My Bucket List: Turning 60 Tour

 It's still hard for me to believe I'll turn 60 later this year! Yowza! To help me make the birthday something

to look forward to, I decided to create a bucket list, and have dubbed it my Turning 60 Tour. It's still a work in progress, but I've already started working on some of the things on my list. Items on my list include a trip to Asheville, North Carolina, to stay at the Grove Park Inn, having lunch with five different friends, and attending home games of each of North Carolina's professional sports teams (Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers, and Charlotte Hornets). I'm excited about the adventures ahead!

Planning a Graveside Service

My sister and I have been planning our dad's graveside service for our dad, who passed away in January 2018. The planning has been draining, but also cathartic. I'm mostly excited about visiting with the people who are coming. My aunt from England wins the "farthest distance" award, and I can't wait to visit with her! After my dad's memorial service in January 2018, we had a visitation at the house, and that was definitely my favorite part. So here's to bringing family and friends together!

What Kind of Friend Am I?

You Are the Optimistic Friend

You are the friend who always sees the bright side. Your friends turn to you when they need a little cheering up. You give everyone a chance, and your friends feel like they can be themselves around you. You aren't judgmental or critical.

You are an easy person to be around with and rarely complain. You feel like it's almost impossible to have a bad time if you're with your friends. While you are glad that your pals appreciate your positivity, you'd like to see some in return. Life isn't as bad as people make it out to be. 

From Blogthings

Celebrating 100 Years

Papa Saying a Few Words

Last night, friends and family of George's grandfather gathered at Rey's in Cary, NC, to celebrate George's grandfather's 100th birthday! It was quite a dinner party, with great music and yummy food! I saw a number of people I'd met before, but also met a number of new people. I was impressed by how many people Papa has met from various places. There was a great energy in the restaurant all evening!

Facebook Family

Since I've been home with the flu this past week, I've been missing my daily interactions with people at work, at the gym, in clubs, etc. With my daily life so quiet, I've been especially amazed by the activity among my Facebook family this past week, including the very sad news of three deaths with Facebook connections (a Facebook friend from Raleigh Galloway and St. Mary's too, a McLamb cousin's husband, and a old Selma friend's father). Just this morning, another Facebook friend (also a Dukie and former Selmian) became a new mother! It would've taken me much longer to get all of this news otherwise, so I'm thankful for Facebook. Okay, I must admit I'm also feeling a little overdosed on Facebook now and am ready to get well and back into my normal, more balanced world, but I am thankful (sad and happy too) for all the news (AND get-well messages, thanks for all of those!!) Facebook has brought me this week.

Catching Up with Friends

Last evening I tried to call my former co-worker, Aura, who's moved to California. Yesterday was her birthday! I didn't get hold of her, but it was kinda nice to hear her voice on her cell phone voice mail message. I left her a message.

After that, I decided to call an old Toastmasters buddy, Alice. We met at the Bull City ToastMasters several years ago, and realized last night that it's probably been about three years since we've seen each other. She has since has a baby, and doesn't have time for Toastmasters right now. I don't either, but have been thinking about going back. Anyway, it was great to catch up with Alice (it has been about 9 months since we'd talked!), and we hope to get together after my move.

A Benefit of Cleaning

Last night, as I was cleaning out a magazine rack in my bedroom, I found the phone number of an old friend of mine from High Point who has moved to Vermont. I decided to call and see if she was still at that number, and she is! It was so much fun to catch up with Ann! She sounded good, and content, and happily married.

It's a good feeling to throw away old clutter and catch up with an old friend, all in the same night.

More cleaning

This weekend I did more cleaning and purging as I think about this summer's move. It's a great feeling to clear things out, and in the mean time it's a walk down Memory Lane. Yesterday I came across a bunch of pictures that need to do in photo albums at some point, pictures that included my years of teaching 1st and 2nd grades, my cross country trip with Lisa, Mom, Laura, and Emily, trips that my friend Donna and I took to Wilmington and Savannah, beach trips to Pine Knoll Shores with my family, my friend Anne's wedding in High Point, a trip to Maine for my cousin Christina's wedding, and a trip George and I made to the North Carolina mountains. It was a lot of fun to look through all those photographs, eventhough it slowed down my cleaning a little!

Fun party

George and I had a fun party last night, with 5 guests in all--a nice size for my apartment. Amy, Steph, Melissa, Mitch, and his finacee Katherine were there. (I'd never met Katherine, so it was nice to meet her.) We played a couple of games, Imaginiff and Scrabble. Imaginiff was a new game for me, and a fun one.

I tried three new recipes for the party, a salsa with interesting ingredients (including black-eyed peas), vegetarian chili, and an easy pimento cheese (few ingredients and easy to spiff up). I also got a veggie tray, and George got fruit, Ruby Tuesday sampler plates, nuts, chocolate, and drinks. It turned out to be quite a spread, with a good bit left over. I was glad we had enough food, though!