My summer vacation is coming to a close...

School starts on Monday, and even though I am very anxious to get into some sort of routine again, I can't help but be a bit saddened at the idea that summer is already over. (Not technically, but vacation wise anyway). I thought I would take a look back at what I did over the summer...

Went to the top of Mt. Washington for the sunrise (that we never saw)

Sat fireside quite a bit because that's what we love to do! And being able to eat s'mores at the same time might have something to do with it! : )

Went to see Blondie and Pat Benatar!

Adam and I before the concert!

At the beach : )

Visited with family : )

Went to my aunt's Girls' Night Out

Adam and I waiting for the fireworks in Laconia!

Attended my friend Katie's wedding : )

Played with sparklers!

I also read lots and lots and lots while sitting in a lawn chair in my backyard. And I absolutely LOVED every single minute of it!

Something to think about...

How many times have you gotten in the car for a long trip and picked up the phone while you were driving? I do it almost everyday. Today, however, during the workshop I attended I found out some interesting information that made me think twice about talking (and definitely texting) while driving, and hopefully will make you think twice too.

Your brain operates with primary and secondary attention. While driving, one would hope that the primary attention is focused on driving, but once you begin a conversation on your phone (whether you are hands free or not) your brain switches its primary attention from driving to the conversation you are having on the phone. (Actually, anytime that you have been driving and have found yourself at your destination and thought, "oh wow, I didn't even realize I had made it this far already!" you were driving with your primary focus on something other than driving.) Big deal right? As long as some sort of attention, whether it is primary or secondary, is focused on driving then you should be fine, right? WRONG!

When your brain has to transition your activities from secondary attention to primary attention the reaction time is worse than driving at OVER 2 TIMES THE LEGAL LIMIT OF ALCOHOL!!!

Apparently there are so many more texting while driving deaths each week that they (who ever it is that keeps this data) can not calculate a national average.

New Hampshire is one of the states that is jumping on the bandwagon for banning texting while driving, but honestly, if a student can send a text in a classroom without a teacher noticing, how is a police officer suppose to recognize someone that is texting in his/her car?

Ford Motor Company is currently working on a new piece of technology that will block cellphone signals in a car, so that people will be unable to use their phones while driving. However, there is a law from the 1930s that does not allow communication signals to be blocked, so that will need to be taken into consideration.

There is also a piece of technology available called Key2SafeDriving that blocks cellphone signals to people once their keys are in the ignition. (check it out here http://www.key2safedriving.net/ )

Weddings

Since Adam and I have graduated from college four years ago, we have attended a LOT of weddings. I was trying to list all of the weddings today and I think we have been to 16, but I may be forgetting some...here is the list...Robyn & Dennis, Jess & Kris, Tony & Tina, Sarah & Robb, Tim & Jen, Eddie & Mal, Derek & Lisa, Justin & Stacey, Jill & Shawn, Chris & Meghan, Renee & Chuck, Alice & Armand, Julie & Mark, Katie & Alec, Jen & Dave, and our wedding (hopefully I didn't forget any weddings!) So we are pretty much broke from buying all of these fabulous people wedding gifts : P

This weekend my aunt and her fiance had their wedding, and Adam and I were the photographers. We took a lot of pictures (945 to be exact) and now I have to go through them all! But we had a good time and it is always fun to get the whole family together for some dancing.


We always make sure that we start the drinking off EARLY : P

The family!

The wedding party

Pepere showing off his dance moves!

Pat Benatar and Blondie

Yesterday, Adam and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary! We didn't really have anything special planned for the day or night except going to dinner, so when Starr and Chris called asking us to join them for the Pat Benatar and Blondie concert at Meadowbrook we decided to join them.



Adam is a music buff...I am not! I went to this concert not having any idea of who Blondie was, and only knowing a few of Pat Benatar's songs. When Blondie came on stage and starting singing punk rock/alternative songs all I could think about was my grandmother on stage singing those songs because that is how old Blondie looks. (Blondie is actually 64) Blondie did sing very well and it was actually quite entertaining, especially some of the fans that were there. We got quite a bit of entertainment out of watching one Blondie fan in particular...he was very into all of her songs...take a look for yourself...

When Pat Benatar came on stage we were only able to stay for a few of her songs because Adam had to go to work, but she was really good. This year marks 30 years since her first record came out and she doesn't seem to have changed a bit (well, that is based on watching old MTV videos and seeing pictures : P )