A blast from the past...

Living in Savannah, I don't get to see many college buddies that often. My parents are no longer in Virginia and many of my good friends from college ended up in North Carolina. We are all busy with life...work, family and everything in between, but you know a good friend when it can be a couple years when you saw each other last but when you get together it seems like just yesterday.

I went to Raleigh last weekend to stay with my friend Maggie. We were random roommates our first year at UVA in 1996 and since we met for the first time at the American Cafe in Tysons Corner (that would be Tysons I, not the Galleria) the summer before our first year, I knew we would get along famously. Hard to believe that 14 years have passed since that day I got the letter in the mail from Residence Life at UVA with the name and address (no email back then folks!) of Margaret Piczak. I thought her name was Margaret "Pick-zak." She was from a big town...I was from a small town. I wrote her a letter the day I got her info in the mail...a little over-eager? I was just excited. I was hoping so much that we would be friends. And we were and still are. And she goes by Maggie and her last name WAS pronounced PEE-ZAK. She is now married and as much as she loved Piczak, it was dropped in favor of her husbands fun Italian name.

Fourteen years...a long time. It had been almost two years since we had seen each other last. So that was one and half babies ago. That would be one baby for me (Cecilia) and a half baby for Maggie (Baby Carlisi due in April). So obviously in those fourteen years a lot has happened. Marriages, grad school (maggie finishing, me starting), teaching (Maggie), SCAD (me) and a whole lot of other stuff. Still, it was just so much fun to be together again. Sure, our Friday and Saturday nights this past weekend ended when they would have started 14 years ago, but this new phase in our lives is just as fun and exciting.

Another great highlight to the weekend was my college buddy, Robby's annual Christmas party. He hosts an annual progressive party in downtown Raleigh with two other friends. While the idea of progressive has changed from upside down apple pie shooters at one house and Jaeger bombs at the next, to the more refined fancy cocktails and yummy hor'dourves, it was so fun to see Robby. I don't know what I liked best about his FABULOUS condo downtown. The views of the Capitol, his double wine fridges, the Waterford ornament tree or the Wedgewood tree OR the fact that he lives on the 26th floor and works on the 13th. It is so nice to see your friends happy, successful and healthy.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but didn't want to lug my camera around from place to place so here are a few:

Maggie, Robby and Me in front of the Waterford tree!


Me and Maggie


Maggie and her husband Jim:





Okay, I can't lie, this post got me a little nostalgic. So I put on a Christmas show I DVR'ed for Jimmy so I could run to the attic to see if I could find any quick pictures to post from our first year at UVA. Oddly enough, I really couldn't find many pics of just me and Maggie. I must have been taking all the pics with my awesome point and shoot 35 MM camera and once I took all of my 24 (or 36) pictures, I would take the roll the bookstore and hope that I got at least a few decent pics. I would pay with my student charge (ie: send the bill to my parents please) and then put them into an album, which 14 years later, is now falling apart. No Creative Memories then to teach me how to preserve my memories. Scanning will have to do for now.

Humphreys hallmates and Mustard Cottage roomies getting ready for Zeta's "Three's Company"


Our dorm, 305 Humphreys:


Take a closer look at this picture and you will know it is from the 90's
-CD tower, not ipod.
- Halogen lamp. Great idea...then fire hazard, now banned.
-dry erase board on the door to leave messages for friends. No cell phones then, and if you did have one it was "FOR EMERGENCIES only!" or you were some oil prince like one of our dormmates and he talked on the cell phone like it was his job.

Our kitchenette:


You know it is the 90's...
-blank VHS tapes so we could tape our shows, especially General Hospital and Days. No DVR! Although, Maggie did have the timer mastered on the VHS mastered and not surprisingly she can use the DVR in ways I could never.
-12 pack of Diet coke 96 BFP...that would be Before Fridge Pack
-the new "Baked" chips. Who knew low fat did not mean low carbs or low cal. No wonder I gained 15 pounds (okay maybe 20) my first year.
-curling iron. flat iron now please.

Happy 4th Birthday to Jimmy!!

We had Jimmy's birthday party 2 weeks ago (been so bad about blogging lately!) at Monkey Joe's, an indoor inflatable playground. I remember calling them "moonbounces" back in the day but now they are called "inflatables." He had a Spiderman themed party and he had such a good time with all of his buddies! I can't believe he is already 4! I am sure I am going to be saying "I can't believe" at every birthday, but still, he is really is growing into such a nice little boy who is very sweet, loving and playful.

Bridge Run

I did my first bridge run today! The bridge is about the only incline in our sea-level town. I haven't been training as much lately, but the tag line for the bridge run is "run, walk or crawl" so I figured I would give it a try. I ran the whole way and finished with a time of 36:52. It's motivated me to get back to training again.

Melissa and I post-race:

Thankful

These are the things I am most thankful for...

MOVE THAT BUS!

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is in Savannah! J.T. Turner Construction is coordinating the build so our friend Josh has had a big and important role in overseeing this HUGE project. They could have not picked a better builder! The family is so deserving and the community support and donations for their house have been amazing. We have so many friends that have donated their goods, services and time. The episode should air sometime in January. They say it takes a week to build the house, but they build the house in FIVE days. No movie magic, it really all happens in five days.

House before demo. Look at the beautiful oak tree! Don't worry, the oak is still there.



Josh being interviewed before demo.


Tripp Turner and Josh



Jimmy and Ashley


As of 530pm today (Day 4)


The big MOVE that BUS reveal is tomorrow between 2 and 6 pm.

Savannah Film Festival

It is film festival week! I've always tried to take advantage of seeing a film or two over the years. I went Tuesday night and saw Fair Game with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It is the story of Valerie Plame and her status as a covert CIA agent being revealed. It was very good and I would definitely recommend. Makes you not want to believe anything a politician is telling you.



Liam Neeson received a lifetime achievement award that night as well so it was pretty neat to see him.



We also saw James Cromwell while waiting in line. Gotta love Babe!




Saturday night I am going to the awards ceremony and the closing film, 127 hours. The true story about the a the mountain climber, played by James Franco, who was trapped under a boulder and resorted to cutting off his arm to survive. Sounds difficult to watch but I am sure the story will be agonizing yet uplifting at the same time.

Halloweekend!

This past weekend was full of Halloween fun. Saturday we went trick or treating in Jimmy's parents neighborhood. All of the neighbors loved Jimmy's costume and would ask him to show them his muscles or shoot his web. He would happily oblige. He properly said "trick or treat" when the door would open and then "thank you" after they filled his Spiderman bucket. He also collected a few for his little pumpkin sister. Jimmy joined us for trick or treating in Ginny's neighborhood on Sunday since he attended the GA/FL game in Jacksonville. A heartbreaker for Dawg fans. The game actually shut trick or treating down for the most part on Isle of Hope Saturday since the game went into overtime. There were tvs on porches and radios blaring from golf carts.

We tried to go to the Jewish food festival, Shalom Ya'll, on Sunday but Jimmy fell asleep on the way downtown so no potato latkes for us. The Halloween madness finally caught up with him but I was looking forward to some yummy food.

Front Porch decorated for Halloween:


Saturday night:


Sunday:




Tried to get all three of them together but this was the best shot: