Adventured.net

Short Story: Installment 3

Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | Writing | 0 Comments

Feeling in the mood to read a brief bit of unexcited writing?  Alright!!!  I have just the thing for you. Check out installment 3 of my tale.

Also, I’ve added photos to flickr of my wanderings with Justin.  Take a walk in Forest Park, visit the western Catskills, and check out Salem for Halloween.

Tags: Photography, random, Vanessa, Writing

Fall Photos of Beautiful NY State

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Adventure, Fun, Photography, Seasonal | 0 Comments

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.

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!

Tags: camping, fall, hiking, New York, Photography, seasons, upstate, wine

Houston, Ho!!!

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 | Adventure | 0 Comments

Yessiry!  I am fixin’ to be saying Howdy to Houston!  I am meeting up with my mom and sister who are already there visiting Ma.  It will be a nice way to spend a couple of days.  Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve really written much.

I just updated the Examiner website with a little blurb on Houston’s Mixers & Elixirs event and linked up Val’s Youtube video. Give it a looksee. :)

In May, we had some great guests from Germany (couchsurfers) stay with us for a few nights (ok, five nights). They even accompanied us to Texas when we went down to celebrate my Mom’s bday (check out the photos)! 

I love having guests from different countries stay with us because not only does it help them out by providing them with a free place to stay, we also get to learn so much about different countries and cultures. Not to mention, we now have friends in Germany and Italy because of couchsurfing. For Mom’s birthday, we dined at Saltgrass Steakhouse on the River Walk and continued the party a couple of different nightclubs downtown.

My little cousin Brennan was also baptized last month (photos on Picasa). He’s grown sooo much in just a short period of time, it’s pretty incredible. I just hope Sheila and Justin, the proud parents, can return to a normal sleep routine soon. Having a newborn is certainly taking a little bit of a toll on them.

Tags: Examiner, Family, Houston, Photography, Texas

Quicky

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 | Photography, Thoughts | 0 Comments

I’ve been meaning to write here.  Several topics have popped into my head.  I’m actively searching for a new, exciting job opportunity.  If you know of someone that needs a web producer/interactive marketing person, please send them my way. ;)

I considered writing about people that seem to be born knowing exactly what they want to do and follow their goals like arrows toward a target.

I considered writing about Val!’s current trip in Europe. She’s been great so far about updating her blog and adding photos to her Picasa galleries.

For the meantime, I am just going to post photos from mine and Justin’s drive from San Antonio to New York over Christmas.  We really wanted to have wheels here.  Sorry not much of an update, but there ya go. I’ll try to hunt down some inspiration.

Tags: Photography

Wandering Around the Waldorf Astoria

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | Fun, Photography | 0 Comments

Last Tuesday, Thao invited me to attend the Project ALS gala held at the Waldorf Astoria. Since she works for Viacom, sometimes these random opportunities appear out of the blue. Ben Stiller was hosting and it sounded like a good time plus we both got to get dressed up!

Though the subject matter was quite sad, Ben Stiller and Sarah Silverman were hilarious, the food was good, and the wine flowed unceasingly. After the event, Thao and I wandered the halls of the Waldorf Astoria, literally, and took a bunch of photos. I hope you enjoy the photos of our drunken wanderings as much as we enjoyed taking them!

Tags: Friends, Fun, Photography, project ALS gala

4th Anniversary – Roundtrip to Polanda via Vienna

Saturday, October 11th, 2008 | Adventure, Family, Photography, Travel | 0 Comments

As some of you already know, Justin surprised me with a trip to Poland for our fourth anniversary.  While we did things tourists are typically expected to do, such as visiting Castle Wawel and snapping photos in Rynek Glowny (the grand square) in Krakow, and strolling through Stephansplatz and along the Danube Canal in Vienna, the primariy purpose of our visit was so that I could experience, first hand, the land of my ancestors.

For a time I’ve been working on a family website based on research my great aunt,

Sister Mary Elizabeth Jupe, did that traced the roots of my father’s family all the way back to the 1600’s in Silesia, Prussia in Germany (when our last name still had both its p’s: Juppe).  That region has since become part of Poland. For our trip, Justin and I had one night in Nysa, one night in Krakow, and one night in Vienna.  Nysa is, consequently, the region where my ancestors are from.  The towns that are significant follow: Deutsch Wette, Neissa/Nysa and Lindewiese/Lipowa – German and Polish names respectively for the areas that are still in existence.

It was definitely an interesting experience, though I wish we’d had longer than 3 days!  I also wish the weather had been more agreeable and that I spoke a little Polish.  :)  It was surreal to step foot into a church that some of my relatives were married in and another was christened in more than 2 centuries ago.  It was also sad, because there is practically no German influence left in the area.  I say practically, because there were still one or two German inscriptions adorning plaques within the beautiful church.  Check out our seemingly endless supply of photos from Poland and Vienna.

Tags: Adventure, austria, europe, Family, heritage, krakow, life, Lipowa, Nysa, Photography, poland, travel, vienna