Punta Cana

Day 5 of our vacation in the Dominican Republic - 80 something degrees and sunny clear blue skies!

So far, no rain - I kind of wish it would so we'd have an excuse to hang out in our room more - it's awesome and huge and has a king sized four poster bed. Every girl's dream.

We are steps away from a beautiful pool (and most importantly, a swim-up bar), and we can see the ocean from our room. We just have to walk for about 30 seconds and we hit smooth white sands.

I've had about a dozen of some pink drink called the Majestic (we're staying at the Majestic Colonial) and have met all sorts of other hedonistic vacationers. Off to apply SPF 70!

Punta Cana

Seven tops

Six dresses

Five bikinis

Four pairs of sandals

Three cover-ups

Two pairs of shorts

and ONE METRIC TON OF SUNSCREEN.

Hello, vacation.

shippin off to Buffalo

Dude, it's April.

When did that happen?

And it's already Friday - again, I need to tattoo a calendar on my forearm.

This means last weekend the Sig O's sister and bro-in-law came and we had lots of circus-y fun. And this weekend I'm off to Buffalo to be Polish and Catholic. Mmm chocolate bunnies and pierogies just in time to fatten me up for our VACATION which we leave for NEXT WEEKEND. Holy moly, we leave in just over a week.

Where is the time going????

Oh, and Mr. Boyfriend and I will celebrate our four year anniversary on Thursday :-D

We are not alone

As a guidebook and review fanatic (must...prepare...obsessively...for travel...), I've read my fair share of Rick Steves. And Frodor's, and Lonely Planet, too. But I never really favored one over the other until now.

I really like this guy, his interview is thought-provoking and insightful - exactly what you would expect from one of the most widely traveled people on the planet. The interviewer describes Steves:

Steves wants Americans to get over themselves. He wants us to please shed our geographic ego. "Everybody should travel before they vote," he has written. We should be represented by politicians who want America to act as a good global neighbor.

Gotta love this. Let's hope that sticking a Canadian flag in your backpack becomes an old joke amongst Americans. Because, you know, who wants to be confused for those crazy maple loving hockey heads, eh?


And because I know you just can't live without it, one final poetry post.

Bat Snot

Just in case you didn't get enough yesterday, here's another batch from our favorite poet, the wondrous Glenn Beck.

I think I'd like "The Border" printed on a coffee mug. Ooh, and you know that "Imagine" would look great on an inspirational mouse pad, just in time for Easter.

Somebody said let's make Swedish meatballs at the furniture store

His name is Glenn Beck and yeah, he's scary.

What's scary is his poetic genius.

Please take a moment to absorb and reflect. Then realize your own artistic musings will never measure up so you ought to just model your every action, word, and breath after his own.

Also scary: that his name sounds somewhat similar to mine. Sometimes, late at night, I like to think Fox is one big social experiment... an April Fool's joke, if you will.

A nod to the ineffably fabulous Stephanie!

Whirlwind

I was told once, by a very wise man(child), that once I started working full time my weekends would become so jammed packed with stuff that I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I would seek "real life" and "stuff you didn't even know you wanted to do" like it was...well, my job.

And it's often true, as it was this weekend. The moment I left the office Friday I bounded, skipped, leaped with my coworkers into Audobon Circle for some tasty margaritas. Then I went to Sunset for birthday burgers with friends from Tufts.

Upon waking (and thanking my good sense to have that gigantic turkey burger to balance out the 'ritas) we went to Weston for an awesome maple sugar shack's pancake breakfast, complete with a live bluegrass band. Delicious and a lot of fun. After some traipsing about Boston buying clothes I don't need (but look really good in!) we returned home for a bit to prep some dishes to bring to Wise Old Manchild's Girlfriend's Potluck Game Night.

Boyfriend made oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies (he bakes! with a bit of reverse psychology maybe...) and I made avocado deviled eggs - both were a hit and I'll definitely make the eggs again come picnic season.

This week Boyfriend's sister and bro-in-law are coming into town - which will be great since we rarely see them and they're staying at Casa de Brighton for a few nights. I need to get Apples to Apples to play with them because I looooved it at the Game Night. It's so much fun. And the game website has ideas on how to make it even better... I'm slightly afraid I'm going to become a Game Night freak and host lots of nerdy board game events, but whatevs.