I’ve been in a tiny bit of a funk the past few days. It’s not like I’ve been sitting around crying into my coffee. I’ve just been feeling a little left out what with some of my online friends attending a blogging conference in San Francisco last weekend, and I’ve been sighing a lot and missing old friends. We’ve been in California for a month or so now, and some of the excitement has worn off.

Don’t get me wrong, we are still happy to be living here, close to relatives and the beach and many other good things. But change, even good change, isn’t always easy. We had such great friends in Maryland and were used to spending a LOT of time with them. It’s not surprising that we miss them.

That’s why meeting some new friends yesterday was especially welcome! I first met Elaine when we both participated in 7 Days over a year ago, and we’ve kept in touch via Flickr and our blogs since then. When Elaine found out we were moving to her area, she emailed and said they’d love to meet us when we got settled.

We hung out with Elaine and her daughters for a couple of hours yesterday and it was great. We were at their house for all of 30 seconds when Annalie ran off without a backward glance to play on the swingset with 5-year-old Lily. Elaine and I sat in her living room drinking our Starbucks and chatting while 3-year-old Anya cuddled with her mom. Before long Anya had run off to play too.

Annalie and Lily and Anya got along great the whole time we were there. I am sure that had something to do with them being at that magical preschool age where kids have learned to play together. With very little guidance from us they moved easily from yard to bedroom to deck, playing dress-up and beauty parlor and even changing into swimsuits (Annalie borrowed one of Lily’s) for an impromptu water fight. When they started complaining of hunger we made them a lunch of PB&Js, grapes and edamame and had a picnic.

And while the kids were playing Elaine and I talked easily about anything that popped into our heads. She’s just as interesting and funny in person as she is on the internet. I look forward to getting together again, and am already plotting my next internet-meet-real-life experience.

As if that didn’t put me in a good-enough mood, yesterday I talked to my friend Deborah and we made plans for her family to come visit us in a couple of weeks, woohoo! We have not seen them since they moved from Maryland to California last February. I am really looking forward to seeing D and her family again and I know Annalie will love getting to play with her friends Christian and Anna. Then as the cherry on top of the day, I had the chance to talk to another Maryland friend, Angela, for over an hour on the phone. It was so good to hear her voice again, it made me think I should start calling people on the phone more.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll try to prolong this good mood by taking Annalie to the beach. Happy Friday!

Happy Independence Day! I hope all my fellow Americans had a fun holiday. And I hope the rest of you had a great Friday and that we are all looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

If you follow me on Flickr, you might have noticed I’ve been posting a lot of photos the last few days. That’s because my mom just went back home, and I know she always goes through Annalie withdrawal for a while. So I’m trying to ease the pain a little bit.

Of course, my mom’s not the only one who misses Annalie. I know her other grandparents wish they could see her more often, not to mention assorted aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

I guess what I’m saying is, one of the reasons I take so many photos is the same reason I started this blog: so family and friends can see what we’re doing in our day-to-day lives even if they live far away.

Since we moved recently and are missing our friends on the other end of the country I am happier than ever that I listened to Angella and Brenda and Heather, that I believed them when they said I would love blogging. I’ve had at least two of our Maryland friends tell me specifically that they enjoy reading (Hi, Sarah! Hi, Bek!) and are glad they have this way to keep in touch.

My friend Rachel commented once that she looks forward to reading my blog, and sometimes wishes I would blog more. That was one of the nicest comments I’ve ever got, and often when I start to think I’m posting too often I remember her comment and post again anyway.

Huh. I’ve rambled on a little bit and I don’t really know how to end this post. I guess that’s okay once in a while. It’s late and I’m tired. So I’ll just stick another photo at the end and call it a night.

I made this OMSH monster on our cross-country trip, intending to bestow this gift in person, but it wasn’t quite finished when we got together in Dallas.

Happy birthday, Heather! I hope you forgive me for walking all over your intellectual copyright yet again. I’ll get Lil’ OMSH in the mail as soon as I can get to a post office. Just doing my part to extend your birthday a little.