Recap: The Cape

I haven't posted in a while so to avoid summarizing the last three weeks of my life in an overwhelming monster post, I'll slowly post some highlights.

First up: the Cape. Although I'm viewing this whole summer as a vacation, my trip up to the Cape was my only formal vacation of the summer. I flew up to Boston, proceeded to complain about my basement sleeping arrangements, and then realized that the entire thing had been redone during my yearlong absence from the states. Even though I'm "all grown up," these moments always tend to remind me that I am the baby of the family.

We headed to the town of Brewster the next day, and I set off on a mission to win back (assuming I'd lost it due to absence) the love of my two little nephews. A few frisbee tosses and splashes in the pool later, I had succeeded.

In the next two days, we played some tennis, swam in the ocean, and rode bikes (see picture). Nothing overly elaborate but fun even so. Somewhat strangely, I managed to watch two jearjerkers during my vacation: Brokeback Mountain and Million Dollar Baby. I guess a good cry is always welcome.

That's all for my Cape summary. Hope everyone is doing well and thanks for all the the birthday wishes! Contrary to popular belief, a 3-week hangover is not responsible for being MIA on the blog.

Summer Charm

Photo courtesy of Picture Perfect
Watching Clueless on a Friday night is my idea of fun. In fact, it's a luxury since returning from television-less Londontown. But even though I'm having fun, I didn't necessarily choose my fate of apparent loserdom. Yesterday while playing tennis, in a heroic sprint to answer my cell phone, I ran full speed into the handle of the net crank. A few tears, a Sweet Green sweet flow, and one burrito later, I was happily limping home.

I continue living a charmed life in DC working MWF's and sleeping in on days off. Climbing and the journey to the climbing gym are meditative experiences, solo and wonderful. I listen to my Pimsleur Basic Norwegian audio lessons on the way and mutter phrases to myself on the Metro. And yes, I am learning Norwegian for no reason at all other than I feel like it (and the cds at Barnes & Noble were cheap). Perhaps German is next? Who knows. For some reason, practical languages like Spanish are so discouraging because being conversational seems significantly less attainable than for a seemingly useless language like Norwegian.

Next Friday I head up to the Cape for a long overdue reunion with my sister. I say "the Cape" like I know what I'm talking about, but really, I'm confused and hope it's not over-populated with Vineyard Vines-toting, critter pants-wearing, collar-popping socialites. Is there a hippie/hobo part of the Cape? I'm excited to ride bikes, fly kites, swim, and frolic in the ocean. The ocean! I realized while abroad that it's incorrect to refer to any sea/ocean as the ocean. Before I thought that "sea" and "ocean" were synonyms when in fact, Europeans refer only to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Antarctic Oceans as "oceans" and only to seas, like the Mediterranean, as "seas." Maybe everyone knew this already, but I was enlightened.

I'm all blogged out so for the curious, here are some pictures of my humble abode. No huge plans for this weekend except probably a Nats game tomorrow and my first pseudo-day at Patagonia on Sunday. My foray into outdoor retail continues... happy weekend!