Virginia aside from Muddy Buddy

• Mary Washington Geography. Oh, how I love Mary Washington Geography. I sat down with a few professors during the day to talk about all sorts of nerdy and happy things. I like that they still like me even though I never took GIS and haven't found full time work with my degree yet. YET. I just adore this group of professors.
• lunch time with Laura. I love that Laura goes to Mary Washington. Not only is it an excuse to continue showing up around campus, but it's been a great opportunity to get to know her better and visit with her. It's also a good opportunity to be confused about how much has changed in the short five years since I graduated. 
• Catching up with Courtney. Courtney and I had two classes together freshman year and then no others. We would see each other occasionally but kind of drifted apart into our separate endeavors. Still, she's one of those wonderfully interesting people to talk with, and on a whim I asked if she'd be around. She was! And we got to catch up for the first time since probably 2007. She is a gem.
• Hyperion. Yes.
• Campos family. This was basically my college family. Brian and LeeAnn would allow me to run away about once a semester to sleep in a real bed and eat real food and play with their real, sweet, wonderful kids. I love that the Muddy Buddy has enabled me to make it that far south at least once a year. We enjoyed some movie time together, and I enjoyed a phenomenal night's sleep in their amazing guest bed. We did some yardwork after the race and went to a Flying Squirrels double header. It was such a great weekend (you know, in addition to the accomplishment and excitement that was Muddy Buddy).
• Most epic traffic jam of all time. On Sunday, I was planning to go to church and having lunch in Fredericksburg with Jeremy and Adrienne, but I-95 had other plans. I sat still for an hour, and then crept three miles over the next hour. At first I was really annoyed, but then I was worried-- what kind of gory scene would I be driving up to in a few miles? Well, I got there, and saw various front end loaders and workers cleaning up butternut squash, as far as the eye could see. ha ha ha
• Jeremy and Adrienne. We went to Sammy T's. My life is so happy.
• Arlo and Arlington. I was planning to meet some college friends in D.C. for dinner, but they got a late start coming back from a weekend in NJ of all places, so I hung out in Arlington until I heard from them. Arlo and his parents and I took a walk through Arlington Cemetery and then played in the tulips by the Netherlands Carillon. Dinner at Lost Dog Cafe (yesssss). 
• D.C. I defend the Metro almost as fervently as I defend New Jersey, but that got me nowhere this time. Literally no where. Track maintenance kicked me off three trains, on top of already having to transfer twice to get to Emily's station. It took forever on top of them being later than I'd anticipated. We were all tired, but it was SO SO good to see Boo and Emily.
• Good morning, Arlington. I ended up sleeping over at Arlo's house, in front of one of my favorite windows in the world, their big window overlooking the Marine Corps Memorial with D.C. behind it. Waking up to the sunrise over D.C. was stunning, and Arlo and I got to play a little more before he went to a playgroup and I drove back to NJ. It was all very happy.

Virginia is always a whirlwind for me, but always a very good whirlwind.