Island Livin'

Now back to where we left off. As I was gathering my things to leave my weekend in the 'burg, I received another invitation for another trip away. 

This trip I was invited to would take me back to Maine. 

And that's how I ended up in a car on a Friday, with my best friend, Patti; her fiancee, Ben; and his little sister, Hannah. If you remember, this would be my second trip up to Maine as I spent time on the island with Patti back in 2011. I couldn't wait to go back!

Meanwhile, it was Ben and Hannah's first trip to Maine. But don't you worry, I had my fair share of Maine first times. 

For instance, my first Fluffernutter. For my friends who are from the Southern regions of the United States and aren't quite sure what a Fluffernutter is, let me fill you in. It's a sandwich with peanut and marshmallow fluff. Yeah, I was skeptical at first. But it's actually not that bad. Not sure it actually should constitute as a lunch sandwich though. 

Also, my first lobster roll. There are actually no words to describe this.

But while there were many firsts, I also revisited a few of my favorite spots!

For instance, the popcorn store! We also ate at Dry Dock again, which I think is a must-eat place in Maine. 

Anyway it was a great time! I can't wait to be back on the island again!

Knee Deep in the Water Somewhere

My Facebook newsfeed has been filled with stories of people shipping off to the beach for weekend trips; this weekend I finally got to head to the water, but not to the overrated beach and all the traffic that trip would entail.


Instead, I was lake bound.

I'm usually not one for doing things alone but one thing I like to do alone is drive myself places. I have total jam sessions that I would not want to subject anyone's ears to, unless I hated them.


This road trip had its own significant problems. The AC in my car is broken. It takes me about an hour and a half to get to the lake and to my Cake. After reading fellow blogger Gretchen's horror stories about her own broken AC, I prepared to stay well hydrated on this drive.

They were both empty at the completion of my road  trip.

Anyway back to the beginning. Patti was having her boyfriend and his two littlest siblings stay at her house this weekend. She invited me to come up as well. We recently found out that Ben got this super cool new job so that was our first order of business: to celebrate!

When I finally got there on Friday, after driving during the hottest part of the day, we headed up to Massaponax to do some shopping. We went into a few stores, with the idea that we would return to them if we didn't find what we were looking for in Target. That was our first mistake. 

When we got to Target, it started storming. Badly. The lights were flickering. After we were in Target for a good 20 minutes, the storm knocked the power out. Luckily Target had generators so there were a couple of working lights, the doors worked, and after awhile, they got the registers working. It was definitely an interesting experience. 

However, the storm had knocked the lights out everywhere else in Massaponax. Our shopping trip there was cut short. We headed back towards Patti's to stop at Food Lion. While we were in that shopping center, we saw Anthony from afar. 

Backtrack: Sophomore year, when I first met Patti, we used to talk to Anthony on the phone all the time in our dorm. But I never ever met him in person. 

After Food Lion, we headed back to Patti's and awaited the arrival of Ben, Hannah, and Jake!  When we got home, Daniel, Evan, and Anthony were there. We ordered pizza, that arrived exactly as Ben, Hannah, and Jake got there. 

Our Friday night activities included pizza eating, Apples to Apples, ice cream cake celebration and watching Captain America. 

Saturday was  lake day! We woke up and made two batches of pancakes! The kids were so excited about getting in the water. To be honest, as long as I've been going to Patti's I'd never been in the water with the exception of one boat ride last June. 

Ben canoed us all over to Little Beach (making two trips each way) where we splashed around in the water some and played Frisbee. We then headed back to Patti's deck where we stayed for a bit. Then we decided we wanted to go bowling.


The last time I went bowling (during Fantasy Football weekend) was with Ben, Patti, Hannah, and Jake and I did awful that time. I had every intention of redeeming myself, which I think I did. The real story of the afternoon was Patti, who bowled 6 strikes (two turkeys) and a spare all in one game, finishing with a score of 193. In my defense, I did start my second game with two strikes!

Blurry photo! But Patti's score is the second line and mine is the bottom line!

We headed to Walmart for ingredients for kiddie cocktails and to pick up a RedBox movie. When we got back to Patti's, we played two games of Apples to Apples with Daniel, Anthony, and his brother Dom. Then we all had dinner, which was crazy awesome because Patti's mom extended the table and every seat was filled!


Then Steph and her parents came over! I just about tackled Steph when I saw her because I hadn't seen her since December! She's about to head to Maine for a bit and she promised to bring me some popcorn. Yum! I went on a night boatride with her and the rest of the adults, while Patti, Ben, Hannah, and Jake watched Red Tails. 


On Sunday, we woke up early and headed to Mass. Then we visited The Virginia Bazaar. When we got back, Patti's parents had hamburgers and hotdogs cooking on the grill! After lunch, we went for a boat ride and then went swimming in the lake. After we all showered, we sat around as our weekend came to a close. After staying for dinner, I headed southwards, road tripping home. This time in much cooler temperatures. 


Where's your favorite place to put your feet in the water?

St. Patti's Day Weekend

The people I usually talk to every day live the furthest away from me. 


That's what going away to college does to you. 


College forces you to live really close to people; people that you don't know.


College forces you to share a 3-sink, 3-toilet, 3-shower bathroom with 27 other girls. College forces you sleep in room with someone whose sleep habits do not match your own.

Hope you didn't feel this way about your roommate!

College forces you to become close to people in the shortest amount of time ever. College forces you to make the friends that you've been looking for all your life.


Then college makes you graduate. College splits you up from the four (or five or six) years of people it's been forcing you to be with. At least that's how I feel.


After a long span of time with zero road trips due to my lack of car, I headed up to Caroline County on Friday to spend the weekend with Patti and Ben. 


Patti is one of those people college forced on me! I met her freshman year after knowing nothing about her except what was visible on her Facebook and that she was going to be on of the girls living in my suite sophomore year in Chandler Hall. 


I wonder what each of us would have said if you told us then that we'd spend the next 3 years living near or with each other and being nearly inseparable; that 5 years later we'd still be friends.

Patti and me!

When college introduced me to Patti, I'm not sure that it intended on introducing her family to me but I'm glad it happened. I absolutely adore them!


Anyway, Ben, Patti's boyfriend, was the one who actually invited me up to visit with them since I hadn't seen them since December! It just so happened that the weekend he invited me up for was the weekend that Patti's oldest brother, Eddie was home from Hawaii, where he is stationed in the Army. 


It was a lucky (luck of the Irish, perhaps?) coincidence because a) I hadn't seen Eddie in ages, b) I got meet his girlfriend Jess, and c) there was cause to celebrate, which means PARTY! 


Which means food.

Green Deviled Eggs! Patti's idea!

Pasta Salad!

Which means family.

Patti and her brothers!

 Which means fun.

One of the many lawn games being played.

 On Sunday after regaining our energy and attending Mass, I got to introduce Ben and Patti to the amazingness that is Sweet Frog! They were so excited even our trip to Sweet Frog included me getting rear-ended at a stop sign! No worries, everything and everyone was okay. Frozen yogurt made us feel better! 

Patti! I have no idea what she is doing!

Ben and his Sweet Frog!

My creation!

How did you spend your St. Patrick's Day weekend?

Truckeroo

Do you ever have friends that you want to hang out with but they are so busy that it takes forever to make plans with them? I have friends like that.

I've been trying to hang out with Mike since June but he's soooooo popular and in such high demand that he just now finally had a free weekend. So on Friday morning I headed up to Arlington.

Except I decided to make a pit stop and eat lunch with Patti in Ladysmith! So I met her at Subway and we run into her best friend Leslee and her family, whom I've heard so much about in the last four years! It was cool to finally get to meet them.

After a long lunch break (I couldn't bear to leave Patti even though I'll see her this weekend, hopefully!), I got back on the road and finally got to Arlington around 3.

Anyway someone had worked all morning (obvs not me cuz I'm jobless) so in lieu of a nap (cuz I woulda slept hardcore and we never would have made our evening plans), we hit the pool! It was uber hot there but we laid out, attempted to read, watch some crazy rabbits hop around, and got in the water for a bit.

After the pool, showers, and some resting, we finally decided to head to Truckeroo. What's Truckeroo, you ask? Well it's a monthly food truck festival held near Nationals stadium.

I must admit I had no idea what to expect but Mike was really excited about it! So we got on the metro and headed that way. And then began the standing in lines. We stood in line at the ATM. We stood in line to get in the festival.

Once we got in there, it was unbelievingly overwhelming. The food trucks were arranged in a circle around the venue, there were lines going every which way, and way more people than I was expecting, which made it hard to see what different food trucks were there. Mike kept asking me what I wanted and I couldn't decide or see what was there.

We finally settled on the BBQ Bus!

We both opted for pulled pork sandwiches, though Mike chose to have pickled onions on his. I think they look like worms (see below). I also forgot people put cole slaw on BBQ sandwiches but it wasn't that bad like that. We choked down on pulled pork sandwiches without drinks while sitting on the ground! They were good!! =]

Mike's pulled pork sandwich

We finally found sodas and then we decided on a cupcake truck for dessert! I had a lemon cupcake and Mike had a snickerdoodle cupcake. They were delicious and we devoured them; that's why there are no photos of them! 

And that concludes our first Truckeroo experience! =]