lovely new england!

Well, I've got a bit of time before my structures review starts, so maybe it'll be enough time to talk about my weekend. It was *such* a nice break from Troy. Dad picked me up Friday afternoon and we went home. Not an eventful night, but still great to be home. I did freak out about having a dog-less house, though. The last time my house was empty that way I was 5, so I don't remember it much. We did look through some old family photo albums, though, which was fun. I keep saying to my parents that in my eyes, Charlie and Arthur (both lab mixes, brothers) never grew. When they were puppies, I was 5 or 6. When they were full grown, so was I. So they never seemed to change height much. Looking at puppy photos of them though, they were definitely tiny! Hehe so cute...
Saturday morning Dad and I went tag sale-ing while Ali (my sister) took the SATs for the last time! Dad and I had some good finds, though: an old (but usable) Webber grill, a car jack, a pearler beaded fish (come on, who remembers those? I bought it from these cute little girls who insisted that it only cost a nickel and tried to give me change when I handed them a dime....so sweet), a mini bundt cake tray (6 mini pretty cakes, so cute!), a Harry Potter stationary set for my sister, 2 matching blue glass vases...I'm sure there was more, but I can't remember...we hit a jackpot though, a whole neighborhood was doing it on the same day, awesome.

Did some work that afternoon (and by work I mean checked email and worked on my portfolio, haha oops) then we went up to a friend's house in Heath, MA...his house is practically on the VT border. It's literally 8 miles off of a small road....crazily in the middle of nowhere. like, a 15 minute drive to the corner store for just like milk or whatever....and probably about 30 min to the next town over....so grocery shopping is a big ordeal. I had never actually been to his house, but he has gorgeous views, 2 sweet mules for next-door neighbors (who love to be pet!), he has a sweet dog, the whole house is pine (gorgeous!), and he set off fireworks after dinner! I even got to light one and felt like I little kid as I ran away screaming. Good times.
Sunday my family, Potter (he came over Saturday night, had a meeting that morning), and I went to a fall festival. Very typical New England, but it was so much fun! Lots of crafts, fiddlers, maple cotton candy, grinders (aka subs), caramel apples, tag sales....so much fun! The leaves here are turning and are absolutely gorgeous, I hope those of you in Rome get some sort of foliage over there, I don't really know what the weather's like!
I haven't uploaded any pictures of leaves yet, but I do have a few of my mother's flowers at home (zineas and morning glories). Also, the last picture is our tomato plant....it quite literally began as a single 8" plant. It's a monster now!