coldplay

this week, nate and i went to see coldplay in concert. i purchased tickets as part of his christmas gift this last year (2011)...yeah, he had to wait a long time.  anyway, even though i bought the tickets, and held on to them for safe keeping...(and i always write important events down in my planner, which i did) but if you can believe it, i wrote it down for the last week in july, rather than the last week in june!!! in fact, we didn't realize my potentially very pricey mistake until tuesday evening (and the concert was on thursday)! thankfully, nate saw a commercial promoting the show and called me, so i checked the tickets (because obviously the date was printed on them) and sure enough, it was this past week! 

it is so unlike me...and i really can't explain how it happened...but thankfully we didn't miss it and it  was an absolutely fantastic show! coldplay really knows how to take care of their fans! 

here are a few photos from our experience...

the wristbands given to us upon entering...we were told the were
part of the show.

this is ross. he was the sweetest, most generous usher working the
concert. he made our concert experience so much more enjoyable! :)

the little lights in the background are the wristbands 

confetti...lots and lots of glorious confetti

hundreds of colorful balls

our lit wristbands!!!

lots of color and little lights!!!

xoxo

"little guy"

this weekend was a wet one...we have had constant rain due to a tropical storm (and unfortunately, i have some leaks in my ceiling and windows to prove it). so, the majority of my time was spent at home, cuddled up with nate, watching movies...and it was wonderful!!!!

however, there was a great deal of excitement at my parents' house this weekend! we got a puppy!!! he is absolutely darling and i love him so. i wish that he was all mine and i could take him home to live with me (as he is a "family" dog and will remain at my parents' home). we have yet to come to an agreement on what this sweet, "little guy" (as my dad and i are currently calling him) will be called. he is a 6 month old, purebred vizsla (properly pronounced "veesh-la"), which is a hungarian breed...so naturally, some of us want to name him something awesome and hungarian! it's been 4 days and poor little guy still doesn't have a name (although, he responds to anything you call him)!

he really loves nate and he thinks he's a lap dog :)

he jumped onto the raft and surfed the pool then proceeded
to jump into the water and swim around for awhile!
(photo by: my dad)

we also celebrated my brother's birthday (for family dinner) at a burger place called bgr or burger joint...where we had a HUGE burger that everyone shared...except me, since i don't like beef...or burgers, really. so i had grilled cheese and a milkshake and it was delish! :) 

caleb and the gigantic burger

my brother, john's beautiful girlfriend, katrice
and my beautiful sister, elizabeth

all in all, it was a good weekend...well, except for the leakage in my apartment...but hopefully that will be taken care of soon!

xoxo

when it rains...

i love rain...the soft, quiet sound it makes as it falls on my window. i could watch it rain for hours...as it soaks the earth and brings life back to what the sun has scorched. everything is so bright and green when it rains. it cools the hot florida days...if only for a little while. i love the smell of the air before the rain and the smell of the air after the rain. i especially love when i'm home and i can hear the ducks outside my building having the time of their lives. 

rain (to me), feels peaceful and calm and it fills my heart with joy. 

i love rain...i really do.

rain drops on the rear window of the car

           

               xoxo

baby boy's all grown up

so, it is officially my baby brother, caleb's 18th birthday! he is the youngest of us all...9 years younger than me...i still can't believe he is legally an adult now! anyway, i'm very proud of the young man he is becoming. he has a good head on his shoulders and a bright future a head of him. he is sweet, kind, caring and he endured all kinds of...well, torture, if you will. he let us dress him up in all different kinds of get-ups when he was a babe...including those of the female kind...yes, he allowed us to dress him like a girl just so he could play with us! he's one of the most laid back people i know. almost nothing phases him! i can't really imagine what it must be like to be the youngest of 6 children. to have 5 other people either looking out for you or picking on you. but he's definitely taken it all in stride. 

caleb and hannah

anyway, happy birthday bud! i hope you have a wonderful day and that the year ahead of you is nothing short of amazing, filled with great blessings! :)

xoxo

father's day

i hope all of the dad's out there have had a truly wonderful father's day...especially my dad!

i am such a lucky girl to have such a loving, caring, selfless pop and i like days that are devoted to 

celebrating him! although, i must admit, i think we really should celebrate the people we love in our lives all of the time. perhaps days like these are reminders of that very thing!

my handsome dad

so for father's day, each year (for the last 5 years or so) my mom makes this huge medieval feast, places it on a platter in the middle of our table (which is covered with a disposable table cloth) and we all help ourselves to the food...no plates, no forks, just a couple of knives for cutting the meat. it's definitely an experience and super easy cleanup, which is great (and don't worry, everyone is required to wash their hands). my dad loves it and it's fun for the whole family and isn't that what really matters?! :)

feast fit for a king

xoxo

happy weekend!

after a very long, exhausting and somewhat disappointing week; friday evening's events...or rather, non-events were just what i needed to start my weekend off right! nate came over (and was actually there when i got home, which was some kind of wonderful). we got take out for dinner, lounged on the sofa and watched movies on netflix. it was really relaxing and pretty perfect. then, to top it all off...i actually got a good night's sleep - and there is little that makes me more happy (or pleasant to be around) than a good night's sleep!!!

 saturday, nate and i decided to have lunch at this great little pizza joint downtown called eddie & sam's n.y. pizza. we were really hungry and it was delicious!

then we saw sailor moon and where's waldo 

(among, plenty of other costumes running around downtown) and thought "what's going on?" so we decided to go walking and see if we could find where all of the people were coming from. then we happened upon this

yes, there was a banana dancing towards me and it was strange.

look at this joker ;)

and of course: bartman, captain america and iron man were there!
(he was no rdj but it was a great costume, nonetheless)

yes, she is an octopus!

i can't make this stuff up! it was truly a new experience and i'm very glad we stumbled upon it!

the remainder of the day was pretty great too. nate and i walked around downtown for awhile and found this delicious watermelon stand.

then we said our good byes and i went off to have a girls night with these two little princesses

Leela and Sonia

(and quackie)

i promise, sonia's not that creepy in real life!

it really was the perfect end to a wonderful day!

xoxo