The highlight of my week: A 9 year-old telling me that I'm prettier in person than the picture on my work badge. I thought my work badge picture was pretty cute.

I guess my look has changed over the course of a few months.

Me in January 2008. I was smiling, but I felt miserable.

Me in June 2008. No smile, but I was feeling pretty good.

I just got back from Wilmington. Well, I cruised into Greensboro to go to a mentoring session at work. I love my job, but I need to make money. I'm not 19 anymore. I have bills to pay and things to buy.

I had two hours to kill before going in, so I sat in my favorite local coffee house, typing away on my laptop.

It's raining cats and dogs, courtesy of Tropical Storm Fay. It was dry as a bone when I left Wilmington. I drove 80 MPH the entire way. Well, minus 20 miles or so because people decided to go incredibly slow. I even stopped in Chapel Hill to write a note and tack it to my best friend's door. I knew he'd be at work, but I thought he'd appreciate the gesture. He works hard and we hardly get to see each other. Hopefully it'll make him smile. Hopefully it'll make me call me to say thanks.

There weren't lots of introspective thoughts on the way down to the beach. Mostly I thought about how much I love to drive and how I'm a good driver. I left at 6:30 AM Saturday, arrived at Wilmington's city hall at 10:10 AM and got finished with the event around 3:30 PM. I'll be posting about it on my food blog tomorrow. Look for it.

So, I went down there with no real plans, no real place to stay, hoping that someone I knew would take me in and let me stay. I went to a former co-worker's for dinner and ended up staying until this morning. he and his girlfriend/fiancee have two little girls, 4 and 6 months. They also have a dog, cat, and a bunny. Their apartment is a "kid magnet" and when I got there, there were four neighborhood kids there running around amid the chaos of the regular household drama. I tried to stay small, quiet, and not cause any added stress. I cooked dinner one night and breakfast this morning, in hopes that my gestures were signs that I appreciated the hospitality.

I went on a solo excursion Sunday. I was invited to go to church with the family and I agreed, but then I changed my mind. It's been a long while since I've gone to church. I need to receive the sacrament of reconciliation before I can receive communion and I have yet to do this. As a Catholic, I'm only obligated to go to confession once a year. It's been three.

Luckily, a Catholic church was located next door to the family's church and I went to Mass. I stayed in the back and didn't receive communion, but it felt weird. I have a better vocabulary than that... I felt unfulfilled. I made a promise to myself to make an appointment this week to go have confession. I don't like feeling bad at church.

So after Mass (less than one hour after it began) I went downtown to walk along the Cape Fear River's pier. I got a flip flop tan and a $25 parking ticket. I planned to go to a museum or two, but I just wanted to be leisurely and wander around. So that's what I did.

I need to go on road trips more often. The whole weekend: $60 (gas and food). Maybe next week I'll go to Asheville. My old college roommate lives there and we haven't seen each other in years. Asheville is DEFINITELY closer than Wilmington.