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reunion no. 2

The second reunion in the last few weeks was with an old friend, Amy J. LeeAnne and I met Amy at the meet-and-greet part of the service at Redeemer (not the cookie room, but the part where you shake hands with those around you for 15 seconds! yes, quite unbelievable that we became such instant friends.) during our first summer internships over five years ago. When we told her we were from Alabama she said, "Woww. That's REALLY southern!"

Amy came for a quick visit last week, and Katherine and I met up with her for a Shake Shack dinner. We realized that we've only all lived in the same place for a total of 3 months, but we became quick friends that summer as we all shared the very new experiences of the working world + life in a big city. Amy please don't be such a stranger! Come back and visit soon...even if it means taking another 20 hour bus ride from the Carolinas, AmyJ-style.

a quick glimpse

...of my life flashing before my eyes.

























at the SkyDeck Ledge in Chicago this weekend. In case I haven't mentioned it before, I'm deathly afraid of heights. I couldn't even take this picture because I couldn't look down, nor could I put my entire foot on the glass floor - a few inches was far enough. Thank you LeeAnne, then, for helping me to document this death-defying experience and taking the picture. 

reunion no. 1































I had a good span running for about a week where I had several reunions in a row with several long-lost friends. (I suppose not "long-lost" per se, perhaps ones I'd just like to see much more often.) The first one was with my good buddy from elementary school, junior high, and high school. We go waaay back. All the way to the pencil sharpener episode in Mrs. Dockery's 3rd grade class, in fact. (Ask me for the story on that some time, it's a good one.) Of course, it was a blast catching up.

chicago bound.

























I am Chicago bound tonight! I'll be hopping on a plane with LeeAnne for a short, fun-filled weekend in Chicago to visit an NYC friend transplanted there for law school. If you have any suggestions on what I should see & do there, please share. It's my first time! I apologize in advance for the 500 pictures I'm sure to take at The Bean in Millenium Park.

a night at the ballet

[in front of Lincoln Center]


























On Friday night, my friend Kyo invited me to go to a New York City Ballet performance with her for the world premiere of Year of the Rabbit. It's a new ballet choreographed by Justin Peck with music by Sufjan Stevens, and it.was.wonderful. I've been to only one other ballet since I've lived in New York, which resulted in Kyo having to explain a lot to me. (sorry, Kyo!)

There were two other pieces in the show that night, one that was choreographed by Benjamin Millepied (who happens to be Natalie Portman's husband!, and choreographed most of the movie Black Swan) and one piece choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. And, to top off the wonderful culture-filled evening, I had a perfect view from where I was sitting of my friend Harrison, who was on my Cape Town mission team and plays the bassoon for the ballet with the orchestra.

welcome back to america ✌
































Oh, and I forgot to mention: our lunch at Big Blue Bagel was also a celebration of Anna's homecoming to America! She had been in Korea since last August, and just moved to Birmingham a few days before I visited. You can read more about her time there on her blog: Curl in Korea. 

(During my first year in New York when Anna was still in school at Auburn, I used to randomly get care packages in the mail from her with a bag of bagel chips from Big Blue! I, sadly, couldn't return that favor while she was in Korea, but it only made sense that we would choose a Big Blue lunch for our glorious stateside reunion.)

big blue bagel. in birmingham.

Anna and Rose Lynn
































I had an after-church Sunday lunch (just like the old days!) with these two gals 2 weekends ago in Birmingham. One of the nicest treats I've had lately. Both lunch and the company! Not to mention, we happened to run into three other dear friends from Auburn during our meal. That made for one happy heart in this girl.

scenes from (last) weekend

I know it's already, er, Thursday but I had such a fun weekend in Alabama last weekend that I wanted to share. I spent a short weekend in Birmingham that might as well have been a weekend during my college days in Auburn. I stayed with the new Mrs. Eads, and practically everywhere we went, we ran into old friends. It was so refreshing to see familiar faces out and about and catch up with friends I haven't seen in years (yes, years?!). That's a much less frequent occurrence in my days in the Big Apple. Birmingham is no small town, but it sure did feel that way. I miss that.





























L to R clockwise: [1] Shindigs, the hip new Birmingham food truck [2] Frank, AKC's pet fish [3] Harrison, aka: Harry-dog, Rose's little sidekick [4] Evidence that there's a Big Blue Bagel in Birmingham now

a thursday night dinner party
































Despite three blown fuses that resulted in three entire-apartment power outages, I would say our 9A dinner party was a fun time anyway. We pulled out the Girls Night Out "questions to start great conversations" cards and they did not disappoint. After two rounds of questions, dinner and dessert and one last power outage, we called it a night. I'm ready for the next one, already!

best cake in the entire world.
































This is lemon poppyseed cake that my friend Kyo made for her birthday party this past weekend. I wish you could taste how good it was just from looking at this picture. Because, if this is possible, it was even better than it looked. You all know I'm a big cake person, and this one - literally - took the cake. (Gosh, why do I think such terrible, corny jokes are funny?) My compliments to the baker!

And, I put in a request for one of these for my birthday...in 5 months.  It was that good, folks.