Adventured.net

June 29, 2008

Kaaterskill Falls… Falls

Filed under: Adventure, Family, Photography — Tags: , , , , , — Vanessa @ 6:02 pm

So, I had this determined idea yesterday that we (my mom, Val!, Justin and myself) would go hiking and kayaking this weekend in upstate NY. Joey joined us as well. Without ample preparation and having missed the New Paltz turn off where we anticipated our Saturday evening hike, we headed into Saugerties and I got directions from a local that suggested two different hikes. Val! liked the idea of the Kaaterskill Falls Trail over the scenic overlook trail, so we were off in the direction of Hunter Mountain.


Beware – these photos get quite gruesome.

The trail was beautiful… Lush green trees densely crowded the muddy, rocky path which ran alongside a creek. In the creek were glistening silver-gray rocks and many levels of small falls, creating a beautiful visual effect as well as a musical audible effect throughout our hike, which was a half mile in length and took us upwards to the main attraction: a gorge into which a tall, thin, cool waterfall streamed. Val! and I made it there first and excitedly headed towards the falls. It was during this time of mindless hurry that I slipped on a wet rock and sent my left foot (and force of my body) into a hole surrounded by rocks. One of these rocks was incredibly sharp… As I extracted my leg, I noticed a deep gash exposing flesh and white fat folded up under the skin. The first words out of my mouth were “E.R.”

After Justin bandaged my leg with part of Joey’s shirt, we all headed back to the car and to the nearest emergency room. It’s never nice to hear a doctor refer to your cut as a gaping wound… even though that’s exactly what it was.

The worst part of the experience: Other than seeing the initial, frightening damage, the worst part (by far) were the numerous, painful shots I received to my wound area prior to being stitched up (10 stitches). I lost it and ended up crying…

The best part of the experience: Having my loving family there for me… Thanks Mom, Val! and Justin.

Things like this really help put life into perspective… And also remind me to be more careful. This is the third time in 3 weeks I’ve hurt myself, and the second time I slid off a rock and hurt myself. Sheesh.

June 4, 2008

Inexplicable Anxiety

Filed under: News, Positivity — Tags: , , , , , , — Vanessa @ 3:58 pm

I’ve been feeling a jazzy, energetic, strange anxiety today. It’s not necessarily bad, but not necessarily good either. It’s fueled by a multitude of things, I imagine, such as tons of different tasks I must accomplish from work, the democratic nominee being named, the US airline industry falling into ruin, and looming violin lessons in my future…

My anxiety could simply be because I’ve ingested too much coffee this morning. It could be because Obama won the democratic nomination (which I am not thrilled about). It could be because airlines seem to be dropping like flies (SilverJet, Eos, SkyBus). Those that are hanging on may not be around for much longer (United cutting capacity and jobs, American charging for everything, Frontier in bankruptcy and possibly closing down, Spirit making cuts to jobs and bases… etc.).

In general, I am worried about our careers – Justin with JetBlue and me in the travel/tourism industry. There seems to be an electric charge to everything. I imagine this is because most Americans are just waiting for the bottom to fall out of the semi-secure environment we’ve been living in for the last two decades. Even with the hardships after 9/11 and the first dotcom bubble burst, we’ve had some stability. Americans have been able to afford vacations, air travel, trips abroad, and the like.

Now that our dollar is in the toilet, airlines are shutting down, and people can’t even afford gas to go to-and-from work (yes – a lady in Texas told me it cost her more than $25 just to drive into work and back home) I just wonder what, if anything, is seriously going to change. Will our economy continue its steady decline? Will things stabilize where they are now? Will things improve? Time will tell, I suppose.

Life continues at it’s own comfortable pace for Justin and I at the moment. We watched Up the Yangtze last night, which was an interesting film; sad at points, slow at others, but always allowing you a glimpse into a wholly different culture where people are still, surprisingly, the same. Teenagers still have the same hormones, feelings, and rebellious nature. People are born believing they are entitled to more than is easily within their reach. I recommend seeing this movie if you have the opportunity. I feel very lucky to live in New York City where I can easily catch such a film. Quad Cinemas is showing it through Thursday if you can run down and see it by then.

I am taking a trial violin lesson next Tuesday to find out whether or not I want to pay for a series of classes. I am hoping so. It would be so nice to be able to play an instrument, especially such an aurally beautiful one.

April 18, 2008

Happy Val! – Photo Walk

Filed under: Family, Photography — Tags: , , , , , — Vanessa @ 4:59 am

Happy Val! – Photo Walk
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Vallie! came over tonight so we could walk around in Forest Hills Gardens taking nighttime pictures. It was a nice, relaxing evening punctuated by happy banter and lots of blurry, orange photos. I still like the way they came out, particularly because I got a few nice pix of Val! enjoying herself! :)

April 17, 2008

Flowering Tree of Queens Blvd

Flowers on Queens BlvdHere is a photo I took with my Blackberry of a tree that was in full bloom as I walked home from the Forest Hills JetBlue office.

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. ;)

April 6, 2008

Impressive Arch – Wandering in Forest Hills

Filed under: Photography, Writing — Tags: , , , , , — Vanessa @ 2:56 am

Impressive Arch
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Justin and I spent the afternoon wandering around Forest Hills. Today I woke up and wrote a bit on the novel Val! and I are co-authoring. She’s much more motivated about it than I am. I’ve only written on it twice and, in total, it is probably 5 pages long. Val’s effort and output is at least 4 times that of my own.

I trace my fingers along the top-most ledge of Sacre Couer’s grand entry – what a spectacular view of Paris. The seedy underbelly begins at the base below. The hostels, hookers, ‘red light district.’ Beyond, there is a mosque, there stands the Eiffel Tour, so proud now so many years after its birth into a society that completely detested it.

Justin woke up and we just sort of hung around. I read a bit in the book Val! lent me: Time Traveler’s Wife which I am quite enjoying. We headed to Garcia’s for some Mexican food and both left feeling miserably full. We then wandered around a bit trying to locate “something odd” that a new flickr friend of mine told me about. I think I found it! If I am correct about this oddity, it is the arch in this photo. It definitely looks a bit out of place between these two drab apartment buildings in Queens. I wonder why it’s there and what it represents…

After shooting up a storm, Justin and I decided it was time to do a little shopping. I purchased a pair of blue jeans and a pair of slacks and. as shopping generally bums me out, it was good that we went for massages immediately afterwards, and bubble tea directly after that. La sigh!

Our last stop was Bath and Body Works, which really lightened my mood. I love spending time in that store, smelling all the new smells and checking out their products and marketing. They might try harder than practically any brand out there to constantly come up with new products and ideas!

I hope you’re all having a great weekend!

April 3, 2008

Event at the Scandinavia House

Filed under: Adventure, Photography, Seasonal — Tags: , , , , , — Vanessa @ 4:49 am

Event at the Scandinavia House
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

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.

First Spring FlowersI 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.

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