One of the things I was looking forward to while staying in the San Jose area is seeing a few friends who live here. When Bryan’s contract here began a year ago we knew that one day he would bring us with him on a trip, and the kids and I would have some fun doing The Tourist Thing while he worked. But a pleasant surprise developed – a good friend of mine from college, who had been living far away for several years, recently moved to San Jose with her husband.
So during our stay we have enjoyed the company of my friend, Larah, on many occasions. We’ve been to the Children’s Discovery Museum together and the Monterey Aquarium together, and later in the trip we plan to have some girl time as well. We’ve had a great time talking and catching up in great detail about what we’ve been doing and how life has been since we last lived together.
I also had the pleasure of having a park play date with my blogging friend, Kristin, whom I first met at BlogHer when we had lunch together with another set of Jens and Kristins. It was the first cool and cloudy day of our stay here and Kristin nearly chickened out on the park, but I convinced her that fun can happen even when the sun is hiding! Meeting at the park was perfect – it was enclosed by a fence so there was no need to chase a rogue toddler, and we were able to have nearly two hours of scathing conversation (which I shall not repeat here!). We also got to meet some of Kristin’s park friends and the children they brought with them. I was inspired by the simplicity of visiting the park every day, and will maybe not be able to do that in rainy Seattle, but building in a routine of library trips and the like is in order, I think.
Maryam and I also had some great time together (as always) shopping at the Stanford Mall and eating dinner at PF Chang’s, which has turned out to be a recurring destination for our get-togethers! Our conversation rolled effortlessly from serious to creative to funny, and I look forward to seeing her again at Northern Voice.