Summer Vacation Has Begun!

We got back from our ten-day East Coast trip on Sunday night. The trip was a mixture of joyful reunions, fun, relaxation, and work all in one. Somehow, it left me feeling happy, anxious, and exhausted. These jumble of emotions are still cycling inside me but somehow I find one particular emotion that keeps coming up, anticipation of the unknown. Not knowing if I can find a teaching job after we move to Maryland opens up a world of possibilities… I could blog full time, go through yoga teacher training, become a baker, become an apprentice at Les Petits Bisous! (seriously, I'm in love), find a boring 9-5 job, what have you!        

salted caramel macaron from Les Petits Bisous!,
 after I gobbled the green tea white chocolate one (no picture)

Today, I am taking some time off from contemplating about my future and just reliving our whirlwind trip. We went to a lovely wedding in Pennsylvania where I got to meet DFJ’s friends from high school and danced until my feet hurt. Two days were spent area scoping and house hunting in Maryland. After a dinner of sushi and spicy Korean noodle soup in Baltimore, we got soaked from head to toe during a torrential downpour on our way back to the hotel. I clutched DFJ’s waist like my life depended on it and ducked under our broken umbrella, squealing and laughing the whole time. DFJ, on the other hand, didn’t revel as much in the comedy of the situation. At the end of house hunting, day two, we gave up on the conquest and drove to Long Beach Island in New Jersey instead to enjoy some peace and much needed rest.

 

 

A family friend of DFJ’s offered to let us stay at her family’s LBI beach house as a wedding present and we gratefully took her up on that. Her house was lovely and only a hundred footsteps away from the beach. Wednesday was DFJ’s birthday and we spent the day eating a leisurely breakfast, drinking coffee and reading books in the back patio, and sun bathing. We lay on the beach, sunk our toes in the hot sand, walked along the seashore, and dipped in the cold water when we got too hot. Sun kissing my skin + taste of salt water on my lips = pure bliss! That night, we celebrated DFJ’s birthday with a delicious dinner at Pinzimminio’s (if you happen to be in Long Beach Island, do yourselves a favor and dine there, they know how to make food!). Then we went home and played Risk for hours. The next day was stormy, so we burrowed in the house with our books, pastries, and tea until the sun came out again. We explored the southern part of the island until the rain forced us to take shelter in a coffee shop with some decadent cake and hot coffee. We eventually drove back to the beach house, where we had a dinner of leftovers, asparagus, and corn, and capped the night with another round of Risk.

 

 

 

 

We headed back to Pennsylvania on Friday for some family time with DFJ’s family and then to New Jersey to see my Aunt and her family. Living closer to our families is definitely one of the best things about moving to the East Coast. When we said our goodbyes, there was not a hint of sadness on both sides, only excitement about being in the same time zone and a mere hundred or so miles of distance between one another.

Now that we’re back home, I’m slowly trying to get into the swing of things. On my first free day, I was feeling indolent, but somehow mustered up the strength to go to a yoga class and do a bit of grocery shopping. I cooked again after days of not making my own food and it felt so good… it felt like home. More on that in the next post!