I’m Comin’ Home, Tell the World, I’m Comin’ Home

Diddy’s latest diddy says it perfectly: “I’m coming home”… for a little while, anyways.

Me with the soon-to-be Mrs. Jenn Leeper!

Next week I’ll be on a plane to Boston for a dear friend’s wedding and to spend time with some loved ones. On the docket: Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee, lots of rug cutting at the wedding post-several adult beverages, cheap seats at a Sox game, delicious Town Spa pizza, fresh Maine lobster and squeezing the F out of my sister’s cat, Gus. And possibly packing him in my suitcase before I head back to LA.

In all of my excitement for my east coast return, and in commemoration of next week being my one year residential anniversary in the Golden State, I’ve posted a few pictures that portray the essence of what has been “home” to me for so many years. Here I go getting all sentimental…

Enjoy these beauties

Bridge near Storrow Drive and the Charles River just before sunset. (Boston)

I don't know where she gets this from...

Boston. As seen from the top of the Prudential

College soccer stars

Beautiful park. Love the Boston Common.

New England fan, through and through.

Gus loves cat nip

Can you tell we all have the same last name?

Here's hoping for next year. Come on C's

Sisters

Apple picking in Massachusetts.

Newport Bridge (Newport, RI)

Marathon Monday = Epic

Dance parties

Best grandma in the world. Period.

Del's Lemonade is essential to Newport, RI summers.

"I fawcking lawuv the Sawx." That's how it's spelled phonetically. Look it up.

No words for this. Love it.

Enjoying delicious treats from Modern Pastry in the North End (Boston)

Best part of Boston, the Charles River

Carrying out Easter traditions

Colored eggs - delicious and decorative!

 

I just wanted to share some Easter cheer with you all now that the holiday has come and gone and we’re all recovering from ham and chocolate hangovers. The picture above is the artwork of my 12-year-old sister, Allegra, and my mother. Every year they dye hard-boiled eggs and decorate them with rubber band patterns, stickers, and hand drawn bunny rabbits. When my other siblings and I were younger we carried out the same tradition. Now that I’m older and out of the house, I come home for the holiday weekend to a dozen (two are missing above) rainbow-colored eggs that are carefully hidden on Easter-eve night.  

I’m 25-years-old and yes, I still do Easter egg hunts. I have a 12-year-old sister, so she is my excuse to tear the house apart in search of the most eggs.  My 23 and 21-year-old siblings get just as competitive as I do, so my parents got a kick out of us hip checking each other out of the way to find eggs. I came in a close second place to the 12-year-old.  

Easter feast 2010

 

The highlight of the day, however, was the massive Easter feast. My mom whipped up a 16-pound glazed ham along with her famous broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, and homemade apple sauce. And I was in heaven. 

With each year that passes, I find that the best parts of holidays like Easter are those spent with family. As a kid, I looked forward to my chocolate-filled Easter basket and over-eating hard-boiled eggs until I was sick. But as time with family becomes less and less, I’ve come to value little things like sitting down to a family meal.  

Bringing home leftovers to a sparse fridge is also a bonus. 

My mom turns cooking into an art

 

Do you have any Easter family traditions of your own? I hope you all had a nice holiday and got to spend it with people you love.