mainelining

you know it's going to be a good weekend when it starts with a fifth of rum in a movie theater and ends with biscuits and gravy in maine.

this weekend, in order to assert our independence from the siren that is new york city, dom and i hightailed it up to vacationland to take in some sun, sights and sister for a couple days. the trip started late friday night, with an overnight bus ride that left us almost too wiped out to enjoy the fabulous barbecue that my sister prepared the afternoon we arrived. fortunately, between the mojitos and the mutant mosquitos, we actually managed to stay awake for most of the day.

other highlights of the trip included: the surprisingly political 4th of july parade; meeting my favorite niece (she's the one on the left); eschewing the fireworks in favor of the firefly ballet beneath the stars; the rubber duck race down the damarascotta river and, of course, seeing my sister.

i'm becoming a problematic vacationer, though. i relish being in places that are less emotionally taxing, where the makeup of the soil is more important than the makeup on people's faces, where you can still see stars at night and where you can leave your car unlocked. i want that. i want quiet at night. i want stars. i want to be somewhere that i'm not judged by the make of my clothes or the size of my hips. i want that so much that i didn't really want to come home yesterday.

i love the city that never sleeps, but all this awakeness is starting to tire me out.

note: no, i'm not packing up stakes and leaving or secretly hating my life in new york. i love new york. i love living here. but i recognize that i'm not cut out to be a city girl forever. which i sometimes forget--not leaving city limits for five months will make you forget that there's other life available out there.