independence day. . . just as i'm about to "break free"

well, another week has gone by. and apparently, at some point along the way, i stopped counting. i think i told people all week long that i'll be moving to wisconsin in three weeks. today i realize that i - in fact - move in less than two weeks. can you believe that anyone gave me a phd? in any case, that means that things like packing have officially commenced and other things - like coordinating movers, drivers, packers, returning keys, picking up keys, cleaning, and throwing things out will be in progress until i pull out of the parking lot next weekend. how sad is everyone that you can't be part of this? my guess is not very. not that i blame you.   

perhaps part of t is the speed with which the last week (if not the last several weeks) just flew by. i got to athens last thursday (my second time driving that route without my garmin, thank you very much) and i think about five minutes later, it was yesterday and i was

driving back home. it was nice to sort of stay put for a while after the hectic traveling schedule we've had. we stayed in and matt grilled pizzas on thursday night. they were wonderfully delicious. matt had some naan that we used as crusts and we loaded it up with peppers. who knew that pizza was so great off the grill? well, now you do.

on friday, we made our way over to whipple for what has become (and probably has been for more years than i've known about) peggy's annual fourth-of-july-weekend barbeque. i got to meet a few members of matt's family who i had only heard about before (aside: isn't it interesting how much easier it is to remember someone's name/relationship if you have a face to go with it? i feel like just seeing people helped me remember who was who. it must be an odd multisensory thing). but - anyway - it was great to meet everyone and

i very much enjoyed myself. wait - that should read it was great to meet everyone and matt destroyed me at bean bags, but otherwise, everything was wonderful. . . and delicious. i won't be mad if i have  turkey burgers, fresh fruit, and homemade ice cream again before next summer. 

like any of the towns that exist based on their local university, athens is pretty quiet over the summer time. (this is one of my favorite things about state college over the summer). when we got back and were out for dinner, we heard the server at the table next to us tell his customers that there would be fireworks down the street once it was dark. as you can imagine, we looked at each other thinking "really? because matt lives down that street. . . " and sure enough, they ended up shooting off fireworks right across the street from matt's place. in a serendipitous moment, i had also thought to disassemble my patio chairs (which i will no longer have a patio for once i move) and bring them to athens with me (no plan yet on how the table is going to be moved. . . i'm not sure that comes apart). so we trucked back to matt's, reassembled the chairs, and took our prime seating for the evening's events. it took a few tries, but i did get some good pictures out of it, don't you think? 

i also developed a horrible (and by horrible, i mean out-of-control insatiable) appetite for chocolate covered macaroons during this trip. go figure. ten years ago, i was figuring out that i like coconut. now, i'm spending a whole weekend obsessed with them. in my defense, even people who don't like coconut, but just generally like things that taste good have to think that that picture looks scrumptious. that is a macaroon with the consistency of a cupcake topped of with chocolate frosting. it is the product of an ingenious and adorable local bakery in athens called fluff. they have kind of a cute story and matt and i have yet to get something from there that we didn't like. so, if any of you ever happen to be in the area, put it on your list of places to stop. you won't be disappointed. and neither will your taste buds.

okay, i'm getting tired and close to blathery, so hopefully that i've conveyed that it's been a wonderful week that was also busy and exhausting. one more thing though. look at the really, really cute cookie cake that peggy got for the barbeque. honestly, everyone was super sweet about the engagement, but this was above and beyond. it was very thoughtful and we appreciated it. 

oh, that's a gigantic fake diamond ring in the middle there. and it's delicious chocolate chip underneath. AND it went perfectly with homemade vanilla ice cream :)