Nautical Nomad: Sailfest Weekend!

Wanna pack your bags, Something small
Take what you need and we disappear
Without a trace we'll be gone, gone
The moon and the stars can follow the car
And then when we get to the ocean
We gonna take a boat to the end of the world
All the way to the end of the world
//Dave Matthews Band

A couple of things before I get to the gist of this post which is Sailfest Weekend! My Mom had my Grandfather make her some raised vegetable beds/planters, and she planted a whole bunch of veggies at the beginning of the summer. We are just starting to harvest a bunch of stuff and it's really nice to have your own home grown veggies. The lettuce is so soft and buttery, and the peppers are super crunchy and sweet. To think how much we spend on veggies each year is crazy when it can take very little effort to grow your own right in your backyard. Granted not everything is always in season but I hope this is something that we can keep up!

I made a nice batch of sweet tea with lemon and fresh mint from Mom's garden. The perfect summer drink!

Thursday night I also made my famous Sangria (recipe found here) as I was going to Dave Matthews band concert the next day and had promised it for tailgating. It is so good and so addicting, many have fallen prey to its powers.

Later that night one of my best friends and college roomate came over for dinner with her son, Cole. I love being "auntie" to him and hope I will always be a part of his life! He is the cutest. We took him for ice cream to the Main Street Creamery in Old Wethersfield (awesome place, by the way) after we ate and he loved it.

I love mint chocolate chip too Cole! It's so funny how much little kids know about phones and technology these days, I can't get over it. Watching him 'swipe' the bar and use FaceTime- what!?

Friday was a quick day at work with our summer hours and then Friday evening was the Dave Matthews Band concert! You are simply not from Connecticut if you have never been to a Dave concert, it's pretty much a tradition and rite of passage. I hadn't been in a couple years but I believe this was my 8th concert of theirs. They definitely have a cult following in CT, the crowd is always insane and there is just tons of shenanigans all night. This was probably the most "relaxed" DMB show I had ever been to though. Maybe because it was a Friday night, but also maybe because the ole "Dave" crowd is finally getting older and the younger generation is phasing out of the Dave obsession... who knows. Anyways, tailgating was really fun and we had brought lots of food and drink to enjoy beforehand. We had burgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, green beans, chips, etc... My brother borrowed a grill from one of his coworkers for us to use and it worked out great. I have to say it was probably the most 'legit' tailgating I've ever done! It was a great time with the best people... as Dave says, 'Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!'

Just about died when I saw the horse-cop. He's a horse! And a cop! He was perturbed, but SO CUTE.

Soon enough it was time to head into the show. We had lawn seats which are usually my favorite for Dave just because it's classic! It's all a part of the Dave experience.

Sorry for the blurry picture but my point-and-shoot camera can get pretty darn close!

"You and me together, we can do anything, baby."

Don't let the nose flare confuse you, we were lovin DMB!

Nick loves to do this thing to mess with me where he always has to put himself further behind me in every picture to make me look like a giant/ogre in comparison to him. Here is Exhibit A.

After telling him to knock if off!!

And then he has to make me laugh and be wise by doing it EXTRA far! Some photo-bombers even got in this one, love it! Props to them, and to Nick for making it hard to ever be annoyed at him! He constantly makes me laugh, and I love that the most.

My sista!! Can't believe it's TWO MONTHS until your wedding!

This weekend was also a full moon, and not only that but it was a SUPER MOON/Harvest moon making it extra large and bright. It lit up the whole venue! There was no opener this year, and DMB did it differently where they played an acoustic set and then took a short break and came back for a longer electric set. I really loved how they did it and they played for hours and hours, they were on from about 8:20 to a little past midnight! Even if you don't like DMB you have to admit they are extremely talented musicians. I love their music but even for those who don't you can't knock their talent.

Brown vs. Blue

Someone definitely got fired that evening because they forgot to take the sprinklers off their timer- soaking almost EVERYONE on the lawn for a good 5 minutes. Way to go Comcast, way to go. Made for a good laugh and mass freak out though.

I leave you with a photo DMB posted of the set list for the night and a little video clip of one of my favorite songs, 'Everyday'. Side-story- I have been shooting weddings for over 8 years and have done over 250, so I hardly ever get emotional anymore, except for one wedding in particular that will always stand out to me. It was the dead of winter during a blizzard and this really cool artsy couple got married at a Performing Arts High School in Boston in their main Atrium. The couple had hired a small band of 4 kids from the school to play guitar/drums during the procession and during the ceremony. The bride had originally wanted them to play her favorite song, DMB's 'Everyday', right after they got married and walked down the aisle, but little did she know the groom had told them in advance to tell her they didn't know the song and couldn't play it, so she chose something else and was expecting that to play as the wedding ended. Once they kissed and got announced as married it was completely silent, to the point where the bride notioned for the band to start playing the other song she had chosen so that they could recess. But then, one by one, a group of about ten people randomly stood up from different spots in the crowd and began to sing, acapella, 'Everyday' by DMB. The bride looked so shocked at first until she realized what her groom had done. He had secretly hired the high schools acapella group to come and hide within the guests and start singing her song before they walked down the aisle as husband and wife. She literally almost collapsed. It was one of the most creative and romantic things I have ever seen or heard... The voices, the echo of the atrium, the surprise factor, her tears, and that it was her favorite song she had initially wanted. There was not a dry eye in the place, and I will never listen to that song the same way. That groom nailed it.

We headed home late and got right to bed since we had to be up to leave the house by 8:30 in order to catch my Godparents boat by 9:45. They had planned a day trip to Greenport, Long Island, and had invited us along. Much like The Third in Mass, this past weekend was one of my favorite weekends of the year in CT; Sailfest! It is a huge festival in downtown New London where they celebrate summer and the tall ships. It always falls the weekend after the 4th of July and there is a huge fireworks display on the Thames River at the mouth of the ocean on Saturday night. The plan was to hit Greenport for the day and then get back in time to eat dinner and head back out on the boat to anchor and watch the fireworks. There is so much nostalgia and memories of this weekend from growing up. It was always the height of the summer with all of our friends, and just a really fun time. Everyone was down for the weekend and we always got to see all of our Waterford friends and summer kids and cause mischief. To this day I still live for those warm summer nights on the water in PB.

We made reservations for 11 people at Claudios on the water in Greenport. We had a 20-30 minute wait, but I could think of worse places to be patient than the bow of a boat on a gorgeous summer day!

Can we be friends?!

Always a tradition to eat at Claudios! Good drinks and great seafood!

After lunch we got back on the boat and drove a little ways out to Greenport Harbor where we anchored for some swimming and jumping off the boat. I love these photos! You jump, I jump.

I was only ~~very~~ a little scared of JAWS being out there due to the fact that the Great White numbers are RECORD high in Long Island and The Cape areas. Shark week in a few weeks people!!

The ride was back really relaxing. Salt in my hair and in the air. Happiness!

Linds moved her hand during this pano, hence the fact it looks like she's holding 17 beers at once.

After some quick showers and dinner we headed back down to the boat around 7:30. We then motored out into the river to drop anchor for the fireworks, which were set to go on a little after 9. It was fun to all be together on the boat playing cards, listening to music, and sipping on some adult bevy's.

You haven't ~~blacked out~~ lived until you have had one of Irene's famous Rum Punches with fresh nutmeg on top. SO good!

Here he goes again with putting himself behind me in pics! That scoundrel!

Supermoon was at it again acting all beautiful and showing off...

Right before the fireworks were set to go off we carefully made our way to the bow with our rum punches and settled in under the blankets. Everyone tunes their radios to the same station that broadcasts music to the fireworks. It's always a good mix of new, old, and classic American songs. The show is put on by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the fireworks themselves are done by famous firework family the Gruccis.

And then the show began! Amazing as always. I love the really loud ones that you can feel in your chest. And watching them from a boat right beneath where they go off is always really cool as well.

THE FINALE! Such a great night with family and friends. Something I have been going to and enjoying since I was a little girl.

Sunday we woke up to an overcast morning and after getting breakfast sandwiches at Giuliano's we went out with my cousin and her Fiancé on a boat ride in the Boston Whaler over to the Niantic river. It was a lot rougher than expected and my poor bum and brain were getting so jostled! It was fun nonetheless and made for some good ~~screams~~ laughs! By the time we got back the sun was out and we headed to PB for the day! Always my favorite place to be. We played a few rounds of corn hole (how cute is this custom corn hole set my cousin made!?) and sat our bums in the sand for the day. Not a bad way to end a great weekend!