"Home"

Okay, so there went NaBloPoMo...there really isn't internet in the mountains, and I was there Wednesday - Saturday. Those days were perfect though, and the drive up to the mountain house was beautiful! I arrived just after dinner, Mom and Alan and Matt were already there, so we had a nice, relaxing evening - played the Wii and pool and watched the second half of"The Family Man" with Nicolas Cage on TV.
Thursday brought my aunt and uncle and cousins, and the turkey, and the deep frier! So funny that we do that now - plop the turkey in a vat of boiling oil. Tastes good though, apparently. I, having my annual slice of turkey on the day, am not the best judge of good turkey, but everyone seems to like the flavor and moistness of a fried turkey. That's the good ole southern US for ya - nothing there is to eat that wouldn't taste better fried!

Friday we put up the Christmas tree. I think that's the earliest we've even done it, Matt had to go back to Winston to work, so that was our last chance for everyone to be there until I come back for Christmas. He left, and Mom and Alan and I spent a while analyzing the best way to renovate the kitchen for when they move up to that house. It was fun to talk it out and I think we found a good plan - it's weird to think that in just a couple years they will be up there full time! I love that house more and more every time I go, it's like I've already started moving the place in my heart that is 'home' from the Cary house to there. I think I've been doing that for a while, actually.

We went to a cute restaurant for dinner in Hillsville, and I made the (questionable) choice of eating a steak. Hick town USA is not the place to go for your once-every-six-months steak, just in case you were wondering. So stupid, shouldn't have wasted it on that. Oh well. Tomorrow starts the diet. I don't know what happened, but it's like 10 pounds just sprouted out of nowhere. So aggravating! It wasn't T-day either, they arrived a couple weeks ago.

Saturday I drove through Winston to eat lunch with Matt and check out his new house, which was cool. Then I spent the last bit of my budget for clothes and Christmas gifts at Southpoint on the way home. Okay I spent more than the last bit. I am bah-ro-oke. But shouldn't have to purchase anything to wear for the rest of the season. May WANT to, but I can actually get dressed in the mornign in less than 30 minutes now, because I have things that are warm and fit - wonderful combination!

My trek to DC to fly home was such fun! A co-worker from London who was also in town took me to Smithfield to meet my friend Carmen and her husband, who were driving up from Columbis to Richmond. Then just outside Richmond, we met my aunt Kate, who was in town from Wyoming. She drove me back to her sisters/my other aunt's house, and my cousin came over and we had a good visit - and watched SNF :) I love football. Definitely on the short list of things I really miss!

Monday I went to Montpelier with my aunts - they are renovating it to restore to how it was when the Madison's owned it, so it's cool to see all the stuff they are finding and doing.

After lunch, we packed up, drove to Yoders - coolish country store you'll find - and then on to the airport to fly me home. I love saying that about London. "I'm going home on Tuesday"...so crazy I live here!

I'll have to stop - really freakin tired

Pampering

It's so much fun to take the time and let yourself be spoiled from time to time. I went to the mall after work to get a coat, and walking through Saks I saw a YSL counter, only time I've seen one in the US. They have this awesome foundation, Perfect Touch, that brushes on. Anyway, I could actually justify paying for it in dollars, so I plopped down and let the saleslady find the right colour and go on to make my skin look better than it has in months. It was such fun to relax and let someone use you as a palette :).

I did get a great coat, some sweaters, and a bagload of lotions in this 5 for $25 sale at Bath and Body Works. Now all I have left is to get luggage for overnight or weekend trips, and I can go home well stocked for the next few months. I'll have to pull out a couple of these every so often to help deal with how broke I'll be for the rest of the month!

I'm sorry, have we met?

So I had a fun start to the day - I arrived too early to get in the building without a keycard, so I walked over to our PR Director, who had just pulled in the parking lot, and said "Hi! Can you let me in?" She said hi, with a curious tone, not at all like she would have if she recognized me, and then I made another comment about the doors and not having a key, and then she said, I don't think I've met you...and I laughed and said it's me, Jennie! And she connected and laughed and it was a fun moment to retell at work. In general, it was great to be back in the office, to see everyone and 'sync' up again. I sound like I'm an iPod or something.

Tonight, I went to the very American Carolina Ale House with my Mom for a yummy salad, Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale, and a really good visit. My friend Hope came and joined us for dessert, then she and I went on to shop for a bit, and have coffee at Barnes and Noble. I had another "who are you" moment, but it was more the existential kind...Hope is a true gem of a friend, not just because she is, in fact, a great friend, but because she is the only person I have ever met that shares my evangelical Christian home-schooled background, yet can talk frankly about our questions and discuss wildly different ideas together. So as we were talking, I found myself thinking, who is this girl saying all these ideas that should be so radical, yet seem so comfortable? It's cool that this version of me can still be such close friends with this version with her. It was a good thing, though. Really good.

Church, football, shopping

I managed to fit most of the essential elements of life in Cary all in one day! Went to my Mom and Alan's new church this morning, which was a good thing I think - got me out of the house at a decent hour! I hadn't been to a traditional-style Methodist service in a while, so it was a weird trip back in time...the organist made a few mistakes here and there, which made me feel better. Strange how the performance anxiety from5 years ago can come back so quickly! I can still remember the first few Sundays at Windsor UMC in South Carolina, when I would sweat through the whole service, concentrating so hard on not messing anything up. I had this impression that I would ruin the whole religious experience if I played at the wrong time or hit a wrong note somewhere. Fortunately, I relaxed over time, and could actually enjoy it somewhat.

Anyway, then it was home for my favorite meal from growing up - tomato soup and grilled cheese :D. It was kind of a "last supper" as I'm going to go vegan tomorrow. Tired of this excess weight, feeling sluggish, having horrible skin...I will use Shaklee to supplement while I'm finding the best ways to get all the protein and vitamins I need to be healthy. Shaklee is one of the only vitamin companies I trust - they do extensive market research and CNN recently featured an article where they found that Shaklee's supplements were the only 'brand' shown to have a measurable impact on overall health when taken on a regular basis.

Then of course, it was football. Nothing quite like curling up on the couch to watch NFL on a Sunday. I even got to see the Steelers! Except they lost. In overtime. To the Jets. Who were 1-8. Sigh.

Went shopping with Mom, first to help her find some new trousers for her ever-slimming self, and for me to enjoy the wonder that is the pound-to-dollar exchange rate these days. :)

Very satisfying first day back. Now I have to get a good night's sleep and get to the office...will be fun to show off the new look!

24 hours

I've now been awake exactly 24 hours "today" - my alarm went off at 7am this morning in my room in London, and I just know curled into bed, booted up my computer and started writing at 7am (UK time), or 2am (EST). Crazy how the combination of a plane trip and some wine can create a time warp the body is just NOT preparted to handle! I just fell asleep for a couple seconsds while driving home at least three times. Scary!

Anyway, nothing intelligent I can say on the 1/8 brain power I have right now...I'm "home" thought - have internet, yummy bagels, and football!

Going "home"

So tomorrow I head off to the airport and go back to the US. This will be my second trip since moving, and I'm really excited about it. The last trip was out of desperation, almost, i was so frustrated with work I was dying to get back and re-set my life :) This time, everything is much better, I like work, I like my life, I'm just heading for an awesome week seeing family and friends and, of course, Thanksgiving!

It's been a weird week, went by really quickly with all the travel and events. I have to get up pretty early to get to the airport so nothing much to say tonight. Except that delivery in a big city is 10x better than I'm used to. Thai, Sushi, Indian, Pizza...all just a phone call away!

The English Gentleman

I missed a day!! :( I didn't bring a computer with me on a business trip to the seaside and realized when I arrived that I was going to miss a day of posting. Sigh.

The trip was great, I was amazingly comfortable spending a good part of 24 hours in the company of middle-aged men who all know a heck of a lot more than I do about printing and publishing, and have a completely different life than I do. It's quite a feeling to be the youngest and the only female in a business meeting at the same time. At dinner on Thursday when I was surrounded by five businessmen, I remember thinking, Okay I could get intimidated, or I could really enjoy this! And I enjoyed it, for the most part.

Two of the men were what I would consider the quintessential English gentleman. I think I found the conversations at dinner and the meetings so stimulating partly because of how much I just loved listening to them talk! Something about the accent, the proper way of speaking, drinking brandy after a nice meal - it all made me feel like I was being transported back about 100 years. Plus it was an older beach town where we stayed in the "Grand Hotel" and I had lounge chairs and tapestry curtains in my room, which certainly added to the effect!

One outcome of the trip is that I am definitely motivated to get my act together to keep holding my own in these settings. I don't necessarily feel I have more to prove because I'm young and a woman, but certainly don't want the fact that I am young and a woman to be the only things that come across, and having nothing to add to the conversation is a sure-fire way to allow someone's mind to rest on those facts. At the Book Awards, there was an older man who made a few comments that I should be promoted and told my boss why isn't she running things, can't you see "talent"...and I have never spoken to him before, leaving me to assume the 'talent' he is referring to is my ability to look fashionable at an event. Now, he could know my boss or have talked to a colleague across the table who knew me, but I am always scared of the assumption that I achieved something on looks or charm, maybe too much so. Regardless, it motivates me to work hard, so I'm not too worried with getting over that fear. In another few years, when I have even less chance of that assumption being made, I'll have to find something else to motivate me ;)