Five Friday Favorites: 1

Since someone is back to blogging (hi!) and posted Five Friday Favorites, I liked it and decided to steal her idea:) So without further delay, my Five Friday Favorites this week are...

1) Reading. 
As in, for fun.
Since I defended a month ago, I've been reading a lot. I was thinking about reviewing some of the books I read on this blog - thoughts? Anyone interested in that? Recent reads include The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, two of the Sookie Stackhouse books, and Carrots N' Cake.

2. True Blood.

Eric. Amazing. photo credit

Related, I've been reading the Sookie Stackhouse books AND watching True Blood in preparation for the new season starting! I am so. freaking. excited. Who else watches True Blood? If not, you should start. Even aside from the entertaining nature of the show itself, there are some very hot men present. Just saying. I'm on Team Eric at this point.

3) Our CSA.
We started getting our CSA "boxes" (we actually load up reusable bags) from First Root Farm. So far, we have gotten SO much lettuce, all different kinds (yum, arugula, and looking forward to making kale), as well as radishes, turnips, one head of broccoli (not anywhere near enough for me, I eat broccoli like it's my job), and this week a vegetable that legitimately looks like an octopus. It's fun to try new things!

4) my new iPad.
Seriously, I'm obsessed with it. It's bad.

5) Engagement pictures sneak peek!
We got the teaser for our engagement pictures from our wonderful photographer and they are FANTASTIC! made my week. (Seriously, on the off chance that anyone in the Boston area needs a photographer - check him out.)

What were your Five Friday Favorites this week? Anything exciting to share? Fun weekend plans, etc.? :) 

April recap: between weddings

The morning after Lindsay and Joe's wedding, Chris, MegD and I left fairly early to make the drive back to MA so Meg could fly back to Chicago. Drive was uneventful, we ate some Cheetos, and Meg had to go home :( Chris and I went back to our apartment and basically crashed - especially me - I think I slept for a couple of hours!

The next day was Marathon Monday (which, if you are unaware, is better than Christmas :) ) Margo and I met up early and got Starbucks and did some bridesmaid recapping, because she was a bridesmaid that weekend as well, and then watched the wheelchairs and then the elite runners running by in Washington Square. 

We met up with more friends - Carla and Matt, and then eventually found Bobby and his very drunk brother. By far the highlight of my day was when Rob went by - I had been tracking him on my phone all morning, so we camped out until we saw him, and he saw us too! He's speedy so it wasn't too crowded when he went by, plus we knew what he was wearing :)

We spent most of the day at American Craft, which I really liked, plus it was warm enough to have the windows open to the street. After a while my other friend Matt and his friend from home met us, and we took the T down into Boston so that I could meet Chris, Jess, and Rob to get a drink and congratulate Rob on his successful marathon and on qualifying for Boston again!

At that point, the three of us took the worst T ride I have ever taken. We were stuck between Kenmore and Hynes for at least 20 minutes. Two T workers used their keys to open the doors and walked out into the tunnels, and a BC kid across from us said he'd pay them to take him with them to a bathroom. We ended up playing charades with complete strangers. It was absurd.

After the T ride from hell, we got to see my favorite Atlanta residents for a very brief visit, and then we went home to Arlington again, via Brookline where I parked my car. All in all, a successful marathon Monday.

Goals? Nah.

I had originally logged in to post some June goals, but I realized that I am not in the least interested in posting goals this month. After a very long semester, the last thing I want to do is give myself any assignments, so my number one goal for this month is to catch up on everything I've been missing. Blog catchup, cleaning catchup, job applying catchup, exercising and cooking and generally taking care of myself....all valid.

I am semi-participating in the Virtual Summer Retreat hosted by the lovely Sarah:

Her blog is one of my top five for sure, and has been for as long as I've been reading it, so I was excited to get even more posts from her for the retreat :) So far, I've been reading the extra posts and making some effort to incorporate things - for instance, the first day you were supposed to do something simple to take better care of yourself, and I focused on drinking more water (something I should be doing anyway, especially since it was one of my New Year's resolutions - speaking of, ugh) - and actually Sarah chose the same :)
I am definitely thinking about the things she posts and reading her links, and I think it's affecting the choices that I make on a daily basis, but I'm not necessarily doing the assignments (see above, where I mention that anything containing "deadlines" is making me twitchy.)

So anyway, while I do have some things in mind for this month (for example: get on those New Year's resolutions, read, relax, run well in my two races, and at the moment, do my toenails because they have that space at the bottom that happens when your pedicure grows out), I refuse to write them down as goals.

Anyone else have any goals this month- formal or otherwise?

Weekend in Review

Hello friends :) This probably should have been posted this morning, but instead, I played online and went grocery shopping. And watched old Grey's episodes on Lifetime...and cooked dinner. Good excuses......right? Now Stan's over and the boys are watching The Other Guys, and I'm blogging because while this movie is fun, it's not intellectually challenging ;)

ANYWAY - we had a very fun weekend up here in MA. Saturday morning, we got our engagement pictures taken!! Super exciting. It was kind of cold, but it was super sunny and beautiful out. We went to Lynch Park, where we probably would have gotten married if we had chosen to wait until the summer. Chris grew up going to camp there and then lifeguarding there, so he knew about it, and it's a beautiful spot. I'm really excited to get our pictures - our photographer is really fun, and I love all the stuff on his website - it'll be cool to see what he gets from us!

After we did pictures, we got amazing breakfast at a diner in Beverly and then went to see First Class (the new X-Men movie). I grew up watching the X-Men cartoon, it was my favorite - to the extent that when I went to sleepaway camp, my brother used to tape it for me! The movie. was. awesome. I really, really loved it. Highly recommended :) Afterwards we got P.F. Chang's takeout, I spent a fortune on tea at Teavana, and we came home and relaxed.

Yesterday, I went for a run in the sunshine and explored (yes, we've lived in Arlington for almost two years and I still explore....) I ran until my iPhone died so I had no more music, and then I ran home. I think that section of the run may be the first time I've run without headphones since high school! For lunch, we went to Fajita's and Ritas with a bunch of Brandeis friends for our friend Matt's birthday. Sunday afternoon margaritas and Mexican food, followed by sitting in Boston Common in the sunshine? works for me :)

How were your weekends? Anything exciting happen?

April recap: Lindsay and Joe's wedding!

OK, going way back to right after I handed in another draft of my dissertation and picked MegD up from the airport....

Lindsay and Joey got married! :) (yes, Linds, I linked to you even though you haven't blogged in a year. It'll be summer soon. You'll be back ;) )

Even though I tried to finish my paper the night before, I ended up emailing it in on Friday morning before Megan and I left for Connecticut (fun fact: I love how you spell that so I like to type it out:) ) After a quick stop at Dunks and Trader Joe's for snacks, the drive was easy. I did really anger one gentleman driver by not going more than 5 over the speed limit right by Lindsay's house, but that was basically the only issue. After we got there, we just hung out at the house until it was time for the rehearsal and dinner.

Meg and I at the rehearsal, stolen from Lindsay's mom (thanks Robin!)

 The rehearsal started a little late, so dinner afterwards started even later, but it was delicious :) The restaurant was amazing about making me food I could eat (hurray for gluten free pasta!), the wine was good, and our bridesmaid's gifts were super cute. After dinner, we all went back to Lindsay's house for essentially a big sleepover.

The next morning, we got up bright and early to get our nails done (and drink champagne, clearly), then go back to Lindsay's for our cars, drive to the hotel and check in, get ready, and go back to Lindsay's to head to the wedding! After solving a minor disaster (aka, the sash on my dress being far too short... Melissa and her kit to the rescue!) it was time to head to the venue. Lisa (bravely) drove the giant SUV, and we got there at the same time as the boys did by accident, so they had to hide while we got the bride inside. Then it was time for pictures and champagne in the bridal area, and then... the wedding and reception!

goofy, again from Robin

right before the first dance, stolen from Ellen I believe

After the wedding ceremony, we did some more photos and then went to join the rest of the crowd at the cocktail hour and reception. We had a great table full of our BU friends, and there was lots of yummy food, dancing, and photo taking before the bus ride back to the hotel. At that point, I crashed after a very long day, and we drove back home in the morning. It was a very pretty wedding and I was very excited to be a part of it :)

I'll leave you with a couple more photos, all stolen from AJ:)

oh hi, I'm back :)

Oops.

I accidentally disappeared.

(again).

But I'm back now!

To be honest, after I did my dissertation defense, there was no way I felt like blogging or doing much of anything. I defended, went to a birthday party, worked the entire next week, got sick, ran 2 races in 4 days, did a graduation weekend, and went back to Arizona for Chris's cousin's wedding and to see my friends/family. Whirlwind! We got back Sunday night, celebrated Chris's birthday on Monday, and yesterday was the first day I was just home. (I wasn't supposed to be, but I unexpectedly didn't even have to babysit!) Last night, I went to the Red Sox game with Margo and Erin, and then today I should be being productive....but so far, I've been playing with my new iPad (yay graduation gift! it came yesterday!) and watching TV (Easy A came on...how could I resist?)

But now I'm back. And the blog is back! Get excited. Lots of recaps from mid April on are on the way....

For now, I leave you with this picture from the Sox game last night. In case you were wondering, they played the Chicago White Sox and they lost - though they apparently made a valiant effort in the end (not gonna lie, left during the 8th inning). So much for my one game this year. And there was a BALLOON on the field. Seriously? At least beforehand we stopped at Cornwalls (cider + portobello mushroom salad = yum).

see that big spot? a balloon!