One of my Jersey BFF's is Getting Married!

Yesterday morning I set off for NJ for what I knew was going to be a short trip... less than 36 hours to be exact... to celebrate the fact that one of my Jersey bff's is getting married in a a couple of months... on August 17th to be exact.  AP & I have been friends since right before freshman year of high school and I am so excited to say that I will be her "Honor Attendant" at her wedding (her mom is her matron of honor)!  She lives all the way up in Buffalo and I don't get to see her very often, so you can bet your butts that when I knew she was having a bridal shower in NJ I would do whatever it took to be there... even if it meant working on Saturday night instead of Sunday, only getting 4.5 hours of sleep before making the 2.5 hour drive up to Northern NJ... I was doing it come hell or high water.

It ended up being a very tiring day for me, but it was totally worth it to see AP and to get to once again celebrate her upcoming marriage!

PVHS ladies at the shower... JA, AP, me, and KD

Cutie of a flower girl 

The Lovely Bride to Be

Best Wishes and Happiness!

After the shower I was able to spend some quality time with my parents... just us and them.  It was AWESOME!  I mean I love spending time with them when the fiance or little bro are there too, but sometimes it is just nice to have some Mom-Dad-Daughter time without everyone else there.  Unfortunately we spent probably 90% of the time talking about my little brother, but these days almost all conversations unfortunately end up about him.

This morning before heading back Mom & I took lunch over to my grandma and it was AMAZING to see her.  She was really excited to see me because she didn't even remember that I was going to be in NJ.  You see, not only has my Gram been diagnosed with Alzheimer's (you can read about that here) but doctors now think that my Grammy also has Alzheimer's and my grandfather died of Alzheimer's when I was in 6th grade, so I have quite a history with the disease (you can read a little about my thoughts on it here).  It breaks my heart when they can't remember things like the fact that I am going to be in town visiting, but it also always makes me so happy when I see how thrilled they are to see me because to them it is like a surprise visit that they weren't expecting.  We spent a bunch of time with Grammy and although it was exhausting... we pretty much repeat the same conversations over and over again... it was still rewarding because I know I made her day for the time that I was there... even if she doesn't remember it later.

I also headed to visit my Aunt at work before coming back home as I can't even remember the last time I had seen her.  We had a nice little visit in her office before she had to head out to do some stuff but it was great to catch up with her for a little bit!

Trips home to see my family and friends always make me feel so much better.  What about you?