I'm baaaack!

Three weeks is a long time to be gone...from work, from the boyfriend, from the blogosphere, from familiarity. As a result, I cannot catch up on allll of your lovely posts, but I would love it if each of you would leave me a comment with your top three updates from the past few weeks.

My top 3 are:
1. It's crazy how slow three weeks goes by when everything is new and different.
2. I'm so excited to get back into running and get a road bike (due to the man friend's love for cycling and my interest in the sport)!
3. The man friend is pretty amazing. I returned to a pretty awesome, well thought out plan of relaxation and enjoyment upon my arrival.

Because I know you want more details, this is how my return to the states went. We arrived in Seattle, WA around 1pm on Saturday and made it back to friend A's house where my car was parked before 2pm. Promptly found two hefty parking tickets and large orange notice saying that my car was going to be towed within the next few days if it wasn't moved. Apparently, you can't park in the same spot on that street for more than 48 hrs and she didn't know it. Fabulous.

I then received voicemail from man friend saying he was headed by bus, north to meet me about halfway on my journey south and help drive since he knew I would be so exhausted. Thank the lord for good boyfriends! We stopped for dinner to see my parents and little bro and give a quick update before heading further south on our journey home. He asked if there was anything I wanted to do on Sunday and I said "nope, just see you." Ok, he said, well I thought maybe we could go for breakfast and then go on a short easy bike ride. Sounded good by me.

Sunday we took the dog for a walk and headed to breakfast (i had a fabulous stack of blueberry pancakes and some coffee - i guess getting back on the healthy eating wagon will have to begin today rather than yest). We grabbed my laptop so I could upload my photos and show him and then headed on a nice sunny bike ride. We made our way to the grocery store and picked up some snacks for later. Then I took the dog on a 30 min run in the hot sun, from which it took her about 1 hr for her breathing to come back to normal. *Note to self: be sure to run earlier in the day with the dog if it's going to be a scorcher.

I made mention of loving Sunday drives earlier that morning and the man friend suggested we head out to a local winery with a nice 20 min scenic drive. Taking our cheese & crackers, a pear and a blanket for lounging, we headed out to enjoy a few bottles of wine and enjoy the sun. After a bit of lounging, he mentioned that it wasn't a spur of the moment thing, he had been hoping to take me to the winery. So friggin' cute.

And did I tell you how I love Sunday drives? It was perfect. The windows were down, we were listening to the oldies station (that happened to be playing great songs that I knew and loved), driving along beautiful country roads, my hair was blowing in the wind and I had my arm hanging out the window, waving to the cows as I sang along to the radio.

Afterward, we headed to the park for a nice walk in the sun and grabbed dinner at a great local place right on the river. If someone asked me how I could have made the day more perfect, I couldn't. It was more than I ever would have expected.

It's nice to not only come home and see that someone you've been missing for a while, but to realize he/she has been planning your return with only your best interest in mind. This is exactly what my heart needed. Tides have shifted. Things feel different and new and satisfying. We both agreed there will be no future three week trips apart.

The trip was amazing. I'm feeling surprisingly well rested for being back in the U.S. for only 48 hrs now. Photo updates to come soon!