ice skating

every second saturday of the month the mid-singles in the raleigh/durham triangle get together for some kind of fun social activity.  it's been interesting coming from the california mid-singles scene, which is highly structured, church-official, and often means being in the same ward as a couple hundred other mid-singles.  there are far less in this area. far, far less.  the activities are completely unofficial - started by a couple of ladies who simply had a desire to try and connect people.  and here's the weird thing.... i find it so much more fulfilling.

though an average activity here boasts maybe 20 people (30 on a really really banner day) and a similar activity in california could easily get 60 - 80, those 20 people are MY kind of people.

it's no secret that i struggled to make, what i felt were, depthful friendships with staying power while in california.  there are a few notable exceptions, but the move has proven my suspicions.  here though, maybe BECAUSE there are so many fewer of us, i feel like i am meeting people with whom i more naturally feel a kinship, and who i can see becoming truly great friends.

stephanie and jessica on ice

this month's activity was ice skating.  though i'm pretty good on skates, with my biggest show of the year quickly approaching, i decided not to risk the sprained ankle i'm sure murphy (of murphy's law) had in store for me.

there were a few others who felt similarly for their own reasons, so we passed the time chatting about the holidays, italy, book recommendations, etc.  met a few new people (i'm glad that's still happening) who i enjoyed getting to know before the ice skating concluded.

a few of us decided to grab dinner at the pit, a downtown raleigh establishment, where we enjoyed upscale bbq.  i like my bbq a little more 'backyard' style, but the meal was good, and the company was great.  there were several discussions about future plans, and i'm loving that this is a group who wants to DO things.  soccer games, white water rafting, and on and on.

as dinner came to a close, we decided we weren't quite done, so we headed across the street to the videri chocolate factory where we sampled some chocolate, learned about the chocolate making process, and enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate and sipping chocolate.  the sipping chocolate reminded amy and i of parisian hot chocolate and we were hard pressed to finish the 2 oz. cup between us!

erika and dan, amy and i

all in all, a lovely, engaging way to spend an afternoon/evening in raleigh.

the disney day

monday has always been the unofficial extension of the midsingles conference, during which attendees will spend the day at disneyland.  i've never participated before, and i wasn't originally planning on it.  but i was on the fence.  my local friends have told me that it's their favorite day because it gives them a chance to interact with people in smaller groups and for more than five minutes at a time. i had waffled on the decision, but on sunday, i pulled the trigger.

 earlier in the weekend, jamie had introduced me to travis, an old friend of hers whom she had known when she lived in philadephia.  our introduction was brief, and though he was also on the kayak trip, we didn't really interact (we were both paired off with other people).  i thought he was cute -- not my usual type -- but quiet cute.  i saw him at the aquarium, but again, we didn't really interact.  i knew he was planning on staying with us on sunday night since the rest of his group was leaving sunday, but i didn't think too much of it.

after i decided to take monday off and spend the day at disney, i thought we might carpool, but that we would probably meet up with the larger group and maybe go our separate ways, so i didn't think too much of it.

monday morning brought it's fair share of logistical challenges.  he had come in late on sunday night and had had trouble finding parking.  by monday morning, he didn't really know where he had parked.  so, we drove the neighborhood in search of his rental.  it took about 45 minutes, and we finally arrived at the park at about 9:30.  not bad.  except that when we got to the ticket booth, which comes after the tram ride and after the bag check line, it turned out he had left his id in the car.  so we went back.

it's fair to say that i was unimpressed, bordering on annoyed.  but i also wasn't in a huge rush and i've been trying to practice patience.  so, we eventually -- about 10:30 -- made it INSIDE the park.  and we were starving! we found the closest place with fast, but 'real', food, and sat down to enjoy.  things were starting to get better at this point.  after getting past the poor planning, it turns out, we got a long pretty well, pretty quickly.  in fact, it kind of felt like we'd been friends for a really long time.  it was easy and natural and fun, and it was turning out just fine that i was stuck with a stranger.

while we were eating, my friend jen texted that she had arrived.  we continued eating while we waited for her to join up with us.  i don't get to see jen very often, and she had been partially responsible for talking me into disney day, so i was looking forward to spending time with her.

adding a third definitely changed the dynamic. travis got real quiet real fast, but we hit our first ride - star tours (which apparently made both of them nauseous) before heading to the tomorrowland terrace for the second conference meet-up.  travis and i talked while jen ate, and we checked out the 'scene'.  there were about 20 others meeting up, but we decided that for the time being, we'd keep to our little group.

with stomachs a little more settled, we hit a couple of rides, and were then joined by jamie.  having a fourth balanced the group again and travis and i continued getting to know each other.

the rest of the day included meeting up and separating from other friends (old and new) who were also enjoying the day off.  the park was crowded for a random monday in may, but we still managed to accomplish a lot. space mountain broke down once for about 10 minutes while we were in line, and after we finished the ride, we were given front of line passes to go again.  splash mountain broke down while we were on it.  we were evacuated and given front of line passes for any ride in the park.  so a pretty eventful day!

jamie left before the last ride of the day (space mountain - the second time), so jen, jessi, travis, and i rode the beast one last time before calling it a night.

travis and i headed home, utterly exhausted.  despite the fact that he had a 5am flight, we stayed up for a little while talking before calling it a night.  it was so fun to meet someone who feels like an instant long term friend, and it was a great end to a great weekend!

the midsingles conference

the kayak crew

every year several hundred mormon midsingles (singles in roughly the 27-45 age range) converge on my former hometown of huntington beach for a weekend of activities, workshops, and mingling. and every year i look forward to it with dread.

i always feel like i should participate, particularly  since it's in my back yard, and people come (literally) from all over the world to attend.  but i've learned about myself that i don't do well in large groups, so it is an anxiety ridden 72 hours for me.  so much so that i've skipped out on it for the last couple of years.

this year, though, the schedule was much more appealing...i even begged off a work trip in order to attend.  maybe it's the sentimentality of knowing that it will probably be my last, or maybe it's just that it seemed organized in such a way as to create smaller (better) group interactions, but i found myself looking forward to it this year for the first time...ever.

the festivities started on friday, but as i was traveling home from a work event in houston, i missed day one.  i finally arrived home on friday night/saturday morning at about 1am after flight delays and local traffic jams, and i knew saturday morning would come way too fast.  in fact, i wasn't 100% committed to attending the morning workshops, but i would try.

when the alarm went off, i decided to get up, move around a bit,  and see how i felt.  i felt okay. not awesome.  definitely in need of more sleep.  but okay enough to suck it up and participate. so i did.  jamie and i headed to huntington, and though we were on time, we found seats near the middle of the cultural hall overflow.

clint and tara's kayak selfie

the first workshop speaker was probably fine, but i was so tired, and his voice so constant, that it was a struggle to stay awake. after he concluded, we moved up to cushier seats for the highlighted speaker, sister kristen oaks (wife of apostle dallin oaks).  she was much easier to stay awake for! she was charming and engaging and funny and self-deprecating -- a real pleasure to listen to.

when she concluded, we grabbed our bagged lunches, found our friends, and spent the lunch hour chatting and catching up.  i had decided that, since my travel makes it hard for me to participate in any normal choir,  i would also participate in the choir practice that would take place at the latter half of the lunch break, and would sing in the sunday meetings the following day.

the aquarium after dark

it was there that i met my new friend clint. he'd come from yuma, az and we were insta bffs for the day.  choir practice was rough on all of us as they had only about six copies of the music for 40 people, but we were promised there would be enough music at the sunday practice.

during this time i was debating about whether or not i was going to participate in the afternoon kayaking that i had signed up for.  i had actually registered for that before registering for the conference. i loved the idea of the smaller group, and an alternative to just laying around on the beach feeling judgy and self-conscious.  but i was TIRED! and, for a californian, it was a bit chilly.

again, and contrary to my nature, i decided to suck it up.  jami was asked to be our group leader so i was able to beg her not to be too hard on my tired body.:)  when we arrived and everyone started checking in, i discovered that my new bff, clint, was also in the group, and when we were told to pair off, he asked if we could be partners.

jenn, kristina, larysa, and i

we spent the next couple of hours getting to know each other and the others in our group, while enjoying what turned out to be a beautiful sunny afternoon, weaving in and around newport harbor.  despite my exhaustion, i was really glad i had decided to go through with it.

i was planning on getting in a power nap between kayaking and the evening activity, but the timing just didn't work.  so, i powered through.  the dinner/dance was being held at the long beach aqauarium (which i love!), so i knew that even if the social aspect was a bust, that i would really enjoy the setting.  and it truly was amazing.  being there as a private group, after hours, was very very cool.  and it also afforded the opportunity to spend some time with my girls, catch up with my friend ben, and reunite with clay, an old friend from virginia who now lives in northern california.

virgina is for lovers!
(ben, clay, and i)

finally, it was time to call it a night and to slip into the bliss that was my bed!

sunday morning, i headed out a little early for the second choir practice.  the numbers had grown, and lo and behold, eventually, there was sheet music.  i think we sounded pretty good. and...we had the best seats in the house.  the chapel, overflow, and cultural hall were completely full. even the stage had filled seats.  the estimate was about 1400 people -- all of whom i watched for the duration of the meetings.  the main speaker was elder acosta of the seventy, and i enjoyed his message.

after sacrament, it was boxed lunches, then a fireside with guest speaker bishop causse, first counselor in the presiding bishopric.  if you are lds, the name might be more familiar to you as he just spoke at general conference last month.

he was an absolute delight. his accent is not hard on the ears, and i really appreciated that he spoke on a topic that was not TOO 'singles focused' but certainly had a number of apropos applications.

his talk focused on the story of the laborers in the vineyard, and he referred to a talk previously given by elder holland.  it resonated strongly with me, and i particularly appreciated this quote:

However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.

all in all, it was a great way to close out what had turned out to be a great weekend!

the spartan reunion

the farewell tour has begun.  which basically means that i am trying to make sure that i see all of my local friends before i move.  schedules being what they are, sometimes that's easier said than done.

take, for example the group of six of us broad run high school, class of '94 alum, all residing in the los angeles area.  i've had the opportunity to spend a little more time with brandon and michelle, than with bronwyn, andy, or kevin, but even with brandon and michelle, it had been a couple of years.

when i reached out to them about getting together, i had no plan, other than the intention to find a good date and put it on the calendar.  so as the date got closer, bronwyn reached out to me with some ideas about activities.  i honestly didn't care -- i just wanted to see them -- so i jumped at all of the ideas she and the others had batted around, and  a plan was laid.  but here's the truly amazing thing: i was not involved.   they figured out timing, locations, transportation, everything! i feel like 90% of my life is spent planning things for other people and this simple act, unbeknownst to them, was one of the greatest going away gifts they could have given me.

they had decided, that since i was the first person they had known with a selfie-stick, that we should pretend to be tourists in our own backyard.  we met at a speak-easy in culver city before piling into andy's suv, heading to la for dinner at the iconic cafe formosa.

after dinner, it was on to a couple of other stops; jim henson studios, capitol records, the roosevelt hotel, and grauman's chinese theater/walk of fame.

i've said it before, but there's just something awesome about being with people who have known you since you were a teenager. we laughed and caught up, and took photos, and laughed some more, all of us kicking ourselves that we hadn't taken more advantage of our close proximity over the last eight years.

and while i'm sad to say farewell, it looks like we'll be going out with a bang.  during our tourist travels, we happened to drive by the magic castle.  it's been on my bucket list since i arrived in cali, but you have to be a member, or be invoted by a member.  i thought i had combed my 'friend list' carefully to see whether i might know someone who knew someone, but had always come up dry.  so this night, as we were driving by the castle, i started to ask "does anyone know...? brandon immediately responded that he thought he had a connection.  and two days later, he confirmed via text.  we've set a date, and i'm equally excited to check this off the list as i am to see my friends one more time!

the renaissance pleasure faire

when i was a teen and visiting my grandmother's new york lake house every summer, we usually made a stop at the local renaissance faire.  there were two things that always made it memorable.  the first, was that for many years, my cousin was one of the actors.  as a result, for two or three years, before our visit to the faire, several of her cast-mates would come to the lake house and spend the day with us boating, water skiing, relaxing.  typically we visited the faire the following day, and to see the change from real person to character was truly unique.  it also always made us feel like we were part of the group...to be interacting with characters who we had met the day before giving us a sly wink or some small acknowledgement of our shared 'real life' day.

the second was that this particular ren faire had something i'd never seen/done before or after.  they had a quest.  so, instead of wandering aimlessly throughout the day, we started with a clue which led us to a character, who gave us another clue, which led us to a character, etcetera, etcetera. usually it would take a good chunk of the day (with the leftover time available for watching other entertainment), and of course, my family won every time we participated (beating out other attendees also participating).  it created a totally different kind of interaction with the characters than you would otherwise get and it was super fun to collect clues.

larysa and i spent the day walking.  really. mostly walking. we signed up for the 'quest' and found the morning half extremely enjoyable.  the clues were not difficult to follow and we met and interacted with some fantastic characters.  it felt 'easier' than i remembered my previous experience, but nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves.  of course, we were the first people to turn in our collected map pieces and with the second portion not beginning until over an hour later, we took a break to sit and eat.

  

of course i had to have a giant turkey leg, sadly, it wasn't as good as i remember them.  but the sitting was lovely and much needed.  the faire grounds aren't big, but our clue hunting had us doing a lot of back and forth.  fortunately it was a beautiful day, which got more and more crowded as the day went on.

we then began the second part of the quest, and it didn't take long for us to figure out that it was kind of lame.  i don't really know how it came to be at the new york festival, but in this case, it's a seperate company than the ren faire folks who run it.  it appears that they have coordinated with the faire enough to involve their cast for the morning portion, but not for the afternoon portion, so the people that we were trying to interact with in the afternoon seemed kind of lazy. and frankly, at that point we had clocked 7 miles and just didn't appreciate being given tasks that would take us from one end of the grounds to the other, only to do the same over again.  we called it.

it was fun, but i'm not sure that i would do it again.  it certainly wasn't as memorable as my earlier experiences.  maybe with kids or a big group?  but even then... i felt like new york was so much better because, aside from the quest part, the faire itself was better. the stage shows were pretty amazing, and you could see a lot of genuinely good shakespeare comedy all throughout the day. the characters were more involved with the patrons.  i don't know, just seems better. now i kind of really want to go back to the ny one to see if that all still holds true.  sadly, with my grandmother's passing, i may never have another opportunity. so instead, it will stay this perfect little memory in my head.

the kneelands

i know i just got back from seeing some of my favorite people in utah, but as it turns out, some of those same favorite people had been planning a trip to california!

jill's sister linda (who i've known since, basically, she was crawling), and her husband just moved about 10 miles up the road from me. corey and jill, in an effort to visit her, planned a disney/cali trip, from which, i was also able to benefit!

thursday after work, i drove up to redondo to meet up with the gang.  we enjoyed a fantastic poolside bbq at linda and toby's apartment, before walking to the redondo pier. linda had gotten a groupon for sailing, and again, i benefitted.  i used to go sailing with friends a fair amount in virginia, but i've never been in california.  it was a perfect evening, being on the water, watching the sunset with such great friends.

as i was walking back to my car.... there's something about the ocean at night that made me realize that there are a lot of things i'm going to miss about california when i'm gone!

here we go again...

i think this is the longest i have ever gone without posting.  ever.  so, since there is way too much catching up to do, let's just hit the highlights and lowlights of 2015 so far, shall we?

january:

knowing that i will be (if all goes according to plan), moving to north carolina at the end of july, california bucket list items have taken on a new urgency.  for the first time, i joined my donahoo cousins in visiting the post-showing of the rose parade floats.  amazing! it was particularly enjoyable to experience it with my cousins, who've also never done it, and whom i'm going to miss terribly when i leave!

with three months to design and build a brand new booth, as a part of the parent company's strategy to align all of their umbrella companies to "one-brand", the 20X30 launches at the north american veterinary conference and wins the booth of the year award. (february, multiple articles would be published about it in various exhibit trade publications). i'm particularly proud as the design concept was entirely my idea, and we were fortunate to be paired with the perfect exhibit house to execute it.  the booth features a life-size tree stump that doubles as a phone charger, a convertible meeting space in the interior of the doghouse, as well as astro-turf carpet and ambient "yard" sounds, giving visitors a break from the hectic conference pace.

extended the navc work trip to spend some time with melissa (n.) at universal studios florida, primarily to indulge our inner wizards and check out the new(ish) wizarding world of harry potter.  exhaustion was a prominent feature, but, so was spell-casting! there is something truly magical ( i know, i know) about the harry potter world and the way it has become such a cultural phenomenon.  i still remember being in high school reading my dragonlance books about wizards and warriors, and fearing that i would be made fun of as a result.  the times, they have-a-change-ed.

capping off the month was the (ahem)th birthday celebration for my good friend larysa.  it's fair to say that the circle of those who i would truly consider friends, here in california is very small, but i have known and liked larysa for almost my entire eight years here.  it was a privilege to participate in honoring her (mumble) years on the planet, and while i won't reveal her age, i will say that it was a big one, and celebrating at the huntington library & gardens (truly one of my favorite places in cali) with an afternoon tea, was quite perfect.

february:

the month kicks off with an unexpected sleepover not too far from home.  my friend and co-worker (who i rarely get to see anymore), melissa (r.) was in anaheim at the grand californian for a company training.  she invited me to come for a slumber party, so, why not!  we met up with another friend and co-worker for late night girl talk and spent some lovely post-training afternoon time at the pool the following day before returning to 'real life'.

i take a work trip to vegas where the new booth continues to impress. i get to spend my off-time with melissa (n.), as well as visiting with my old roommate, heather. this time the visit with heather includes five more dogs!  and while the puppy energy is a little nutty, i especially appreciate fur babies when i'm away from my own.  i also get a chance to spend some time with my freeman cousins.  i loathe vegas, but now that i have "people' there, it makes my frequent visits much more enjoyable.

march:

the month begins with a trip to williamsburg, va for work.  originally, julie and kids had planned to meet me there for a day at busch gardens. until we realize that it's not open yet!  instead, i drive to raleigh to spend a day with them, and to get a bearing on the place that will serve as my temporary home when i arrive in nc.  then it's time for some actual work... but my co-worker greg and i did find a little bit of time to explore the historic town.

from williamsburg, i'm headed directly on to the next event in tampa, fl. but before i get there, i get some terrible news.  my old roommate calls (i send her to voicemail, as i'm boarding a plane), she calls again. voicemail again. then she texts.  a mutual friend of ours has passed away.  she had been living with heather in las vegas, and heather's husband had found her that morning.  initially, they didn't know exactly how long she had been gone or what had happened, but we would eventually learn that, at age 41, holly jarvinen died unexpectedly from congenital heart failure.  it was devastating news, and though my first response was to try and be strong for heather - her closest friend - i went through my own kind of shock.  it would take a couple of weeks before it felt real all the time, as opposed to that weird ptsd mode of feeling real one moment and not real the next, where your brain just can't process.  holly is the third friend of mine to pass in the last five years, and i still can't quite wrap my head around it.

but i had to get on the plane.  it's been about fifteen years since my last visit to tampa, and i had been excited to see a relatively 'new' city.  maybe that was just what i needed to avoid falling down the rabbit hole of sudden loss.  instead, i made myself readily available to heather and other friends via phone, while i tried to get my job done, and see what tampa had to offer.  i remember thinking that it was the only city in florida i had ever really liked, and it turned out, my memory was correct.  the food was amazing, and i was incredibly impressed with the consistently good service.  i also got a chance to spend some time with melissa (n.) as we took in a spring training baseball game (braves v. yankees) and explore the ybor city area via trolley and foot.

shortly after returning home from tampa, things went even more sideways.  still emotionally wounded from the loss of a friend,  i'm in a car accident, the victim of a red-light runner.  while my body and health are fine (for which i'm grateful!), my car is totaled.  my 2004 saturn was meant to last another year or so, giving me a chance to make the big move and get settled in before investing in a new car and committing (for the first time in years) to a car payment.  but the universe had other plans, and i found myself wading through the soul-crushing bureaucracy of insurance company rules, rental car restrictions, payouts, and loan-getting.  it's an overwhelming week as i began to feel the weight of all the change and loss that seems to be coming at once.  i want to just wallow for awhile, but i don't have the luxury of time.  the one thing (aside from my physical health) that i have going for me in regards to the car, is that i have driven A LOT of rental cars.  so many, in fact, that i've known for years what i wanted the 'next car' to be.  which, since i had a really limited amount of time to make decision and act on it, was a huge blessing.  i go look at a couple of cars, knowing i've found "the one" before i even see it in person, so after the test drive confirming it, i put a deposit down, sign a contract, and leave - without the car - hoping that they will honor the contract until the loan check arrives and clears.

still driving a rental car, which i am now paying for out of pocket (since it turns out that the insurance company will only cover three days if your car is totaled), i head to ontario to finally meet up with my friend vicki for an evening out. we've been trying to get together for a year, and were finally able to make it work.  i'm feeling particularly grateful for the timing as it now seems so much more important than it did a week before to spend quality time with people you care about.  vicki has season tickets for the local hockey team, and before heading there, we enjoyed breaking some bread and getting caught up.  perfect girls night!

not long after, i'm headed to salt lake city.   i planned the trip in february when the world was all sunshine and daisies. on one hand, the timing seems semi-inconvenient since i'm still in car-limbo, but i have a sense that the trip is an unexpected tender mercy -- a time, when most needed, to take advantage of the natural healing power that comes from being with people you love.  it's been several years since my last visit, and i know that it will be harder to do from the east coast, so i take full advantage of every opportunity. my visit includes some really phenomenal time with cousins, catch-up time with my old friend scott, a visit with brandon,  a friend who used to live in california (which includes an epic haircut and shave -- his, not mine), attending the general women's session at the conference center, spending time with corey & jill, checking out a salt lake real game, and reconnecting with a high school friend.  sadly, this trip was also supposed to consist of a reunion with houston, my ex-boyfriend's son, to whom i played mom for several years, but a family health emergency arose and he had to leave town.  all in all though, it was exactly what i needed.  i continue to be so grateful for my family and good friends. i adore them, and they have no idea how much peace came from spending time with them.

originally scheduled to fly home late monday evening, i maneuver my way onto an earlier flight so that i can (finally) go pick up the new car!  while in utah, i was driving a version of my car, another equinox, but a more basic model.  my four day "test-drive" left me feeling like the car was ok. it was fine.  it was an improvement on my last one, for sure.  and then, upon concluding the final details, when i finally got into MY car, it was so much better than ok.  it was perfect.  though it is a 2012 model, it feels like new.  there are so many bells and whistles and it was clearly well taken care of.  i just love everything about it!  which will make it a little easier to swallow the car payment thing.  and, of course, it's probably a blessing in disguise having a safer, more comfortable car to drive cross country in.  that's what i keep telling myself anyway.

there you have it, 2015, so far, in a nutshell. there has been good, bad, and ugly, and i have to confess, i'm holding my breath a little about what the near future has in store...

the maze runner

last year, as my friend matt and i road tripped north carolina and virginia, we listened to 'the maze runner' by james dashner.

i had heard about the book at comic-con the prior month, and it seemed to have a huge following.  i knew that it was being turned into a movie and the synopsis was right up my alley, so i thought the road trip would be a great time to try it out.

unfortunately, it was TERRIBLE.  i mean, really, really bad.  maybe it was just the audio book and narrator, but i've heard similar poor reviews from 'readers' since.  i was a little baffled at how this book had developed any following at all, but, from what i've heard since, it seems that it's a less than great introduction to what builds into a great series.  i have my doubts.

nonetheless, it's bad-ness became a bit of a bonding experience and the jokes continue to this day. whrrrr. click. click. click.  (if you've read it, you'll understand)

when the movie's opening day was finally set, matt and i knew we had to go check it out.   i mean, we had already committed 10 miserable hours to the thing, might as well add a couple more.

me, trying to take a pretty photo of a delicious
looking crepe.  matt, trying to mess it up.
this round goes to him.

imagine our surprise when it was pretty good!  in fact we both quite enjoyed it.  the writing was far better suited to a visual portrayal than to words on paper.  seeing what had been described in the book (pretty poorly in some cases) finally made the story and characters interesting.  it was well cast, and there were a few really tense moments (even though i knew what was coming). watching it with matt, my partner in literary pain, was exquisite.

following the movie, we headed to a favorite of matt's - a local mexican place with the most amazing carne asada.  interestingly enough, the meat always reminds me of the best steak-and-cheese sandwich i ever had.  one of these days, i'm just going to buy some meat, take it home, throw it on a sub roll with some mayonnaise and grilled onions and pretend i'm eating trio's again!

we made quick work of dinner so that we still had time for dessert at a mutual favorite, la creperie.  it goes without saying that the chocolate - chocolate- strawberry crepe was divine, and a perfect way to end the evening.

labor day

jami and i met up with newly married friends whitney and shaun for a dodger game.  my FIRST dodger game, and first time in dodger stadium.  i had sort of run-walked around it for the color run last year, but never been in it.  and labor day was a great day to check it off the list.

only complaint was that it was HOT. soooo hot!  but the fact that we were in good company, that the dodgers were playing the nationals, and that the nationals won, totally made up for it!

september is going to be a crazy travel month, so it was a nice way to spend a chill evening with friends.

august

i am woefully behind.  i'll just acknowledge that and move on.

this is what my august looked like:

me finally getting to try cotton candy grapes .  yes. i said cotton candy grapes.  grapes that taste like cotton candy! they are only in season for about two weeks each year, distributed by only one grape grower, in california, and they are hard to find! i’d learned about them last year after they were already out of season, and have been waiting to try them. they were delicious! i still have 4 pounds sitting in my freezer so that i can continue to enjoy them.

this collage is from my work trip to kansas city. melissa, her husband nick, and another colleague, david, went to see the MLS soccer team, sporting kc play dc united.  dc united totally beat them!  and what made it an even better night is that the team was staying in our hotel and we ended up spending a little time with the head coach (the guy in the white shirt in the bottom right photo).  but of course, the highlight is just always getting to see melissa.:)

august also saw my 38^th birthday. yowser!  i am usually traveling on my birthday and was excited to be home this year.  i invited a small group of friends and the donahoo cousins to join me at the iconic (lots of movies have shot here) griffith observatory in los angeles.  they were hosting a public star party so many many local astronomers brought their telescopes to share with the rest of us peons.  i love the observatory and it was a great way to celebrate with some of my favorite people!

weekend fun

i love being home and getting to spend time with my peoples!

this weekend i finally got to see jamie paddle - a hobby/sport to which she has dedicated a great deal of time to over the last year-ish.  i've been hearing about her adventures in canoeing for almost as long as we've been roommates, so with this weekend's race being local, and me being in town, it was the perfect opportunity to cheer her on!

from belmont beach to playa del rey, it was a double-beach day.  i joined my friend and former co-worker, tania, for what is becoming a a bit of a recurring appointment. usually, it's beach time, as i'm attempting to get some color before spending a week at the lake with family (and not wanting to suffer from the long hours spent on the water there), but today i was just along for the ride.  emily had been unable to attend tania's housewarming party so wanted to visit her new place, and invited me to join.  we were quite the office trio before tania left us, so it was nice to get the band back together!

and what is a far more rare occurrence, was the invitation i received from  melissa.  she had asked if i was in town (we both travel A LOT), i told her i was, and she invited me to the orange county fair with her and some cousins.  when her cousins were unable to attend, i suggested we go a bit lower key and get together for brunch.  which lasted for about five hours (a pattern this week!).  we made some plans to meet up on the road this fall, and started talking about a possible italy trip together in 2015.  so, basically, a highly productive brunch! :D

green party

friday night i attended the surprise party for my friend larysa, who, after years and hoops and more years and more hoops, was finally able to get her green card.  party-goers were asked to wear green or red white and blue, and similarly to bring an item of the same colors.  my contribution - a strawberry blueberry fruit tart that seemed to be quite a hit.  sadly, none left to gnosh on later!

jamie and our friend luce were the distraction, inviting her for wedding dress shopping for luce.  nicole and i were supposedly meeting them back at larysa's to join up for dinner.  the ruse was a success and larysa didn't see it coming!

larysa hails from the ukraine and was one of the first people i met when i moved to huntington beach.  in fact, we met at my very first family home evening in the mid-singles ward, just a couple of weeks after i had moved to california.  lucky for me, our friendship has continued to grow in the last 6 1/2 years, and lucky for america, she's now a permanent resident!

food and friends, my two favorite words

we had a very special visitor today.  an old huntington beach friend (who now splits time between utah and north dakota) is in town for a wedding and reached out to jami to see if he could come spend time time in long beach.  a visit from brandon is sure to be a satisfying one, as he gives, literally, the best hugs on the planet.

no, seriously, he's known for his hugs. they are strong and warm and long-lasting.  this is a man who is not afraid that you will get the wrong impression if he hugs you hard and long.  and it's been three years since a brandon-hug, so it was all the more appreciated!

with our special visitor and his special hugs, it seemed some pretty special food was required for our brunch!

we started with grilled fruit skewers,

followed by jami's bacon cheddar quiche,

and finished off with my blueberry cream cheese stuffed french toast.

needless to say, the few hours we spent together today was pretty epic!