I'm so proud of how pro-active you are being about making your life better. I totally know what you mean about weekends/holidays.... after I moved to Atlanta, in grad school, I always looked forward to the weekend and then when it arrived I felt soooo lonely and I hated it! Planning ahead is the solution!!
I'm excited for your great big huge idea for work, too!
I know it is painful to move, but it sounds like it is going to open up a lot of new possibilities in terms of being somewhere around people you want to see and things you want to do.
I also want to hear more about your travel plans sometime...
