Posing in Central Park on a foggy day

It has become an annual tradition that my parents fly out to the East Coast for my birthday.  This year, we met up in New York City on the 14th, and spent the next few days enjoying the CIty–seeing shows, strolling about and eating good food.  I also brought along my facy digital camera that I’ve always wanted to get better at using, however for one reason or another have tended to either leave at home or shy away from using: this time, I took a lot of pictures, some of which are below.  What made this year’s celebration the best yet, however, was that Bianca, the woman of my dreams, was with me for the trip.

I am now 29 years old, a fact that, on a day-to-day basis, seems perfectly normal; but as soon as I step back to think about it, I can hardly believe that I am nearly 30.  To be clear, I don’t have any particular feelings about being 29 or 30 or any other number, I just find it fascinating to reflect on the passage of time. I can vividly recall being 15 and celebrating the year 2000; getting my driver’s license; graduating high school; spending a year studying in Spain during my junior year at college; riding my bicycle across the United States; moving to Providence (six and a half years ago already!); and starting Capital Good Fund (nearly five years ago).

I recently got back from a 10-day cruise to the Baltic with my parents, and I wanted to share the photos and thoughts from the trip!  The cruise left from Copenhagen, Denmark on July 5th.  On the 4th, I flew to Newark, New Jersey, where I met up with my parents and from where we flew to Copenhagen via Amsterdam.  Once in Copenhagen, we had a private tour of the city.  Though I had hardly slept on the red-eye flight, I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. For one thing, the weather was absolutely fantastic, and the hundreds of massive wind turbines dotting the landscape were enough to make me fall in love. Throw in the endless bicycles, the quaint streets, and the kind people and, well, I was impressed!

When I was younger my mom, grandma and I would take a cruise every summer.  We took quite a few cruises to Alaska, as well as trips to Hawaii, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and the Mediterranean.  My dad, however, had never joined us on these cruises, in part because he considered them to be “floating troughs” (referring, of course, to the fact that food is available 24 hours a day and the rather, um, large passengers…).  So I was very excited to go on another cruise and to have my dad join us.

Last Friday, November 14th, I turned 24 years old.  It’s hard to believe that another year has passed, another number tacked on to my age.  This year my mom came out to visit from LA, and to celebrate we went out with a small group of friends–Mike, Adria, their daughter Siena, Michele, Nora, Marie-Laure and Mark–to an all vegetarian restaurant called the Garden Grille.  The food and company were great, and though the festivities were far less ostentatious than last year, the occasion was nonetheless enjoyable.  My mom only stayed from Thursday night to Sunday morning, and the time went by fast.  Unlike last year (when the temperature was in the 30s) it was surprisingly warm, although rain and fog limited the amount of time we spent outside.  More photos after the fold.