Always a Bridesmaid...

My good friend Kayla got engaged last weekend, and I have the honor of being a bridesmaid in her wedding. She was my first friend at FCNI, and we bonded over discussing our shared clients, who were a handful, to say the least. She is always there to listen and be supportive, she volunteered herself to clean my bathroom when I moved out of my apartment in AG, she loves my dogs almost as much as I do (sometimes I think more) and she made plans to come visit me in Portland almost the moment I left SLO. She is a great person, and an amazing friend, and I much appreciate her in my life. I love you Kayla, thanks for making me a part of your special day!

With that said, on March 7th, I will head down to SLO county and I will don my 5th bridesmaid dress. I'm working my way toward 27. ;)

While I'm on the subject, I just got a cd of the photographer's pics from my friend Jenny's wedding in September of 2007. Jenny was my roommate our sophomore year at Cal Poly. We had a lot of laughs and good times that year, and it was a pleasure to be a part of her wedding. It was a beautiful day, and so much fun. Take a look:

And in unrelated news.... Happy Obama day! 

Back in the Land of Port

Well, I made it back. The drive here was much much easier than the drive down. I spent the night at Kelly and Rob's new house in Castro Valley on Friday night and did the rest of the drive on Saturday. The total drive time was about 13 hours, as it should be. (Including the various potty, food, and gas breaks during which the dogs and I always got out to stretch our legs). My visit home was lots of fun, outside of being sick the entire time. Here are some highlights of my time in the Golden State:

• Taqueria, my favorite Mexican restaurant in all the world
• Watching Jeapordy and Wheel of Fortune with Mom, Dad, and Grandmother
• Seeing Leah after almost 6 months - she is sober, happy and healthy, and I could not be happier for her
• Visiting Candy Cane Lane
• Seeing my SLO girls again - especially Corinne, who I hadn't seen since I left - laughing about silly inside jokes ("duh-ber", "bar-rack")
• Eating Upper Crust, my favorite Italian restaurant in all the world
• A relaxing Christmas Eve at the Markley's, watching the Family Stone and eating freshly baked chocolate chip cookies
• Meeting the Randalls' Golden Retriever puppies, Maddie and Buddy, the snuggly, pudgy balls of fluff with precious faces attached
• Christmas morning, all the joy and wonders of the holiday written across the kids' faces as we sat around the tree
• New clothes!
• Watching Bennett and Tommy have lightsaber wars
• Reading with Ally
• Going to the movies with the family - a rare treat! - even though it turned out Marley and Me wasn't really the best choice, in light of recent events in the family (but a great film otherwise)
• Feeling Elodie move
• The generally lovely and precious holiday season and my beloved family
• Nine pairs of jeans donated to me by my generous and fashion forward friend Brittany :)
• Spending time with Arletta, getting Bagel Bakery, wandering aimlessly around the mall, and driving by the beach, just like old times
• Fun at the Kilzer's and the Running Iron on New Year's Eve
• An oceanfront lunch with Kimi and Mike
• Seeing Jenn and discussing possibly living together in the future :)
• Dinner with the Markleys (including Kate and Tom)

I went to church this morning, and as luck would have it, the Christmas service had been cancelled, and they had it today! (Which was great, because we were all too sick to go on Christmas day.) So I officially celebrated the reason for the season. Thanks for being born, Jesus!

I am glad to be back, but I'll miss everyone, and won't get to have as many CA visits in the winter and spring. :( So if you feel like seeing the snow, we have that here. (It just started up again about half an hour ago.) Come see me. I hope you all had a great holiday season!

Oh - also - I have a roommate! She moved in today. From Wisconsin! More on her later, but it should be a good thing.