Long Distance Relationships

 Long distant relationships SUCK! My boyfriend and I have been together for close to seven years, or something like that - we don't really have an anniversary of when we officially started dating. But, for five of those years we have lived over an hour apart (this past year has been four hours!). At first, it wasn't so bad college was super busy and we would see each other when our schedules lined up and we were only an hour and a half away so not terrible. 

   As college plugged along we both got busier and busier (major understatement!) An hour and a half seemed impossible to accomplish. Whenever I actually had a day off he was booked full. Totally frustrating! Then, if it hadn't gotten bad enough I had the great idea to graduate a semester early and got a job in Florida. So with him in New Jersey and me in Florida things got tricky! Luckily, I'm dating an amazing guy and twice in three months he flew down to visit. 

   Then to add more complications, after he got a job fairly close to the job I had (and absolutely hated) I landed a dream job four hours northwest. Whomp whomp. So for the past year, every weekend one of us makes the trip to visit the other. It's a good thing this guy is my best friend cause otherwise I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago!

Some pros and cons about a long distance relationship (but let's start with the bad):

   Cons:

~Time wasted traveling

~Limited time together

~Communication or bust!

~Easy to grow apart

~Trust issues

~Lonliness

   Pros:

~Ability to develop still as individuals

~Time spent together will be more cherished

~Strengthened communication

~Time to yourself and your own friends

~Solidify trust

   A long distance relationship is definitely not for everyone! Even for us it started out working pretty well but now, I never want to do it ever again. Like ever! *A little T.Swift for ya there ;)*

A Wild Encounter

   What an unexpected surprise! We just went for a walk to see pretty houses and take some pictures and we look over the sea wall to see this little guy (he actually was huge! bigger than I've seen in an aquarium).  In an instant I turned into a four year old child and started jumping up and down screaming "DOLPHIN!" It totally was playing with us and we ran around back and forth for a while. Coolest thing ever!

**As a side note I was jumping around screaming and running like a crazy person and only one person out of the seven or so that passed us even bothered to what I was hysterical about. What the heck people?! Lol can you tell I'm not from here?

Week 16

Week 16

What a cheery week! Albert's birthday and Easter. Keeping things simple with Midnight Edition and MAMBI inserts

Rise & Shine

   The alarm clock went off WAY too early (for me at least) but that was the plan. I was on the east coast for the weekend so I wanted to watch the sun rise on the beach. So even though the alarm went off at a terrible hour for a Sunday morning sitting on the beach talking, waiting for the sun to come up was priceless. It was so calm and serene. I could have soaked it in for longer, but then right on time the sun shot over the horizon. And then just within minutes it had crawled up into the sky and the day had begun.

Week 15

Week 15

Changing it up the week with a vertical page. Midnight edition and MAMBI inserts.

Keep Moving

   For being the homebody that I am, I hate being in one place for an extended period of time. I start feeling trapped. The severity greatly depends on all of the variables at that time but, to a certain extent I always feel it. Feeling stuck is definitely something I seem to struggle with more now that I have graduated from college and no longer have that structure in my life. That set system of classes, homework, jobs, and an end goal.
 
   Now that I am in the "real world" I feel lost, like I'm sure many young twenty somethings feel but, this life is completely something I have never experienced before. For as long as I can remember I have been rushing from one thing to the next. Changing in the car, meals at 10pm, and being a four sport athlete from elementary school through high school to working four jobs, taking 20 credits, and graduating a semester early in college, this whole working one job and then having every evening to myself thing is totally foreign.

   I feel like I'm being so lazy on one hand but on the other I am being physically active outside five days a week as a full time job. I don't feel like going out and really doing anything else, especially not by myself. So, instead I sit in my apartment with my darling feline and dream of all of the other things I want to be doing. I long for more creative outlets, a community of people, and new adventures. I'm just not sure, at this time how to go about doing that. I'll figure it out one of these days, I'm sure of it!

Venice

    I love days with no plan! Well, on occasion, let's not get crazy here. But, a day purposely spent doing whatever comes our way in a new place to explore can be just the right thing to do. Stephen has family in Venice that we tend to join for dinners so this time we headed down early and spent the majority of our afternoon walking around main street. Stephen spent many summers here, so he took me to his favorite little restaurant, The Soda Fountain. Ice cream sodas and grapes instead of fries? I'm sold!

   After eating we walked through any store that caught our eye (which was many because it was terribly hot and humid so we totally mooched on everyone's air conditioning!) I also spent some time playing with my DSLR and trying to figure out more manual settings. Slowly I will get it!!

Walking Contradiction

I absolutely hate being too hot,

The cold is miserable.

I like my comfort zone,

I want to try new things all the time.

The beach is relaxing,

Sand gets everywhere and its too windy.

I want to be more social,

I like being by myself (with my cat).

I dream of the future all the time, 

I never want to grow up.

I have the best job ever,

I wish the weekend was longer.

I want to build a house and settle down,

I want to sell everything and keep moving.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! I had to work this morning but still got to enjoy a delicious dinner at Stephen's Aunt's house.

Happy Birthday Albert!

Happy Birthday little one! Shortly after bringing Albert home he got really sick and the vet told us that he wouldn't make it much longer. Six months later he has a clean bill of health and I have never been more happy for a misdiagnosis. So his first birthday had to be a celebration!