another list

i thought i would take part in another post from the blog every day in may challenge.

a list of some of my favorite blog posts from my archives.

you would think a list would be easy. but honestly, this took me forever.

and these are only just some of my favorite posts.

i hope you enjoy them as much as i do!

sunsets on the beach

volcanoes are for the morning

the best macaroni salad

in the olden days

reminiscing

the barking crab

these are the last of my pictures from my trip to the USA two weeks ago. the day after the wedding, all of my visiting family got together for a big dinner at the barking crab on the boston harbor. my parents really love this restaurant and wanted to share it with everyone while we were all together. i personally love it for all the fried seafood they have to offer. yum.

and then they took out the biggest lobster i had ever seen in my life. the waitress was walking around the whole restaurant with it so i asked her if it was their mascott or something like that. you know, some super old lobster that is the pride and joy of the restaurant. and she said, "no. we sell these every day."

oh. $250 worth of lobster, people.

other posts from my trip can be found here, here, and here!

little green cars

once again, my dad has hit it right on the nose of supplying me with some great music.

these guys, little green cars, have been on repeat this whole week while i have

been getting through grading all 112 of my exams.

hope you enjoy as mush as i am!

if your interested in any of the other music i listen to or my dad has recommended, just click on the music tag at the bottom of this post!

a day in the life of a boston tourist

my brother has been living in boston for 10 years (???) and i went to school about 40 minutes north of the city. i have spent a fair amount of time in the city between school things and visiting my brother so it would be pretty easy to say that i know boston like the back of my hand. but i dont.

so when my extended family was in town and some of us had the day to wander the city, i called up my friend katie and we pretended to act like tour guides. we hit up some of the most touristy parts of the city and may have gotten a little lost wandering by north station.  but i'm going to say that everyone enjoyed themselves anyway.

here's what we did:

we started at the citgo sign because that is where out hotel was.

then we hit up faneuil hall and the quincy market area. everyone loves a good market.

next we ventured down to the harbor and spent some time thinking about where to head next.

then we wandered to the north end before making a huge circle back to the aquarium/harbor area where we hit up the seals exhibit. i don't have an actual picture from the noth end but you can see my mike's pastry box in the above picture which proves that we went there.

hope you enjoyed the tour!

;)

happiness in ten things

i thought i would try to take part in at least some of these blog every day in may posts since i kind of started the month off blogging no days.

 today's topic is: 10 things that make you really happy.

any time when my parents and brother and i are all together

lazy sundays with the boy

best friends who get me

belly laughs

marathons of the o.c. reruns

andrew mcmahon's music

praise from my students

cuddle time with my sweet sweet puppy

summer campfires

a good book in a good hammock

what makes you happy?

bridesmaid duties

i was pretty pleased when my brother and his fiance laura had asked me to be a bridesmaid in their wedding. it was my first time being in a wedding, unless you count the time i was five and a flower girl (i think) when my grandfather remarried and  i sat down in the aisle during the ceremony.... because i don't count that time.

i wasn't sure what being a bridesmaid really entailed but the maid of honor had been in numerous weddings so she kind of helped us all out a little bit. although, my new sister-in law was probably the most down to earth bride out there so us bridesmaids didn't have too much responsibility. 

the day before the wedding a few of us got together and arranged the flowers for the centerpieces. laura had been collecting small glass vases during the whole engagement to use for the centerpieces. she ordered some beautiful wildflowers and we spent the morning before the wedding cutting and arranging all of them. don't they look beautiful?? laura had so many great ideas for the wedding and it all turned out perfectly.

side note: laura made many of the decorations herself for the wedding. she is super creative and had so many cute ideas!! i don't have pictures of them all because i was too busy enjoying the wedding ;) but once i snoop around for other peoples' pictures i will most certainly show off her work.

springtime at home

i was lucky enough to be in NJ during the perfect springtime weekend. i heard the weather wasn't that nice before i got there so i like to think mother nature brought the spring time just for me. 

i wanted to take advantage of all the flowers in bloom so i ran around my house taking a million pictures of my parents' garden area. they do a pretty good job, don't you think?

speaking of parents, happy mother's day to my wonderful mom! as always it was such a lovely treat to be home with you for a few days and i cannot wait until my next trip :) miss you!