home is where the heart is.

so for almost the last two weeks i have been traveling... back and forth from boston to taunton. and its been great. at the last minute i decided to come home during the down time i had between being done with london and meeting katie in italy and i couldn't have been happier with my decision...

since i booked my flight home pretty close to the day i acutally left, i was able to keep it a secret from james. with help from vicky, max and heather, i was able to get tickets for the graduation and senior ball and have a perfect long weekend. james' face was priceless when he opened his apartment door and saw me standing on the porch. and, just as i had hoped... i was able to pick up my heart from the spot on the hill in boston where i left it four months ago.

watching james graduate (well, really playing connect four and the box game with his brother...) was really great. hanging out with the mannings for the weekend was such a pleasure, as always. and my heart floated around the whole time because the happiness i felt was hard to contain within my chest. the weather last weekend was absolutely perfect. i'm glad i didn't miss spring time in boston. mother's day was great, too. i really find solace in the fact that i have managed to fill my life with the most amazing people.

reuniting with kate was obviously amazing. we sat in her car, turned up the radio, looked at eachother, smiled, drove off and realized we were back in action. about to embark on an italian adventure, nonetheless. anticipation is bittersweet.

speaking about anticipation for the upcoming italian chapter of my life... james' dad just bought his graduation gift... a round trip ticket to rome.

the rest of my two weeks in the states has been filled with family, friends, cookouts, going out for ice cream, forever 21, target, watching the office for hours, smores, pizza, fruity pebbles, gold fish... really everyone and everything i missed while i was away. and though somethings about my life may have changed, everything happens for a reason and things work out excatly how they are supposed to. i am about to repack my suitcases, charge my ipod, pick out a book i haven't read yet and continue traveling around europe enjoying what has inevitably been the most life-altering, action packed, perfectly amazing few months of my life.

see yah in june!

<3
rd

we all love you lots.

i said goodbye to modus and to all my friends. its so weird to think that i have spent basically everyday with a group of people for the last 3 months... and now i will probably never see them again. we'll keep in touch through the internet, but the likelihood of them visiting or me coming back and seeing them is very small.

my last day at work was really great. everyone signed a card for me with really sweet, sincere messages. they got me a cake and gave me a gift card to a cool london store. they let me listen to whatever music i wanted to all day. we all went out for dinner and drinks afterwards. it was a lovely last day. im going to miss it very much.

this past weekend i have spent wandering around from one part of london to the other. i have spent precious time with amazing people. this was my last weekend in london. everything that i did had a sense of finality to it. i don't think i have ever appreciated a city more than i appreciate this one. london is beautiful, it pulls the stars from the sky and wears them around it's neck.

as for where i'm off to next... i'm about to pack my bags, go to the airport and figure that out...

<3 Rd

athens.

i don't think i really need to say how beautiful greece is on a warm weekend in the end of april, but...

the city was stunning. it was everything i had envisioned. the ancient monuments were breathtakingly overwhelming. i felt honored to be able to see them for real. i kept closing my eyes and having flashbacks of what it all must have looked like during 400 BC.

the world's oldest city proved to have stood the test of time. the amount of knowledge that came from this place... all the philosophers, all the ideas, all the concepts... unfathomable, really.

dana and i spent the weekend on our own. which was totally fine. we napped in the national park, surrounded by flowers and ruins and covered in a blanket of sunlight. we found an amazing cafe under a canopy of vines where we sat for hours drinking iced cappuccinos and writing in our journals and looking at maps and pamphlets about athens. then we hit all the tourist hot spots. (the temple of zeus, hadrian's arch, the first olympic stadium, the acient agora, parliment, the national library, the acropolis and more).

on our way down from the acropolis, we stopped to eat dinner at a traditional greek restaurant. we obviously ordered greek salads and smiled at eachother as we ate the most delicious feta either of us had ever had. the owner of the restaurant came over to our table to clear our plates and bring us our check and he started talking to us really fast in greek. we smiled and shook our heads and said, "yeaaaaaaaa... it was.... greaaattt..." he started laughing and said (in english) "i'm sorry girls, you look like you are from greece. you are visiting? i'll be right back." so he took our plates and when he returned he had a dessert for each of us in his hands. baklava... it was perfect (and free)!

later that night, we found this really cool street in the neighborhood called psirri. we sat at an outdoor bar and listened to traditional greek music and absorbed the culture. there were so many people hanging out on the street. so many lights. so much buzz. the energy of this city was unforgettable. it seemed as if everyone was so happy and grateful to be alive enjoying such a beautiful spring night. i know we were.

we spent the next day at the markets. obviously i can't go to a city and not go to a market. the strawberries were amazing and i think i had about 4 more iced cappuccinos. the jewelry was so beautiful and i wished i could have bought everything i saw.

we met back up with lindsey and kristen for a big lunch before we headed back to the hostel and then to the airport. another lovely weekend for the books.

<3 Rd

rachel duarte photography.

my website has been launched. i built it from scratch and it took forever. hope you like. =)

amsterdam.

i fell in love with another city... and i didn't see it coming. i wanted to visit amsterdam because i thought it would be something fun to do while i was young and traveling around... but i didn't have high expectations. i actually anticipated a grey city with with smog and smoke hovering around all the buildings. i thought the sun wouldn't shine and the trees would all be leaf-less. i imagined there being a lot of litter because i thought the residents of amsterdam would be too lazy to do anything about it. i was wrong.

not only was amsterdam not what i had expected, but it seemed to be a parallel universe. comparable to the truman show... it was perfect in every aspect of the word. the people were all so friendly. everyone was so environmentally conscious. everyone rode bikes... everywhere. there were canals that ran through out the entire city. it was beautiful. the weather was amazing. the park was green. the flowers... the flowers in holland are possibly the most beautiful flowers in the entire world. the children all seemed so well behaved. the city itself was quiet... peaceful. there were so many shops and restaurants... and they were all quirky and cute. the laws are progressive and liberal. amsterdam seems to be booming. i truly think it would be a great place to live and raise a family and i think to agree with that statement you need to visit the city for yourself.

so we rented bikes. which was probably the best decision we could have made. the canals were breathtaking... and we rode up and down them for hours. we hung out in vodelpark and basked in the sun. we went to the van gogh museum. we found this amazing bagel place that we ended up going to every day. we went to a street market... because i love them... and we walked through the floating flower market. i stole a tulip from the garden in front of the airport. its currently being pressed in my journal. we met so many young people who were traveling around the world and just happened to stop in amsterdam on the same weekend we did. its really weird to think about the decisions and circumstances that influence the people who end up being in the same places at the same times...

anyway, i had a lot of time to think and realize this weekend. and no matter what my thoughts started out with... they always finished with images and memories and ideas about being home. i came to the conclusion that i am absolutely thrilled about all the things... all the people... basically the future... that i have waiting for me when i get back.

<3&miss,
R

etro aw09 press day.

"you know, we have never posted an intern's writing or photos on the website before..."
-louisa, senior account director, big wig









ps. check out the rest of april 09 to see all the cool events we've been doing at modus!!!

easter weekend.

when our weekend trip to spain got cancelled and we found out the forecast for the weekend in london was nothing but drizzle, our hopes were sort of crushed. almost ever person in london has traveled out of the city for the weekend... whether its to the family's house in the country or to a warm beach in italy. kristen, etosha, lucy and i remained here, though. in drizzly london. for the weekend. but we had loads of fun anyway.

on thursday we went out for a big dinner in richmond. we each got 3 courses and hung out in the resturant for hours. its nice when you find a group of girls that have good chemistry and can talk and talk about love and life.

on friday morning i met etosha under london bridge to go to a market. it took me forever to get there because the tube system gets confused on the weekends. it was worth the effort though. the market was amazing. there was nothing to buy there but food. delicious food. i went starving and left completely stuffed. the smells were indescribable. the tastes were perfect. i have such an appreciation for markets. i think they are the best way to see the local culture of certain parts of what ever city you are in. cheese was the main focus of this market... cheese and bread. and the samples were to die for. im so glad etosha forced me into going with her. i never would have known about it otherwise. it also made my brand new white plimsols not so brand new white anymore... which is good because i looked like a dweeb.

the rest of the weekend sort of all melted together because there was nothing too distinguishable to separate day from day. i went to see a movie by myself at an old movie theater in richmond on the thames. it was really lovely. i went groccery shopping. i picked some flowers. i read my book under an umbrella in the park.

a penny fell out of my purse and landed heads up. a little boy picked it up and started to hand it to me. i told him it was from america and he could keep it if he wanted to. as he put it in his pocket i told him not to loose it because it was good luck. he ran to find his dad, holding his hand on his thigh to make sure the penny didn't jump out.

i spent another night with a bunch of friends drinking down by the river. it was devans birthday. it was nice to be surrounded by a group of people who love being together. the river is amazing. once it gets warm so much of life revolves around that river. it doesnt matter if its drizzly. as long as the night is nice and the breeze is warm, the river is amazing.

and yes, kate, every time i walk down there i think about that bruce song.

i went out to east london one day. i saw the tapestry replica of picasso's guernica. it was amazing. never has one image captured to much despair. i guess the original painting was displayed at the very same gallery in 1939. it was the beginning of all anti-war protests and propoganda. it made east london the artsy-liberal side of the city that its known as today. picasso is amazing.

i had an easter dinner with some friends from work. we went to a pub and ordered the easter dinner special. it consisted of roast beef, pototoes, yorkshire pudding and veggies. it was ok. we also played monopoly, so that was cool.

i have half of a chocolate egg left to eat. some homework to do. and a bunch of magazines to look through. im hoping tomorrow is sunny so i can find a park to go to.

<3 R