memorial day weekend.

for more pics from the weekend, check out my instagram feed.

the weekend that starts summer has almost come and gone. if this weekend is a preview for the rest of the season, i have very few complaints. here are some highlights.

what i watched: many episodes of sports night (this show pretty much gets better every time i rewatch it)
what i listened to: reasons why - the very best of nickel creek (i've been borrowing my roommate's car and this is my favorite of all the cds she had loaded up. it appears revisiting favorites is a theme this weekend.)
what i read: the great gatsby (i really enjoyed rereading this at 29, seeing what i highlighted at 15 and considering what i'd underline now. i would totally read this again next summer, it's just that good.)

though large portions of the past week have been spent alone, and i'm very ready to get out of my head, this weekend also included lots of fun with friends. saturday was sort of a last hurrah with a friend who is going to be away for the summer. we played tug of war (my arms are still quite sore) and whiffle ball,  rode scooters around the yard, ate grilled hot dogs and enjoyed s'mores around the campfire. there was also time in between to chat with a friend or two by the river, in the batting line, and in the car. it was sort of the perfect day for someone in the middle of that introvert/extrovert spectrum.

sunday was the day i decided to go with the flow (this is a bigger deal in my life than it should be), especially if it meant spending time with friends and not alone. so i tried parmesan garlic wings at buffalo wild wings; i snuggled in my new beach towel at reed's lake as the wind threatened to carry us away; i sipped iced tea at starbucks; i dipped my feet in a hot tub; i ate spaghetti and garlic bread at 10:30; and i watched hot rod for the first time. and as the day ebbed and flowed, i enjoyed the time with friends, feeling really thankful to be in this place with these people for this time.

and now it's monday, the extra day. i've slept in, i've been to the beach, i've picked up strawberries, and had a cold brew from my favorite beach town coffee shop. and i'm tired in that great way that comes from spending lots of time in the sun... but not too tired to make some shortcake to go with those strawberries. here's to summer!

writing this post has taken longer than i expected. i had only planned to recap the weekend in words + photos. assembling the perfect photo collage always takes longer than i think; but more than that, i'm finding that i tend to come at blogging either as an attempt to process the days or to make a note of them. when i attempt to do both in one post i find myself slogging through my thoughts, constantly rewriting to make sure i say what i mean to say. in the end, there seems to be so much more to write than i have time to commit to doing well. i think this is why i tend to drop blogging... why i tend to drop writing as a practice. to write well, to truly process life and suck the marrow out of each moment, is a task. a task that if taken too lightly lacks meaning. in the end, maybe it's not about learning how to wring the greater truth out of every day, but learning to hit enter and be happy with what lies on the page. there's always tomorrow, right?