putting a face to the name.

it's probably entirely self-imposed, but i feel all sorts of pressure to keep up with my ever-accelerating blogging pace.  what started as "i make no promises" ballooned into 80-something posts in the month of august. icarumba.

call it an illness, but sometimes i've just got a lot to say.

...and then other times, i've just got a lot of life to live.

sans computer.

like a weekend in california.

but my mind's already trained itself to think in terms of blog posts, so the overwhelming amount of great life-living bloggable material piles higher and higher and before i know it, it's 11 p.m. and i'm blogging in bed when - i swear - i've had a total of 6 hours of sleep since last tuesday and i have things to read and laundry to fold and eyelids to shut.

disneyland, drinks with bff lauren, the time i slipped on the wet, rainy tile of my parents new house and surely broke my tail bone, little italy farmer's market, the "best of" blog post i promised last week, sweet things i discovered in real simple + martha stewart mags, the "you know you're an adult when" of all "you know you're an adult when's" and lots more are really high on the list for the week.  so is the massive amounts of trashy tv from the bravo network on my dvr. but, one thing at a time.

i did disney the way i always do disney - no bag, no accessories - just chapstick and a credit card.  the phone stayed in the car.  that's crazy talk in aubryland.  the idea of locking my communication device AND the camera  in the trunk for 14 hours was nuts.  i took three deep breaths and called it exposure therapy.  anyone seen a&e's obsessed?  of course, i only did it because i knew there'd be another camera in the group. so, pictures and the full fairytale to come.

so, i blogged one time while i was away and i think i updated my facebook status a time or two... not even sure i talked to my bestie in three days.  i was in complete home mode. home with my people, doing 32 hours worth of things every single day.  what a vacation.  kind of like my own technology-related version of gwyneth paltrow's master cleanse... only instead of cayenne pepper and maple syrup i detox'd on churros and pineapple whips.

must have been so desperately needed... i didn't think twice about sitting myself down to the computer that sat 10 feet away from the place i stashed my luggage.

pictures, stories, and sweet things to come.  in time.

but here's one little nibble of california:

san diego zoo.  with the family that's not my family but treats me like family. 

aubry.ally.julie.greg.

 faces. names.