For those that didn't know, I went home to AZ for the past few weeks. My little cousin (who I saw born in 1993) graduated from high school this year! I am so unbelievably proud of that kid. I'm just sorry that after being 100% involved during the first several years of her life, I grew up got boyfriends and eventually moved completely out of her life. Its something that does trouble me but she is a very understanding and great kiddo, she isn't traumatized and certainly does not make me feel guilty about it too much ;)
Being with the family was not relaxing, was stressful, but was good nevertheless. I still felt a very strong sense of loss at leaving them, that left me crying on the plane. I love my family more than words and I need their consistent prattling in my life (haha!). I saw my cousin graduate and then immediately went to Flagstaff to spend a week with my mom. It was a great week. I don't think we have ever had a better time together. Pretty much no fighting, I am still amazed. She made me excersize every single day and she doesn't eat so that meant I didn't eat. And you know what? I lost 10 pounds! I am so grateful because after that lesson, I am determined to get more excersize now that I am at home. So far, Tammy and I have gone on hikes every morning. I admit I am laxing on the Zumba but I still love doing it, its just that I have been very busy lately. I want to start including swimming in the afternoons, if I can ever get an afternoon to myself. My second week was spent with my Dad and Grandparents in Mancos, CO (Southern CO). It was nice but a little stressful. I did a lot and saw a lot and am very grateful to that part of my family for putting up with my incessant demands. I was very concerned about keeping those 10 pounds off. 
Now I am back home to an empty house. It hasn't been extremely difficult without Jeff, but it hasn't been easy either. The first few weeks, Jeff was gone he was able to use his cellphone so we talk 5 times a day. Now that he is in Berlin we talk via Skype about 3 times a day. But on Wednesday he leaves for Italy and a 28K modem dial-up internet connection. That means I will get an e-mail every day from him to assure me that he is alive until I COME OUT TO VISIT HIM JUNE 23RD!!!!!!!!!!! That's right thanks to some contributions by my family, and the wonderfulness of 0% APR for 21 months via credit cards, I AM GOING TO ITALY! I am very excited and it has certainly made this past month a little easier. Make no mistake this is not a vacation, I will be working as Jeff's unpaid assistant. But at least I get to go again and I get to see him for 2 weeks. And imagine the wonderful bottles of wine I get to take home with me!!Target is going really well. They have been so good to me! They've given me 4 weeks off for vacation, it's amazing. I applied for a supervisory position with them this past week, so wish me luck! The economy is just terrible and my school district is just not hiring this year. It doesn't look like I'll be a teacher in North Carolina and I just have to deal with that. At this point, the most important thing is to survive, and to survive I need a pay raise.
Anywhoo, I think that is all the news from NC. As far as cooking goes, not much to report. I came home to about 2 pounds of shitake mushrooms from our CSA. So Jeff and I sort of cooked together via Skype (he told me what to do and I did it). I had no idea what to do with the shrooms but Jeff sure did. I stuffed chicken and I made a vinaigrette. The vinaigrette surpassed everything, it was really tasty! The chicken sort of killed the wonderful freshness of the shrooms, it just tasted like chicken. I think the next thing I'll make is pasta. I just watched Moonstruck and I am craving italian (and its a good thing that I am REALLY good at it!).
Yay for going to Italy! And Yay for losing 10 pounds! It does sound like you're making the best of a trying situation. Hang in there!
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