Monday, November 28, 2011

My MIA Week Part 3: Family Fun

The Post-Thanksgiving portion of my holiday weekend was spent doing homework and hanging with the fam. Ahhhh....

I swear my mom likes me more than this photo indicates...


Hangin' around with my baby sis.


Realizing what a train wreck my hair was...


And getting it chopped! Looks like it needs some color, too, but one step at a time!


Stealing my sister's awesome green and pink Chucks that she's had for AT LEAST 7 years...


Breakfast out with the fam! We hit up Forever Young in Johnstown. Very delicious in a greasy, diner-y sort of way!


Joe and I are a bit scary pre-breakfast...


Forever Young makes their own cinnamon raisin bread- HEAVEN. We always get some to share for the table.


Momma got a belgian wafel with strawberries and bacon.


Joe jammed on a ham & cheese omelette.


Shawn got a bulgogi omelette.


And I get the croissant french toast with ham!


We played with the pups when we got home. Emma is regal and sassy. 


Liam is naiive and bold.


I got to have lunch with some of my high school besties, Christa and Sheena, (aka Donger and Chefna- we had the best nicknames) and Sheena's handsome little man, Lincoln!


Blurry, but I still love it! Lincoln is looking right at the camera! Wahoo!


These girls have been my homies since I was in 8th grade and I'm so glad I got to catch up with them!

After lunch I headed back home to say goodbye to my mom, youngest sister and the pups.


And then we headed to my middle sister's apartment in Albany for the night. 

We made a pit stop at Tierra Farm Coffee. I'm in love.


As I've expressed before, I'm committed to buying Fair Trade coffee, but I'm also a flavored coffee junkie! I was SOOOO happy to see they had both! I got a French Vanilla and a Chocolate Almond to bring home. Reviews coming soon!


 They also had  a whole shelf of yum-in-a-jar, which I happily partook of, purchasing a Maple Cashew Butter (not pictured). 



 The feel is very artsy-student chic. I can see why my sister does homework here so frequently!


I got... an iced coffee! Surprise!


It. was. great.


We stopped at Kieren's apartment (my first time seeing it- it's adorable!) to drop off our stuff and do some homework (Kieren's a grad student too- getting her certification in TESOL- Teaching English To Speakers of Other Languages). Once our assignments were done, we were starving!


Off to Bombers on Lark we went!


I've heard everything here is delish, but I only ever get the burritos, and they NEVER disappoint!


Shawn and Joe had matching grown up beverages.


Kieren and I got fancy with our water.


Someone take the camera from me...


I ordered a "Red Stripe" Jerk Pork Burrito. Heaven.

Joe got enthusiastic about his Pulled Pork Burrito...

Kieren is a slob... or a vampire...


So. Much. Beautiful and Delicious. Food.

Full to bursting, we muscled through to take advantage of my last chance to chow down on some Stewarts Ice Cream for a while. I stuck with my classic- Crumbs Along the Mohawk (Graham Cracker Ice Cream w/ a Caramel Swirl and Graham Cracker Pieces) and mixed it up with a scoop of Pumpkin Pie. My tongue cried happy tears.

And then my sister introduced us to this gem, and we laughed until it hurt. 


After a few short hours of sleep, we were up to catch an early train out of Albany back down to NYC. The sky made waking up at 5-something not suck so bad...

All in all, it was a jam-packed four days full of some of my very favorite people. A much needed weekend oasis from my intense but wonderful life. And now... back to the grind!