Through an odd coincidence (we were enrolled in different programs at different universities) both my mother and I earned degrees last year. Not ones to let an occasion go uncelebrated, we (ok totally and completely 100% she) planned a trip to Paris and Rome.

Yes, we DO know how to fucking party.

Here's us outside the Louvre:

And another, one of my favorite pictures from that trip, just outside the Vatican, in Rome:

Prior to this photo, I had been walking ALL DAY EVERY DAY and (sometime in the afternoon after a glass or two of wine on the roof of the Castel Sant'Angelo) I stubbed my toe so hard it felt like it had been dipped in kerosene and then LIT ON FIRE and there was nothing to do but keel over and begin bawling. Making American tourists look good, that's me!

This is something my dad and I would generally openly mock and laugh at (since I wasn't really hurt, just tipsy and clumsy). My mother is generally more the type to rush over with a first aid kit and hugs.

However, I guess traveling with me for over a week had toughened her up a bit (read: made her want to hit me but that was only for a minute and to her credit she somehow restrained) and I couldn't have been more proud or her than when she whipped out her camera to document my obvious (and totally babyish) pain. I am not even kidding, my heart swelled.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Love you!