In the air again .... soon.

After the whirlwind year we had, I've really enjoyed the past 2 months. We've left the state of Virginia for a grand total of zero times since the end of June, breaking our very consistent pattern of going to Ohio or another mid-western state at least once a month since June 2006. 13 months full of travel. I guess planning a wedding can do that to you. In all honesty, I had a great time --- I love flying, I love seeing new people and I loved that I was getting married. It just got to be very tiring after awhile.

The respite has not made all things calm, as there is still a lot going on with work for both of us and we've been taking a lot of various little trips on the weekend. Including one in July that almost landed us in North Carolina. We missed our turn on to New Bridge road when we were headed to Little Island State Park in Sandbridge --- we assumed that we could get there a different way if we just made smart turns. Well, we forgot about Bay Back and turned around only after we saw a sign that said "NC line 6" ... Other than that, we've stuck to our neck of the woods. Nothing spectacular, in terms of travel anyhow. And we planned to keep it that way until our trip home for the holidays.

Well, that changed quickly for me this week. I've been chatting with a good friend of mine from home about wanting to visit and spend some time with her. Out of curiosity, I checked Travelocity for flights to Columbus the weekend of September 8. To my astonishment, the total round-trip flight cost $143 with tax. I checked the next day to make sure I had some vacation time after all of the days I took for my wedding, and after discovering that I had plenty of time, I booked the flight. I leave the 8th of September and return the 11th. Perhaps that's why the cost was so low -- I'm flying home on a Tuesday and it happens to be September 11. I have no superstitions about this, but I'm not mentioning to my mom any time soon. I'll let her remain excited for my trip.

Saturday will be full of a drive to Celina, a hair appointment, an eye exam and quality time with my family. Sunday should make for an interesting day as mom, grandpa and I plan to head back to Columbus for a day at the zoo and some shopping. We'll find something to do on Monday morning and when they head back to Celina, I will catch up with my friend Jacqui. We'll have the evening and most of Tuesday to do whatever we want (hopefully eat raviolis and read the latest Cosmo). I am quite excited about this trip because it will be my first trip to Ohio in more than a year that does not involve meeting with wedding vendors. I can just relax and enjoy all the goodness of life that existed before wedding planning took over! ;-)

And of course, I'll miss Mike and the dogs while I am gone and be excited to return on Tuesday night.

Travel really is the spice of life.

(along with good company, well-written novels and hot cocoa with dollops of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. wait, that last one is pretty much just ... sinful.)