It’s the Tuesday after a long holiday weekend and do you wish you were (a) on this boat or (b) still on this boat? Yup – me too!

Since it’s back to reality, I thought I’d share some random bits of life happening around here.

I got to celebrate my cousin Jamie’s wedding shower.

She’s getting married in August and I had a really nice time getting to celebrate with her.

The best part of the shower was spending time with some of my family!

It’s always good to see my mom. And my aunt. And Lisa.

Let me tell you about Lisa. She’s my grandma’s cousin. Lisa might be the strongest woman I have ever know.

She escaped East Germany when she was 17 years old in the 60s. She told the guards at the wall she was visiting a friend and never went back home. It was 30 years before she saw some of her family again. Her father died before she was able to get back to see him. During the time that East Germany was still communist, Lisa’s family was punished for her leaving.

Lisa was able to move to the US and stayed with my grandma’s family on and off for a few years.  She met her husband and sadly he ended up being an alcoholic. She raised their 3 children, who are all really nice people, and just kept up life for all these years. She’s been thrown so much stuff in her life, but she’s always smiling and laughing.

Lisa is one of the most amazing people I have ever known. She’ll have you laughing in about 5 seconds and would give you the shirt off her back. It was so great to spend some time with her.

We stopped at one of our local favorites – Mighty Taco!

I totally know it’s not real Mexican food, but it’s so good!

My mom requested a picture with all her kids for Mother’s Day because we forgot to do it on the actual day.

I’ve decided that it looks weird when I’m at my real height and my “little” brother seems so much taller when I’m barefoot or in flip flops!

My peeps!

Our friends’ daughter made her first communion and we were so excited for her.

She was so funny. A few years ago, when her older sister made her first communion, she was so interested to hear about how the wine tasted. When I asked her, she made the funniest face and said it was terrible.

At age 8, we’re all like, yep, wine is bad for you. And remember that until you’re 21!

I had to fly to NYC for some meetings, so I drove myself to the airport.

Here’s a travel tip: take a picture of the sign nearest to your car before you leave for the terminal. That way when you return, you don’t have to wander around looking for your car.

That might have happened to me quite a few times.

Despite the weather being kind of yucky, I did get a pretty nice view of the Long Island Sound on my flight in!

When this isn’t your every day morning commute, you don’t mind it so much.

One night we went to craft restaurant. It’s Tom Colicchio’s place. He was on Top Chef, if you didn’t know. (I didn’t.)

The food was so so so good.

We started with bacon and octopus. Then I moved on to chicken and these amazing potatoes. And I ended with a chocolate souffle.

Food coma.

If you ever get the chance to eat there, I totally recommend it.

I got home to see that my hanging basket had died.

Which not at all surprising.

When I got it 3 weeks ago, my neighbors laughed and took a bet on how long the basket would be alive.

One of them bet 7 days. The other bet 10.

I made it 21 (and it’s not completely dead yet) so I sure showed them.

If you need anyone to send plants to the great beyond…give me a ring. I’m totally the girl for that job! 😉

 

We started our holiday weekend out right. Some fruity summer drinks and a fire with the neighbors.

I had my first s’more and it was delightful!

Saturday morning we went to The Kitchen on Main and ate another amazing brunch. We decided to sit at the bar and got to watch the chefs cooking. I love doing that. Seeing all the different dishes being made is so fun. And now I want to go back and try everything else.

After brunch we hit up Barnes and Noble. I grabbed a latte and perused the books for an hour.

We are so boring.

And I love it!

The rest of our Saturday was spent chilling because the weather wasn’t so great. The Hubster learned some software programming. I watched some Fixer Upper and took a nap.

We didn’t do anything really strenuous, but it was pretty great.

On Sunday, we took a walk through town and found that in honor of Memorial Day, some of the local businesses had found old soldier’s medals and put them on display.

It was really cool to see all their accomplishments from WWI and WWII.

We made a Blue Apron for dinner and ate it on the patio.

There are worse ways to spend a Sunday night!

After dinner, we decided to have a fire and just chilled. Some of our neighbors came over to hang.

I ended the nights with a dance party. The Hubster looked on and laughed, but I think that’s a fantastic way to end a night.

Most of Memorial Day was spent relaxing. I started my new book club book, sipped on a sparking water with lime (my new favorite drink!), and soaked up some sun.

We headed over to a friend’s house for dinner and just relaxed.

Lots of random bits I just shared with you! Hope you guys all have a great week!