After spending a lovely morning with Emily I headed to Starbucks for some tea. Brian was drawing coworkers as part of Starbucks ‘Cheer Party’. He is so stinken good. I could of watched him draw all day. I then came home to help prepare our home for a late brunch with friends from work. Its funny I say friends from work since none of us really see each other at work anymore. We had our brunch at three in the afternoon over good conversation and of course venting. Jason and I then had dinner a short while later with Brian and Sarah. I got to met the new kitty who likes to give people hugs. Such a sweet cat. It was good to visit my first home here in North Carolina.

Sunday, today, I slept in for the first time in quite a while. Ive been working lots of hours in helping the load while Im gone, so its been early mornings for me. I joined Mike and Kari for burgers at Natty’s. I havnt been downtown in quite a while, since is sad since you know live there. Theres a little Christmas tree lot covering up the ugly wall. A copy cat of Natty Greenes have moved in next door to Natty Greenes. I will have to talk a walk down there again soon. Straight from lunch I went to a birthday party for an 8 year old. The guest list was mostly women 20 years older than her. Its a tradition their family has done with their children. Asking for the older and wiser to share their life and experience with them before they hit their teen years. To encourage them in the characters we already see in her as a girl and how to keep blooming as an amazing women. It was a very sweet time to be apart of. After that I was at the Core again for a much better of a night then last week. I just love being there, even if I miss 514 as Jason and I swap stories after our evenings are over.

We are days away from leaving for California. Ive started to pack. Last minute errands to do and people to see before our early flight on Thursday morning. My weekends might not be as full of plans when I return. I may not know what to do with all that time on my hands.

Karen and I spilt a Flirtini, which made me feel a little bit like JD on Srubs who loves ordering his Appletinis. Its a silly drink with a silly name but man it was good. What a Flirtini is made up of is pineapple juice, volka 9(flavored maybe), champagne. Thing is, when it was brought out to us, the cocktail part of it was in a highball glass and the champagne in a champagne glass. No instrutions where given. We checked the menu for some. Nothing. We werent sure what to do. Do you drink it one sip from each? Do we mix it ourselves? They both were good enough to drink alone, I could of had 10 of the cocktail part no problem (it was sweet). So I poured some champagne into the cocktail. I have no idea if that was the correct way to drink a Flirtini or not.

For desert we decided to order something very different each so we could take bits of each others. Dana got a Italian Cream Cake which is a rich yellow cake layered with coconuts and pecans with cream cheese. Karen got a Turtle Cheesecake, which is a simple turtle mix of caramel, pecans and iced with fudge. I went for the fruit route to balance it all out with a Cherry Crumb Pie, a classic pie with a semolina crumb topping. Im having the rest of that yummy pie for breakfast this morning. Best part about our deserts? They were free. When the waiter brought us our checks he told us he took care of the deserts because he felt he ignored our table due to a large party downstairs. We did not feel ignored, but were very thankful for the free treats!

I love how some friends it doesnt matter that time has gotten away from us and our relationship is built again on a one night conversation over yummy dinner. We share our struggles and our praises in our current life. Talk about topics that make you think deeper and encourage you. Those are the girls nights out I wish I had more often.

Last week I spend good part of the day with my pastor’s family. They are in the process of trying to adopt a child from China. This weekend when talking about it, we referred to her as “China Baby” which sounds so un-PC. I took pictures of their family for their application process, along with their home. Since their kids are home school I took their “school” photos. I dont know if I took what they were thinking or not. Guess we’ll find out when I deliver their photos this week. You’d probably know about the photos Im speaking of if you followed my flickr stream. Im not here to guilt you into checking it or anything. I just tend to update that more than my blog these days.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, some news. This is a full week for me, working an actual 40 hour work week along with having plans with friends and the return of The Office on Thursday. Ive been watching this place being built for weeks, maybe a month now. A Chipolte on my side of town! There was on where Jason used to live, but now that he lives over on the good side of town (my side) I barely go over there. So I have missed Chipolte, so think my excitement when I saw them building one! There were men in with Chipolte shirts on at work and I asked where my burrito was. They said that they were fresh out but on Thursday it would be a day of free food all day Thursday. FREE CHIPOLTE?! On my day off and the day The Office returns? Thursday can not come sooner, burritos for breakfast lunch and dinner!

“So, wait a second, you have no water running at your house?”

“No, we have running water. The well is just dry.”

“Yeah, I got that. But you cant take showers becasue there is no water.”

“Well, theres sorta drought becasue of lack of rain.”

“I understand that too but wait, its 2007, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And we live in the United States of America, right?”

“Uh huh.”

“It just seems really strange, as in, I can not wrap my head around why in this day in age in America, you are without water.”

“We cant get city water in the country.”

You can see how this conversation went. Lucky for me, they thought I was funny to bring up that in 2007. In the United States. They have no water. I apparently am really a city girl becasue I never would of thought someone would be without water who lives, oh, 20 minutes from me.

Saturday we slept in from our late night of walking around and had pancakes. I cant remember the last time I had pancakes, and it was so over due. We headed for American History Museum, which we sadly learned was closed till 2008 for renovations! I was so sad becasue it was the one places I really wanted to see while in D.C. (besides the monuments). Our second choice was the Air and Space Museum. As we walked across, literally to the otherside of the mall, we kept seeing signs for Dorothy’s shoes from the Wizard of Oz. I dont know if it was just the heat, but I never took the time to read the sign, I just thought they were taunting us that the museum that had Dorothy’s shoes were closed. Thats when Jason told me Dorothy’s shoes are on display at the Air and Space Museum! I got very excited because, next to Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz is a movie I watched all the time growing up (the third would be Annie). We went to the Air and Space Museum, got some expensive lunch from McDonalds and hit up the planes. And more planes. I guess Im not a plane person becasue it all sorta blended together for me. Though it was neat to see the Wright Brother’s airplane (I am afterall living in NC now). Then, THEN we headed over to Dorothy’s shoes. Not only where Dorothy’s shoes there, but 150 of the top pieces from the American History Museum! The wound that I had felt earlier in the day of them closing the American History Museum was a little bit healed by that. By far, that room was all of our favorite part of the Air and Space Museum (tee hee). The many things we saw… Abe Lincoln’s hat, the first light bulb, the sit in chairs, Mr Rogers sweater, Julia Child’s hand written recipes, George Washington’s uniform, R2D2 and C3P0 to name a few. Oh and Dorothy’s shoes is a lot bigger than I thought. I always thought they’d be small.

Sweaty, and a bit tired we headed to Georgetown becasue that was the plan. I think, looking back we all had enough at that point, Nicole and I poked around H&M a bit but didnt want to wait in line for a dressing room or to check out so we headed to Ben and Jerrys. That is a pricey place to get ice cream as it is, but apparently since we are in Georgetown, they can charge more. We decided calling it a day and getting groceries to cook out with sounded like a great idea. While at the store we rented a DVD from the redbox – The Breech I believe it was called. Its based on a true story that took place in 2001 about a guy who worked for the FBI and spied on his boss who was sneaking government secrets. Perfect movie to watch after a few days in D.C. Jason brought the projector from work down, which was a lot of fun to use.

Sunday morning the boys went to church to do soundcheck while Nicole and I went to Starbucks for some breakfast before church. Always fine it interesting how different Starbucks are around the country. This one was a two story one and had breakfast sandwiches. Been wanting to try them for a while, and man those are good. I dont even want to think about the amount of calories in them, but they will be dangerous when they do hit the stores here. Graham and Nicole’s church was really sweet. Mostly I loved the worship. With my new church not even starting yet, worship has been Jason and his guitar. While thats nice and all, I dont think Ive had a worship experience like I did on Sunday since probably college group. Theres just something about a band who knows what they’re doing but not trying to get attention that makes worship easy to slip into. Hard to say I haven’t been apart of such a worship service in such a long time. Thats probably a whole other post. After church we had leftovers with Graham’s parents and the packed up and headed home, via IKEA. We said we wouldnt spend hours in there, but we did. It was good time though since the last times Jason and I went to IKEA together was in San Diego and we didnt really want to drag things across the country with us. Jace got some things he’d been eyeing for a while and I got some fun things along with useful kitchen stuff. That place is crazy but oh so wonderful. They have this non-fat yogurt Jason cant stop talking about – which when you think about it, says a lot about the yogurt.

As busy as it was, it was a really good weekend. Fun people in a fun city. Being it isnt a far drive away, Jason and I already planning our next trip back in a few months (this time maybe write our congressman about getting us inside of the White House). Its one of the cheapest vacations I think we can take. We have very giving friends who said we can stay with them whenever we want and everything up there is free. That is my kind of trip! Photos will follow soon, we shot in RAW this weekend. While the photos are really crisp and full of color, they are not flickr friendly so after they are converted they will be up to see!

Day 2: Biltmore! SO. GREAT. I mean, I didn’t think it wasn’t going to be great, I just really enjoyed it. My parents loved the gardens (the was a game all week – pointing out flowers and their names and origins…). We took the behind the scenes tour, which was great. See, I cant stop saying great. If you haven’t been to the Biltmore, go!

Day 3: After a long but really fun day in Ashville, we took it easy and stuck around town exploring the parks. It was neat to explore places I had been too but haven’t really taken the time to get to know. Id love to go back and just sit in those parks, taking photos, reading or people watching. My dad was very much into getting to know the history of the Guilford Courthouse Park – which actually was neat. Love the history my city holds.

Day 4: We hung out in downtown for a little bit, bought some gifts for people back home. Then headed over to Replacements, LTD and checked out all the amazing dishes they have. Dad took a little nap in a chair while mom and I explored. I got a neat old coffee pot which I will have to take a photo and post. I hope to find more information on it sometime. I cant believe that is only 2% of their inventory. 2%! We later went to Mike and Kari’s for good old fashion North Carolina BBQ. It was so good as always and it was fun to introduce my parents to my friends here.

All and all it was a really good time that went by really fast. It was sad to see them go, which talking with friends who lives states away from their family whom they are close to never gets easy to leave. Im trying not end on a sad note, but its hard since they left early this morning. Im so thankful that I was able to show them my new city and why I love it here.

Scott made me a few years ago Ed on DVD. For whatever lame-crazy reason NBC wont release Ed on DVD. I have made up with they them a little since bringing into my life, The Office. Last few days Ive been watching Ed while Ive been home getting ready for my parents to come. Why is it they always cancel the best shows? I mean, Ed had a great few seasons and the story really couldn’t go on forever, but of course we all wish we it could. Ive missed Mike and Nancy, Carol, Molly, Warren, Phil and of course, Ed. Im a sucker for a show in a small town I guess. Just really been enjoying Ed now that Gilmore Girls are gone (forever) and Office is gone for the summer.

Summer is officially here. I went to a graduation. Humidity is a live and well. The bright crisp colors of spring have toned down a bit. I hope this summer will be good, by that I mean, zero car issues. Im all for a tune up or oil change but no more of this leaving me on the side of many of roads like Gwen did last summer. Jason and my three year anniversary will be coming up soon too. With my parents coming, all planning has been focused on that, so we haven’t really talked about what we want to do to celebrate. Surprisingly, Im happy summer is here and look forward to what it might bring.