adulting.

being a grown-up is hard. every day i learn something new, and i am still constantly refer to myself as a baby. i thought i was really old and mature and that twenty-two is basically the new thirty, and then i realized everyone else in the world seems to have at least 6 years on me and way more experience in the field of being a fully functioning adult.

for some reason, you're supposed to graduate from college, leave the campus world where you are oh-so-coddled and then go to the normal world and be "responsible" overnight. i mean, in college meals are paid for AND prepared for you, you live in a city and don't pay rent, your job is to go to class where you read good stuff and write about it, there is a starbucks five feet from your room and you get to use fake money to pay for it, and the list goes on. Then you're thrusted into the "real world" where  you are expected to pay rent on time, plus comcast, plus pepco, plus dc water. oh, and if you want to eat, you need to buy groceries and plan your meals. then, you also need to pay back all that money you used to pay for college with one thousand percent interest. and all this needs to be paid for with your measly, entry-level, salary. adulthood.

luckily for my bostonian friends, they have made a gathering place where you can workshop your way to being a fully functioning adult. while i was home for thanksgiving, i went to this magical place called "the society of grown-ups" with my dear friend rylee (it was actually the best to see rylee since i haven't seen her since she became a mrs!). they offer financial workshops on money management (we have no money to manage), and supper clubs (it was morning) as well as chats on things like coffee and life (we love coffee). naturally, we went with the coffee chat.

i always feel awkward taking photos of stuff like this, hence the lackluster composition, i was rushing so i would seem obvious (?)

the place was super duper cute and although the tasting was delicious, what we basically learned is that liking really good coffee is time consuming, requires a lot of brain power, can get quite expensive (bur grinder, freshly roasted beans, pour over system, fancy spouted kettle, scale, cute mug). but, we did walk away extremely well caffeinated and firm in the knowledge that going and spending two dollars on pour-over coffee from peregrine or filter, is way better then spending two dollars on the giant machine coffee from starbucks.

so, yes being an adult isn't easy, but at least i know the $4 i have left after paying all my bills is well spent at all my favorite boutique coffee shops.

occupational hazards.

i've eaten at least 4 cheese sticks today. at least.

i got home the other day, only to find toothpaste marks all over my schoolboy blazer. (headstart)

i arrange snack symmetrically. everyday. not to teacher symmetry, but because i'm type a.

i think the hugs at nap time are to comfort me.

i was in the elevator of my apartment building yesterday when i started to sing the days of the week song. the doors opened and a man was standing there and definitely heard me. he said hello. i was so startled/embarrassed that i said thank you and ran to my door.

i walked down the stairs with a finger on my lips tuesday. after i dropped my kids off at art.

i sit criss cross apple sauce in skirts.

i let my kids nap for 15 minutes extra today. for me.

i received 10 illustrations of myself yesterday. i don't know if i should be concerned about my appearance at school, or my students vision.

i didn't lock my phone after taking a video for data. i have 20 selflies of one student on my phone.

happy friday :)

summer snapshot.

so, i have a lot of catching up to do in the department of recording my shannonanigans. the summer of 2014 is coming to a close and i have barely recorded any of it.

portland flats, yu ying, and tequila

kindergarten solutions #sounditoutasbestasyoucan

i had a wonderful job being an assistant teacher in a kindergarten class post graduation (and senior week too because that was smart). those kids were priceless, between "we're more that bf's" and "fluffy cats" i laughed every day. there were challenges too, but thats life in a classroom.

more than bff''s

ryan hated that my apartment didn't have living room furniture. 

one of my favorite outfits this summer. 

the kings clock. #cupoface

curious traveler stashe. 

hangover bagels.

and hungover runs.

i also was able to live in an awesome apartment above potbelly's (milkshakes for days) and hang out and cook dinner with ryan all the time.

and sundays are for strolls and seven eleven bdiet cokes. 

san antonios

there were also plenty of games of kings, happy hours that were tequila based, and late nights bar hopping in adams morgan. it was a blast and there are too many good memories.

#tequila

josh and nicolette's wedding

waiting for the bus back to dc. not amused.

in the middle of june. my dear friend nicolette got married in upstate new york and it was so beautiful and so much fun.

massachusssettttttts

after being in dc, i returned home to massachusetts, still frantically trying to get a teaching job for the 2014-2015 school year. i spent a week in a cycle of running, going to the gym and applying for jobs before taking a break from my strenuous life (lol) and heading with my dad and ms. germain to go to the vineyard. while there, i got a call to go down to dc to go for an interview, so i set it up for the monday, and then continued to enjoy the beach and attempt to avoid a sunburn (unsuccessful)

we went to the 4th of july parade in edgartown and this was literally the best float ever. titanic with a full on "i'll never let go jack" scene. i. died. 

#firstofftheferry

back to the district

soo, after getting home from the vineyard saturday night, i headed to dc on sunday so i could interview on monday. shout out to nicole, julie and their wonderful roommates for putting me up for a couple of nights and making me feel oh so welcome! i interviewed for a pre-k 4 position in a DCPS and….was offered the position the next morning. yup, that's right, i will have to wait a few more years between taking up residence in my fathers home again because i was hired to teach in dc. so after a wonderful dinner (and tequila flight) with ryan and a union market lunch with liz skora, i headed home…

fish wife, fish and chips #yumm

home

where i spent a few days running, going to the gym and watching disney channel before going to…

pausing to snap a pic during a run. 

i also went to the red sox game with my dad. 

this is the best part of any red sox game with my dad. twenty minutes before the game, we sit on the deck and watch the sausage "king" pick his nose and scratch his butt in between sausage selling transactions. is that weird? 

maine

for my grandmothers eightieth birthday party. she is the greatest. and it was great to spend the weekend in the place i spent my childhood summers with my family. it was superb and makes me even more sad to move away from my family but, thats just the way it is!

granger pond, everybody!

soo…

then i went home again for four days of running, gyming and watching teen wolf before heading back to dc to go to an hr session for dcps and to try to find uh, a place to live, for the next year or so. unfortunately, no luck in the housing department and i have been spending this week at home communicating with a potential roommate who has been house hunting and i am feeling quite defeated and i keep on trying to remember to "look at the birds" so we'll see.

i caved and got some solo shake shack

tomorrow

i am heading out early in the morning to fly to chicago to hit up south bend, indiana to hang out with my friend rylee as she prepares for her wedding, and then to party on august 9th when her and her lovely fiancé tie the knot.

well, thats a recap of my summer, and theres a couple of more weeks to come!

state of the blog.

yes, i am the absolute worst at keeping a blog. i think this has a lot to do with my conflicting feelings about blog culture; the idea of knowing random oddities of a person's life because you read their blog. i am totally guilty of it, and i have seen countless young women across cue's campus do the same, like, "oh m g, did you see what bash did today, i don't know how grace does it." i'm sorry, rewind, i do not know that blogger, she does not know i exist, yet i am speaking as if i am best friends with her and hang out with her all. i just struggle to see if this is all emotionally healthy; to get wrapped up in other peoples live and view them as so perfect and something to strive for and i think thats my biggest "bloggers block."

one of those outfits that i love now, but could regret later. #fakepensiveface

i have prayed and thought a lot about this and it has lead me to establish some ground rules for this little blog of mine. the purpose of this blog originally was to share some of myself with the internet, maybe share some recipes, some outfits and see where it leads, and okay, maybe i hoped to reach mommy blogger renown, but sans the children. i am revising my intentions. i want to have this blog so i can go back in two, five, seventeen years and laugh at my "shannonanigans." i want to be eighty and look at this antiquated webpage and say, "why the heck did i think those prints looked good together," or "oh my goodness, that was foolish" or even "wow, i sure have lived and lived well." so here is the blog for me, to record my shannonanigans with my future self, and sure, if you want to laugh at me with me, your welcome, but know this is just one twenty-something living by trial and error, just like you.

old friend and old town

taking an assistant teacher position for the remainder of the school year has meant a couple things. a) i spend my days with five year olds b) i get to live in an extremely beautiful brand new apartment with a pool and c) i get to continue to explore dc for a few more weeks until i move back to the great state of massachusetts. 

so, needless to say, i have decided to take advantage of all the wonders the district of crazy has to offer me and see some sites i have missed over the course of my undergraduate career. yesterday, i journeyed outside the bounds of the district over the potomac to old town alexandria to hang out with my dear friend colleen who i had not seen in ageeessss so she could show me around the little town she has made home in her post grad life. as you can see with my crappy phone documentation, it was absolutely adorable. i kept telling her that it felt like i was in a town where people vacation, not in a town where people live.

 we spent some time dining by the waterfront. i had the most delicious sandwich from the waterfront market that contained all my favorite things (avocado, bacon, pepper jack cheese, honey mustard #seriouslydelicious) and colleen kept it healthy with some caesar salad. there's half her face with some throwback opus hall sunnies. 

  mmm doesn't the potomac just look delectable #eww. anyways, we decided to walk down a little ways to colleen's favorite spot and just catch up on life lately. it was wonderful getting re-aquainted with some greenery.

 what a beautiful tree, am i right?

enter colleens favorite spot and usual running destination. if you look really closely, you can see the dome of the basilica just to the left of the capitol dome. being a cua grad is the best. 

after we made our way back to king street, we figured we had earned ourselves some ice cream and some shopping so we had some cone's from pop's old fashioned and then moseyed our way through the shops trying on all the wonderful yet out of budget items for a pbs marketing rep and a kindergarten teacher. sigh. such as this adorable sun hat from anthropologie that is perfectly perfect.

 

finally, pooped out, i metroed back to northeast dc and back to real life.  but many thanks to colleen for showing me around her neck of the woods! it was totally drool worthy. i promise i'll be back soon. xoxo. 

opus

as i've mentioned before, i have had the awesome privilege of being an ra this year in opus hall. and in a few posts, i'll get to my residents, but now, my staff.

my staff in opus has been such a gift this year, from the brunches, to the support, to the commiserating. they truly are like a second family. we have consistently killed it on events, on calls, and on four on the couch.

this past sunday, we had our little residence life banquet and it was so exciting to celebrate a year of successes as a team decked out in our best derby gear. i will never forget what an amazing experience being an ra has been because of my staff and i am sure to recommend the position to any college student. for realz.

this morning, i turned in the page for the last time and i'm not going to lie. it felt awesome. because i had been page 6 times between 1:09 am and 9:22 am for check outs. but maybe it tasted an itty bit bittersweet.

also, i have been super awful at documenting life via iPhone lately. my most sincere apologies for the boring text.

tom and sean came to support the ladies spa night in february and decided to exfoliate.

check inn

res life cooking competition. best taste winners. #theonlycategorythatmatters

kevin trying to start his car that there were definitely only five people in, steph.

bros and butts.

and brunch. oh my.  

thanks for the kisses, e

have i mentioned i have a thing for bulletin boards. it kinda drove my co mad. whoops.