love is all around

ok, so the first round of the bad was pretty bad. even though cam was gone for 9 days instead of 10, i hit a low low spot around day 5. i love being alone, but this time, i was too alone. my best dc friend was out of town, my awesome roommate was out of town, and i just felt lonelier than patsy cline. after a fantastic phone date with cam i realized hey! i have the resources to fix this situation! and just a few hours later, my weekend was PACKED. friday after work i headed home to visit my bff, her hubby, and little evan, then dashed to my sister's and then to dinner downtown with her, her bf, and some other friends. we had two rounds of tapas at kyma, two bottles of wine, and more than two hours of good conversation. the funniest part came toward the end... i headed down the street to the atm to get a bit more cash for my share of the bill. the line took forever, and when i finally slipped my card into the slot, the brightest light shone straight on me from the street. what?! i shielded my eyes and checked it out - it was a cop car shining its spot on me. huh? i sort of glared and turned back to the atm. next, "ma'am: you there, at the atm, are you alright" boomed over the cop's pa. duh, of course i am. so i shot another glare over my shoulder and went back to the machine. again, "are you ok at the atm?" next thing i hear is my sister laughing, and i look over once more just in time to see her tumbling out of the backseat of the squad car - our friend, one of annapolis' finest, had picked her up as she trailed me to the atm to make sure i was ok (since i was taking so long). hilarious!

the next day was a doozy too - up early and over to newlywed ernie's new condo to hang out with her and her husband, over to mom's to say hello, then home for about 4 hours and off to a pig roast in brookland. it was fantastic - hosted by the parents of a former intern of ours who graduated from american this summer. they're latino, puerto rican and salvadoran, and man did they throw a feast! the pig was roasted slowly in a large box with coals on top, and accompanied by potato salad, spicy rice, and tons of beer. we dined under a large tent set up in the driveway at tables adorned with vases of flowers, and as soon as the sun set a variety of instruments emerged from the house, and soon thereafter the music began. it was so warm and inviting and fun, i had a hard time leaving.

sunday was another round of the good - more tubing! a different crew this time, and less drunken, but no less fun. and monday i dashed out of work and picked cam up and all was right in the world. he's gone again now, for a day or maybe two... the unpredictability is frustrating, but it's so important and his employer values him so highly that i know we'll make it work. and i'm so proud of him.

magic

ever since i returned from vacation (flickr photos soon, i promise!), i've been having the best time hanging out with friends i missed while i was gone. the past two weekends have been standout - last weekend i had psmee and her lovely love over for dinner, and it was one of those evenings that isn't special because of some amazing meal, or delicious gossip, or the announcement of good news (though there was some of that!)... it was just special for the intimate feel, the relaxing pace, and the quality guests. the meal was good, all thanks to TJ's - a variety of olives, followed by marinated pork loin on the grill, new potatoes with butter and parsley, salad in a bag with gorgonzola, spinach, and cranberries - but not at all difficult, and easy to make while chatting. it was just one of those nights that leaves you loving your friends even more than before.

this weekend was a total lovefest too, from start to finish. ernie got married, and all our high school friends made up the bridal party. friday night was the rehearsal dinner, a classy dress-up affair with mouthwatering food (i had rockfish over crab risotto, with lumps of crab... gorgeous) that made me wish my dress wasn't so tight. it was so fun to hang out with my girls, all dressed up - haven't done that since prom! - and meet their boyfriends, and see them all meeting one another. saturday was wedding day, which started with manicures and BLT's with my sister and her bf (well, just the BLT for him), followed by helping ernie into her wedding dress (an inexplicably joyful thing that made me almost hyper with anticipation), and then witnessing she and her betrothed exchanging vows. the reception was a ball of dancing and drinking and laughing and love. and sunday may have been the best day of all. after cam brought us all breakfast, my sister, her bf, cam, and i went to my best friend's house to visit her, her husband, and little evan. being a part of this family and this little guy's life is the most special thing, and he's so round and beautiful right now i never wanted to put him down. then the four of us had lunch and were joined for fishing and a swim by five more wonderful friends - quite a group! sister's bf launched plans to surprise the newly-27 twins with a birthday party, so he and my sister and i snuck around preparing tacos and cupcakes for everyone. it defies description... these are the events as they transpired, but i'm not nearly elegant enough a writer to get at the feeling, the warm, relaxed mood that pervaded the day. it was perfect.

look out!

it's bachelorette party weekend! more later... just in case the bachelorette's reading this!

we are all hokies

all week long i've been struggling, trying to figure out what to say about the massacre at virginia tech. i've finally realized that for me, what it comes down to is another near-miss story, much like my september 11 experience.

one of my very best friends - we'll call her ernie - is a student at tech. this university and this friend are forever linked for me. from the moment she decided to go to blacksburg for undergrad, she has been as committed a hokie as one can ever hope to find. when i visited her there it took no time for me to realize why she loved the place so much - i've never met nicer people (including my first boyfriend) anywhere, and the campus is sprawling and majestic... the scale makes it feel, in spite of hurrying and harried students everywhere, like you've got all the time in the world to meander across the drill field and among the buildings. i remember a duck pond a notoriously naked friend of hers jumped in, bowling in the student center, drinking coffee in town, and toasting her 21st at local haunt sharky's.

after a hiatus in the real world, ernie recently returned to school at va tech, and it turns out she was supposed to be sitting down for a class on the second floor of norris hall when the rampage began. luck of luck, a professor she was visiting for something else asked her what the heck she was doing on campus, after knowing about the first two shootings, and said, "i wouldn't be here if i didn't have to be - you should go home." so she did... though skipping class is definitely not her style. and she is unharmed, well, physically anyway. her good friend and lab partner was not so lucky, though thankfully we have just learned this afternoon that she is alive, in serious condition in a hospital in roanoke after withstanding (a shot? shots?) to the abdomen. another friend arrived at norris just after the shooting began - got off the bus, saw students jumping from second-story windows, and turned right around and got back on that bus.

i am so profoundly grateful that ernie is alive and in one piece. she's headed home to annapolis as i type, and i'm taking the day off friday to spend with her, doing whatever she wants to do. i'm so lucky to have that opportunity.