know it is coffee, as they put so much creamer in it you’d swear it was milk. Gross….on that note, off to the trash it goes.)

Let me back it up a bit. This week, the National Association of Specialty Food Trade’s Summer Fancy Food show was in town. AKA rows and rows and ROWS of cool food, new food, healthy food, indulgent food, cheesy food, Italian food, oh-my-gosh-are-you-freaking kidding-me– food. WITH SAMPLES. So, AKA Anne Marie’s happy place times 175.

Anne Marie’s happy place times 275 would be when along with the samples, the vendors practically throw the items in your bag as it the end of the show and they are lightening their load. Seriously – I really tested the quality of my Coach bag as I most definitely had 18 pounds of cheese, cake, brownie bites, iced coffees, salted caramels, and BBQ sauce crammed inside every centimeter of room I could find. I think the handle marks are just starting to disappear on my arm, seriously.

Anyways, while oogling over my bags full of foodie goodness on the Metro, I dropped my little pink wallet. You know, the one with my SmarTrip card, my AMEX, my LOFT card, Starbucks gift card (essentials, obvi) and well…MY LICENSE.

You know. The license I needed to board the plane, pick up my race packet, drink really awesome Seattle beers… You know, that license. And yea, I have a passport but since I’m obviously a professional “loser” (probably in both senses on the term) I only break that blue book out of the safe in the most dire circumstances.

Luckily, after tackling the Metro station manager and making him decipher the situation through my tears, he located my wallet at the last stop of the blue line. Someone found it, dropped it off and didn’t even take my Starbucks gift card. I wish they did- it was the least that I could go for their kind soul.

Another kind soul? My husband, of course. Well, especially after I pulled out my bag of Fancy Food snacks while we were stuck in traffic driving to that last line on the Metro stop. Further proof that everything happens for a reason. Pretty sure if I didn’t have a bag of gourmet cheese and tomato puffs, we would have been in trouble. And I would be going to Seattle…on a one-way ticket.

12:15/11:15 Kansas City time

Freaked out (internally) on the plane ride here as we were SUPER delayed and I was convinced, the entire flight, that I missed my connection and would need to get on a later flight or in worst case scenario (which I obviously thought of first) would have to sleep on the airport floor for two days until they found a flight I could go on. Because that would totally happen on a normal, non-holiday Wednesday in June.

And yet. There is a time difference when you fly from DC to KC. So I have an entire hour to contemplate the fact that I asked Matt, the flight attendant and the person next to me 68 times what I should do now that I’ve totally missed my connection. See “loser” reference, above.

Okay, time to board my on-time flight in my on-time fashion. See you on the West Coast!