hit the deck!

This morning I fell getting off the boat. There is no delicate way to put that... It was kinda early, I was sleepy, I took a step onto the dock from the boat as I have been lucky enough to do hundreds of times before and just like that, I was on my hands and knees on the narrowest part of the boards - and feeling it. I was lucky that I didn't end up in the water actually. So that was how my day started. This foggy Halloween. 

Sunday ended up being pretty amazing. I love having weekend days off after that so not being the case for almost a year! Dan and I were brunching at the Boatyard in Eastport (love this place - check it out)  relishing our time together and plotting out the next few days. His sister swung by to see us and thankfully mentioned something about the concert later that day. It turns out a ticket became available and yours truly got to go. The Pearl Jam show was later that evening at the Baltimore arena and so much fun. I didn't realize all of the songs that I knew and the energy was awesome. I also loved seeing Dan singing and so happy. Eddie Vedder's voice is truly amazing. 

 This was pre-concert in Parkton celebrating Kevin's birthday. I call it our fall photo shoot :)

Three little pumpkins enjoying a lovely fall day at Larriland Farm! 

do what makes you happy

Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the motions of every day life that we often loose sight of what really makes us happy. We are in too much of a hurry for no good reason. Maybe this is to get to wherever we are going. I think overall we need to slow down, take the time to breathe, REFLECT and meditate (I need to get better at this). We need to realize that we put more pressure on ourselves than most. And that we are not living the life we are meant to if there is no joy, no fulfillment, no sheer and utter happiness. We also need to accept without judgement. Just because things are different or not exactly like we are used to/how we would handle them, does not mean that they are wrong or that we should judge in any way. I am not even sure why I am on this little soap box. I think that I need to make some changes in terms of how I am spending my time and focus more.
Today I have spent hours pouring through job openings. I've realized that it has been a good run this whole not working full-time thing but if I want to be able to do what I want to do/what truly makes me happy, that something needs to change. This makes me happy:

I should have the wedding photos done by now. It was my goal to have them all packaged up nice and tidy by the time the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon. Instead, I find that I keep pouring over them and reliving each and every wonderful memory. I need to get to it! Wait until you see them. Some , quite simply and completely, take my breath away. 

A city unlike any other

Venice...wow. The first time I arrived in this beautiful and confusing city it was after being cooped up in a tiny alfa romeo that did its fair share of winding down the country roads from our tucked away b and b. I was slightly car sick (not going to lie) and we were running late.  I was hungry (not sure how this is even ever the case in Italy!) and had been prosecco tasting earlier in the day). I was nervous that my photos wouldn't live up to expectations and wanted to do what I could to make sure that was not the case. There were people everywhere and we quickly piled onto a boat that serves as a taxi to go down the Grand Canal. We were meeting the rest of our group and our walking tour guide at Saint Marco square. Eventually enough people got off or moved so that we were able to grab a spot close to the edge of the boat as it whizzed by slight alley ways, bridges and many canals. How did I not know that there aren't any cars anywhere? How could I not be expecting that every road would look the same? We definitely should have left a crumb trail - but hindsight is 20/20.
I was in awe of the cobblestone streets and hidden gems, of the smart dressed women that could navigate the winding and confusing streets, of the cafes with outside seating and the storefronts with murano glass and carnival type masks. We quickly rushed over waterways and ducked into alleys. We devoured the best gelato in the city and it seemed that every corner we turned was another breath taking picture spot. At 9 pm that evening, we finally found the restaurant that we had been searching for and ended up bellying up to a neighboring one and slurping up clams, mussels and delicious pasta. When Dan and I returned several days later, the pace was a little bit different. There was no where that we had to be and so we covered what felt like every inch of the city on foot following graffiti signs to S MARCO. We had expensive tiny coffee and more gelato. We ducked into little stores and followed the locals to what had to be the best pizza place around. Luckily, we stumbled upon several little local spots with wine on tap and copper kettles on the ceiling. It felt magical.