My Only Sister

My sister is leaving Boston. Not forever, but for the entire summer. And I don't know what I'm going to do without her. She currently spent her last night in the house she's lived in with some amazing girls for the past  2 1/2 years and this moving forward is bitter-sweet. Her roommates are wonderful and threw her a going away Harry Potter themed party. Check out some photos:

Butterbeer: cream soda, Butterscotch Schnapps, vanilla ice cream and butterscotch topping. YUM.

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

Best. Decor. Piece. Ever.

Technically Debbie and I ended up in the Ravenclaw House that night according to the sorting hat...

Wizarding Foods

 We went to a Red Sox game tonight to celebrate her last night in Boston. It was a gorgeous evening and we had seats on the Green Monster! Pub food, baseball and soft serve ice cream - all American evening for one of Debbie's final evenings in the States for a long time.

View from the Green Monster. Epic.

I <3 my sister.

Final sister-sister date for the summer.

That's all for now, before I get too emotional. Back to watching The Voice with my roomies. I love you, sister. I'll miss you. Stay safe, be good, have fun, no hookers, only Argentinean lovers ;-)

Travel - St. Augustine, FL

As you know from my previous post, one of my closest friend's, Mary, got married just a few short weeks ago. I am happy to report that I helped her and her husband move into their adorable new apartment this past weekend! They are officially a real married couple.

During the move, we were reminiscing about their wedding week - and it was almost an entire week! - down in St. Augustine, Florida. If you haven't traveled down to St. Augustine before, I'd like to give you a quick history/tour. St. Augustine was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles. It is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the United States and is home to the famed Fountain of Youth (or so they say). The oldest masonry fort, known as Castillo de San Marco, is also located in the heart of the city. It boasts a gorgeous college campus, Flagler College, as well as a cute but not overdone "downtown". Now I put downtown in quotes because we who hail from the Northeast think of downtown very differently than those from the South. When I say downtown, think pedestrian only cobblestone streets, not unlike the small Downtown Crossing area of Boston but much more quaint. No tall buildings or chain shops, just old photography stores and ice cream parlors. And maybe one rowdy bar to throw into the mix!

The key to forever in St. Augustine?

Castillo de San Marco

Who wouldn't want to attend this college?!

My kind of downtown.

It boasts an impressive old bridge known as the Bridge of Lions that connects St. Augustine to Anastasia Island, the outer banks of that area of Florida if you will. What I found so exciting about the history of the bridge is that the lions that guard the two ends are fashioned after the Medici Lions in Florence, Italy. Now what's the point of studying Renaissance art *IN* Italy if I'm not going to recognize knock-offs around the world? I mean really. And now I'm going to come clean and admit that I found that out on Wikipedia. Sorry, Professor Skillen.

The Florence of America.

Ponte Vecchio de San Augustino

The real draw to the city for me obviously was the reception hall. We wouldn't have been downtown if it wasn't for the wedding, right? So of course I'm going to recommend the OC White Room to you all if you ever go. It's even been nominated multiple times on The Knot! There is a restaurant on the first floor which I heard is phenomenal. The site of Mary's reception was on the third floor of the hall, just a half a floor below the ginormous balcony that had an overwhelming view of the bay, bridge and historic lighthouse. The weather was warm and the full moon was glowing. The balcony became our dance floor and the salt air our satisfaction. It was brilliant.

This is one of the photos from their website. It was too gorgeous not to grab.

OC White Room at dusk. The ocean is just to the left of this photo.

Our view as we danced the night away. Perfection.

 So if my words have not convinced you to take a vacation to St. Augustine, I'm sure the pictures have! It is one of the most brilliant places to visit because it has such a mix of American and European, history and discovery, satisfaction and adventure. It's brilliant.

On a side note, I had mentioned in my last post that I would look for photos of me and Mary from when we were little. Voila! Circa 1999: I was 13 and Mary was 14. Love.

Is this the girl scout trip where it rained the entire weekend? Most likely.

Deep Magic

How do you start a story that involves so many good memories? Where do you begin? How do you start to tell someone how special a person has been when you've known them almost your entire life? How do you explain how you know them when they've been involved in every piece of your life, including family, even if they aren't related by blood? How do you tell the story of a friendship that started even before the two of you were born? This is the struggle I'm having with beginning the story of my friendship with Mary.

My parents moved from Long Island to Connecticut when my sister was just shy of a year old and ended up at a small start-up church in Danbury. While my mother took care of my sister in the nursery, she befriended the pastor's wife who had a daughter just two weeks older than my sister. My parents didn't stay long at this church and didn't become life long friends with the pastor or his wife, but a friendship started that still lasts today.

When I was about ten or eleven years old, my family started going to another church in a neighboring town. We became heavily involved almost immediately and I met a girl who also happened to go to my school, although I did not know her very well since I was a year younger. She happened to be the second child of the pastor and his wife from the church so many years ago. My sister, her sister, and the two of us became inseparable. We were a group of four best friends. As pre-teens do, we began to hangout almost all the time. We participated in girl scouts through junior high school, survived youth group together and remained friends even though we went in opposite directions for our college experiences. Yet, we stayed in touch. Something was special. I lost touch with many of my friends from high school and youth group, but the four of us never went a holiday without getting together. A lifetime friendship between all of us had formed. To this day I call her older sister my "other older sister" and we all take care of each other. We've gone through some pretty difficult times in our personal lives and I am so proud to say that she has been there for me through it all - and I for her. There are just those people who are made from the same cloth, and you know them when you meet them.

Mary's birthday outing to NYC - 2007

Christmas holiday photo shoot - 2006

Oh good lord... 2005 maybe?

Our friend Hannah's wedding - 2007

Christmas photo shoot - 2006

Summer evening drive through Brookfield - 2007

Summer evening shadows - 2007

(Hmm, I wish I had older photos from when we were little. I don't seem to have digital copies of those photos, which makes sense. Maybe I'll dig through old photos next time I'm home...)

 I am so happy for my friend who has found a wonderful man. I cannot begin to tell you how many nights we have stayed up talking about our future husbands; what our weddings will be like and how many children we will have. Mary always had a flair for the dramatic and for awhile thought it would be quite romantic to have a soldier as a fiancee who dies in action and she lives a miserable life in memory of her love. I'm glad to report this is not how her life turned out. How hard that would've been! She has found a man that will remain with her, stand by her side in the Lord. They have been called to serve Him in the church, a vision that I could never do but one she has been given the grace and passion for. Mary is beautiful, smart, caring and best of all, my dear friend. I am so happy for her and the life she has begun with her new husband. Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Chris and Mary Duncan!

Chris and Mary on their wedding day

The bridal party

At the wedding rehearsal

Bridesmaids. I just love this shot.

BBQ the day before the big day.

Thank you for the friendship