The man of my life is visiting right now. He calls it "the Charlotte office." Since he works mostly remotely, he can work from anywhere, which is a huge boon to our relationship. I love it because I never get much time to be at home any way. This way, I get him, but he sits over there in the dining room and leaves me alone for a few hours at a time. Its the perfect balance. Since he is doing work, I feel like I have to get out of bed and get stuff done too. Besides putzing around on the internet I HAVE actually gotten things accomplished.

I had a great visit with E and Nigel last week, worked a 4 day trip with my roommate and now my sole focus is on manipulating my work schedule so I can get this Japan trip planned. Now I just have to come up with some money for it... gulp!

I just got my schedule for May- for MAY? How are things going by so fast. I'm doing terribly at working on my goals and getting things done in general. If only I would ever elect to stay at home.

It has been a great couple months for seeing friends, though. Great overnights lead me to Maria and Mandy in March, then Lindsay, Mallory & Sean and Meredith in April. If only I could get all kinds of these friends-layovers all the time. That would be the life.

Otherwise, I had an awesome time in Vegas for Tara and Tom's wedding (that's ANOTHER friend this month) and I'm taking off in an hour to go see Eleanor and Nigel. It has been shamefully long since I've been there... but today is E's bday I can't wait to show her what I found for her.

Besides that, the big adventure was a trip to Brazil (Rio de Janeiro specifically) with the special man in my life. The most memorable time was hiking up the mountain to see Christ the Redeemer at the top. I got to have an interaction with a bunch of marmosets (giving them a banana helped) and managed the steepest, toughest climb I've had since the Shikoku Pilgrimage. I got to try stand-up paddle board for the first time too--LOVED it. Otherwise we were drinking continuous caiparinhas and its all a big romantic, tropical blur. Well, not really. It was a super memorable, easy-going trip. I'm already looking forward to Brazil part 2.

Family: Right after Brazil, I went back to PA for my Dad's big benefit dinner. The amount of people who showed up, the money raised, all the support--it was overwhelming. I was touched. I know Dad was too. He is starting the first stages of stem cell treatment RIGHT NOW. OMG! Let's kill this lymphoma.

Got to go back to Gainesville for Nail's bday and saw everyone! It was great. I think I might want to own a convertible car now. Also went on a trip for a couple days with mom to San Diego to see the zoo, Balboa park and the Pacific Ocean. It was a test of patience, but I think she really had a good time. Hell, even I did at times.