Spring Break {Part 1}

Last week was Eric's spring break. It was great having him home for the first part of the week, and I took some time off for the second half so I could have a mini-break, too. Our HBS friends, Brooke + Mike, picked us up on Thursday in the early afternoon, and the four of us headed off to catch the boat to Martha's Vineyard.

As we approached the island, it looked so different. We're used to seeing it with tons of green leaves and boats all around us in the water. It was a little strange, but that's why it's still the off season. The weather was almost too good to be true! It was just glorious (all weekend).

It was their first time visiting, so everything from parking for the ferry to visiting the shops on the island was exciting for them (and for us too, because it's just such a wonderful experience). We got there late in the afternoon, so we didn't do too much besides get groceries for the long weekend before grabbing dinner at Offshore Ale. As we drove to the restaurant, the sun was setting in a spectacular display.

Afterwards we played games and chatted and just relaxed, in the way that feels so right when you're on the Vineyard.

Friday morning I woke up bright and early to get some exercise in before we started our day. Then I got everybody to go for a quick mile run to the West Chop Lighthouse and a 2 mile walk to finish the loop back home. Since it was Brooke + Mike's first time visiting, we had a lot to show them. First we set off to see the gingerbread houses in Oak Bluffs.

Then we drove to Edgartown where we walked around for a bit and visited their Lighthouse.

Then we drove across the island to Gay Head (aka Aquinnah) to check out the view and another lighthouse (3 lighthouses in one day!).

After that we went home. And then we realized that I was severely dehydrated. I'm not exaggerating; I got pretty sick. I'll spare you the details, but I drank a ton of water and then made a pretty speedy recovery after a few hours of total misery. I was even able to join everybody for dinner at the Black Dog Tavern - a first for me! That place is usually too crowded for us to visit, so I was excited for a chance to check it out!

Soon I'll share pictures from the rest of our trip!

Super Bowl XLIV

The Super Bowl is my favorite football game of the year, because it means the season is over. Sara and her husband invited us to watch at their apartment. Sara cooked up a delicious feast for us (she wrote about it here)! Before the kickoff, we had a few competitive games of wii bowling and then we settled in to watch the game. Sara and I mostly just talked, and we all ate a lot.

The best part of the game was the halftime show, strictly because The Who's drummer was making the most hilarious faces. Sara and I busted out our cameras and acted like the paparazzi. I think I took 70 pictures, trying to capture him in action. Maybe you had to be there, but the four of us were laughing ourselves silly.

Overall, a great night with great friends. What did you do for the big game?

Chinese Checkers

I really like to play games. A lot. When I was little I'd spend hours (days, sometimes) playing Monopoly with the kids on my street. We'd carry the board from one room to another and sometimes even from house to house.

In 4th grade I was killer at Uno. In college I learned to play Rummy and played it on a daily basis second semester freshman year.

Over the weekend I was just itching to play a game. We haven't played a game in a while, and I just needed to. I got out our game set, but it turns out that Eric and I are too evenly matched in checkers and it wasn't very fun. So we switched to Chinese checkers. I've only played a handful of times, and it was so much fun to re-learn the game and start to strategize. It's all about the jumping! It's out and all set up for the next game because I'm tired of it yet!

Plus, how cool are marbles? I wish I had my marble works set with me, because you know I'd be setting that sucker up in the corner.

*Everything Little Miss turns 1 today! Check out the special offer on today's Lost in Thoughts.