HEY EVERYONE! Guess what’s back!
Man, have I missed my little camera. Out of the millions of reasons I started blogging, one of the main reasons was so I could have a creative outlet. My time at JMU was filled to the brim with creative outlets, from acting in Molly’s films to participating in poetry workshops.
Since I graduated I’ve been seriously lacking an avenue to express my inner artist. Blogging has been great in terms of writing, but half of the fun for me is getting to practice photography. It’s a totally new hobby and I’m obviously not an educated photographer. Even still, a blog full of blurry instagram-esque photos is not nearly as fun to keep up. So welcome back, Nikon Coolpix S8200!
I’m winding down from another weekend in paradise over here. We’ve had yet another visitor!!
For as much as the three of us hung out in high school, it’s kind of upsetting that this is the only photograph I could find with all of us.
Kristen (KB is our nickname for her) is one of our closest friends from high school and we haven’t seen her in forever. She goes to Chapel Hill, so it was great to have her come up for a little visit.
Alex was working yesterday so we spent the morning talking about everything under the sun, including our old favorite topic: personality tests and types. KB and I used to spend hours and hours over-analyzing our friends and personalities in high school, so when she introduced me to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator over 4 years ago, my life was changed. As NFP’s (she’s an I and I’m an E) we were obsessed with understanding the world around us through the lens of the 16 types.
I can’t speak for KB, but the reason I’m so interested in personality types is because it helps me understand how to better relate to people and understand their motivations. One of my favorite authors, John Green, is always talking about imagining others complexly, and I think personality typing is a really good gateway to doing just that.
Anyway, KB and I spent a lot of yesterday morning talking about our new favorite type indicator, the Enneagram. Instead of categorizing people into 16 unwavering types, the Enneagram has 9 types on a spectrum. Here’s an example of how personality typing helps me understand people more complexly: Alex is a 5, which really helps me grasp why it’s easy for him to get frustrated when I need a lot of attention or when I don’t understand math concepts he tries to teach me.
KB and I talked about stuff like that for so long that we ended up running out of time to go to the farmer’s market like we had planned. Instead we stopped by an old favorite, Pigeon Hole, for brunch.
Hands down the best grits I’ve ever had. The french toast didn’t suck, either.
Then we shopped around the Corner a little bit and went to one of Alex’s amazing tours in the Rotunda. Here’s a plug for the roomie: If you’re ever in CVille, stop by the Roto for one of his amazing 30-minute tours. Seriously, he’s so good.
When Alex got off work, we hit downtown. We went to Al Hamraa for a Moroccan-style dinner.
The decor was cool, but between the empty restaurant and incredibly awkward waitress, the whole experience was kind of weird. It was tapas-style, which I really don’t like and the food was realllllly tomato heavy. We were honestly a little afraid that we would get sick later in the night. We were imagining having a Bridesmaids situation on our hands… Thankfully we didn’t, but we definitely won’t be going back any time soon.
We followed dinner with coffee and dessert at Mudhouse on the Downtown Mall.
And then we went on a ghost tour! Charlottesville is so full of history, and the tour was designed to be like a murder mystery. It was a 2 hour stroll through downtown; it was entertaining and actually kind of educational. Alex and I were really excited to see a part of Charlottesville that we weren’t familiar with, and it was a perfect summer night. Not too hot, breezy, and clear skies.
The tour was over by 10, so we came home to watch Cruel Intentions, which KB and Alex has never seen. I forgot how creepy and fast paced it is, and Alex and KB liked the shock factor.
All in all, it was a dreamy Saturday. It’s a rare and fortunate thing to feel like you’re on vacation right in your own town.
Today, my goals are to eat at least one vegetable (yesterday started with that french toast and ended at Wendy’s drive thru…) and to go for a jog while Alex and KB see Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend… one of the last ones of the summer for students!
Year of Katie 