Wendy B.

Meet Wendy ______ Baldasaro. She doesn't have a middle name, and has always felt a little left out from the rest of us cool people who do. Feel free to give her one if you'd like, many people have over the years. I think about Wendy all the time, and thought what better way to honor her, and our friendship, then to write about her on my blog!

I love Wendy, and every time we hang out, I laugh so hard over our conversation that DRIPS with sarcasm and jokes. Wendy has been my long time friend, since we were in Kindergarten! In so many way, we are opposites. She is a seasoned dancer, and I am clearly not. I am musical, and she is not. Blond is she, red am I. And many others I could list. Wendy and I have a really unique friendship in that we can go for weeks, or even months without talking, and I know that I can call her anytime, or vice versa, and we can catch up like no time has passed at all! We can catch up on jobs, relationships, family, friends, and everything in between.

Some of the best childhood memories that I have, are with Wendy either at her house, or at mine. We used to spend hours, days, ... weeks choreographing Michael Jackson dances in her den. It was more like her teaching me how to move my body so I looked as though I wasn't a robot, and she effortlessly would dance to his music. We'd also take it a step further and dance to Wacko-Jacko in the pool and do sacronized swimming dances. Don't you wish you lived in her neighborhood to watch our routines?! Another favorite thing we'd do together was pretend that we were on QVC, or the Home Shopping Network, and we'd video tape ourselves selling household items such as baskets, brushes, TV remotes, and so on. We used to play Oregon Trail like it was going out of style, and every time we played, we always killed off the characters by giving them diarrhea or some horrible disease. But probably the thing I loved doing best with Wendy was sharing our 'awkward years' together. You all know when those years occurred...the years 11-15 when you look and feel awkward between braces, no make up, weird hair, weird bodies, and non-existing self-esteems. I LOVE looking through pictures of us looking 100% ridiculous...when really we though we were the hottest thing ever! We'd pose in front of the camera like we had nothing to hide.

Now that we're adults, we've shared a lot of fun, sad, hard, and scary life moments. I can always lean on Wendy to be there for me even though we've lived in different states for a number of years, on completely different schedules, and in different stages on life.

Wendy _____ Baldasaro, I love you girl!

Fun birthday weekend

Katey and I...cold!

Danielle after finishing her second marathon!!

Danielle after the marathon

Birthday boys

Birthday dinner




This past weekend was a lot of for for John and I. It was his birthday weekend, and we made it a marathon of sorts! He was able to do a bunch of things that he hasn't in a few months b/c we've lived away from friends. He played poker with the guys Friday night, had a joint birthday dinner/drinks Saturday night, and went to VA Beach for surfing and dinner Sunday night! (By the way, he turned 28 on Saturday!) We also were able to cheer on our friend Danielle across the finish line Sunday afternoon. She ran her second marathon, and rocked it! We both had a great weekend, but now it's back to the grind. Today is John's first day at work, and tomorrow I start subbing full-time. Yah for us both working with some regularity!

To be, or not to be...a Southern Bell

My girlfriend Katey and I went shopping around Marshall's the other day in pursuit of the perfect Easter hat. Both of us know how important it is to dress to the nines on Easter Sunday, but more importantly, to dress your head with the perfect hat. We wanted our hats to really express themselves. We're pretty sure we found them, but need a little convincing from you. Southern Bell, or just plain weird...

By the way, the hat Katey is modeling had a mighty price tag of $199.99...yowzah!!

Relaxing trip to FL

NOT nude

Siesta Key Beach


Handsome boy

Well, we're back to the real world again, but our vacation was nice while it lasted! We were able to see family and friends, and get some much needed 'sun therapy' time in! I am living in VA with friends until the closing date on our house, and tutoring on the side. I'll start tutoring any day now! John is still working in WV, and moved here permanently March 17th, and starts work at his new job on March 23rd. Life has been so hectic, but I know that soon it will all settle down. Here are some pics from FL!

Closure

I always thrive in situations when I have closure, and when I don't have closure, I don't do too well. Our vacation in Florida ends in just a few days, and then we are headed back to WV. John will be staying in WV until March 17, but I will be leaving immediately for VA the next day. Although I am really excited to be moving from WV to VA, I don't think I've had closure on the four months that I lived in the Wild and Wonderful state. When I was living in WV, my life seemed painfully slow, and mind numbing. My daily routine consisted of watching DVDs, running occasional errands, occasionally going to the gym, and making dinner. Although it may seem a lot to keep someone busy, it's not enough to keep me busy! There were numerous nights when I would be laying in bed at the end of the day thinking to myself, 'What the heck did I do with myself, or my life today?' I made one friend, who I dearly love, and will terribly miss! But my daily interactions were mostly with just John, and I was dying to be in big groups of people, laughing and playing, and everyday I found myself on the couch thinking about my family and friends. With all of that said, in some ways, the last four months of doing nothing were exactly what I needed to prepare for the next few months of being crazy busy with buying a house, renovating it, starting work again, and blah, blah, blah. I guess what I am trying to say is that although West Virginia was not the best place for loud, NY, opinionated, out-spoken Leah...you served me well.

Kind of a blur...

The last few weeks have been a total blur!! John and I have SO busy with a million different things! My best friend had her baby, so I was in for about a week and a half with her. Then we found out about three weeks ago that he got the job at Sentara in Hampton, and have been house hunting for a few weeks on and off. As soon as we found out about the job, we started packing our house in WV, and I started looking for jobs in Hampton Roads. Every weekend for the past 5 weeks we have been in VA, and driving back and forth, which gets old pretty quick! Although we LOVE our time in VA with our friends, the drive is horrible and we are glad that it'll be over soon! In some ways, being back and forth between states has helped because we've been able to use each trip as a way of transporting our packed boxes. Tomorrow, John will be arriving with a moving van full of our furniture, and the left over boxes that didn't fit in our car. We have both been busy little packing beavers!

It's difficult to be 'halfs-e-ing' it. We are in between places right now, and living out of suitcases. While we know that we'll be living in the area again, we don't have a house that we're moving into. Our gracious friends Stu and Claire are allowing us to stay with them for a few weeks during the 'transition' time. They have been great about the whole thing, and have opened their house to us! We put an offer on a house in Yorktown, and should be hearing back shortly. John starts work March 23, and for the remainder of the school year, I'll be substitute teaching, and tutoring after school. I'm in the process of looking for a full-time teaching position for next year, so if you know of any openings in any elementary schools...please let me know!

We leave for FL on Sunday, and we are SO excited!! We are going to be there for a wonderful 10 day vacation, visiting his grandparents, and doing little day beach trips.

Good times were had...

John and I went to VA this past weekend to look for a house. Oh, did I mention that we're moving back to Hampton Roads??!! YAH! We are so excited! John interviewed for a job at the Hampton Sentara Healthplex two weeks ago, and got the job! His first day is March 16th. We are so excited to move back 'home', and be with our friends again! So, now we are back to square one with looking for a house and all that jazz. I forgot how stressful it is looking for a house with a pretty limited time. We are thinking that we'll stay with friends for a few weeks, and then move into whatever house we get sometime in April. We checked out a lot of houses on Saturday and Sunday, probably too many to be honest, because our heads were spinning. Did I mention how freakin' excited I am to be moving back?

After a long day of looking at houses on Saturday, we had drinks that night with some friends. We both really needed to just relax and have fun...and we did! It felt so good to be with our friends again, laughing and having fun. We looked at more houses on Sunday, and found two that were are really interested in. There are still a lot of numbers to be crunched, but we're on the right path!