Goodbyes

Since I was little I've always had a tough time with goodbyes. When I say this I mean: weekends spent at a friends lake house resulted in tears when it was time to go, an extended family trip to Cape Cod ending in a nuclear level emotional meltdown, saying "goodbye" to my college roommates was a mess, etc. I'm pretty sure I even had a hard time once when I was younger when my parents decided to get rid of a living room chair (we'd had it for a while, I'd grown attached)!

In Boston this past weekend I had the hardest goodbye yet when my family came together to celebrate the life of my grandmother (Nana). She was an amazing woman with a passion for life and family. There was so much I learned this weekend about her life from the people who have known her the longest, but something that did not need words was the love we all felt from having her in our lives.

I'm thankful we were so close and because of that I'll never forget the visits, the hugs, the kisses, the laughs, the stories (there are a lot of them), the sometimes crazy hairstyles, the smell of her lipstick, the soft skin, the way she said my name, or most importantly the LOVE she so kindly gave me.

It's amazing to me how time and distance may have separated us over the years, but that things never changed.

1986

2008

Apple Pickin' and Pumpkin Luggin'

I've wanted to go apple and pumpkin picking since the first signs of fall appeared back in early September and this weekend my wish finally came true (granted this has been planned out for almost a month now)!

We rented a car and headed out from the depths of the city to find us some Jersey fresh apples & pumpkins! The weather was not very cooperative, but that didn't deter us. We headed to Wightman Farms in Morristown, NJ, which we'd found through a website that lists all the farms you can pick fresh foods from in NJ! It was really nice being back in a car, with the ability to go wherever you want when you want. Although, and I've said this before, it was kind of exhausting getting in and out of the car all day....sad, but clearly I don't use those muscles (which ever they are) enough.

The orchard was huge, and soggy. I think the rain scarred a lot of people off, which was nice because we got first pick of everything! Not being particularly acquainted with apple picking (it's been a while for me and this was a first for Jon) we were originally limited to the apples we could reach.... until (!) we discovered a pretty nifty device to help get the one's that were high up!

Before

After

There was one section of the orchard where there were all these apples that were smashed into the ground that a frightening number of bees had laid claim to feast on! We looked around and they were everywhere. I was kind of scared at first, however upon further inspection Jon informed me that they were basically laying in the apples and were too "drunk" off the abundance of juice to even know which way was up. This seemed oddly similar to how I feel sometimes after a big meal!

The final part of this experience was to pick the perfect pumpkin! I was scoping out the goods when I finally found one I liked! Jon went around to grab it (of course it was not in an easily accessible location) when all of a sudden the couple in front of us reached for it...we looked at each other in horror (well I was horrified, I think Jon was scared I might start crying) but thankfully they decided it wasn't the one they wanted and abandoned it! It ended up being a 15 pound pumpkin (which was a delight to carry home, needless to say I was sore for a few days)!

Pumpkin Guts!

Happy Halloween!

Such a fun fall experience, I was glad we were able to get out of the city to experience it this year!

IU Homecoming Weekend!

Reunions are the best, especially when you get to catch up with some of your best girl friends! That was exactly what I did this weekend down in Bloomington. The girls of Apt #6121 came together to eat, drink, and reminisce about the good old college days!

I got in late Friday night, gotta love flying out of NYC on a Friday evening, where Linds and Allison met me at the airport. We basically picked up where we left off and were chatting till 2AM! Saturday was an early start. We grabbed coffee, & Kathy, and the 5 of us made our way down to B-town!

The campus is gorgeous in the Fall, there are so many trees (such a contrast from NYC) that are changing colors right now and per usual IU has invested a lot of money in the flowers around campus! We walked around for a while trying to decide which Bloomington staple to settle on for lunch. It was so crowded everywhere, not surprisingly, so we finally settled on The Trojan Horse! Yumm...Despite my initial urge to eat my way through Bloomington, I was actually able to keep it under control.

Kathy, Me, Allison & Linds at IU!

The homecoming game was later then usual this year, 7PM EST, so we bundled up to watch IU beat Illinois! Go Team!

Sunday we said some sad early morning goodbyes to Kathy (these things always seem to fly by). We lounged around for a little and then headed to Dagwoods, one of my favorite sandwich places EVER (they use to just be in Bloomington, but there's now one just a few minutes away from Linds....I'm so jealous!) I was one happy (extremely full) girl at that point!

After that it was sadly time to head to the airport, where I ended up playing the weather delay waiting game. Overall it was an awesome weekend catching up with some good friends I definitely don't see often enough!

Fanny Packs & Touchdowns!

With Jon's birthday coming up I was able to, thankfully, narrow down my gift choices to 2 options; it was between an external hard drive (which he desperately needs for his archaic computer) or Bruce Springsteen concert tickets. I'm pretty sure the external hard drive is going to be a huge success! Just kidding!

This Friday we went to see Bruce Springsteen perform his final concert in the old Giants Stadium. It was a packed house and after 3 1/2 hours of straight performing, somehow I was more exhausted then the 60 year old man who hadn't taken a break the whole time! The show was awesome and a great experience from beginning to end; from the lady behind us who was telling the story of how she almost forgot to bring her fanny pack, to the performance of classics like: Born in the USA, Born to Run, and others I'm not as familiar with!

Highlights from the show include:

• Performances by "the boss" Bruce Springsteen, "the big man" Clarence Clemons, and "the donger" Jonathan...(this one of course was only for anyone in our immediate area!)
• When Bruce found a sign that said, "Bald guys are great dancers" and brought the signs owner on stage to show off his moves!
• The masses of people with their jackets tied around there waste (it brought me back to my childhood)...I almost decided to take inventory until I realized I didn't have pen and paper and would have surely lost count otherwise.
• Fireworks!
• Less of a highlight more of an unfortunate....the 45+ year old men in front of us who kept feeling the need to take their shirts off and wrap them around there heads...let's just say it was a little nippy that evening!

Packed House!

Saturday Jon and I headed out to my friends' Zeehan & Shaun's house for a fall BBQ. Zee is 4 1/2 months pregnant and looks awesome! They've done a ton of work on their house since I last saw it and it is gorgeous, they have the perfect room picked out for the little one. The food was awesome, I ate myself into oblivion!

Sunday was about as lazy as they come, thankfully I had football in the middle of the day to motivate for a little bit of activity! Our team (orange this year, very festive) is now 2-0! This week I actually caught the ball (I dropped 2 throws in our first game last week) one of which was even for a touchdown point! I'm a machine! I'm also happy to report, that while last Monday I was so sore I couldn't move, laugh, smile, anything for 3 days, this week I'm doing significantly better in the soreness department, although I'm a little more bruised!

Jon and I have also taken to Scrabble recently...it's kind of nerdy, but we seem to enjoy it! So much so in fact that Jon purchased travel scrabble for our upcoming Europe trip, new levels of geek-ism! I'm currently undefeated :)

Can feel the intensity in this picture?

This Friday I'm headed to Indiana to spend some time with some of my college girls for IU Homecoming! I can't wait to see them! Here's to hoping for a lightening fast week!

Another Day, Another Dollar

September has flown by, which is hard to believe considering I feel like it only began a few days ago. I was trying to think of what I've done in the last few weeks and work is definitely the first thing that comes to mind. This month, more then any other time of year, tends to be the worst as far as work/life balance is concerned.

The good news: the month is almost over so hopefully the extraneous amounts of extra work will calm down as well! The bad news: NBCU is in limbo with the Vivendi put option up for grabs and rumors of a spin off to Comcast are circulating the squawk box! The extraneous amounts of extra work might increase.

Despite the craziness at work, I was able to catch up with two of my college friends who were briefly in NYC. Eaton, who's visiting the US from his current residence in Dubai, and I were able to catch dinner at a Lebanese restaurant called Al Diwan in the East Village (this was my first time eating Lebanese-yumm)! Ricky was in town with work and despite having to cancel dinner cause I was at the office late, we were able to catch up over a drink at El Rio Grande. Seeing these guys made me miss college and all my IU friends! Thankfully this will be remedied in a few weeks since I finally purchased my ticket back to Indy for IU's Homecoming weekend!

The weekends are definitely my time to relax, re-group, and with no travel/big plans recently they've also been a welcome opportunity to be a little whimsical. A few weekends ago, Jon and I spent some time in The Jers with his sister, her husband and baby Ellie! Their new hometown is so cute and charming, and was a welcome escape from the city! It was a fun day with good food/ice cream and great company!

Phil, Danielle, and Ellie

2 patterns + 1 pair of socks = amazingness!

This past weekend I got my wish and Jon and I went to see "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"...which was very cute! As we learned it's perfect for all ages...Jon noticed a lot of the adult humor/references, which I had apparently glossed over (it took all my concentration not to drool in the theater)! The best part was definitely the ice cream "snow day"!

I also went to Bumble & Bumble to get my haircut...which is not information I'm sure people are interested in reading in my blog...however (and the reason I mention it) the loft building the salon was in had AWESOME views of lower Manhattan and the Meat Packing District! (The end result turned out ok too, no mullets, success!)

Pretty Downtown Manhattan!

Of course after the snow day scene we had to get ice cream this weekend! Sundaes & Cones was the prefect spot. Jon got a sundae (yumm), while I opted for a cone! (Mom I promise I'm combating all this excessive ice cream consumption with some exercise :))

"Ooh heaven is a place on earth

They say in heaven love comes first

We'll make heaven a place on earth

Ooh heaven is a place on earth"

The last couple of weekends have been the perfect lead in to some exciting October plans!

Battle Pork Chop

This week at the grocery store there was a special on boneless pork chops that I just couldn't pass up! After getting my groceries home I realized I've never actually made a pork chop before...clearly a minor detail.

Like I suspect most people do, I called up my mom to get the family secret to making the perfect pork chop, or in my case enough direction so that it doesn't come out tasting like a dog chew toy. As a side note, let's just say I was a little surprised when I realized she was at the airport with my dad getting ready to board a plane to Las Vegas on a random Wednesday night. (My parents are clearly enjoying their "empty nest"). She gave me the instructions and I wished her luck.

At the same time I was on the phone with my mom my brother happened to call. When I called him back I quickly told him about my cooking endeavour, at which point he mentioned he had his own pork chop recipe (mom's with modifications) that he made quite frequently and thought was pretty good (I won't say he said it was "better"...I don't want to see him shunned from Thanksgiving this year :)). I felt a challenge ensue and thus Battle Pork Chop was born!

Armed with 2 recipes I started with my mom's this week, deliciousness!!, and will make Curtis' next week (hopefully pork chops are still on sale!) and we'll see who comes out on top!

Who will win?

Fall is for Fooootball

September officially marked the beginning of the professional football season. I'm getting more into football as the years go on, although I still spend most of the time asking questions about what everything means. Jon and I went to the first home game for the Giants who played the Redskins (and won)! My home team, da Bears, unfortunately did not have the same luck for their first game against the Packers....but this past weekend they played at home and beat the Steelers! Yay team!

Giants first home game!

Jon is a football fanatic (esp when it comes to the Giants) and I am a football novice...the best examples are definitely in the differences between our game watching-isms.

ME: (establishing the basics)

• The occasional clap when I understand what just happened, sometimes accompanied by "Yay!" if it's good for my team.
• "Darn" when I see my team drop the ball, throw an interception/incomplete (this was quite frequent in the Bears first game), or when the other team scores.
• "Ouch!" when it looks like something particularly painful just occurred.

JBoy: (It's hard to explain, it's definitely much more exciting to see in action)

• Finger waving in the direction of the end zone when the team is about to do something exciting and unexpected.
• A hop-like-shuffle across the floor once the finger wave is no longer adequate.
• Silent fist pumps in the air once a touch down has been accomplished (the facial expression that is accompanied by this can not be described in words, I will try to document soon).
• The occasional "come on boys!"...just because

In non-football related news, I'm really excited to see this weekend's number one hit at the box office "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"....who wouldn't love if it rained meatballs, turkey legs and ice cream, as well as the upcoming movie "Couples Retreat" (which just happens to be a Universal film... potentially the only one worth seeing this year).