it's been a year!

It's been about a year since my fiance and I moved to Connecticut and there have been a lot of changes!

I started a new job with the Girl Scouts of Connecticut as the Lead Registrar in the Registration Department. Things are going well and I'm learning a lot!

Our lease for the apt ended and we moved into a nice townhouse in Shelton. The new place is five minutes from Sikorsky and saves Andrew 30 minutes on his way home from Westchester.

On that note, Andrew has started classes a NYU for his MBA. It takes up most of his free time outside of work! So far, so good!

What do I do while Andrew is preoccupied? I find small projects to take on, for example:


Spring is in the air and just around the corner, with a recent burst of beautiful sunny days. I'm looking forward to the sunshine and as always, flip flops!

drenched!

I'm proud of myself - I've been walking the Tower Trail at Sleeping Giant State Park every day for the last two weeks and today when I walked out the door, I thought about how lucky I was to have avoided the rain...talking about jinxing myself!

I got severely drenched from a huge thunderstorm that decided to crack open when I was almost to the top of the trail. I should have run the last little bit to the Stone Tower for shelter, but instead, I decided to turn around, thinking the trees would shelter me a bit from the rain. Bad decision. By the time I got back to the car, I was soaked head to toe and partly covered in mud - very fun!

I learned my lesson: dark dark clouds = rain

On the flip side, I've been taking some more photos of my bead work and testing out my skills, finding new "backdrops" for the pictures. One of my favorite photos is a pair of silver hoop earrings with hand-blown swirl glass beads that I took in the Stone Tower. I had to play with my camera to get it to focus, but I finally got a few good shots!

I'm still working on my collection and taking pictures to create portfolio. When I finally get everything photographed and logged, I'll start selling off my pieces. Until then, stay tuned and stay dry!

rain rain go away!

Today I decided to hike to the top of the Tower Trail at Sleeping Giant State Park - nothing new for me. On a whim, I packed up some of the jewelry I made, I figured that I might be able to take a few nice pictures and it was really sunny and gorgeous out.

The hike to the top wasn't too bad, and there weren't many people at the park today. Once I reached the top I climbed out to the cliffs that I discovered last week - only this time I took a different foot path, which was a wise decision. The foot path I took today took me higher up, overlooking the spot that I had discovered last week - it was also more peaceful. After laying out a few pieces and taking a few shots, the sunny day turned dark. I heard a lot of thunder rumbling in the distance and I knew I had to go. The storm rolled in pretty fast - I half ran the 1.6 miles down the mountain to the parking lot - I DID NOT want to get caught in a summer storm! It worked out to my advantage - it has been pouring rain on and off all day since I left the park. Thank goodness I was able to stay dry!

Hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow and I'll be able to take some more pictures! Stay tuned!

Happy 4th of July!

What a fun day! The weekend started a bit late for Andrew and I since he had to work a half day on Friday. We met up for lunch in Milford at Buffalo Wings Winds and then headed to Sleeping Giant State Park for a quiet hike on the Tower Trail. Once we got to the top, we climbed out to a cliff and watched the storm that was heading towards the park. It was pretty neat to see the rain and lightning from the cliffs. We walked to the top of the Tower, took a few pictures of the pretty landscape (which includes downtown New Haven) and then started to hike back. We got hit with a few sprinkles of rain, but made it back before it started to pour.

After getting back, we got a call from Belden's and decided to head back to the Milford Mall to see the ring we ordered in. Unfortunately, it didn't fit. :( We saw a few fireworks from the top of the parking deck, but nothing spectacular. We headed back to Hamden and the Three Brothers Diner, open 24 hours, for dessert. Turns out I wanted breakfast instead - no surprise there!

On a whim, we got a text message from a friend asking if we wanted to go to Boston for July 4th. We decided that it would be a cool adventure and we had already been contemplating heading to Boston anyway.

So, we hit the road around 9am Saturday morning to see the show in Boston! It was a great day - we got there just in time to get our wristbands. We left the park and wandered all over Boston (on foot). We walked through the Boston Public Garden, the Boston Common, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Long Wharf, Chinatown and then back to the Charles River Esplanade for the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.

While we didn't get great seats (we couldn't quite see the stage,) we were able to hear everything. We also ended up having awesome seats for the fireworks display at the end of the show. Some fun highlights from the the Oval: they threw out big beach balls for the crowds to bounce around; Neil Diamond and Sweet Carloline (with an encore); the Boston Pops (need I say more?); Craig Ferguson and Keith Lockhart doing an Irish "riverdance" around the stage.

It was a lot of fun and next year I think we are heading over early with a cooler and a tent. Any takers?

Hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July weekend!

Beaded Jewelry...soon to be for sale!

I've started dabbling in beadwork again. It's taking a bit of time, getting the feel back, but occasionally I have a burst of inspiration - hopefully other people will like that inspiration!

It's been fun and hopefully I can sell a few pieces, however, I want to take photographs for my portfolio before I sell any of my pieces.

If anyone is interested in a piece, let me know.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Wow! It has been a crazy over the last six days and it is finally wrapping up! The days looked something like this:

Wednesday: packing & cleaning, errands, driving to VA overnight

Thursday: arrive at 5am; sleep for a few hours; sell the washer/dryer from our townhouse; get the townhouse painted; drop off car for inspection; make a return; meet at DSW with our friend Gina; purchase a pair of tan shoes for Andrew; lunch at El Paso; a bit of shopping for me, a nap for Andrew; dinner with the sisters; chill for a few hours; pick up Chris from Airport; SLEEP

Friday: me = meet with Gina at ULTA for grand opening (one free gift!); brunch at the Silver Diner with sisters and Gina; to Lowes to pick up cleaning stuff; to townhouse to clean a bit & meet with landscaper; rush home to change and then head to the Valentine Museum for rehearsal & then the Bull and Bear Club for rehearsal dinner; SLEEP!!!!!

Saturday: up early to meet with Todd & Connie for breakfast; back to townhouse to finish cleaning; drop off Andrew at James' house; me = hang out with Dad and Nathan, including a visit to Toys R' Us, Sau's house, and Tan-A Supermarket; home to get ready for wedding and then off to the Valentine Museum for the wedding (congrats to Thomas n' Jenn!); then a visit to CVS; then SLEEP

Sunday: breakfast with family for Father's Day; relax for a bit, get stuff together for trip back; hit the road around 1 pm; arrive home at 10 pm...SLEEP!!!!!!!

Monday: SLEEP IN!

and that concludes the crazy long weekend in VA.

NYC

another trip to NYC with the following results:

• a visit to the Kinokuniya Japanese Bookstore = one expensive mechanical pencil
• roaming the Sanrio Luxe store in Times Square and realizing how poor I am
• finding the Muji store = handful of really awesome writing pens (www.muji.com)
  
• visit to the Tracy Reese store - amazing stuff, but another realization of how poor I am
• DSW in NYC (Union Square) sells Prada shoes and LeSportSac bags
• Filene's Basement was easier to navigate than DSW
• a lot of the TJMaxx/Marshalls commercials are true - they have the same clothes are many of the small boutiques for a lot less. I found a pretty dress in a boutique for $98 and realized that I saw the same thing in TJMaxx for $39.99
• a lot of places close very early on Saturday evening
• when you are tired, after seeing Bryant Park once, you don't want to see it three more times
• umbrellas are good - it sucks if you don't have one when it is raining and you have to walk everywhere
  
• if it is raining in NYC and you don't have an umbrella, the best part of the trip is coming home and taking a hot shower
  

- peace -