I've had an interesting few days. Friday night Josh was down in Atlantic City so I went to his aunt's house for a Fall Equinox Celebration. His aunt is a psychic and I must say this party was different from any other party I've experienced from the Anderson family. Lauren, Lindsay and I went together and it was mostly women there. His aunt had a gigantic bonfire going and tons of fall foods - apples, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, squash, cider, etc. We did a gratitude and balancing ritual. It was pretty fun, but again, I must say it wasn't anything I've ever experienced before. Lauren said her aunt does these parties every equinox and solstice.

By the time Josh got home Saturday, I was missing him pretty badly. He always invites me to go along on his gigs, but I don't really care that much for Atlantic City so even though I missed him, I was happy to stay behind. It gave me a chance to hang out with Lauren Friday night and I ended up sleeping at her place after the party and then doing some work at the dance studio Saturday morning.

Josh took me out to dinner Saturday night and I asked him if he'd gone to his aunt's parties. He laughed and told me that his father used to take him, but his mom didn't really like it. He said his mom politely tolerates all of the new age stuff his aunt talks about, but she prefers the Church over bonfires and dancing under the moon.

Interesting...I've spent my whole life going to church, and while I like the community and the rituals, I have to say that dancing around the bonfire with a bunch of cool women was way more fun.

On Sunday we went to dinner at Josh's parent's house. They've asked me to call them by their first names now that I'm an Anderson too, but it feels so weird. They have been Mr. and Mrs. Anderson to me since 2004 and now I'm supposed to call them Mike and Skyler? I'm trying to get used to it.

The weather has been so nice that Josh and I went over there early and took advantage of the pool. I was really glad that Mr. Anderson, er...Mike, decided not to close it at Labor Day like most people around here do. They got a whole extra month out of it.

We were there to see his parents but also to meet Lauren's new man. She's been dating him for a couple of months now, and we figured he must be special when she announced that she wanted to bring him to her parents' house for dinner. His name is Chad and he seems really nice, but not what I was expecting. I always picture her with Alex and he's nothing like Alex. Alex is very much the artist musician and Chad is very much a Wall Street kind of guy. He was wearing a polo shirt and blazer and looked very Connecticut. I don't know how else to describe it except that I could see him fitting in very well with Mrs, I mean Skyler's side of the family...maybe not so much with the psychic aunt on the Anderson side though.

As we were leaving Josh told Chad that he'd like to get to know him better and that we should all go out for dinner some night. I said, "how about this coming weekend?" Josh said, "No, you and I are going away for a romantic weekend."

So here it is Thursday and he's keeping the location of our romantic weekend a surprise so I have no idea where we're going. I don't really care. I love that I married a man that plans surprise romantic weekends.

A couple weeks after my last post, Josh's agent called and offered him a job in California for the summer. I had freaked out previously about him going out there so he wasn't even going to mention it to me, but somehow it came up in conversation and after talking about it, we decided to spend the summer in California. It ended up being really great.

We hit the road as soon as his school year ended and took a leisurely approach to getting there. We went down to my grandparents' house in Tennessee and then drove across route 40. It was a really great trip.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed spending the summer in California. We rented a small condo in Santa Monica so I was able to spend time at the beach during the day when Josh was at work. I was also able to hang out with Molly, which ended up being really good for getting our friendship back on track. Mostly though, it was just good to relax and not be so worried about the two businesses.

Josh and I talked a lot about it and we agreed that I should let John run my dad's company until he retires and then I'll hire someone new. I'm just not interested in being the president of the company. That world would not suite me and I'd have a hard time balancing that job with a family, which is something we hope to have in a few years. I have a lot of help and flexibility with the dance studio so I'm going to refocus my efforts there.

I was worried about going to California and being by myself a lot because Josh's schedule can be crazy when he's working on a project, but it wasn't too bad. I took some dance classes while we were there and I found all of the farmer's markets. I did a ton of cooking and I spent as much time as possible sitting on the beach.

One night we were both sitting on the beach, just relaxing and talking and I mentioned that I should have moved out there to be with him many years ago when I had the chance. Somehow we ended up talking about what it would have been like if we had tried the long distance relationship thing and I mentioned that I had always fantasized that we'd meet halfway in Chicago for romantic weekends.

A couple days before we were to start our drive back to Pennsylvania, John called and said he thought I should fly back to New Jersey for a company meeting. I had told him that I didn't want to be president/CEO and we decided that it would be a good idea to create a board of directors that I would be the chair of. That way I'd have oversight without being involved in the day-to-day. He felt it was important for me to be at the meeting, and I agreed with him. I was feeling pretty bad about leaving Josh to drive across country by himself, so I drove with him to Denver and then hopped a flight to Newark.

The meeting went well and it was good that I was there, but I felt bad about Josh driving home by himself. I got home that night after the meeting and found an envelop at the front door. I opened it and found a ticket to Chicago inside. With it was a note that said, "Let's have our romantic weekend in Chicago."

Two days later I was on my way to Chicago. We had an amazing time. I don't know how he did it, but Josh planned it as if we were meeting halfway for a romantic weekend. It really felt like I had imagined it would be, except that it was a million times better because when the weekend ended, we both got in the car together and drove home. No going separate ways.