The rest of vacation...

The rest of my time home in the States was wonderful. I had every intention of doing individual posts about the last few weeks, but it just isn't going to happen. So here is a brief overview. I spent a few days with Sarah and Reg and had a great time. Sarah treated me to a spa day that was heavenly. We have decided we are going to go to this spa, in Concord, twice a year as our birthday and Christmas presents to each other. I am already looking forward to our return to the spa in July!


I went up to Wanakee and spent 4 days with Jean and Mike and the kids and that was wonderful. I was lucky enough to be there for Eloise's first birthday and we had a lovely little party. Emerson, Alex and Eloise are fabulous kids and I had so much fun hanging out with them. Alex and I became good buddies and I can't wait to see them all again at camp in July. Jean and I got to spend some good time together, catching up and helping to get her life organized. Jean and Mike are working so hard at Wanakee and with their kids and they are truly amazing. My time with them was just so nice. Check out all the fabulous things they are doing at camp: http://www.wanakee.org/



I flew down to South Carolina the last weekend in January and spent 2 days with Eric. We hadn't seen each other since he was in Berlin last Christmas and I have only been down to his place in SC once, so it was nice to be down there for a few days. I got to meet his girlfriend Emily, who is very nice, and Eric and I just spent some good time together. We took a long, long walk along the river Saturday morning, then Eric made eggplant parmesan (his specialty, and my favorite - it is a little tradition we have to make eggplant when we are together - he cooks and I clean up since we all know I am such a fabulous chef!) and then we went to the South Carolina symphony. It was a quick trip, but so great to see him and to catch up.

The first weekend in February, I spent the night in Boston and went to a Josh Ritter concert with Karen, which was great. If you have never heard him, you should check him out. http://www.joshritter.com/ We saw him in Berlin last year and loved him, so I was pretty excited to see that he was playing in Boston while I was home. The concert was great and it was fun to see Karen again before I left. Saturday morning I got up and drove to New York to see Nathan and Jennifer. They have bought a house outside of Albany and I really wanted to see it, and them, before I left. Their new house is wonderful - it has tons of character and cute little features. And it was so great to see them! Nathan and I have been friends basically our entire lives and it is always great to hear how they are doing. We went out for yummy Indian food (Jennifer was very brave and actually liked her chicken curry dish) and just hung out with the dogs on Saturday. Sunday was the Superbowl, so Nathan made a big pot of chili with tofu (what a good friend!) and some of their friends came over. It was great to just chill out and be with them. I left Monday morning and drove 7 hours back to Maine, which felt like it took forever, but I finally made it. I spent my last week and a half with Mom and Dad, relaxing, writing papers for grad school, making plans for Marc and I's jungle trip and finishing up last minute shopping.

It was wonderful to be home for such a long time and I am so glad I got to see everyone. Home is very nice!! I always enjoyed coming home from Berlin, but this trip home felt even better. I'm looking forward to being back in NH in July and seeing everyone again!