Good morning! After I looked back on this past weekend, I realized how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family and place to escape to during the hot, crazy days of the summer. Since I had to teach on Saturday morning, I hadn’t planned on going to Maine until late Saturday afternoon to wait for the traffic to die down. My office closed at 11:30 on Friday, so it was nice to have some time around my apartment to relax, get caught up on stuff and even meet my sister at the beach (love having a BLL at the beach!).

That evening, my sister and I went up to Lisa’s deck for cocktail hour. Lisa lives on the 3rd floor in my apartment building and it’s so fun that we’ve become friends throughout the year. Our 1st floor neighbor, Lauren, couldn’t join us, but it’s so awesome to have 2 other girls in the building that are not only neighbors, but friends!

How about that view?! I love it! I also made my first real sangria and can’t wait to share the recipe with you- I think it came out pretty darn tasty!

We decided to head down to Kelly’s Pub for some pizza (I hadn’t had REAL, non gluten free pizza in ages!). It was such a fun night!

After teaching on Saturday, I treated myself to a pedicure. With all the working out I do, my poor feet need that kind of TLC every few weeks at this point!

Danielle and I headed north around 3pm to wait out the weekend traffic- it was a perfect idea! We didn’t hit a stitch of traffic. We even had time to grab an ice cream- yum!

Saturday night was SO MUCH FUN!!! We ate, we drank, we laughed, we danced. I just love when the 4 of us get to be together!

The pizza came out AMAZING!!! And it was so nice out so we decided to dine al fresco on the back patio. Dad had gotten the bonfire going so it was a perfect place to eat!

We definitely had a dance party post dinner as well- so so fun!

Sunday morning wasn’t as sunny as we wanted, but it was still a good day! I filmed some videos for the blog and then we headed to the Mahoney’s for their annual Labor Day BBQ. It was a small crowd, but we still had a blast! Emma is at the age where she’s super active and so funny with the things she says and what she does!

Waking up on Monday morning, I was so happy to see that the rain had stopped, the skies had cleared and the sun was shining! We packed up and headed to the beach before bringing Danielle to the train. Going to the beach with my mom is the best- she is always stocked with drinks, treats and magazines. Anything you might need or want, she has- it’s awesome! Nothing like some sun and bubbly!

After dropping Danielle off, we headed to the hotel where my aunt and uncle are staying for the next 10 days or so. Since I won’t be able to go home this weekend because I’ll be on the cape, it was good that I was able to visit with them for a bit on Monday while I was around!

Monday night was quiet and relaxing- the most perfect way to end the day and weekend home. I decided to get up on Tuesday morning and drive right to work, which was so much better than stressing about the traffic on Labor Day. Such a fun, fun weekend- I’m so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life and such a great place to call “home”.

Questions for you: What was the best part about your weekend? Did you go away for Labor Day? Do you bring drinks to the beach?