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

Dear Life

Dear Life,
Please send grapes.
Sincerely, I prefer wine over lemonade

I seem to apologize every other post for not getting around to blogging often enough. I know many of you would like updates on my daily life, but I've been hit pretty hard lately and if I take to writing it out here, I think I may be a bit too specific. I am trying to have this blog be a place that is safe from my struggles, although maybe it shouldn't be? I don't know yet. Still deciding on that one. However, as it stands now, that's what this site is and that's what I'd like to jump into today: life's little things that make me smile and be carefree, even for an hour.

There are only certain things that make my heart swell with happiness: small propeller planes, Frank Sinatra, and anything retro (among other things). I also truly love only three sports: baseball, gymnastics and volleyball. Baseball has been a part of me since I was little, particularly the NY Mets (I still believe!). They won their infamous - most recent - World Series over the Boston Red Sox in 1986, the year I was born. I spent my 21st birthday at their home opener and my whole immediate family went to the first game at Citi Field in 2009. My grandfather had brought my dad to the first ever Mets game at Shea Stadium back in 1964 and sadly passed away just a few short months after their World Series victory in 1969. Ever since then, baseball has been a "thing" for the Petrone clan and we can't eat, breath and sleep enough of it the whole summer long.

Gymnastics is my personal passion. I wish I had had the talent and determination to see it through as far as I could go, but the Lord had other plans. I am not bitter, however, because it has lead me to where I am today and I would not trade movie nights with my youth group or my college experience with my best friends for anything. I would have missed all that and more if I had gone for it. But it still remains something I must participate in to this day. I coached all throughout college and I will sit down and watch a college competition on television for an entire Saturday afternoon. Sometimes, I want to just stop in a gym in order to smell the chalk and pound on the spring floor. It has hypnotized me for life.

Volleyball became a passion later in life, working my skill in later high school and ending up on my college team for the first two years. Something about pounding the living daylights out of a ball, sailing it straight down an opponents throat is just so satisfying. I wasn't too much of a hitter, however, and since my height lends to being a digger I worked on my libero talents instead. When you make that amazing dig with a flat hand against the ground, or dig up your knee to save a great spike from the other team, it's just so worth it. So since I love this sport and this past Monday in Boston was extremely warm, a few of my house mates and I went to our local beach to play some beach volleyball. First let me say that beach volleyball is so much harder than regular volleyball. Gee whiz! I was panting two minutes into warm up. But it was lovely to feel my breath going in and out and inhaling that warm salt air. My toes touched sand for the first time this year and let me just say, I need to get my summer feet back. We played well into the evening and really got into a serious two-on-two game. I think I must have swallowed half the beach. My serve needs a bit of practice again and the wind didn't seem to want to play along, but we had fun. And I smiled. Really smiled.

Not me, but it could be.

This is actually the nicest it could look... it's a city beach after all.

Once the sun began to set around 7:30, we took our cue to get some soft serve ice cream at Sullivan's on Castle Island. It seemed so 1950's, so retro. So of course I loved it. Sullivan's has been around since about that decade and the prices still remains low. You can get your fill of hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, fried dough and soft serve ice cream until your blue in the face. Once you've chatted with the friendly woman with the ginormous dog (it's called a white golden retriever) and laughed at the people who still think its 1990 and roller blade, you can take a quick walk up to Fort Independence, which we did. If you sit on the side opposite the ocean you have a fabulous view of the huge jets taking off from Logan airport. They come right at you and fly directly over your head. It's a little scary but it's a sight to see.

So although Monday's are usually a drag, I relished this past one. It was a slight taste of summer and the joy that warm weather brings. Keep it up, Mother Nature!

Netflix and Celebrities

Well shoot me in the face and call me a liar. Did I watch my Netflix movie this week? No I did not. Did I have time to watch my Netflix movie this week? Yes I did. Do you know what I did instead? I read. I READ! I mean, if you know me AT ALL, that is a ginormous alteration in life style (just so you know, ginormous is actually a word according to Websters Dictionary and Blogger here deems it necessary to underline in red. Disappointed, Blogger. Keep up with the times). But do you know what it was I was reading? A book I had already read. That's right people. I ignored a movie for a book I already know the ending to! Well gosh darn it if my momma wouldn't be proud. Except, maybe she wouldn't be proud because it's Harry Potter. And she still doesn't seem to like the whole "witch" thing. Us kids - and some of our cousins and her sister-in-law - are trying to win her over. Don't worry. It will happen. And her world will be much the better for it. (I'm not sure why I'm speaking in crazy southern language today... "gosh darn it if my momma"? Really Alli?)

To completely throw you off the horse (arrrrggghh! There's another phrase! Where are they coming from?!), let's talk about celebrities, shall we? I pay attention to them. And I hate myself for it. I go on people.com practically everyday to see how Reese Witherspoon's wedding planning is coming along (I'm happy to report that the big day went off without a hitch) or to see if Willow Smith has yet another hair style gone wrong (most recent photo shows it being orange... I mean I'm just sayin'). Are Kristin and Robert *really* a couple? Why the hell did Carrie and Shia ever break up?! I <3 that George and Angie are trying to save the world. But you know what I noticed? Not many Christian celebrities get highlighted. The reasons I think are pretty obvious, and yet... it would be awesome to see Steven Curtis Chapman walking out of his local Starbucks with drink in hand. And knowing that Donald Miller has to pump his own gas. This is the internet-frenzy 21st century, there has got to a website out there for those kinds of things, no? Let me know if you find it.

All this stems from a blog post I read from Jon Acuff, author of the best selling book "Stuff Christians Like" (based off the title of "Stuff White People Like"). He was traveling on Southwest for work I assume and Michael W. Smith just happened to be on his flight... and he mentally freaked. As I think would I. (Please click on the link and read the post; it's for your own good.) Now, the question is: how would you react in that situation? Some of my thought processes would be extremely similar (see: "What if I just started singing [Friends are Friends Forever] instead? Would other people on the plane join in? Would that be awkward or would I 'find my place in this world'?"). That would be me, except without the book. And thus without an excuse to even approach Mr. Smith or interrupt his real-celebrity inspired indoor-sunglasses use. I mean for real, who wears sunglasses on a plane? Get over yourself, MWS! (Mr. Smith, if you read this blog, I profusely apologize. I know you are doing great things for the Lord. Inspiring, really. No offense. No offense.)

To end this blog I have two things to say:
1) I ramble and I need to have more cohesive thoughts (+10 for using a GRE word)
2) I want to leave you with this wonderment from, my guess is somewhere around 1987. "In the fertile soil of you"? I'm thinking MWS is still squirming from that lyric faux pas. And I think that checker jacket really is accented well by the neon background. Bring back the mullet, Michael! CUH-lassic.

New Design

Ladies and gentlemen, as I am sure you are aware, my design has changed. Love it? Hate it? Have suggestions? I'm especially talking to you, oh design-talented friends.

And because it's a gloomy Monday here in the Northeast, I thought I'd share a little cheer. This is one of my new favorite songs, although I have yet to watch the actual music video. I love the beat and clapping. I'm usually a fan of any song that has a hard beat done with clapping. Per example, see the second video starting around 4:25 (a song I found through watching The Thomas Crown Affair).

P.S. I've decided to have a post once a week dedicated to the Netflix film I watched. I think it will be a great way to keep me dedicated to watching new films consistently (and not wasting my $10/month) as well as stretching my writing skills and practicing my film critique. Stay tuned for my first film post coming soon!

Dog Days are Over by Florence and The Machine

Sinnerman by Nina Simone

Announcement!

Hear ye, hear ye! The bell tolls in the town square! Gather 'round to hear good news that comes from the town of Wood of the Holly. Katniss Everdeen has been cast! That's right people, Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bones will star as the defiant and strong-headed lead protagonist and I am delighted. I am so glad they have gone the route of an Oscar nominated actress and hopefully this is a good sign for things to come. Suzanne Collins has this to say about Jennifer:

"Jennifer's just an incredible actress. So powerful, vulnerable, beautiful, unforgiving and brave. I never thought we'd find somebody this perfect for the role. And I can't wait for everyone to see her play it."


Now if that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will. If the author of the book is this proud of the casting, then I'm thrilled. Jennifer is a bit older than 16, it's true. But she is young enough looking and recently got nominated for playing a 17 year old. Hollywood usually casts actors a bit older than their counterparts anyway. It's the way it rolls out there in good ol' Wood of the Holly.

It helps that she's STUNNING...