weekend update

This weekend was the first weekend where I was in Jacksonville adn actually enjoyed my entire weekend.  I spent a lot of time with Anna and Mike, but I also hung out with City Year people for a while, too. 

Friday during the day we got some very exciting news! We were approved for the house that we wanted!  It was such an exciting piece of news to recieve on Friday afternoon. We move in on Wednesday and I couldn't be more happy.  We don't have a lot of basic things, like plates or silverware, but we have a house and that's all that matters.

our new abode! Front porch and all!

Friday night, the entire City Year staff and senior corps went out for drinks as one last hurrah before the corps came.  One thing that I do like about being at a small site is the fact that senior corps and staff can hang out and drink together.  We couldn't do that in Boston and while I see both sides of the argument, I am glad that it's this way here. After grabbing a drink with them, I went to Anna's for an Olympics viewing party.  It's weird being the only non-Navy person there, but Anna watches out for me and I'm getting to know at least one of her friends, so it's not that bad. We all agreed that the opening ceremonies were okay, but nothing compared to Bejing. Plus, the technology era was strange and the huge baby was, to quote Dan Rather, "I don't know if that's cute or creepy."

I spent the night at Anna's on Friday and we went to the beach on Saturday.  Poor Mike was definitely the odd man out and had to listen to all of our girl talk all day.  The beach was perfect. I'm going again this weekend for sure. The water was the right temperature and was pretty calm.  We got to the beach around 12:30 and layed out for two and a half hours before deciding that we were hungry.  We went to Al's for pizza (pesto chicken pizza...yuuuummm) and literally the minute we stepped into the restaurant, it started to pour.  It rains every afternoon in Jacksonville and the joke is "If you don't like the weather, just wait ten minutes."  This downpour lasted more than ten minutes, but our timing couldn't have been more perfect. 

After the beach, I headed home and just relaxed for the rest of the weekend. I watched more than my fair share of the Olympics and lounged around the hotel.   It was a relaxing end to the weekend and I was very thankful for it.

I think that I have finally adjusted to Jacksonville.  I still don't have a core group of friends or that one friend I can go to with anything (besides Anna who's leaving in a month), but I have that other places. Right now, I have adjusted a little bit and am learning my way around the city. I knew this feeling would come, but I'm glad that it's here and I'm starting to feel comfortable. Boston still has my heart, though.

lazy best friend beach day :)