And we disappear…

These past 10 days, in case you didn’t know, I’ve been hopping along the east coast, from Boston to New Hampshire to Boston to Connecticut back to Boston again. It was a lovely, trip, but it is good to be home.

Things I loved: a fantastic wedding, full of lovely family and friends; lots of time in the sun, rejecting tons of sunscreen for a sun kissed look; a trip to the book barn and a discovery that I am flying Southwest in July, which means I could get as many books as I wanted and send them home with my mom, only to retrieve them in Chicago in a few weeks; sitting by the pool, playing pinochle, with my favorite babies, who continued to say, “I’m ready to play, I’m ready;” quote of the weekend: “Is the water going to turn black? Into soda?”; pizza nearly every day (Pepe’s, Zuppardi’s, etc.); friends on roof decks with beers and snacks; walks around Boston just like old times; drinks by Fenway; seeing my fave pen pal, and chatting about school, baseball, and guitar; snuggles on the couch; best friends together again; new friends to the old; Palluzzi Pizza in Boston; Jeff’s meatballs with Kate and Tom; walks to the beach; new flip flops; iced coffee for old time’s sake; crepes; crosswords; iced coffee for old time’s sake number 2; figuring out family secrets (with Uncle Tony spilling only a minute after arriving, and when asked about it, claimed, “Well, I’m a Palluzzi…”); Jeffrey finally understanding where I get my ugly trait of continually interrupting other people to tell my own stories; Seeing my baby cousins all grown up; Megan’s graduation song; seeing my baby cousins growing up; Jeff exclaiming, “It’s not fair, your family is huge, like four times the size of mine,”; “Who is that? How are they related to you?”; Lenny and Joe’s; home.

Pictures to come. 🙂

Sunday is…

Sunday is…sleeping in past the time you think you’re going to sleep to. Up to rain, knowing that North = sunshine (maybe.) Picked up by a best friend. Wandering around Target for 30 minutes looking for a non-highfructosecornsyrupy snack. Peanut butter and bread. New stickers. Little Miss Sunshine. The best Yoda shirt in existence. A knife somewhere in the car. Driving, Third Eye Blind, DMB, The Script….driving. Arriving to a less cloudy sky. No draws in the car — meeting up with a friend, borrowing hers. Two climbs, in two hours or less. Getting to the top. Twice. Even when I wasn’t expected to. Scrapes, scratches, success. “Why can’t we have a boom-box in the woods??” Driving. Driving driving, Third Eye Blind, Tonic. A gallon of water shared between the two. Picking up my fave Hayford boy. Driving. Massachusetts. Salem. Engine House and Drew. Watching the Celtics game, enjoying company, and Sam Summer. Eggplant parm, and salads made especially for the veggie-hungry girls covered in dirt in the booth. Learning how to drive stick shift. Driving all the way home. Pissing boys off at a stop sign because I was too nervous to shift into first. Getting yelled at by Jeff and Lauren, encouraging me that I can do it, and then I did. Scrabble. Muddier. 50 point bonus. Coming in second anyways, because checking in at home = more important that winning Scrabble. Shower, cleaning the dirt and the reminder of the success of the climbs. Sleep at midnight. Another LAP-JLP perfect day.

Saturday is…

Getting in to the airport at 5:25 am. Van ride to Nashua. Napping the morning away. Cheerios and chatter. Fixing the garage door (or attempting to.) Pnemautic nailer. Rosie the Riveter = me as I attempt to use the pneumatic-nail the door. Yelling “Hayford” to chastise Jeff, only to realize I am surrounded by the three Hayford men. Pizza as a reward for our hardwork. Olives. Onions. Peppers. Sausage. World cup soccer: 1-1, and an embarassing goal for England. Part of a movie, a nap for the boys. Checking in back home. Red Sox, and a delicious dinner. A family talk over tea: cake for the birthday boy and girl. Up to midnight, chatting about everything under the sun.

Saturday is…

Saturday is:

Sunshine. Waking up early to go to Trader Joe’s. Basil from my plant. Making pasta salad, on the phone with my mom. Gossip. Coffee. Sunscreening around tan lines. Fifteen passenger vans. Fourteen friends. Malibu. Glee soundtrack. Wine. Lots of wine. Tire swings shaped like horses. Rustic picnic benches. Wine tastings. Adirondack chairs. In yellow. Friend trivia. Red wine. White wine. Rose wine. Flip cam. Nikon cam. Point and shoot cam. Film cam. Cheese. Pasta salad. Tuna salad. Fruit. Veggies. Occasionally, some water. Live music. Heart-to-heart’s. Walking to the top. Walking to the barrels, taking photos. Laughing. Smiling. Talking. Eating. Tanning. Chatting. Crying, a little.

Back in the van. Don’t Stop Believin’. Six hours, sunburnt. In all the right places. No more tan lines. Cake. With sprinkles. Rainbow kind. Happy Birthday. Chattering away. Dinner. Pizza. Water, water, water. Two boys jumping in a pool. Fully clothed. Apples to apples. Laughing until you cry. Ten o’clock. Hugs. Hugs. Hugs.

Good, good night.