Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Czech Republic: Day Three & Four

Phew!  Made it to Prague.  I should fill you all in on our last full day with the Lobels, though, before jumping into our Prague adventure.

Monday morning we got up and went to Jonny's school.  He's a teacher at BMA, a highly academic, well reputed school in Frydlant n.O.  It's basically the equivalent of a charter school, but is also the only Christian affiliated school in the country.  Anyway, it's awesome.  It's small and has a great family feel about it, something atypical of Czech high schools.  We took lots of pix with the regular camera, so be looking for shots of it when we post all our pix at the end of this week.  We got to sit in on four classes, which was really neat.  Jonny's english class was first and Nathan and I got to give the class lesson!  We shared about two American cities: NYC and Los Angeles.  Actually, I learned a lot believe it or not, in preparing the lessons.  The kids responded well and we did a game at the end.  After that, we sat in on a computer class and two more english classes (one with 3rd year students and one with 4th year students).  At Jonny's break we headed down the street to another typical Czech restaurant.  We had a good meal and I finally tried the fried cheese.  It's probably the last time I'm doing that.  The Czech food is insanely filling. It's all meat and potatoes various ways.  Yummy, but really heavy.  Anyway, the afternoon was chill for Nate and I.  We headed back to the Lobels and did laundry, I did some school work, and such.

When Lisa and Jonny both got home from work, we headed to this retreat hotel up on a nearby mountain to enjoy coffee and play Carcassonne (again).  I got a delish latte that I drank way too fast.  We also had a typical honey cake with our drinks.  Here's a shot of my drink with some "latte art" in the foam and a picture from the resort at sunset.  Beautiful.

I didn't mess with this picture.  It really is this picturesque.

This reminded me of my friend, Daisy.  It's a daisy!  On Polish pottery no less. :-)

After we had a great afternoon of chatting and Lisa & I tying for first against the boys, we headed back down the mountain to buy train tickets for our morning trip into Prague.  A bit later, we headed to a cute Portugese restaurant that serves Portuguese and Spanish food for some Paella.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  Paella in a landlocked country.  I have to say it was delish.  The owners are an adorable husband and wife who love running their little place.  They actually only opened for us yesterday so we were the only ones in the restaurant.  It was truly a wonderful evening.  Lots of good food, wine, conversation, love, etc.  It was a very relaxing and encouraging end to our visit with the Lobels.  The free pitcher of Czech-style sangria was also a fantastic treat!  Sadly, I didn't take any pictures so you'll just have to use your imagination on that one.

We got back to the Lobels and spent some time praying together for each other, our families and our lives.  Such a great thing to have the chance to be with good friends, friends that are basically family, across the world from us.  We love them so much and already miss them!!  We can't wait for Baby Monkey to arrive!!!

I'm not going to Prague post, as it might make sense to just blog the two days together later in the week.  I'll let you know that we made it here, found our hotel and had two good meals so far! =)  Please leave some love so I know you're reading!  Home to the States in 3 days!

xx

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Day 2 in the Czech Republic


Today was fantastic.  My post will be quick because it's time for bed since we're rising early tomorrow.  This morning we got up and enjoyed breakfast burritos in Eastern Europe.  Hilarious. And delicious.  We then set out to a town not too far away where there is a traditional town on display as a museum for tourists.  It reminded me a lot of some of the colonial towns that are set up in the traditional way for tourists to get an idea of what life was like.  This was really a great museum.  It was full of well-maintained, Moravian-style buildings, made completely of wood. 

The grounds of the museum. Where's the snow??

A replica of the "town hall" and "general store."


We got to also try a bit of a Czech specialty, spiced warm wine.  It tasted a lot like cough medicine to me, but it’s enjoyed all over the country.  We popped into the cafĂ© and had a snack of Czech beer, pretzels and traditional garlic soup before heading out.


 We then drove to get some lunch at a very typical Czech Restaurant, and it was AMAZING.  SO good and very cozy.  The restaurant also brews their own beer, which we enjoyed together.  Well, all but the pregnant Lisa. J 

After our day of adventure, we only had a few minutes at home before it was off to church.  The service was in Czech, but luckily we had a translator so that we didn’t completely die of confusion and boredom.  The people were so nice after the service, coming up and saying hello, asking questions.  It’s a nice community of Czechs and other internationals.  After church we grabbed ingredients for a yummy tuna salad dinner (we were still feeling our massive lunch) and Lisa and I prepared the food.  After a dinner and a yummy dessert involving Bailey’s Mint Chocolate, we played another round of Carcassonne in which I did not win…again.  At least this time, I did not come in completely last.

Hope everyone’s weekend is going well.  Enjoy the last remnant of freedom before Monday hits.  This was going to be short but I guess that didn’t happen. Haha! 

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Day 1 in the Czech Republic

It's almost not fair to say that I've been to CZ before.  I was in Prague with my dear friend Christin back in 2003, but for only about 20 hours.  We took a train from Dresden, Germany and even got our passports stamped on the train.  Well, come to think of it, I think she had an EU card or something so I got a stamp and she didn't.  Anyway...I digress.  We woke up this morning and enjoyed a fantastic pancake (from scratch) breakfast with Vermont Maple Syrup.  Yes, you heard correctly!!  Maple Grove Farms syrup.  Nothing but the best here in Frydlant n.O!  After lots of chats, we decided to tour the town, despite the rain.  Jonny & Lisa showed us around to the river and through the buildings and the main square.  It was lovely.  We stopped in a local grocery store and after seeing the sausage counter I felt forced to take a picture for Natty.  Haha.  Also, turns out it's super normal in grocery stores to cut people in line if you have less items than they do....even a pregnant person! (we were cut by someone wanting to buy only bread and we had about 20 items....and Lisa is clearly pregnant.)  Just an odd difference.


After picking up some essentials for dinner later on, we dropped off our things at home and headed off for a surprise location: a typical Czech tea house!  So great.  Jonny warned me that I would need to be a bit quieter than my normal level of speaking because Czechs are quiet in indoor restaurants.  Boy was he correct!  I had to whisper...until the young people in the section over from us started being quite loud...but anyway.  We sat, shoes off, at a low table and enjoyed various kinds of tea and then some pita, hummus, and baba ghanoush.  Delish!  Perfect snack.

Mine is a chai tea in a glass cup. They yell "chai! chai! chai!" when they serve it. I'm serious.

After chilling at the tea house for about three hours, we headed home to make homemade pizza (Lisa-style!) and play a game called Carcassonne.  Here's a cute Lisa with an apron on her preggo belly.

Lovely.

Okay, so that's it for today.  More later!

xx

Friday, January 14, 2011

Goodbye, London! Hello, Poland...and CZ!

Well, we made our first visit to POLAND!  I got a passport stamp to prove it!  I also ate a meal there, which of course makes it even more official.   I should step back for a second though and mention the events leading up to our arrival to Eastern Europe…

 Nathan and I had a good last half day in London.  We gave away all the foods stuff that we had left as well as some paper towels and cleaning spray by putting them outside our door with a sign that read: “Leaving London tomorrow.  All items are free.  Please take them.  Please!  FREE!”  They took everything but the bag of coffee, which, honestly, was a good option b/c that coffee was wretched.

A high point of yesterday was that we got to see our sweet and dear friend from Boston for breakfast.  It was a joy to see her happy and settled here in Europe.  It’s also fun to hear about her various adventures, etc.  Loved every minute, and it was only about an hour. Sad day.  Anyway, below was my croissant with Gruyere and tomato.  Indulgence.  And a pot of coffee.  Necessity.   


My last class we had a guest speaker that was pretty boring until the last 45 minutes (of a 2.5 hr total talk) when they shared their own stories of how they acquired HIV and their lives now as a result.  It went 30 minutes longer than planned which meant that everyone was fidgety and wanted to kill the girl who asked FIVE questions in a row (per usual) at the very end when we wanted to ship out.  Argh.

After class, Nathan and I met up and hopped on the Tube to the Liverpool Station and caught the Stansted Express to the airport.  We made it with a perfect amount of time to spare.  I’m proud to report that we were UNDER the weight restrictions for our two bags on Ryanair which is really a feat.  We also managed to only have one carry-on each (that’s also a strict Ryanair rule).  Thankfully, Arup agreed to hold onto our larger suitcases for this next week of travel so we didn’t have to pay to store them.  When we land in Heathrow, Nathan will go fetch our bags before we fly out to NY.  Anyway, we grabbed Pret for lunch and went through security. 

I’m not sure what to say about our flying experience other than to say that it was like flying on Hulu or something…an advertisement every 10 minutes.  Seriously.  There were automated messages that came on and the flight attendants had various motions and actions to perform each time an announcement was played.  For food purchase, Duty Free items, discounted phone plans and SIM cards, and my personal favorite…. lottery tickets!  Here’s our flight attendant showing off the special lottery cards:


I have to say that all these things were a good distraction from one of the most turbulent flights I’ve been on in a while.  Thankfully it was a short 1 hour and 40 minute hop over to Katawice (Cat-ah-Vee-CHey).  We deplaned and got onto one of those shuttle buses with everyone from the plane, only to drive a could hundred feet to the arrival terminal.  It was hilarious.  An older Polish couple sitting next to us laughed and said well, this is Poland!  It was cute.  A passport stamp and bag grab later, we were with Jonny and Lisa, bumping along the Polish highway toward the Czech Republic!  Only one stop for petrol and a bite at a Polish McDonald’s made us realize that Poland is certainly not how I ever imagined.  Maybe more on that later…dunno. 

So, we’re here.  It’s awesome.  Today will be fantastic.  Signing off. 

(It’s now after the whole day is through that I’m actually posting this online, so more posts later in the day. J  Lucky you, reader!)

xx

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Pubs, Parliament and Photos


I didn’t do a “real” post yesterday and I apologize.  It was a day full of chores and some slight British hilarity/annoyance as I got locked out of my flat for an hour as the cleaning woman took the keys and couldn’t be found.  I’m not kidding.

So, last night was a blast.  We went out to a local pub for drinks and such with Arup people.  I know hanging out with a group of engineers sounds like the last thing in the world you might want to do, but let me tell you it was great fun.  It might not have been too wise to have zero to eat before heading over there (why do I always do that!?), but either way, lovely conversation and lively crowd.  Later on, like around midnight, Albert & Marc arrive from the airport!!  We grabbed dessert and had a bit of a chat before crashing to sleep at about 3am…yikes.

The Larkin

Nate playing foosball at the pub with coworkers
Today was loads of fun.  We got up for a later start and grabbed an English breakfast at Russell Square Park right near the guys’ hostel.  It was decent, but of course the company was the best.  I do love me a great English breakfast, but the eggs were definitely lacking.  Oh well.  The beans were great.  After that, we head out toward Chelsea and Manresa Rd. (at King’s Road) to see my old apartment where I lived for 5 months in 2003.  I cannot believe that it really has been about 8 years since I did my internship at TIME.  Is that possible!?  Am I really 28 years old??!  Anyway, here’s a picture of the place today.  Looks exactly the same though a tad worn.

My old building.

Good old Manresa Rd.

Then we took the number 11 bus down King’s Rd through Victoria station all the way to Westminster Abbey where we got off and hit up the Abbey (looked, didn’t pay 14 GBP to walk in…lame!), the Parliament, Big Ben, & 10 Downing Street.  We then walked through to Trafalgar Square and enjoyed walking up through the Covent Garden area to see the shops including the world’s largest (and dare I say most gorgeous) Apple Store. 

On the 11 down King's Road--my old stomping grounds!

Parliament

Apple Store: Covent Garden
We ate lunch, grabbed some coffee, as it was really chilly and windy, and then took a walk across the Waterloo Bridge just as the sun was setting.  It sets at 4pm basically, so anyway…

View of the Eye, Parliament and Big Ben

After we made it across, we walked along the Southbank until we go to the Tate Modern where we spent a bit over an hour looking at two different exhibits.  It was cool, and by the time we were finished it was pitch black out already.  Ick.  Oh, so the other day when I thought I was walking the Millennium Bridge, I was not.  I was on the Hungerford Foot Bridge.  Yeah….I’m a tad embarrassed by this, but at least I’m admitting it.  Today, I actually did cross the Millennium Bridge after we walked out of the Tate.  It was a nice walk and we then saw St. Paul’s Cathedral (designed by Sir Christopher Wren) and walked to the Tube to head back towards our flat.  I needed to do a bit of homework and we were starting to think that getting dinner before watching the Barca game would be a good idea. 

Tomorrow we will try to do Notting Hill, which I’m excited about and that might be all.  Marc & Albert leave and we will be heading out to see some family friends an hour outside the city.  Hope you enjoyed all the pix!  I’ll do my best to also post tomorrow evening, but I’m not sure of what my wifi ability will be. 

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Look! There's an Emergency Exit!

  It's day five and things are starting to feel relatively normal here.  It's odd how you can just jump into another culture and just adjust.  It is possible that some of the reason I feel this way is because I've already had friends visit as well as the fact that I lived here for almost half a year back in my undergraduate days (and blogged most of it).  Either way, I love London and pretty much always have.  I wish that I took more pix on my iPhone to share with you all because today I walked through Covent Garden, to the Strand and right past my old office at Brettenham House on the way to the Waterloo Bridge.  What a rush of memories.  I commented to a classmate of mine that I am grateful that though filled with nostalgia, I'm not at all filled with regret or wishing for the past.  It was a rich time, and though filled with a fantastic mix of joy, success, and adventure, it was also a time of deep personal pain and confusion.  I even managed to get a marriage proposal in there as well. Haha! (Another story for another time...maybe.)

  So, back to the day's events.  I skipped over the fact that I went to class and it was good.  I learned more crazy stuff and have decided that taking notes is futile because all the information is mainly on the ppt anyway.  I learn more if I'm focused on the professor.  The morning walk to class was glorious and sunny (the sun was literally shining directly in my eyes the entire way) and I loved it.  I popped in my ear buds, grabbed at S'bux and made it to class early.  I even remembered to bring my clementines for break.  Yessss.  The class then headed off together to go on the London Eye.  That was the walk that took me by my old office building.  The Eye just reminds me of the Staton's engagement (NYC friends of ours), so of course I think I told their engagement story about 5 times this afternoon.  Everyone thought it was super romantic and cute.  (Props, Josh!)  The group of us all got to get our own pod in the Eye, so that was cool and basically all we did was ooohhh and ahhhhh for the full 27 minutes or whatever it took to get around.  I was just glad I didn't have to pay the 20 pounds to go on it.  It wasn't that exciting on such a grey, cloudy day.   A few people in the class are pretty scared of heights so having to quickly "jump aboard" freaked some of them out.  One guy was like "oh, good! There's an emergency exit!"  Yikes, what would that look like from the top of the world's largest ferris wheel??  Eeek!  Afterward, we walked accross the Millennium Bridge (built by Arup), crossed the Strand at Leicester Square and passed the National Gallery, which reminded me of Liz Zelie because we went there when she came to visit me in London 7 years ago.  I got some postcard stamps once we got back to the Bloomsbury area (where I'm staying) and then spent the rest of the evening doing homework and making dinner, etc.
 
  That's about it.  I did want to mention that I also had a FAB phone call from Kristi last night which was so nice.  Skype calls aren't too pricey to the UK cell we have.  Also, if you're on wifi and you're calling me on skype (username: meredithann), it's FREE!  Hope all is well with everyone.  Here are some pix of our flat.  Sorry for the poor resolution, but they were specifically requested by Heather. =)

xx

This is the main living area.  I didn't take a shot from the other side, so this is half the room.


This is the cute kitchenette.  The microwave is also a convection oven.


The loo (taken from the windowed side by the toilet).

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Friends for a Decade!


    Today was a great day.  The morning started right with breakfast together and each of us off to work or school.  Nathan had a pretty good day, but I won’t be blogging his work experiences since I wasn’t there…wouldn’t make much sense to tell it second hand.  Class went well.  Today we covered some basic epidemiology of HIV and then had a guest speaker from the Mortimer Market Centre, a clinic for people who are HIV+ here in the UK.  It was a lecture specifically on the aging population of HIV+ people, specifically in the UK, though it applied to those in the US as well.  Did you know that by 2015, 50% of people with HIV will be over 50 years old?  The speaker gave great information and great perspective.  No, I probably won’t be interacting much with this population in my work as a school counselor.  I do, however, interact with this population twice a week volunteering with my church at the Bailey-Holt House in Chelsea. 

    After class, my dear friend Mike Yates met up with me and we spend a few hours catching up while eating a yummy lunch and walking the crazy shopping scene down Oxford Street.  I managed to get a cheap UK phone so if you’d like to call or text, check my fb profile for the number!  Mike and I have been friends for the last 6 years about.  Later in the afternoon, we met up with another friend who had just flown in from Nigeria on his way back to the US, Nimi!  Nimi and I have been friends now for over nine years.  We met in college through Real Life, a Christian group I was part of and later worked for in Boston (I worked with Mike Yates, which is how Mike & I met).  Over nine years...that sort of freaks me out because that’s how long ago it was when I started my freshman year (Nimi was at MIT, not NU)!  Eeep!  I can’t be nearing 30….no, not me.  Haha! It was nice to catch up for a few hours and then head to my flat and enjoy a cuppa and conversation that per usual varied from economics, world politics, faith and everything in between.  A couple pictures of this fun time should be posted soon.

Hope all is well with you, my friends!  Let me know you’re reading and leave some love.  Sorry this post is vacant of any real cultural comments. Tomorrow’s touring with my class promises many interesting things to mention in the daily blog. 

Oh, one interesting thing: what the London NYU facilities look like. =)

xx

Sunday, August 23, 2009

A Special Friend

This is a post dedicated to a friendly turtle I met on the Upper East Side last weekend. Such a cute little guy! His name is Pumpkin and he was rescued by the man in the picture below. His story is that someone decided he was a good target for pellet gun practice. Some hikers found him in distress and brought him to animal rescue. After surgery, Pumpkin was too tame to return to the wild. This man adopted him. So cute. Oh, and Pumpkin is an endangered species of turtle....


Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Crazy Week

This past week has been a bit wild. I was chatting with my sister about my week today on the phone and realized even more how fully it was and how totally legit it was that I was so exhausted from it all. Haha. Anyway....

So, on Sunday of last week, the Boatwright Family arrived! Yay! Tara and Luther are some good friends from the Bay Area and they have a 10-month-old baby, Ruth. It was a ton of fun to be around them for a few days. Since the main goals were to have a relaxed visit, to catch up with each other, and maybe do a few touristy things away from big crowds, we really had a very chill visit. The fun included some Upper East Side fun at FAO Schwartz, Central Park, NY Pizza @ Gotham's (our new fav), a fun bike ride involving Red Mango, lots of home cookin', and Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island...just to name a few of the fun things. Nathan took a day off so that he could hang out for an extra day with us. Sweet! They left on Wednesday. I miss them already!! I posted some pix of the fun below.

On Thursday we then had our first dinner with friends that we made while in NY! Yes, we were excited. Seriously. Haha. Anyway, it took me a while to figure out what to make because I had so many ideas and yeah. So, I made chicken with a Morrocan spice rub, brown rice, and corn on the cob with honeydew melon and ice cream sandwiches for dessert! It was a great time of chatting and getting to know e/o a little better. I think we impressed them with our NJ Views. Yeah, Jersey! Turns out that one of the guys, Chris, has a sister 16 years older than him just like me and my little Christopher! So great!

Friday proved to be a complicated but fun day. After my gym time, I headed to Newark Airport to pick up on of Nathan's childhood friends who scheduled a long enough layover on her trip back to Spain for us to all enjoy dinner together. After a PATH ride, a NJ Transit Train, and the AirTrain, I was finally at the terminal. His friend Neus and her sister joined me and we headed to Union Square for a quick stop at Whole Foods (they love American chocolate chip muffins for some reason) and then dinner at Max Brenner's Cafe (a restaurant that my friend Heather introduced me to in July). It's definitely a great place to bring out of town guests! Neus and her sister LOVED it. Pix below of our fabulous desserts, etc.

Today was very chill. Relax, relax, relax. Gym time, Sox vs. Yanks game on TV, and a yum yum shrimp scampi dinner.

Hope all is well with all of you, my blog followers. Leave some comments and let me know you're there! Tomorrow brings more fun....dinner with our friend Janet's parents! Yay!

Luther's response to having his first NY Pizza.


Ruth on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.


Boatwright Family!


Nathan and I with our Chocolate & Banana Pizza dessert!



Hardening chocolate!



Neus and her sister pre-eating the yummy dessert. So pretty! (the ladies AND the dessert!)



See, Neus...I didn't put this on facebook....haha... Yum!



After the dessert...nothing left! Catalonians love chocolate! Energy!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Goodbyes

This week has been filled with goodbyes. I was thinking of posting some pictures of it...but sadly, I have not taken one single photo. That's cool.

I finished work on Wednesday of last week, but the annoying thing was that I ended up having to work all day on Thursday and 3 hours on Friday, just to finish everything that needed to be finished. It was nice being at the school when it was empty on Wednesday. Some students showed up around 3 and helped with some things like stuffing envelopes, etc. Bob Yapp was there for most of it on Thursday and so was Kim. Kim actually helped me for something like 2 hours stuffing envelopes and going and getting me sticky "sign here" labels. (Thanks so much, Kim!!) It's really a bittersweet thing to leave that school. It's amazing how much you can learn in just two years at a place. I love those kids, and I really hope that my next working experience will be just as rewarding. I do know, either way, Mid-Pen has really trained me to be able to take on anything. Oh, I should probably mention that my co-workers were great too. Daisy was the best last year, and I was so sad when she left. Boo Hoo! Then Kim came, and seriously, Kim saved my life (thanks, Kim!). Eliza and Andrea were totally a blast this year and there's about a million inside jokes that came outta that. I loved working with Julia and how she saved my life on many occasions with the yearbook class. Thank God it's going to be in good hands now that I'm gone. Anna was great too. I never ended up painting with her Studio Art class, but knowing that I could if I wanted to was enough to feel included. =) Barb was a great boss...much learned and much gained working with her. Seriously, whoever gets to work for Barb now that I'm gone is a lucky person. Barbara is brilliant, and though she would never bost about herself in this way, she's got SO MUCH experience in schools she really adds so much to Mid-Pen. People should give her more credit. Okay, so I could write about all my co-workers, but I won't because this will get long and people won't read it. Haha.

So, here's the schedule: Today--packing; high school small group; night church; Monday--packing all day; drinks with work people; small group; Tuesday--loading the truck all day (anyone wanna come help?); Wednesday--truck leaves; lunch with Jan & Caleb; cleaning apartment; Thursday--need to buy shoes; getting ready to fly to NY; Friday--7am flight to JFK; Saturday--Brooke's bridal shower; Sunday--get into the city; Monday--get keys to new apartment; meet up with Nathan; sleep in our apt for the first time as a resident of Manhattan. Phew! Insanity.

I'll try to post more in the future. xx

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I got ELF'd!

Nathan and I volunteer at our church's high school group. This week we had a "surprise" video....the youth pastor did that ELF website thingy and ELF'd Nathan, Jenni, Derek, Alex, and myself. Carlos should get an 'A' in facebook lerking b/c he picked perfect faces for the site......pls tell me you at least laughed. =)


Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Our First Thanksgiving

Nathan and I hosted our first Thanksgiving this year.
It was somewhat by accident, but in the end was really a great time. I had to show off my table setting b/c for one, it was beautiful, and two, it was filled with wedding gifts! Note the lovely china, blown glass candlesticks, Simon Pierce bowl used as the centerpiece, the napkin rings and our silverware. All wedding presents! So, technically, our friends helped us set the table. It's really kinda neat!! :-)



We made our first turkey together and it turned out scrumptious! (Though, technically it was my second turkey because my first attempt was during my junior year of college when my roommate and I decided to host Thanksgiving for 10 friends in our apartment in West Village. That was a good turkey too!) We also made the stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes all from scratch. Yum! Anyway, it was a good time with my in-law's and a couple friends. Can't wait to see what next year brings! Hopefully other reasons to bring out the china!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

sad day

today i found out that friend of mine is moving. this isn't all that unusual in the life of a twenty-something gal, this day in age! people move in and out of our lives like craziness. the part that makes it so sad for me is this is someone i have finally re-connected with after years of silence. we are both married now, live in the bay area after growing up in SoCal, and our husbands even get along with each other...heck, they're basically friends now. it's like ARGH...WHY, God, WHY!? i'm having one of those moments where I'm so totally thrilled for my friend and her husband's opportunity (which really is GREAT), but also at the same time feeling so sad and angry that it has to happen. this happened 8 years ago, under much much different circumstances, with this same friend. i don't think i cried about it last time because of my pride and my anger. tonight i did...because of my sadness and my joy.

anyway....this post didn't make much sense, but it's where i'm at. more later on the retreat that happened this past weekend. it was good.