Intentional Relationships

After the crazy week I last blogged about, last week was more laid-back...a trend, it seems, for me. Crazy week. "Normal" week. Crazy week. "Normal" week. At least I have a pattern? 

Being here in KC means I have to be much more intentional about my relationships with friends/family "back home". Kay and I have a weekly Monday phone date at 5:30. I've mentioned before that I have weekly phone dates with two college friends on Tuesday and Thursday. I try to email with other friends from home. But really, it's just not good enough. Email is good. Phone is better. In person is best.

That's what I got this past weekend: in-person, with one of my dearest friends from college, Amanda. We hadn't seen each other since March 27, 2010. SO LONG AGO. But now, with her in Nashville and me in KC, St. Louis is the perfect middle ground. About 4hrs for me and 5-6hrs for her.

Here we are after a lovely coffee date. Good to just catch up face-to-face.

This is at The Big Bang Bar - a dueling pianos bar. I fell in love with dueling pianos in Chicago and Amanda had never been, so this was the perfect opportunity.

We also ate at Zia's, where I enjoyed Tutto Mare: linguine prepared in a rich garlic cream sauce with shrimp, sea legs, clams and mushrooms. YUM. 

We stayed at the Ramada Plaza for $79 - thanks, Groupon! Free parking (for one), free welcome drinks and free breakfast buffet were also included. Groupon: always a good deal. 

We've already decided that a repeat of this trip is in order. And it'll be even better the 2nd time around: we woke up on Saturday to Amanda's car with a serious flat tire and our day consisted of AAA and Walmart - but lots of wonderful catch-up chatting time, which girls never mind having. We've decided not to repeat the car issues part of the trip the next time around.

How intentional are you when it comes to staying in touch with people?