Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Major Update-- Part 2
After vacation, I settled back into the groove of work. It took about two weeks.
Don't you just love that? You look forward to a trip or even just a large span of time off, only to have to deal with the "post vacation low" that occurs immediately upon returning to the real world. My mom always said that she "needed a vacation following vacation". I never really understood what she meant by that at the age of 8. However, now I know it could only have meant one of two things: She was beyond stressed her entire vacation dealing with me, who wanted to go, go, go, immediately upon waking at 7AM sharp. Or, she had so much fun being away, that she deeply desired more time to relax and kick back. Either way, I now totally identify with this saying.
At the end of summer Dan and hosted a little crab feast with all of our close friends. We had a great time eating 6 dozen Maryland blue crabs and hanging out. Highlights of our night include: a cartwheel contest, one friend eating more then a dozen crabs (gross), my amazing blueberry crumble that was a major hit, bonfire chats, our AC unit deciding to leak, and the "growlers" that the men liked to sip on.
Side note-->I loved this day. I felt especially blessed by our friends, old and new, that are all having an amazing impact on our lives. We have grown incredibly close to the guys and gals in our small group and it has been really cool to see these friendships grow deeply and richly in such a short amount of time. I am so excited to see the journey that these relationships take--since, I'm confident that some of these friends will be lifelong. Very cool.
September was filled with many other fun events: the weather cooling down (best evening walks ever), my sister-in-law buying her first home (an adorable brick house), my sister being invited to her school homecoming dance by the German exchange student (Frederick), our 3rd anniversary(!!), and a random surprise gift by my thoughtful husband (a shoe rack).
So the gift, a shoe rack. Sounds like a joke, but it is NOT. It actually was the most needed thing I have received as a gift in a long time and boy does our closet (and Dan) thank me for setting it up right away. We can now enter our walk-in without stepping over top a massive pile of flats, boots, slippers, heels (ouch), and wedges. What can we conclude from this gift??.... my husband is the best.
Don't you just love that? You look forward to a trip or even just a large span of time off, only to have to deal with the "post vacation low" that occurs immediately upon returning to the real world. My mom always said that she "needed a vacation following vacation". I never really understood what she meant by that at the age of 8. However, now I know it could only have meant one of two things: She was beyond stressed her entire vacation dealing with me, who wanted to go, go, go, immediately upon waking at 7AM sharp. Or, she had so much fun being away, that she deeply desired more time to relax and kick back. Either way, I now totally identify with this saying.
At the end of summer Dan and hosted a little crab feast with all of our close friends. We had a great time eating 6 dozen Maryland blue crabs and hanging out. Highlights of our night include: a cartwheel contest, one friend eating more then a dozen crabs (gross), my amazing blueberry crumble that was a major hit, bonfire chats, our AC unit deciding to leak, and the "growlers" that the men liked to sip on.
Side note-->I loved this day. I felt especially blessed by our friends, old and new, that are all having an amazing impact on our lives. We have grown incredibly close to the guys and gals in our small group and it has been really cool to see these friendships grow deeply and richly in such a short amount of time. I am so excited to see the journey that these relationships take--since, I'm confident that some of these friends will be lifelong. Very cool.
September was filled with many other fun events: the weather cooling down (best evening walks ever), my sister-in-law buying her first home (an adorable brick house), my sister being invited to her school homecoming dance by the German exchange student (Frederick), our 3rd anniversary(!!), and a random surprise gift by my thoughtful husband (a shoe rack).
So the gift, a shoe rack. Sounds like a joke, but it is NOT. It actually was the most needed thing I have received as a gift in a long time and boy does our closet (and Dan) thank me for setting it up right away. We can now enter our walk-in without stepping over top a massive pile of flats, boots, slippers, heels (ouch), and wedges. What can we conclude from this gift??.... my husband is the best.
And so is this furry friend.
xoxo
Major Update-- Part 1
I can't believe I have let almost two months pass without writing on here. That is exactly what I did NOT want myself doing: forgetting to document all the little fun events and moments of the everyday so that I can remember (and smile) later on. Well I will do my best to recap the past 8 weeks in a way that is rather brief, to the point, and enjoyable.
First: Vacation
This year, Dan and I decided to go somewhere different. We have gone to various beaches a few times, relaxed/kayaked on a lake for a week last year, and have explored local sites as well. Dan spent many summers on the coast of Maine and asked early in the year if I'd be interested in going and exploring the New England coast (while also seeing the beach towns that were near and dear to his heart) this year. I, having never been up to that area of the country, quickly and enthusiastically said "YES". We started planning and booked our B&B's in March of this year. We basically knew what states and cities we wanted to visit and planned accordingly.
On our 8 day trip we got to visit Portland, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Kennebunkport, and Goose Rocks Beach (all in Maine). I fell in love with Maine right away. There is just something some unique, peaceful, and beautiful about this state. It is not built up at all, but it's houses have the most charm and character...and everyone there is so relaxed! Hiking and exploring Acadia National Park was my favorite part of our visit to Maine. This park is amazing and located on an island off the northern coast. The views were incredible and you literally could do a 360 degree turn and see nothing by beauty around you. We loved our time here(!) and have recommended it to all of our friends and family. I really enjoyed the town of Kennebunkport and have made Dan promise me that we will rent a beach house there in the near future. All I can really say is, I could totally see myself relaxing and enjoying myself for a week or two on this secluded, gorgeous, little-piece-of heaven beach. Ahhh.
Next, we traveled south to Rockport, Massachusetts. Rockport is the cutest, little artsy town on the coast of Cape Anne. It was beautiful and the sunsets there were incredible. The name "Rockport" is perfect for this town, because the beaches were filled with the most beautiful rock and cliff landscapes. Not 5 minutes away was Gloucester, were we went on a 3 hour whale watching tour. This was awesome. I must admit, I needed some convincing for this, because I am cheap and was not sure I wanted to pay money to "maybe" see a whale. After deciding to be more adventurous and risky, I was in. And sure enough, we didn't see just 1 whale....we say about 15-20. The only word to describe our time in the ocean, whales not 25 yards away, was breath taking. The whales were Humpbacks, so they were about the size of two school buses. Talk about huge. This was one of the major highlights of our trip and we'd do it again in a heartbeat. Finally, we ventured down to Newport, Rhode Island. This, too, was a gorgeous coastal town. There we went on a "Cliff Walk" (not as scary as it sounds), toured a few of the most historical mansions in the area, and enjoyed good dinners and shopping. Newport was super beautiful, ritzy, and...well, to be honest, full of the rich, yachting Madewell sweater wearing, guys and gals. Although we didn't fully fit in, we made ourselves at home and pretended for a hot minute that we lived that life.
Here are a few pictures that highlight our time well!
First: Vacation
This year, Dan and I decided to go somewhere different. We have gone to various beaches a few times, relaxed/kayaked on a lake for a week last year, and have explored local sites as well. Dan spent many summers on the coast of Maine and asked early in the year if I'd be interested in going and exploring the New England coast (while also seeing the beach towns that were near and dear to his heart) this year. I, having never been up to that area of the country, quickly and enthusiastically said "YES". We started planning and booked our B&B's in March of this year. We basically knew what states and cities we wanted to visit and planned accordingly.
On our 8 day trip we got to visit Portland, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Kennebunkport, and Goose Rocks Beach (all in Maine). I fell in love with Maine right away. There is just something some unique, peaceful, and beautiful about this state. It is not built up at all, but it's houses have the most charm and character...and everyone there is so relaxed! Hiking and exploring Acadia National Park was my favorite part of our visit to Maine. This park is amazing and located on an island off the northern coast. The views were incredible and you literally could do a 360 degree turn and see nothing by beauty around you. We loved our time here(!) and have recommended it to all of our friends and family. I really enjoyed the town of Kennebunkport and have made Dan promise me that we will rent a beach house there in the near future. All I can really say is, I could totally see myself relaxing and enjoying myself for a week or two on this secluded, gorgeous, little-piece-of heaven beach. Ahhh.
Next, we traveled south to Rockport, Massachusetts. Rockport is the cutest, little artsy town on the coast of Cape Anne. It was beautiful and the sunsets there were incredible. The name "Rockport" is perfect for this town, because the beaches were filled with the most beautiful rock and cliff landscapes. Not 5 minutes away was Gloucester, were we went on a 3 hour whale watching tour. This was awesome. I must admit, I needed some convincing for this, because I am cheap and was not sure I wanted to pay money to "maybe" see a whale. After deciding to be more adventurous and risky, I was in. And sure enough, we didn't see just 1 whale....we say about 15-20. The only word to describe our time in the ocean, whales not 25 yards away, was breath taking. The whales were Humpbacks, so they were about the size of two school buses. Talk about huge. This was one of the major highlights of our trip and we'd do it again in a heartbeat. Finally, we ventured down to Newport, Rhode Island. This, too, was a gorgeous coastal town. There we went on a "Cliff Walk" (not as scary as it sounds), toured a few of the most historical mansions in the area, and enjoyed good dinners and shopping. Newport was super beautiful, ritzy, and...well, to be honest, full of the rich, yachting Madewell sweater wearing, guys and gals. Although we didn't fully fit in, we made ourselves at home and pretended for a hot minute that we lived that life.
Here are a few pictures that highlight our time well!
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