Visiting Virginia

Since moving to Atlanta, one of the things I have really been wanting to do was drive to Virginia and visit people I know there from my internship in summer 2010. While I am much closer than I was in Utah, it's still about a ten hour drive each way. Or eleven hours if I split it into two drives and spend a night in North Carolina. I tried it both ways.

I had decided to go up on Presidents Day weekend, because I need the extra day for the long travel time. And then I decided in order to see everyone I wanted to, I needed another day. Luckily my boss seemed to have no problem giving me that Friday off as well (it's our slow season right now, so that helps).

I actually stayed in Durham on Thursday night with Mindy and Jeran's friends, Mary and Adam, since Mindy and Jeran were in Utah visiting. It was kind of nice having the drive split up in two, and talking to my mom all the way through South Carolina helped, too. I really enjoy the bluetooth feature in my car that allows me to talk to people while I drive. Legally. Talking to people really makes the driving time disappear - on the way home I had plentiful time to talk to many people, so that was very fun. This was the first long solo road trip, and I was quite happy that it went so well and really didn't seem that difficult.

There were four main groups/people that I visited with: The Care of Trees office in Dulles (where I interned), the Anderson family (where I lived), Ryan Royston (best friend), and the Jenkins (good friends of the Andersons and now mine).

My visit to TCOT was rather impromptu and unannounced. I just drove over for fun, to see the once-familiar route and hopefully be able to chat with some old coworkers. Luck was with me, and I arrived at the office just near the end of the day, so I was able to surprise everyone with my random visit. I talked with Jeremy (boss and friend) for a while, but also Dave, Dean, Mark, Doug, and Ron as they were coming back from their work days. It was fun to see them again, and to know that I could go work there whenever I wanted - according to Jeremy.

I spent a lot of time at the Andersons', since that's where I was staying for the weekend, but we didn't really do anything together. It was more casual than that, like I belonged there and it wasn't at all different for me to stay there. It was a whole lot of fun memories though. Like the picture frame on the wall with the store-provided photos, or the chocolate crispies for breakfast.

Ryan and I spent quite a lot of time together. Dinner on Friday night at IHOP, where we compared our nice new cars and dealership stories (he'd gotten his car that day, so it was fun to compare notes. Our cars are quite similar). Saturday afternoon we went to McKay Used Books, Inc in Manassas. SO FUN! They have so many books, movies, music, everything. We spent hours there. I ended up buying some movies, a famous buildings of the world book, and a beautiful big book of Sherlock Holmes - it has every single Conan Doyle story, and it looks like it's never been opened before. Fun! Then we had dinner and watched some movies (including the home video his little brother had just finished editing together. I rather liked Thor, but watching Count of Monte Cristo just makes me upset at how completely inferior it is to the book. In every way. It was so good to see Ryan again - it's been almost five months since I've seen him, and two months since I've spent significant time with a close friend who's not also a family member. It was sad to leave because who knows when the next opportunity to visit will be.

I spent Sunday evening with the Jenkins' at Pemberley (that's what their house is called. They're both very big Jane Austen fans). We had a nice pot roast dinner and visited for a while.

I really loved my visit to Virginia, it felt a lot like being at home. Not home home, but a home. Very familiar and comfortable, lots of friends and family type people. I wish I could visit again soon, but it's a really long drive and I have so many other places to visit and explore.

This is Work

I often feel like I don't have much to write about this summer, because really the only thing that happens is work. Let me describe a typical day in my life, and you will understand.

4:00 am - Wake up, dress, eat, scriptures, pack lunch, etc

5:00 am - Leave for work, Kalie drives

6:00 am - Dispatch meeting at work

6:15 am - 2:00 pm Work. or so. It could last until 3 or 4 on a long day.

4:00 pm - Home, maybe swim in the little pool or read a book, shower, nap, etc

6:00 pm - Dinner w/family

8:00 pm - Start getting ready for bed

9:00 pm - Bed time (ish)

Days are fairly short with this schedule. Doesn't really leave much time or energy for outside activities. Sometimes we go to Walmart or something afterwards, and on Thursday evenings we go to Institute and play ultimate frisbee afterwards (that's our late nights of the week). Sometimes we do something fun on Saturdays, like yesterday when we hiked Old Rag, other times we work at Kalie's house and hang out. Sundays we go to the stake singles ward, which is fun. Yep, that's my life in a nutshell. What a way to spend a summer, eh?

A Visit to Pemberley

Last Wednesday after work, Kalie and I went to Pemberley. This is what the Jenkins call their estate, aka, really beautiful big house and gardens, etc. The Jenkins are the most amazing people. They're an older couple in the Anderson's ward, and are great friends with everyone, especially the youth and young single adults. I just love them. Darryl and Arlene might just be the most loving, accepting, and giving people I have ever met.
Darryl, aka Jenkins, is so funny. "Sweet poop" is his preferred term of endearment, and he calls Arlene "Prince$$". He loves gardening and Jane Austen books and movies and adding the word "dog" to everything. "That's dog fabulous!" "Did you see my dog roses?" So funny.
Arlene is the young women's president and great friends with all the young women in the ward, and a fabulous cook. She's quieter than Darryl, but just as wonderful. She also loves Pride and Prejudice and all things Jane Austen.
Grandma Hazel, Darryl's 96 year-old mother, also lives with them. She's so sweet, but can remember very little. She's pretty mobile considering her age.

We had a tour of the gardens - Grandma's garden, the rose garden, and the fairy garden, and ate hamburgers and other great food. I ate so much.

We're going out to Pemberley again tomorrow morning to help garden, and some other time to watch the new Emma with them. I can't wait. I hope to be an old person like them someday. :-)