I’m not gonna lie, I’ve felt a bit off and out of it all day. Summer makes me anxious sometimes because even though I like time to relax, I can get antsy and start overthinking things if given too much free time. That’s why I could not be more excited to start my internship at Connecticut Public on Monday. I love having a project and doing something that has real impact and making money while I’m at it doesn’t hurt.
I woke up at a reasonable time this morning and fixed myself some yogurt and granola and hung out with my family. Everyone started dispersing to go their separate ways around 11:45 a.m., so at that point, I decided to head into the center to meet friends at Celebrate West Hartford.
Celebrate is an annual two-day festival to bring together the West Hartford and broader Connecticut community in an event equipped with food stands, carnival rides and games, musical performances, local companies and vendor tents, and much more. It has been happening for 32 years now and draws large crowds of families and friends because of its free admission price and charitable fundraising.
I decided to walk down to the festival to get some exercise. When I arrived, I met my friends: Dani and Siena and Dani’s boyfriend Will at the Ferris Wheel. Will and I took photos of them as they went on the ride (I’m scared of heights so I wasn’t about to get on the Ferris Wheel). The place was already crawling with people and I saw plenty of familiar faces from high school, even though it was only early afternoon of the all-day event. After, we went to get smoothies at Robeks and food at Hartford Baking Company, outside of the main festival area, since it got humid and crowded fast.
I parted ways with Dani and Siena afterwards because they were planning on going home. From there, I met up with my best friend Maddie and her family. We immediately got ourselves large lemonades, soft serve ice cream, and lunches from the Blue Elephant stand and sat down near the stage to eat. Anna split off with her friends and Maddie, her mom, and I took some time wandering around the jewelry and art tents, browsing the merchandise. We found a shady seating area to take a rest once we saw our fill because our feet were tired and our backs were aching (I know, I’m already falling apart and I’m only 19 haha).
My sister texted me shortly after I found Hannah, since she had just gotten off work at Bartaco. She, Hannah, and I made our way to Chipotle to get her some dinner and at that point, since I was feeling tired and cranky, Hannah and I headed out separate ways home. I left Katie with her friends to hang at Celebrate awhile longer.
The rest of my day was spent napping and catching up on my shows (I am currently binge-watching Grown-ish). My parents had friends over for dinner, so they made steak, salad, corn, and delicious cheese appetizers for all of us.
I ended the night exhausted and in great need of some sleep after a long day of being on my feet. However, I’m glad I made the most of my time. I can’t wait for the Logic concert I’m seeing tomorrow night at Xfinity with Maddie; keep an eye out for a review of the experience with some videos and pictures!
The Bucketlister 