Visitors, Round 1

Last night I went to see an episode of Father Barron's Catholicism TV series at the CIC. My friend Meg was also there and I invited her back to my house for dinner. I whipped up some salad and whole-wheat quesadillas with chicken, spinach and cheddar cheese. Then we had ice cream for dessert and large mugs of tea, and over the tea and the ice cream, we had a nice chat.

After Meg left, Laura L. arrived with her brother. They drove in from Charlotte, NC. Laura's in town for a second job interview and staying at my apartment. I am so hoping that she gets the job and moves to DC! There's nothing better than having old friends live near by, as I've learned from the gift of having Joey living in DC.

From Laura's last visit in December

This morning Laura and I had a leisurely breakfast of cereal and then I went to work and she to prepare for her interview. We'll meet up again tonight to go to a lecture at the CIC, given by the inimitable Father Schall, one of the greatest philosophers of modern times (in my opinion, anyway). Talk about a celebrity sighting! I couldn't be more excited, and even if it does make me look like a fangirl, I'm determined to take a picture with him.

Speaking of being a fangirl, can we take a moment to notice how often I go to events at the CIC? I think it's time I owned up to being a CIC groupie.

Tomorrow my dearest darlingest most beloved Alex will be arriving to stay with me for the weekend! Talk about excited!

Reuniting at Princeton two months ago

I am going to give her the biggest hug of LIFE and then monopolize her all weekend! (Just so you know what you're getting yourself into, Alex). I still need to get the air mattress set up. How fun to be using it for the first time! This is the trial run for next weekend, when I will have SIX girls staying with me for the March (six! I still can't quite wrap my head around that). Hopefully that air mattress behaves itself.

My little baby sister Cathy flew off to Spain two day ago to spend her semester abroad. I wished her the most wonderful of adventures but my heart was a little heavy. Going abroad was a really rough time in my life. Of course it was a lot of fun and I made some great memories, but I was painfully homesick and lonely too, and sad a lot of the time. I think that is the dark secret of studying abroad, that for some reason nobody ever talks about. I hope it will be better for Cathy. I think it helps that her boyfriend will also be in Europe, so they can get together and hang out. It will help to have that piece of home. I also mailed a "Have fun in Europe!" letter to her new dorm in Spain and I'm crossing my fingers that it gets there before she does.

Have a lovely Thursday!