Things That Keep Me Grounded

I thought that it would be nice to talk about some of the things that keep me sane and keep me grounded. My life is certainly not as crazy as some, but at the same time it does have its own level of craziness, and I, like most people, need things to keep me grounded. So, here goes:

1. My awesome family. They listen to me, support me, tell me when I’m being ridiculous, and make life fun.
2. My amazing friends. I have some truly awesome, amazing and fabulous friends. They are the family that I have chosen to have in my life, and I wouldn’t be me without them. They make my life so much fun, bring me on fun adventures, come over for TV time, and listen to all my crazy ramblings.
3. Writing. Writing is a huge part of what keeps me grounded. It allows me to sort out my feelings, reimagine scenarios and it provides me with an amazing creative outlet.

I’m sure that there are other things which keep me grounded, but I think for me these are the top three. There is no way I would be where I am or who I am today without the amazing and wonderful people in my life, both the ones I’m related to and the ones I’m not. And writing is most definitely my touchstone.

What keeps you grounded?

BrittanyM

Friday Fun: Mystic Adventures

I love living in Mystic. Really, I do. It’s really touristy, but it’s where I grew up, and it’s my home. Sometimes it’s a more exciting place than other times, and during the summer there’s a lot going on because that’s when all the tourists come. There are more fairs and festivals and all the rest of it. And of course there’s all the normal tourist things – the Seaport and the Aquarium and Downtown.

Today we went to the Seaport. I went with my mom and my brother, and it was a lot of fun. We really went all out and took a ton of pictures everywhere – at exhibits and at boats and at all sorts of fun random things along the way. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.

I normally make it to the Seaport once a summer because unfortunately, sometimes that’s all I have time for. But I love going because I love seeing the different exhibits and just taking everything in. And it really was a great way to spend an afternoon with my mom and brother.

We also went downtown after the Seaport, for ice cream and to go to the bookstore. And we all know that I really love bookstores.

What adventures have all of you been up to?

BrittanyM

Weekend Adventures

Anyone who knows me knows that I really like going on adventures. I like going on shopping adventures. I like trying new restaurants. (Sometimes). I like driving and seeing where I end up. And I love doing things with my family and friends.

So the fact that my weekend was full of adventures was pretty awesome.

To start with, we went out to dinner and then to Target on Friday. This is actually a pretty normal occurrence at my house. No one ever really wants to cook on Fridays, and we often walk around somewhere after dinner. It’s a family bonding moment, and we’re big on bonding. So all in all things are shaping up pretty well.

While we’re at Target though, life got exciting. The four of us are wandering around when my dad starts gesturing toward this one guy in particular. (It seems a little weird.) My dad thinks that he’s a local radio host. He Googles picture of him and everything. And we can’t really make up our minds. So we kind of push it aside and keep wandering around Target.

It could have ended there. We could have just spent the rest of time wondering.

It didn’t end that way.

Instead my Dad asked if I wanted to go over and see if it really was James Franco of Franco in the Morning. (It’s a morning radio show on a local station, 100.9). So I tell him yes, if he goes an does all the talking. (I’m not so good at putting myself in awkward situations.) So we go over and my dad stops him, and asks if he does a local radio show.

And…he does! It really was Franco in the Morning!

Needless to say it really made my Friday. I spent the entire rest of the night babbling about meeting Franco in the Morning. This is something that honestly would have just made my entire weekend right then and there. If nothing else super cool had happened that would have been ok.

Saturday hadn’t happened yet though.

We had discussed earlier in the week that Saturday was going to be a Family Day. We were going to go to Buttonwood Farms to see the sunflowers and we were going to go mini golfing. I was really excited because it sounded like a great adventure, and I would get to spend the day with my family. How could it be a bad idea?

We started the adventure with lunch at Mystic Pizza II. The food was delicious and the company was good. The AC was a little much (sweatshirts in July) but lunch was really nice. We don’t go to either Mystic Pizza often because there’s a lot of tourists who go, but it was definitely a nice change. We often eat at the same restaurants over and over, and it’s really nice to mix things up.

From lunch we went to see the sunflowers. I don’t see large amounts of sunflowers…ever, in all honesty. It was really an amazing thing to see. There were so many sunflowers, all yellow and in full bloom and gorgeous. Plus Buttonwood does fundraisers during the sunflower season and donates the proceeds to Make*A*Wish. It’s a really worthy cause. Plus we took some great pictures of the sunflowers and of us with the sunflowers.

And then we went to mini golf. I LOVE mini golf, and there aren’t a lot of mini golf places nearby. But we went to Knolls and Holes and even though it was a little crowded we had a good time. I made the most awesome hole in two ever, and I only hit my ball into the water 3 times.

I think that after mini golf we all thought that we would go home. But instead my dad surprised us and took us to Mohegan Sun. There are A LOT of shops there, and I can’t afford anything at a ton of them. But we had ice cream and Ben&Jerry’s and poked around at the shops.

I have a big sweet tooth. That is not a secret. I love candy. I love ice cream. And baked goods. Dessert in general is a big deal with me. And I’ve always kind of wanted (really wanted) to go to a Dylan’s Candy Bar. Dylan Lauren (Ralph Lauren’s daughter) is the driving force behind these stores, and the one in New York just looks amazing. Ever since I found out about it I’ve wanted to go.

They have one at Mohegan Sun!

I was really really excited, made everyone come in with me, and took pictures. It was the perfect way to end adventure  day, at least for me.

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, thank you for reading the bajillion words that I’ve written. It was a really great weekend full of family and adventures and lots of fun. I hope your weekend was great too!

BrittanyM