Photo Friday 5/17/13: {The Office}
Here we are, round two of Photo Friday. I have to confess, this might be my favorite post to write every week. I love going back through old Facebook pictures and photo albums and reminiscing.
Today’s Photo Friday picture is inspired by a quote from The Office, a TV show which I have adored for the past 5 years. I’ve spent countless hours watching Seasons 1-8 and falling deeper in love with Jim each episode. One of my favorite Jim & Pam episodes are the ones leading up to their wedding and their wedding day. Watching these episodes, for a moment, I forget that I’m watching a TV show. For a moment, I forget that Jim and Pam are just actors. For a moment, I believe that their love is a real, deep and true love.
And that, my friends, is what makes The Office such a great TV show 
Jim and Pam’s relationship reminds me of how my ex-boyfriend Paul and I’s relationship started back in high school. You may (or may not) know that for almost 7 years I’ve had an on again off again relationship with Paul. We met in high school, became best friends, and eventually started dating (after I dated his friends and rejected his numerous requests to go to dinner – sorry Paul!). Although we broke up, we never had a problem staying friends. In fact, besides about a month of taking time apart, we immediately fell back into our friendship. I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t easy. At times it was complicated, confusing and downright painful.
However, I wouldn’t change a thing.
I’m lucky enough to have been able to keep my best friend these past two years that we haven’t been together. I know it’s not normal, I know our friends judge us and think it’s strange – but it’s worked for us. We’ve tried being apart, we’ve tried not speaking. The result? We were both miserable. We’re happier when we’re part of each other’s lives. I’m lucky to have him in my life. Although now isn’t the right time for us to be together, who knows what the future holds?
So this Photo Friday is dedicated to the memories we shared, the lessons we’ve learned, and the paths we’ve taken to lead us here today. Here’s to the future, here’s to what might have been, here’s to what might still be…
“For a really long time, that’s all I had. Little moments with a girl who saw me as a friend. And, a lot of people told me I was crazy to wait this long for a date with a girl I work with but I think, even then I knew.. I knew that I was waiting for my wife.” -The Office
***
Past Photo Fridays: 5/10/13: {Standstill}
Finding the Words
The fact that there’s only one week until I’m home in Florida is the only thing getting me through this week. I’m not even looking forward to the weekend, I just want to fast forward until next Wednesday at 5:00 PM.
Life has been kind of shitty the past week. There’s been about half a dozen blog posts that I pour my heart into before I save it to my drafts and start a new one. It’s not something I want to talk about right now, but if I seem a little off – that’s why. I’m still searching for the right words, but when I find them I promise I’ll share.
Since I don’t seem to have too many words, I’ll thank Jenn over at Peas & Crayons for giving me something to talk about every Wednesday 
Breakfast
Whole wheat english muffin, peanut butter, and a sliced banana = my “go to” breakfast these days!
Lunch
I grabbed lunch at the office before heading home for the day. I grabbed a salad with greens, cucumbers, a hard boiled egg and half a sliced avocado with balsamic dressing.
Dinner
Mexican for dinner! I made a chicken and cheese quesadilla with homemade guac and green beans. And it wouldn’t be a mexican fiesta without a margarita (or two)
Margaritas make everything better.
Now I’m off to a few afternoon appointments. Hope you’re having a better week than I am! I’ll catch you guys tomorrow. In the meantime, tell me something that makes you smile when you’re having a bad day!
Loneliness
“When I get lonely these days, I think: So BE lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person’s body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings.” -Elizabeth Gilbert; Eat, Pray, Love.
Mother’s Day & Margaritas
Happy Monday! And so another weekend has come and gone, although this Monday is about 100 times better than last week’s Monday. Opening my eyes to sunshine and blue skies definitely starts the week off on the right foot
For the most part, this weekend was pretty low key. Laundry, groceries, and a 12 hour Harry Potter marathon – I didn’t hate it Saturday night I did manage to escape the confines of my apartment (FINALLY) to go out to dinner with my friend Erica who had just finished her 2nd year of law school (YAY ERICA!). We went to the Cactus Club in Back Bay for margaritas and Mexican!
While Erica stuck to beer, I tried the Sangria Margarita which happened to be a mixture of two of my favorite drinks wrapped up into one. It was delicious!
It was great to spend the night with Erica, especially since both of our schedules have been so busy we haven’t had a chance to really catch up! After dinner, we walked over to the bar portion of Cactus Club to have a few drinks and finish watching the Penguins dominate the Islanders. Go Pens!!!
Yesterday I went to Target to buy a simple storage bin but, of course, I fell into the Target trap. They didn’t have the size of bin I needed, but that didn’t stop me from spending over $100 there. Instead, I bought an over the door floor length mirror along with one too many bathing suits. Ooops!
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to spend Mother’s Day with my mom, but I hope all of you mothers and mothers-to-be had a wonderful day! And to my own mom, thank you for being not only my best friend, but the greatest mom I could ever ask for. I love you!
Although I wasn’t able to be with my mom, I had purchased her Mother’s Day gift about a month ago from Red Envelope. When I stumbled upon the bath caddy, I knew it was the perfect gift for her!
This caddy is perfect for someone who loves soaking in the tub = AKA my mom. You slide the ends over the edges of the tub. It will hold a candle, a book and a glass of wine – talk about perfection I should have bought one for myself! I paid the extra fee to have the caddy gift wrapped and Red Envelope did a beautiful job! My mom LOVED it!
I’m hoping this work week isn’t too long, I’m counting down until Florida! We’ve officially reached single digits until I’m heading home for Memorial Day weekend! I can’t wait to have a weekend away to spend some down time with my friends and family in the warm Florida weather. I will admit, the weather has been improving up here, but it’s 59 degrees right now – not exactly bikini weather.
FYI - Speaking of bikini weather, I’ve been looking for a waterproof camera to buy for when I go to Croatia in June. I don’t want to spend too much because I already have a point and shoot, but I want one that will take good quality photos above and below the water. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!!
Have a great week y’all!
Photo Friday 5/10/13: {Standstill}
Yesterday I was cleaning out my desk and stumbled upon hundreds of old photographs. They were sitting in an old folder in my bottom drawer, and were pictures ranging from middle school to college. These photos were (at the time) what I considered the “rejects”. Not pretty, cool, or interesting enough to be put into a frame or out on display. As I found myself going through these photos, I kept having flashbacks to these different points in my life.
One photograph transported me back to the summer before 8th grade. It was a photograph of my three best friends and I with bandanas around our head and Mathlete shirts on. How could I have forgotten that I spent an entire summer at a math camp. MATH CAMP. LIKE, HOW DID I FORGET THIS? I remember the four of us wanting to dress the same and decided on matching shirts and bandanas rolled up like gangsters (because we weren’t cool enough already?).
Another photo I stumbled across brought me back to my very first spring break in college. We had gotten a timeshare at the same hotel as my (then) boyfriend and his friends and were ready for a week of tanning, drinking, and fun. I’m guessing this photo was taken before someone tossed something off our balcony and we got kicked out of our room. The very first night. With no refund. Oh, and then had to fit 15 people into one hotel room (thanks, Paul + company!).
It’s crazy to think how quickly life passes us by. You remember the big moments, the important moments. But what about all those meaningful moments that get stored in the bottom drawer of your brain? I don’t want to have any “reject” memories, I want to remember it all.
A photograph is the one thing that can make time standstill. It can capture a memory and freeze a moment forever. After 24 years, I have thousands of photographs. Of my childhood, my graduation, my nights out with friends. Photo Friday is here to share those photos that might not be the prettiest, may not be the best, but have a story behind them. A story that was captured in a freeze frame, a memory that will be memorialized forever, a moment I don’t ever want to forget.
“She was the purest beauty, but not the common kind
She has a way about her that made you feel alive.
And for a moment, we made the world standstill.”
Tales of a Travel Addict: Prague
Is it weird that I love rainy days? Not those days where it’s drizzling outside with a chance of a rainbow. I love the days where the sky is so dark it looks black and any moment a lightning bolt and a rumble of thunder could just come rolling towards you.
Last night I fell asleep to the sound of thunder in the distance. It reminded me of the Florida summers where there wouldn’t be a cloud in the sky one minute, and ten minutes later there’s a torrential downpour. Lightning would strike every 30 seconds, each bolt coming closer and closer to the point where you were sure it was going to strike your house next.
It’s funny how you don’t realize how much you miss something until it pops back in your life. Since living in Boston, I think I’ve experienced maybe one or two thunderstorms. When I opened weather.com this morning, I was ecstatic to see “Thunderstorms possible at 1:30 PM”.
YES, PLEASE!
Working from home today, I’m ready to curl up on the couch with a good book and listen to God bowling upstairs (which is what my mom always said when I was afraid of thunder). Every time lightning strikes, God got a strike!
The other day I was walking around town when I came across a section of cobblestone. I was immediately taken back to my trip to Prague when I traveled throughout Europe.
After leaving Berlin happy, but hungover, I spent a majority of the day sleeping on the bus to Prague. Everyone in the group had quite the crazy night before, so instead of walking around the city, we decided to lay low and go to a bowling alley near our hotel.
It was a great way to spend a low key night. We went back to the hotel around midnight and spent the night there gossiping, laughing, and getting to know our new Australian friends Vinny and Ang.
The next morning, we were ready to explore Prague! We left Vinny sleeping on the floor of our room (because walking down the hallway to his room would have been too much effort) and went out to explore Prague!
Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe this city. The clear blue skies, the picturesque castle scenery, I felt as if I was in a fairy tale. We spent the first half of the day exploring the alleys of Prague, getting lost walking through the winding back roads. We even stumbled upon the John Lennon wall. I wish I had brought paint to leave my own mark on this historic place.
Halfway through the day Steph, Kim, and I met back up with our group for a boat cruise through the river in Prague. A late lunch, a glass of wine, and gorgeous scenery? I was in paradise.
After the cruise we made our way back to hotel to shower. We decided it would be fun to go out to dinner as a group, and then hit up a world famous five story club afterwards. That’s where the cobblestone comes in. According to the directions we received, the restaurant was right down the road – so we decided to rock our heels.
Heels on cobblestone walking down the road suck. Heels on cobblestone walking 45 minutes and almost 2 miles is torture.
At least we looked good?
Finally we found a restaurant that had good food and even better drinks. It was a win, win. After dinner it was to the cobblestone streets again, and I may or may not have walked barefoot (oops). YOLO? But the sites of Prague lit up at night were well worth it.
And I guess the club was pretty fun too
Although my days in Prague weren’t scheduled with walking tours and planned dinners, I enjoyed the freedom to explore the city on my own (and make my own mistakes – heels? never again).
Prague, you will always hold a piece of my heart.
***
In case you missed the other stops on my journey through Europe: London, Amsterdam, Berlin
Nachos, Beer, and Penguins Hockey
Happy hump day! The weeks seem to go by so much slower now that I’m recovered and back to work. I guess that’s what happens when you can’t sleep in and watch Netflix all day everyday (#firstworldproblems)
Yesterday it finally got warm enough for me to do something I’ve been waiting to do since early April – I put my AC unit in my window!! It’s finally warm enough outside that I need my AC unit on during the night because I get too warm in my apartment. It’s about time.
Speaking of warm, last night I booked my flight home to Florida for Memorial Day Weekend. FOR FREE! Let me digress. About two months ago I received an online offer for a Southwest Credit Card and if you spent $2,000 within the first 3 month you’d receive 50,000 Southwest points. Yes, fifty thousand. So, as soon as I got my credit card, I booked my flight to Croatia (which was a huge chunk of change) along with some other little things on the credit card to reach that $2K mark. And it worked! Yesterday when I was looking at flights I saw my points had finally come through!
And guess what? My flight to Orlando? 14,000 points. Yup, that means I still have enough points for at least one (maybe two!) free flights. Southwest, I love you. Ready or not, Florida here I come!
Now onto the food for this week. Thanks again to Jenn for hosting this weekly get together!
Breakfast
Whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter and a banana. It’s been awhile since I’ve had this and it was just as good as I remember it!
Lunch
Lunch looks boring, but it was so good! I had a turkey, cheese, and mayo sub with a fat free (unpictured) Jello and an apple. Simple, filling, delicious.
Dinner
SO, about that meal planning…
IT’S NOT MY FAULT! The Penguins were playing, and my roommate had a rough day at work – sooo the obvious choice was to go to Miller’s Alehouse. We started with the Fiesta Nachos topped with beer (<— and by beer I mean beef, but it was too funny to change), cheese, onions, and guac. I decided to order the Cajun Chicken Pasta for dinner, but saved half for lunch today.
It was a great night, except for the fact the Penguins lost 
The series is now tied 2-2 for the Penguins v. Islanders. I want to see the Bruins/Penguins match up in the second round so PULL IT TOGETHER BOYS!
Off to the office now! We have an office meeting at 9:30 and then I plan on heading back here to clean my MESS of a room. It’s getting ridiculous. Thank goodness my mom lives thousands of miles away otherwise she would have a heart attack. And yell at me using my full name (<– that’s when you know you’re in trouble.)
Hope you guys have a great day! See you tomorrow
I'm a twenty something with restless feet and a wanderlust filled heart. I currently live in Boston, but that doesn't stop me from traveling the world. I'm a lover of spontaneity, smiling, adventure, and beer. Follow along on my journey on living a life full of laughter. 
