Beyond that, there isn't too much to update. I'm feeling really good overall. Last week, I got to spend some time in Boston, which was nice. I didn't realize how much I missed cities, but my heart just swelled when it remembered what it felt like to be there. I was there for two days of block grant reviews, which is a lot of work, and meant that before we went, I had to read 2 125+ documents about how federal money is going to be spent on activities and programs for the Maternal Child Health populations (some background info- maybe some day people will understand what I actually do:http://mchb.hrsa.gov/about/default.htm). So I was there as a staff member to answer questions about Maine's grant and talk about all the work I'm doing with our YAC and all that good stuff. then the next day I was a secondary reviewer for Connecticut's, which was a great experience, and the education was definitely worth all the reading. It actually made my brain realize it is still functioning and maybe could handle school again in the near future.
That was the work part of it, but obviously- since Boston is one of those places where I sort of have more friends than in the state in which I actually reside, I made sure to make the most of my evenings as well. When we first got there, my mother realized she had forgotten her clothes for the Maine grant day..... and said, "Well I guess I'll just have to buy something!" I GUESS SO.
One rainy adventure later, we had attacked Marshall's and she had an outfit and I had an amazingly discounted Juicy Couture hoodie. All was well with the world. Except for that we were soaked to the bone because the entire time we were there it was a norEaster. Finally,after we gave up on hailing a cab, which apparently is not as simple as it is in NYC? We took the T back to our hotel and hung our clothes to dry while I tried to transform from drowned sewer rat to dinner at the Millennium Hotel fabulous.
I prevailed, and met up with one of my Creative Writing BFA sisters who I have not seen since 2007 when we graduated. We instantly fell back in love, and enjoyed a night of truffle mac and cheese, cucumber tinis, and flirting with a waiter who was a fan of Jersey Shore, and had a useless degree just like us! It was so re-energizing and reminded me how good it is to have girlfriends. It was straight out of Sex & the City wonderful.
After the actual grant review day, which went really well after I finally dried out, I spent the afternoon just lounging in the hotel, being in rainy day mode, and overanalyzing everything in my life. Too bad that doesn't pay, right?
Then we went down to the lobby bar for a quick dinner, and I waited for my love Shannon to get there. Which, eventually, she did, and we had a hugely conspicuous reunion since we haven't seen each other since the Miami adventure of 2009. Once again we laughed way too hard, talked about how old we had become, and officially began the countdown to VEGAS.
That's right....
I got invited by Family Ties of Nevada (who I presented for virtually, last winter, because weather in DC ruined my flight to Reno) to present at their transition conference in LAS VEGAS BABY.
Safe to say I'm a little excited.
Of course, there's quite a bit of stuff to look forward to before then, including a potential trip back to my city of NYC, because a) ELF is coming to Broadway (yes, THAT Elf....), b) my entire family has reached consensus that it's been too long, and c) I feel like I have been cheating on it with DC, but luckily my cities are not fans of monogamy, so I'm pretty sure NY won't hold it against me.
So there you have it. Life is good, I'm refusing to think about that thing called fall right now, and enjoying the last few days of my favorite season.
Tonight I get to see even more writers that I graduated with and have not seen in way too long! It should be an interesting night! There will be pictures. Watch out Portland, UMF writers comin' at ya!
xoxo
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