Sand We're Back!

I have literally NO IDEA where to start this blog. I've been gone for a week and it feels like I've been on another planet. What has even been HAPPENING around here? Anything I missed? Anything I should know? Ugh. I'm stalling.

Okay, yeah, so I've been out east all week. It started with my cousin Jackie's wedding in Boston. It was a huge deal and it was INCREDIBLY fun. Photo booths, candy bars, Mad Libs...there was so much to take in and enjoy. I made a comment to someone afterwards like "Wow, so yeah. My wedding is going to blow compared to this." No one disagreed.

For the week after the wedding, my family went to my grandma's beach house in Rhode Island. Luckily, there were about a billion family members available to keep my mind off the fact that I was there without Geo, which was the only part that sucked. At any given time, I was surrounded by at least 6 people who were willing to help me recreate my childhood memories of the beach.

For like 16 years, I spent at least a week every summer in Rhode Island, not wearing shoes, walking down the street into restaurants in just a bathing suit and wet hair, and playing in the sand. While the beach house itself has not changed since I was there as a kid, this summer proved to be a very different experience.

Instead of shoeless walks to the candy store, I sat on my aunt Sarah's boat (docked at the end of my grandma's dock for the week) and drank wine with ice in it. And while I made a couple decent sand castles and one (horrible) sand whale, I mostly laid on top of the sand, soaking up the sun. Talk of school was replaced by talk about my wedding. Instead of going on a shell hunt, I took a trip on Sarah's yacht to Newport in the hopes of seeing P. Diddy on his mega yacht. Making a trip to the state pier was neglected in favor of a tour of my cousin's vineyard.

So yeah. Some things DO change.

But just like the old times, I slept in sandy sheets, ate lobster, steamers and chowder, and just generally loved being with family. I already miss the familiar sounds of my grandma's wind chimes, the warm sand between my fingers and the basic detachment from regular life. I didn't watch TV or worry about alarm clocks or traffic. Instead, I reconnected with family and woke up every morning to the smell of Dunkin Donuts coffee and promises of beautiful beach weather.

But here's the thing. While I was there, I worried the whole time about what my blog would be about. My grandma and aunts read this (holla, Grandmaman and Sarah!) and were like "I can't wait to see what you write about!!"

So I put off posting while I was gone because I wanted to fully enjoy my trip instead of writing about it. And now, here I am, all backed up and stressed out and unable to put together a remotely entertaining post. But you know what?! TOUGH. My brain has been on vacay and I can only think of like five puns about sand and just, like, one or two descriptive words for the sensation of eating steamers and the uneasy feeling that happens after you drink too much on a BOAT. Four nights in a row.

Anyhoozle, long story short, I had a great vacation. I have a pretty decent tan and sand in places that were as yet unknown to me. But after a week of incredible food and minimal physical exertion and lazy naps in the sun, I am just a pile of crap. I'm almost scared to go to sleep because when I wake up, it's back to business. Something tells me it won't go well...