the land where one fashions one's own hula-hoop

man oh man is north carolina beautiful. though i stayed in a super dreary city called durham for the conference, i was able to stay with my friend laura another night/2 days in chapel hill - and MAN that place is PRETTY. enormous trees everywhere, everything was super green. laura and her husband chris (who she met a few weeks before we left for mexico) just bought a cute little house in chapel hill. they're rennovating everything: installing sinks, replacing ceiling fans, you name it - and all on their own... it's pretty cool. both their current apartment and future house are surrounded by huge green spaces/forests a 2 minute stroll away, where one can hike, walk dogs, explore - i was blown away.

laura just graduated with an m.a. in planning, and her program is seriously piquing my interest. unc has a double masters program integrating planning and public health, focusing generally on how cities can be built in order to improve the physical well-being of individuals (e.g. increased walkability, more bikelanes, etc). it sounds awwwesome. yet another program i will be looking into... but i really love sf... not sure if i want to leave in another year...

anyway, hanging out with laura was freaking fantastic. we havent seen each other in years, and we chatted like crazy the entire time. chapel hill and carboro are super cute towns, fairly liberal (e.g. the cities dont allow drive-thrus)... and there are loads of hippies everywhere. but they arent austin hippies. there are more folk singers and hula-hoopers... they seem more earthy, or genuine, or something.

anyway, the previous 2 days in nc were lovely. for the next few days i will be hanging out with stacey's friends visiting from australia, a woman i was in fish camp with who found me on myspace and packing for san diego.

diane i love you. LOVE. YOU.

it seems that the blogging on everyone's parts has scaled down quite a bit, perhaps to due to time allowed to write, perhaps due to disinterest. either way, i'm sticking with it. it's the only means i have to keep up with the majority of you who are oh so far away. hope that's ok.

love love love

jen