Thirty-One

I was packing up and moving across the pond to Cambridge this time last year.

This year, I only headed to the East Coast.

Tuesday marked the beginning of my internship with Blue Origin. Over the next three and a half months, I have the opportunity to work with the strategy team and learn more about the business side of the aerospace industry. This is totally uncharted territory for me, so I'm a healthy mixture of nervous and excited to see how it all plays out. Everyone I've met so far has been lovely and I look forward to working with them more during the internship!

The real highlight of this week came on Friday. I went to see Rebecca and Cody for the weekend in NYC! As I was about to hop on the metro to DCA, I found out my flight was canceled. But thanks to the speedy work of Rebecca, I was able to get on a train an hour later and make my way up the East Coast. Rebecca and Mike were kind enough to pick me up from Penn Station and drop me off in Brooklyn at Cody's.  

Saturday started with a delicious bagel sandwich and then Cody and I hopped on the subway to go to the US Open. 

For those of you who read the blog, you may remember that a few months ago Rebecca and I waited for HOURS to get into Wimbledon. Rebecca works with the US Open and hooked us up! No waiting in a queue for hours - Cody and I were able to walk through the gates when we arrived! She even brought us water, my favourite of all the beverages. Truly a huge thank you to Rebecca for getting us seats and showing us around. I had too much fun getting sunscreen after sunscreen and trying a honey deuce for the first time. 

Watching the women's final was absolutely AMAZING. Coco smashed it, it was so fun to be a part of that crowd.

 

After the match, the three of us headed back to Manhattan for dinner at a yummy Hawaiian restaurant, Rebecca found a great spot, and thanks, Cody! Afterward, some dairy-free ice cream (yay being back in America), and then a nightcap at the Bookclub Bar. So many good laughs with these dear friends. We haven't been separated for that long, but it was still good to be reunited once more!

On the 10th, I turned 31, which doesn't seem possible. I woke up to so many lovely messages from friends scattered across the globe. Y'all know how to make a gal feel really special. Cody and I shopped and he even got me a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery for my birthday! (It has blue icing!)

While chilling in the lounge before my flight back to DCA, Cat and Sean FaceTimed me. They were at a sports bar and couldn't hear a word of anything that I said, which led to some fun sign language. But those two have never failed to make me feel loved. I remember talking to them last year when I had just arrived in Cambridge and wasn't sure where life could lead. I treasure my friendship with those two goons more than they know. 

Since Sean doesn't read this blog I can include this story. When I first accepted my offer at Cambridge, we went out to celebrate at Room for Milly and I was really struggling because so many people were acting like I would never be moving back to Denver. I was so adamant that I would be back in twelve short months. So much so that we made a bet. There is a little disagreement at this point on who owes who $100, but that's neither here nor there. The important part of this story is that he said there was no way for me to know where I would end up because there would be no way to predict how much life would change in those twelve months (I am paraphrasing here). 

But, annoyingly, he was right, I look back to my 30th birthday and I couldn't have dreamed what would occur in that year. 

So, I am a year older, hopefully maybe a bit wiser, and just feeling incredibly grateful for life.