So many weddings

So little time.



I can remember a few months back thinking the Virginia heat would suffocate me. Now that it's beginning to get cooler outside (at least in the morning) I think back to these last few months and feel extremely tired :) So, to get you all up to speed here's what I've been doing:

- visited Mimi and bought the same shoes in different colors
- flight to Oz
- Cara and Toff got hitched on a winter beach
- formed a "pinkies up" club (dad membership included)
- flight home from Oz
- Floudfest (four days of music and booze and heat stroke)
- Brooke came for a visit and we realized we are old
- flight to Cape Cod
- Uncle Eric and Mark got hitched on a hurricane beach
- played lots of Taboo
- flight home from Cape Cod
- packing packing packing

Whew, two weddings down and one more to go. Three weddings in only three months. Now, it's not a big secret that I wasn't the biggest fan of weddings but I am happy to say I am now a convert. So all other family and friends please feel free to get married and invite me :) Here's a preview of the next month: Newcomb fun at the lake, Coro and Taylor get hitched, Cara comes to visit, and I move into a house!

I'll try not to neglect you.
Smoochies, Kiki

Miss adventures of overtime.

Please IRS, save me some dimes.

Carilion has banished it's hotel benefit for commuting nurses, which means a.) the hospital saves money and b.) the nurses stop comming. This is how I am currently on my fourth week of working overtime and how tomorrow I will hopefully see a paycheck that mimics my hard work.

Consequently I no longer am able to take long weekends to anywhere besides the backs of my eyelids. Though I am tired, several things keep me going:
We have begun bi-weekly ibternational dinner dates with some other sleepless nurses recounting the hysterics and hilarity that accompanies the ACE unit. Our first conquest was Ben Gui for sushi. Not everyone enjoys the freshest of fish so up next is Issac's for hummus and pitas.
This weekend is the annual Strawberry festival, which means on my one day off I will be enjoying strawberries, live music, and a chilli cooking contest inside a beer garden in downtown Roanoke (which I can literally see from my window) between the hours of 10 and 5.
Hour long phone calls from my sister and mother have made several of my nights and breaks.
I have finished the latest book in Diaba Gabaldons series and am finally free to start Eat Pray Love, which I did start reading today and am already hooked!

So, life is busy but there is a light on at the end of the tunnel and it's abbreviated AUS.

Love and miss and sleep,
Kiki

Oz countdown: 61 days

Food is good, beer is better

But Roanoke seems to be wetter.

So, it is spring and not too long ago I discovered my two favorite things to do in RoVa: The Tavern happy hour and Metro happy hour sushi. Leah, Rachel, and I went to The Tavern for a burger lunch and ended up staying through beer happy hour until Metro's sushi happy hour deal started (which means half off all sushi). I spent five straight hours in downtown drinking and enjoying the people watching (which are two of my favorite things to do). So, today is Monday and I surprisingly just spent four hours sitting outside enjoying the spring sunshine at The Tavern with my good friend Rachel who will be moving to RoVa in 9 days. It was a marvelous spring day and my optimism is at it's finest.

Oz count down: 94 days

An Ode de Cara

Recently I have found myself thinking about my traveling sister tons. Maybe it's because of the passing of the anniversary of our birth and maybe it's because I bought my ticket to Sydney (I still have to make it to Adelaide but at least I will be on the same continent) and maybe it's because all anyone can talk about these days is weddings. Seriously, Mimi's wedding, Coro's wedding, I work with a girl who is getting married in a couple of weeks, I'm going wedding-bonkers. Not that I don't adore all these love fests it just makes me realize that I don't live with a best friend. And I suppose when I think of best friends I think of Bean and our shared history so here is a small list of the things I have been thinking about:

• How did we get split? I mean she is always a better writer and in general was better in social studies classes than I was, and I got stuck with the science/math genes? Doesn't that seem a little odd to anyone? If we have similar genetic make-ups shouldn't we at least be good at the same things? Believe it. Or not. Where's Ripley when we need him?
• Why is it that when we were younger and Cara couldn't fold laundry (seriously, she really can't, the clothes turn out like lumpy packages) so I would fold the laundry, why didn't I do a swap of some kind. A chore for a chore. That seems logical, but alas I did fold the laundry only because her half would be refolded anyway. So listen up Cara, I am hereby invoking years of chore for a chore and no longer will do your chores. And I say that with love of course.
• Does anyone else remember Cara in gym class? All I ever think about when I'm on the treadmill and my pony tail is swaying, is the funny little way Cara's tiny pony tail would boink boink boink up and down as she ran like a kangaroo. Hahah, it always makes me smile. And funnier yet, maybe that's why she's in Oz. Hey Bean: do you run down there, and if so, do you feel at home with the 'roos? Teehehe.
• Or how about her tingers? Really. Tingers
• "Mrs.BAHnfield sayid I didn' haf to eat my rAIsins" When we were in kindergarten in Maine, where did she get a southern accent from?

Now this list may seem like I'm picking on her, but really it is a list of all the little things that I miss. Things that Skype can't pick up on and we could write a book on our childhood and all the little things that happen that still make us laugh. Well I suppose I wanted to write this list to share that I remember all those little things and more. Anyone else got a good Cara story?

As much love as ever forever,

Kiki.

Charlottesville keeps calling my name

Hello folks! So, a lot has been happening in my life and I have become very neglectful of this blog. I apologize, the holiday season itself is hard on peoples time. Now to get you caught up I have officially officially become a real on my own nurse. I've lost two patients (which means that they have disappeared while under my care, not passed on... Mama Newk has requested I no longer use the term lost). My car got crunched. Christmas time hit and I was surrounded by loving family and Christmas Drink. Celia, Meg, Amy, and Laura all came down to RoVa to see me which was a much needed girls night out. Mama Newk has finally started work out at the power plant and the lake house reno is going smoothly, the parents and I took out some furniture yesterday and it had be yearning for summer. But alas, it is cold outside, the Lowe's delivery guy woke me up at 0730, Sophi is ignoring me, and I haven't had any coffee. I'm headed back to RoVa today but not until I remedy all the bad starts to my day, well maybe not the cold part.

Love to all!
Kiki.

thanksNewk-ing week

the outlook is far from bleak.

Where to begin... per usual I have spent minimal time in my fair city of RoVa and oodles of it on the road. Rachel's sister, Becca, has gone through labor and come out the other side with a son, Brisan (pronounced bry-son). He is adorable and is helping me conquer my fears that all babies look and act like aliens. One small step for aliens, one giant step for Kirsten Newcomb.

This past weekend I was able to go to Richmond VA to celebrate my college friend Mel's quarter of a century mark. We got to see her new posh living space in downtown RVa, went out to dinner with a bunch of friends, and I was even able to catch up for a bit with Ginger! The next hungover morning we went to Godfrey's for a little drag queen brunch. It was a tiny room packed with women drinking at 11am instead of being a church while watching drag queens perform and handing them one dollar bills. I have already decided that while Cara may be accross several miles of oceans and lands, that I can in fact celebrate her birth and Toffs birth and their love with a little drag show action. Stay tuned for dates, I will gladly drive three hours just to go back to Godfrey's. Below is Amandas, Mel (the birthday girl), and Rachel, plus one of our favorite girls.

I drove up to JMU on Saturday to watch the very last JMU Football game being held at Bridgeforth Stadium. They will begin tearing it down within the month and rebuilding for next season and bigger and badder space for our dukedogs. All the purple and gold made me miss Harrisonburg until I realized all the reasons that I miss it are now spread out over the globe.

Afterwards, I drove back to Charlottesville for an early Thanksgiving. I ate with my parents and Seth on Sunday and tonight I have been invited over to Meg's house for food and drinks. Everytime I come back to Charlottesville I wish I could stay longer but at the same time eager to get back to RoVa. Thanksgiving day marks my first week off of orientation and I no longer have a safety net. Hello scared. Hello life.

Love to all,
-kiki.

A is for apple

and B is for brapple.

So, I finally have internet again, and yes that does mean I am in Charlottesville. I promise I will make more of an effort to get into a groove of at least checking my email in RoVa, just as soon as I stop driving to Charlottesville all the time (wink).

Today was a picture perfect Virginia fall day, complete with changing leaves, football games (Go Pats!), and apple picking. My mom, grandma, and I loaded into my Subaru for the trek up Carter's Mountain. We met my cousin Chelsea and some of her Duke Dog friends at the top and had a nice time letting our human instincts kick in to hunt and gather. I only got a couple of Pink Lady's, because we all know the real reason to drive up there is for the apple cider donuts, and they did not disappoint. I would like to share one unsettling thought, in all the years I have been enjoying appleness on the top of that mountain I have never experienced such a huge crowd. There were people everywhere, and tons of apples rotting on the ground, and traffic lining the winding road to the top. I know that more people mean bigger sales for the Carter's Mountain crew, but it still made me sad that one of the more relaxing fall events has now turned into another time to fight a crowd.



I am still adoring RoVa and this past Friday walked downtown for a couple of drinks. My Minnesota friends and Leah went to Corned Beef for some appetizers and some really good talks, you can just ask the guys who eaves dropped the entire time. Later Leah and I grabbed some brews at the sushi bar and then headed across the street to Blues, the local jazz joint. There was live music and good drinks, I couldn't really as for anything more. Right now my most enjoyable moments in the city have been when I've had the chance to walk across the foot bridge to downtown just to wander and find my own favorite places.

Work is good, friends are better.
Love to all,
-kiki.