I’m a big believer in living life. To the fullest. Sucking every ounce out of it that I can, and giving it as much energy as I can. But, life has the same goal with me. Sucking up every ounce of me that it can, and taking every ounce of energy that I offer. And I’m sure you can relate. We have these priorities and goals. Things we want to do or need to do. Bucket lists chock full of adventures to live. And somehow it always seems that, come December 31, another year flew by without anything getting crossed off those lists of must do’s. But I refuse to let that happen this year, so I am not ashamed to say that this summer…this summer I win. River tubing, traveling, biking, sun bathing, beach’ing, pool’ing, biking. It’s all happened already and, frankly, I still have at least 5 weeks left before fall activities begin. This past Saturday Adam and I set out from CT and headed into Providence, RI, a place that neither of have ever explored. And while there, living it up, I learned a few things…

#1 – We are so not cool or hipster enough for Thayer St. Not even close.
#2 – Just being on Thayer St. made me feel like a senior citizen. I have this thing where I still feel like I’m 18…until I see 18 year olds walking around in underwear “shorts” with their matchstick legs. And just like that I’m all…whoa, where did 10 years go? Maybe I should buy that hemp beanie to look cool all over again. Or not.
#3 – Adam and I realized how much of an issue we have with Mexican food. We walked up and down Thayer st. which, I swear, had every type of cuisine you could imagine. Ethiopian to Japanese, Irish Pub to Indian. And we ended up at some place with the word “Bajas” in the name. Actually, that may have been the full name. It was as though we hadn’t eaten at Chipotle the night before. Or as though we wouldn’t be eating at Taco mi Nacho the day after. Seriously, guac gets us every time.
#4 – Providence is way cleaner than Hartford.
#5 – I stepped foot in Lush. And, just like that, my weekend was made…through a series of bath bombs, homemade soaps, and cuticle creams. All of which smelled (and probably tasted!) like heaven.
#6 – We spent a couple hours at an all-you-can-eat food fighters ice cream competition. As we were waiting in line for the event to open (because I HAD to be one of the first there), Adam was all “Who are these people? Who goes to stuff like this?!?!”. And the answer is ME. I go to stuff like this. For fun. And enjoy every moment of it. And so did the family of 4 that, sadly, needs to be on “The Biggest Loser” instead of judging ice cream competitions. Yup, I said it. But, in other news, Newport Creamery got my vote with their Chocolate Explosion. Because it was exactly that.
#7 – Adam and I sat and picked at a tower of crab, mango and avocado for our dinner, since, clearly, burritos weren’t an option again. As we dipped the last bit of crab in orange vinaigrette dressing we began dreaming out loud. And I learned of Adam that he wants to start a dog walking business. Who knew?
#8 – We roamed the streets of Providence, looking for the perfect drink to walk with. Some sort of tea or iced coffee (for Adam) concoction. We passed countless cafe’s and cute tea shops, and even went in a few to check them out. And somehow, we ended up at Starbucks. Like I said, we are so not hipster. Starbucks may claim to cater towards hipster, but I would beg to differ that they are mainstream. And with our iTunes chock full of Lady Antebellum, Rihanna, Gaga, Hillsong, and Rod Stewart, I’d say we fit the “mainstream” stereotype.
#9 – Did you catch what I said about ALL YOU CAN EAT ICE CREAM?!? It was divine.
#10 – The whole reason we went there on this particular Saturday was because of the Waterfires. Which, was TripAdvisors #1 things to do/see in Providence, were absolutely anti climactic. I’ve never been a numbers person but I’d say there were approximately 18 bajillion people there. Standing around a river. Staring at small fires. Listening to some weird Hare Krishna or Enya music playing. It was as though these people had never seen a fire. And, just like that, I wanted to take them all camping.

Here’s to living life to the fullest!