Quarter Century

So, pretty much I suck at blogging. It has been over a month since my last post. I am such a bum. The funny thing is that it's not because I don't have things to write about. It's actually more because I have too many things to write about...so many that I'm spending all my time out doing the things and no time writing about them. It's a happy sort of problem.

ANYWAY, now that my unforgivably long absence from blogger has been addressed, on to the wonderful and lovely things that I have to share! First of all, since my last post I have turned 25 years old. I never really thought of this as being a big deal until people started saying things like, "Wow! A milestone birthday! You're a quarter of a century old now!" It's not that I feel old. I just feel like I'm in limbo. Being in your mid-twenties is such a weird thing. You feel too old for some things and too young for others and it's all very confusing. Well, it is for me at least. I suppose I can't speak for 25-year-olds the world over. I still feel very much like the same old Audrey, but at the same time so much has changed. My friends are all getting married off and having babies. My health isn't what it used to be (this is one of the things I feel too young for). My "little" cousins are graduating high school...and college. When did life suddenly become so...real? I'm doing a terrible job of describing what I mean...but I still hope you get it.

But aside for the mind-bending soul-searching I've been doing, I did some really fun stuff to celebrate my birthday. I went to Watch Hill with my Dad, Lisa, Hillary and Shane the weekend before my birthday, Shane brought me out for a truly awesome dinner at Barcelona on my birthday, and I went to Block Island with my mom, aunts, Hillary, and Shane the weekend after my birthday. So much fun.

Here is a picture of Shane and I at Watch Hill (Shane at the beach?!??! WHAT?!?!?)...


Then a couple weeks later Shane and I went on a wondrous journey into the woods of Burlington, CT.


This was, far and away, the most challenging hike I have ever been on. There was lots of climbing up steep rocks and some trudging through undergrowth. And while I would love to say we navigated our way through the forest without the assistance of a trail, it would be a flat out lie. Though there were a few times where we couldn't seem to find the next tree with a blue paint square on it and we had to do some back tracking. Adventure! We even saw some frogs and...a SNAKE! GASP! Fortunately we both managed to not get eaten by bears and eventually made it back to the car safely. Here is a picture of Shane resting after we climbed up a bunch of rocks.


Here is a picture of me at the top of one of the rock...things we had to climb.


Here is Shane climbing up one of the many places where I stopped and said "Really? The trail can't possibly be leading straight up those rocks..."


Bravely standing at the edge of a "cliff"...




Another one of the places where I said something along the lines of "You're kidding...right?"


Here's a picture of the sign that was at the juncture of two paths.


Here's me in front of the "Tory Den"...the goal destination of our voyage. Some guy nicknamed "the leather man" lived in this little cave and lived off the land years and years ago. I'm sure there's much more to the story but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. He sounded kind of like a serial killer in hiding to me. Could make for a pretty scary horror movie, don't you think? Beware the leather man...


(I find it odd that I seem to have mysteriously lost my dramatic flare for posing for photographs in the pictures Shane took of me. It is very unlike me to just stand for a photo with my arms at my sides. It won't happen again.)

THEN last night we went to a Yankees game in the big city! Shane bought me my very first Yankees baseball cap and I was very happy (see picture below).


It was the first time I'd been to the new stadium so I was very excited. And the experience definitely lived up to my expectations. I can say, without exaggerating, that I had more fun than I've ever had at a sporting event. The game couldn't have been better. After a rough start the Yankees won the game and I got to witness baseball history! Derek Jeter made his 2,721 hit last night which ties Lou Gehrig's record!


The excitement that spread through the stadium was absolutely palpable. I hate crowds but for that moment I actually felt a real, human connection with the thousands of other people that were there. It was amazing. Here's a picture of Derek acknowledging the crowd, which was standing and cheering as loud as humanly possible for him.


The top three hit leaders...


Derek's mommy and daddy...


A self-explanatory picture...


But the funny thing is...I almost missed it completely. Right at the beginning of this inning I very stupidly got up to use the bathroom. Even more stupidly I then took my sweet time getting back to our seats. Only when I heard the crowd begin to get rowdy did I realize what I was potentially missing. I sprinted up the stairs to our seating section to see Derek at the plate. I looked up towards Shane trying to figure out what to do and saw him looking down at me with this "EEEE!!! GET UP HERE!!!" kind of look on his face. I wanted to be with him so badly when Derek made the hit. Call it silly, but I've actually been getting into watching the games lately and so this meant a lot. I looked down at the field. I looked at Shane. No sooner did I turn to make the ascent to our seats did I heard the crack of the bat, the crowd roar, and then turned around to see the ball bouncing it's way out to right field. Something like this could only happen to me. I laugh about it now but at the time I though my heart was absolutely going to break. I wouldn't say I really "missed" it...but I sort of only half saw it. Either way it was completely amazing and I had a wonderful time. What a great GREAT game. I feel so lucky to have been there. (Thank you, Shane. <3)

Here's a picture of me hoping Derek's next (and final) at bat will yield the record-breaking hit...


Here's Derek at bat...


Derek getting walked by the Tampa Bay pitcher is not pictured. Damn. I'll say it again though, what an awesome game overall. A year ago I never would've guessed I'd care so much about a baseball game. Who'd have thunk?

And after a solid hour of writing and uploading pictures, I'm going to go to bed. I now remember why I don't write these often...it freaking takes me FOREVER! I need to allow myself to write entries that aren't so...epic.

Whatever You Do...Don't Go to the Bathroom

After a characteristically long gap, I am now back on the blog! Did ya miss me?

And boy do I have a story for you. Shane and I had a lovely date night scheduled last night - we planned to go out to dinner at the new-ish Japanese noodle place on Pratt Street called Tanuki and see the show THWAK! at Hartford Stage.


Everything was going along very smoothly and we were having a lovely time. The noodle place was fun and the food was good. We also had one of my FAVORITE desserts there. It's called mochi ice cream and at Tanuki they serve it creme brule style with caramelized sugar on top. It's hard to explain and, in all honesty, I like regular mochi ice cream better...but it was still very good!

So then we headed over to the theater for the show. We didn't know where our seats were (don't ask) so when an usher guided us to the cabaret style seating right in front of the stage...and then to the table that was smack dab in the middle of the first row...well, needless to say, we were very surprised. A little while after we got there a very nice couple joined us at our table and we made small talk and sipped drinks while we waited for the 90 minute, intermissionless show to start.

I think you may see where this is going...

A little over 3/4 of the way through the show I noticed Shane had stopped laughing...which was odd because the show was very funny (you should really watch the clips on the Hartford Stage's website...the show is there until August 2!!! ::shameless plug on behalf of my Greater Hartford arts comrades::). I turned to look at him to see if something was wrong and he had a very concerned look on his face. I asked him if something was wrong and he whispered to me the three most dreaded words one could possibly udder while being seated in the front row, dead center, at an intermissionless show..."I have to pee."

Now one might think, "What's the big deal? Just get up and go to the bathroom." Under normal circumstances, even though it's somewhat gauche, this is acceptable. But we knew better. Earlier in the show a woman who was also seated near the front of the cabaret area got up to use the restroom. IMMEDIATELY one of the actors began screaming, "GET OUT!!!! GET OUUUTTT!!!!" and the two launched into merciless taunting (much in the same way stand-up comedians do if you get up in the middle of a show...this show had a similar feel to something like that). It was very funny....but it also made you think "thank GOD that wasn't me!"

So now fast forward to Shane's predicament. He has to use the men's room and we're not sure how much longer the show is. Like a trooper, he tried to stick it out for as long as he possibly could. But just when I saw beads of sweat forming on his brow and a look on his face that made me think he was going to be sick he said "That's it...I'm not gonna make it," got up and walked out. He received some mild taunting but when he didn't respond one of the actors just said, "he doesn't give a shit, does he?" So true...so true. ;)

About 5 minutes later the show was over. Damn. But no matter...we both agreed we had a wonderful time in spite of the jeering.

So the moral of the story? If you're going to see a 90 minute, intermissionless comedy-type show...go potty before it starts or you may just get some unwanted attention.

The Little Things

I promise this story has a point...bear with me.

As many people know, Shane and I have been doing our best NOT to buy lunch at work every day. And we've been doing a pretty good job! For at least a few weeks we've been making each other peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day and saving our pennies as best we can. But as time went on those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches got so old I could barely stomach them anymore. Using chunky peanut butter helped change things up a bit for a little while...but soon I wanted to gag when I even THOUGHT about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

So we decided to make a change once again and bought some cold cuts and cheese last night. I made a couple sandwiches and brought them into work for us.

My God. I swear to you it tasted like the best sandwich I've ever eaten in my entire life. It had been so long since I had cold cuts straight from the deli...not from Subway or Quiznos or Blimpie. And we got rolls instead of regular bread...mmmmm. When I was done with it I wished it wasn't over.

It just goes to show what a deep appreciation one develops for the little things in life when one is deprived of those things. Ever since I've really buckled down...like really REALLY...and started desperately trying to save money so that I don't go completely broke my appreciation for so many things has deepened. Anything new...new clothes, shoes, or whatever. I rarely go shopping now so when I do, it's like a special treat. Money itself...when I'm able to get a deal on something and not spend so much money it's like a huge victory. And of course...lunch meat.

*Picture borrowed from the Internets. Thank you, Internets.*

Glorious. I am oh so grateful for those little things in life. They bring me such joy.

I Will Try to Fix You

When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I...

Tears stream down on your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I...

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

~ Coldplay, "Fix You"~

Today I went to my mom's house to pick up some things I'd left there and gradually try to chip away at the clutter that accumulated in my bedroom there over the better portion of my life. When I was there I came across some letters from an old friend that I'd received in my early teen years and I became completely overwhelmed with a feeling of time passed...in that moment I remembered so clearly the person that I was then and how dramatically different I am now. It blows my mind.

It made me think of all the beautiful and painful things that have formed who I am today...all the things I thought I'd never let go of or never get over that, in time, I was indeed able to leave in my past and move on to a surely better and brighter future.

And as I was listening to the song mentioned above while I drove home I felt sort of a bursting in my heart that I can't quite explain. I felt a new resolution to continue to grow from the mistakes of my more recent past and allow those mistakes to, in fact, be in the past and not so much a part of the present. Each passing moment presents the opportunity to embrace life in a new and different way...shaking free the weight on my shoulders that I choose to carry around, if only for the moment, and then choosing to take a route of optimism and growth. Yea, sure...adolescence is a time of dramatic change and development...but for me at least, I don't think it ever stopped. Self discovery continues on.

That was my 4th of July weekend epiphany. A little sunshine can do WONDERS for the optimist in me. :)

DC, Day Five: Audrey and Shane Go to White Castle

One would normally think a travel day, such as today, would not be a very eventful one. Packing up, checking out, six hours of driving with a rest stop or two mixed in...not very exciting. But I don't think Shane and I have ever been about doing things the easy way...whether we mean for it to be that way or not. So we, of course, planned things for the day of our trip home. I don't think either of us thought that would be a big deal...and it probably wouldn't have been...but we both ran into some major minor disappointments (and I do mean major minor...that is not a typo).

First off we went for a delicious breakfast cupcake at the highly anticipated Georgetown Cupcake.


We were able to score a street parking spot within a block of the little cupcake bakery and blissfully trotted on in.

Look at all the pretty cupcakes...



Ooooo....aaaaahhhhh... We then ordered two cupcakes each. I wanted a red velvet and a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting (two of my favorite cupcake flavors) and Shane wanted a red velvet and a lemon berry cupcake. I was so extremely excited...I had been looking forward to this for the entirty of the trip. It's absurd my enthusiasm about cupcakes. But while the lovely folks behind the counter were packing our cupcakes into this cute little box I noticed something...


They had given us a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting instead of chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting...view the cupcake in question at the bottom left of the picture below.


Now normally I would be a rational human being about this and just accept the mistake and go along my merry way. But I was so exhausted this morning and I had hyped this all up so much in my mind that this was just unacceptable. I didn't know what to do with myself...I didn't feel like I could tell them they'd made a mistake because it was pretty busy in the store but I really really wanted the cupcake I'd had in mind. It was a big difference! This was my major minor disappointment of the day.

BUT Shane, being the true gentleman that he is, went back in and purchased an additional cupcake...this time with chocolate cake and vanilla frosting. My hero. ;)


After Shane returned triumphant with the additional cupcake we sat in the car and enjoyed the spoils of our victory...



No, we didn't eat two cupcakes in one sitting...we each only had one for the time being.

We then hit the road again...heading north towards home...and White Castle.

It had been the plan all along to go to Sonic on the ride down to DC and White Castle on the way back up to CT...so that was no big deal. But sometime about halfway through NJ we hit the nasty, rainy weather we had just begun to forget about. Ew.

No matter though...we made our way through the torrential rain to a White Castle somewhere in one of the lovelier parts of NJ (imagine me saying that dripping with sarcasm) and ordered up some grub. Between the two of us...10 sliders, 2 orders of onion rings, and 2 soft drinks.

Brace yourselves...it is now, unfortunately, time for Shane's major minor disappointment of the day.

It's probably no surprise that Shane was looking forward to this side trip a bit more than I was...and the little burgers had been hyped up so much (just as my cupcakes had been hyped up for me). But when we went to dig in Shane discovered each and every one of our 10 sliders had ketchup on them. And if you don't already know, Shane hates ketchup. I felt so horrible I wanted very badly to go purchase some more without ketchup, but he wouldn't let me. He pulled himself up by the bootstraps, picked some that didn't have AS much ketchup, and ate them anyway.

In dealing with today's major minor disappointments, I do have to admit that Shane handled himself a bit better than me. I have no doubt that he will remind me of this often.

In the end we both agreed on one thing though...ketchup or no, the famed little sliders weren't as good as we hoped they'd be. The meat was a little like shoe leather and they were very soggy. Definitely no better than a burger from McDonald's. The only real novelty was that they were tiny...which was kind of fun. We made a White Castle castle out of the little burger cartons...


We then proceeded to get stuck in horrendous traffic because we forget to take a detour around the George Washington bridge...in the middle of which I got severe indegestition due to our interesting meal choices earlier in the day. Oops. Something I probably should have foreseen but it didn't really wind up being a big deal...we both made it back home safe and sound.

And despite the little hiccups on the way home today...I can say I had a truly amazing time. We had a whole lot of fun together and I think we made a lot of really great memories...including the ones we made today under slightly less than great circumstances.. This trip will keep a smile on my face for quite some time. I can't wait to see where we go next. :)

DC, Day Three and Four: We're Alive

A note right off the bat: I apologize to anyone who worried about Shane and my safety because I did not blog yesterday after the horrible metro collision down here in DC. We actually didn't even know about it until fairly late in the evening when we came back to our hotel room and I realized I had a bunch of concerned text messages from various people and a missed call from my dad. The really creepy thing is that we were on the red train earlier that day...we never went through the area where the accident was...but still, it was enough to give me a chill. Needless to say, my thoughts and prayers are with all who were involved and the families of the 6 people that died. Truly horrific.

Other than that we've really enjoyed ourselves the past couple of days. We did go to the zoo and our nice dinner yesterday but we didn't make it to Georgetown Cupcake...yet. We plan on going tomorrow before we hit the road instead.

Today we hit three of the Smithsonian Museums - Air and Space (again), Natural History (again), and American History. We are BEAT. It's been pretty crazy but it's also been really fun. However I may need a vacation to recover from my vacation...

On to the pics!

On Monday morning we had a delicious McDonald's breakfast...mmmmm...it was so good my arteries were clapping.



Then we went over to the zoo.


We saw gazelles...


...zebras...


...a great panda (yes, we saw a real one too...not just this statue)...


...a TON of flamingos...


...some pretty peacocks...



...and many many other animals.

Then we got all fancy and went to dinner at a restaurant called Proof after taking a stroll through the National Portrait Gallery (which was very cool).


It was sooooo good...the wine was delicious and the food was excellent. Couldn't have asked for a nicer night out.

Then this morning we went over to the Air and Space Museum to see a show in the planetarium. It was a lot of fun because it'd been a long time since either of us had been to a planetarium...but I didn't taken any pictures while we were at the museum. We'd already been there so we didn't stay long before heading out.

We started walking to get lunch and took a detour through the sculpture garden next to the National Gallery of Art.





(Believe it those pics of Shane and I separately were not posed. We're just excellent photographers.)

Then after we got lunch we went over to the Museum of Natural History.

Shane next to some creatures that are (or were) actually taller than him...


We also saw the Hope Diamond while we were at this museum but...once again...I didn't take any pictures. It's very big and very sparkly...take my word for it.

After that we went over to the American History Museum which I actually think was my favorite of the three we visited today. I didn't even take any pictures while I was there I was so absorbed! We got to see the original star spangled banner while we were there which was actually an amazing sight. It was in a low light area to prevent any further fading or damage from light and it was HUGE. The original flag was in the neighborhood of 35'x40'...but it's now closer to a square shape because of the tests of time. And they actually flew that huge thing! It's the very flag Francis Scott Key saw in the distance that inspired the song "The Star Spangled Banner." And seeing it in person was truly inspiring. Another favorite part of this museum was the photos of the 2009 inauguration.

I've said it once but I'll say it again...I'm BEAT! Now time for some relaxation and sleep...tomorrow there will be cupcakes, White Castle, and lots and lots of driving.

DC, Day Two: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

First off I have to say that I am incredibly tired right now so the narrative of this particular blog is going to be brief. I apologize if this is upsetting to anyone.

Today was jam-packed with activity. We got up, got a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed over to the metro to go down to see the Nationals game. Here is Shane waiting for the metro in, what I thought, was a pretty cool looking station. At the very least it was clean...for public transportation.


Then we got to the field...


The stadium was incredibly nice. It's essentially brand new. However, the Nationals have some very odd mascots...


These are "the running Presidents"...I'm not really sure what their point is. The Nationals also have a normal type of mascot...Screech the bald eagle. Why they need these scary President type things as well is beyond me. Shane insisted I have my picture take with Lincoln.


As you can see in the picture I was rather uncomfortable about this. I found him very scary and I did not want him to touch me. Lincoln, that is. Not Shane.

Our seats were incredible...even better than Shane thought they'd be. Here is the view from where we were sitting.


It was around this time that we were both good children and dutifully called our fathers on Fathers' Day. Yes, we remembered.

And then we took the obligatory "at arms length" picture.


Awwww.

A surprise bonus...today's game turned out to be one of those free stuff games. We each walked away with one of these Geico duffel bags.


The game was a lot of fun. As expected, the Nationals lost, but it didn't rain at all even though the sky looked ominous at times and it wasn't oppressively hot either.

This evening we had plans to see Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian in the IMAX at the Air & Space Museum...so after the game we went straight there.


We picked up the tickets at will call and then poked around inside the museum for a bit since the movie wasn't for another couple of hours.

Here is Shane playing in the museum:


Here is me playing in the museum:


Here are the two of us in front of the lunar module:


It was shortly after this that we realized the movie we were seeing was not at the Air & Space IMAX...it was at the Museum of Natural History IMAX. Why the lady who gave us our tickets didn't tell us that is beyond me. We had about 20 minutes to get over to the other museum so we speed-walked across the Mall and managed to make it with plenty of time to spare. It was a very cute movie but we both agreed it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun if we'd seen it anywhere other than in DC...in a Smithsonian museum.

And so ended a busy day. We've got the zoo, Georgetown Cupcake (hurray!), and our nice dinner tomorrow. It may be a small miracle if I actually manage to blog tomorrow night.