Home Again

Being back in Colorado was a great time. It was a little exhausting, but I was able to spend time with everyone.

My sister and I hung out and watched her ginormous TV (she got me hooked on Big Love) and even got to the gym a couple of times. And of course I was so excited to spend time with my nieces and nephew (7, 3 and 3 months)! And I'm SO excited for my oldest niece to come out to Portland for a visit - all by herself! She's a little nervous about flying alone but I think the prospect of getting to visit our dog is going to be the carrot that gets her on the plane. She actually has done a lot of flying - much more than I have. She's gone to Europe several times already, and recently went to Cancun with her dad where she got to swim with dolphins! PDX isn't going to be quite so exotic but I'm hoping she'll still enjoy the visit I have planned.

I also got to hang out with my mom, of course. We went out to some nice restaurants and saw the musical Crowns. This was an amazing production - I literally laughed out loud and clapped along and even cried. If you see it coming to a theater near you I strongly encourage you to go. I don't know if my mom is going to make it back out to PDX this year. She came out right after we had moved in last year, right before I started law school. We had fun, but we spent quite a bit of time being lost in the mysterious mazes of Portland highways. Now I know where more things are, and even how to get to some of them on the first try.

And I got to see my best friend graduate from college, which was the actual reason for my trip. She graduated with a double major: Spanish and International Affairs. She only participated in the Spanish ceremony, however, skipping both IA and the huge University graduation. I was pretty grateful for that, though I would have gladly sat through it for her. I think she would have done the same for me last year when it was my turn to graduate, but happily for all involved I skipped it too. The Spanish ceremony was very nice. It had a lot of majors graduating but it was still very well organized and very formal. They even made them wear caps and gowns. My Environmental Studies ceremony last year was, well, let's just say, more "home-y feeling."

Now my best friend is in Texas, studying to begin her year long position teaching in the Texas public school system in the Pre-K - 4th grade level. She has plans to come out and visit the last week of July. She hasn't been out here yet, and we really haven't been able to talk very much as she's been busy finishing up college. I miss her like crazy.