I love Emily Giffin.

Shannon and I were very yolo on Monday evening and took a trip down to Bethesda, MD to go to our first book signing + see Emily Giffin!

So much great happened. I'm so glad we decided to go. Emily's hilarious and so normal (she's one of us) and talked about celebrities (and their relatives) like they were other normals (just like us). It's so awesome to put a personality and a real life person to the person that writes the books I read. 

Obviously we got to meet her, because she was signing our books. Awkward me had no idea what I would say to her but I decided that I would just ask her "CAN I INSTAGRAM YOU?" And I got this amazing picture out of it. No regrets. 

Anyone that's read Something Borrowed + Something Blue will care about this - she said that I'm a Darcy, or rather, look like one.

After the signing, we went to Georgetown Cupcake since it was just a few doors down. Bethesda is cute.

I love life lately.

Life lately is me:

• finally getting to see recent pictures of him again and remembering how great looking Joe Flacco is. Make fun of me, okay? Oh, he has caterpillar eyebrows? Don't care. He looks great. Great hair. Great face. Great life. Great YELLing. Great cursing at refs. I love it. 
• officially being on Ravens Watch 2k12. For all of those who don't know about this already...Ravens Watch happens right before and during football season. When I went to Stevenson, I had to drive to class and home 2x a day and on my way to-and-from class, I had to drive really close/near the Castle (or now the Under Armour Performance Center) and I was always on watch for cars that I thought might have Ravens in them. I saw so many. Well, now that training camp is starting (and I'm still driving by it two times a day to go to work) and all of the dudes will be going to the Castle, I'm on duty again. I'll keep you guys updated. I usually have a count per day. For example, today I only saw 1 car that I thought might have a Raven in it. I'm not crazy.
• having the strongest urge to start baking again. I can't remember the last time I made something from scratch. It's been so long! I miss it I miss it I miss it. I can't call it my hobby and never do it. Then I'll get made fun of some more by Paul for not having a hobby. It's my only real hobby (or was). Let me bake something for you.
• falling in love with Sasha's fur again. She's at the point (between getting her haircuts) that she's really fluffy and I never want her to get her hair cut again. She's so cute.
• going on a spending spree - whoops. Bye, $$$. See you later. 
• starting to get cravings for Christmas and fall-time. Ohhhhhh no. Here it comes. I looked at jeans online for an hour this weekend. I don't even like wearing jeans when it is ACTUALLY fall. I just like to love them in the summer - it's weird. 

I love vacations.

I had a feeling I might appreciate this year's summer vacation to Ocean City a thousand times more than I ever have in the past. Vacations are so much different when I work full time. I really think I kind of took it for granted a little bit the past few years. This year's (short-ish) trip was grrrrrrrreat great great great great. 
  
Experienced a casino (for the first time) and saw $100 bills. I can't remember the last time I saw those in real life. This woman we saw was using them like they were $5s or $10s. Ridiculous. Paul and I, obviously, didn't do any gambling. I can't imagine doing that with how crazy I am about money. No way, Jose. I don't have $1 bills to be putting into machines if there aren't any Snickers bars or white cheddar popcorn bags coming out.
Hit up Dunkin Donuts twice in one day - that's what's up. Breakfast and dessert. Proud of this. 
Played mini golf twice in 24 hours. Once with just Paul - which was lots of fun. Highest score wins, right? In that case, I was the champ. The other with a large group of Paul's family - which was also lots of fun. Also got one of the highest scores that time as well. All I do is win.
Consumed a ton of food at Tequila Mockingbird - finally! All I ever do is hear about how awesome it is there. It was incredible. Really. Amazing. I wish I could go more often/it were closer. I'd spend all of my $$$ on those nachos. I get nachos basically everywhere I go anyways. I just wish they were THEIR nachos. 
Dined at a seafood restaurant for breakfast. I wasn't into it at first - definitely kind of grossed out thinking about it as we were walking up to the place. But their breakfast was normal, diner-like food. I'll take pancakes from anywhere - even a seafood place, apparently.
Hung out hard with Kelsey and Jess! Friends from good old Eldersburg! Something about hanging out with friends outside of your town is really exciting. 
Swam in the ocean - twice. This is a big deal for me, okay? I don't think Paul and I have ever swam together in the ocean for as long as we did. I've always been such a chicken about getting in. It seemed like the older I got, the more fearful I was about what was in the water (fish, jelly fish, crabs on my feet, other mysterious things, seaweed, etc.). Such a scary mystery about what's in there. I decided before we left this trip that I was going to just get over it and get in. And I'm glad I did! 
Burned to a crisp. As usual. In the same spot I always get sunburned - my very upper back and my neck. EVERY summer, you'll always see a burn line (which will eventually turn into a tan line) of where the strap of my bathing suit was. No matter how much sunblock I put on. Always that line. Always so much ouch. 
   
The trip was swell, swell, swell and I didn't want to leave. It's always tough to leave. Especially when you're only there for a few days and not a whole week. I got super sentimental as we were driving off (aka addressing Ocean City as if it were a person - turning around in my seat, speaking the skyline, telling it I would miss it, etc.). My life. I plan on going back at least once more before summer is over! 

I love Friday the 13th + weird things. Weird.

I knew it was Friday the 13th yesterday which explains why everything that happened seemed weird to me. 
  
Starbucks was weird because I couldn't speak. I ordered my drink by saying, "iced latte...grande...vanilla...soy....iced...latte...." Weird. Couldn't talk.
Panera was weird because it was. It felt weird to be at Panera before going into work. They showed me some of the new packaging (I used to work there so it's fun to see). Weird.
Breakfast at home was weird because...I don't even remember eating breakfast. What? I think I did but I don't remember. Weird. 
The drive into work was weird (or awesome) because I could finally hear Elliott in the Morning again! All week it was fuzzy and going into a different station so I couldn't listen to it on the way to work - lame. But it was weird because then there was an Arrested Development reference made. Awesome...or weird.
The parking garage at work was weird because there were random notices everywhere about it getting power washed...but only on certain levels. Weird. Really wasn't sure where I was supposed to park. It was weird. Wound up parking 3 levels higher than I usually do. Weird.
Work was weird because it was. Weird long calls with weird people and weird situations. Weird. Marie brought in really good chocolate chip cookies, though. Yum. (See above). That wasn't weird. Just great. 
Dinner with Shannon was weird because I said to the waitress after she didn't ask for my ID and I had ordered a margarita (as she was walking away), "DID YOU WANT TO SEE MY ID? (shows her ID) I'm 23..." I probably came off as so suspicious. Shannon thought I did. Weird. I guess that's just me being weird.
Grocery shopping after dinner was weird because I got cash back at the self-checkout and it gave me an extra $10 bill. Am I a bad person? I didn't realize it until I was in the car (right, Shannon?) and at that point, it was mine for the taking. Finders keepers? Bad person? Magical glitch? Who knows? Weird. 

I love graduation parties.

I'm really glad that graduation parties go on and on and on during the summer. They're one of my favorite things ever. Graduation parties mean fun people (usually or...hopefully) and a lot of great food. This hungry monster (hi, Jackie and Tyler) could eat all of the chips and fruit salad forever and be so content with life. I wouldn't be able to eat like that at home...only at parties.

Paul and I went to two on Saturday and they were both awesome. One was for Paul's friend and Shannon's soon-to-be (legally) Uncle David's son (did you follow all of that or..?) who graduated from high school. The other one was for Amanda and Jess. Two of my most favorite people in the whole world. Amanda graduated from Washington College and Jess graduated from high school. Aw...I love them.

Both parties were great. Kyle's was just a little rough because it was ridiculous outside. It was 200 degrees outside. Okay, maybe it wasn't that hot but it was really hot outside. I've noticed that I sweat a lot more now that I ever did before. I feel like I was sweating so much more than Paul and I had a dress on (a light one, without sleeves, etc.) and he had a t-shirt and shorts on. What's wrong with me? Sweaty monster life. The party itself was great and the location was awesome. And I got to see Nick and Shannon for a hot second! It's crazy to think that Paul knows Nick's uncle so well and we end up at the same parties because of it. It makes me want to sing "It's A Small World."

Amanda and Jess's party was honestly the best ever. So great that we stayed until 1:30 in the morning - that's late not just for us but it's also late for me. I haven't stayed out that late in forever - grandma alert. Their family is...amazing. I can't even describe it. They're all so open and honest and awesome and nice and friendly (hi, Shannon). Hanging out with their family (immediate and extended) feels so comfortable. It feels like I've known them forever. Paul and I had a blast hanging out with them. And honestly, they're some of my new favorite people because they told me that I look like Zooey Deschanel. Twice. I don't. At all. But you know what, I'll take it. What an awesome compliment, hahaha.

Here's some pictures from the grad party at A + J's as well as some from the 4th of July!

I love good Mondays.

Mondays rarely seem good anymore. I mean, they're fine but I never get home after work on a Monday and say "that was a really good day." Usually because I'm exhausted and tired and sleepy and whatever other words describe not having enough sleep or wanting to just lay down on the floor and do nothing.
   
Howeeeeever, today was a really good Monday. It feels so weird to say it. Good and Monday just don't seem to go together. I felt chipper and happy the entire day. I never felt run down - even at 3:00pm which is the worst and sleepiest time of the day - and felt awesome overall. Maybe it was because I knew that Tuesday is like a Friday sort of and that I have off Wednesday. Or maybe it was because of my awesome weekend and I felt weirdly refreshed. 

This weekend, I hung out with Paul's family and ate extremely good frozen yogurt. I met cute puppies that were in little cribs and super adorable. There was a pom and a corgi and a yorkie poo. All my favorite kinds of puppies. I swam for the first time in years and really enjoyed it. I hung out (and almost fell asleep - I'm so bad at staying up late) with Paul and Kyle at Memories and finally got to hear RedLine play for I'm pretty sure the first time ever (or maybe it was the second time). I went to the mall and watched Paul actually spend money (rarest ever) on things like shoes. I went to church randomly for the first time in a long time with Paul and saw Patrick do a reading. Hi Patrick if you read this! You're awesome! Pretty great weekend. 

I love best friend engagements + baseball.

For the past week or so, I've had zerooooo motivation to write on here. Luckily, that motivation is kind of sort of back. Some things have happened since I last made a post.

My best friend got engaged! Super exciting and romantic and I'm really happy for her and what real life adults we are now. Her ring is so pretty and her fiancé (weird to say that instead of 'boyfriend' - but I'll get used to it and then soon it will be husband!) is a fantastic, who is willing to go around in circles in cul-de-sacs to earn Twix bars from me, guy. Congrats, little love birdies. I'm truly excited for the next 12 months of planning and inviting myself to the part where you get to try all the fun foods that you might have at the reception! 

That same day, if you can't tell, I went to an O's game. I had a strange feeling that I really have never had towards baseball. No one else knows about this because I really wasn't going to mention it because I'm strangely embarrassed about it but here we go. The game itself  was a teensy bit boring but, finally, after what seemed like 100 years, Adam Jones hit a home run and the ball hit a pole right next to us and when it happened, I legitimately started tearing up. I know...what? I was so happy that we finally got a home run that I almost cried? Weird.
Now, it could be because I'm emotional and a girl...but I have never felt like that about baseball before. Ever. To be real with you, I have kind of hated baseball until two-ish years ago. It could also have something to do with seeing my boyfriend and my best friend's now fiancé so excited and bonding and high-fiving and being with my two of my favorite people in the world all at once. It was a magical baseball moment. I also have a big crush on Adam Jones. That probably has nothing to do with it, though. 

I love quotes.

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present."

-Eleanor Roosevelt