I just saw the new Sex and the City movie. I went with Courtney, my best friend since (middle school??) And I realized something: I miss blogging. I really do, it's crazy because this whole time I've been thinking I just don't have time for this anymore. But I realized I like writing and I like hearing that other people are reading it. So much has happened since I last wrote I can't even believe it has been this long. So to bring my readers up to speed (in case they didn't already know--subtext:
unlikely since I've come to the realization that my sister and I have the same readers) But no worries: here is my sum-up of the last two weeks.
Saturday--the day before we left for the beach--Mama asked me if I would like to just go look at the wedding dresses in Ann's Boutique. Sure, I said, never wanting to miss an opportunity to try on some fabulous dresses on a day I knew would be all about me. So we went and it was perfect; the whole time I never expected to find anything I liked enough to buy on the spot, but to maybe keep browsing. I tried on five or six dresses and narrowed it down to two. Two completely different dresses that I seemed to love equally. Each one gave off a different vibe and mom and I liked both of them on me. So we called for a little help. Shon and Katherine dropped by to give me their vote. After a quick answer from Shon and an encouraging smile from Katherine, I looked at me in the dress, looked at Mom, and said yes. I know I made the right choice now. Even though the other dress was absolutely gorgeous, it was just not right.
The next week my family and I went to the beach. Daddy, Mama, Tom, Julie, Shon, Katherine, Ben, and myself squeezed into one house and had a wonderful week in the Carolina sunshine. We went mini-golfing and kayaking--our adventurous trip for the week--and enjoyed bathing in the sun, getting sun-poisoning (for some people--not including this white writer!! a-thank you) and regular visits to dairy queen. Of course, the big announcement of the week was the pregnancy of my brother Tom and his wife Julie. We knew already but they made it official when they decided to tell the rest of our family that week. The baby is due in January and I couldn't be more excited for them.
We got back from the beach and quickly realized the vacation was over. It was back to work for all of us. Well, except for mom and Julie, who both chose the brilliant, summer-friendly profession of being teachers. Anyone who knows me knows that I am also heading down that beautiful career path. I cannot wait for the day when I no longer have to walk into a bank as an employee and can instead wake up in the morning and actually want to go to my job because I love teaching little kids. I will be so happy. Anyway, so the next week passed with much regularity in the bank. Nothing much to tell, there were some good days, there were some bad people, but generally the days were not too terrible except that, oh, I still hate my job. On top of that I've realized that touching money all day is making my hands so dry that they are cracked and not at all nice-looking anymore. I can't even grow out my nails. This needs to change ASAP. So let's skip the boring, drama-filled week and move on to the anticipation of every monday: the weekend!!
Friday night the Klegins, Ben, and I travelled to DC super early to catch the fireworks at the Washington Monument for the 4th of July. It was raining most of the trip downtown and even a little while we were there. I figured most of the people would cancel their trips and it would be less crowded--but I way underestimated how many people actually attend that thing annually. Anyway, beautiful fireworks aside, the exciting part is that we had to run back to the metro station in order to have any chance to catch a train within the hour. Once underground in the metro station, we quickly realized the possibility of us getting on to the same train became less and less likely. The place was completely packed, I was sure someone was going to get pushed into the tracks accidentally. Luckily, no such thing happened, and miracle upon miracles, we all got on the same train--the first one that came!!
So the next night Ben's parents had invited my family and some of their family-friends over for an engagement party for me and Ben. It was such a great time--the food was really good, the house was sweetly decorated with a poster and pictures of "Benoline" as everyone likes to call us, and it was just another step towards the altar for us. It's so exciting to be planning my wedding to a man I love, but like Katherine said, it's weird, too, to think that I'm even old enough to be getting married. But I guess these days girls are getting married much earlier (probably because they're all getting pregnant, but hey whatever works for ya).
I have a lot more I could tell about what's happened since I've last written but I think I'm going to go to bed soon in order to wake up super-early for my dreaded job. Oh and this is probably written way too late but I have to say: if you watched Sex and the City (the tv show) at all or even just love fashion (like someone we all know and love) you must see the movie. I really loved it and thought it ended the series with all strings tied. But even better--go see it with your best friend. It totally re-awakened my love for writing--or blogging in this case.
And tonight I will leave you with just one thought that I came across tonight on my endless search for inspiration on theknot.com:
"It is by loving and not by being loved that one can come nearest to the soul of another."
-George MacDonald
