Weekend

Friday was a great, but long, day. Philadelphia always puts me in a good mood. My feet get sore (I never learn to wear appropriate shoes) and I get dirty and sweaty nearly every time, but it’s always worth it. My sister is officially a college graduate, and they had a really nice ceremony. It started right on time at 2 PM, and lasted a little less than 2 hours. If you ask me, that’s a good graduation ceremony (mine was painfully long and I don’t even remember the speeches). Though it has been a couple of years since I was in that same position, it still choked me up. I’m wishing her all the best. I hope she finds a good job doing something she loves right off the bat. If I took anything away from the graduation ceremony, it’s that I still have my future ahead of me, and I deserve to be doing something I love for my life’s work.

After the ceremony, we wandered the streets for a bit until The Continental opened up. Maria has been wanting to go there the whole time she was in Philly but never got a chance. I am so glad we did…but I’ll save conversation on that for a later date. After that, I met up with my dear friend Rafter so we could head to the Yeasayer show. We lucked out on some great seats in the balcony at the Trocadero (I’d never been there before), I got buzzed on Woodchuck, and it was a great show. Yeasayer had an opening act, Hush Hush. Completely unexpected, NSFW, and sorta stole the show. The man came out with a full beard, cut off jean shorts, a blazer with a shirt and tie underneath, and his iPod as the primary music source. Then he proceeded to sing dirty songs and dance on stage, making jokes the whole time. Yes, we loved him. (And yes, Yeasayer was amazing, but that was to be expected…I love when bands are good live. Sounds silly to say, but they can let ya down sometimes)

As for the rest of the weekend, it was spent in lovely fashion. Chinese food for lunch with some dear girlfriends (one that I don’t get to see nearly enough). Dinner with family because my cousin Danny was in town. Wine on Brad’s back porch with his parents (Can I just say how nice it is to feel welcome and totally comfortable hanging out with my boyfriend’s parents sans boyfriend for more than an hour as I waited for him to finish up filming a wedding? I can’t be thankful enough that his warm personality runs in the family.). A night at the casino. The perfect pool temperature on a gorgeous clear day. Shish Kabobs. Dinner on the porch with my family.

Yes, my weekend may have been three days. But wow, if it didn’t feel like the shortest one ever. Perhaps it’s because Friday was still a day of work and things to do, just not in the usual office setting. I’m so excited to have one of my usual, casual weekends with nothing much to do. But it looks like it’ll be a while, since I work the next two Saturdays, and then I’ll be at the beach! Hey, I’m not complaining. If I were to complain about anything, it’s that the year is flying. How is it the middle of June already?

Friday

Happy Friday, y’all! I am in Philadelphia today, celebrating Maria’s graduation! It’s nice to have a day off (especially since Fridays are an hour longer than the rest), especially for such a momentous occasion. As a gift to Maria, I bought us Yeasayer tickets months ago. The show is tonight, and I’m really excited. I haven’t been to a show in what feels like forever, and I really love Yeasayer’s music. It will be the perfect post-graduation celebration: DANCING! After my graduation, I had dinner with my family and sat at home, wondering what would come next in my life (I’m still wondering…). I sure wish I had a fun concert (or party or anything more fun than sitting at home) to go to after mine.

Here’s one of my favorite Yeasayer tunes to kick off your weekend!

Little Sister is Graduating!

As you know, my sister is regularly mentioned here on the blog. Still, I feel like I haven’t talked about her enough! Maria attended the Art Institute in Philadelphia for the last four years, and is graduating this Friday! Since the ceremony is in Philly, I asked for the day off months ago. I can’t believe it’s finally here! I am so excited to have her back home with me, even though I would honestly rather be in Philly myself. But it’s going to be so nice to have her around for a while. The picture above is from Monday night, when we decided to make fajitas (another reason I love having Maria around…the cooking!). Most of all, I’m just so proud of her. She is such a talented girl, with so much to offer, and I know she is going to go places. I hope one day I can be lucky enough to be doing what I love (whatever that is) full time, and to have Maria by my side to do that. (I’d be happy enough to be her partner as she did her dream.)

I’m blessed to have an awesome, hysterical sister who is also my best friend. So proud of you, Maria!

Friendly Fires–Pala

I fell in love with Friendly Fires a couple of years ago, when my sister introduced me to this song. It took me almost a year to finally get my hands on the whole self-titled debut, but it’s excellent. So when I heard they were coming out with a second album, I got both excited and nervous. When a new band comes around and you truly love their only album, there’s a lot of expectations to meet. Lucky for me, Friendly Fires did it again with their second album, Pala. Their fun, dance-y, love-happy vibes are still there, but they branched out a little more with their musical stylings. It is, as evidenced from the album cover, the perfect summer album. You WILL want to blast this at your next pool party (tropical libations will pair perfectly).  I dare you to listen to this album without dancing.

Just a couple of favorites….it’s hard to choose.

Beach Reads

Since Brad and I will be relaxing on the beach in about 25 days (but who’s counting?), I’ve been putting a lot of thought into all the things I want to pack. The main thing that has been sticking out in my mind has been BOOKS. There’s not much better than enjoying a good book with your toes in the sand, the sound of waves crashing and seagulls chirping soundtracking the story. It has been quite a while since I had an ocean getaway, so I’m a little overexcited. We will only be in Ocean City for 3 days, but it’s the perfect amount of time when you only have a weeklong vacation all year. A few days away, and the rest to be leisurely and enjoy at home.

I’ve been compiling a little list of necessary reading materials for the trip. I know I won’t go through 4 books…heck, I might not even make it through half of 1! But I bought them, because I’d like to. In fact, I’d like to use my iPhone for photographic purposes ONLY (and communicating with my family), with the 3Bs (Brad, the beach, and books) being my primary forms of entertainment.

I’ve been meaning to read so much more lately…something about the summer does that to me. But honestly, it’s something I need to do year round. It is so good for the brain, for so many reasons. I just read a couple of books that I’m dying to tell you about (soon enough). I’m hoping to stumble upon some more books at used book sales and such, just to add to an ever growing stack of books to be read to avoid boredom and anxiety. But for now, this is the vacation lineup!

Click each book for more information!

The Weekend

Yet another short and sweet weekend to add to the books. I worked Saturday, and then we just kept running around from then. Brad’s family had two graduation parties going this weekend. One Saturday on his mom’s side, one Sunday on his dad’s. I am so glad that I love all of his family. It can definitely be overwhelming at times for a shy gal like me, but it’s always an excellent time. The highlight, most definitely, was babysitting his cousin’s daughter for a while on Sunday night, and taking her for a dip in the pool. She HATED it in the beginning, but once we got her splashing, you couldn’t get her out! So adorable.

We had so much fun playing with Maddy…I sure hope it’s not a long time before we see her again! Other highlights from the weekend include spending time with Brad’s brother and his wife from Boston (only my second time seeing them!), Brad’s new Keurig, and a sunny Sunday morning spent having conversation over bagels on the deck. That’s the life.

Friday

It’s here once again! I’m only slightly bummed that I still have to work tomorrow, but next week is a short week for me (details on that later), so that’s keepin’ me pretty happy. Also, my vacation is now less than a month away! I love having happy things to look forward to.

So far, the plan for the weekend is to do my new Sally Hansen kit, paint my toenails, and attend a couple of graduation parties with Brad. Absolutely no complaints here on free food. None whatsoever.

Here’s a tune off the new Friendly Fires album to kick start your weekend.  I’m a huge fan of their first and I heard some excellent things about the new one. I bought it off of Amazon, but I’m holding off on listening to it until the 2 hour drive to graduation party numero uno on Saturday. For some reason, the first listen sinks in a lot better for me in the car.