Seeing the other coast

This is a little overdue, but I kept doing other things and then going "Ohh, yeah, the blog..." around midnight.

So. This summer continued to be busy after Michigan. I had a week of rest, then headed out to the other side of the country.

All of this flying this summer made me realize something: I've developed an uneasiness about flying. Not quite a fear, but definitely not the easiness I remember having flying up to Canada and back multiple times. This was not helped by having to fly on a propellor plane once during my trip. It was terrifying.

I started in San Francisco, where I saw Emily, who is the MOST ADORABLE pregnant woman ever (seriously, look at her newest blog post with the pictures of her & her fantastic husband, Dan, and try and disagree with me). Emily & I met in an undergrad class we had together and then she ended up dating & marrying my boss/friend, Dan! I haven't seen them in two years and I saw I had to fly through SF to get to Oregon, so I asked Emily if it was cool to stop in for two days, even though she was ready to pop. Thankfully, she said yes (and also didn't give birth while I was there! As exciting as that would be, I didn't want to add any sort of complication to that time [or cut the cord, haha]). She was kind enough to walk around with me, even though she was mere days from her due date. It was awesome to just see Emily & Dan again and catch up, but I also got to see things in SF I didn't get to see the first time I was there, talk with Emily about all the TV shows we watch AND it was Dan's birthday the second day I was there. It was awesome to be a part of that and try out something new: Indian pizza! Seriously delicious. I wish there was a place in RVA that offered it.

After that small time in SF, I flew into Portland to meet Katy. Katy & I lived together in Kalamazoo for two years. Katy & Mike came to visit us in VA last year and we had a blast. This year there was a new addition to Katy & Mike's life: Alexandria! She is absolutely adorable! Seriously! I felt in love with her the moment I saw her. Katy & I went to an AMAZING bookstore in Powell's, then walked a little around Portland, swearing that next time, we would have ideas of other things to see, and headed to Eugene, where Katy lives. In Eugene, I introduced Katy to the IT Crowd and True Blood, and she introduced me to life in Eugene! We went to see Harry Potter (a tradition), talked about hippies and Eugene/Oregon culture, ate at delicious places (I now want a Cafe Yumm! in RVA), went to Saturday Market (all handmade things & a multi-cultural food area), went out on a girls' night, went to the Oregon Coast, went to an art museum, and tried to dodge the heat wave that hit Oregon.

When I first started this, I was going to include pictures & video of my trip, but they're ALL on my facebook and flickr & I don't feel like putting them here as well, since it took some time to get them on those two sites. If you don't know how to get to those, ask me.

This summer has been a summer of firsts, which is what it was meant to be. I want to stop letting excuses and anxiety get in my way of doing the fun things I talk about, and I think I've been pretty successful.

Firsts:

-Flew to Michigan alone

-Delayed luggage

-Flew to the west coast alone

-Ate alone in a restaurant

-went to a movie alone

-said "y'all" like I was born saying it. It just kinda popped out of my mouth before I knew it!

-sang karaoke (not quite alone, with two other girls, but STILL! way more than I would've ever done a year or more ago!)

-met the first additions to friends' families: Alex, Harrison (I didn't mention this in my Michigan post I now realize. I went to visit my friend Kate and meet her son, who is adorable, funny & smart!) and (sort of) Jackson. I'm just gonna put him on the list cause I got to feel him moving around :) All of my friends have such beautiful children! (Again, putting Jackson in that cause I bet you he will be just adorable!)

-many more I've forgotten!

I still have some plans for the rest of the summer. I need to start working on school plans more than I have, but I have some time...