A visit from Annie

This past week I had a visit from my dear friend Annie starting on Tuesday morning. Annie was my neighbor from right across the street from our first house back when we lived in Northern Ca. We were neighbors for 5 years starting when Kate was 3 years old. Her and her husband Zac have been our very close friends for over 17 years. They are Kate's Godparents and we are their son Andrew's Godparents. Annie and I made a pact when she first moved away that we would get together once a year and we did for many years. However life became very busy for both of us and we had not seen each other for FOUR years. So when she told me she was going to be in our area to run a marathon in a nearby city and could spend three of the six days she was going to be here with me (she spent the other  3 with her Aunt who lives in the nearby city) I was thrilled!

I picked her up at her Aunts late Tuesday morning and we came back to my house where I made us lunch and we spent a few hours catching up and watching Oprah together. I had made a home made pot pie that morning (one of her fav meals) and we spent the evening enjoying a casual meal at home and then we watched a Lifetime movie I had been wanting to share with her which I had previously taped.

The next day I took her on the grand sight seeing tour of our city which included a scenic drive through the wine country and walking through all the shops in the historic down town. We grabbed a turkey burger for lunch at Kevin's and mine favorite down town burger shack and we enjoyed the sunshine as we ate outside in the spring like weather. SoCal has felt like Spring for over 3 weeks with temps in the mid 70's and bright sunny days. The best weather I've ever seen in January in my entire life, it was just perfect for Annie who lives in Minnesota where last week the high was -10 below! Annie loved every moment of the SoCal sunshine and warmth! After shopping, lunching and sightseeing we returned home once again to watch one of our mutually favorite shows Oprah. I had made home made pizza dough that morning and assembled the rest of the pizza for a homemade pizza dinner that evening. After dinner we decided to catch a movie and grab a gourmet cupcake at the cup cake bakery in the same local mall as the movie theatre. We finished the evening sipping tea and watching a show on OWN before turning in at the end of a very full, wonderful day together.

Our time together came to an all too quick end Thursday, when after having coffee and a slice of cinnamon burst bread  at The Great Harvest Bakery and a little more sightseeing of my fine city I drove her back to the major nearby city airport to catch her flight back to MN.

An avid runner (has run the Boston marathon many times) Annie got several runs in through our neighborhood while here. I know it will be difficult to return to the cold weather and icy roads. I could tell  Annie truly enjoyed her time her in SoCal! I'm excited to fly out in the Spring or Summer to visit Annie, Zac, their daughter Jillian and my Godson Andrew. I have not seen my Godson since his baptism before he turned 2!

I am very blessed in life with many wonderful girlfriends, but in many ways Annie is like a sister to me not just a friend. She, her husband and kids feel like family to me. I look forward to seeing her again this year if things go as I plan.

*unrelated to this post is the fact that I will NOT being posting daily as I had mentioned and hoped to do. One or two posts per week makes much more sense with the rest of my busy life...thanks again for reading Definitely Debi*