the fam damily

back on schedule...sort of.  i arrived in virginia in the early evening and dad picked me up from the rental car place.  on our way home, we made a little detour and stopped at kendyl's daycare, which also happens to be a tae kwan do studio.

needless to say, i had been aching to hold this little girl in my arms again, and when she saw me she yelled my name and jumped into them.  i know one day, maybe when she's 12 or 13 or 14, it won't seem as exciting to have aunt tara come for a visit, so i relish every moment of that excitement and happiness.

we said our temporary goodbyes and headed home.  i hopped in the shower, and then it was time for dinner. the bonus for the evening was that not only would my sister and kendyl be coming over, but my cousin jamie recently moved to the area, so dinner, and the rest of the evening, was just one hilarity after the next.

kendyl has always been a good 'poser',  but she decided that she wanted to be behind the camera this time and just kept snapping away.  turns out, she has a pretty good eye! to check out the complete series, click here.

eventually it was time to call it a night.  i'm always sad to have to say goodbye to kendyl, especially since i won't get to see her again until christmas, but i was grateful to have even a little bit of time with her and the rest of the fam.

the beauty of unplanned plans

the beauty of the unexpected is that the possibility exists for wonderful things to happen.

on wednesday, before i knew that three days later i would be in south carolina, a random itunes clean out made me think of some extended cousins i hadn't seen in over a decade.  we had spent a couple of summer vacations with them in thousand islands, ny at their idyllic cottages on the idyllic island where cars were quickly traded in for bicycles and golf carts and afternoons at the ice cream parlor, picnics on the beach, and sunset boat rides.  you can perhaps imagine why this particular group of people make me think warm happy thoughts.

it all started when i came across a band that, long ago, my second cousin (i had to look that up) jamin, and i had both shared a love for. so i did what anybody would do;  i headed to facebook to see if i could turn up anything. pretty quickly i was able to find jamin and his mother judy (my first cousin once removed).  i added them as friends, thinking i would silently cyber-stalk them to begin the reacquainting process, and was reminded that judy had left new york and was now running a bed and breakfast in south carolina.  my internal dialogue, quite literally, went like this:

"one day, i'm going to have to go check that out!"

i could not have possibly foreseen that in just twelve hours, i would be making travel arrangements that would allow me to do just that!

i sent off an email on thursday and waited to hear. and when sunday morning came without a response, i simply assumed that there were other commitments, being so last minute and all. until i checked my email, and learned that she had been simply trying to coordinate the arrivals of my second cousin, gretchen, and my great aunt, who had flown in the night before for their annual vacation. score!

my two hour drive to charleston was mildly eventful. see...i got pulled over. for going twenty miles an hour over the limit. doh!  guess my california lead foot got the best of me.

BUT, he gave me a warning.  a WARNING!  i truly don't even know why. i was pretty resigned to my fate, and simply told him that i was sorry, and i obviously hadn't been paying attention.  and after he ran my license and car rental agreement, he came back to the car saying 'twenty miles an hour. twenty miles. i NEVER do this, but this is a warning. SLOW DOWN,' shaking his head the whole time.  i'm not sure which of us was more surprised, but not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, i thanked him profusely and got the heck out of dodge before he could change his mind!

the rest of the two hour drive to charleston passed smoothly at nine miles over the speed limit. i have never been to charleston before (i still can't quite believe it, and it kind of hurts to say) and the drive in was full of oohs and awes, and aaahhs. and when i pulled up to lavender and lace, i discovered that  it was everything you want a charleston b&b to be:  a delightfully old antebellum house with wrap-around porches on multiple levels that make you want to drink mint juleps and sit on porch swings. it was absolutely lovely! as was my reunion.

i still, in hindsight, cannot believe my good fortune.  i have expressed on many occasions how grateful i have been that my family is  so amazing, and that feeling extends beyond far beyond the first branch of the tree.  to be able to reconnect with my cousins and great-aunt was such a blessing!

after catching up on the last fifteen years, it was time for me to head out

i couldn't leave without making a couple of stops at the national park sites in the area, so the first on the list was fort sumter.  fort sumter is most notable for being the place at which the first shots of the civil war were fired.

due to time, i wasn't able to take the boat over to the fort, but i enjoyed the displays and the information at the visitor's center.

from there, it was on to fort moultrie, which is fascinating for other reasons.  

it was built in 1776, and is unique for having been built with palmetto logs. because the palmettos are softer than woods normally used, the walls would absorb the shock of the cannons without exploding, and it is even said that cannon balls would BOUNCE off the walls. uh-mazing!

and with seven new stamps in the parks passport, it was time to keep on keeping on.  afterall, i had a date with some very special people!

my stop for the night was in raleigh, nc with colby and julie. and while cost was a factor in opting to drive, rather than fly to va, colby and julie were the primary motivator.

i would have liked much much more time with them, but since just three days before, there was no inkling of a possibility that i would be sitting in their kitchen laughing, and learning of the death of osama bin laden together, it was all icing.

the unexpected

the thing about being a planner, by nature, and by profession, is that things are planned.  the unexpected always exists, but you plan for that too.

last month our parent company (who 'is on your side') asked us to be involved in an event they were participating in.  i was originally scheduled to attend, but it was then determined that it wouldn't make economic sense for me to do so, since the event was on the east coast and i, am on the west.  they did not know that i was already planning on heading east for another event only a couple of days later, but no matter, we would send one of our reps living in closer geographic proximity.

unfortunately, though, the reps father passed away, and with less than twenty four hours notice, i was making travel arrangements to leave for hilton head, sc.  the arrangements were a bit crazy. one hotel one night, a different the next night.  and because of the last minute nature and its associated costs, i opted to drive from hilton head to virginia where i would be spending a day with my fam before a drop off in maryland for the next event.

and the trip in was equally as wild.   after taking off forty-five minutes late from dallas, we were informed that there had been a mechanical issue and we would have to land back at dfw.  the catch was that the fuel tank was too full to land, so we'd have to fly around for 'awhile'.

every fifteen or so minutes, the pilot would come on and tell us that we would be landing in 15-20 minutes. that meant electronics off and no getting up from the seats.  and i believed him the first time.  and the second time.  but by the third and fourth time, i had had it.  instead of making the two hour flight to savannah, we flew in circles for an hour and a half.

now, i'm pretty patient about travel glitches, but this one was so far off the 'logic radar' that i was as close as i've ever been to truly losing it. when we landed in savannah, it took nearly thirty minutes for someone to come out and bring our plane into the gate.  then thirty minutes for the bags. then the hour drive to the hotel. and by the time i got to the hotel, it was 3am.  3 hours later the alarm was going off, and i was heading out to the event.

fortunately, things started looking up from there. i got to the event with no obstacles, and since it was quite literally on the beach, i was instantly relaxed and happy.  everything went smoothly, and i was really pleased with the exposure we got. the organization was so thrilled to have us there, and they all had such a good energy about them that it was truly a pleasure to be there.  and of course, it didn't hurt that i got to pet dogs all morning!

after the event i headed to my new hotel, the hilton head marriott resort & spa (yes, it was as good as it sounds) and slept for several hours.  when i woke up in the early evening, i decided that i needed to go enjoy the beach, so i headed out to do some exploring.  since the only thing between the hotel and the beach was the pool, i didn't expect to make a rest stop, but just behind the pool was a copse of carolina grass and several hammocks.

i just couldn't resist, so i crawled onto one and did some reading while lenjoying the sounds and smells of the ocean..

there is just something different about carolina beaches.   from a purely aesthetic perspective, california beaches are far superior, but  i truly think the overall EXPERIENCE of a carolina beach wins out hands down.  it feels more relaxed, and less like a social 'scene', and there are hammocks, and you can swim in a swimsuit in april, and don't need a wet suit in august!

after i'd sufficiently 'rested', i headed thirty yards east, where i was reminded again how wonderfully warm the atlantic ocean is!  i was nearly knee deep before i remembered that i was wearing a skirt.  and i spent the next hour enjoying the warm water and the sunset, before calling it a night.