Bye-Bye Pittsburgh!

Hallelujah!! After four years and three months, I have officially ended my time in Pittsburgh! I have to return for one week in 10 days, but my project is over so this will be a final week to wrap everything up.

I'm so grateful for the Pittsburgh assignment, because it provided me with many opportunities and blessings. Over the past four years, I paid off my debt; I built up a savings account with seven months of salary; I moved from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.; I moved into a home that provides me great comfort, security and happiness; I traveled for free to Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, Colorado, Jackson Hole, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Chicago; and I've purchased lots of fun treats and home furnishings for myself. It was a wonderful opportunity, but there were also sacrifices along the way and it's time to reassert some priorities.

I'm excited to sleep in my own home every night, see friends during the week, go to church events, work out at my gym and other "normal" activities. Most of all, I'm looking forward to lots of new adventures and opportunities!

Lunch with an Old Friend

Today, I had lunch with one of my favorite people, someone with whom I've lost touch in recent years. Amber, Jill and I had lunch with Heather Hadfield Deitrich, who lives just on this side of heaven. She's one of teh friendliest, kindest and most generous people I've met and it was so fun to see her again and catch up.

She married a guy named Matt Deitrich about eight years ago, they moved to suburban Philadelphia about seven years ago, and they had a beautiful son, named Davis, six years ago. Unfortunately, throughout all that time, Matt decided he needed a handful of girlfriends on the side. Apparentely, Heather learned the truth last July and everything has been unraveling since. She and Matt are no longer together and she is moving forward with a divorce.

It's such a sad occurence for someone who is so lovely, but I was encouraged by her positive attitude and outlook. She had not one bad thing to say about Matt, only that she feels sad for the decisions he's made and the consequences he's now experiencing.

With a new work project in Philadelphia, I'm hoping to maybe be able to see her again soon on her own home turf. Now that we've reconnected, I hope we're able to stay in touch!

A New (and Unwanted) Calling

I cannot believe it! Trish Moloney, who's the stake Primary president and a friend of 15 years (I thought!), just called me to be her 2nd counselor. AGH! I'm really trying to have a positive attitude about this calling, but so far, I'm just annoyed. It's really not worth putting into words why I'm irritated...quite frankly, I'm being immature and selfish...but I am irritated, and I'm dragging my feet into this calling. I know that I'll soon get on board and I'll enjoy the calling, but for right now, I'm in a very snarky mood. Here's hoping there are a lot of darling children who win me over!

It's My Birthday!

I can hardly believe the whirlwind of activities that surrounded my 40th birthday! And I have to say, I LOVED it all!

The festivities began more than a week ago, when I took five of my besties to my favorite restaurant in Virginia. I decided earlier this summer that I wanted to treat those friends who have meant so much to me over the years to dinner at L'Auberge chez Francois, so Amber, Amalia, Julianna, Susan, Jill and I went out to Great Falls for an amazing dinner. The food was delicious - Susan and I ordered lobster; Amalia ordered duck; Jill ordered trout almondine; and Amber and Julianna ordered beef tenderloin medallions, which I think was probably the best on the table - and dessert was delish! Who doesn't love a perfectly prepared chocolate souffle!

Throughout the week leading up to my birthday I began to receive a slew of cards from Paige - a total of 40, each of which noted something she loved about me. How sweet is that!?!It was so much fun to open 40 cards!

The birthday celebrations were interrupted for a few days by our trip to OBX, which was oodles of fun! We drove back from OBX on Saturday, and on Sunday I napped twice (!) and ditched church because I was operating under "vacation rules", and I decided that church attendance was not part of this vacation!

Amalia and Gordon had previously invited me to their home for a birthday dinner, so with about 10 minutes to spare, I quickly got up from my nap and got ready. Susan was supposed to pick me up at 6:00, but I had to drop stuff off at Lindsay's house so I emailed and called Susan to tell her I'd drive myself. As I was driving through Amalia's neighborhood, I passed Susan on the street. THANK GOODNESS WE SAW EACH OTHER! Why? Because this is what was waiting for me:A surprise party!!!!! These pictures tell the whole story - I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA!!

It's a good thing I saw Susan on the street, because she flipped a quick U-turn, caught up and met me on the front lawn with Amalia and Gordon. I'm sick to think that I almost ruined their surprise, which they had planned for more than four months!

Making the party even more of a surprise, I had out-of-town friends standing in Ama's living room, as well as Mom!! I couldn't believe it! In fact, as I was hugging Cherstyn, I cried out, "My Mom is here!"Caroline, Cherstyn, Mom, Jill Jackson and Karen Castagna all flew in for the party, which was so touching and meaningful. Others at the party included Amber and Chappy (who co-hosted with Ama and Susan), Lindsay, Laurel, Michael and Sarah Nolan, Trish and Peter Moloney, Kristen Glenn, Caren Cannon, Sue Stahle, Mendy Hunter and Marissa Osborne. It was so much fun to be surrounded by so many people I love and adore!

The party was themed "Around the World in 40 years" and featured many of the places I've traveled. The girls were SO creative! There was the Tiki room and pina coladas for my time in Hawaii...A display from Greece that included yummy Greek treats...A hilarious display from Italy, including a picture of the Pope (gotta love Chappy!)and a cut out of the Mona Lisa that was a hit!Everyone took their turn with the cut out, but I think my favorite picture is this one of Jill...I just love her legs sticking out from underneath the cutout!
There was also a California station, complete with Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese (love it!)A France table, with all the fixings for Amber's super-delicious crepes and a collection of berets, which everyone started wearing!Finally, in the dining room, they set up a Mexican station for Gordon's delicious fish tacos, guacamole and chips and salsa...The party was so much fun! Everyone had such a great time...lots of smiles and laughter!
All of my best girlfriendsMe and MarissaKaren, Caroline, Cherstyn and mePeter and Trish MoloneyMe and LindsayMichael Nolan, Mom and meAmber and her lovely sister Mendy.
The gang really went above and beyond. As though the party wasn't more than enough, they also put together a terrific video of music and photos from all of my travels, plus a very special photo album that included messages and birthday greetings from dozens of friends and family members, including friends from high school and college. It's a very special book that I'll always treasure. They also bought me a beautiful pineapple charm for my charm braceletas well as a beautiful painting by Michael Kennedy, an artist from Minneapolis who is a friend of Amalia's brother. I was far too spoiled with gifts!
Toward the end of the party, Michael brought out a platter full of Georgetown Cupcakes, which are simply the best!How cute are the Eiffel Towers and French flags on top of the cupcakes?
The party was a huge hit - for me and everyone else!They didn't forget one detail! There were even darling take-away gift bags full of Swedish fish, one of my favorite candies! Amalia, Susan, Amber and Jill threw a wonderful party that I'll always remember.

Once the party was over, Karen, Cherstyn and Caroline came to my house for some overnight girl time, which was so fun! Yesterday, we all hung out together - we didn't do anything special, but it was a lot of fun to be with friends.

Today - my actual birthday (!), Amalia came by the house early and she and I and Karen went to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for a spa day. I really enjoyed my experience, but I'm not sure Ama and Karen thought it was all that it was cracked up to be for the price. At least I got to spend several hours on my birthday with two dear friends!

For my official birthday dinner, Mom, Susan and I went to one of my new favorite restaurants in Washington - Founding Farmers. It's a casual restaurant with really yummy homecooking. Mom ordered pot roast, I ordered fried chicken with buttermilk waffles and Susan ordered....hot dogs. That's right...the girl ordered 3 hot dogs. I was totally dumbfounded. So much so that I had to snap a picture of her enjoying her feast!All in all, it was a terrific birthday! I'm so grateful for friends and family who made it a special and meaningful celebration for me!

OBX...Albeit Abbreviated

After Hurricane Irene finally passed through the East Coast, we finally received the all clear sign and headed down to OBX! We left on Tuesday morning at 4am and made it to the Route 12 turnoff at 9:30am, 30 minutes before Route 12 officially opened. Unfortunately, other vacationers had the same idea! Check it out. We waited at the light for TWO HOURS! The policemen on the scene were clueless and didn't know how to direct traffic. Instead they sat in their cars and watched the traffic stack up. ANNOYING!!

Once we made it on to Route 12, it was relatively smooth sailing. We could definitely see hurricane damage, but it was primarily piles of driftwood that had washed up from the sound.Fortunately, our house escaped any major damage. The only visible impact of the hurricane was that the hot tub cover had blown into a neighbor's yard and all of the pool furniture was at the bottom of the pool, so that took some work on our part!Jill manned the lifeguard hook while Amber and I pulled up nearly 20 lounge chairs and tables. By the end of the exercise, we were all exhausted and ready to jump into the pool, but it was nasty from all of the sand, leaves and bugs that blew in from the storm.

Our house this year was nice and served the seven of us really well. We've stayed in fancier places in the past, but this one was fine. At the end of the day, we're looking for a good pool, well-stocked kitchens, comfortable beds and quick access to the beach (and for me, a hammock...no such luck this year).

Since beach week this year was Tuesday night through Saturday afternoon, we maximized our time. We lazed by the pool and enjoyed our new luxurious rafts, which we named Beyonce and Jay-Z...When Amber wasn't making love to "Javier", her gallon-sized martini glass that she filled to the brim with Diet Dr. Pepper.......she was pretending to be 20 years old by mounting Beyonce and Jay-Z in all sorts of lady-like manners. Let's just say the Kindle and Amber went into the drink more than once!I lathered on the 100 SPF and covered every inch of my body in total fear of getting any sun...too bad I forgot about my feet, which I burned the tarnation out of on our last day!...We basked in the warmth of the hot tub while reading this year's book selection (I finally finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo!! It only took 15 months!)We spent afternoons and sunsets down at the beach, reading our books, watching HOT dads play with kids and fly kites, and taking all-important naps...We cooked our favorite foods, including peach pancakes, caramel corn, grilled cheese, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, chicken pesto pizzas, and hummus plates that JJ took creative license with (crazy girl!)....Julianna celebrated her 44th birthday with a Snickers cake made by yours truly (chocolate cake, chocolate covered peanuts, caramel, triple chocolate frosting...what's not to love??) and a new Vitamix blender....We played Beach Girls Salon, and I have to say that Lindsay really stepped it up this year....We did some shopping at our favorite stores down by the lighthouse (I love so much in the garden store!)We convinced Chappy to do a leap across the beach, which resulted in lots of laughs and applause...and not just from our crownd! We did our obligatory stop by Wings to pick out next year's pool cover-ups, beach chairs and baseball hats...And,of course, we enjoyed a Senor Aqui dolphin show performance by Chappy and her beach friend. No trip to OBX would be complete without Chappy and Senor Aqui!...Even though the week wasn't exactly what we wanted...seven full days!...we had clear skies and beautiful weather and we had a great week. Here's the final picture of the week...it's always so sad to put the inflatables away!I'm already counting down to OBX 2012!