25 Places I Visited in 2012

December 30, 2012 Filed Under: Pictures, Reminiscing, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

While deciding what kind of posts to write as re-caps for 2012, I came across this one on Elle’s blog, and I knew I just had to steal it! This year was all about travel for me, and I want to look back on the most memorable places I saw for a long time. Although Elle made it 10 places she visited, I found that there were at least 25 I wanted to look back on in 2012!

#1 The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Orlando, Florida

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#2 Universal Studios – Orlando, Florida

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#3 Valadares, Brazil

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#4 Tumiritinga, Brazil

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#5 Guarapari Beach, Brazil 

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#6 Ibituruna, Brazil

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#7 The Colosseum – Rome, Italy

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#8 Da Michele Pizzeria – Naples, Italy

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#9 Capri, Italy

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#10 The Amalfi Coast- Sorrento, Italy

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#11 The Leaning Tower of Pisa- Pisa, Italy

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#12 Monterosso Beach – Cinque Terre, Italy

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#13 The Corniglia Hiking trail- Cinque Terre, Italy

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#14 The Rialto Bridge – Venice, Italy

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#15 The Hard Rock Cafe – London, England

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#16 Buckingham Palace – London, England

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#17 Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross- London, England

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#18 Chateau Versailles- Versailles (Ile de France), France

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#19 The Eiffel Tower- Paris, France

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#20 The Louvre Museum – Paris, France

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#21 Burlington – Vermont, USA

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#22 Belleville – Ontario, Canada

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#23 Max Brenner – New York City, USA

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#24 Times Square – New York City, USA

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#25  Radio City Music Hall – New York City, USA

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What are some memorable places you got to see this year?

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The 365 Photo Project

November 9, 2012 Filed Under: Pictures, Project 365 Tagged With: , ,

Day 365: 8am mornings with my wonderful mother! I love her like crazy :)

The last year of my life, if you’ve followed along around here, has been nothing short of a whirlwind. 365 days ago I had no idea what amazing things the end of 2011 and most of 2012 would bring, but I can honestly say that I’m sad to see this year come to an end in less than 2 months.

It seems fitting that on November 8th 2011 I started a 365 day photo project. Why November 8th? No reason whatsoever. I had tried the project twice before and failed, but I knew I wanted to do it again. I woke up that day, one of my favorite bands had released their newest album & it just seemed like the right day to give it another try.

I did something I had never tried previously; I posted my 365 photos on my personal Facebook page. I was kind of nervous about it at first- would people get annoyed with photos every day? But I quickly realized that so many of my friends would become my inspiration to keep taking pictures- and I would be an inspiration to THEM to start their very own 365 photo project.

Yet November 2011 still worked out perfectly. I began to document a time in my life where things were going well- and would only get better. My photo project saw me through almost the whole first year of my nephew’s life, 2 months of vegetarianism, countless TV obsessions, girls’ nights, three vacations across three separate continents (Florida, Brazil, Europe), the life of 4 separate animals (my wonderful cat that I put down in March, and the arrival of my two new puppies in February), more school & exams than I care to count, four seasons, a surprising number of delicious cupcakes, SO MANY GOOD BOOKS, just as many amazing concerts, birthdays, holidays, family moments… The list goes on and on.

These last 365 days have been great; and I truly feel like they were made all the more remarkable because I documented each and every single one of them with a photo. I have so much more clarity into the things I spent my time doing, the moments I cherished the most, and the things I enjoyed spending my time on.

Sure, the project was at times extremely tedious and I forgot on several of my more boring days (read: the days I was very sick) to take an interesting picture, but… It was those less interesting days that make the project all the more fun to look back on. It forced me to look into my days a little bit more for something worth sharing (or not, but worth it to me!)

I definitely won’t be starting another year of photos just yet, but it’s something I plan on keeping in mind for 2013. Right now, I have all these different projects coming to an end- and this makes me very sad- but I’m appreciating the extra moments in my day to focus on other things that have come up.

I am so happy that I stuck it out ALL YEAR and managed to complete the album. I love looking back on every single one of those photos and remembering those days like they just happened. Beyond anything, these pictures are a reminder of just how fast time flies; enjoy every moment, make the best of the little things, and take more photos each day. They really are ridiculously fun to look back on!

You can check out the album right here, if you’re interested!

Have you ever completed Project 365? What was your experience like? If not, would you ever consider giving it a shot?

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On… School, Work, Fall & Thanksgiving!

October 9, 2012 Filed Under: Everyday Stories, Pictures Tagged With: , , , ,

As Fall continues to get chillier, the days get shorter, the school work piles up & I find myself with even less time than I knew possible for myself. Every day I try to juggle school, three jobs, a social life and sleep… Luckily it hasn’t been TOO difficult for me yet, and I think that’s because I’m still completely in love with everything that I’m doing. I never regret taking one of those jobs (paid or not) and I’m finding that my lack of free time means I procrastinate a lot less.

That being said, it hasn’t been EASY. Some weeks are a lot more stressful than others- one day I wake up feeling like I’ve totally got this, and other days it seems like it will be impossible to get through one more moment of this organized chaos. Still, no regrets. I’m happy, I’m keeping busy, and my wanderlust is being appeased by all of the craziness in my life.

This past long weekend was a lovely break from all things homework and work related. I still did some studying & some work writing, but I also spent a crazy amount of time enjoying Thanksgiving and gorgeous Fall weather with my family. It is by far weekends like this one that remind me why I’m so happy to be home again after a summer abroad. These ridiculously beautiful days just before winter are some of the ones I love best. Not to mention any time I spend with my nephew is a good time. He’s at SUCH a fun age, and we’re all having a blast getting to know the little boy he’s turning into.

Fall weather calls for a new hairstyle- time to bring back the bangs!

My favorite little boy all dressed up on Thanksgiving Sunday

Thanksgiving Monday turned into a spontaneous adventure walking through the ‘Color Festival’ by the countryside. I had such a good couple hours wandering around and being reminded of why I love being Canadian so much. Maple syrup on snow and so many fresh farm products, all surrounded by the gorgeous colors of the changing leaves.

More crazy-cute baby faces! :)

All in all, it was just the kind of relaxing weekend I needed. It was filled with all the best things I love about this season, and I got to enjoy all of it before I jump into midterms and a stressful two weeks. I took advantage of these last few days and did very little work, but made sure on Monday evening to do a little bit of catching up & writing that to-do list of mine for the upcoming week!

What are your Fall favorite moments?

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Capture the Colour

August 3, 2012 Filed Under: Pictures, Travel Tagged With: , , , , ,

In just 3 days I’ll be jetting back off- this time, to Europe. I can’t WAIT!

But before I leave? I absolutely had to take part in this contest called Capture the Colour hosted by www.travelsupermarket.com! I was tagged by two of my good blogger friends while I was away in Brazil last month- Naomi and Elle- you can check out their posts by clicking on their names!

The idea behind the challenge is to post 5 pictures from your travels; blue, green, yellow, white, and red.

I’m so excited about this & crossing my fingers about winning. But honestly? I’m most excited about sitting here & going through all my travel photos to re-discover some of my favorite moments over the past few years.

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Blue

The view of all the little villages from the para-gliders’ dock on Ibituruna mountain in Brazil is breathtaking. I especially loved how, on this gorgeous & cloudless day the bright blue of the sky seemed to reflect into the valleys deep below.

Green

This little  house in Tumiritinga, Brazil, is where a huge part of my family grew up almost 50 years ago. At the time, this little home was the heart of the small village & was considered a mansion. When I visited it, it was a rundown little place… But the sweet green door and windows, surrounded by growing shrubs & a vegetable patch in the backyard was a reminder of the pretty place it once was.

Yellow

Enjoying a rather expensive (12 Euros to be exact) mango daiquiri with a view of the ocean & the famous windmills in Mykonos, Greece! Love the vibrant yellow and red of our drinks and the contrast with the blues and whites in the background.

White

Standing just outside the door of my hotel room in Mykonos, Greece, with my first real view of those little white Greek houses I had waited my whole life to see up close. I couldn’t believe I was opening my eyes to the view of the entire island every single morning while I was there!

Red

I snapped this photo in an attempt to capture those last moments at the beach in Mexico, and I just loved how the little sails jumped right out in the photo with a vibrant red stripe.

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The last part of the Capture the Colour contest is to tag 5 bloggers who you think might want to enter the contest too. Here are my nominees of people who I think have traveled lots & should give this post a shot:

Amber from Girl with the Red Hair

Jen from Scarlet Wonderland

Megan from Semi-Charmed Kind of Life

San from The In Between is Mine

Sophie from three times f

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A Brazilian Birthday (& other stories!)

July 12, 2012 Filed Under: Everyday Stories, Pictures, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

These last few days have been absolutely crazy in Brazil. Although it seems like sometimes I don’t have much to do, each day we visit a little something different here in the city & I find myself wondering where on earth the days have gone.

I must admit that despite some slight homesickness, I’ve fallen in love with this city. Brazil is so big, but little Valadares has it’s own charm and this home in the heart of downtown has my heart. I’ve told everyone here repeatedly that I’m either buying a house here when I’m older, or I’m packing this one up and bringing it with me. Even on the days where we spend more time relaxing indoors than out, I still find myself enjoying the Brazilian lifestyle in its simplicity, its architecture, and its food. This home truly has everything I need!

I came here not really knowing what we would do, what to expect, or who I was staying with. But everyone is so welcoming. I celebrated my birthday with my new family and they treated me like I had lived here my whole life. I had a big surprise, a dance party, tons of food, a cake, and everyone came to spend time with me.

Here are some pictures since my last update:

Me & my aunt showing off my delicious Portuguese cake :)

Me & one of my cousins!

A shot with a ton of the family!

My other cousin & her boyfriend!

My handmade Happy Birthday sign FROM BRAZIL. It needed to be remembered by photo forever :)

I had an extremely memorable 23rd birthday- one that I certainly won’t be forgetting ANY TIME soon.

The day following my ACTUAL birthday a huge group of us deciding to venture out to the Mercado- the public market. It was a gorgeous day, so we got our things together and did some shopping as we went!

The market was a really neat experience, as we don’t have anything like that in Montreal. I went to the fruit store, bought a mango, and the man cut it up for me right on the spot. It was the BEST mango I’ve ever eaten.

Walking the downtown streets towards the market!

Some of the downtown street

The outer streets of the mercado were lined with shops filled with handmade objects!

The inner alleys of the mercado were lined with fresh foods and other various things to buy

You can buy little chicks for barely 2 Canadian dollars- Needless to say we played with them and my nephew was completely FASCINATED :)

It took ALL my willpower not to take this little baby home with me! AHH <3

Overall, my time in the city of Valadares has been tons of fun and extremely relaxing. Exactly what a vacation should be! I already know that I’ll be back in Brazil within the next few years to visit more parts of it, not to mention take advantage of the cheap inter-continent flights to visit the rest of South America.

In the morning the whole family is packing up three cars and making the long drive up to Guarapari beach. We’ll be spending the next week in this more remote, calm area and I absolutely cannot wait. It’s my vacation away from vacation! I can’t wait to see the beach, visit nearby cities (new places!), take lots of pictures, and play in the sand with my nephew.

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Livin’ the Brazilian Life

July 9, 2012 Filed Under: Family, Pictures, Travel Tagged With: , , ,

Living in a Brazilian home and spending time with Brazilian families is entirely different from the life I live back home. The pace of everything here is slooooowed down so you can enjoy every moment with family & friends.

Yesterday we took a drive away from the city, past the slums, and into the countryside where people have farms, huge gardens, and in particular the home we visited had a piece of land filled with trees where they grew every kind of fruit you could imagine. Passion fruit, mango, avocado, orange, sugar cane, paprika- you name it, we probably saw a tree growing it.

We enjoyed an amazing meal in the backyard of our hosts (friends of the family we are staying with) and then they gave us a long tour of their orange groves, their cottage, and their gardens. We were there for 5-6 hours and I think I speak for the whole family when I say we completely lost track of time. We just kept walking, eating fruits off the trees and laughing at God knows what!

It was, hands down, my favorite day so far on the trip. I took a million photos and I got to spend time with everyone at the same time- it was the BEST. And the food? Ohmygoodness, the food!

The backyard view from the outdoor kitchen. Behind all the cars is the cottage, and to the left is where the land where all the fruit trees grow!

My nephew looooves the pool! He couldn’t wait to get in there!

Lunch was AMAZING. I could eat this every day.

The outdoor cooking area

He LOVED the coconut water & drank a whole cup of it after!

Getting ready to go for a walk to pick some fresh fruit!

Me & my sister-in-law picking some passion fruit straight off the tree!

Me & my brother with one of the many orange trees

Some of the landscape as we walked

My nephew sucking on some sugar cane… Om nom nom :)

More of the landscape behind the house

Family photo in the fruit plantations!

We ended our afternoon with a small tour of the garden where they grow their vegetables, followed by a little peek in the chicken coop. Then we drove back into the city and spent the evening relaxing; everyone doing their own thing but still all together.

I love the way they live their lives here. Everyone spends so much time in the same areas, but still people manage to have their personal space at the same time. Even back home we’re very family oriented, but still here it amazes me the level they’ve taken to ensuring all the time they can spend together.

In the next couple days we’ll be celebrating my birthday and hopefully taking a few more walks to visit the city. At the end of the week I’ll be taking a train to Guarapari, a beautiful beach where we’ve rented a house for a week. I can’t wait!

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Some Lessons & Pictures

July 8, 2012 Filed Under: Family, Pictures, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , ,

I’ve been in Brazil for about 6 days now. Although I’ve been fortunate enough to live with family and locals who know what to do/not to do, I’ve still learned a few fun things around here worth sharing that are different from life in North America.

1. Brazilians eat twice as much as we do in Canada, and they’re still like half our size. Also? They eat like a metric ton of bread every. freaking. day. I mean, I love my carbs, I really do. But I just cannot keep up with all this bread eating! I’m also praying that whatever they cook with here in Brazil rubs off on me and I don’t gain 20 pounds from all this food.

2. Despite eating 4-6 times a day, it’s all fresh & mostly healthy food. Even their sweet cookie treats are miniature sized, and their portions aren’t ginormous and gross. The bread that we eat at “coffee” time is purchased fresh every day as it comes out of the oven. Om nom nom.

3. The shots you hear at night that you think are gunshots, aren’t actually gunshots. They are however some kind of fireworks going off in the slums announcing drug deals. So, you know, good times. Stay out of the slums at night. Or like, always.

4. There is no house like a Brazilian house. Families are SO welcome here and each house feels like a HOME. They have beautiful gardens and terraces, there is always some kind of food on the table, and you are constantly asked if you’d like to go in the room to take a nap. Because that’s just how people live here.

5. Winter time here (it’s their winter now) is actually like summer time in Canada. It’s a tiny bit less gorgeous outside on a daily basis, but I’m so relieved to be spending time away from the heat and humidity that Montreal is going through right now. It’s beautiful in Brazil during the day, and when the temperature dips a little bit at night the locals are all like “holy moly it’s cold!” and us Canadians are like “Ummm it’s beautiful and breezy what are you talking about?” it’s like an ideal Montreal summer right now!

Here are a few more pictures from the last couple days of family gatherings and downtown discoveries:

Of course the shoe store has a giant shoe couch!

A good shot of the somewhat outdoor portion of the house. To the left is the “indoor” terrace and I guess you’d consider this the “outdoor” dining area. My mom is relaxing in the hammock, ha :)

My mom & I getting ready to do some shopping downtown Valadares! 

My cousin, her mother and me! They took us to some nearby shops one afternoon :)

A view of Valadares, and the ‘favelas’ or slums in the distance on the mountain. 

We went to a dinner with the whole family on our 3rd night- I got a cute photo with my brother & my nephew! Also, the pizza here is AMAZING.

Today is a gorgeous day- maybe the nicest since we got here. I have to run off and get ready for a big, Brazilian style BBQ with the family. We’re just going to spend the afternoon relaxing, swimming, and as always, EATING. I could get used to this kind of life! :)

Happy Sunday! 

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Brazil in Photos Pt 1

July 6, 2012 Filed Under: Pictures, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , ,

I wanted to share a few photos of my time so far in Brazil, because what’s a blog without pictures!? A lot of them are the sights from my plane window because I was so fascinated with everything I saw from there. :)

The view on my international flight from Miami to Belo Horizonte. Flat land as far as I can see! 

Some of the landscape from the window of the bus I took in Belo Horizonte to get to yet another (smaller) airport

The small two-engine plane that took us from Belo Horizonte to Valadares entirely at cloud level! Such a fun plane ride. 

Leaving Belo Horizonte

Me & my mom on the two-engine. Not so bad after 20 hours of flying?! Also shows how small the inside of the plane was- my brother took this photo from across the alleyway and my mom still had to push herself back to be in the shot! 

Arriving in Governador Valadares! Beautiful, right?!

I’ve been staying in the center of Valadares these last three days, and just like any other city it’s busy, slightly dirty, and filled with people walking around doing some shopping. But it has it’s own charm, in the way that only South America could have. I haven’t encountered any terrifying bugs or spiders- yet- and I’ve fallen completely and entirely in love with this little home I’m staying in. I’m going for a walk later today and I want to take more photos because I’ve been seriously slacking- I’m enjoying myself and just taking in everything, but I want to remember it when I come home, too!

I’m standing inside the house, which is actually outside too! It’s the indoor terrace, and straight ahead is the dining room. Through the doors is another dining area (indoors) and the kitchen. 

So far, this place is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Each shop is unique and unlike anything else you’ll find. There is only ONE of every BIG thing you need- one movie theater; one mall. You rarely see franchises anywhere, except the occasional Subway or Pinkbiju jewelry store. It’s very expensive to buy anything here- An iPhone can go for 2,000 Brazilian dollars (about 1,000 Canadian or American) but you can get summer clothes and Havaianas sandals for practically nothing!

I wanted to buy the whole store, but settled for two pairs! I am definitely looking at more styles while I’m here though. Best. Sandals. Ever. 

The food is amazing, fresh and much of it is completely new to me. I love eating in new countries because you realize how North America eats TOO MUCH processed. Everything here is from the market; fresh, ripe, homegrown and home cooked. And the coffee? About a hundred times better than any Starbucks in Canada, ohmygoodness.

Now that I’m settling in a little bit, I’m excited to go back out, take more photos, and experience things with fresh eyes. I’ve been fairly nonstop since arriving- meeting family, shopping, discovering the downtown streets, & enjoying some local meals- but I wouldn’t want it any other way! I’m looking forward to enjoying a gorgeous weekend with family- we’ll be traveling a little bit to see some farmland and more of downtown, so hopefully I’ll be back next week with lots of pictures & stories to share!

Have a great weekend! 

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Extended Weekends

May 28, 2012 Filed Under: Everyday Stories, Family, Friends, Pictures, Summer Time! Tagged With: , , , ,

Weekends in the summer are my favorite. This year for the first time since I was 16 I  plan on fully enjoying them with family & friends. I asked to have Fridays and Saturdays off at work entirely, and the way my hours work out I often have Thursday and most of Sunday off too. It gives me this really nice, long weekend to look forward to and this entire month I’ve managed to take full advantage.

This weekend has been quite a bit more low key for me because my mom was out of town & left me to take care of the puppies for 4 days. Because they’re still so little and need to be crated when no one is home, I’ve tried minimizing my time out of the house so they don’t spend their whole day caged up! I did manage to spend a bit of time out and about though- here are some pictures:

Thursday-

After spending most of the afternoon out in the sun reading, I got ready and headed out to dinner with a bunch of people from work. Back in March a group of us organized a big event for work during our free time and as a thank you our managers treated us to a dinner at a really cute Italian restaurant!

We had a ton of fun catching up, drinking wine, playing random ninja games in the parking lot after dinner and obviously taking pictures!

Friday- 

I went out for a lovely breakfast with three of my favorite ladies. I always love when we have the chance to get together because we end up sitting and talking for hours! We didn’t have very long because our schedules only had a few free hours, but afterwards I headed back home with Agnes & we spent some time planning and booking our hostels for our week in Italy in August!

We also tried to figure out how we want to organize our week in France, but we had a bit of trouble figuring out where EXACTLY we want to visit, for how long, and how to get around. Anyone have tips?

Finally in the late afternoon my brother came to pick me up and we spent the evening together with my nephew! It’s been YEARS since I hung out with just my brother. Back when he lived at home I would just go down to the basement and we could spontaneously watch movies together, but now we have completely separate lives to try and figure out. We stopped by his friends’ house who offered to spend 10 minutes taking pictures of me and my nephew together with his professional camera. I was super excited (although not picture ready, it was spontaneous!) and I got some ADORABLE pictures with my favorite little boy.

There are a TON more but I’ll stop there for now. I can’t believe how photogenic that baby is though, seriously. Love!

Saturday-

In the afternoon I headed downtown for a photo shoot with CASA Cares, the organization I joined a couple months ago with school. We get individual shots and group shots with the whole team for our website so I got to dress all business and hang out on a roof for like 2 hours on a gorgeous day.

Most of the girls hanging out on the roof while we wait our turn to take individual shots! 

We took photos with all different parts of Montreal below us and I really can’t wait to see how they turn out! I took a few shots with my iPhone from the roof because the view was so awesome.

The rest of my weekend was really low key. I did some reading on Saturday evening & Sunday morning I spent some time working on my new blog space before work! Today I have another spontaneous day off and I’m not sure yet what I feel like doing.

All around really nice weekend spent at home- it was my first non-road trip weekend all month!- and I feel ready for the work week ahead.

How was your weekend?! 

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An Adventurous Weekend

May 14, 2012 Filed Under: Concerts, Everyday Stories, Family, Friends, Girls' Nights, Pictures, Roadtrips!, Summer Time! Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Today I am guest posting over on Stephany’s blog Stephany Writes about vacation must-reads. I’d love for you to check it out and let me know what books you would recommend to someone leaving on a trip? Steph is currently on a cruise. You should all be jealous.

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So I ended up taking a relatively spontaneous long weekend off from blogging. Often by the time Friday rolls around, I’m already beginning to draft up posts for next week. But as of right now, I have NOTHING. I think every once in a while it’s nice to just take some time to LIVE and everything else will catch up eventually.

I had one of the best weekends that I’ve had in a long time. I had a spontaneous 4 days off from work, and although I already had a little road trip to Vermont planned with two work friends, I ended up packing my entire weekend with plans. Since today I’ll be heading back to work (in just a few hours, sigh!) I thought I’d share some photos from the last few days before truly getting back to reality.

Thursday- I don’t have any photos, but I had a really lovely day anyway! I spent the afternoon at a L’Oreal sale with one of my best friends where I spent FAR TOO MUCH MONEY on makeup and hair products, followed by a really nice dinner and an Italian restaurant with some friends. Another one of my good friends is leaving for Florida tomorrow so we all wanted to get together for a little goodbye dinner kind of thing.

Friday- I got ready and met my two work friends (well, ex-work friends. I mean we’re still friends, we just don’t work together anymore!) and we drove over the border to Burlington for the night. We bought tickets to see FEIST in concert months & months ago, and had planned to stay overnight to do some shopping the next morning before heading home.

Sitting & waiting for Feist to start! Not our best picture, but the only one we got together

The lovely & extremely talented Feist! She put on a great show. Can’t wait to see her again in August!

The service at our hotel was amazing, but the place itself was SO sketchy. These tips were nailed crookedly to the back of our door…

Walking the gorgeous streets of Burlington on Saturday morning. We walked through a Farmer’s Market before heading into the mall for some serious shopping!

Although Vermont is only a couple hours from home, it still feels like an entirely different world. I always love going to the States for little trips because I get to eat and shop at places that don’t exist just a couple hours North here in Montreal. Although I do go a little crazy turning my cell phone off most of the time, I actually enjoyed it SOSO much this weekend. I happily turned it on to Airplane Mode as soon as crossed the border, and just spent the entire day enjoying a lovely city without worrying about who was trying to get in contact with me. It was VERY nice. ‘

We had a quick lunch at Panera (my first time there!) before heading the 2 and a half hours back home. I was VERY excited about trying this place out because I’ve heard so many good things about it, and it did NOT disappoint! My food was the bomb.

On Saturday night, we had a big girls’ night with a bunch of the ladies from work. I wasn’t able to stay for very long because I had to be up early on Sunday, but I was there long enough to take some yummy jello shots, HOLD A SNAKE (my friend’s pet!) and spend some time in the hot tub.

A few of us girls around the kitchen table!

Me being terrified while trying to hold Timmy the snake! I actually can’t believe I was convinced into doing this, ha :)

Sunday- Mother’s Day was another non-stop day for me. I woke up bright and early for a brunch with my family, followed by a baptism & finally the most delicious meal EVER as an after party for the baptism. I was out basically from 10am until 7pm and by the time I got home I was completely exhausted.

I had SUCH a lovely day and spent tons of time with my nephew who I hadn’t seen in almost two weeks. It felt like way longer- every time I see him he changes and does fun new things. Plus I think he gets cuter every time too. Seriously.

Me and my super giggly nephew at brunch. I freaking love this little munchkin! <3

My brother and I with my nephew at brunch :)

Happy Mother’s day! I’m extremely lucky to be able to call this woman my mom :) <3

Hanging out with daddy during the baptism. His eyes just melt my heart!

It was my sister-in-law’s first Mother’s Day! Baby loves his mama :)

Goodness, it takes a long time to write about 4 days of awesome. I love weekends like this, and I hope there are many more to write about this summer. So far, May has been such a good month to me.  I’ve been working so hard at making the best out of all the little moments I have- with family, friends, and just the time I spend on my own. This weekend was, if anything, the exact kind of thing that reminds me why I’m so lucky to be surrounded with the family and friends that I have in my life. 

Did you do anything special this weekend? 

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