Tennessee is too far away.

Yesterday I was able to visit with my dearest friend from college, Andrea. She lives in a far, faraway land (Tennessee) working and going to school (read: is super busy) but her parents conveniently have a house in our city and she has family living on the other side of our state so she comes back often to visit and I get to reap the benefits of being around and close enough to snatch up some of her visiting time. 

Because I had spent all day Saturday at the lake (and doing no studying or homework whatsoever), I had planned on Sunday being my catch-up day. Fortunately, I was able to sneak away from my books and laptop for a while to head over to Andrea's parents' house. Ironically, Andrea's parents hadn't flown in yet but I was able to spend time with Andrea, her sister and brother-in-law, and their cute patoot little boy Elliott and huge fluffy dog Daphne. I brought Hobbes along since he's still so small and easily portable (not to mention Andrea requested it, anyway). He loved all the attention, romping around the backyard area with Daphne, and of course licking up any and all crumbs knocked over from Elliott's high chair from their kitchen floor. 

Here's too much cuteness rolled into one photo that Andrea's sister managed to capture:

Look at the size comparison! Elliott wasn't too sure what to think of jumpy, licky, hyper little Hobbes, but he eventually warmed up and even petted his back a few times in the end. It was super cute to watch them crawl around on the floor with each other. 

I love that I have friends that span across the country so I have the ability to visit and explore other cities / states but man, I really miss having them closer around. It was so nice to just sit and catch up with Andrea. You know those friends who just get you? And no matter how much time passes between phone conversations or hangouts it's like you just pick right back up from where you left off? 

And the ones who back in undergrad would go out and buy a matching pool float device so you could go water running together without shame? 

…

Yeah, that's me and Andrea.