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.