i'm back

Hello all. Ya miss me?

I'm just catching up (physically and mentally) from my days away. Weekend kicked off well with a visit to Brighton to have dinner with AL and her bf. It was the bf's birthday, so we headed to a pub for dinner and beer. Much fun. The week had been crazy stressful leading up to my Board luncheon on Friday. It went well though--I thought I talked too fast (I am a NYer--born and in the blood), but I've gotten nothing but good feedback--esp. from the VP, so that's good!

At 5 am on Saturday, AL and her really-good-sport bf drove me to the airport. I got to L.A. around noon. Enterprise wouldn't have a compact car for about another hour, so would I mind taking the Chrysler convertible? Ugh...the thing is like 6 inches off the ground. I hated it. Drove over to my old roommate's house. BB and I headed to Huntington Beach (AFTER a trip to In n Out for lunch...I do miss that) for a few hours...wandered in and out of shops, ate Coldstone on the beach. BB wanted to see a movie, so I agreed. Then, she started looking up showtimes for United 93. LAST MOVIE on earth I wanted to see, but being me, I said nothing and went along with it. Objectively, I'll say that the movie was incredibly well done...so weird to realize and remember that people had no clue that day as to what was happening, as to how the world was changing. Incredibly powerful movie. However, it's just not what I wanted to ever see...memories from that day are still pretty raw for me and I didn't need to relive it. I actually ducked out to throw up, I was so disturbed by the whole thing. My own fault, though. Should have said something. I did get update calls from S and A on the newest resident of Big Yellow--so that was exciting!

Sunday morning, BB and I grabbed bagels for breakfast and I headed to CC's house for a quick visit. CC is getting married this Saturday and her whole Filipino family was in town. A little crazy in that house, but good to lay eyes on CC and spend a little time chatting. Then, it was time to head up to L.A. (man, I am so boring! I don't tell stories well!) I called my friend MB on my way up to double check that I could crash at her place Sunday and Monday nights.

Quick aside about MB...she was the asst. director of my teaching program when I moved to L.A. She and her kids quickly became like family to me (kids were 15, 12 and 10 at the time). MB went through an awful divorce while I was out there--her ex is a royal asshole. Anyway, kids are like my siblings (they actually started introducing me as their big sister while I lived out there) and I adore them. They've been roughed up by the whole divorce...to the point that the now 17 year old middle boy is now at a rehab school out in UT. But, they are my family, broken bits and all.

So, MB and I agreed to meet up after her massage and go shopping (a ritual of ours, though I hate to shop...but food is involved!). I slowly made my way to her place in order to avoid having to deal with her boyfriend (a guy I really don't like) until I was sure she'd be there too. The 2 of us hit Ross to shop and ate fish tacos at Wahoo's (so damn good!) She and her bf had 'date night' that night--bleh--so I headed to an internet cafe to catch up with my friend SR. We chatted while I ate dinner and then it was home to crash in MB's son's bed (as he was with his dad that night). The pet mouse was in my room, so I proceeded to have nightmares that my laundry was full of mice. Ew!

Monday was kind of a slow day, I had to replace my phone battery as it died during a call with BB. BB's sister had TRIPLETS on Monday, so she was calling to update me. Monday night got better though, as I had dinner with T! It was really nice to catch up and hear about Hawaii...I'm looking forward to a Big Yellow reunion at FRFF.

Tuesday, I headed down to my old school. Got there at recess and was immediately mobbed with about 30 kids. They are all getting so big! The 2nd recess was full of more reunions, then I toured the new pre-K/K building and saw some munchkins who were just babies when I taught there. I spent 45 minutes in the 2nd grade classroom helping with times tables. Hung out a bit more with kids--I really do miss them, but not L.A.!--before heading to lunch with SJ and JP. SJ and JP had a baby girl in January who is just the most beautiful creature! She was pretty much all smiles til she got REALLY hungry and REALLY mad towards the end of lunch. Big blue eyes and gorgeous reddish curls. I could have stared at her all day!

My flight back was fine, though really short (we had good wind pushing us, I guess) and I didn't get much sleep b/c of the drunken Bostonians popping can after can of beer next to me. I got to my car, which I'd left in Brighton at 5:30. Came home, showered, watched Tuesday night's GG finale, then went to work. Left work at 3:00 though, because my boss is the best and dozed on and off til about 9 when I went to bed.

Can I get any more boring?!