I'm feeling a little more like myself every day.

This statement is interesting for a few reasons. 1) I'm definitely a different person than before I left for Nam. In more ways then one. I like this, and a big part of the reason I left was to accomplish this. 2) The whole "reverse culture shock" thing has to do directly with number 1 and (conversely) the fact that I miss the person I use to be. 3) I'm finally finding my place between the person I use to be, the person I was comfortable with, the person who was comfortable in her own skin, and this new person. This new person is more open minded, more cultured, more learned, more excited about life and all of the possibilities it can bring, more "over" the drama of life. More experienced in ways that she never thought she'd be able to experience. Tonight, I feel like once these two people merge, I'll finally be 100% okay.

Today was an incredibly productive day. I woke up early, not hungover, which was really refreshing for a Sunday morning. I drank Artichoke tea that I brought back from Vietnam, read some of my book, did my laundry (including sheets & comforter,) went food shopping for the first time in two weeks, watched a little bit of football with the boys, cooked a little, played (and won!) bag toss, and concluded the day with going to Heather's for a delicious dinner/wine/girl-talk and the premiere of The Next Iron Chef. Did I mention that this morning I payed off one of my credit cards? I've never done so many [great] things in one day.

I brought my reusable bags to the supermarket with me & bought all healthy food that I can cook into something wonderful. This is a part of the old Sam that I've missed. Instead of my recent diet of buying my lunch at ABP/Boloco/Qdoba everyday, followed by pizza and packaged/frozen food the rest of the time. It's all too easy to eat crap and waste money on said crap in this "on the go" life style I've settled into. But there are ways around in. And I'm working on it.

For lunch: tuna fish. It's cheap and easy, but today I added celery and Cranraisons, which may have been the best decision I've ever made. I think I'll make the same thing for lunch tomorrow. Then, I made my moms famous snack: celery with cream cheese and olives. My all-time favorite, and also so easy. The boys were all over watching the Pats and I think they appreciated the (healthy!) snack. Then I pre-made a snack I use to make in Vietnam all of the time: cucumbers, tomatoes and onions, drenched (no exaggeration there) in balsamic vinaigrette. I made it so often in Can Tho because it was so cheap to buy from the market, and everything was always so fresh. It's refreshing during the day, and it's also good if you fry an egg and add it to the mix.. but since I'm hardly ever home, I might just take it with me to work and ex-nay the egg.

For dinner, Heather made fish tacos: Halibut (I believe) with spices, tomatoes, avocado, and a separate mix of peppers, onions, and cabbage mixed with a Caesar dressing. Add rice and wrap everything in a tortilla. Delicious. If the wine and girl talk wasn't enough, Jo called us and told us stories of her weekend (on speakerphone) while we ate. It couldn't have been more perfect.

For dessert (during Iron Chef) we ate homemade brownies made by Finn, who added a light coating of Caramel on top. As if this wasn't enough, Heather then put marshmallows on top of it (still part of Finn's concoction..) and threw it in the oven for a little while to cook the marshmallows. It was served to me on a plate with some Nutella, and I couldn't love Heather and Finn more right now.

I love having food back in my life in a positive light. And on that note, I've also lost some of the "Vietnam" weight I collected while being force-fed a million meals a day (although they were delicious.) I'm not trying to loose weight but I'm finally comfortable again, and I think I've finally gotten back to my normal schedule of when to eat and when to stop eating (which is a lot easier when I'm not committing any cultural faux-paus.)

Generally feeling pretty great about life. Plans for this week:

1) Figure out how to pay my college loans. This includes consolidation and figuring out how much I can pay per month while still being able to have an active social life.

2) Read more blogs.

3) Write more.

4) Cook more. I know this will be hard since I'm not home often. Lets change this to.. Eat out less. Tuna with Cranraisons every day for lunch? Maybe.

5) Read more. I'm currently in the middle of three books, and there are at least ten sitting on my bookshelf I'm dying to break open.

6) Figure out grad school. If I can get my act together I can start on October 26th. Lots of decisions to make.

7) Learn something new. Stay posted.