family time

The weekend away was wonderful. At the beginning of the week we had been hearing nice weather, later we heard rain. So I didn't bring my bike. Turns out I should have. The weather was gorgeous. Really, it couldn't have been more perfect. Mid 70's, sunny, not humid, not until today when we were leaving.

We all met at the Maine Diner on Friday afternoon for lunch. I rode up with my mom and stepdad, and we met my grandparents and aunt, and other aunt and her girlfriend for mostly fishy stuff, which is all good because it's Maine, and I'm starting to seafood now. A spec at least. Haddock here and there, crab cakes sometimes, and if I'm feeling frisky, scallops! So lunch was good, a really nice start to the weekend. My grandmother was wearing her little scarf which actually has real looking bangs attached. Which is just so cute, and and sweet, and a little bit sad too. And she just looked absolutely adorable as did my precious grandfather sporting his new shoes which ended up keeping him up with foot cramps later that night.

Our hotel was just fabulous. Views to die for, with the ocean just feet away (pictures to come!). I was in a suite with my aunt, with a porch that overlooked the water, right on the marina with boats docked right there. We each had our own room and bathroom, we could hear the ocean from the living room, it was just amazing. The massage that we all got treated to on Saturday was wonderful. Especially after taking two runs that morning. Runs that led right to the beach, and you can imagine how much I enjoyed that whole scene.

This morning was really nice as things wrapped up with a family breakfast for Father's Day. In light of some family illnesses lately, my grandmother's recent diagnosis, and just the more obvious fragileness of life itself as of late, it was just very very nice to get away and have some quality time with my loved ones. I feel so blessed to have the amazing family that I do. And now I need to stop lest the tears start up.

The weekend was just perfect. Only thing that would have made it better would have been if I got to see my father today. I called him today, far off in Reno. Although it's a great place to visit and travel to, and I love every second of my time there with him, sometimes I just wish he were still a car ride away, close enough to just see anytime, spur of the moment. I would have loved to have swung by and picked him up for lunch and a movie today like we used to do. We will just have to take a raincheck for September when I'm going out to see him again.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend, and Happy Father's Day to all of you too.

this blogging thing and new friendships

You start this blogging thing for yourself. To get your ideas out there, have an outlet for the stuff that floats around in your head, and heart, on a daily basis. I started this bad boy not knowing a whole hell of a lot about how things work here. And now my writing instructor is asking me, go figure?, to explain to the class what the blogging phenomenon is all about.

Which I suppose I could start out by saying what I just did. Why I started, how I feel a sense of community with this whole thing. How it's just a whole nother thing to get your writing out there, in a public forum and kind of let go of stuff, in that way. The support and feedback you get from others through this way. I could talk about how to start a blog, how to funkify it all with headers and all that crazy jazz (which I clearly keep to a basic minimum seeing as how the wordpress switch caused me to need a drink on contact with the mere thought of it). I could talk about the pros and cons of blogging, but what I really, really want to say about it all right now, is the opportunity to meet amazing people through this way.

I knew when I left for my trip to Myrtle Beach last week that I was going to miss this place. Reading about new digs and food gems, vacations in Spain, looming babies and clogged drains, girlie things and shoes, top ten lists, kids birthday parties and facepainting. And I knew I was going to be meeting Brooke, one of my first ever blogging friends, and one of the big reasons this blog that I was starting back in August just felt to totally make sense.

There are those type of friends that you meet in college, or high school even. Those you make an instant connection with, that have seen you through your best and worst times, breakups and breakthroughs. They're the clichéd friends that you would call at 3am on the rare occasion that you aren't already together. These are the ones that I had the luxury of vaca-ing with last weekend. And what a freaking great vaca it was. The weather was to die for, the beach was beautiful, our place was the bomb, it was all just so perfect.

There are the friends I traveled with, and then there are friends of a different type. Ones you don't see often, but when you do it just feels like no time at all has passed. Or maybe you haven't even met yet, but when you do, it just feels so comfortable in a way that you could only hope for. Thank god for blogging for the fact that I met my long lost twin sister. We swear we share DNA. From the name similarities, to the little things we continue to find in common with each other. From our music choices to drink selections. The tv shows we both like, and our affinity for being attracted to the same type of guy (ahem). You know when you just meet someone and it just feels like your paths were meant to cross? As though certain things happened in life to direct you toward each other? Well that's how it felt when I "met" her back several months ago. Through letters and phonecalls I have gotten to know this amazing girl that I cannot come up with enough wonderfullness for. So Saturday when we finally got to meet meet, it didn't surprise me in the least that it just had that real real comfortable, fun, easy feel to it all. The kind of feeling you get when you hang with an old friend, an old comfortable friend. That feeling like everything is just really right and you're happy and like there's no place you'd rather be that with these type of friends. Because they get you and it's just this indescribeable bond.

So in a couple weeks, in my writing class, I'm going to talk about what a blog is and how it all works. How you start one, why it's a good thing, what can suck about it. (Because I am Miss Blog Know How; you can call me that now, thanks.) But what I really want to show love for right now is the amazing group of people I've met through this whole thing. I'm laying on the cheese factor here, I know. I'll stop. I just really like all of this, all of you. And that I got to meet someone I consider one of my closest friends from all of this, well that's just pretty damn sweet.

beach trip

For the next five days, I'll be vaca-ing in sunny Myrtle Beach. Go figure, it's bike week there too. Because that's how me and ma' ladies roll.

I've said that I like me a man in uniform, but not so sure about this look:
HOT BIKER
Hmm.
And also like a good head of hair but this is edging on catching up to my length.
So hot.

Anyway, hope that all you blogbuds of mine have a good weekend! Is it weird that I'm feeling like I'm going to miss this forum, pretty big time?

lake tahoe

these pics really do the scene no justice. it's absolutely beautiful there. one of my favorite places in the world.

"Caution, the moving walkway is empty."

I'm sitting in an airport bar, in Chicago. Do you think it counts as visiting Chicago if I'm just in an airport bar? In that case, I could say I've been to Vegas, Atlanta, and a few other places only by airport association. Hmm. I'm drinking Bud Light drafts. I just started a tab. Why not? I have three hours until my flight. I just checked- it's on time. Snow delays are around me, sucks. People seeming irked that their flight is delayed. I'm starting to get a buzz. Hell, I only had some scraps of a nutrigrain bar hours ago. I'm at Miller's Pub. In front of me is the menu, which after more beer actually looks appealing. Chicken fingers. For $8.50? That's a lot, right? For me it is. Four travelers to my right, mother in law is coming in for the weekend, I curled my hair to fly for the day, group of delayed flight passengers are chatting, loud. About American Idol. They think the judges should have some sort of veto over who is voted off. In Sanjaya's case especially, they say. Who curls their hair to fly for the day? Really? I specifically plan comfy. Hair up, glasses, comfy shoes. Maybe she has a shorter flight. When I fly to NY I dress it up a little more. But still, curl my hair? Shit. The two next to me, they're a couple, are comfy. In clothes and in their way. He just leaned over to her, and wrestle hugged her. Cute. And I'm writing about them. Write now.

It doesn't feel like 11:35am. Shit. I woke up at 5:10 today. To my body, my Massachusetts body, it's 12:35pm. It doesn't feel like that either. It feels like it should be dark. Night. I'm several beers in, and this is what happens when you drink during the day. I remember college Saturdays, or Fridays after class getting out, starting drinking. A beer waiting for me by one of my roommates. Our neighbors already being half bombed. That seems so long ago now.

I want to call people. But all of my contact list are working. I just texted the new guy friend of mine. Yeah, I texted, and we all know my thoughts on that. But, I think what I sent, "I'm drinking a beer right now, sucks you're working," was text appropriate.

Oh wow. A really cute old man just ordered a Bloody Mary and a Gin and Tonic. His wife is over in the corner and she's adorable. I need to look away. This will induce tears.

Oh, oh no. The bartender's boyfriend broke his jaw playing hockey. She just said "snaggle tooth." He can't make out. It's been five weeks. I just saw a picture of his zoomed in grill on her Motorola camera phone. Oh, now she wants me to see a video. Wow.

I guess I should wrap this up. Order some app, or something.

And another beer.

mini-trippin

I leave in three days for Reno, and I can't freakin wait. I can't wait to see my dad, read a good book, relax, and go here.

I love it there. Lake Tahoe has to be one of the most beautiful places ever. Or at least that I've been to.

Remember the story about this whole situation? Well this will be the first time that I'll potentially see him, since all of that. I already got an invite to go to his place, for dinner with him and his girlfriend. Right, because that would be all kinds of comfortable for me. I would much prefer a coffee or walk or something than a whole sit down meal thing in their place.

And things still seem to be moving along quite well for my dad and his new lady-friend. Who I guess I might meet while I'm there.

Still, so as not to jinx anything up, I think it's at least okay to say that things with my new guy-friend are going well too. He met up with a group of us this weekend for a birthday celebration of my red-headed beauty, and lots of fun was had. We're hoping to get together before I get the hell out of dodge for a few days (who or where did that weird phrase come from??? I just wanted to bust it out but I haven't a clue what it's really all about.)

And that's really the latest. I do believe it's time for a glass of wine and some online shoe shopping.

weekend in review

Oh, my weekend. Ruby reminded me that an update was due. Well I had just the most wonderful time ever. My Almost Sister and her hubby are two of the greatest people in the world; if only we lived closer. Not that an hour flight is really that far at all. But for a girl who is so much on the same wavelength as myself, who at the drop of a hat would do anything for anyone, with whom I am constantly laughing with, and really, how we just get each other, who makes me constantly smile... well, it would be nice if she lived say, an hour DRIVE away. It is a great trip to make though- quick and easy to get to, and always worth it.

Friday Almost Sister and I did some shopping and saw Music and Lyrics. I really like Drew Barrymore. I forget that every time, until I see her in a movie where I am reminded of it. And Hugh Grant. I'm not my mom, who has a HUGE thing for him, but the guy does have an accent, a good body, and isn't bad looking, at all. I enjoyed him in this movie. Saturday we picked up Almost Sister's brother. He came in to spend the night and we got on the same flight for the next day. Anyway, the rest of the weekend was spent drinking lots of Sangria (homemade even), and eating, lots of eating, and laughing.

Now I'm not a big meat eater. Not at all. I pretty much stick to chicken as a staple. Now and then I'll make some meatballs, oh and I love tacos. Infrequently I'll eat an occasional burger. That's mainly only enjoyed on a trip to Reno at this place that has the best burgers ever. And I'm not a big steak eater. I love it, when I have it. But I don't order it. Or make it. Steak tips I love, but other than here, which is probably the last place I had them, I seldom eat tips. Well that all changed this weekend. I ate, more meat than I have ever eaten in a sitting, ever. We went to this really great Brazilian place. It's a set price for the meal, pricey, but sooo so worth it. You put these coaster type things, with one side that's red, and one green in front of you. Green means keep the meat coming. Red= you need a break. They come around to the table with the hunks of meat ("hunk of meat" doesn't make it sound all that very appetizing but it SO is), and they cut it right there in front of you. And it's so fresh. And juicy. And altogether delish. For someone who hardly ever eats meat, I was in total heaven. Mmmm....

And the weekend just goes by so quickly when I'm visiting them. I was there three days and it was over before I knew it. I was hoping to meet up with Kristen while I was there, but the time just got away from us. I had a wonderful time though, surrounded by wonderful friends, with new, wonderful memories.

long weekend

Tomorrow I leave for NY for the weekend to see my almost sister, and her wonderful hubby. Sucks we're getting some snow, and knock on wood that it won't f-up the flight. I'll try and take some pictures and maybe will post some here next week. I'm very much looking forward to a little getaway.

American Idol results show is on tonight. My favorites so far are: Blake Lewis, Chris Richardson, and Lakisha Jones. I think Sanjaya is outa there this week. And what's her name- the one who sang the Celine Dion one with the 70's number on last night, who has posed nude or something.

Oh, and Anna Nicole's "Final Journey Home" is on tomorrow. Just in case you care.
I cannot WAIT until this coverage is done with.

Hope everyone has a happy Friday and a great weekend.


**UPDATE**
Uh oh. Guy from Mass just got booted off. So much for representing.

Anticipation.

Know what's pretty sweet? The fact that I'm going on two trips within the next 2 months, and needed to pay all of $10 for them. That's two flights, one this weekend to NY to see my beloved almost sister, and one to Nevada in April to see my dear Daddo.

So that's all so exciting, but right up there with jump up and down excitement is the trip I've booked to Myrtle Beach with the lovely ladies who I intend to still be friends with 35 years from now.

I always say, I've always thought, that half the fun of a trip is the anticipation of it. Like when I went to Miami this past October. Although the intended dates of departure needed to be shifted due to circumstances beyond our control, I got to stew with excitement, times two. Unfortunate that it didn't work out as originally planned in August, but none the less, I got to experience what I like to call pre-trip foreplay, twice. So even though I didn't actually vaca, in August, I pre-trip foreplayed for it. Oh, and it was amazing. Kind of along the same lines as mixed drinks + flirting, making out + pawing at each other, pre-trip foreplay is totally my thing. Lest it seem here that the analogy I'm trying to make means that I see actual foreplay as always mandatory, let me just state the fact that I sometimes prefer getting right down to business. Anyway, I'm getting away from the subject at hand.

The point is, I love the pre-trip foreplay. The booking of the trip. The planning process of it all. Looking for the perfect hotel, the right flight, departure times, car rental. What gets me off even more (I'm talking about the trip still), is the excitement that is the planning of the outfits. The shopping pre-trip. Looking for that special bikini, although perhaps not as fun early March in unfortunate lighting illuminating ghostly white skin. But finding the perfect dress. That fits just right and you just feel amazing in. Maybe you'll never wear it again, but you have it for the upcoming trip and you're damn amused as you strut into your apartment trying it all on. The strappy sandals with the new halter and skirt. You rub a little Banana Boat sunscreen on your arm and you close your eyes and picture Jimmy Buffet and you and your girlfriend's sipping a beach cocktail with the waves crashing ahead of you.

And as the time nears closer, you get more and more antsy, fidgety, just waiting for it to come. The trip that is.

You can't control yourself. You count the days, x them off in your work agenda. Get your out of office reply ready, gather the magazines and books you've been wanting to read for forever, and probably get the highlights you've been putting off for a month or so. You book your mani/pedi and it's only one more day, and you can barely sleep. So you don't sleep. You stay up that night before, blasting the stereo in your living room as you and your roommate pack, doing fashion shows of what you should wear the next day to the beach. It's probably late now, and you're probably drinking a celebratory martini, because, well, you can. And it's almost here. Finally, you decide you should at least try to rest, just a little. So you're in your bed and you're awake, thinking, likely giggling out loud imagining the next several days of GLORY.

It's finally here and the excitement is at an all time high. You're heart is racing and you are envisioning the blue ocean, the pretty drinks you will throw back too many of, the smell of a far off hotel room, the balcony that you can only imagine will overlook a serene scene. You arrive at your destination and the pre-trip foreplay has brought you to an amazing climax. And for the next several days you are in heaven. Oh this feels so good.

Man, how I love a vacation.

I'm a Carrie

I happen to be one of THE biggest fans of Sex and the City ever. I was so into the series when it was on, so into all of the characters and their lives and who each of them would be out of my friends. When I lived with D, T, and M, we would go out and say we were the girls from the show. We'd try and think of who was who. I've always been a Carrie. I have a Mr. Big. I loved every single episode of the show and watch the dvd's I own frequently, now with the commentary to hear more about the writing behind the characters and what went into it all.

And this past weekend, I had the most amazing Sex and the City experience ever! It was a 3 hour bus ride where I was in my absolute glory. I loved every moment of it. I just had to come here and write about this wonderfully amazing tour.

The ride started right outside Central Park. We got on the bus and the tour guide (Stephanie), had us look out the bus to our right, to where Carrie had said goodbye to Big before he went into his engagement party with Natasha. This is also where the scene was filmed where Miranda was in charge of the guest book at her friends wedding, and Charlotte wore that amazing bridesmaid's dress and slept with the best man during the reception. Also where, at the last scene of season six, Carrie walks down the street and gets the phone call from "John."

After each spot we saw, we were able to watch the scene on the little screens in the bus. So cool. The next stop was to that little random sex shop where Charlotte was introduced to the "rabbit." I loved that episode. We got to go into that location, into the sex store, where we got 15 minutes to shop around. From there we went by the church where Samantha met one of the only guys that she wasn't able to get- Friar Fuck. Remember him? He was that good looking priest that Samantha was into, and started to go to church for. From there we went to the Magnolia Bakery where Carrie and Miranda have eaten cupcakes outside of before. We all got a yummy freebie cupcake, and from there....oh my god... we went to Carrie's front steps. This was my favorite part of the whole tour.

Some other stops included that cool bar that Aiden and Steve owned where we all had a cosmo, the place where Carrie and the girls were trying all the different perfumes and she announced to them that she was "taking a lovah," Charlotte's art gallery, Samantha's apartment, and sooo many more.

There were tons of other stops, many little tidbits we learned, scenes we got to view, behind the scene info given to us. And I loved every minute of the whole thing. I'm such a SATC addict that I could go on and on and on about it all, because it was really, that good. So good. I just had to say something about it, because it's something I'm going to always remember. Man I miss that show.

Home

November 27, 2006

I just got in late last night from my longest stay ever in Reno. I have probably been there about 8 or 9 times now, and every single time I go, I feel like, this could be home.

It could be home for a lot of reasons. It could be home, because my dad is there. It's where he moved a little over three years ago. And C's there. He's been there even before my dad. When I think of home, I think of a lot of East Coast things, naturally; it's my familiar. But lately, I have thought of home as so many parts of the West Coast too.

It could be home because the area there is so me. It's so beautiful and I could totally picture myself moving there, finding a small one bedroom, I'd already have some people I know, so that would be a good thing, and I'd have the mountains, and Lake Tahoe. I'd have family and some friends already. I'd have no humidity and I'd have warm days on a hammock.

For a couple months at the end of my last year in grad school, I seriously considered moving out there. I'd go to see my dad, and I'd pick up apartment listings books outside grocery stores. I'd be even more observant, taking in the areas we'd drive through, look at "for rent" signs even more intently. I'd check the newspapers, google apartments when I'd get back home. I looked at the jobs out there, I found jobs I could apply for. I pictured my life there, my moving there. And so much of it was so appealing. So much of it still is.

As many aspects of it that I love and that I could picture would be so home to me, a whole huge chunk of it is just too unfamiliar to my familiar, lifelong home.

My mom is home. My home was with her for my childhood, and she's always going to be my home, even now, as an adult. We have an amazing relationship for which I am so grateful. I honestly couldn't picture being that far from her. My grandparents are home to me. All four of them, who I am so fortunate to still have in my life. I've even lived part of my childhood with my mom's parents. My home was with them. My best friends are home to me. I've lived with them too, they were my home for more than just a year, and they are still my home. They are my go to people if I need to talk it out in the middle of the night; they're the siblings I never had.

Home has always been the East Coast to me. The New England cold weather, the seasons, especially the fall, the Sox, Bruins, and Pats. York Beach, Hampton Beach, the town I grew up in. The Nor'easters, the 90 degree humid weather, they are all so very much home to me. It may not all be stuff that's amazing and desirable to others, but it's still what I know, what I'm used to, what makes up "home" if someone were to ask me to describe it.

All of these people and things have made up my home for the past almost 24 and a half years. The thought of being far away from all of that, it's freaky. It scares me and it gives me the feeling. But it excites me too. And for those few months after grad school, I was legitamately getting ready to be serious about this move. But for all these reasons of a familiar home and all things associated with it, I couldn't do it. I am still here, home with the familiar- the faces, the memories, the people. I'm home with all of that.

They say "home is where the heart is." But what if you're heart is grounded, if it is home, in two places? And the thought of leaving one place for another is really that intriguing, yet at the same time that unthinkable? I am certainly one for trying new things, and being adventurous and although sometimes have a fear of change, I'm one to embrace it. Growth comes with change. I like being comfortable, but I also like the uncertainty that comes with new, with unfamiliar, with change.

But changing my home? To that far away? Not right now. Not yet. I guess I will just know when, or if, the time is ever going to be right for that. Or if some miracle happens, and Reno switches coasts, becomes New Hampshire, or Vermont, or Maine- then I'm so there, in a heartbeat.

Until then, I will spend my vacations embracing every moment I spend there. Taking it all in, living in the moment with it all. There's not many places that you can visit and really feel like you're home. I do there. And that's a good feeling.

NY bound...

Well, I'm getting ready to leave tomorrow for NY to see my Samantha, and her hubby Chris. She's really the sister I never had. Or should I say the sister I almost had? Our parents dated back in the day.... and... long story short, although they are no longer together, I truly feel like I gained a sister out of the deal, and couldn't be more amused by that.

More to come when I get back.....



PS- Did anyone see the hot scene with Sawyer last night on Lost? Wow.