boulder birthday for becky

Not quite a full two years ago, I took the most wonderful birthday (24!) trip with Sadie. Lindsey and Kara had planned a 10-day 'xcursion to Hawaii and had not invited us and - insult to injury - had planned it over my birthday, so we planned our own soiree. It took about 10 minutes of careful research on some Southwest flights, and a phone call to a friend asking for a place to stay, and we were Colorado bound! Corbin and Hank graciously welcomed us into their home in Boulder, and we set about planning our long weekend: beer tours, skiing, hot tubbing, ice skating, tacos, and a drive up to Wyoming. It was such a satisfying trip and I'd go back in a snowflake. Below are some pics, then I'll get to the scarfy part.

Fun in the brewery

A summary of our day on the slopes

Winter wonderland!

So the scarfy part - As you know, this was a birthday trip. Or a trip that started on my birthday. Either way, I was celebrating my birthday with only a few friends, which meant my other friends had a grand opportunity to celebrate me in creative ways! Sweet Allison came over early the morning we left (before work!) with Krispy Kreme donuts and a little gift. KK = most surely the way to my heart and the most foolproof to confirm one's love for me. Inside the little gift was a soft heather wool scarf, very purposefully to take to CO! Now, here's the thing about Allison. She's a sweetheart, no doubt, but she's the kind of sweet where you know she puts some sweat into her sweetness, because she knows what you love. (Exhibit A: Once for Valentine's Day, she was going to miss our annual party and brought over a dozen heart shaped and sprinkled Krispy Kreme. Talk about a track record!) This scarf was 1) a scarf 2) wool = warm 3) easily smooshed into my suitcase the day of go-time. All in all, it was perfect. And I snapped the perfect pic to show my appreciation for it.

Got all my textures in! Wool, rabbit, hidden denim, and a field jacket to fight the wind. A very meaningful thank you note was written to express how meaningful the scarf had been to me, and still is. 

adulthood

Darling, I've missed you.

My sister-in-law has two beautiful children whom she so invites me into their lives through her blog, and the more I enjoy hers, the more guilt I feel about neglecting mine. So I'll add a few posts from the past year and try really hard at keeping up with it.

Last fall I got an email from Southwest and had some inspiration about taking a trip by myself, and took the cheapest flights to Norfolk, VA. Booked a hotel in Virginia beach, and tagged it #adultvacay. Approaching the weekend, I was excited about getting away, and to a place I'd never been before, and a little apprehensive about not having any company with me. A lot of people questioned going to a "northern" beach in October, but that only means I got to walk along the beach barefoot in a SCARF! (don't miss the arm reflection in that selfie!)

This scarf belongs to my roommate Lindsey (see: adorable blonde in second post) and was her first Clemson orange gear after being raised a gamecock fan, and getting her acceptance letter to the only University in South Carolina that matters. Beaches in the fall are hopefully sunny, and terribly windy, so this chunk of a scarf was perfect for my weekend on the coast. I think I took it off once to eat shrimp & grits, only to save it from the possibility of taking some unwanted grits home with me.

The weekend in VA Beach was perfect - I ate well (s&g / coastal sushi / duck foie gras/ Whole Foods lunch x3), drank well (martini dry, clean, with 2 olives / manhattans on manhattans / bottle of wine, hold the glass), stumbled across the show of a Nashville friend, ate dinner with a former Nashville friend, climbed a lighthouse, drove through a underwater bridge...check out the instagram, and read 2 books, cover to cover. I also rented a Tahoe, which is the way to my heart. But I was really lonely. I've always thought of myself as an outgoing introvert - that I get my kicks from being alone, but love to entertain people, as long as I got my kicks. Three days of real aloneness showed me that I'm probably wrong about myself. I think I'm still going to use the phrase outgoing introvert, because it sounds right, but I need people. And after I got back, I realized that people need me.