weekend at home = good for the soul

after taking advantage of a saturday morning at home to run some errands (which were oddly fulfilling) i headed to long beach to meet mihaela for crepes at la creperie, a delightful little place that my former roommate used to rave about, but one at which i'd not yet had the opportunity to try out. i indulged in both a savory and a sweet crepe, which were both delicious, but mostly i reveled in the being able to spend time with a friend. i hadn't seen mihaela in, literally, four months - thanks to my travel schedule, and it was so nice to feel like i was engaging in my own life again!

after crepes, i had just enough time to enjoy a catap before alison came over to see the new place and meet the dog. on the agenda for the evening was an la galaxy game.


i'm the first to admit that i'm not an avid soccer fan. that being said, since david beckham arrived here, i've been wanting to at least see one game. chalk it up to my affinity for the movie 'bend it like beckham' or just the fact that not everyone has an opportunity to see him play, either way, i was super excited.

the only annoying part of the evening was when security would not let me in with the big camera because they said it was 'too professional.' please people! i'm posting pic on facebook, not espn.com! we had to walk all the way back to the car to deposit the camera, and as we had parked in the very farthest lot to ensure a timely escape, it truly was a long walk!.


the game did not disappoint! beckham scored the first goal for the evening, and alison and i enjoyed getting caught up while watching the fancy footwork on the field. sadly, without my big cam and it's high speed shutter release, that fancy footwork was a little too fast, and most of my pics came out blurry. nonetheless, we certainly enjoyed the game and our time together.


today was stake conference, and it was wonderful! our stake has two singles wards and a midsingles ward, so the family wards met for the first session and the singles for the second. the beauty of this was that i have some friends in the other wards who i (again) haven't seen in months. and they were all in one place!

the speakers were all on point (which is rare in a two hour session), but every message was powerful and poignant (is that redundant?). and after i had been edified by the spirit, i had the opportunity to reunite with some of my favorite californians.

all in all, i really needed this weekend. it was the first time in a long time that i have felt really connected to the spirit and to my life. it has been extremely difficult traveling so much, and this weekend reminded me that i need to make more effort to stay connected and to be engaged.