#2,077 Jersey Shore.

The Jersey Shore is not what I thought. MTV should be ashamed (I mean, for way more than one reason, but this is the reason right now).

New Jersey looked every bit like a New England postcard today, beginning to end. We slept in for the first time in a very long time and spent the day doing absolutely nothing. When we woke up we made a quick trip to the pharmacy in this most incredibly quaint seaside town… And found Tony Soprano’s (almost) beach house, Whitecaps, in Sea Bright.

These towns all look the way I’ve envisioned coastal New England my whole life, with big front porches on old shingled homes with huge American flags draped from the porch rafters. It’s like a dream. When we got back to Kim’s house, everyone was having a big breakfast and Lindsey was briefing everyone on the birthday color war activities. She made t-shirts for Kim and I, the two birthday girls. We drew names to make the Team Kim and Team Erin teams, then the war commenced starting with an egg toss.
Omar and I hung in there until the bitter end, then lost in a tie breaker when we had to move the tournament to the street since no one’s eggs were breaking in the cushy grass. 
Omar and Mike representin’ Team Erin in blue:

Mike reminds us for the world of Ben’s big brother, Sam!

Oh, Lindsey. How will I ever repay this kind of graciousness?

See you in a few hours, Laurel. I can’t wait to give you a big hug and turn 30 for real at home sweet home. Let’s do this!