wicked

mr. o and i have had a string of free weekends.  no travel, no plans, no weddings, just waking up when we want to and doing whatever we want to.  
this doesn't happen very often. 

yesterday, we decided to go hiking at the blue hills reservation in milton, ma (about 30 min south of boston).  the great people who set this all up have mapped out tonsss of trails for all skill levels.  you can canvas almost the entire mountain and the paths intertwine so you can decide to go on a different adventure halfway through if you'd like. 

we took the skyline trail and it was perfect.

the trail was a mixture of a nice walk and 
crazy inclines up and over rocks.  we got the heart rate going, got some sunshine, and had ourselves a very nice hike.  

mr. o packed lunches for us that morning so once we got to the top we found a rock to have our picnic on.  mr. o handed me my sandwich and asked for the extra napkin that was sitting on top.  when i grabbed the napkin to hand it over....

WICKED TICKETS FELL OUT!! 

i was so surprised, so psyched, so thankful, and just the happiest person in the world in that moment.  i've been in love with Wicked (the musical) soundtrack foreveerrrrrrrr, but have never been able to actually go see the show.  it's in Boston right now for a limited time, but i kept putting off getting tickets because they were so expensive and ryan isn't the biggest fan of watching people sing for a couple hours. 

regardless, he got us two tickets to the show that night and it was everything i had every dreamed it'd be.  so funny, so sad, so magical.  the voices were incredible, amazing costumes and effects, the story is so engaging, and the music.  ohhh the music! seeing "defying gravity" performed in real life is so much better then from pandora on the "broadway's hits" station.   

finally, i can check this off my bucket list. 

(outside the boston opera house)

thank you, mr. o, for an absolutely amazing day.  

canadian cuisine

something i didn't really touch upon in my post about our trip to canada was the food.

it's amazing and i want to discuss two new dishes i got to experience. 

poutine and donair.

 (aka pure joy)

poutine is pretty basic and surprisingly (maybe not so surprisingly) delicious. 

(poutine on the left. amazing lobster roll on right)

french fries, coverrreedddd in gravy, and sprinkled with just the right amount of cheese curds. i was weary of cheese curds before i tried them since i wasn't sure what they were, but they are just blobs of a really mild cheese (don't wiki it, the description doesn't do them justice).  when you decide this is something you'd like to try, you order a batch at any restaurant or food truck.  It arrives steaming hot, you stir it all up, and gobble it down. the whole concoction is an ooey, gooey mess of salty goodness.  you can order it regular which is how i described above, but lots of people order it with pulled pork or bacon piled high on top.  it's, no question, a heart attack on a plate, but at least you would have died eating a really great meal.

donair is the best sandwich i've ever eaten. 

that's a pretty heavy statement for me to make since i love all sandwiches. mr. o has tried to explain this sandwich to me many times and it never sounded like anything special. you've probably heard of it as "donar" which is a middle eastern sandwich, very similar to the donair, with sliced lamb and a cucumber yogurt sauce with various veggies in a pita. 

as wiki explains the history of the donair: "a variation of the doner kebab known as "donair" was introduced in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in the early 1970s. Peter Gamoulakos immigrated to Canada in 1959^.  when he failed in his attempt to sell traditional döner, Gamoulakos adapted the dish to local tastes.  he substituted beef for lamb and created a sweet sauce."

spicy seasoned thinly sliced beef, diced tomato, and a sweet sauce all wrapped up in a pita.  i took one bite out of this messy sandwich (it exploded all over my hands, face, lap, and seat of the rental car) and couldn't believe i had lived 27 years without having had one before. 

will someone please open a shop that sells these things in boston? cool. thanks.

color run

sometime in july mr. o and i, along with our great friends mr. and mrs. d, did a 5k color run! 

getting psyched to start the run with the d's

the race was held at rentschler field in harford, where the UConn football team plays.  there were hunndreeddsssss of people of all shapes and sizes.  definitely a family day which we appreciated since i don't think any of us had run more than a mile since last year sometime.  i respect any event that gets people off the couch, outside, and doing something active.  the downside was that it was 5,000 degrees out.  not the best day for a 5k, but we were up for the challenge. 

thankfully, we all stayed hydrated and i was extremely proud of how we did.  my parents even came to cheer us on and were there at the finish with high fives for everyone (maybe even a colorful hug for mom who was not dressed for a color run ha!).  afterwards, the d's headed back up to boston for a work party they had to attend, but the o's went home with my parents and we went out to a really fun dinner at abigail's in simsbury to celebrate my parents anniversary from last month.  i think i needed 6 showers to get the blue, green, and pink color off, but even the bit that was left made for great conversation at my 9am morning meeting at work on monday. 

it was the low key weekend we needed, spent with great family and friends.

curveballs

well, life, thanks for always keeping me on my toes. 

july was an interesting month for the o's.  we started off with an excellent vacation to nova scotia.  shortly after, we found out that our good friends had ended their almost 4 year long relationship. 
it came out of nowhere, at least to us, and it was a bit of a blow for everyone. 

it feels like a string of these breakups have been happening lately.  the "i can't see the rest of my life with you" breakup.  3 of us got married, one couple became serious, and the rest have broken up with (or been left by) their long term boyfriends.  it's a make or break point in life, people deciding their careers, who they are going to spend their lives with, having kids, buying homes...

these late 20s, man, are tough times.

it did give mr. o and i a chance to reflect on how lucky we are to have each other and recognize the strength in our relationship.  

it also finally gives us an answer to the age old newlywed question, 

"does it feel any different now that you're married?"

we usually gave some cheeky "it feels the same as the day before the rings" type answer, but after this year of change and witnessing heartbreak, we realize that the biggest change is that we've formally committed to each other.  i recognize that sounds a little bizarre (weren't you committed before?), but committed in the sense that we've proven our commitment to each other by getting married.  Trusting that this person will be by my side no matter what curveballs life throws our way.  

 we won't have an "i'm not sure i see the rest of my life with you" conversation.  

we won't have an "are you the one?" conversation. 

we've chosen to see how the rest of our lives play out with each other. 

another july curveball is that my wonderful company was sold to another company.  i can't get too much into it because the sale hasn't gone through yet, but we're all a little heartbroken.  lots of change, too many questions, and more anxiety about the future than i'd ever like to feel again.

regardless of these curveballs life has thrown me and my loved ones, we will all come out on top.  i'm sure i'll embrace the career changed head on. i have faith that my dear friend who is now starting over in love will find an amazing partner like the one i found in ryan. she will look back on this difficult time and realize what she learned from it and how it made her stronger. 

thanks for the tests, life, but we've got this.