the 12 days of going home

Wow, I didn't write at ALL while I was in the US...so now, where do I even start? I got back from Holland on Thursday, knowing I was heading to NC on Sunday. I had only purchased the ticket on Wednesday, so I touched down in London for what I knew would be a wild few days before flying West! Thursday night I relaxed and unpacked, and Friday was Daniel's last day at work so everyone in the office (slim pickings due to travel plans of 4 people - half the office) went out for a drink afterwards, then we met up with another friend, and relatively calmly celebrated his last day as a Lulu. Saturday was the big event for my flatmate and her not-boyfriend. I think there needs to be a new term, something to use when one or more of the two people involved has a problem with the girlfriend/boyfriend title. Because otherwise you're stuck with this long explanation every time you reference them, like "Jane and the guy she hangs out with a lot but isn't dating because he's still scared to commit after his marriage fell apart last year and she's not sure he's really her type after what happened with that other weird New Yorker guy" Whoooaaa...dude, we just need to know they are an item, not the gory details. So if anyone can create a new term and get it adopted into pop culture, I'll happily jump on the bandwagon. Or maybe it's already out there and I am just slow on the uptake!

anyway, the point of all that was to say it was party time. Which meant baking 3D teddy bear cakes all day and running out to get last minute gifts and supplies, right up until the last minute when we iced the cakes in shifts while getting dressed and made up to go out. Quite funny, really. I have pics of the cake and the party, just not my cord to upload from my camera. I seem to be especially skilled at losing that...

So the party was heaps of fun, I danced and danced and met a bunch of people, but couldn't make the 'after-party' at Pascal's house because I had the minor life detail of a flight to Raleigh leaving the next day at 12:45. Darn planning, should have flown on Monday. But it was probably best, it got messy over there apparently. I eneded up jumping in a taxi headed back towards my side of town with some people I knew and stopping off at a club to continue dancing until it shut, and then had just a quick cab ride to the house, and time to pack and fall asleep for a few hours before loading up my bag and hopping on a bus to catch the train to catch my plane. Public transport is so crazy - and the fact that I am so used to it now is awesome.

So I arrived Sunday at 4:20, breezed through the one-room customs drill at RDU, and walked outside to be smothered in humidity. Wow I'd forgotten how miserably hot it can get in North Carolina! It was great to see my Mom and Alan and settle back into my childhood room for a week, go to the farmer's market, shop with my friend and exploit the dollar-to-pound ratio as much as possible...then Tuesday I got to walk into work and see my department and my boss and it was just exactly what I needed. I feel great personally, socially, career-wise, everything that felt out of sync is back on track, or close to it. :) I went out for dinner with a couple girls Tuesday, to my favorite restaurant Underground on Wednesday, to Chapel Hill to meet my flatmates sister - that was a randomly cool coincidence, they are from Canada, my flatmate ends up in London, and rooming with me, and her sister in Chapel Hill. Small World. Then we all met up with some work people and sat on the terrace with some wine...anyway, I won't bore with details, but I had a great week. Even got to go to the mountains for a day on Saturday and chill out in nature and at the house...it was great :)

So now, I'm back, although I brought a little cold with me :( Will upload some pics to Flickr soon, provided I find my camera cord soon....