So today, after eating an entire plate of bruchetta by myself at yet another eat-out lunch with Life Group gals, I realized that while December has been a fabulous month for reunions and socializing, it is making me darn near neurotic about my gym attendance.
Last night the Community News team at the paper got to attend the Bobcats game in the Observer suite which was really cool, but of course we all went out before hand to Buffalo Wild Wings and pigged out on onion rings, hot queso dip and chips, fried pickles and wings. It was nice though - there were about 12 of us between team members and friends/spouses that were able to make it. I think I haven't even talked to half of our team before since I sit on the other side of the news room. Anyway, I paid little attention to the game (though we did win), but the bonding and chill out-of-work atmosphere was nice.
Today, Erika (the one I visited in Cary) who was supposed to fly back to LA Tuesday had to take the train down from Raleigh so she could fly out of Charlotte today w/all the snow delays and cancellations messing up travel everywhere. Thus it was an unexpected treat to meet her and a couple of the other Life Group women out for lunch at Brixx (for the second time this week - yes, we all met on Monday as well....and if you've ever scoured their online nutrition facts...well, just pray for some short term memory loss).
When I got back from lunch, a coworker brought the people in my section each a bag of homemade treats that look amazing, but I couldn't touch a thing after that bruchetta plate.
Tomorrow morning, since all my girls are off work, we're having a 9:30 a.m. PJ brunch and then of course there is the NYE party at Village Tavern that night which will have tons of free food (and many friends) - it's all just a little overwhelmingly....foody. lol Not that I would trade it for anything - even if I do gain 5 lbs, an abundance of friends and family is never a bad thing in my book.
On another happy note, Jamie just moved back into town. We were good friends in HS and now that she's gotten a job as a nurse in Charlotte, I hope we'll be able to spend time together again. She's coming to the NYE party with the girls and me, so I'm quite excited.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Snow on Christmas Night
After returning from Raleigh, doing Christmas Eve dinner with 14 people at our house then Christmas Day dinner with 12 at the uncle's house, watching Miracle on 42nd Street and Dances with Wolves, we left my uncle's house the night of Christmas to find large snowflakes falling from the sky.
It was my first white Christmas.
I stood outside, spinning around and catching snowflakes on my tongue, giggling intermittently and acting for all the world like a 7 year old. I then took pictures of the snow coming down around a very Narnia looking lamp post in my uncles yard.
On the way home, with parents and 18-year-old brother in the car, I sang along merrily to the Christmas music. "I've never gotten to sing Christmas music while it was snowing before," I said as I grinned ear to ear.
"I would never have even thought of something like that," Brother said. Then he continued to stare at me in horror as I danced and sang in the back seat.
"You and your father are like polar opposites," my mother commented.
Dad, notoriously stoic and rarely laughing said she was wrong.
"Well, then you keep it all on the inside then."
I told her when he came out and saw me catching snowflakes on my tongue, he'd smiled and said I'd just landed one. On the inside, he's more like me than she thinks. I mean, his favorite movie is 'It's a Wonderful Life' for goodness sake.
The next morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. I grabbed the sled and went out to find a hill, quickly realizing the nearest hill had recently been felled in deference to a housing development. So, I just took the camera and walked about, photographing my only white Christmas.
Enjoy the photos!
1) cardinal in a backyard tree, 2) a field next door, 3) a barn at a farm down the street, 4) walking in a winter wonderland, 5) sunset on snowy trees
It was my first white Christmas.
I stood outside, spinning around and catching snowflakes on my tongue, giggling intermittently and acting for all the world like a 7 year old. I then took pictures of the snow coming down around a very Narnia looking lamp post in my uncles yard.
On the way home, with parents and 18-year-old brother in the car, I sang along merrily to the Christmas music. "I've never gotten to sing Christmas music while it was snowing before," I said as I grinned ear to ear.
"I would never have even thought of something like that," Brother said. Then he continued to stare at me in horror as I danced and sang in the back seat.
"You and your father are like polar opposites," my mother commented.
Dad, notoriously stoic and rarely laughing said she was wrong.
"Well, then you keep it all on the inside then."
I told her when he came out and saw me catching snowflakes on my tongue, he'd smiled and said I'd just landed one. On the inside, he's more like me than she thinks. I mean, his favorite movie is 'It's a Wonderful Life' for goodness sake.
The next morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. I grabbed the sled and went out to find a hill, quickly realizing the nearest hill had recently been felled in deference to a housing development. So, I just took the camera and walked about, photographing my only white Christmas. 
Enjoy the photos!
1) cardinal in a backyard tree, 2) a field next door, 3) a barn at a farm down the street, 4) walking in a winter wonderland, 5) sunset on snowy trees
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Lost Friends Returned
It was really great spending time with Erika (from Cary). Even though we only knew each other for about six months before she left for LA and I left for my trip across America this summer, I felt like we just "got" each other. We both went to Carolina, but we never knew each other there and she was a couple years older. My Charlotte girlfriends have all missed her dearly, but I don't feel amiss in saying I perhaps most of all. I have always tended to make a small group of close friends and have trouble dealing with their loss. Anyway, spending time with her and her family, even just for one night, was really lovely.
We all watched "Remember Me" with Minnie Driver, during which her brother Aaron, Erika and I talked over most of it. The next morning Aaron made us pancakes and eggs and forced two pomegranates upon me to bring to Lieselotte's parents house in Raleigh.
Blog readers may remember the lovely blond Lieselotte from our joint travels around Europe two summers ago. Well, she started grad school in Holland in the fall and wasn't even sure she'd make it home this Christmas, but ended up getting the last stand-by flight out of Brussels before the winter storm closed the whole airport. Anyway, I left on Thursday morning from Cary to drive the 30 minutes to Raleigh and spend a day with my best friend.
Seeing her again was like coming home in a way. I've missed her so much - even more than I realized until I knew she was coming home, then I was counting the days. We realized two summers ago that we are truly, soul sisters. Thus, every time that overplayed Train song comes on the radio, I can't help but smile. We are so similar in so many ways. Half the time, we know what the other is thinking.
When I got there we chatted for some time, I settled in and then Frank (her ex who joined us that summer in Spain) came and took family pictures of Lies' family. Her family, btw, is wonderful. With one older brother and one younger and very kind parents, I always feel very welcomed there. Frank then took photos of just Lies and I which I can't wait to see! They were really great and I can't wait for him to send them to me so I can post a few.
Anyway, that evening Lies and I went to go see Black Swan which was....different to say the least. Creepy and disturbing - yes. Sexually unsettling - yes. Great acting - yes. Almost all the characters were really just creepy and even when nothing "scary" was happening, Lies and I both felt nervous. lol
When we got home Lies' parents made an amazing meal and then we all played Trivial Pursuit - the new version which I could actually play with some competency. I was teamed up with Lies' mom and Peter (older brother), and Lies was with her dad and Florian (younger bro). My team more or less killed their team three times in a row, but it was a lot of fun. I really want to get that game now...
That night as Lies and I went to sleep, we creeped ourselves out by talking about Black Swan. "I'm so glad you're here," she whispered in a 6th-grade-sleepover kind of voice. "I'd be so freaked out if you weren't."
The next morning I peeled one of the pomegranates which took 30 minutes and Lies made eggs and toast. We ate so many breakfasts together senior year and the following summer and while it seemed fitting that we do it again before I drove home, it was also sad. I know we won't see each other again until this summer. However, I'm happy she's having a great time over there. I can't wait until I can get the time off to go visit her.
We all watched "Remember Me" with Minnie Driver, during which her brother Aaron, Erika and I talked over most of it. The next morning Aaron made us pancakes and eggs and forced two pomegranates upon me to bring to Lieselotte's parents house in Raleigh.
Blog readers may remember the lovely blond Lieselotte from our joint travels around Europe two summers ago. Well, she started grad school in Holland in the fall and wasn't even sure she'd make it home this Christmas, but ended up getting the last stand-by flight out of Brussels before the winter storm closed the whole airport. Anyway, I left on Thursday morning from Cary to drive the 30 minutes to Raleigh and spend a day with my best friend.
 |
| Being us. |
When I got there we chatted for some time, I settled in and then Frank (her ex who joined us that summer in Spain) came and took family pictures of Lies' family. Her family, btw, is wonderful. With one older brother and one younger and very kind parents, I always feel very welcomed there. Frank then took photos of just Lies and I which I can't wait to see! They were really great and I can't wait for him to send them to me so I can post a few.
Anyway, that evening Lies and I went to go see Black Swan which was....different to say the least. Creepy and disturbing - yes. Sexually unsettling - yes. Great acting - yes. Almost all the characters were really just creepy and even when nothing "scary" was happening, Lies and I both felt nervous. lol
 |
| If it looks like we're up to something, we prob. are. |
That night as Lies and I went to sleep, we creeped ourselves out by talking about Black Swan. "I'm so glad you're here," she whispered in a 6th-grade-sleepover kind of voice. "I'd be so freaked out if you weren't."
The next morning I peeled one of the pomegranates which took 30 minutes and Lies made eggs and toast. We ate so many breakfasts together senior year and the following summer and while it seemed fitting that we do it again before I drove home, it was also sad. I know we won't see each other again until this summer. However, I'm happy she's having a great time over there. I can't wait until I can get the time off to go visit her.
I'll Take the Memories
I left work early on Wednesday and followed a dear friend from Charlotte to her hometown of Cary, NC. She's visiting NC from LA where she currently lives.
As we drove past my old Chapel Hill exit around 9 p.m., I felt the sudden urge to swerve right and travel down toward my old campus - somewhere I haven't been for nearly a year. I could picture the soft glow of the lamp light in the quad, gleaming off the brick pathways that zigzag between brick buildings, hundreds of years old. I could hear the laughter of friends as we walked home from a show and absorbed the rare silence of main campus.
Now I go back to the fall of Freshmen year. The rain as it pattered against my skin on the way home from a dance and the thrill when Nick grabbed my hand and began to twirl me around in the rain. My bare feet feeling the smooth bricks and the cold puddles. The interested stares of passersby. The feeling that I was invincible. That life could not possibly get better than this.
Then I skip to junior year, with all my suitemates piled on my bed as we chattered about the hot Spanish teacher or the latest episode of Desperate Housewives. In the library where Casey and I whispered until we were nearly kicked out. Sophomore year when my boyfriend told me to look in the glove box for a CD and I was surprised with my birthday earrings. Senior year when I couldn't wait to get up in time for my 9 a.m. Shakespeare class because Professor Gless was just that amazing.
All these memories and more skim across the sea of my mind and suddenly there are waves that spill out my eyes and down my cheeks. I do not leave the interstate. I am following Erika and that would be rude. But my heart aches for a place that gave me the best four years of my life - at least up till now. All the years since I began college have been wonderful, but there is a magic in those years that I don't believe will ever exist again.
We make a pit-stop at the nearest mall to pick up a Christmas present for Erika's dad. It was a frequent haunt junior and senior year. It is where the girls and I saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - the six of us forming our own sisterhood. It is where I bought "the dress" that I had been eying for years and finally bought with their encouragement and a 50% off coupon from mom. Walking toward the Apple store, it is hard not having the five of them flanking my sides.
As we drove past my old Chapel Hill exit around 9 p.m., I felt the sudden urge to swerve right and travel down toward my old campus - somewhere I haven't been for nearly a year. I could picture the soft glow of the lamp light in the quad, gleaming off the brick pathways that zigzag between brick buildings, hundreds of years old. I could hear the laughter of friends as we walked home from a show and absorbed the rare silence of main campus.
Now I go back to the fall of Freshmen year. The rain as it pattered against my skin on the way home from a dance and the thrill when Nick grabbed my hand and began to twirl me around in the rain. My bare feet feeling the smooth bricks and the cold puddles. The interested stares of passersby. The feeling that I was invincible. That life could not possibly get better than this.
Then I skip to junior year, with all my suitemates piled on my bed as we chattered about the hot Spanish teacher or the latest episode of Desperate Housewives. In the library where Casey and I whispered until we were nearly kicked out. Sophomore year when my boyfriend told me to look in the glove box for a CD and I was surprised with my birthday earrings. Senior year when I couldn't wait to get up in time for my 9 a.m. Shakespeare class because Professor Gless was just that amazing.
All these memories and more skim across the sea of my mind and suddenly there are waves that spill out my eyes and down my cheeks. I do not leave the interstate. I am following Erika and that would be rude. But my heart aches for a place that gave me the best four years of my life - at least up till now. All the years since I began college have been wonderful, but there is a magic in those years that I don't believe will ever exist again.
We make a pit-stop at the nearest mall to pick up a Christmas present for Erika's dad. It was a frequent haunt junior and senior year. It is where the girls and I saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - the six of us forming our own sisterhood. It is where I bought "the dress" that I had been eying for years and finally bought with their encouragement and a 50% off coupon from mom. Walking toward the Apple store, it is hard not having the five of them flanking my sides.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Power of the Imagination
Today was a London Covent Garden .
With the stones around me gray from wet and the air tasting like snow, wrapped in all my London trappings, I pretended I was walking to my Bloomsbury flat on a Sunday evening, when the crowds of walkers were not quite so thick. I squinted my eyes, trying to make my vision see a different city, thousands of miles away. I pretended the accents I was hearing were British in that appealing, lovely way that makes even curses sound like compliments – not the thick southern accents I’d grown used to but never fond of. I forced my legs to take the long strides of someone who walks everywhere – using them as modes of transportation, not the operators of the transportation vehicles. I pretended the windows I passed held musty old coffee shops next to chic fashion outfitters – always an intriguing juxtaposition.
And if the streets had just been a little narrower, the people a little more populous, the traffic lights a little less obvious, maybe, just for a moment, I could’ve tricked myself into feeling that I really was in the city that captured my heart four years ago and never let go.
Finally, I admitted defeat and gazed, misty eyed, at a bright red Bank of America sign.
Just another day in Charlotte
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