This weekend I ventured back to my fabled homeland. Driving down the Turnpike you are likely to observe giant smelly factories, malls stretching as far as the eye can see, and perhaps even one or two examples of the North Jersey species
Meat-head-icus Guido-iensis (of Jersey Shore fame).
But once you get off the highway and into the small town of New Egypt where I was raised, you will find none of these offenders. Horses, cows, corn fields, small businesses, and regular folks are the norm here. It’s quiet, clean, and safe. And though I might sometimes complain that there is nothing to do in NJ, it’s often nice to just go home for the weekend and DO NOTHING. Sure, I love Boston with its museums, restaurants, shows and history. But once in a while it’s relaxing to sit in my car alone for 6 hours with the radio blasting and an ice cold McFrappe. Chase that with 2 days of chilling out on my mom’s couch and I’m down-right relaxed. This weekend I headed back to see my dad get hitched to my new step-mom Sue. Congrats to them!
It was a lovely to-do. There was a giant shrimp cocktail. And my brother somehow ended up wearing cowboy boots, which was truly as awesome as it sounds.
Lisa by the tree:
Mike wearing a festive shirt that I forced him into for this second-year-in-a-row photo-op.
Zealous party goers:
It was an all-around great way to say "goodbye for now!" to my Boston friends and celebrate the season. Now, it's officially my last week at WGBH and my co-workers were nice enough to take me out to lunch AND drinks! I'm a lucky girl, as I enjoy both of those activities very much. While sipping on a Shirley Temple with some of my work chums, they presented me with a $2 bill (provided by my co-worker, Toanya) and signed by all of them for good luck. Pretty cool, right?:
What a bummer that I'll be leaving all of these awesome peeps. Thanks everybody, you really made my going-away special & I'll miss you all very much in Iowa!
