TGIF

Thank goodness it is Friday, this week hasn't been too terribly difficult, but I am definitely ready for the weekend. It'll hopefully be a nice weekend too - tonight we're going to one of the loan officer's holiday parties, tomorrow morning we're going to get as much Xmas shopping done as possible, then go to meet my Dad and Pam at the airport during their 3 hour layover, and then possibly Sunday watch the football (American football in this case) with some friends.

Last week was shortened because Thursday was Thanksgiving, and it was really fun because we got to spend the long weekend in California. We left late Wednesday night,and came back early Monday morning so we were completely and totally exhausted (and I managed to catch a pretty stupidly awful cold), but the trip itself was great. It was so nice being back in the Bay Area again. I know everyone knows how much I miss it, and how much we want to move back there at some point, but that feeling of wanting to be back there is only made so much more intense whenever we visit. And this visit was a good combination of spending time with family and with friends. Thursday we spent Thanksgiving at my Dad and Pam's, with some of Pam's family, Auntie Barb, Grandma, Becca, Annica...it was a small group of us, but just so nice. And the turkey was scrumptious. Dad did a great job! Then Friday, I met up for brunch in Walnut Creek with the "Parkmead Posse." Oh man, I have not seen some of them in years, and it was just so good to be able to hug each other, catch up, chat, eat good food, drink mimosas, and be together again - if only for a few hours (none of us wanted to leave at 1, and we'd been there since 9:30!). I then Bart-ed over to the city to go over to Becca's to hang out for the rest of the afternoon (another thing I miss about the Bay, the wonderfulness that is Bart. I feel as if I would not appreciate it so much after another few years of living there, but gotta admit, after being stuck in the suburbs for just over a year...I long for the type of public transportation that Bart offers.). We went out to grab some warm drinks, then wandered around the neighborhood for a little while, and then went back to hang out at home and eat a yummy dinner and sip on delicious drinks that becca made for us. The next morning I hopped back on Bart to go over to Alameda to meet Annica, because she was taking me out to get a pedicure as a little gifty. So nice of her, especially since it was only a little spa, and the one nail-lady moved very slowly, so we didn't have enough time for Annica to get her toes done too. She let me just get mine, and decided she would come back later. After that, we grabbed some delicious Peet's coffees and headed over to Rockridge because we were meeting Erika to do some shopping at Crossroads. :) Miss Crossroads. Miss Erika. Miss Rockridge. Trying not to get all soppy about the Bay again. ANYWAYS, we met up with Erika at Crossroads, and then my Dad and Mike showed up to surprise us, then Becca came over - and we all decided that lunch would be a great idea, so we went to have Barney's right there on College. And it was delicious. Then, we said our goodbyes to Erika before she hopped on her bike to head back home to Oakland. And of course, I started to get teary eyed. Ridiculous and embarrassing. And yes I miss Erika and that made me sad, but it was just that combined with feeling at home again. Georgia is great in some ways, and Alpharetta does feel like my home in some respects, especially now that Mike and I have our own little home here - but whenever I go back to California, I feel so comfortable, so at peace, so relaxed, and like I can actually be myself - that when I said goodbye to Erika, something hit me so hard and it made me cry because I realized how much I miss this part of my life. Ugh...so cheesy. But true nonetheless. So, however it needs to happen, I am going to try to get Mike and myself back to California. Aiming for the start of 2012. Let's see if we can do it.

Now back to the rest of the trip...I went over to Becca's Saturday evening, and we had a yummy homemade pizza with grilled peppers and onions and mozzarella cheese too. Then Sunday we woke up and went over to Berkeley to meet my Dad and Pam and Mike and Annica for coffee and pastries at Strada. I'm moving much quicker through this part of my Thanksgiving break than I did for the first part...hah! After saying my goodbyes to little sister Becca; me, Mike, and Annica went over to Tia and Doug's for lunch. SO yummy and SO nice to hang out with them for the afternoon. Haven't seen them in what feels like forever, even though it really was just last May. And Tia made some great spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, delicious salad, and also some turkey soup with leftovers. We all just chatted. And Sean and Tanner were so cute. And so grown up. Sean is now 9 and Tanner is 7. I can't believe what little grown ups they've become, it was fun seeing them. After lunch, we went back to my Dad and Pam's, finished up the packing, made sandwiches for the place, and hung out until Annica took us over to the Oakland airport.

Good weekend. I can't believe it was all just last weekend though. Feels like so long ago.