A Life Full of Laughter

Hey gang!

It’s been a minute. Apologies, I sort of let this whole “blog thing” fall to the wayside. But I’m back and I’ve promised myself that this year I’m going to take my blog more seriously. Yes, I am someone who makes New Year Resolutions. No, they don’t usually last all year. But this is going to be my year. My year of following through and sticking to my projects until the very end. It’s a whole new decade, the ROARING TWENTIES so it’s time for a “whole new me!” Not really. I like myself. However there are a few things I would change, some new, healthier habits I would like to work on. One of which, would be following through.

Alright, enough mumbo-jumbo here’s what I’ve been up to the last two years in my Life Full of Laughter:

 

January 2018

I rung in the New Year with friends at our local bar, Tautog Tavern.

I went to the movies to see Ferdinand.

 

Then January 12th-16th my parents, my sister and myself went to Florida for a few days to check out two colleges for my sister and we spent some time in Disney as well. We stayed at Disney’s Grand Floridian and went to Epcot and Animal Kingdom. The new Avatar ride is AMAZING. The colleges we visited were Stetson and Eckerd.

 

I read Rupi Khar’s Milk and Honey. And boy did some of those pieces leave me with goosebumps. She really hit the nail on the head. Put words to the same things I felt but was never able to describe.

 

I attended my sister’s high school gymnastics meets.

 

February 2018

I played photographer for my sister for her senior dance. I preferred the dog as her date.

 

February 15th-18th my mom, sister and myself headed back to Florida. This time we spent some time in Saint Petersburg and went to the Tampa Zoo. Really we were in Florida so my sister could take another look at Eckerd college. But who could pass up the zoo and some beach time?

 

March 2018

On March 6th I was Twitter-Famous for a second. A tweet of mine got over 2,000 favorites and over 300 retweets. I owe it to The Bachelor, Arie and his public breakup with Becca.

 

On the 20th I went into New York City with a friend to see G-Eazy in concert for his Beautiful and Damned Tour. (If you read my first blog post you would know that G-Eazy is my favorite rapper). That was a very good night.

 

April 2018

On April 2nd we got hit with a snow storm. The first day of spring! The entire night before I was all “no no no, the weather stations are hyping this storm up, it’ll only be a flurry and if it sticks, everything will be gone by the afternoon. I was very wrong. Climate change is real!

 

There is a venue in town, Fairfield Theater Company, that holds all kinds of events, concerts, film tours, food and drink festivals, you name it and my parents and I attended the International Oceans Film Tour [vol. 5] early April. It was fascinating. Our oceans are so incredible.

 

On the 4th my sister committed to Eckerd College :’) I can’t wait to see what incredible things she does.

 

On the 22nd, Earth Day, my dad and I hiked around Devil’s Den Preserve and then grabbed lunch at The Redding Roadhouse. After some good hiking, our burgers hit the spot. 10/10 recommend.

 

May 2018

My brother graduated from Loyola University, Baltimore. So the fam went to Maryland for a few days.

 

Then at the end of the month we went to Barbados for my 24th birthday. Best. Birthday. Ever!!! Lots of fruity drinks, beach, snorkeling, sun, and family time. I tried paddle boarding for the first time and I actually wasn’t half bad. I was able to get up and paddle around on the ocean without falling off. Beginner’s luck I guess.

 

June 2018

I played photographer for my sister for her Senior Prom. Sadly there were no cute dog statues for her to take in place of her date this time.

 

June 8th my dad, sister and myself went to Fairfield Theater Company again for a Skip The Straw Ocean Conservancy benefit.

 

I saw Incredibles II.

 

Then my parents, brother and I went back to FTC for their East Coast Brew Festival. It was a lot of fun. We listened to some live music, played corn hole, and of course tasted many brews from all along the East Coast. Happy Father’s Day dad!

 

My sister graduated high school.

 

And on the 24th my parents and I went back to FTC for a live music performance by Fairfield County’s own, Clueless, a young rock, soul, and fusion band. All proceeds from the event went to free music programs for kids. They were incredible. Somebody needs to sign them.

 

 

At the end of the month my cousin celebrated her Sweet 16 at The Staaten in Staten Island. Everybody had a blast.

 

July 2018

We took a family vacation out west. If you’ve poked around my blog you may have come across my Bucket List, and on it was a family vacation out west to Bryce Canyon, Arches National Park, Antelope Canyon and Zion National Park. What. A. Trip. It’s absolutely incredible out there. Bryce Canyon is like another planet.

 

Then we spent a night in Vegas, and rolling in fresh from a week in the desert we definitely felt out of place in the hotel lobby on a Friday night. This being probably one of our last family vacations, I definitely valued the family time. Also I am totally going back out west again. But maybe not in July when the temperature is 100+ everyday..

 

We got home on the 27th and on the 28th my brother moved out to start the next chapter in his life in Florida :’)

 

August 2018

My sister started college down at Eckerd and my mom and I took a road-trip with all of her belongings. 2200 miles from Connecticut to Florida (road-trip video coming soon). It was actually a lot of fun. It took us three days. We stopped for a few hours in Savannah, Georgia and made a plan to come back and spend a few days there maybe during my mom’s April break (she works in the school system).

 

We moved my sister in on the 10th and on the 11th my dad, mom and I were heading back north. I was happy and excited for my sister to start this new chapter of her life but it was very difficult leaving her behind.

 

At the end of the month my parents and I spent a Sunday at a polo match. We hadn’t been to one in ages. I forgot how cool they were.

 

September 2018

I went to my first Ok2berfest at Two Roads Brewing Company in Stratford, CT with some friends from work. It was a lot of fun. Long day. Lots of beer.

 

Then the next day I headed up to Windsor, CT with my mom to join my aunt and cousin at the Union Street Tavern Trot to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer. I was moving a little slow given all the beer I drank yesterday, but it was a Sunday well spent. Perfect weather, exercise, helping a good cause, and of course: more beer.

 

After losing my brother and sister to the state of Florida, I then lost my job. I definitely didn’t feel like I was living A Life Full of Laughter. Tears. There were many tears during this time. As you can probably tell by now I am very big on family and love having everybody together and I LOVED my job, the people there were like a second family to me, so to lose all of that in a span of a few weeks was not easy.

 

On the 30th my parents and I participated in the Bigelow Tea Community Challenge, and then we went to Fairfield’s Second Annual Food Truck Festival, which I would say is a HUGE hit with the town because several of the trucks had to close early because they were selling out of everything. Nobody expected such high demand, which was great because all proceeds went to the Fairfield Public Library.

 

October 2018

Took a trip down to Florida to see my brother and sister from the 12th to the 16th. My sister had no idea I was coming down, so I gave her a nice little surprise.

 

After we picked her up in Saint Petes we then headed across the state to meet my brother at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort.

Red Tide was in the air at my sister’s school, on the Gulf side of Florida, which is not totally uncommon that time of year, but it was rare to have Red Tide in the oceanside of the state. SO to have Red Tide in Vero Beach was extremely rare. And it was terrible. As soon as you stepped outside, you immediately started coughing. Even down at the pool, away from the ocean, it sounded like the plague was coming for us. Everybody around us was coughing nonstop. It was like a scene from an end of the world movie.

 

On the 20th my mom and I went to our favorite venue, FTC for the second annual Fairfield Uncorked Wine Festival. This event directly supported the Pink Pledge To Benefit Norma Pfriem Breast Center. It was another good day of drinking and giving back.

 

And at the end of the month we met and fell in love with a kitten. We named him Kona and he was to be my sister’s cat to bring to school since Eckerd College is pet friendly and my sister has been dying to get her own cat for a few years now.

 

November 2018

I participated in an Out of the Darkness Community Walk, a walk to fight suicide at Sherwood Island State Park. It was a gloomy day and it felt weird doing it on my own since somebody had always been with me on other 5ks but I’m glad I did it. It gave me a chance to get outside, be somewhere I’ve never been before, and raise awareness for a cause I care very deeply about.

If you, or somebody you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

 

Oh yeah and after my brother and sister moved out, after I lost my job, the car I loved also shit the bucket. I was not having a good time. And I really felt the quote: “Remember when a Series of Unfortunate Events was a book series and not your life.”

 

Even though it felt like things kept going downhill I was fortunate enough to go to Guanacaste, Costa Rica for a wedding. Albeit I went with my parents and we had to share a room at a resort that was really for couples, I got to see some extended family, have drinks on the beach (and in the pool) and got back in the saddle for a few hours. It was a quick trip, but lots of fun. (Video coming soon, awaiting final edits).

 

Then a few weeks later my parents and I were back on an airplane and headed down to Florida for Thanksgiving. We took part in the Vero Beach 5k Trot Against Poverty Thanksgiving morning.

 

 

Then the day after Thanksgiving we went to the Botanical Garden, which was gorgeous. I can’t recall having ever been to one before, I always had the impression that they’re boring and a little nerdy…more for people who have a passion for all things plants, but that wasn’t the case at all. I don’t know anything about plants but the place was beautiful. Many good photo ops. The place was so gorgeous it was hard to get a bad picture.

 

December 2018

My mom and I went into New York City to see the Christmas tree.

 

And on the 11th we brought Kona home and on the 12th my sister came home for her winter break and on Christmas Day, the whole family was together again. Life was starting to get a little better.

 

January 2019

Rung in the New Year with friends at Tautog Tavern again.

 

I got my job back and I donated 15 inches of my hair for Children With Hair Loss and I was about to start a continuing education class in Adobe Illustrator at a local Community College. Life was decent.

 

February 2019

My parents and I took a trip to Florida to see my sister over her Family Weekend. Even my brother came to visit too. The fam was back together again, and I of course, was very happy.

 

March 2019

March was a month of adventure. I started off the month by watching the movie Free Solo. One word: Insane.

 

Then my parents and I saw the Women in Adventure Film Tour at the one and only Fairfield Theater Company. One word: Inspirational.

 

And then the family went out to Breckenridge, Colorado for a ski vacation. I learned to snowboard, skied for the first time in seven years and spent an afternoon snowshoeing. I’m not usually one for cold weather or snow activities but you could hardly keep me inside.

 

April 2019

I did my first double-feature movie day. I went to see Pet Sematary with a friend and then after dropping her off I went to another theater and took myself on a date to see The Mustang. It was a lot of fun, I actually really enjoyed going to the movies by myself.

 

And then, as promised, my mom and I took off to Savannah, Georgia and Hilton Head for her Spring Break. Savannah is beautiful. Rich in history and rich in beauty. Even the locals were extremely friendly. I’ll definitely be going back there some day.

 

After some time spent in Savannah, we headed over to Hilton Head, visited my mom’s uncle, played some mini golf and walked along the beach. Hilton Head is pretty too. I always like going there.

 

And at the end of the month I lost my job again.

 

May 2019

On the 5th my mom and I took her parents to the Warner Theatre in Torrington, CT to see Mamma Mia. It was cute, and the theater was nice. I would go back there to see another play.

 

I also jumped on the bandwagon and started watching Game of Thrones. I had to see for myself what all the hype was about.

Then as an early birthday celebration I met up with friends from work and we checked out Two Roads Area 2 Experimental Brewing. That was a lot of fun. Area 2 is where Two Roads holds their experimental beer, a lot of which are sours or fruity beers, my favorite.

 

Then we went from there to the Beergarden in Stamford and then to Tiernans Bar, also in Stamford. Unfortunately, I overindulged (happy birthday to me) and I don’t remember much of the Beergarden or of Tiernans, and I slept through Mother’s Day the next day. Sorry ma.

 

On the 14th my mom and I flew down to Florida to bring my sister home for the summer.

 

On the 18th I met up with my work friends again and we went to Aspetuck Brew Lab in Bridgeport, CT. We drank some more beer and played some corn hole, watched the horse race. Then we went to Fire Engine Pizza Company for pizza and then I took them to my bar, which you probably know by now as, Tautog.

 

Then at the end of the month, for my actual birthday, my Golden Birthday to be exact (25 years old on the 25th of May), my family took a trip back to, yup you guessed it, Florida. We spent the weekend at Jupiter Beach, a new place for us, and a place not too far for my brother to come spend some time with us too.

 

June 2019

I started out the month by going to a wedding with a college friend. It was really good to see him and catch up.

 

I saw The Secret Life of Pets 2.

 

At the end of the month I went to Two Roads to meet up with my Uncle and his girlfriend. They were in town for a softball game. It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed getting to know her more.

 

July 2019

I saw Toy Story 4 and LOVED it. Hilarious. And my sister and I did our first midnight premier showing of a movie, we saw The Lion King.

Then the highlight of my summer: My parents have been building their forever home in New Hampshire and it was finally ready to be broken in. So from the 19th to the 26th my family and my dad’s side of the family (grandparents, aunt, uncle, and two cousins) came up from Staten Island for a few days. Even my brother flew in from Florida for a weekend. We had so much fun playing on inflatable bird rafts (aka “The Flock”) in the lake, kayaking together and just being together. We experienced our first Roller Derby, went mini golfing at Chuckster’s (home to the world’s longest mini golf hole) and on a rainy day, we went to see The Lion King; which I was more than happy to see again.

 

August 2019

I loved my short hair so much I went back for a trim on the first and to be honest I think I liked this cut better than the last one. My stylist really nailed it. She’s awesome.

 

Two days later my mom and I flew my sister and Kona down to Florida for my sister’s second year at college and Kona’s first year. We stayed at the Don Cesar, which I highly, highly, recommend. They’re pet friendly, HUGE bonus if you’re traveling with your furry friend. It was hard to say goodbye to Kona, I knew I’d see him again, but I was like a proud mother saying goodbye to her first born as he goes off to college. I practically raised him. I was there when he came home and I took care of him when my sister was at school.

 

On the ninth my mom and I went to Fenway for a Boston Red Sox game. It was my first game in a while. Love that stadium.

Then we took off to New Hampshire for a weekend.

 

On the 21st we went back to Fenway for another game.

On the 24th my town had a music festival called Porchfest. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Musical groups play their music on people’s porches in a certain neighborhood. It’s an all day event and a TON of fun. Food trucks are scattered and it’s a BYOB event so a lot of people pull wagons of coolers and even though a lot of people are out there in the sun drinking all day, no one is reckless or disrespectful to the surrounding houses. Everybody is there to have a good time and it’s a day full of good vibes, friends, and good drinks. The weather was perfect too which just added to it.

At the end of the month my friend from work came down to visit and check in. That was sweet of him. We talked for hours at the local Little Pub. He even came to my house to pick me up, and paid for my drinks.

 

September 2019

I started the month off with no voice. Kind of ironic actually because I’m a quiet person and everybody tells me to talk more, so when my friend from work came to see me, I carried the conversation. I talked for hours, and as a result, I lost my voice. OKAY universe.

Another friend from work took me to the Bronx Zoo one day. It was a rainy, drizzly day but it was perfect because the animals were active and there were no crowds. We went on a Friday afternoon so kids were in school and most people were at work. We practically had the place to ourselves. Plus, he’s a photographer too and gave me some great tips and even let me use his camera with the giant telephoto lens. Honestly, it was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time.

Then I took off to New Hampshire with my mom, aunts and cousin for a weekend.

And then at the end of the month my parents and I flew down to Florida for my sister’s birthday, and we met my grandparents for a Giants game and dinner at a neat restaurant called Spinners. At the end of the weekend we got to bring Kona back home. He was too wild to keep cooped up in a dorm room. I raised a wild child. I’m so proud :’)

My brother even came over from Vero. It was nice to see him for a little. Us three kids had our own hotel room which was nice. On our last night I had the hotel room to myself since my sister slept in her dorm and my brother went back to Vero. We had some White Claws that needed to be finished, so I had a Dance Party for One. I had myself a grand old time.

October 2019

For those of you who don’t know, Fall is my favorite season. I love the changing of the leaves, the cool crisp air, pumpkins, apple cider and apple cinnamon donuts.

So to kick off fall my dad bought us tickets for the Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. Halloween isn’t one of my favorite holidays, in fact I hate it, but I do appreciate pumpkin carving art and boy did the Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze deliver. I had never heard of The Blaze before but I’m glad my dad suggested it. It was incredible. Some of those carvings are unreal. I can’t even imagine how much time it took to carve some of those pumpkins, never mind put the whole Blaze together! Truly spectacular. I am 100% going again next year.

The following weekend, my parents and I took off to New Hampshire for the Fall Foliage Festival in Warner, New Hampshire. I love, love, LOVE, fall festivals. I love browsing through all the tents with handmade trinkets, local foods and local photography. I love perusing through the little tag sales and barn sales too, especially when they have books. I think I bought about six Stephen King books all for three dollars! (I love to read Stephen King in the fall). And after about 40 minutes of deciding, I also bought three new rings. I couldn’t decide which ones I liked. I also didn’t realize how different all my fingers were in terms of sizes.

I think the most exciting part of the Festival was watching the ox pull. I had never heard of such a thing and was truly impressed by the strength of these animals.

When that was over, we strolled around some more, watched some dancers, and watched Evelyn Cormier’s live performance. She was a contestant on American Idol and from Claremont, New Hampshire. She has a beautiful voice.

After the festival we went back to the house and I took a kayak out to paddle around the lake for golden hour and snapped some pics before the sun went down.

The following day, my parents and I went hiking in the woods around the lake. We hiked to a front porch and then wandered around a little more after that. We’re not entirely sure where we were, but we were hiking for a good three hours, snapping pictures as we went. It was a beautiful day. Perfect weather and perfect foliage. It was peak. This is what I came to New Hampshire for.

My best friend Jessica adopted a kitten. She found the poor baby on the side of the road in Milford and took her in. Since Jess works all day, every day, I offered to watch the kitten for a day and it was an amazing day. I love kittens. We bonded. And she’s so cute, her name is Mazzy and she has six toes on her two front feet and even an extra toe on a back foot too AND a white mustache. She’s adorable and I’m so happy that she came into Jessica’s life.

When peak foliage reached us in Fairfield County I took a day to myself and went walking along some trails at the Audubon. It was the perfect self-care day.

My dad’s birthday is October 29, so my mom and I met him in New York City for dinner at Avra, a Greek restaurant.

Even though I’m not a fan of Halloween, I did get dressed up and go out. I went as a lion. I wasn’t going to go out and dress up but I spent all day at Party City and running in and out of stores in the mall to put something together. I actually really liked what I came up with and the best part is some of these pieces I can wear again.

 

November 2019

I started the month off with my boyfriend and his guys at Dart Night. It was a lot of fun. I used to think darts was dorky but it’s actually really cool and so much fun to play too! The guys play at a bar I visited when my work friends took me out for my birthday back in May. It was nice to fully be able to take in and remember the place this time.

 

Then the next day my parents and I took off to Florida to visit my sister for her fall break. We picked her up from school and then headed over to Disney and checked into The Grand Floridian.

We didn’t have concrete plans the first day, so I spent the morning walking the grounds. I saw a couple taking wedding photos and I took some time to take in the giant gingerbread house in the lobby. And I mean GIANT. 1,050lbs of honey, 140 pints of egg whites, 600lbs of powdered sugar, 700lbs of chocolate, 800lbs of flour, and 35lbs of spices! And of course Disney Magic!

Then in the afternoon we took out a yacht and puttered around the lake outside of the Disney properties. The most interesting part of the tour was Discovery Island, in the middle of the lake. It’s completely abandoned but apparently there are still working soda machines. You can equate it to Jurassic Park.

Then we were going to play Fantasia mini golf but the wait time was an hour and a half! So we strolled around the grounds of the Swan and Dolphin as they were setting up for some kind of wine and food festival.

Then we decided to play mini golf at Disney’s Winter Summerland. Lots of laughs. I love playing mini golf on vacation with the family.

For dinner we went to The Swam and I ordered chicken parm that was the size of my face.

The next day we got up bright and early and headed to Animal Kingdom to be one of the first on line for the Avatar ride. And as fate would have it, our Mickey bands wouldn’t scan so we couldn’t get into the park and had to wait in line at Guest Relations. Needless to say, we were not first in line for the Avatar ride. We ended up waiting three and a half hours for the ride. It’s an incredible ride but I don’t think we’ll be waiting in a line like that again for it.

 

Then I took a quick stroll while my family fast-passed the Kilimanjaro roller coaster. I’m not one for roller coasters so I sat that one out. Once we were all together again, we went on the Kali River Rapids ride. It was fun, but we felt like they’ve toned down the ride. We felt there wasn’t as much water being sprayed at us and “the drop” wasn’t as big as it used to be. Then we did the Dinosaur ride (totally an under-rated movie by the way) and walked through the Congo. And at the end of the day we went on the safari. We thought by going at the end of the day, the animals would be more active since it would be cooler and probably close to feeding time, but many of the animals were nowhere to be seen.

The next day we got up and rushed through Magic Kingdom in an hour and a half! That’s almost half the time we spent waiting in line for the Avatar ride in Animal Kingdom! We did the Buzz Lightyear ride (twice), Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, It’s a Small World, The Dwarf Mine Train, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Well, my family did the roller coasters, I sat them out.

Then after Magic Kingdom we hopped the monorail to Epcot for the remainder of the day. Our first stop was Figmen’ts Imagination ride, my mom’s favorite. Then we saw the Disney Pixar Short Film Festival, did Spaceship Earth, Soarin’, The Land, Finding Nemo, followed by some time spent in the aquarium learning about manatees and other fish. Being an Animal Studies major, my sister was in her haven. When she was finally ready we headed over to Test Track.

We still had some time before our dinner reservation in Canada so we went to Mexico and did the Donald Duck ride, and then poked around the gift shop in Canada as we got closer to our dinner time. We found some hilarious soaps with fragrant names like “Beaver Butt, “Moose Spit”, “Ferret Farts”, “Badger Barff,” and “Bear Breath”. And despite the names, the soaps smelled pretty good.

Dinner was fantastic, we ate at Le Cellier Steakhouse. Apparently it’s very difficult to get reservations, and I could see why. It was a small place with incredible food and wonderful service. I’d definitely eat there again and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t yet been. If you wind up on a waitlist, it’s worth the wait.

That night my brother drove my sister back to school and then he went back to his place since he had to work in the morning. All too quickly it was just my parents and I again.

The next morning we checked out and wandered around the grounds of The Grand Floridian and poked around in some gift shops before heading over to Disney Springs to poke around some more and to grab some lunch.

Then at the airport, our 6:10 flight home was delayed to 11:20. A lot of passengers weren’t too happy about that and abandoned ship and hopped on another flight. We stayed on our original flight because the other flight that was offered was flying into JFK and our car was at West Chester. Not to mention, even though the flight to JFK would have gotten us in an hour and a half earlier, it’s an hour and change to get to our house from JFK, plus we would have to get our car and by the time we would have gotten home, it would have been the same time as just sticking with the new 11:20 departure time. So we stayed.

There were only 40 passengers on board by the time we were ready to take off. I had a whole row to myself! I loved it. I took advantage and spread out. I also watched the new Lion King (of course) and was thankful the lights were out and that no one was around because I still cry when Mufasa dies. The animation and facial expressions they put into young Simba’s face really tug at the heart strings. How could you not at least tear up?

 

It was about 2AM by the time we landed in Westchester, New York. Luckily, I didn’t have any plans the next day so it didn’t bother me that we got in so late, my poor dad on the other hand, leaves the house at 5AM every morning for work so he wasn’t too thrilled. But everybody (brother and sister included) made it home safe and sound after a weekend in Disney, and for that he should be grateful. I know I am.

And that just about sums up what I’ve been up to these last two years. Hope you’ve enjoyed the read and images. More content coming soon!