3 weekends, part 2

I am so lucky to have the friends that I do. Not just because they are kind enough to host me and show me around to places i've never been and not just because they rent a beach house and invite me to come along. That is quite more than I deserve surely but I also have the added bonus of having such dear friends that when we are sitting in said house or said beach that we are talking and laughing just as if time and miles didn't exist. I have had to sort out a lot of crappy friends and acquaintances over the years, definitly spent more time on more people than made any common sense and don't keep up with others that I wish we could but as my thirties creep on it comes more and more into focus what personal relationships really are and know who I can really count on and know that I can do right by them and that they can count on me too. Now with that being said...
On my second weekend away I traveled to the great state of North Carolina to swat 2 mosquitos, as it were. One friend lives in Charlotte with her husband.

They have a lovely home in the suburb with their 3 dogs and cat and have the coolest in-home bar you could ever imagine. Being with them and talking and catching up, only for a few days was a great recharge and a reminder of all that I said above in paragraph one.
After too short of two days, we rented a car and drove the tree lined freeway to Durham where another of our friend's lives in her adorable town home by Duke University. After a charming tour of the city and a night on her couch, we drove across the (same?) tree lined highway to the beach where she had rented a gorgeous beach house for her birthday week. Even though hurricanes and fall were looming, the quiet and therapeutic time with the sea air and sea foam further recharge the rusty batteries. Not to mention the day trip to Bald Head island where I drove a golf cart for the first time and some homemade facials (g-cials). I have been blessed with traveling to africa but trips to a new place with your girlfriends can't be beat!

3 weekends, part 3

Right now I am doing exactly what I imagined and dreamed of when I purchased my laptop in May, and for that matter, started my blog. I am sitting on the patio of an internet cafe in Springdale Utah, right outside of Zion national Park sipping chai and looking up at the Red Rock while smelling the passing rainstorm. Well maybe not exactly this scene but it is a great culmination of that hip girl blogging on her Apple dream.
This month has been a lot of travel but I don't feel as off and distracted as I usually do when I am not home much. I feel a good sense of calm and centered-ness that I haven't felt in quite a while. Traveling is always for me the quinticentual"stepping back" that I seem to need on a regular basis. I think about the things I want/need to do, but not in a panicy way. I am able to get perspective on relationships and of course myself that I just can't get in my own world. Many times the travel is by myself but these 3 trips have been with very different people from different aspects of my life, family, friends and work colleagues which all shed light on, and reflect those parts back at me.
So I will review these 3 trips in reverse as my intentions of blogging on each one of them failed.
SPRINGDALE: Work
As my program has for the last several years, we have supported Southern Utah Pride and their festival. This year was different in that we conducted mass-HIV and STD testing. We brought with us enough supplies to test 100 people and we came very close, by testing 94. The event was a lot of fun and the team was amazing. I was proud of them and am also glad it is over because there are so many things that could have gone wrong and additionally relieved that we didn't have any positive results. Looking back now, I am extraordinarily proud of what we accomplished and look forward to expanding our program to other such events, although not for quite a while. My co-workers are fun and committed people who have also been able to get along amazingly well and able to let loose and kick back with each other in a way I didn't expect. In many ways it has been quite surreal. And to show how strange my life can be, we have 64 viles of urine with potential Chlamydia and deactivated HIV virus in our hotel fridge. Just another day at the office! Today, Sunday, is our day off and E and I are spending a relaxing day in Springdale with lunch, a bit of shopping, a bit of hiking, a nap on the grass in the park and now the internet cafe. I just told her that I wished we could have spent the whole day doing each one of those things. But as is the pattern for most of my life, I get a little bit of everything instead of focusing on any one thing. Tomorrow we have a community meeting in Cedar City and then driving home for a late arrival. Which is why I am writing this now while I still have pleasant feelings and thoughts about the experience and my co-workers...by tomorrow night I am sure that the grumpiness and annoyance will have set in.