Well!  I have had quite easily one of the best weekends that I have had in…quite a long time, actually.  It’s a long story as to why, but I had Friday & Saturday off work, and decided to just relax at home in W-S and get things done/see people here rather than traveling.  While I do wish I had seen some of my family, I think I made a good choice.

Friday I began the process of rearranging my living room.  I wasn’t quite sure exactly *what* I was going to do to it, but I just started putting books everywhere.  Until I got tired of it and decided to just chillax and make myself pretty until Jamie Lee came over.  Once JL arrived, we chatted for a bit and I used my brand-new hair straightner for the first time.  Around 9:30 we left for Philip’s residence (Philip is a friend of JL’s from college).  At Philip’s, a small group of Wake Forest post-graduates gathered to engage in some behaviors distinctly reminiscent of our undergraduate careers; namely, Kings.  Yes, we all asked the question “Are we too old for this?”.  And while the answer was most likely yes, we were enjoying ourselves and so continued.  Around midnight, Jamie headed home, but my co-worker, Natalie, came out and met the group at one of W-S’ classy establishments (I think we hit Rec Billiards & Burke Street Pub before ending up at Burke Street pizza).  We had a really good time!  More importantly, we had a normal Friday!  We ate pizza at 3am!  We danced!  We drank!  We laughed!  We met sketchy folks and gained some awkward stories!

Saturday…I slept in   And when I woke up, I went out to lunch with Natalie (who miraculously was also able to take some time off work this weekend) at Mi Pueblo.  Then we went over with Jamie Lee to sunbathe by the pool.  I spent two hours on a Saturday laying in the sun, chatting with girlfriends, and reading a wonderful book.  On a Saturday.  It was amazing!  But, my friends, the good times do not end there.  After leaving the pool, Natalie and I headed to the mall.  I cannot remember the last time I just went to the mall to browse.  Um ok so I didn’t just browse.  Shh.  But now I have grown-up clothes that adults wear instead of looking like one of my teenage clients!  It’s very exciting.  Lerner’s New York is a dangerous place, and I now know why I had purposefully avoided the store throughout all of college: fear of shopping.  But everything they have is so colorful!  Anyway, I digress.

Saturday night, the amazing Cat Wilson came into town from Raleigh because she was feeling a little homesick.  So I pulled out the air mattress (which I love and am always absurdly excited to use.  It self-inflates, people!) and we quite literally bounced around my apt in excitment as we made plans for her weekend visit.  Our conversation was probably difficult to follow on the outside, but only because we were quite literally ecstatic.  We proceeded to get all dolled up while gossiping the entire time (with Sex and the City on in the background of course).  We went out to dinner at Mellow Mushroom, which I hadn’t been to in *quite* a while (circa a completely different life in ’08).  It was quite nice to sit out on the street downtown in our dresses & skirts.  Afterwards I showed Cat NoMa, since it popped up during her absence.  Following our time there, we met up with Natalie at Finnigan’s and were later joined by Mary, Cat’s best friend from like…forever…who lives in W-S.  After playing some darts at Rec, we headed home.

Sunday Cat & I went to church at Green Street, my current church of choice in Winston.  And while the service is always pretty spectacular, this particular Sunday was even more wonderful: they had a group, called Mizero (which means Hope) from Rwanda.  It’s a drumming/performance group dedicated to providing hope for the future in post-genocide Rwanda.  The group was just…incredible.  I can’t even describe it.  There was so much praise going on that morning, and it was really fun and engaging, and practically the entire congregation ended up dancing at one point.  I loved it.  And I love their message.  Of course, seeing them made me want to a) go back to Africa  b) learn French.

After church we had lunch with Cat’s friend Sara, her fiancee, and her mother.  Next was a…second trip to the mall.  But mostly because Cat wanted to check out the skin-care solutions at the Clinique counter.  And we met the most wonderful, helpful, and damn-good at her job sales consultant ever.  We might have to start a fan-club.  Hell, I think we already did since after Cat’s amazing experience with Meg (that’s our new best friend’s name) we decided I had to return Monday morning to partake in Meg’s expertise, and Cat’s planning to take the aforementioned Sara to the counter to get looks for her wedding on Saturday.  But back to Sunday night: Cat and I had another dinner date with each other at First Street Draught House – delicious.  Pretty good beer too (I’ll have to remember to take Shaloot there the next time they’re in town).  Cat and I continued our weekend-long conversation regarding the meaning of life and what the hell we were supposed to be doing with our own individual lives…a conversation peppered with ideas and plans of travel, and a promise to have our mid-life crisis in Paris together (since having our quarter-life crisis in North Carolina is proving to be not-so romantic).

Monday (after I visited the Clinique counter – which btw, Beth would be phenomenal at that job) I spent the day relaxing while Cat frolicked with some of her other native Winston Salem friends.  And then it turned out that my good ol’ friend Jared was actually back in town for his summer break from law school to work at one of the firms in W-S!  So we hung out for a little bit before meeting up with Cat, Mary, and Mary’s cousin Ashley at the Village Tavern.  It was the perfect ending to Cat’s visit in W-S and we all had a wonderful time.

So now, it’s back to the real world.  ASAP because I broke my bank this weekend.  So no more eating out for quite awhile.  But it’s ok, because it was totally worth it.  However, my first time cooking since…a long time…I of course burned my hand like no other.  Sigh.  Oh well.

I will end this oh-so long post with 2 quotes from the fabulous book I’m reading:
“Those first few years, I felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was being thrown in my face on a daily basis.  I’d known I would have to struggle, but I’d thought those lean years would still be fun, that one day I’d look back and laugh.  They weren’t and I don’t.  And it wasn’t a few years, it was more like a decade.  I’m still recovering.” – Erica Kennedy, “The Real World”, It’s a Wonderful LiE

“You can’t plan for the truly significant moments in life.  They’re moments.  They happen.  They creep up unexpectedly and defy reason.  And that’s what I have to remember about life on a larger scale:  Accumulating experience is nine tenths of living, so I should stop trying so hard to create myself and spend more time being myself.  I should let myself make mistakes, date the wrong men, drink too much, have moments that I’m not proud of, learn as I go along instead of deciding ahead of time how life is supposed to be lived.  I should reconfigue the rules – not only the ones I have for the men I’m dating, but more importantly, the rules I place on myself.  I should start focusing more on the plot and less on the denouement.  After all, when is the resolution of any story truly satisfying?” – Shannon O’Keefe, “Twenty-Eight is the New Eighteen”, It’s a Wonderful LiE

Well, never have I ever had such a clamoring for a blog update; not that much is even going on to write about.  Well, yes, stuff is happening.  Let’s see…I might do a list to try to include everything…

1.  I seem to have abandoned my cooking attempts, at least temporarily.  Which is bad, because it definitely is healthier/cheaper to eat at home.  But since all I ever seem to cook at home is my endless supply of eggs (thanks padres), I do tend to lean towards eating out.  So, I should go to the grocery store tonight.  I will go to the grocery store tonight.  Check.

2.  However, eating out is also fun for the socialization purposes.  And the exploration within Winston Salem.  The Millers took me to Skippy’s yesterday actually for hot dogs.  Delicious, and under $5.  Not sure about that healthy part tho…the buns are made from pretzel dough.

3.  Work is going pretty well, actually.  I seem to have found my confidence.  It’s still frustrating and exhausting and I still am…looking for other opportunities…but I am making it.  I do continue to absolutely ADORE my co-workers, and we manage to have a pretty fun (if inappropriate) time when we’re not at work…or after working 14 hours lol.

4.  I have joined a) a community choir (haven’t gone yet tho)  b) a women’s bible study for the summer, studying Meditative Prayer by Richard Peace  c) a book club, to read Atonement for June.  I’ve only actually been to the Bible study so far, but I really enjoyed that.  We’ll see how the rest of it goes.

5.  A few weekends ago I went to the Salute NC Wine Festival in the Dash with some friends – wonderful time!!!!

6.  To the wine festival I wore an SATC inspired sundress…this brings me to my confession of my retail therapy.  It’s shameful.

7.  Speaking of retail therapy, I bought another sundress to wear to the Wake Forest University Class of 2009′s graduation!  It was quite the time.  I mainly went to see the incomparable Rachel Adams Miller, but it was good to see other friends as well.  Also we saw Joe Biden (or Joey B. as Matt Gutschick refers to him).  I’m sorry, I was less than impressed with him, and frankly don’t think hearing him speak was worth the trouble of all the security.

8.  I am still trying not to plan past July; however, I do have some wonderful plans for May, June, July, and even some for August.  So those are exciting.

9.  I am rearranging my apartment!  I already did the bedroom…now I have to figure out how to rearrange the living room.  …there’s not really much else I can do lol.  But still, it is fun and therapeutic.  Books everywhere tho.

10.  I love books.  This probably goes without saying but probably should be on every list about my life ever.  But going along with retail therapy, today I bought a new book that I am incredibly excited about: It’s a Wonderful LiE:  26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties.  It’s a collection of essays by women authors reflecting on their 20s.  There are 5 lies and then each lie has a section of essays.  The lies are a) “I’ll have an amazing apartment and love my job”  b) “I’ll have everything I need to live the life I’ve always wanted”  c) “I’ll know myself – and what I want”  d) “I’ll have satisfying relationships, great sex, and fabulous friends”  e) “I’ll be where I’m supposed to be, doing what I’m meant to be doing”.  I just hope this book lives up to my expectations lol.  Looks hilarious.

11.  Cat and I have a delightful plan for August…hopefully more details to come in the future!

12.  The people in my life are pretty much the most incredible people on the planet and make me laugh an absurd amount.  Life is always entertaining!

13.  I had been doing a wonderful job with running/yoga and have slightly lost steam this week.  Hopefully I can get back on the bandwagon ASAP.

14.  I am mildly obsessed with Sex and the City, but hopefully now that I’ve finished watching the entire series AND the movie, I can move onto other forms of media entertainment.  We’ll see!

15.  Had lunch with Mr. Marcus Keely today, and we had some excellent (albeit long) discussion.  We spent a good deal of time reflecting on Living Parables, and I was again reminded of what a special community that is.  So, all Parables, current and former…I heart you.  And even without an hour of prayer requests, you are still in my prayers.

So, my deadline for my 101 in 1001 has come and gone!  I just finished creating my new 101 in 1001, due date January 31st, 2012.  Sounds forever far away right?  Well, May 2nd 2009 sounded forever from away from August 2006.  And my oh my how time flies.  Life has truly been a blessing, and I cannot believe how much has happened!!

As for the last 101 in 1001, I accomplished a little bit less than half of my goals…which I’m pretty excited about!  I tend to set lofty goals.  Anyway, my new one is up on this page.  I hope you enjoy it!

May has been pretty good so far.  Definitely better than April.  I do appreciate everyone’s support, guidance, prayers, and even just company   I’m excited for the summer.  I think it is only going to improve.  I have been learning so much this whole year, and that is certainly not changing.  While I’m trying not to plan too far in advance, I do have lots of exciting plans coming up in the next couple of month.  Right now I can only think as far ahead as July, but I think that’s ok.  We’ll just see how things go.