Update | the past two weeks...

... have been really great for me :) I neglected any blogging because I hadn't come up with any new recipes or anything worth blogging about, and I didn't really have the time/energy to write up a blog post worth reading.

I was back and forth between Long Island and South Jersey with my boyfriend Chris for the two weeks. What was meant to just be a couple days spent up in New York for his birthday turned into an awesome two weeks with some working in between.

I ended up being able to spend the 4th of July with Chris which was really nice since I got to meet the majority of his family. His family is not only huge but hilarious, and there wasn't a dull moment at the 4th of July BBQ at his uncle's house.

Chris also took me out to Port Jeff, one of the nice, quaint towns on the water, during that stay. We got to walk around, have a fantastic vegetarian meal at Tiger Lily Cafe, buy some loose leaf tea and incense, and just soak up the salty, summer air and have a good time. We also realized how few pictures we have together where we're not making disgusting faces, so I got this one really quickly when we were stopped at a red light on the way to Port Jeff:

Half of our faces are covered with our sunglasses... but hey, it's a start! The whole not-distorting-our-faces-for-pictures thing is foreign to us.

Of course, I couldn't wait to give Chris his presents, so I ended up giving most of them BEFORE his actual birthday. I managed to keep the one present I was most excited for (two tickets to an Atmosphere concert) a surprise until the day of his birthday and I think he was decently excited :) The night prior to his birthday was fantasic - spent with his parents and a big chunk of his cousins, aunts, and uncles out at The Patio listening to some live music and getting dragged onto the dance floor. The night finished off with a ride on a firetruck. Not too shabby, right? The day of his actual birthday was a lazy day for us until some family came over for dinner, cake, and gift-opening. 

The two weeks ended with me catching whatever head cold type thing his grandmother was recovering from. I still need a box of tissues near by at all times, my voice is reminiscent of a pre-pubescent boy, and I'm still pretty achey, but I feel WORLDS better than how I felt just yesterday and the day before. All the tissues were worth it, though.

In between all the day dates, movie nights, exploring, and just enjoying each other's company, I had a couple days scheduled to work - a fare trade off, if you ask me, since I got to spend some of my off days with Chris and his amazing family. I feel quite lucky to now know such a loving, spontaneous, accepting, and flat-out awesome group of people. I now know where Chris gets his genuinely good-hearted personality from. I'm not one for being all sappy and whatnot, but I'm really happy with this guy. I'm also really happy his family likes me and that my family is equally as fond of him. We're a really good match for each other. Chris makes me forget about why I'm sad and I can honestly say I'm extremely happy with where I'm at in life right now, despite some recent crappy realizations, and Chris helped me get to this point. He's just great, okay?

I'll  be back to my normal blogging routine as SOON as I go grocery shopping and start coming up with new recipes!

-Sam :)