alexandria, virginia. part one.

i know, i know, i'm not keeping up with this so well all the time. and there are always things that i think i should blog about but when i actually get around to sitting down and doing it, i'm less than inspired. i thought that this blog could be a little insight into my mind and thoughts, not just telling of happenings. but alas, it is what it is.

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but anyway, i left columbia on thursday morning after a wonderful(ly greasy) breakfast at the famed waffle house and arrived in alexandria 7 hours later. it was an uneventful drive and i thankfully was going the opposite way of all the traffic.

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my cousin kelly, her husband john, and their boys michael and joseph live in a really cool house built in the early fifties that they are fixing up. i am really excited to live here! joseph (he's 7) was (and is) so excited for me to be here (even though he doesn't remember the last time i saw him) and has been routy ever since i arrived. he is a very sweet kid: yesterday morning he came pounding on my door at 7 am (way too early) wanting to play a game of war (his favorite!) and i, being only half conscious, wasn't really up for it. but after sitting and talking to me about the time he broke his arm twice and showed me his flashlight that has white and red lights on it, he scampered off. thinking it was my chance to fall back asleep, i rolled over, but a couple minutes later, he came back in with a toasted bagel and some juice and proclaimed "i made you some breakfast!" it was so endearing, i had to indulge his wish to play war. and then i went back to bed :)

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my bedroom has a wall of windows and will soon be cranberry red and chocolate brown with my sewing corner, my mini library, and desk area. i will be a nanny of sorts, helping out kelly when her and the boys go back to school with homework, swimming practice, and home improvement projects. i am really, really looking forward to what will happen here and kelly is glad to have some more female energy in the house. people keep telling me i will like it here, and there seems to be a scene that i will be happy to be a part of. i am still pretty nervous about making friends (that aren't all my cousin's age [which is 40], not that they aren't cool) and finding a church and a community that i can realy feel a part of... but i have been brought here for a reason, and i might love it and find all those things, or hate it and never feel like i belong. but hey, i'm doing something new and if nothing else, that makes it worth it.

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i think that this is the first time i have written about a place i've visited while i have still been here so i don't have pictures yet, and i'm writing more than usual. but oh well.

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i am planning on leaving for home on wednesday, to arrive back in my beloved minnesota on thursday or friday, and i'm ready to be there for awhile. i look forward to hanging out with all the people i have missed so much over the last 5 weeks and attemping to find some sense of closure there... although i know i'll be back sooner or later.