Regular readers of my blog may remember my post from last year, titled The Summer of Joz & Jord. In it, I shared photos and small stories from the summer of 2021 which I spent primarily with my best friend Jordyn. We created a bucket list at the start and tried to complete as much as possible, documenting it all on two disposable cameras. While we missed plenty of things, we were positive that we could redeem ourselves during the summer of 2022.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite the case. A few weeks into the season, Jordyn started a new job in which he worked pretty much double what I worked this summer. Our schedules were hard to align, so we only saw each other about once a week, if that. It was sad, for sure, when we realized that no summer will likely ever be as carefree and open as the one last year. But we made it work, and each day we did spend together was that much more fun. We filled up two disposable cameras to document our small bucket list achievements, so today, I’m excited to share photographs from The Summer of Joz & Jord, Part II:
Our first summer adventure was a trip to Warwick, Rhode Island, to eat lobster rolls & clam chowder & Del’s Lemonade at Iggy’s. We discovered Iggy’s accidentally, and now it’s become a necessary spot when we’re both home and in need of a classic New England meal. This time, we took a long walk on the semi-beach that sits behind the restaurant, hunting for cool shells and rocks.
We both decided we needed to make more money this summer. We wanted to do something that could work around our schedules and that was flexible and fun, so we decided to create a pseudo landscaping company called Joz & Jord Landscaping Co, as we both enjoy doing yard work (Jord a bit more than me).
We had approximately one job this summer because we both got too busy to work with any of our clients (which consisted solely of family members). Perhaps next summer we’ll continue our small business. Until then, we’ll spend our free days taking photos in front of flowers, pretending to do research for our company.
Now it wouldn’t be The Summer of Joz & Jord without a trip to the strawberry patch. We didn’t pick nearly as many as last year, but I gathered enough to make a strawberry rhubarb pie.
We were slightly surprised at how many people were at the patch that afternoon and had to limit the amount of jokes we made, as there were far too many children around. But on the plus side, Jordyn’s car smelled like strawberries the entire way home.
Halfway through the summer, Jordyn had a big summer party and all of his friends from college drove to our town to attend. I’d never met any of them in person and was very excited to finally put faces to names and to speak to some I’d been having Facetime interactions with since 2020.
This one is of me, Jord, and his friend Emily.
You will soon witness the insane amount of ice cream we ate this summer. This photo is the first of many.
In addition to ice cream, Jord & I are both Panera-obsessed and make it a point to visit at least once every season that we’re in the same place. Here I am mimicking the Mother Bread logo in the back with an invisible loaf.
We had to recreate the iconic awkward photo of Jord holding a bag of popcorn at the movie theater.
I think this was the only movie we saw together this summer, which is quite sad… because it was the Minions movie.
But it was still a fun time. This one was taken once everyone left the theater. It probably wasn’t necessary to wait as we likely drew attention to ourselves over the course of the whole movie anyway.
After the movie, we went to Crumbl cookies which we realized had just opened up in the same plaza as the movie theater. We’d known about it only from Tiktok and decided we had to try them after the movie finished. They definitely weren’t worth 17 dollars, but they were pretty good. The maple was my favorite (obviously).
More ice cream. I love the one I took of Jord, in front of the porta potty.
Later in the summer, we went to visit my mom’s house in Vermont. It was Jordyn’s first time in Vermont, and it was our first long road trip together, too. It was one of my favorite memories of the summer, and I hope he gets to visit VT with me again this winter.
Jordyn & Roscoe, best of friends.
Jord and his very first maple creemie, the famous Vermont soft serve. With chocolate sprinkles, of course. I would kill for one right now!
The one client I mentioned earlier when I introduced the Joz & Jord Landscaping Co. was my mom & stepdad. We worked for, like… one hour? Two hours? I don’t really remember. But we weeded and raked and cleared out a large chunk of their garden while listening to our faves: Tame Impala, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, etc., etc.
A wonderfully crooked & incredibly awkward photograph for our landscaping business.
Stopping for gas on our way back to Connecticut. The four hour car ride consisted of non-stop chatting, and I will never forget it. Jord is one of those people I can talk to for hours on end about serious things and stupid things that induce endless belly laughs alike. I’m so happy one of our last hangouts ended in such a special way.
Alas, two selfies to mark the end of the Summer of Joz & Jord, Part II.
There are plenty more photos where these came from, but I thought I’d share just a few of my favorites today. This summer was the first summer I felt like a real adult, cause I had to pre-schedule pretty much every single get-together with my friends. Spontaneity is something I never thought I’d miss so much.
But even though I felt like a real adult for most of the summer, Jord was the one to get me out of that mindset, cause he always makes me feel like a kid. I’ve known him for so long now, and while he’s certainly matured, his spirit has never changed. He knows just how to brighten up my day, whether it be with random ABBA outbursts or reminders of old-but-timeless inside jokes.
If you’re reading this, I’m so grateful for your friendship, Jord, and I can’t wait to see you in December for The Winter of Joz & Jord.
xoxo, Joz
studio josie 