Moments of Happy

I haven't much updated everyone on what I am up to personally. The past few posts have been random thoughts and ideas. Many of you follow this blog to keep up with me from far away, however, so I will now let you know what I have been up to. And the answer is: not much. Well, that's sort of a lie. But doesn't it always seem like "not much" when there isn't a big story that goes with it? Or a massive wedding with so many funny stories and great memories? Last year I was in two weddings and attended six in the span of 8 weeks. I was invited to many more but had to turn some down because let's face it, I'm just too popular (I really wish there was punctuation for sarcasm). This year, I'm getting to live a little more of my own schedule and having weekends to be with family and friends outside of wedding activities. It is lovely. Let me retract that slightly, I was at a wedding this past weekend. But it was glorious. And I wish I took more photographs. I'm obsessed with great photographers who capture real life images but I never really do so myself because I'm even more obsessed with living in the moment. After the moment is over, however, I'm slightly bummed at myself for not taking that split moment out and capturing it on film. Or, not "film" anymore, but digital... space.

Here are a few moments in the past few weeks that I wish I would have captured in (more) precious photographic moments:

- My cousin Douglas' high school graduation party. I went down to Long Island July 9-10 and spent some time with my mother's side of the family on Saturday. The ferry ride across the sound was one of the most beautiful sites at 9 in the morning and the ship hardly swayed. It was honestly one of the most lovely mornings I've ever seen crossing the Sound. I got there early and helped my aunt and cousins prep the house and food. I am happy to report I have been upgraded to "professional fruit salad cutter". Hey, it's better than "cheese cutter" because that comes with all sorts of conundrums. Many of my close cousins that I really consider more siblings than anything were there and we had a great time being 12 again. You know those days where you just get to let loose and be around people who've known you for years? Those days where you can swim in the pool and reminisce when you would spend hours in there creating wave pools, whirlpools and pretending to be mermaids? My cousin Bridget and I both confessed that we always thought Ariel created that big splash with her fin instead of it being a massive wave against the rock and were always extremely disappointed when we couldn't recreate that scene in the pool with our "fins". Gotta love 8 year olds. After the pool, some food, volleyball and a little too much Harry Potter conversation for some of the aunts and uncles liking, the family settled down after all the guests left and had a rousing game of Charades. Except it wasn't really Charades, it was a Charades like game with cards and a timer... anyone recalling the name of that game? Yeah, me neither. But it was hilarious because we broke out the Baileys and Kahlua as is tradition, which makes board games oh so much more fun. We played until it got dark, headed into the living room to watch some television and left around 11p. It was so soul-satisfying.

6/12 cousins - 3 pairs of siblings

- The next day we headed to the church my father's sister and brother-in-law pastor. My cousin's on that side are all older than me and my siblings by a good 15 years, so they are all married with children of their own. It's seriously a joy to have younger cousins. My siblings and I get to swoop in and rile them all up around the church after service is over. Do you want a cookie from the bake sale outside? Sure! No problem! What, you're not allowed to have sugar before noon? Shh, just don't tell your mom. It's totally fine. I'm the cool cousin, remember?! After the entire congregation leaves and it's only my family left in the building deciding on what to do for lunch, we get all the small kids distributed into all the "big cousins" cars and take them away to the traditional Sunday afternoon palooza at Aunt Linda and Uncle Joe's. It's beautiful chaos. It really is. The kids immediately jump in the pool and the "big cousins" babysit until the older cousins get home with the aunts and uncles carrying food that could feed an army. Not a small army, an entire army. We don't have a problem eating. We're Italian. It's what we do. We break bread with one another for an average of 3-4 hours. And that's not even an exaggeration. Honest to God. Hand on the iPad-Bible. I love my family.

- Back in Boston, my housemates are my family. We live together, eat together, clean together, play beach volleyball together, and minister together. They have been so supportive of me in the past hellish 6 months and I will forever be grateful. We usually hangout as a group, however, so it's a welcomed opportunity when only two of us get to have some one-on-one time. I work as an Events Coordinator so sometimes I get these amazing perks. This past week, I took my roommate Kat out to one of the events I was invited to for free. We were able to have an evening of cocktails and dinner on The Odyssey in the Boston Harbor. We got a private tour of the yacht by the Event Manager of the ship and enjoyed free cocktails and hor d'oeuvres for an entire hour until they seated us at our table for dinner. A three-course meal, two hours and plenty of alcohol later, we stepped off the ship in complete bliss. It was a great evening to get to know Kat better and to share stories and be available to one another without the noise of 9 other people. Sometimes you just need those moments of concentration on one other person. Like all of my activities already mentioned, it was just good for the soul.

I don't know what the drink was called but it was lovely!

- My house has also taken the opportunity to get involved in a housing facility for the homeless just down the block from where we live. We met at the home (it's not a shelter for the currently homeless, it's more like a transitional home for those who were recently homeless) last week to discuss what it might be like to serve there and get involved in some capacity. We met the housing director and social worker involved in the community and they are so grateful that we are interested in getting involved. And I have to say, I'm so glad we are doing this. Our house is meant to be a place of outreach and hospitality, and now that we have settled in and completed (most of) our construction projects, we can now really focus on things like this. Not much solid scheduling has been done yet, but a few of us are excited to get involved right away and participate in game nights and movie nights in the coming weeks. Hopefully, after we've properly introduced ourselves to many of the people there, we can begin to do the more helpful things like take them to the grocery store, teach them how to balance a check book, teach them about nutrition and cook meals for them once a month. I'm excited about this new opportunity for "30 Cent" (the nickname for our house/community for those of you who haven't heard that phrase before. Don't ask me where it came from. It's a scary story).

- Many more activities in the past week included a beach bonfire (!), quite a few BBQs, a Bachelorette party, a wedding, a weekend away in Maine, the Harry Potter premier and a sleepover, and nights spent at home with my Boston family eating together and sharing our lives. Sometimes I get too eager for what's ahead and forget to pause and appreciate my moments of happy, here and now. Sure it sounds cheese-ball, but most of the time cheese-ball is true. Other people can just put it much more eloquently than I.

Expectooooo... PatrOnummmm!!!

Alli Potter. Alli Alli Potter...

Wedding in Maine with some fabulous ladies.