Wish List

When you are a little girl, and you start thinking about your dream house, you imagine certain things. My dream house was a circa 1800's farmhouse with hardwood floors, a fireplace in all 5 of 18x20ft bedrooms, clawfoot tubs in all of the bathrooms (at least 3, preferably 4), a quaint powder room downstairs, a large basement to serve as a game room with a pool table, dart board, wet bar (that transitioned from a soft serve ice cream machine to soda fountain to wet bar as I grew older), and entertainment center. Add a huge gourmet kitchen with an island in the middle and one of those great pot racks over it. It would be set kind of far off the road, with a long, winding driveway, a white split rail fence, and maybe a horse or two in the front meadow with a medium sized red barn in the background.

When I was in my early 20s, my dream home was an amazing loft style apartment in the middle of a huge city. Again, it would had to have hardwood floors, claw foot tubs, etc. Throw in exposed brick walls, secure off street parking, stainless steel appliances, built in bookshelves, walk-in closets, a fireplace, exposed wood beams and duct work, a workout facility and huge windows overlooking the city.

I'm 28 and a homeowner. My dream house now includes a second bathroom and a closet larger that an average sized coffin.

Is this what they mean by growing up?

Busy as a Bee

I'm incredibly busy right now. I'm really not complaining, more just amazed at the amount of traveling I'm doing.

1. Terrance and I went on vacation for a whole week. That is the longest amount of time we have been away for together since we met. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. Seven days not really talking to another person (except waiters and check out clerks at the supermarket). Seven straight days. One hundred and sixty eight hours. The trip started out a little rocky. I woke up at 3AM convinced that the dogs were going to get out while the pet sitters were here. I do this a lot, wake up in the middle of the night and become fixated on some irrational fear. Only, on this particular Saturday morning, at six in the morning, Leo and Baxter decided to do some rounds in the neighborhood, forever changing what we call my middle of the night obsessions from 'irrational fears' to 'premonitions'. Terrance and I were running around, in the dark, following the sound of our dogs making the neighborhood dogs bark. Sadie, the misbehaving puppy, not the issue - it was our older, more well behaved dogs that wanted to remind us that they know what those suitcases mean and they are NOT going to take it. After getting the dogs back and, um, securing the yard, we left. The week was great - we walked on the beach, laid in the sun, discovered the area, ate and drank too much. Basically everything you are supposed to do on vacation. We didn't want to come back. Terrance even decided he wants to be a sailor. Just call him Cappy T. I had to talk him down from buying a sailboat. because the one thing we really need right now is a boat payment. The trip was also a way to celebrate our first anniversary. I know it's supposed to be a big milestone, but I really didn't doubt we'd make it.

This is our anniversary brunch - I've never had a bottle of champagne at a restaurant before - very adult.

Before we took a little ferry to a little island with wild horses.

Aforementioned wild horses.

We went to Emerald Isle, NC and explored the Crystal Coast. Emerald Isle is great if you have a family, but if you want a grown up vacation, I more recommend staying further north, in Atlantic Beach or Beaufort. Much more to do. Terrance and I are both nerdy history people, so we enjoyed Beaufort (North Carolina's third oldest town) a lot.

2. I went to Indianapolis for Labor Day weekend.

I left after work on Friday (I work until noon on Friday because I work until 8PM on Mondays). I got up there at around 9PM. My best friend from Indy, Sarah, and her husband, Jason, had a little boy about 7 months ago. His name is Kingston. I have to admit, I'm not one of those girls who looks at a baby and think "I need one of those". In fact, babies scare the hell out of me. The fragility, the responsibility. When my friends have had babies in the past, I would shy away. When all the other girls in the room wanted to hold the baby, I stood in the back of the group, half watching the baby and half watching the other girls, wondering why I didn't want to do that too. Anyway, Kingston was adorable and wonderful. He's such a happy baby. I've never seen a baby that smiles that much. And, to my shock, holding him wasn't really all that scary. It was kind of fun. Maybe I am a girl, after all... I saw some really good friends that I haven't seen in forever. Spent one night out at the bars - which was enough. It's amazing how much growing up changes you. When I used to go up there, we would go out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night (it was a holiday weekend). This time, I didn't want to go out more than once. I realized that I still miss Indy though. A little more than I thought. I had a good group of friends there. It's not that I feel as though I took them for granted when I lived there, it's more that I took it for granted after I moved. I let those friendships fade. It's something I'm not very happy about, but hope to fix. I feel like I've had a big summer of rebuilding friendships. If Margaret taught me anything, it's that you should value your friendships and keep them strong, not just because life is short and you don't want to miss anything, but because she was so good at that. One phone call to Margaret and you would know how everyone was doing. We'd all do good to have that little bit of Margaret in us. Back to the trip - it was great. I came back with about 5 more pounds and over 1,000 miles on the car. Good times.

Started working with these people back in February 2004 - the Intimidators. Intimidating people into healthy behaviors.

Me with Kingston. Um, not to brag, but I made him that pot. I mean, I didn't MAKE it make it, like on a potter's wheel or anything, but I painted it.

3. Terrance and I are going to the mountains this weekend. A couple of years ago, my parents bought a house in the mountains of Tennessee. It's about 20 minutes from the North Carolina border and 30 minutes from anything to do. No cable, questionable cell phone service, I love it. I wish we made it up there more often - the way my work schedule coincides with Terrance's, we don't have enough time off together to make the drive worth it. Plus, with three dogs at home, it's either an expensive pet sitter bill or an anxiety attack inducing drive - neither of which we can afford often. There is a festival in Elizabethton this weekend that my parent's got us tickets to for Terrance's birthday - pet sitting included. Looking very forward to it. It is a Celtic festival. I'm mostly Irish and Terrance is Super Scottish. Seriously, I think his blood might be plaid. He's trying to break into the highland games circuit (why, on earth, you would want to throw a telephone pole is not for me to judge. Seems like a waste of energy to me). He, needless to say, is quite excited.
Terrance's Alter Ego

4. At the end of the month, I will go to Asheville to attend the 100th annual North Carolina Public Health Association conference. I'm quite excited. The conference is being held at the very swanky conference center with a spa and a grotto. If I were going to try and stay there on my own, I'd be paying at least $300 a night. Unfortunately, by the time I figured out that I was able to go, budget wise, and got approval, all of the conference rate rooms were sold out. But, I get o stay off site, which means there's less of a chance of having to be 'on' at night. And the place I'm staying is this adorable bed and breakfast with wine and hors d' veoures everyday from 4 to 6. The conference looks great - there are a couple of time blocks where there are 3 or 4 sessions I want to see, so I'm hoping that I can plan my attack during happy hour the first night. :). The problem with this conference, in particular, is that it's usually quite clinic based and not too much health education. This year, it's very different. I'm a nerd who is very excited about going to 25 sessions over 3 days. I'll have to prioritize them and make sure I get to the good ones early so that they don't fill up...

5. I'm also going to the mountains with some girlfriends at the end of the month. It's going to be fun to get away. I think we might try and hike part of the Appalachian Trail and make a fire pit in the yard and roast marshmallows. There -might- also be some wine involved.

I also have meetings in Chapel Hill and Winston-Salem, and a smaller conference to go to in Greensboro. Between the August 22 and October 3, I will have spent one weekend at home, and on that Saturdaythat I'll actually be in the 704, I'll be working a festival which means I'll be at work from about 6 am to 5 pm if it's anything like last year. Also during that time, 43 days, I will have slept in my own bed 21 nights. I'm certainly not complaining about having a job, so don't think that. I'm just sort of very appreciative of my bed and my home and my routine that, while it can get a little boring if it goes on too long, can also be quite comforting.


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