Weekend Accomplishments

Ufda, that was an exhausting weekend, but we got A TON done. I'm actually enjoying being at work today because it's like a vacation day compared to unpacking/organizing/cleaning/etc.

Here are some of the big accomplishments of the past weekend! I don't have many pictures but eventually I'll share some when we have some new furniture in place!

- The house is 100% unpacked, as I predicted it would be. We had all the boxes emptied by Saturday morning. The worst room to unpack was the kitchen. I loaded/unloaded the dishwasher 3 times on Friday afternoon since everything had to be washed since it was wrapped in newspaper for the move. I'm pleasantly surprised with how much room our kitchen has. It's hard to get a sense for the storage a home has until you move in and start to unpack!

- We (err mostly Phil) assembled a tv stand. Our old tv stand was a hand-me-down from a college friend and was in dire need of replacing. We decided to order one from Wayfair which meant we got to assemble it. We popped open a bottle of champagne from our realtor on Friday night and made a little bit of progress on it and finished it on Saturday. It was probably 1/3 of the cost of what an already-assembled tv stand would cost so it was worth the savings. I'm happy with how it turned out. There's plenty of room for Paul's books, some of his toys, our DVDs, and the dvd player/gaming system Phil has (but never uses - he got rid of one during the move but I couldn't get him to get rid of the other...).

- I did some cleaning around the house and we figured out what minor repairs needed to be done. The previous owners took care of the house pretty well but I think our consensus is that they weren't quite as fastidious as Phil and I are about cleaning/maintenance. We also learned that leaving a house vacant for 30 days isn't optimal. The sewer drain pipe in the basement must have dried out so we had the lovely aroma of sewer gas on Friday afternoon (it needs to stay wet to provide a seal so you don't smell sewer gas). But a good cleaning - which about made me vomit from the smell (it's not raw sewage - more so stuff that goes down your bathroom sink and tub, but still gross) - and running all the showers and faucets remedied that situation.

- I put up a Christmas wreath on our front door and hug a Christmas garland on our mantel. I love the garland. Our mantel decor needs some work as it looks unbalanced with the tall "Minnesota" sign on one end. I moved one of the 8x10 photos to the far right after taking this photo but it still needs some work. I'll defer to my college friends who are coming over in December. Home decor is NOT my thing! I could put the MN sign in the middle but I want to hang a holiday wreath (to be purchase) during the Christmas season and a large mirror during the rest of the year. I'll figure something out!

- My MIL came over on Sunday so we got a photo of her with Paul and ordered her Christmas cards. I was surprised Paul would sit with her as he hasn't been keen about sitting with anyone but Phil and me. I also made a 2020 photo calendar on Shutterfly (my habit of making albums of fave photos from each month made this a breeze!) and ordered one for us and one for my MIL for a Christmas gift.

- We also ordered a bunch of furniture - 2 night stands, 2 end tables, and 2 stools for our kitchen island. Moving close to the holidays has worked to our advantage as we got great prices on everything! We still need an ottoman for our living room and a chair for the fireplace/reading nook area of our bedroom, but those are things we need to order in person at a furniture store.

Those were the big things! We also fit in family walks on Saturday and Sunday. The weather was so beautiful (in the 40s which is warm for MN in November!) so we had to take advantage of it. I collapsed into bed sore and exhausted every night!

How was your weekend? 

This Old House

Today is moving day!!! It's an exciting day and a bittersweet day - all at the same time. I have waited for this day to come for years! I'm so excited about our new home and can't wait to make it "ours."

But we will be a little bit sad to say goodbye to our house. So many landmark moments happened in this home. We'll take those memories with us, but we will miss this house. The photos I am sharing below are from the listing so it doesn't quite look like it did with our stuff - truthfully, it looks better because our realtor has amazing taste! We will be gradually upgrading our furniture and decor in the new house and hopefully it will look a bit more like this in the end - it's good to have inspiration!

The house we moved out of was built in 1915 and it was the first home in this area. It was an original farm house that was part of an area called "Lyndale Farm" - so it was surrounded by farmland, which is hard to imagine. This house has seen so much history in the last 104 years. But we sure made a lot of history and formed many memories in the last 6 years. I'll share some below.

I'll never forget trying to get up these front steps after my hip surgery in 2016. You can't tell in this picture, but the landing of the front stairs is very small and the storm door opens one way while the front door opens the other way - so it's kind of an awkward entrance. Poor Phil had to carry me into the house (it was too small/awkward of a space to try using my crtucches) while trying not to bump my hip against anything and in that moment I thought I was going to throw up from the anesthesia. Oof, that was quite the day. I moved in with Phil on a Friday and had hip surgery the following Monday so we really had a trial by fire experience of living together. But you know what? It was totally fine. A lot of people talk about how difficult it is to move in with someone but I have to say it wasn't all that hard for us! I think it helps that we are both tidy people and are super practical. There were some disagreements over which dishes to keep and whether I have too much kitchen stuff but all in all, it was pretty smooth.We were also both older (35) when we moved in together - so I think we had a good idea of what battles to pick and how to let things go.

In this living room, we got engaged! We also had many, many conversations on this couch before getting engaged. Deep conversations about faith, priorities, family (both of origin and the family we would build together), what marriage means to us, etc. I'll never forget the time Phil prepared a list of questions about my beliefs as a Catholic. I think he must have had 20+ questions on that list and many of them were very difficult to answer because no one has asked me why I believed what I believed before. There were times I wanted to consult the Catholic catechism for help! It wasn't an attack on my beliefs - he just truly wanted to better understand what I believed, especially since we planned to raise our children Catholic.

This is also the living room where I spent countless hours rocking our sweet baby. And pumping. Oh my gosh, so many hours were spent pumping! It's also where Paul had so many firsts like rolling over, crawling and walking for the first time.

I also nursed my broken heart on this couch while recovering from my miscarriage with mindless tv shows to distract me from the physical and emotional pain. Not all memories made in this house are good ones - but that's life.

I prepared so many meals for our family in this kitchen. I mastered canning for the first time on my own in this kitchen, with several calls to my mom, the canning pro! We prepared a post-Thanksgiving day meal for my family in this kitchen as well as Paul's post-Baptism celebration.

Many meals were shared at this dining room table, like the celebrations mentioned above and smaller dinner parties. This is also where my "girls gone mild" bachelor party took place. I think we had 18 people around the table (it has 2 leaves so is quite large!). That was one of the most fun nights I've had in this house - there was so much laughter and the most amazing Mexican food.

Lastly, the backyard. We hosted parties and small gatherings in this space. Many meals were grilled out here and morning coffees were enjoyed on that deck. I spent a lot of time in that cozy hammock that is on the left in this picture. We discovered Paul's intense dislike of grass in this backyard- which had yet to go away at the end of the summer. Maybe 2020 will be the year he excepts the texture of grass!

So much happened in this old house. We'll miss her, but I know we'll love our new house as much if not more. What will happen in the next house? I have my hopes and dreams, like bringing a 2nd child home, sending our kids off to their first days of school, and celebrating milestone wedding anniversaries. Goodbye, old (1915) house, and hello to our new (1925) one!

Our House Hunt

We've hit the one year mark of house hunting and have yet to find our forever home. In the spring I remember telling Phil that I was sure we'd be in a new house by the fall and he said he highly doubted it. At the time I was kind of crushed by his suggestion that we wouldn't find the right house. But here we are in September, still looking.

That said, we are being very particular and picky. Some might say we are being "too picky" but our next house is going to be what I consider our "forever home." If there is ever a time to be picky, it's when you are buying a home in my opinion. Plus we have plenty of space for the time being in our current home. Yes, it would be nice for Paul to have his own room. Right now his room is a combination nursery/guest room. We sleep in there with him when we have guests and give our guests our bedroom. We don't have guests often so most of the time it's "his" room, but it's a little cramped in there.
I am fascinated by what others are looking for their next home so I thought I'd share what we are looking for!

1.Location. This is the MOST IMPORTANT requirement for us. We are focusing our search in a very particular area of south Minneapolis - about 14 blocks x 14 blocks to be exact. We want to be on a quieter street that doesn't have bus traffic. The area we are focusing on is close to a major freeway that goes into downtown and it's also the freeway we take to get to Phil's mom's house. The neighborhood is great for runs/walks as there are miles upon miles of dedicated bike and run paths along a creek and around a lake. We are also happy with the schools in the neighborhood, which is obviously important now that we have a child. When the time comes to send Paul to school, we will be opting for a public school and the ones in our neighborhood are well-ranked with good reputations.

2. Turn key/no major renovations needed. We are not handy people and do not want to take on a large remodeling project so the space needs to be pretty turn key. We are fine with doing cosmetic changes, like painting, but we aren't willing to remodel a kitchen, for example.

3.  A roomy kitchen. Speaking of kitchens, we (err, I, since I pretty much do all the cooking) want a nice, roomy kitchen with plenty of cupboard and counter space. We sometimes see homes with a tiny galley kitchen and that just doesn't work for me. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen so that is the part of the house I'm most particular about. For example, we are totally fine with small bedrooms since you are mostly only in the bedroom to sleep. But I need a roomy kitchen!

3. More space, but not too much space. Our current home has about 1,300 sq ft. We'd like our next house to have at least 2,000 sq ft but when it gets above 2,800 sq ft, it starts to feel too big for us. Bigger is not always better, in our opinion. We also want the space to be laid out well so that we will use all of the space in the house. For example, we don't want a formal living room and another living room on the same level which is something we commonly see. We just want one living room/family room space on the main floor. One house we looked at had a living room-type space on every floor and there were 3 floors! Who needs that much living room space?? Certainly not us! Another house we looked at had dining rooms on either side of the kitchen. Who needs 2 dining rooms? Again, not us.

Those are the 3 big things guiding our search but we have other requirements like a 2-stall garage, central air and 2 bathrooms with showers and some other "it would be really nice" requirements like having 3 bedrooms on one level.

Sometimes it feels like we are looking for a unicorn but I know that in the long run, it will pay off to be so particular. Barring any unforeseen circumstances that would require us to move, we expect to be in our next house for 20+ years so it is as long term investment. The housing market is definitely cooling off now that school has started so I've given up on finding a home in 2018 but maybe 2019 will be the year that we find our forever home! We will see what the future holds. For the time being, I'm glad that we are happy with our current home and have plenty of space for now!

How long have you lived in your house? Is it your forever home? If you were house hunting, what would be important to you?

My New Home: the Exterior

I've been living in Phil's house for about 6 weeks now and am finally ready to share some photos. It may be a "new home" to me, but it's far from being a new home as his house is 101 years old! One of his neighbors told us that it was the first house in the area and was originally a farm house as the area where we live was a farm back in the early 1900s. A lot of work has been done to the house over the years, though, so it does not look or feel like a 100+ year old home. A lot of changes have been made, but we think that part of the living room has the original wood flooring, which I love!

I'm always curious about what others' homes look like, so I thought I'd share some photos of ours. We still have some projects to do on the interior so I am holding off on sharing any photos of the inside until those are done, but I thought I'd share some photos of what it looks like from the outside.

Here is our house from the front. Truth be told, I do NOT like the bright yellow doors (the back door is yellow, too) but I don't know if I dislike them enough to do something about it! Phil doesn't mind the color and thinks we should just leave them as they are. We'll see what we decide to do.

This is the back of the house. We live on a small city lot, so our yard is small, but I really like the space we have, especially the deck. I have already spent a lot of time out there reading and we eat a lot of meals out there in the summer and fall.

We also have a small paved area in the back yard, which is where our newest purchase resides! I'm so excited to finally have a gas grill! We also have a charcoal grill (not pictured). I'm looking forward to eating lots of grilled meals this summer!

The house is small as we have about 1,150 square feet, but it's big enough for us at this stage of our life. We also have a detached 2-car garage behind the house. A lot of homes in the area only have 1-car garages so I am so glad that ours has 2, especially since our winters are pretty brutal!

Hopefully I'll be able to share some interior photos later this summer. I'm crossing one project off the list tonight as 3 of my college girlfriends are coming over to hang photos in exchange for a meal made by me. This has become an annual event as this is the 3rd year in a row that I have moved, but hopefully we'll be in this house for several years!

Project Oganization: Recipes

One of my goals this year was to tackle some organizational projects around the house, so I thought I'd share the outcome of some of these projects as I figured maybe it will give others an idea of something similar that they could do in their own home.

One area of my kitchen that has been driving me crazy for a long time is my recipe box area.  I print off recipes that I see online all the time, fold them up, and place them on top of my recipe box.  Sometimes I make them, sometimes I don't.  When I did meal prep on the weekends, I'd look at the pile and think - I should really go through that stack of recipes sometime....  but sometime never seemed to happen...

Until January when I set a goal of accomplishing a list of organizational projects.  The first one I tackled was the recipe box project.  I started by organizing the recipes by course (appetizer, soup, salad, side, entree, dessert).

And then I put the recipes in plastic protector sheets in a 3-ring binder, organized by course. 

And voila!  My recipes are now organized and that area of the kitchen no longer makes me twitch when I look at it. 

It's been much easier to find recipes to make now that they are organized in this binder.  I've discovered recipes I forgot about, like this lentil and black bean soup that I tore out of a Runners World magazine YEARS ago, which I'll be making this week for my lentil-lover Phil and I.

Do you print out recipes?  If so, how do you organize your recipes?  I'm definitely the kind of person who needs to work off of a printed off recipe as I don't care for reading recipes on my phone or laptop.  I might feel differently if I had an iPad, but I don't have one (and can't see myself buying one anytime soon.... or ever actually).

My New Home

Well after just over a month of living in my new home, I'm finally ready to share some pictures with you!  It's probably a good thing that over a month has passed since the move because it has dulled some of my feelings of rage over HOW POORLY my moving day was handled by my moving company.  Suffice it to say that they were very late, very unresponsive and then went to the wrong freaking address.  So yah...  if you ever move, do not use Suddath.  I'll leave it at that.

Now back to the happy post topic at hand - my new home.  I absolutely LOVE it.  I signed the lease and submitted my background check before I saw a single photo of this place but it really didn't matter because I knew they'd be painting the walls and replacing the flooring before I moved in.  I don't regret the decision to move as fast as I did on renting this place because I could not be happier with it!

One thing I really like about the apartment is the deep, open floor plan.  This is the main living room area.  I am so happy that I have plenty of room for my couch, dining room table, and piano and it doesn't feel crowded to me, which is a great feeling after feeling so cramped in my Charlotte apartment.

I bought an area rug and some throw pillows at Target the weekend after I moved in and am really happy with how my living room area looks.  I also really love the way my friends arranged all the photos above my couch!

 I am also very happy with my kitchen!  I like that there is no soffit and that instead my cupboards go to the ceiling as that gives me extra space which is important as I have SO many kitchen gadgets and appliances.  The counters probably look a little cluttered but I use everything that I have out on the counters on a regular basis.

Why yes, those are watermelon rinds my garbage.  Watermelon gets cut up on a regular basis in this kitchen!

 I also love my bedroom as it's big enough to fit most of my bookcases and randomly, the paint colors matches the color of my comforter perfectly!

I also like how my friends arranged the photos in this room.  The collage on the wall in the photo below is my family collage so the first thing I see when I get up in the morning is all my nephews and nieces.  Since this photo was taken I've had my aunt and uncle hang my curtain rod so my curtains could go up.  I'm hoping that a darker bedroom will improve my sleep quality. 

Not pictured are the 4 closets and the storage unit that I have, which is a vast improvement over my Charlotte apartment where I had one closet total!  That is another reason that I don't feel so cramped in my new home as I have plenty of storage now! 

And of course - the best part about my new home has to be the view!

I have a wonderful view of the Mighty Mississippi which is a-roaring right now thanks to all of the rain we've had lately!  The falls, which you can see to the right in the photo below, are so powerful right now, you actually get wet standing on a bridge just downstream.

The view at night is also stunning.  It was particularly beautiful on Saturday night when we had one of those pink sky sunsets.

I can already tell I am going to be spending a lot of time on my patio, reading, drinking coffee, and taking in the view.

So there you have it!  My new home!  I can't tell you how much of a difference it makes to love where I live.  My home is now a place of peace and comfort.

What is your favorite thing about your home?  My favorite things are the view and the location!

Road Trip Recap!

I am writing this post from Minnesota!!  Yea!!  It is so good to be home.  We covered 1,187 miles over the course of about 20 hours, passing through 7 states.  Phew.  Amazingly, we never got bored.  We ate most of the snacks I bought, drank about 7 liters of water between the two of us, listened to the audio book I checked out from Cracker Barrel, and listened to my road trip playlist when traffic was too heavy for me to concentrate on a storyline.  And the hours really flew by.  The last 3 hours of the drive were a little stressful as we drove in pouring rain, but besides that it was a stress free trip and I had the best time with my mom!

Here are a couple of photos from our trip. 

Cheersing with our latte/coffee to Charlotte being in my past!

It's always interesting to see what gas stations sell...  I can say I have tried boiled peanuts and eating them once was enough for me...

The views during the first day of the drive were beautiful. I heart the mountains!

Louisville was our stop for the first night of the trip.  I thought their street lamp signs were cute!

We stayed at my brother's on the second night of our trip so I got to see my niece Anna (she can really rock the hat look!) and my nephew Kolin!

I got to see Kolin's recap of our spring break trip that he wrote for school.  I love how he spelled my name (Lesu) and other works like the Smoce Montens (Smoky Mountains).

I got to cuddle on the couch with Kolin at the end of the day.  I told him he is smiling like a muppet in this photo! 

It's so good to be back home.  As we got closer and closer to Minnesota, and the landscape shifted to the rolling farm fields and wooded bluffs, I found myself grinning ear to ear and feeling such a sense of peace.  I am glad I get a little bit of time to settle back in before starting my new job next Tuesday. 

On Being Home

My trip home last weekend was so wonderful, but was such a whirlwind experience for me.  I combined a day of work, which included a client event and a client meeting on opposite sides of the Twin Cities, a day of networking which included 5 meetings, I helped Phil move and settle into his new home, got my taxes done, visited a friend on Saturday afternoon, had dinner with 6 friends on Saturday evening, and after dinner I made a cameo at an engagement party that Phil attended so I could see his friends for a bit. 

Phew.  It was a lot to fit into about 3 days.  But that is how these trips always go.  And despite the fact that I fit a lot in, there are still things I didn't get a chance to do and people I didn't get a chance to see.  Of course the fullness of my life in Minneapolis and the fact that I have more people to see than I have time to see is a blessing, I just wish I was better at not feeling guilty about not seeing as many people as I would like.  Maybe this feeling of guilt is something that people who move away from home get better at managing, but it's a challenge for me. I also have had to learn to accept that trips home either need to be entirely friend-centric or family-centric.  Because my family and friends live in different areas of Minnesota, it's darn near impossible to combine the two unless I am home for a week, which is rare.

All that said, it was a wonderful trip home.  The temperatures were bitterly cold as the high for my time at home was a whopping 3 degrees, but I did not complain or care because there is nothing like being surrounded by my favorite people in a city I love.  I feel like a better version of myself when I am in Minneapolis and it's almost like I let go of a breath I've been holding for months when I land in Minneapolis. Of course the flip side of that is the tears that start when I board my flight back to Charlotte and often don't end during the entire flight, as was the case on Sunday.  Yes, I am that girl that cries on airplanes, probably attracting the attention of seatmates. 

As of today, I have 5 weeks until I hit the one-year mark of my move to Charlotte.  I know that seems soon to some people, because I keep hearing that over and over, but to borrow from a comment that my friend Nilsa made a couple of weeks ago, telling me that my time in Charlotte is almost over is like standing at the 20th mile of a marathon and telling runners that they are almost done (which is the cardinal sin of spectating, by the way).  Except it's worse in my case because it's like I'm at the 20th mile, except when I hit 26.2, the course marshal is saying, "actually, you are not done.  I know you are exhausted but you are going to need to continue to run for an indeterminate amount of time." 

So in the mean time, I'm praying, crossing my fingers and doing whatever I can to ensure that there will be a one-way ticket out of Charlotte in my future.  Each trip home is a taste of how good and full my life will be and I have to believe that I'll find my way back there.  Some way, some how. 

10 Days Away: Minneapolis

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Even though I just got back from my 10 day trip to Minneapolis/Chicago on Monday afternoon, I am packing my bags again and will be heading to the coast with my family tomorrow morning.  Phew!  October is going to be a whirlwind!!  No complaints here as it's all fun stuff.

But before time escapes from me, I wanted to start to recap my 10 days away.  Even though 10 days seemed like a long time to be gone, it actually went by remarkably fast!  I started off my trip by flying into Minneapolis 2 Fridays ago.  I had been looking forward to this weekend for quite awhile as the purpose of my trip was my cousin's wedding!  This is the daughter of my "Julia Child aunt & uncle" aka my St. Paul parents.  I've always been close to my all my aunts and uncles, but since moving to Minneapolis 10 years ago, I became very close to this family because I had the opportunity to spend more time with them.  I've spent holidays with them, we've of course done Julia Child night, and they participated in my ritualistic pre- and post-CFA dinners.  So I was VERY excited for my cousin's wedding as the closer you are to the couple getting married, the more special and fun it is to attend!

I flew in Friday night and met my parents at their hotel downtown.  I had non-stop family fun from Friday night through Sunday morning, and it was wonderful. 

My Saturday morning looked like this - a latte and time with 2 of my nephews!

It was nice to have some time in downtown Minneapolis as I got to show my parents more of the city center, which is an area they hadn't spent much time in.  We walked to brunch, did some shopping (well my mom and I did, we let my dad skip out on that) and of course hit up my favorite macaron shop!!

Yum!  A trip home isn't complete without some macarons.  We also tried a homemade GF oreo which was really yummy!

After an afternoon of family time, it was time for the big event!  The wedding was held at a beautiful mansion close to downtown Minneapolis.  It was such a beautiful event and venue.  I've never seen my cousin so happy; she definitely found her soul mate.  I had a great time chatting with family and dancing with my nephews!  Well, Andrew & James (pictured top left) would dance with me, Matthew (pictured bottom right) was a solo show on the dance floor!

The evening came and went incredibly fast.  It was a late night, followed by an early morning as I spectated the Twin Cities marathon the following morning.  I got to the start early enough to snap a shot of the runners from my running club.  I did have a tough moment when I walked into the metrodome where the runners all congregate as being around a marathon is hard for me as it's pretty unlikely that I will ever be able to run one again.  But the sadness went away quickly when I saw the people from my running club who were racing that day.

After wishing them all luck, my coach and I headed out to mile 17 to spectate.  I knew quite a few people running it so it was especially fun to cheer the runners on. The Twin Cities course is so beautiful, I snapped this shot from the area where we were spectating.

After the marathon, I met some friends for coffee and had dinner with Phil, so Sunday was a full day. 

I worked in the Minneapolis office on Monday and ended up having an unexpected free night that evening (which is a rare occasion on these trips home... they tend to be incredibly over-planned) and it was a beautiful night, so I laced up my tennis shoes and went for a walk through my old neighborhood.  It was a beautiful night and was a little bittersweet for me to walk through an area that I used to, but no longer, call home.

I worked in the office on Tuesday and then flew out to Chicago on Tuesday evening.

As usual, my time at home was wonderful.  I am thankful for the opportunities I have had to come home, but it is also a bittersweet experience because there is such a feeling of impermanence on these trips home.  While I am home, I try not to think about the fact that each trip will come to an end but it is easier said than done.  I also struggle with feelings of guilt over not seeing as many people as I would like.  I know I need to accept that I can't do everything and see everyone, but it's still hard as I need to balance time with family, friend, and time spent networking, and on this trip I had to fit in time at work as well.

But all that aside, I had a fabulous 4 days in Minneapolis.  And luckily I had 5 full days in Chicago ahead of me, so flying away from Minneapolis wasn't as difficult as it usually is... But my Chicago recap will have to wait until next week when I am back from Myrtle Beach!

If you have moved away from home, do you struggle to fit it all in when you return for a visit?  I know I put entirely too much pressure on myself and end up over-scheduling but I also think/hope this is a temporary phase and I will be back home, or closer to home, by next fall.

Home.

I headed back home this past weekend - the reason for the trip home was the wedding of a good friend.  We worked together back when I worked for a company that I refer to as "the psych experiment."  I didn't like much about that job, but I did walk away with one very, very good friendship.  When I found out that I had to move to Charlotte in January, I knew that one trip I'd fit into my budget was a trip home for her wedding as I just did not want to miss out on her special day.

I am a planner by nature, so once I knew I'd be home for Megan's wedding, I planned the heck out of the weekend.  I packed as much in as I could and had the best time.  It really was an awesome, awesome weekend.  Here are some of the things that made my weekend so awesome!

- I saw Phil on Friday night.  I briefly saw him when I was home in August, but this was the first time I saw him for more than 5 minutes since June.  A lot has happened in our lives since then so we had a lot to catch up on, but I am happy to say we only briefly discussed the sad things we are both dealing with and instead focused on having fun.  There was lots of laughter, some yummy thai food, and a couple of games of cribbage (our favorite game).  To be clear, we are definitely not together, but he is still someone I care about and will keep in touch with from afar.

- On Saturday morning, I met up with my run club for brunch and was blown way by the fact that 14 people showed up at brunch.  I miss my run club SO MUCH so it was great to catch up with so many of them in one place.  I'll see a couple of them next month in Chicago as some of them are running the marathon. 

- After brunch, I swung by my old boss's house for a quick visit.  They are keeping my piano for me while I am in Charlotte as I did not have room for it in my apartment here.  His daughter started piano lessons recently, so she played me the first song she learned - and did SO good.  It makes me really really happy to know my piano is being put to good use!

- The wedding was on Saturday night and despite the fact that I didn't really know anyone, I had a wonderful time.  The wedding was book themed, which was so cool!  My friend looked so gorgeous.  I am so happy for her and her husband - they are just the perfect pair.

- On Sunday I got to meet 2 new babies!  My friend had a baby on Thursday so Wyatt is a VERY new and oh my gosh, he stole my heart.  He's a litttle peanut as he weighs about 5.5 lbs since he was a little premature.  I could have sat there and held him all day long...

- I also got to meet my friend Heather's baby Everet - he is about 7 weeks old and probably weighs twice as much as Wyatt so it was quite the difference to hold him.  I got some smiles out of him when he woke up.  There's really nothing like a baby locking eyes with you and smiling!

- A good friend hosted me for the weekend and I tried to soak up as much time with her and her family in between dashing from place to place.  I loved chatting with her 6 year old son Elliot and my heart melted when her daughter Stella ran up the stairs on Saturday afternoon and said, 'I love you Lisa!' 

All in all, it was an amazing weekend.  There is just nothing like being home.  I won't lie, I had some hard moments on my trip home as being back in a city I love around people I love makes me realize how much I don't love it here in Charlotte.  Yes, I already knew Ididn't like Charlotte, but it kind of 'hits you over the head' when you are in a place where you feel so happy and content. 

There were some tears at different points of the weekend as while I know the next 7 months will go fast, they just can't go fast enough.  Home is where my heart is.  I'm traveling like crazy these days in an attempt to cope with living in Charlotte, but no amount of traveling is really going to change the fact that I have to return at the end of the trip to a city that is such a poor fit.  I am doing my best to make it work, but it was very harsd to go back to the airport and board the flight back to Charlotte. 

That said - one gift of this time spent living in Charlotte is that now I know for certain where my heart belongs. 

Bittersweet, Whirlwind Trip

Happy Friday everyone!  Yesterday was actually my Friday at work.  I have a wedding tonight in Fargo, ND so I decided to drive home last night and am using today as a study day, so it's not really a "day off" per se, but I'll take what I can get. 

I am taking a study break to have lunch with my grandma today, though, and am really looking forward to that.  It will be a bit of a bittersweet experience as she is moving into an apartment in about 2 weeks.  My grandparents lived in this home for their entire marriage (I think?  Or close - so 60+ years).  He passed away 3 years ago and the time has come for her to move.  I know this is a very positive change for her as this house is so big and a lot for her to care for, but it's weird to think it's my last meal that I will likely eat in their home...  a home which holds so many memories.  But I feel blessed to have made so many countless memories with my grandparents.  And those memories will always exist, regardless of who occupies that home in the future.

The day will end on a positive note as I will watch a college friend get married.  We were the last 2 single ones in our group, and lived parallel lives in our late 20s as we both went through tough break ups within days of each other back in 2008.  We exchanged 100s of emails and both continuously told the other person that there IS someone out there for each of us - well, he has found that person, and I am so very happy for him. 

I will head back early on Saturday morning as the CFA studying beckons...  So it will be a bittersweet, whirlwind trip, but one I am looking forward to.  I am going to try to soak up the limited time I will have with my parents as it is likely the last time I will see them until after my CFA exam in June.  But at least that point I will be able to join them at their beautiful lake home!