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Author Archives: Ali
SuperTrip 2014!
Basking in the glow of our recent engagement (!!!), last week Miek and I embarked on another adventure: SuperTrip 2014! We planned for over a year, and were so excited to pack our new suitcases and head for Palm Springs to take in Coachella Weekend 2, followed up by some R&R in Las Vegas.
Back home after 7 days of core-warming sun, tasty eats and celeb-sightings, I love looking through my pics snapped on my Nikon DSLR, Canon point and shoot, and Instax. Miek and I both agree that the trip was 100% perfect. From witnessing new friends getting engaged on the plane from Chicago to Palm Springs, to hearing our cab-driver’s poorly-thought-out business plan, we had the time of our lives.
xo Al
Charge It!
This is what happens when you don’t have a functional computer charger for a few months: lots of pictures live on the cameras in your house for a while, then the UPS man delivers a new cord, you dump them all in Photoshop and go wild!
xo Al
Gobble Gobble
I have always looked forward to Thanksgiving. The succulent turkey roasting away in the oven alongside apple-filled stuffing, the giblets simmering on the stove-top to yielding rich stock to mix with roux, and the sounds of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade coming from the TV. This year, I got to experience that TWICE. My pretty sister and her fiance hosted round one in their cozy and full-of-character apartment here in Portland. After stuffing ourselves to the gills with turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, green beans and mashed potatoes, Miek and I grabbed the dogs and headed to Pine Point for round two. Not a low-cal day!
Traditions are so important, and I’m so thankful that my parents have fostered rituals, tastes and sounds of the holidays! It has created a solid holiday foundation upon which to build our own traditions.
xoxo Al
Season’s Greetings!!!!
Dogs and Guitars
A typical Friday night at the casa…
xo Al
WOW It Has Been Awhile!
I’ve been MIA from this little corner of the Internet! This summer was gobbled up by studying for my insurance license, attending training sessions, traveling for business, and helping my parents move back to Portland.
It’s already autumn! So far, we have already been apple picking, I turned 27 and we are in the throes of getting ready to celebrate the engagement of Erik and Cecelia this weekend. So many good things!
Here’s a sampling of iPhone snaps to fill in the blanks.
Summer Scenes
Somehow, we are smack-dab in the middle of summer. Although work at the office is keeping my brain busier than ever, I still have had an opportunity to live in the moment and enjoy all that lazy days of summer have to offer: wildflowers, grilling, fireworks, swimming in the ocean.
Here are some snippets of the fun:
Hugs on the Fourth of July
One of the last dips in my parents’ pool (end of an era!)
Experimenting with my camera
Wild, orchid-like flowers nestled in the hydrangea that borders my driveway
Admiring the Boston lights back at the hotel after seeing Sir Paul McCartney
Bonding puppies
Fourth of July fireworks over the Atlantic, as seen from the top deck
Speckles, one of my parents’ Bengal cats
A fuzzy little bumblebee gathering ingredients to make his honey
xo Al
Harvey the Bugg
We weren’t really planning on getting a new dog, at least not right away. But. It had been raining for a solid week, I was feeling down, so Miek and I went to look at puppies. When this little guy cocked his head at us, it was all over. Meet Harvey!!
Portland Head Light
When I moved to Portland after college, there were some lonely years. Most of my best friends were from away anyway, and we had met under the trees on the quad at Bates. They went back to NYC, California, Chicago, Michigan. While there were some moments that were challenging (I couldn’t quite bring myself to go out to the bars by myself to meet people, thus having nobody with whom I could go out to the bars to meet people…and on and on), I cherish those solitary, self-sufficient days. I learned how to amuse myself. To slow down, to make friends at work. To eat lunch downtown with a book and my iPod.
Sometimes, when I needed to clear my head, I would make the short drive over the bridge to Cape Elizabeth to sit on a ledge over the rocky coast. With Portland Headlight to my right, and the fort to my left, the craggy boulders beneath me with their simmering tidal pools opening up to the vast expanse of the Atlantic, I could think. Roll in, crash, spray, roll out.
Now that I have a network of friends in the city, and my thoughtful, caring boyfriend, I don’t make it out to the lighthouse as often. I don’t need to. When we want to sun and hear the waves, we go to the sandy beach behind my boyfriend’s parents’ house. Miek had never been to the lighthouse, so this Saturday we took a walk there with Melo. I remembered why I love it there so much. The clarity, salt air, rose-hip perfume swirling around those cliffs.
xo Al
Boston
I’m still processing what happened yesterday in Boston, vacillating between being really, really sad and confused/angry/frustrated. I love that city. I have so many friends there.
I’m trying to focus on the acts of bravery, heart, and selflessness that Boston residents displayed yesterday. Those are Boston traits.
Yesterday, I ran an errand around 1 pm to buy lightbulbs. As I left the office, I looked at the sky. Took a picture, actually, because it was so blue. Here in the northeast, blue blue skies in springtime are hard to come by. Later that afternoon, when I heard the first reports of the bombings at the marathon, I immediately thought of that blue sky. The same blue sky that I remembered from the morning of 9/11. That juxtaposition of beauty/darkness. Eerie.
As I watched footage of the explosions later that night, seeing such chaos on a street that I’ve walked countless times with my love, I was struck by the symbolism. All those flags lined the street to signify international camaraderie, and represented participants in the race. As the blast made those flags shake, I cried. The world needs to remember that we are all in this together. This kind of violence needs to stop.
Thinking of all those injured, maimed, frightened yesterday. Thinking of all those runners who were nearing the finish line when some coward detonated the bombs. Finding solace in stories of people helping one another in the middle of all that darkness. Thinking of my Boston (how the gold dome of the state house glows in late afternoon sun, the north end cannoli, concerts at the garden, Miek’s friends at Uptown Cafe, Copley, all my Batesies who grew up there or just “15 minutes outside” the city.)
Sending love.
Hot Off The Dress 