Since I couldn't head out to Terrapin Crossroads with Twiddle and the gang I decided to take a last minute trip to New York to spend some time with my family and celebrate my amazing father, as well as the birthdays of both of my crazy Gemini siblings, Samantha and Stephen! I'm lucky that my family lives close enough that it isn't a crazy amount of traveling to go see them. I even worked all day on Friday before taking the five and a half hour drive down to Queens, where I grew up and had lived for the majority of my life. We had beautiful weather all weekend which was AMAZING! I started out Saturday afternoon visiting one of my best friends and having a delicious brunch at Table29 in Manhattan. I had never been there before but I can never turn down a bottomless brunch and some scrumptious food!
I was also super glad because the St. Gregory The Great Festival was going on where I grew up and this festival is such a large part of my life. We would go every year with family and friends. Now that I am older it is a little bit different - I can legally drink and gamble there for starters! But also, now when I run into old friends I see them with their children. My mom, dad and I walked from our house through the tunnel (which is now decorated with BEAUTIFUL graffiti artwork) over to the festival and enjoyed the sights for a bit before meeting up with my brother, Stephen. Then we headed out to a birthday party of one of his oldest friends. I got to hang out with people I've known since Kindergarten which was such a trip down memory lane! It's always so fun to go back to where I came from and see how far people have come (hopefully!). In this instance we got to catch up with the Linares family that we have been close with for basically our entire lives. It was so cool to get to see Daniel, who I have known since I was probably seven years old, and hear how he has become the "KING OF WEDDING ENTERTAINMENT" - which is very well deserved I might add, he even performed at my sweet sixteen!
Graffiti in the tunnel
My friend since Kindergarten - Daniel Linares
My brother Stephen and his friend Jill - I hope they get married one day!
The Linares and Evers family! Missing my sister Samantha!
Sunday we woke up early and my siblings and I cooked lunch for our parents. I was so glad that we all got to be together for the weekend because it honestly has been way too long. I don't think we have had a real QUALITY hang out session since my wedding! We decided to barbecue some pork chops, burgers, zucchini and corn. Plus, I concocted some delicious pasta salad which I will give you the recipe to in my next post! We spent the afternoon listening to Twiddle, playing music, and talking about everything and nothing at all! We ended the weekend with a beautiful beach day and I could not have been happier! Next stop is Canada to celebrate Ryan's father at one of our favorite places - Lake Weslemkoon!
Do you guys have any special "family" places that you like to go to? I'd love to hear about them! Leave me some comments!
xoxo. Alexandra
