26.2!

For Tina,
originally uploaded by SeattleYogi.

The South-east

I'm in North Carolina now. Hmmm, too bad I can't type a southern accent--it sounds suweet. It's a bit odd to be on vacation by myself in a new place. I'm by myself at the moment as both H and A are at work right now. Helen didn't take any time off during the week while I'm here, but I had half-way expected this and brought a good book, a knitting project, plus I knew Helen had all 6 seasons of Sex & the City. And really, I can't complain as she took Sunday off--her 1st in 5 weeks! The life a pharmacy resident is insane! My bad though, the one weekend Hells says not to visit (important board exam on Saturday) is the one I end up choosing. Anyhow, what did we do on H's only day off in 5 weeks? We went shopping of course. She says that's all there is to do, but of course we know Helen loves her shopping. There were lots of couples and I don't know what this says about a southern boy, but they seemed into the shopping as much as the ladies. I saw familes with their kids in stollers and their parents in wheelchairs (grandma sitting by herself while the family tries on clothes in J random store, but at least she's with the family instead of sitting in a home). Some store called Charlotte Russe had styles of tops/bottoms which seemed way too young for me (I still purchased a couple) and yet there were women twice my age shopping in there. Reminds me I need to get out of the house more often. :)

Okay, so yesterday, my 1st day on my own, I slept in, had breakfast out on the screened in porch, watched some cable, followed along to a yoga program, putzed around on the computer a bit, then biked it to UNC/Chapel Hill which is 'just down the street'. Luckily the sun had come out after a couple days of Seattle weather. I checked on-line, the campus was only 3 miles away, definitely doable by bike, but was I told about the big ass hill? No. :) I wandered around campus, found Franklin Street (the 'Ave' of Chapel Hill) grabbed some lunch and ate by the Old Well. Once H & A got home, we went out for bbq and then went back to Franklin Street for a beer at the Top of the Hill which has a great open air balcony. Came home to watch Syriana (Helen proceeded to fall asleep quick-like, can't be blamed when her wake up call is 5 AM--gee, doesn't becoming specialized in pharmacy sound better and better?).

My plan today: eat some leftover bbq for brunch and bus it to campus to window shop and check out campus some more. Biking would be great exercise, but my excuse is the bike is too small for me AND a key for the U-lock couldn't be found so I can't really leave the bike anywhere. Have a couple more movies I could watch. Tonight it's more beer drinking. Hmmm, I've drank more beer the last few days than in the last few weeks on my own back home. Gotta love vacation!

3 Beautiful Things

I came across 3 Beautiful Things today and really liked the idea of blogging about beautiful things. It's easy to see the negative all around us (then bitch and moan to others which leads to getting more depressed about the state of things), but I know it's much healthier to focus on the positive (I'm now picturing Mr. Dudley, my counselor and cross country/track coach in high school singing...'Eliminate the negative... Accentuate the positive...').

1. Vacation! I'm leaving tomorrow for North Carolina to visit Helen for a few days. I look forward to catching up, shopping (Helen loves to shop and I'm allowing myself the luxury as I don't tend to buy new and haven't even gone thrifting in a while), movies, and rockin' out at a String Cheese concert.

2. Friendly old lady sat next to me on the bus this morning. She commented on my knitting project and we talked about her yoga class. She's been practicing yoga for 16 years and has been bussing around the city since February when she had to stop driving. I hope I'm as friendly and active when I'm her age!

3. Darren will be making dinner tonight. We usually cook together but he's such a sweetheart and has offered to take care of tonight's meal since I haven't packed for my trip yet. I know he'll take care of a load of chores while I'm out of town too--he gets so much accomplished when I'm not around.

Before & After

Dang, I have so much hair! Stylist said she probably cut off 12 inches or so. I haven't had it cut (other than a trim or 2) in maybe 2.5 years. My hair grows fast. Uh, didn't think I was going to cut off so much, otherwise I would have donated it. I basically said I just wanted some style and something easy. Big change, but I don't mind the length as it's still long enough I can put most of it back into a ponytail. I'll have to post another pic a few days from now when it hasn't been blow dried flat at the salon (I never blow dry my hair as it takes forever and can never get it flat on my own anyhow) and will be much poofier. I've heard a ceramic flat iron could do the trick, but I'm not a morning person and if it'll add time to my routine, I'll likely pass.

Hmm, is it me or is the left side (your right) a bit longer? Mebbe next time I'll smile for the camera. :)