Home is where the heart is

The last few days have been a whirlwind of driving to Richmond for work then to Charlotte and Carrollton on Friday and then back to Raleigh yesterday. On Friday I picked up Emily in Chapel Hill and we made our way to Charlotte to look for an apartment for her to move into after graduation. We visited four (I think) places in and near Uptown and called a few more. She ended up selecting an apartment in Uptown only about four blocks from work and she's pumped to be able to walk to work at BofA. Everytime I visit Charlotte there is new construction everywhere and it never ceases to amaze me how much more is improving there than in Raleigh.

After leaving Emily with a couple of friends in Charlotte I drove down to Atlanta for dinner at Fat Matt's (mmmm bbq and sweet tea with crushed ice) with Josh and Shaun. We sat outside for about 2.5 hrs catching up in the chilly weather. Fat Matt's is still excellent!

Saturday dad and I were supposed to golf over in Oxford, AL but we wimpped out because of the coldness ane wind. Looking out the window one would think it was a perfect spring day but it was downright cold. It even flurried Friday night/Saturday morning. In lieu of golf, we went to lunch at The Border which was tasty as always. Saturday afternoon was spent watching the Masters and hanging around the house. Saturday night I went out with Mark, his girlfriend, his friend Scot, and Josh and his girlfriend. Generally the holidays are pretty popular for people returning to Carrollton and visiting with friends at one of the many restaurants and bars on the Square. Apparently Easter isn't as big for that and we only saw a few people we knew. Thanksgiving is the big party week.

Sunday mom and I went to church and there were all kinds of new people and apparently they weren't there just for Easter. Mom said it's been pretty crowded recently which is a great sign! As I walked into the church and immediately felt at home seeing familiar faces as I passed the peace. For the first hymn we all attempted the Hallelujah Chorus which was entertaining. The music had all four parts and the choir had it down but the congregation was all over the place making a joyful noise. My voice has recently started getting deeper and my range is now all over the place so I just alternated between alto, tenor, and bass :) After church we had a great Easter lunch followed by Masters watching and chipping golf balls all over the backyard.

I left Carrollton early yesterday to attend a housing coalition meeting at the Atlanta History Center and thanks to a longtime family friend was introduced to quite a few of the most prolific affordable housing developers in the state. Traffic on the way back to Raleigh wasn't bad and I made it back around 9:00. Now it's back to work.