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.

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...

east coast swing, the final movement

with kendyl set to head off to her dad's, i got up early on day 5 to make sure i had some time with the girls -- particularly since they had already complained that they weren't getting to see enough of me.  so we spent the morning goofing off, dressing up, taking photos, and doing lots of giggling and snuggling.  eventually and sadly, the time came to say goodbye to kendyl, and then it was time to get our sightseeing for the day.

day 5 was a day that matt had been eagerly awaiting.  time for our journey into the nation's capital.  i still believe the washington metro is one of THE finest public transportation systems anywhere, so of course, i opted to take advantage of that rather than driving in. it was another first for my friend and we rode in washingtonian style, ear buds in, listening to our audio book.

when we arrived in the city we had two objectives; the air and space museum, and anything else we could fit in after that. and that's exactly how it worked out. i can't say that i have ever spent as many hours in a single museum as i did that day, but i was happy to indulge my companion since he was the impetus for the trip, and the reason i got to see my friends and fam on the right coast.

we closed down the museum and headed out for our walking tour of the monuments.  this was semi-strategic as there are several monuments i prefer at night. i had forgotten that the washington monument was under renovation post-2012 earthquake. fully under scaffolding, the monument took on a completely different look and we snapped a few pics before heading on to the vietnam, lincoln, finishing off with two of my favorites, the korean and the world war 2.

the rain held off and the cool temps were a blessing.  we made our way home and found ourselves awake 'til the wee hours of the morning chatting and looking at photos and finishing 'the maze runner' (which, btw, was underwhelming).

day 6. our final day.  and more aerospace on the agenda. after getting a nice and proper sleep-in morning, we got ready and headed to the udvar-hazy center - the air and space extension built near dulles airport.  this place will always be special to me as i planned a large companyevent there in my former (pre-california) life. and it seemed to resonate with matt as well.  the sr-71 blackbird and space shuttle discovery can't help but be impressive, but it's more than that.  there's just something about the collection and the staging in an enormous airplane hangar that sets it apart from other museums.

the bonus for me was that my friend anne and her husband (and baby adele) had recently landed in the area after doing their 'welcome back to the us' tour, and joined us for an afternoon stroll through the museum. adele was darling and reminded me a little of my niece with the same name. talk talk talk and all smiles.  and apparently the snuggles and kisses she gave me are an extremely rare commodity!

anne and brian departed a little early (so excited i will now get to see them when i'm visiting my folks!), and matt and i finished perusing the various avionic displays before finally heading to the airport where i dropped him off to catch his flight back to california.  since i would be heading on to kansas city for  work, we gave the trip a good review and said our farewells.

all in all, it was a pretty perfect road trip. the timing and activities worked out as hoped for or better, and  i could not have asked for a more perfect traveling companion. my sometimes-crush will remain my sometimes-crush (and only that... i asked), i'm grateful to have had a chance to spend some time with some of my favorite people, and i'm excited to have discovered a kindred spirit in california.

east coast swing, second movement

day 3 arrived and not only were we still speaking to each other, we were still laughing and telling stories and enjoying our audio book.  the plan for the day was a leisurely one.  we'd be making our way up to my folks in northern virginia, but we'd me making a pit stop at the other willises (brinn and fw) for a birthday party.

since that pit stop would already alter our normal driving route, and i knew the likelihood of my being in greensboro, nc again in the near future was slim to none, we may have gone just a little further out of our way to visit the guilford courthouse national park. what was most interesting to me is that it was a revolutionary war site.  most of the historic sites i grew up visiting were civil war, so it was a nice change of pace.

the rain made a full exploration a non-option (which matt probably appreciated), but we followed the driving tour and made a few quick photo stops.  it did not, however, diminish our need for food.  and this is where greensboro, nc became one of my favorite places EVER!  thanks to yelp, we went hunting for the big burger spot.  it took a couple of tries, some alternating sweet and stern talking to the gps, and an absolute refusal to be thwarted, but it turns out this tiny, tucked-in-next-to-a-gas-station burger joint was a hole in the wall to match all other holes-in-walls.  i mean, they have a french fry menu (in addition to their burger menu), and this would easily fall in my top 5 burger/fries nationwide.

time to get a move on though, so onward we went to buena vista, va, where we re-joined colby and julie at brinn and fw's home for georgie's birthday carnival.  fw's mad building skills coupled with brinn's mad creativity were on full display, and even though our morning activities made us a little late, we still enjoyed some chicken-catching, funnel cake, and good company.

after getting our fill of some experimental shaved ice flavors, making plans to see the willises at christmas, and bidding adieu, we continued on to ashburn.  our late arrival ensured that most of the family was already asleep, so i got matt settled in and we called it a night.

day 4 dawned with some new realizations.  the first was that we weren't seeing a lot of 'dawn' anymore. our later and later bedtimes made for later and later wake up calls. ah, finally, a vacation!  the second was that matt and i had survived three full days of continuous and close quarters, and we were still having a blast!  i wish i hadn't been so shocked by this, but i've lost friends as a result of traveling together, so i'm a little paranoid.  but our time on the road was somehow perfectly balanced by conversation, dashboard drumming, audiobook listening and critique, and site seeing.

with the impending doom--i mean, rain--i suggested we push our dc day to day 5 and opt for my last minute back-up plan.  he was curious and interested when i suggested luray caverns as a great 'inside activity', and after spending the waning morning hours with my darling nieces, back into the car we went!

another couple hours of good conversation and we were just outside front royal, va,  visiting the fourth largest cave system in the country.  though i have visited many times, it never fails to impress, and matt repeatedly praised both my idea and the caverns themselves.  it also provided him some phenomenal opportunities to play with his new camera.  so much so that we ended up in three different tour groups.  apparently we were having too much fun and continually found ourselves at the back of one group as the front of the next was coming up behind us.  we did ultimately find a synergistic group with some kindred spirits - which made taking non-self portrait photos a lot easier! ;)

after returning to the surface, we made our way across the parking lot to the car and carriage museum that has never ceased to seem random and weird. but, admission is free and boys like cars, so i hung in there while my traveling companion perused the wood and chrome mobility machines.

a few photos and a few miles down the road later, matt asked me about the 'ice' place i'd mentioned.  i couldn't believe i'd almost forgotten but i was back in rita's territory.  i quickly referred to my rita's app, identified the most convenient location, called mom to let her know we'd be late for dinner (at which point she asked me to pick up a couple of pints), and spent the next hour on the road, mouth watering,praying for pineapple-coconut.

i was out of luck.  but fortunately there is always a good second choice at rita's. i teamed up with a store employee to educate matt on the art of ice and custard, and he made his selection.  i'm not sure it was quite the earth-shattering experience i had led him to believe it would be (and that my roommate and other friends have all enjoyed), but i'm sure that somehow it's his own fault.  regardless, i was satiated.

my family had opted to hold dinner for us, so when we arrived back at the homestead, we got to spend the rest of the evening enjoying their company.  it was one of those nights where no one left the kitchen table for hours, and i was so glad to be home.

east coast swing

when my friend, and sometimes crush, matt, said that he'd never been to the east coast and asked if i'd be willing to take a trip with him, i jumped at the opportunity.for one thing, you can learn a lot about someone when you road trip with them. and for another, visiting some of my closest friends and family? sign me up!

preparing for the trip was a breeze.  i was grateful that he trusted my many years of travel and planning experience, letting me dictate the flow and order of our week long vacation.  and given his professional and personal interest in aviation, i made sure there were plenty of 'flight' stops along the way.

day 1 had us meeting at 5am for our shuttle to lax. me at 5am is enough to send any man (or woman) running, as i can be a little grumpy that early.  maybe it was the adrenaline, but we pleasantly survived that first hurdle.  and after the six hour plane ride to raleigh, nc, we were still friends.  off to a good start!

we headed to julie and colby's for an evening in and enjoyed playing with the kiddos and catching up with the adults.  we were fortunate that it was overcast with temps in the low 70s (as it would be for the duration of the trip) so we spent much of the evening outdoors before calling it a night.

day 2 was 'day-trip' day, and maybe the day matt was most looking forward to.  he had suggested that a motorcycle might be a fun way to make the trip, but with the threat of rain, we opted to stick with the car, and made the 3 1/2 hour drive to the outer banks of north carolina to check out kitty hawk.  it's been 7 or 8 years since i had been there, and frankly, i hadn't remembered it that well.  we spent a few hours exploring the national park (guess who got a stamp?!) learning about the flight-brothers.  and once again, i was grateful for the cool temps since being outside on a normal nc summer day would have been painful!

despite those cool temps and on and off sprinkles, we made our way to the beach, where i was dying to get my toes back in the atlantic!  i had bragged about how warm it is (matt had never been in or even seen the atlantic before) and it wasn't long before we turned the car into an awkward changing room, had our suits on, and were wading into the ocean.

man, i miss that ocean.  granted, it was high tide and a bit rough due to the offshore storms, but warm enough to enjoy without a wet suit (take that pacific. yeah, i'm talking about you!).  we attempted to dry off a little before heading to dinner, enjoyed some grub, and began the journey back to raleigh where we spent another evening with the willises.