Boston...

I have been in a mood the past couple of days, and I am sure others have been as well, no doubt and it has taken me some time to process this all and will probably take some more. I know that I am not the only person affected, our whole city and country is, let alone the world, and even more are the families and friends of the life's lost and severely injured. When something of this magnitude happens, little things are put into perspective. It changes everything. A long line at a coffee shop changed where we were going to be, to where we are today by minutes. The sounds of sirens are still going on throughout this otherwise weirdly quiet Wednesday sunny city morning. People are subdued, but life is trying to pick up and move forward, gradually and with togetherness.  
I am not a Bostonian by birth, I am a Massachusetts girl through and through, however in all the places I have lived, I moved to Boston b/c it felt like home to me. I became fascinated with Boston early, like most kids do when you learn about those stubborn Revolutionaries beating the Redcoats to turn this wonderful country into what it is today. I remember going on my 6th grade trip to Boston, going to the New England Aquarium, answering a question correctly, getting a peck from a seal, and being hooked on marine biology from there. I remember the whole family going to the Barnum Bailey Circus at the old Garden, and having a blue flashlight toy and swirling it all the way down the Mass Pike that night, pretending to be a police car, while my Dad was trying to figure out where the cop car really was. I remember coming to Dana Farber when Sabrina was sick and hearing the cancer word for the first time in their waiting room after walking over the walkway, and I knew that we were there because they are the best at what they do.
And that last sentiment still rings true; Bostonians are the best at what we do: They are the best of friends, the best of the medical community, the best of co-workers, the best supporters, the best game fanatics, the best first-responders, firefighters, and police, the best neighbors, the best educators, the best city pride, the best at having fun, the best at being stubborn and hard nosed,  the best at coming together like family when needed, and we are the best at picking ourselves up and becoming stronger as a result. However, what this sad event has showed me even more is that we all are Bostonians, regardless of where you may call home. While such a horrible act of one or many individuals is the focus, the compassion, caring, love, and support of everyone is the highlight. The human spirit to triumph over tragedy is truly the backbone of who we are as Bostonians and a country as a whole.
To that end, I want to thank you all, near and far, for checking in moments after on Kristen and myself. You all mean the world to me, whether we speak every day or once in a blue moon. I would not be who I am today without you all in my life.
Remember to enjoy every moment, give extra hugs and kisses to those you love, and stop every now and then and enjoy life, for it can change at any moment.
Much love to all.

I stink at blogging...

Wow!!
I have really laid a big fat goose egg on the thing called a blog!!
So much has happened since my last post...
Holy smokes batman!!!! Where to begin???
Maybe on my next post....I promise!!

I heart my life...

You know that you have heard the saying before, “Everything happens for a reason”. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to make sense at the time or even right while it is happening or even once it is done. I also know I have said it before myself many times.
This weekend drove it home.
There is a reason why you remember faces and smiles from years past. There are reasons why you choose to forget some. There are reasons why loved ones leave us too soon from this world. There are reasons why friends come and go out of your life. There are reasons why some stay. There are reasons why you are allowed to keep doing the things you love. There are reasons why jobs are lost, jobs are gained, and jobs are turned down. There are reasons why you keep getting back up after getting kicked down. There are reasons why you got kicked down in the first place. You all know I could go on and on.
In the end, once it is all said and done, it really does all have a reason behind it.


All in all, I consider myself awfully freaking lucky to be where I am.
I love who I am with, I love my family and I also love my friends, most of whom I consider part of my family.


So if you are reading this now, thanks for being one of the reasons why I heart my life!

Hey...where did it go??

Summer I mean. 

It is that time of the year and I know that I'm not the first with this thought. 

The news today: 
sunset at 7:47. Feels earlier some days








Yep, fall is on its way. I always get excited and antsy for the seasons to change. I grew up in the Berkshires and having 4 seasons (if you don't count mud as one) is biologically essential to me. Just as one season gets old, another one comes rolling in, bringing freshness and life in its own way, with it.


What I am most excited for this upcoming season, is to start a new chapter and continue on this journey with someone I enjoy spending my time with. No longer 2 hours apart and no longer having to plan our weekends around a 4 hour round trip commute. 


I can't wait to have dinners mid week and conversations in person after work instead of through the electronic currents and waves that carry our cell transmission from one phone to the other.

I'm excited for colored falling leaves, pumpkin picking and pie making, warms meals on cool nights, working side by side, and laughing with each other or at each other.

I'm not going to lie either, I'm excited to pack up our car and go 'cross racing together. 

I'm also excited for winter, to go up to the mountains with friends, whether it is snowshoeing or skiing or just because.

I'm excited for spring and the new life that beckons with every budding plant.

I'm excited for all the seasons to come and go and recycle again. Because in the end, I'm excited to just be with someone who enjoys being with me as much as I enjoy being with them, no matter what season it is. 

Its summer….

…. Finally!! I waited all winter for the dog days of summer. Where the red liquid reaches upward in the thermometer, where the heat index is officially declared “holy crap it’s HOT out” and where the humidity level is at 145 million percent!!

Ahh it also means BBQ’s with friends, ocean visits, stopping to smell the summer breeze, trips to go camping, and of course an ample amount of bike riding smushed into catching rays of sunshine when we can!!

Yet this year it finally feels like the fun that is really meant to be had, like times when I was a kid growing up. Where summer meant parties on the reservoir, cookouts and the smell of campfires in the distance and the sounds of laughter and mingling. Summer reminds me of being a kid and having fun.

Yet like I said, this year feels right-feels fun. I guess it is because I am with someone whom really enjoys being with me and all my oddities and goofball-ness. Someone who lets me be me and doesn’t question a single thing and yet together-going with the flow is just natural and easy.

I’m lucky-I say that often but really I am on so many levels.

Now get out there and enjoy the spoils of summer for I know I will!! 

PS California was breathtaking and an absolutely AWESOME trip!!

Slacking on the blog page

That is what I have been doing.

Well it hasn’t been all riding bikes and hanging out and doing nothing while I have neglected this page. In the mere moments that I have a minute or two, it is usually consumed by school work!! There is only a few weeks left of school and holy crow am I ready for the semester to end and summer to be on my doorstep!!

I have been trying to cram an awful lot into an awful little, but I’m not the only one and I don’t have as much as some so I shouldn’t complain too much but WOW ready for a breather.

Hmm what has happened in a month?!?!

Well let’s see…

Most weekends were consumed by school work…wish I could pay someone….

or that I could go back to the Trapper Keeper days of simplicity…Yea I’m a bit old school….

Went and lifted some buckets..

poured some sap…

made some syrup…

Planned and schemed a vacation away to sunny CA to have a re-do of my 20-10, as my friend Liz calls it….

Much needed and a good break at the right time….

Oh yea…I rode my MTB…

And I won my first EVER bike race…And I feel great…finally can say that I feel 100% healed since my accident…

It pushed me further then I was comfortable with at times, but it made me face my fears and afterwards it was totally rewarding…

Ohh and getting ready for a little ball this weekend to break up the ‘pounding the books with my nose’…

Ready for summer….almost there….

This post...

is a by-product of research paper brain-fried-ness. 


Isn't funny when you focus so hard on one article of scholarly intent. You plug, prod away at it, try to annotate why, whom, when and the reasonings why you find this and that useful, and how to make it better until it all looks alike, no matter how many times over.
In the end, the words are just words, they all mean the same when you open up a dictionary, they just happen to be entered and written in different manners than others, as a by-product of YOUR mind. You secretly hope that your mind is of passing grade.


In the meantime, to break up the intellectual monotony of stressing and pressing words onto paper,  we experience weekends of relaxation. 


This weekend of one of those, simple and no real plans, except where to sleep and who I was with. Sometimes days like those that occurred, are needed in order to break away from the structure of everyday life and papers. 


To decide on a whim to stop here, eat there, and shop somewhere. It is refreshing to be so unstructured at times. 


Although a piece of paper with written words can have so many meanings, there are bigger things within the little things in life. 


It is nice to step away and enjoy them at times.