Back from my 1,600 mile trip.

I drove a long way by myself and I didn't die. Awesome. :D

I went home to Michigan for a week and a half. It was a great experience. I drove 1,600 miles all by myself! I spent a couple days with a good friend from college and had dinner with another college friend. Went to all my favorite places, met with some friends from home, had both my favorite foods that my grandmothers make. And I got to spend an entire week with my two gorgeous nieces. They are four years old and seven weeks old and incredible little ladies.

Now it's my first day back at the office. Things are going well so far. Getting things done and getting back into the swing of things. We're working on uploading the content to our new Web site that will launch in just under two weeks. It's supposed to be complete by tomorrow and we're trying to upload 18 months of news content in a day. Eak. Plus, the server keeps crapping out on us so I've done... one issue worth of content. Oh well. It'll be something monotonous to get me back into the grind and I can easily do it at home.

I'll do a photo post of my amazing nieces and my wonderful trip shortly.

In the meantime I've become addicted to the Twilight series. I wrote an article for our paper when the last book came out about a year ago. I hadn't even heard about it up until then. Then one of my then-coworkers (who is a few years older than me) started reading the entire series. She finished them by the time the first movie came out and convinced me to go to the midnight showing with her on a Thursday night. I'm sure our boss/editor was thrilled at that decision. Now I'm finally reading the series even though I've had the first book since Christmas. It's good summer reading but it's not the most excellent writing. I guess that's what happens when it's a good story. It seems to be mostly ... lusty.

It's been a while. I'm freaking out again.

So I know I've abandoned this blog for a bit. I want to continue writing in it. It's more honest than the blog that's available to my family and friends.

It's been a year and a half or so since I've written. I moved to Northern Virginia, within three weeks I found a job in journalism and things have been going well. About 11 months later I then became the only writer at my paper and had a bit of a mental breakdown during the past winter. Things are good and back to normal. Steve has been amazingly supportive. We moved from a more suburban community to one closer to the city/D.C. and we love it. It's a great area.

Tomorrow I'm making my first trip home to Michigan by myself. I've never driven alone for so long (it's a 10-11 hour trip) and I'm scared outta my pants! I've made this trip quite a few times since moving here but always with Steve. The longest I've been at the wheel at once is five hours and the most I've driven in a day by myself is six (three hours from Grand Rapids, Mich. to Detroit and back). I'm an anxious, freaked out, hot mess. I have anxiety disorder so that really doesn't help. I'm very well prepared, it's going to be a great trip and a much deserved 10-day vacation. I'm just anxious. Obviously. I've got lots of entertainment (music, books on tape, etc.) and snack food and caffeine. I can do it.

My sister-in-law has been making 10-hour trips from Michigan to Minnesota like three times a year since she was 16. My stepmother moved from Michigan to Boston with three children all by herself. One of my bosses has driven from here to Michigan with her two kids alone. Others do it. I can do it. I'm perfectly fine. I'll stop every three hours and take breaks and my car has been looked at and we just got the warranty extended and I have an atlas and I can change a tire and I know how to take care of myself, damnit!

I'm a big girl.