Whoa. How did that happen? I swear it was like a week ago that I was still scraping snow off my car, and now it’s the middle of July. There’s less than half a month until my 30^th birthday (sidenote: WTF) and only like six weeks left until the Range Rover fleet begins their annual escape off of the island, like geese heading south for the winter. So I have to shake my head in wonder and say again… how did this happen?

Oh wait, I remember. From mid-April to the last weekend in June, I had plans every single weekend. And since I live on an island thirty miles out to sea, I think all but one involved traveling to some exotic locales. You know, like Vermont.

2015 has been the year of weddings for us. With that, also comes the year of bridal showers, bachelorette parties, bridesmaid dresses and travel. Seriously, if the Steamship Authority had a punch card like they do at frozen yogurt places, I would be able to travel for free probably for the rest of the year. When I heard that #SCOTUS had made gay marriage legal in all fifty states, the very first thing that popped into my head was: Dear God, I cannot go to another wedding.

I’m really not trying to complain. I was so, so happy that I could be a part of all of these special moments for my friends. I feel so lucky to finally have a job where I don’t miss major life events because I can only pick two weekends off in a six-week period. If anything, I’m more just trying to justify my severe hiatus from blogging as of late.

I always thought that the reason I was so inconsistent with my favorite hobby was my irregular schedule. Some days I worked early, some days I didn’t go in until noon, other times crushing the dreams of nine-year old children by telling them that no, Samantha is no longer available was just so emotionally taxing that my brain turned into goo by the end of the day. I always thought that if I worked in a different field, I would come home and write every evening, schedule posts on the weekend, things like that. But in getting the chance to have a life, I discovered that the more time you spend living that life, the less time you spend writing about it. But if you didn’t go out and live it, you’d have nothing to write about anyway, so it’s kind of a chicken/egg situation.

I guess you could say we were definitely “living” this year. We went through a similar time period in 2011, the same year we got married. I remember having a wedding (either as a guest or working) every weekend for six weeks straight, much to the horror of my manager. That was the wave of those of us that were crazy enough… I mean so in love… to get married at age twenty-five. Well now that we’re turning thirty, it’s more a wave of the tidal variety. And frankly, I can’t complain. And I couldn’t say no. You know how there’s some invites you get in the mail and you don’t feel bad about having to RSVP “we’re celebrating from afar!”? All of the people getting married this year just happen to be some of our closest friends in our lives. And again, that just makes you want to be a part of all of it that much more.

So you could say it was quite an eventful year, and it’s only halfway through. I’m still not sure how we made it this far, because amidst all of this, we also have full-time jobs, additional side hustles, and one very high-maintenance pup. But I wouldn’t change any of it (I mean, if I had my way, maybe spread it out a little bit) because to be there for these people during such momentous occasions in their lives – how could anyone be annoyed about that? When we got married almost five years ago, all of these people did the exact same things for us. It’s an honor to have friends like this, people in your life that want you to be there with them when they hit these kinds of milestones.

So thank you. Thank you to all the people that asked us to be a part of their journeys. Thank you to the bosses who allowed us to take time off and the coworkers that covered for us when we weren’t there. Thank you to our family members who dogsat and didn’t get upset (at least, not to our faces) when we had to miss things like a Father’s Day meal. And thank you to the Steamship Authority and Hyline Cruises, for only cancelling one of our boats (which, thank God, was a return trip).

And since I’m so backlogged on photos at this point that there will never be enough time to give any of these events individual posts, here’s a brief recap of the past few months:

First, there was Michelle’s bridal shower in New Hampshire. Michelle and I have been friends since sixth grade when my locker was on top of hers, and she helped me when I couldn’t figure out the combination lock even though I was a real brat about it:

Next, my best college friend Alisa’s bachelorette weekend in Portsmouth, N.H. I’ve known Alisa since I transferred to Plymouth State University (almost ten years ago!), and Steve has actually known her even longer. We were both in the wedding:

This photo brought to you by a selfie stick (P.S. I WANT ONE). The following weekend? Alisa’s shower in Andover, MA.

Which I left and immediately drove to Portsmouth, N.H. once again for… Michelle’s bachelorette party:

The next day, I got in my car and drove to Boston for Bridget + Ted’s engagement photos. The next weekend, we actually stayed on-island for the Nantucket Daffodil Festival, where I had my first hosting gig with the local television station, NCTV.

By some miracle, we were on-island two weekends in a row. But the wedding festivities didn’t stop there, as the following weekend was my boss Marjan’s bridal shower:

After that, things really kicked into high gear. The next weekend, Michelle + Adam got married in Chichester, N.H.:

Thus completing our quadfecta (which may or may not be an official mathematical term) of the same photo me and my core middle school friends (Crystal, Megan and Michelle) that we have taken at each of our weddings:

Luckily, Michelle’s wedding was on a Friday, because the following day, my sister Becky graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with her Master’s degree:

I felt bad, because the week following this was Steve’s 30th birthday, which sort of got overshadowed by everything we had going on. But since he tells me every year that he “just wants to be left alone” for his gift, we had just a few low-key gatherings, both on and off-island, sandwiched in between events (and my second appearance with NCTV). We left on Saturday morning to head to New Hampshire once again for Steve’s brother Anthony’s undergraduate commencement from Saint Anselm’s:

(Which I can only describe as sitting on the face of the sun. Seriously, it was the hottest day I can recall this year and it was May.)

After that, it was onto Alisa + Kevin’s wedding on Memorial Day weekend in Portland, Maine:

(Steve was in the wedding too, but of all the photos I took that weekend, there is not one of both of us together with the bride. Whoops!)

The weekend after, I made another excursion to New Hampshire for my oldest friend Hannah’s bridal shower, whose wedding I’m the maid of honor in this August:

The next weekend, Steve and I were on the road again, headed to Stowe, Vermont for Liz + Tommy’s wedding. Liz and I were roommates in Cambridge before we decided to live with boys – we met as the oldest interns at The Improper Bostonian (we had both already graduated college):

After that, a weekend off! We stayed on island, rested up, and reminded Schooner that we existed and that yes, we still loved him. But then the following weekend… Marjan + Andy got married (on-island, and at the museum that we all work at):

And yes, it was less than a month later but I recycled my bridesmaid dress from Alisa’s wedding. It has pockets – need I say more?

The next weekend was the last event of the “season,” Hannah’s bachelorette party in New York City. I took my first direct JetBlue flight from ACK->JFK, which overall was a good experience until my returning flight got cancelled after I sat in the airport for seven hours. I guess you’re not a true Nantucketer if you haven’t had a plane cancelled due to fog:

And just like that, it was the Fourth of July. I don’t know if you’re as exhausted reading this as I am reliving it, but if you had any questions about how M.I.A. I’ve been, well, there you have it. But you know what? I have the rest of my life to blog. Right now, I’m going to bask in these joyous moments with my friends and family, and worry about things like laundry and packing (oh, did I mention that we’re moving? More on that another time) and vacuuming my car and all the other parts of my life that have been neglected recently some other time.

I have three weddings left this year, two of which I’m photographing/attending, and one that I’m maid of honor in. I’m very excited for all of them, but I can also see the end in sight. In my head, I’m hoping that Steve and I can escape somewhere in the fall, just the two of us, and recoup a little bit. As long as it doesn’t cost any money, amirite? Unless I can pay for it in gently-used bridesmaid dresses.

Until then,

~L