Engagement Party

{The bridesmaids (I was taking Mari's spot who was fashionably late)}

This past Saturday was my good friend Meaghan's engagement party. Meaghan and Joe are legit the perfect couple and I could not be any more happier for the two of them. If their engagement party is any indication for whats in store, I can't wait for fall of 2013 to roll around, let me just say. The night started out with homemade sangria, then transitioned to mojitos, and finally ended with glasses of wine interchanged with shots of tequila. Lets just say Mike had to come and get me and listen to my very embarrassing ramblings (...that I'll save you all from hearing about. Trust me though, embarrassing. He mocked me the next day.) This was actually the first time Mikes seen me drunk...so...if he hasn't left me after that, I think we just might make it kids. 

But any who, the party was so much fun. I want to say I was the only girl there that wasn't a bridesmaid (shes got 9!), but everyone was so friendly and it was wonderful talking to all the girls and meeting all the other people that love Meaghan as much as I do. Oh! and her mom smoked all of this meat (ignore how weird that sentence sounds and focus on how fantastic it was!). Plus homemade mac and cheese. Plus guacamole, corn salsa, pico di guyo and other amazing sides. Hello! Can her mom please cater the wedding? Kthanksbye. 

{Me and the lovely bride to be}

{Joe made a touching speech. Meaghan clearly wasn't expecting it.}

{Chelsea, MOH, got in the way of my tent picture. No big though, on account of shes awesome.}

{The boys are rugged and slept in a tent that night}

{I'm incapable of doing a pull up in Meaghans brothers room}

{Who doesn't love a good bonfire?}

{Such pretty decorations. I'm a sucker for twinkle lights}

Happy Birthday Baby Sister

{The restaurant was super nice and surprised her with a birthday song and candle}

So my baby sisters birthday was a couple weekends ago and lets just say it was probably the best one of her life one of the better ones (how can she be 20 already!?!). I had decided a few months before that I wanted to do a surprise trip for her b-day since its been a rough year for her; her boyfriend is currently in Afghanistan and won't be back until the fall (*fingers crossed*), and while she has been working her ass off all summer, she doesn't really have the spare cash to afford a beach vacation. Obviously being the awesome sister I am, I thought it was my duty to give her a memorable birthday. And how did we accomplish this you ask? By asking her to take her birthday weekend off work and then telling her nothing else. And when she asks 3.45 million questions about where you're going, you just start lying. Of course we're getting on a plane! Why would we not be going to Mexico? Yes, you need to pack according to TSS regulations. No, we aren't going to spend the weekend at Mikes parents house, what kind of sister do you think I am?! 

I knew I wouldn't be able to make everything a surprise (she knows me and my resources too well). I was 98.7% sure she figured we were going to Angela's for the weekend, since she lives at the beach and Tanya loves her. But what she didn't know is that I was in cahoots with her best friend, Hope, and had her come with us as a surprise. And since I had work Friday and couldn't be there when her friend arrived, I made little cards to guide the weekend of surprises. Tanya was stoked that her friend came and I gave myself a little pat on the back for not messing it up. Once they met me at work, we hit the road to the Jersey shore, where we spent he weekend soaking up rays (and sea salt!), eating amazeballs food, reading, sipping on champagne, eating tons of froyo, playing arcade games, and laughing. I hope she had fun, because I certainly did. 

{Birthday princess is all ready for her birthday weekend}

{Amazing food at a community restaurant}

{Salad starter on the prefixed menu}

{Individual champagne bottles}

{Fresh tacos at Surf Taco}

{Best froyo!}

{We decorated the apt while birthday girl showered as a surprise}

{She had to wear her tiara all day...even while her hair was drying}

{Night at the arcade}

{Fried appiizers, coffee, and cheesy board games. Chutes and Ladders anyone?}

{Group shot at dinner}

{Man she cleans up well!}

{Hat party at UO}

{I love to get piggy back rides from her}

{Our happy place. Reading and the ocean.}

{Best friends!}

{Best friends}

{Enjoying our big morning breakfast. Tiara and all}

{They're kinds my favorite}

Wanderlust

I have a serious case of travelittis (you know, like seniorittis, but with travel, uh dur!). It seems all I want to do in life is travel the globe on the imaginary funds I will never be able to cultivate in my lifetime. Apparently I was meant to be born rich but there was some mix up and now I live the broke post-grad lifestyle. But even though I'm broke, I'd much rather trade the "luxuries" (hello store bought hair dye and goodbye online shopping) for a plane ticket or a full tank of gas. I've always loved to travel, but ever since I studied abroad and discovered my deep seeded love of new places and new adventures, I can't shake the feeling that I'm wasting away my life each day I sit in the office and go about my mundane routine. Its like I start to go through withdraw when I don't have a trip in the works. My palms get sweaty, I get the shakes, my head starts to pound...okay, okay, so it's not that bad. But still. I need to do it all! 

My current problems however, lie with the fact that most of my travel partners are either a.) still in school, b.) also poor post-grads, or c.) using all their vacation days on other fabulous trips (*cough* Kim *cough, cough*), I only get 4 vacation days a year (what am I supposed to do with 4 days?!), and I am currently giving half of my monthly income to the government for that stupid degree that collects dust on my shelf. So, for now I guess I'm settling for small road trips to Scranton, Jersey shore and local cities while dreaming big with visions of seeing Amsterdam, France, Greece, South Africa and most of the continental U.S. 

And in light of this post, I just want to do myself a favor and make a running list of the places I've been, both nationally and internationally (including major cities). 

U.S. (20/50)

California*

New Hampshire

Massachusetts (Boston)

Vermont

Connecticut

New York (New York City)

Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh)*

Maryland (Baltimore)*

Virginia

Tennessee

Kansas (Kansas City)

Missouri (Kansas City)

Louisiana (New Orleans)

Florida

North Carolina

Delaware

New Jersey

Kentucky

West Virginia

Rhode Island

Washington D.C.

International

Ireland (Dublin)

Wales (Cardiff)*

England (London)

Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow) 

Spain (Barcelona)

* Places I've Lived

Hopefully sometime soon I can expand this list, *le sigh*

Until then, I'm going to continue to live vicariously through these awesome women and their international life:

Glocal Girl 

Fairytales Are True

explore.dream.discover 

The Littlest Things 

peace love wander

Across the Pond 

Breaking One Hundred

Lily Wanderlust 

Book Review: Summer Reading List

I've done quite a bit of reading this summer and since I'm a slacker, its about time I start reviewing these crap-tastic beach reads I decide to melt my brain away with this summer. Enjoy! 

Fifty Shades of Gray: Is a description even necessary. We all know (and love) the raunchy tales of Anastasia and Christian Grey. Is the writing good? Hell no. But the raunchy details are what keep you fantasizing reading. The story was stupid, the characters were poorly developed and very one dimensional, the plot was predictable and the writing was very basic. But my copy of the book has been passed around the office and my house and everyone can't get enough. What? Sometimes you just need a dirty read.

Fifty Shades Darker: And the sex continues. The story line gets even stupider and less realistic. The plot development is even less fascinating. But gotta keep going for those juicy parts...

Fifty Shades Freed: Come on, murder? Lets get real here people. The sexiness severely decreased, and so did my interest. Don't get me wrong, I still read with the same ferocity that I started the book series with, but my interest severely tapered off as the story line got even more ridiculous. And the way it ended? Get real. No way, no how would the real world work like that. 

Chasing Harry Winston: A dumb beach read to say the least. I like the authors writing style, but I can't say the plot really drew me in. It revolves around three girls and a pact they make when one is at a crossroad in their life. One vows to sleep with more men. The other, a beautiful, rich, serial dater, to stay in a monogamous relationship (and end a year later with a ring on her finger). And the third, the one with the perfect life, makes her own vow to end her "perfect" relationship. Since it was an easy, mindless read, I finished it quickly, but I can't say I would recommend it to a friend. There is no real character development and the plot is simple and cliche. 

Girls in White Dresses: This book is dumb. I can't say I really enjoyed it. The book is described as revolving around a group of girls and their lives full of weddings, bridal showers and marriage; events that they resent. In actuality, its the narrative of a bunch of girls and their love lives with some smatterings of weddings, etc. It details the girls in their twenties and the types of relationships they find themselves in and the men they end up with. Since its a compilation of a bunch of girls stories, their lives weaving together, there isn't much development. You don't get to really know each of the characters and in the beginning its hard to keep track of how they all know each other and who's who. And since the story itself was weak, there wasn't much keeping me reading, except for the fact that I always need to finish a book I start and its due back to the library this week. Oh, and the fact that it takes half a brain to read so I finished it in a couple days. 

I'll Walk Alone: I've always been a fan of Mary Higgins Clark, but this isn't one of my favorite books. Its about a mom, Zan, who's son was kidnapped two years previously. Now, she thinks someone is trying to impersonate her, but no one believes her and she is being blamed for her sons kidnapping. Out to find the truth, its an amateur sleuth novel with little to no complexity. I can't say I guessed who did it from the beginning, but the reasons why they did it were just plain stupid. And why did all of this take two years to play out? Two years her son is missing and then bam! four days after the anniversary of his disappearance, the story concludes. Really? 

How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls: This is another quick and easy beach read. It about a girl who tutors two very rich and very bitchy teenagers in Florida in exchange for her student loan payment in full. While trying to teach these girls, she is met with resiliance and as a way to justify her very mediocre life decision, she starts collecting research to write a very juicy expose on the girls. Well, OBVIOUSLY she comes to befriend the girls and can't publish the piece. Who would have guessed that right? Again, another mindless read for lunch breaks and days at the beach. 

Bed of Roses: I got this book when I finished Easy Money in the New Orleans airport and needed something to read on the flight home. The book selection in the airport sucked ass, and since I wasn't paying $20 for a hardback book I had moderate interest in reading, I was stuck with this one. While I didn't hate it, I can't say I'd go around broadcasting that everyone should buy it immediately. Its part of a "bride quartlet", and each girl has their own book. This particular one revolves around Emma, who is the florist in the group, and her search for romance and "Mr. Right". Apparently she's beautiful, a great dater and she's fallen for her best friend, a serial dater and one with a fear of commitment. Obviously she wins him over and they fall madly in love, blah, blah, blah. You know the story. Its the usual, never going to happen like this. No ones this successful in such a perfect way. Yes it held my attention, but since it only took me two days to finish, you and I both know there was no character development and it was yet another stupid beach read. And the worst part? I'll probably read the other three books. Just so I get the full story. Because I'm dumb like that. 

Easy Money: My mom gave me this book to read when I handed her the 50 Shades series and she realized she'd checked out library books she wouldn't get to for awhile. Critics compare Jens Lapidus's writting to Stieg Larssons and I can easily see why. This book is a compilation of three main characters narration. One is high up in the cocaine business in Sweden, the second is a young boy trying to fit in with the high rollers in Sweden without the funds to back him and the third is a lowly drug dealer or busted out of prison and is looking to get back in the business. It starts out slow, with ample character development and motivation, similar to Larsoon's writing, but then each of the characters narration slowly starts to intersect and finally ending with a big drug deal involving all of the characters. When I started reading this novel, I didn't think I enjoyed it, but as I pushed through, it held my interest and I ended up finishing most of it to/from New Orleans on the plane and in the airports. I'd say this is probably one of the better books I've read this summer and I'd recommend it. 

I never said summer was full of literary classics now did I? What can I say, I like to zone out and read filth during the warmer months. Its how I get my fix when the t.v. lineup in on summer sucktastic reruns. Hopefully the books I pick up for the second half of the summer with have a little more depth. 

What are your summer reads? Any recommendations?