Eat Pray Love in a week

Last week, I went home to Connecticut. I had the week off from work, so I went to visit my family and friends. My mom and I went and saw Eat Pray Love at the movies together. This time, I was able to see the Love part. It was funny because when I first watched the movie, I felt so emotional. My boyfriend and I had just broken up and I was still sad about it. This time, I watched it with a sense of wonder and awe of the world. My mom felt a lot from the movie too. I think that it is a very therapeutic movie!

I felt that my week in Connecticut took on many characteristics of the movie. In the movie, Julia Roberts wants to experience something beautiful and wants to marvel at something. She first does this in Italy through food. Now I am 100 percent Italian and my family is always prepared to give guests food, so when I went home, it was nearly impossible to watch people eat and follow my diet that I had been following. I took a temporary break (1 week won’t kill you!) I love ice cream in the summer…so of course I had some of that. I also went to a champagne bar with my friend Kim, out to a fancy Italian restaurant, Sushi with my friend Sean, a vegetarian restaurant with my friends Carolyn and Jenny, to a piano bar for drinks, out for pizza with my mom and dad, and ate at my grandmother’s 80^th birthday. I definitely had some good food and shared some great moments with friends and family. Sometimes food unites people.

As for prayer, I went to the beach a few times with friends and that is prayer to me. I feel that is where I hear God’s voice the most and feel serene and calm. I am always able to focus in on my thoughts and realize what direction my life should be heading.

Last but not least love. I did not fall in love on my trip to Connecticut, but I did move on from love. My boyfriend and I broke up this past month, and I was able to realize how fortunate I was to have such wonderful friends and family who show me love all the time. My friends and I also went to a couple clubs, where we danced with different people and just had fun. I feel lucky to have been immersed in love this week by my family. I miss them all the time, and even though I don’t see them, I know they are always thinking of me and it was just really nice to be with them for a week.

So now I am back in New Jersey, and as soon as I got off the train, I had work, went to the gym and the grocery store. It’s amazing how I could have one week of nothing but what I wanted to do and jump right back in to the grind. It feels good to be back in my routine though and I feel that I needed that week to refresh my mind, body, and soul, and prepare me for the year ahead!