greetings from virginia!

After a long delay at Midway, Thursday evening, I made it to VA safe and sound. I have had an absolutely delightful time here. The kitties are so sweet. Ben and Jen are just so delightful to spend time with.

Day One (Friday): Jen and I spent a good chunk of the day working on the kitchen. We drank coffee, ate candies and had a lovely afternoon chit chatting and working through the boxes and cleaning through the drawers and cabinets. After Ben arrived home from work, we headed out for dinner at an Italian restaurant. After dinner, we hit up what could very well be the largest Whole Foods I have ever been to. As much as most Whole Foods Markets stress me out, I surprisingly enjoyed our visit to this one. They had a nice in house bakery and we each picked out a slice of cake. We also stopped at a Starbucks, where Jen so sweetly got me a Sbux gift card as a thank you gift for the work I did with her. We came home, chowed on some cake and hit the sack pretty early.

Day Two (Saturday): After spending some time laying Jen's bed, doing some dream analysis and talking, we started working pretty early and put in a hard day of work. We continued to work on the kitchen and managed to get it almost spit spot, in good shape, by the end of the day. I was pretty achy by the time we called it a day. But we had accomplished so much! Jen prepared the most delicious homemade mac and cheese I have ever had. We then ran a couple errands. Upon returning home, we relaxed in front of the TV, indulging in a fun fantasy movie called Stardust.

Day Three (Sunday): Today we took a break from work and Jen and I spent the afternoon in Old Town Alexandria looking at shops and hanging out while Ben went to deal with new car stuff at the Mazda dealer. We hit up this fabulous yarn store. They even had cookies and snacks laid out for customers! We took a stroll through the shopping district, stopped into some neat shops, and had some coffee, snacks, etc. Old Town Alexandria is gorgeous with the cobblestone/brick sidewalks and all the old 19th century (and some 17th century) brick buildings. The sun was out and it was a relatively warm day compared to the weather I have been used to. I was able to go out in my sandals and a sweater, which was so nice.

Upon returning home, Ben and I ran out for Chipotle, while Jen worked on some homework. We enjoyed a delish meal and I have spent the evening on the sofa, knitting and watching Turner Classic Movies. I also taught Jen to knit!! She picked up on it really quickly!! She is in bed now and we are planning on working some more tomorrow and then I will be heading to the airport around 5pm. I am going to stay up a little longer and knit an enjoy the on demand movies on their cable!

I am certainly homesick for Graham, Emily and animals - but I have thoroughly enjoyed being here and will miss the company, the kitties and the nice accommodations. Jen and Ben will be in Chicago in just a few weeks. I can't wait. Having them around is reason enough to move here. In addition, I sure do like it a heck of a lot more than Chicago. I love the hills, trees, historic buildings, etc.....then again, I like most places more than Chicago.