Home for the Holidays

It almost feels like I never left. Almost. My closet, drawers, and shelves that are filled with new items have tangible proof to remind my foggy brain that I did in fact just return to Madrid from my holiday vacation back in the states. The memories of laughing with family and friends, of the pleasantly warm southeastern countryside, and of the great food that I consumed in the past two weeks have taken residence in my mushy mind. And the jet lag is behind the brain issues.

I spent my vacation divided between my Aunt Cary’s house in Atlanta, my grandparents farm (the Dear Farm) near Newnan, Georgia, and my own home in Dothan for the final week. I really enjoyed having almost an entire week with my extended family, and everything seemed so normal. Had I really spent the past three months living, working, and traveling in Spain? Was that just a dream? Had I made it all up? To be honest, while sitting on the overly plush couch in front of the crackling fire at my grandparents’ farm house, I wasn’t sure. Everything seemed so perfect, comfortable, relaxing, and normal— and I loved every minute of it.

Being in Dothan was equally as nice. Although a lot of my high school friends were not around, I was able to spend some great QT with some of my closest friends. Gillian, Erin, and I saw each other everyday once we all got back to Dothan. We went to the drive-in movies, attempted to cook tortilla, played several rounds of Cranium, visited Evan at Compass Lake, drove around Ross Clark Circle (yeah… we didn’t know what else to do), rode dirt bikes at my farm, and discovered that Dothan is home to Guinness Book of World Records’ Smallest City Block. My cousin Elizabeth spent New Years Eve with us, but I wonder if she was disappointed that our raging house party we had planned fell through. Ok, so maybe there was never a plan to have a raging house party… BUT one night Dad did BBQ ribs and we shared our meal with G, Erin, Anna, and TC. That seems like a pretty big party, right?

Gillian, Erin, and Elizabeth skipping around World's Small City Block

I'm going to call this party Dad's-Famous-BBQ-Ribs-Dinner-Party

The Thorpes stopped by our farm (note Aunt Cary, Elizabeth, and Molly on the right)

You don't get scenes like this in Madrid!

Well, even if Dothan isn’t party-central, I thoroughly enjoyed all the R&R and almost prefer it to my newest home that is party-central, Madrid. And although I was home for the holidays, my Christmas break isn't over yet. For those of you who don’t know, Justin (my boyfriend) is flying to Madrid tomorrow. I haven’t seen him in five months (he's in Turkey for the year); needless to say, I’m very excited about his coming. His presence alone is pretty darn exciting, but we’ve got plans that top it all. This weekend, we’re going to Paris. Merry Christmas, Justin. Next week, I’ll go back to work on Monday, but I’m going to cut my week extra short to take off Thursday so Justin and I can travel to Granada for that weekend. Just thinking about all the traveling and plans that I have for the coming couple of weeks makes my head spin, which is not a good thing when added with the jet lag. My bed is calling my name right now, “Laura… Hailey… Laura Hailey…” and it might do me some good to listen to it, because otherwise I'm just talking to myself!

Oh, and Happy New Years! I hope that 2009 is full of beautiful blessing and wonderful surprises!