Congrats to my nephew, Christian, whose art made it to the big city! When we were in Texas last week for our Holiday celebrations I showed Christian the photograph I have on my phone of the Rockefeller Center tree and he was pretty impressed. Krista told me that he was telling her about it as she was tucking him in that night. That’s when I knew he should be a contributor to the art displays at Rock Center.

So I requested he whip up a sweet little drawing that we could showcase at Rockefeller Center. Thanks to Ness for getting his art put on this Christmas display right next to the elevators that take her to work. Enjoy!

Ape for Apples

Just a quick post to link to some photos showcasing the outdoorsy fun we’ve been enjoying during this lovely season: Fall!

An Apple Picking We Will Go

Over the weekend, Justin and I went apple picking, wine tasting, stopped by a dairy for some fresh bread and cheese, and even spotted a baby black bear!  It was awesome!  I also go to sleep in on Saturday, which was brilliant and much needed.

Setting Up Camp

Rugged Campers With Our Air Mattresses

The weekend before last, we went camping with some friends (Olivia, Alex, and Marisa) in Clarence Fahnestock State Park.  We also brought along Ruby and Eve.  Olivia was accompanied by her pup Winston.  Good times – even if our Hyundai was a little weighed down!

We sat around the campfire until the wee hours of the morning.  We hiked.  We roasted marshmallows.  Good times were had.  Marisa and I saved the day by jogging two miles down a windy road, mostly uphill, to locate our car.  Yah, we’re tough.

Enjoy the photos!

Five days until mine and Justin’s fifth anniversary!

Crossing the street the other day, I noticed a main walking in the opposite direction. I glanced at him briefly and had the impression that his T-Shirt said “Bush” on it.

My Thought: Someone’s wearing a t-shirt that says Bush on it? Like the president? This has to be interesting.

My 2nd glance revealed the figure of person beneath the word with a fist raised triumphantly into the air and a sort of star behind it.

My Thought: Okay, that’s even weirder! Someone is wearing a shirt that says Bush on it that’s not derogatory, but instead is positive!? What’s going on here!?

You guessed it, I had to look at this poor fellow’s t-shirt a 3rd time to get the full gist of what was actually happening on his t-shirt! And then it all made sense. The shirt said “Rush” on it – not Bush (you can see the t-shirt here. I was a little off). The world was back to normal.

Justin and Ness in Chicago – January 2005*

So Wonderful Chicago
In other news, Val! had an interview in Chicago today for a freelance editing job. Not long after the interview, they called to offer her the gig. Wooohooo!!!! The job guarantees one month of solid editing work on a weekly series about gangs. I don’t know more than that, but I know it will allow her to be in Chicago which in itself is fabulous. It also allows her to be there when that glorious Midwestern city is welcoming Autumn in all it’s golden glory. Ahh… Lucky ducky.

And if everything goes as we hope, they’ll have more work for her after the first month. I’m not going to get into what she is getting paid for her hourly rate, but I will say it’s double what I make if I were to be paid hourly. That’s more than you can shake a stick at! Granted, it’s only guaranteed for one month, but who knows! Congratulations Val!!! Take that Windy City by storm!… and don’t be surprised when I come visit you for days at a time. ;)

*It would make more sense to use a photo of Val! and I from Chicago here, but upon checking Flickr and Picasa, I can’t seem to find one. :(

All fun things to do on a nice Sunday in NY. To start our summer out right we headed to Flushing Meadows Corona Park for a picnic, perfect weather for one – breezy and bright. It was nice to have a happy wholesome day. See more photos on Flickr here.

The current view from my window. I think this tree burst into bloom overnight. Living here makes the Frost poem make so much more sense “Her early leaf’s a flower.”

I wrote some good, calming tips for Happy blog tonight. Justin was rad and edited all my piling up videos. I’ll post one tomorrow and later decide the frequency. :)

Even though they are pretty, I know behind all those colorful petals and blooms, they are the cause of my sickness. *shakes fists* damn them.

Tomorrow Vanessa will have to walk me to work so I can show her this flowering tree. The one right next to it is much prettier. However, it was not wanting to be photogenic. But trust me, it was cooler. ;)

What a nice day! I accomplished a lot at work today – discussed SEO objectives with our analysts, communicated with our web team in India regarding their progress on our social networking site, added photos to a press release (ALA’s Favorite Top Ten Hikes), and changed all the maps from their previous, ugly Google Earth images to beautiful and colorful images created by our designer that truly evokes the ALA brand.

As I was about to hunker down into catching up on work email, my Outlook popped up a reminder. This afternoon was the ExOfficio PR event and mixer! Uh oh! Thank goodness for technology reminding me about things. I rushed to change out of my casual clothes to more appropriate attire, quickly fixed up my hair and makeup, and rushed Justin home from work (thanks for hurrying home, sweetie). We were on our way to Manhattan in record time.

I was so glad to be in the city during daylight hours. Well-dressed individuals were leaving work or heading out, arm in arm, for the evening. The best part was seeing the trees full of heavy buds. Some were already blossoming! Are they dogwoods? Magnolias? I am not sure. It was so lovely. The trees in Forest Hills haven’t gotten their flowers yet. Strange how the environment changes in 4 miles! :)

Justin and I had a nice time at the mixer. The ExOfficio (Chris and Rudy) people and their PR people were very nice. I really enjoy talking to Chris. She is such a vibrant, fun person. We both talked about engagements, traveling, work, marketing, etc. She is also going to Brazil for the Adventure Travel World Summit! Ahh!! I want to go! Isn’t that something I should be, like, required by LAW to attend??? Justin and Rudy talked about domain names and web stuff. Now it’s late – again. I am exhausted – again. At least it was all for a good reason.

I am looking forward to hearing all about Tizzle’s trip to Africa tomorrow! She is back and coming over for dinner. Yippy!!! :)

For those of you that haven’t checked out Follow Your Happiness yet – you’re missing out! We’ve just discusses Wellness Wednesday – don’t miss Tout your Talents Thursday for crying outloud.

Well, we had a great time yesterday for our last day in Stowe!
It was tough to choose to place a photo of an inanimate object up for my photo of the day. I sort of wanted to put up a climbing one, out of obligation, but my heart chose this one. :)

Aside – Running behind today on my updating. We took some photos with Beloved on Sunday and Justin spent a while trying to get my laptop to work with the camera…. *shakes fist angrily at Vista*

All is well in the world, except that it’s almost 2 AM and I am exhausted.

More Photos – I’ve updated the gallery to contain only photos from the weekend in Stowe and be in chronological order – Friday through Sunday!

Justin and I had a lovely last day in VT! We woke up early, scarfed down breakfast (fruit, pastries, cream of wheat with cinnamon and craisins – and honey in mine) and headed to the fitness center for indoor rock climbing! It was awesome. I LOVE that.. although we barely made it under an hour. Our forearms were screaming after a few times up the wall. :)

We wandered around for a while and then gathered up our things. Justin checked out of the hotel and I went to my harp lesson! Woo! I love the harp – both the way it looks (I admit) and the sounds it can produce. I am so not musically inclined, having never played an instrument. Sadly, despite a couple of years of choir, I never even learned chords/how to read music. The instructer was super patient and nice and helpful. It was a good experience. Mom would be proud as I have finally done something sort of Irish – thus embracing non-German roots for a change. haha :)

It was a beautiful day as we drove back to Burlington to catch our flight. The sun was melting the snow and icicles so it really was the perfect time to depart. I still would’ve loved to stay and try cross-country skiing! Maybe next year. *crosses fingers*