Tuesday, July 26, 2011

barefoot and crazy

Miss me?

I made it back on Sunday from a relaxing and fun vacation but somehow found myself too busy yesterday with unpacking, cooking, and exercise so blogging got pushed aside.
To recap:
I hit the road last Friday night and headed to my grandparent's summer house in Long Island.

Remember when I debated as to which fork of LI was better? Well, after a few days on the North Fork I was easily swayed back from my Southern (Fork) pride.

I spent my time in LI with my Aunt Jen, Uncle Mark, and their four kids.  They're always a blast and hilarious so it was nice to ba able to tag along on their vacation. I also got a nice 24 hour visit with Caroline, who was home in LI to visit her family. <3 college roomies.

Enjoyed the swimming, walking, reading, and baking in the sun by the bay. I finished up Anthropology of an American Girl, which I started back in North Carolina and got started on Born to Run. I LOVE this book. Still have a bit left but it is the most motivating and inspiring book I have read in a long time. I'm not usually one to "drink the juice," so to speak, when it comes to a lot of books (those statistics courses at least taught me something!) but this book is fascinating. More on that to come!
Speaking of running, I was able to do a fair amount of it while away. I also got in a bike and brick workout. It was so nice to get some quality training for the tri without any distractions. I made it 15 miles on my bike one day and used a local lighthouse as my destination. Many stairs below was a beautiful, empty beach on the LI sound. My legs BURNED while biking, which made me realize that I cannot blow of the bike training like I thought maybe I could. Not into biking AT ALL so training could be a drag.


I wish I had more pictures, but I tend to check out on vacation and that means the camera often gets forgotten too!
After LI, I drove on to the ferry and headed north to Massachusetts to see my brother Tim and my Aunt Gretel. Tim's living with Gretel for the summer while he interns, so this was the perfect time to visit. Thursday left just enough time to get dinner at a great gastropub- The Biltmore http://www.thebiltmoregrill.com/ - Tim and I split a burger (topped with fried oysters and remoulade) and steak tips. Holy red meat, these were good choices for a splurge!
Friday was the hottest day in Boston since the 1920s, which screamed beach rather than Boston exploration to me. Luckily Annaliese was home to see her family on the south shore (more college friends- yay!), so I headed out for a visit. We spent all morning and afternoon chatting and hanging out, mostly in the frigid water because the heat was so aggressive. The beach was isolated and wide- very cool- but alas, no camera with me. Upon leaving the beach I headed back toward Boston to see a Red Sox game with my friend Rich, who was nice enough to offer me one of his family's season tickets. Tim, Rich, and I got dinner at a burger place near Fenway- I balanced out the red meat from the previous night with a spicy, tasty veggie burger. Despite the sweltering heat, the game was really fun and it was great to catch up with Rich. We even found our friend Matt elsewhere in the stands toward the end of the game- quite the Hoya filled week.

Saturday was an early boat to Nantucket, where Tim and I swam, battled thunderstorms, ran (in Five Fingers for me!), ate well, and had a generally good time. We stayed with Gretel at her friend's home for the night- so nice that he let us tag along! If you've never been, Nantucket is a must-go kind of place for its beauty, fun, and uniqueness. I wish I'd had longer, but I had to drive Sunday so it was off to shore on the 9 am ferry for the journey home (with a dinner stop at the grandparents along the way).

I know this was long- if you've hung in for the whole entry I'm glad you did. Long, nostalgic memories like this function as journal entries in a way- since I don't have a journal I figure writing about it on my blog will be a nice way to go back and look at what I've done over the years.
Now that I'm back to real life, more blog entries are sure to come along with cooking and such. But for now, it's back to work!

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