my last weekend in california for 3 months...

it's hard to believe that i (megan) will be moving back home to raleigh, nc for 3 months starting in 2 DAYS! utter craziness! i'll be starting my FIRST full-time clinical at rex hospital at the end of october (for those of you who don't know, my school requires it such that you have to be out of the bay area for one of these clinicals since there is not enough space for all of us... so, paul and i decided that if i have to go somewhere, why not back home?! :-)). i'm quite pumped, but also surprisingly sad to be leaving our little home that paul and i have made together in palo alto, ca.

i say surprisingly because if you had come up to me this time last year and said, "hey, you wanna move back home for 3 months?" i would not have even bothered to pack before hopping on a plane the second the question was asked. i keep thinking back to what my mom told me so many times during those homesick days... even though you and paul may not know it, you're making your niche, you're starting your own little family of 2 (well, 3 if you include "the tjut"... which, of course, we should), and someday it won't feel so strange to walk into apartment 703 and feel home. i think i laughed every time she told me that, but once again, mom, you were right.

aside from missing our little space, i'm obviously going to miss the hubs more than anything. i keep asking paul if he's sad that i'll be gone... he sarcastically comes back with a "i told you that you were going to miss me." he'll miss me. good thing he'll be coming back with me for the first 5 days so we can meet our little nephew and i can have a slightly smoother transition into not being with him 24-7. we leave friday morning!!! wee!

to take advantage of our last weekend together in california for quite some time, on friday, we went to stanford's "back to school" get-together along with taylor & michael. it was really fun (they had many a kegs there and beer pong tables set up... however, it was hard to get beer so, therefore, the playing of beer pong did not ensue). we got to see a ton of people we had not seen in a while (since paul has spent so much time studying for quals)! all 4 of us then came back to our apartment and paul began to teach taylor & michael how to play beer pong . that night, we found out how much tim-tam adored taylor, which then led to his adoption 2 days later (that's right, tim-tam is now part of the zabala family which is fabulous because now he can play with his parents without being fearful of being eaten by tjuta).


michael & taylor were both really great @ beer pong... paul & i were lucky we weren't playing couple vs. couple (thanks for saving the girls team, taylor!).


i'm going to miss you too much.


the happy new mommy of tim-tam!

saturday, paul and i went to the "hardly strictly bluegrass" festival in golden gate park which was AMAZING! we brought some snacks, drinks, and a blanket, which resulted in two extremely happy people when you add in the bluegrass. the music was fantastic, the weather was perfect, and the people-watching opportunities were top-notch ! we then got to go eat at our favorite restaurant in the city (TAI CHI) with amul and his girlfriend kira! best. day. ever.


paul rocked his obama socks that sarah gave him @ hardly strictly bluegrass


delicious-ness (credits go to sarah & charles!)


lovin' our life... it's awesome.


paul needed a cup holder while beating me in spit (i got better quick, though!)


my handsome husband!


look what we saw on the way to tai chi! we love you, little scott!!!

as if things couldn't get better, we had a nice lazy morning on sunday (sleeping in = perf) - went to costco to load paul up before me and my costco card head east and then i cleaned the apartment while paul went to play frisbee golf with some of his buds. THEN we went over to big paul and jon's apartment for a delicious wisconsin cook-out to celebrate big paul's birthday. yep, that was one sweet weekend.

this week has consisted of paul working/researching/grading papers, me ta-ing in oakland, and me packing (attempting to be concise is not my strong suit). i can't wait to post some pictures of us and little scott TOGETHER starting this weekend! stay tuned... and get excited about my arrival back in good 'ole tarheel country!!! i can't wait a second longer to see all of you!!!