LONDON

I'm going. Bought the tickets. Have the passport. March 9-17. Tell me if you want a postcard.

Other news:

yes, Smitty, you are welcome to come to Bal'more anytime you want. Tell me if you are serious and I'll buy the tickets. Smittygirl is welcome also, as well as any and all other elmstreeters or elmstreet attachments!

My buddy Peggy had her baby a month early. No word of any difficulty and he looks cute as a button in the picture sent out. So they had the baby shower saturday, went out for breakfast with friends Sunday, and the water broke at the restuarant. I can't wait to hear the entire story! The poor child's name is Lucian (and the only way I'm writing this is I know full well she'll be too busy to come read my blog!) Poor kid. I'll let him know when he's older that I TRIED to change his parents minds!!!

So we've got Nickolai, Andrew and Lucian in the last 5 months. Can anyone manage to have a GIRL? Congrats to all new parents everywhere, but especially to the ones I happen to know!

Taylor Hicks! Oh, and maybe London.

I find out Monday if my proposal of staying another month will allow me the week off to go to Europe in March..... and if I extend I'll be here when Taylor Hicks comes!

He's coming April 17th to Ram's Head Live-- down by the harbor. Ohhhh, I'd like to see him in person! I still think he's a goofball but I like his voice.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. The boss gives word on Monday regarding my proposal for time off. If she says yes, I'll be at the post office Tuesday getting my passport. If for some reason it doesn't arrive by departure date, I'll have to make a panic drive to S.C. so I can destroy my storage unit looking for my old one from 2001. Maybe on my way home from the post office I'll stop and get Hicks tickets. Then, I'll relax and get excited about the big trip. Until then, I refuse to examine any and all tourist info regarding London. I won't even call Ayzair to ask her to ask her sister regarding London. Nope, not interested until I get a yes, buy the plane ticket and have a passport ordered and expected to arrive on time.

I'm having a completely lazy day. I haven't even bothered to eat. Just slept in, then moved to the couch and am enraptured, for some weird reason, by some weird history channel that taught me about sea life, then rural america, and now high school focus groups. I need to call some folks and get something going tonight. Movie maybe??? I'm sure they are just lazying around too-- it's been a busy week at work.

Back in B-Town

Sorry for the delay between posts. Things have been busy.

Grandpa is feeling much better. Yep, after making all the grueling and emotionally exhausting end of life decisions and fighting the medical staff for comfort measures, he and God decided that he needs to stay here a bit longer. He's had a few bumps on his road to "baseline", but seems to be gaining stregth and even has shown a bit of his fiestyness. We are not out of the woods yet. He had a seizure about a week ago, and he is showing ups and downs depending on the day.

I have successfully oriented myself to my new abode and am enjoying the 20 minute walk to work, the proximity to an active social life, and the gym at the base of my building. Unfortunately, I am also enjoying the new grocery store at the base of my building and have decided I might need a firm rule regarding stopping by said grocery store when I don't feel like nutrisystem food. I have also come to the realization that having a social life is a bit on the unhealthy side due to amount of drinking and eating one does while socializing. Don't worry, my weekly beer has only increased to about 4 beers a week, but the calories are not a nice addition to my waistline. Hopefully hard work at the gym will continue my weight loss or at least keep me in stasis until I can figure out healthier menu items.

I may be taking a trip to Europe at the end of March. We shall see. Apparently there are tickets available for $300 round trip to London plus 2 night stay-- and 2 girls I work with and am friends with (one's my walkin' buddy) are thinking of going. Must locate my passport! And arrange to go ahead and extend my contract through April with a week off for the Europe vacation. That would be incredible if it could be arranged-- I'm doing the research tonight and tomorrow night.

I'm busy here, but not partying too hard. The schedule has been rounded: a happy hour here, a dinner there, went to an art museum, went to the mall, explored cute little shops at Fell's point and hung out on a rainy afternoon in a coffee shop.

I rediscovered my favorite church of all time-- St. Jude's shrine. I went ahead and filled out a volunteer form-- I'm really hoping that I can offer an extra pair of hands for the months that I'm here. The problem is, so many things could use an extra pair of hands but no one is ever quite sure where to put me short term. I'd love to help with a seasonal project or stuff envelopes or WHATEVER. Put chairs up. Pour coffee. ANYTHING. We'll see if they call. I've noticed that many of the volunteers are elderly. Can't seem to find the young catholics here. I'll keep looking! But I do love St. Jude-- the priest offers great sermons, the congregation is multi-cultural, there's a real "spirit" to the mass. I left Sunday feeling refreshed and ready to face the world in a Christian manner-- mass there does seem to color the entire week.

Work is work. I love being a therapist. My patients right now are pretty sick and that's sad, but I know that I'll find those shining stars that not only will be excited about regaining skills, they'll actually be successful at it. Then I'll run into them in Walmart and not recognize them because their hair is done nice and they're not wearing a hospital gown. That's always a nice moment!!!

More later. I'm still working out the jinks on my new camera so my day time pictures are lovely but the great night shots-- not so lovely.

I'll leave you with the view from my window:


And another view, which shows my grocery store: