Ryan and I helped give Kate a little nudge to move to San Francisco this past summer. She was in town visiting and talking about how she wished she lived there and I finally got tired of hearing it because she has been saying that for the past 8 years!! So, I asked her why she wasn't just making it happen and we proceeded to talk through all of her reasons and remove the barriers. By the time she left Nashville, we had researched real estate in SF and by the next week, she was having a realtor come look at her place in DC to put it on the market. I must say, at that point I had a minor moment of freaking out where I thought to myself, "oh no! What have i done...what if she regrets it, etc.". Well - fast forward 3 months and Kate was moving across the country from DC to SF. Luckily, she has LOVED every minute of living there and so you can imagine my excitement to get to go visit her earlier this month on my way to Portland.
It was so much fun to get to see her place and experience the things that she loves about SF. She lives in Pacific Heights (I think!) and it was such a fun little area! We had dinner when I arrived with her good friends Joany & Gaye who I have heard about for the last 8 years. It was great to get to put faces with names! We walked about 7 miles on Saturday morning and then went shopping in Union Square and to a great dinner at Boulevard. Sunday we met up with an old Stockamp friend for lunch, hit the Lululemon store, and then went to the movies. Thanks, Kate for a wonderful weekend! I can't wait to come visit again!
After I left SF, I had to go to Portland for the week for work. It was a fun visit - complete with dinner with Mitzi & Amy, a birthday celebration with Tom & Carol, and year end evaluation discussions for Tom & Carol - both of whom had great years! I was able to share the good news with Tom that his promotion to Manager had been approved, so it was a great trip!
I certainly missed my Ryan & Madison Claire bear. I sent Madison Claire videos like the one below so she could see me when I was gone (I know I talk slow & funny - not sure why!!!). You'll see the one I sent her, then she sent me, then I sent her back.
When I got home, Ryan had some beautiful pink roses and a sweet card for me - I think he really missed me. Madison Claire was precious too - this was her cute little self when I walked in the door.
Mimi, Papa Steve, Nana, Papa Gary, Annie, Ryan and myself were all there to witness her reaction. When they let us in, she went towards him happy but the second he reached out his hands for her, she turned towards me and started saying, "no, no, no". Oh well - maybe next year! 
