i've always been a momma's girl.

it's nothing against my father. because he's just about the most wonderful man on the planet.

see, i'm my mother's mini-me. our personality is almost identical....aside from a few things.

some things i get from my dad:
like my eyes. i've got my father's eyes. beautiful green eyes.
we're both perfectly ok with being quiet. i can sit for such a long time doing nothing. no tv, no radio, no talking. and be perfectly ok with it. i remember growing up just watching him sit in a chair or sitting on the front steps watering the grass with the hose. just content with sitting there in his thoughts.
we don't do phones. ok, well obviously i have one but you won't catch me babbling on with someone for more than 45 seconds. he doesn't do phones...or technology for that matter. he's so simple and i love that about him.
we have these wonderfully large jay leno type chins. i've always disliked it. but theres one fabulous thing about it: it's going to be almost impossible to have a double chin when i'm older.
he's artsy. so much more artsy than i will ever be. but he has instilled in me an appreciation for art. he used to help me do almost every single one of my projects growing up. and he has the most badass handwriting to go along with it.


he's really such a great dad.

this year is extra special. unfortunately he is on a plane coming home from a long vacation so i haven't been able to see him but when i do, i will be sure to give him the tightest squeeze. you see, this year he has pretty much beat prostate cancer. it's the most curable cancer for men but with all his prior ailments, it was nerve racking. also, it's extra special because i feel like i've done so much growing up in the past year. i've moved out of their house and realized just how much both of my parents mean to me. i think i used to take them for granted when i lived with them because they were ALWAYS there. i mean, always up in my business. obviously i like to have my own life and space but sometimes its nice to just go to their house and pretend i still live there and fill them in on every little thing.

and now to take a page out of my boy Kanye's book:
 Yo blog readers, I’m really happy for you(and that you're reading this)…I’ll let you finish. But my dad is the best dad of all time! One of the best dads of all time!  

haha ok i'm done now. and now i feel terrible i forgot to write a nice post about my mom on mother's day. sorry mom! i promise it'll come soon...you rock too!

i really really love this picture of them. 

where have i beeeeen????

no seriously, does anyone know?

i wish i could tell you this fabulous story about my adventures in life but well, that is not happening. my brain isn't functioning at the optimum level at the moment so it'll have to wait.

it's been a month since i have wandered my way back here which means two things:

1. i have been busy

and

2. i haven't been drinking enough.

i mean that in the most non-alcoholic way possible. 

so here's the update in pictures:

 i discovered an adorable organic farm near my house that had the sweetest couple running it. it had everything you could need and they made all their jams and baked goods right in main house on the same counter they had their small register on.
    been hanging with this handsome fella.

i promise i will have some seriously fun stories soon. horseback riding, zoo trips and all around shenanigans. there have been plenty. be patient, young grasshoppers.

don't call....text.

i used to play volleyball in college. actually, i tell everyone i majored in it.

i spent more time practicing and playing than i did in class and doing homework. maybe thats why i'm still at the job i held before i graduated 4 years ago. whoopsiesssss. 

i remember dragging my butt onto our bus and into our vans to trek to our away games. so many hours of my life i'm never getting back. those were long and mostly boring road trips. i wish my teammates and i were as clever as these guys:

also, these guys are hot hot hot. i miss college.

summer

(when reading the following line, please do your best Mel Gibson Braveheart impression)

FREEDOMMMMMM!

i am free. free from schoolwork. free from sunday cram session. free spending a million dollars at starbucks while studying. semi-free from stress.

for the summer that is. come september, i will be right back to the whole no-life, studying all-the-time thing. blah.

but today and for the rest of the week, i will be celebrating.

sunday

any day that starts with a breakfast sandwich is pretty much going to be a good day. today was no exception.

ham, egg and cheese on a low carb bagel gave way to a long random drive that led me to these lovelies:

 this Rhode Island Red did not like me one bit. i can only imagine how she felt about the screaming children running around

you weren't allowed to feed or pet any of the animals. such a bummer. so basically, i walked around talking in a baby voice trying to comfort these little creatures. they loved it. i was tempted to pet them when the caretaker wasn't looking but i didn't want to push my luck and get bitten or some crazy donkey flu.

so many birds out today. i tried like crazy to get a few pictures of them but man, those suckers are fast.

there was a geese party. i wasn't invited.

i swear this picture looks better than it does here. this man was amazing. i sat on a bench on the water for a bit just watching ducks and geese hang out and saw this old man doing the same. he was adorable and so content so i decided he wouldn't mind if i snapped a picture of him. i probably looked like a huge creep but he made me smile and i wanted to remember him. 

i walked on the path behind him because i was so curious as to what he was doing in his notebook. turns out, he was sketching the pond and the gazebo and it was AMAZING. the guy has talent. i walked by him with the biggest grin i could muster because i couldn't help but thinking "this is exactly how i want to be". not when i'm his age, but now. i am pretty much as close to this as possible but plus a whole bunch of guilt. when i take these little day adventures by myself i cannot help but think about what everyone else my age is doing. i'm sure they're shopping, waking up from a big night out or getting brunch with their significant other. thats great and i'm sure they're happy. part of me wishes i was doing those things. but the actual, deep-down true self part of me is so freaking happy just sitting on a bench alone with some birds and an old man. i was so at peace for those brief moments. i hope that part of me never changes.

in my other lives

i have this bad habit.

well, not so much bad as detrimental to my emotional well being.

you see, i can spend a whole day fantasizing about what i do in my other lives. i'm not crazy (well, not THAT crazy). it's just that when I'm bored I create all these other scenarios in my head of what I would rather be doing with my life. most of them have to do with living somewhere fabulous in Europe and not working. in my England scenario, I spend all day in my gorgeous garden and drinking tea with friends; in my Paris scenario I have an insane wardrobe and stay outside all day drinking lattes and in Greece, I get to wear kaftans and flat sandals, go to the beach and eat all day long.

epitome of tranquility

this i could do:

i would never leave

I also have some regular 'ol American dreams that involve actually doing work: writing/experimenting for some fancy website and living the LA lifestyle; owning a farm where i can get tan all day long and ride horses and even one where I own a coffee shop where the workers aren't snarky assholes like most places.

heaven on earth

i would have all my employees make the lattes look like this because every time i get one with a heart, it absolutely makes me day.

man oh man, do i wish i could do all of these things.

sister sister

this weekend was pretty awesome.

why you ask?

well numerous things, really. here it goes:

i had the weekend off! this is very rare for this time of year at my job. but because it was a vacation week, i got stuck working monday-friday. that meant i got an entire weekend to frolic around this lovely state and do a few fun things.

friday night i was dragged out to celebrate my sisters birthday. it was actually a very good time.

i spent saturday morning at a cafe. it was supposed to rain but instead, mother nature decided to be super generous and nice to me and it was an absolute perfect day. i sat on their back patio soaking up the sun and studying. i was also lucky enough to be sitting next to a super hot man and his adorable golden retriever. some day i will have the guts to talk to random men.

after that loveliness, i went rollerblading on the bike path near my house. the "east bay bike path" to be exact. this lovely piece of asphalt is about 14.1 miles long and runs from my town to Bristol, RI (3 towns away) the whole path goes along or over the water. theres a few wooden bridges to go over (so scary) and  on my way to turn around, i decided to take a short cut to avoid the bridge on the way back. and by "short cut" i mean the "longest, most out of the way stupid decision ever". i basically rollerbladed 3 miles out of the way to end up right back at the bridge i was trying to avoid. and here i thought i was good at directions.

i met this little fellow. so many people just biked, jogged or walked right by him. i realize he is a snapping turtle but seriously people, nature is awesome and you really need to start soaking random stuff like this up.  also, he was GINORMOUS.

my fam and i then met up with the other half of us at Flatbeat Pizza Company. this place is basically my ideal restaurant. the waiters wear what the want (ours was wearing a Nimbus Two Thousand shirt from Harry Potter: i was instantly in love) everyone is friendly, almost everything is organic (even the beer) and the vibe is just positive and relaxing. it was such a great time.

we taught dad how to use the GPS on the way. it was rather hilarious to watch.

dad was very talkative tonight. he was running the show.

i tried the peak organic. i love IPAs. i also love any brand that is cool like me and doesn't like capital letters.

lindsay is always tired.

he used to be so good at this as a kid. not so much anymore.

 pumpkin ice cream with gingerbread. this was after 3 large pizzas.

kate is either glowing from her pregnancy or because of their awesome lighting. maybe both.

yea people, let's do this:

interesting thing here. they grow their veggies in raised bed gardens that line the walk up to the restaurant. i was impressed.

today was one of those dreadfully rainy days but i got a lot of studying/cleaning done. i also made these bad boys:

chocolate pancake recipe i got from here.

now back to studying and some wine drinking. hope your weekend was as great as mine. if not, sit back, relax and drink a glass (or bottle) of wine. wine makes everything great.