Ithaca 2010! (& a side of rain)

This past weekend I joined my best friend Amanda, and her family/friends at Robert Treman Park in Ithaca. This is a yearly tradition for them, they usually go for 2 weeks. I have been a few times in the past (I only stay a few days), but last year had to sit the trip out as I had a very new baby. This year, since Trevor is in Fort Drum for 3 weeks, I thought I would head up with Hunter to hang out for the weekend. We left Friday night from Canandaigua, and got there around 10:00. Turns out, the first night they go up to camp a day early... and camp in the Walmart Parking lot. Some of you may find this strange, but it is completely normal to myself and this crowd. See, they have an RV larger than some houses, and when you have a good group of people going-you can make any situation fun. When we (Amanda, Delaney, Hunter and I) arrived, it was Amanda's Mom, Step Dad, and her 2 "aunts" from Virginia there to greet us. Shortly after we got there, Hunter went to bed, and the rest of us enjoyed a drink (or two) outside in lawn chairs. Totally redneck. Loved every minute of it. The next morning we woke up, had some coffee and headed over to the REAL campsite (about 2 miles away). We set up camp and started to enjoy our day. Unfortunately it rained the entire time we were there. So Hunter took advantage of some puddles...


...While the rest of us sat and watched. We took a few walks, I read some of my book, and we basically just relaxed. A huge dissapointment (aside from the rain) was that the Swimming "Pool" was closed due to the crappy weather. Darn it. It was sooo hot out, the water would have felt amazing. Amanda, Hunter and I also went to the Ithaca Mall and window shopped for a bit on Sunday. It was a fun weekend despite the rain, I hope next year we have a better outcome!

Hunter on the way home...I think he had fun!!

A face only a mother could love...

Just wanted to break up the day with a picture my Daycare provider sent over to me today. Gotta love that face (even with the mac and cheese mask/uni-brow he has created).

Finger Lakes Wine Festival 2010.

So for those of you who aren't from around here (the Finger Lakes), you may not be aware of the wide range of wineries that are at our fingertips. I happen to be a very strong supporter of "locally made wines". Not only for the fact, that about 99% of the time they are cheaper than those fancy California wines, but because they are right up my ally! Light, Sweet, and Delicious! So you can imagine my excitement when I hear of an entire festival dedicated to tasting, and experiencing different Finger Lakes wineries. Yay! I asked some of my friends and co-workers if they wanted to go, and a few said yes, a few said no. It ended up being myself, mike (kansas) and two ladies I work with (Tiffany, and Crystal). We drove down in Crystal's uncle's RV (who was eventually named Carlos).

The drive down was pretty fun, luckily it's only about an hour and a half drive to the festival grounds. The festival runs from Friday to Sunday, however Crystal and I both have little guys, so we wanted to limit it to one night. We left Saturday morning around 7:30, but after small pit-stops (and one small detour through the Town of Dix), we rolled in around 11:30. It gave us just enough time to set up camp (we were only staying one night, but still!), and get ready to head out.

After about a 5 minute walk we finally got to the gates to what I refer to as, Wine Heaven! I'm not kidding when I say there were around 60 participating wineries. You can literally take your glass to any (and all) booths, ask for whatever tastings you would like. This baffles me! What a fantastic way to get a taste of different kinds of wine, without going to the hassle of planning a wine tour.

We walked around for a bit, visited a bunch of wineries, ate some delicous food, then headed off to the beer tent! We listened to some music, and did some beer tastings as well. I liked pretty much everything I tried. It's always nice to taste new beers, and then throw them into the mix. The festival closed at 5, and we walked back to the camper.

That is where the "after-party" fun began! First off, I should thank god we had awesome "neighbors". It was an older couple who came w/ their daughter and son in law to enjoy the festival. They were great! We set up chairs and a beer pong/flip cup table between our campsites, and proceeded to hang out. We attracted a lot of new friends also! We met some great people, [Lindsay & Mike, Justin & Jeff, Missy & Brian, Wayne & Lisa] throughout the night. Later in the night, some friends from High school stopped over and had a few drinks with us.


The next morning we took off for home. We stopped for breakfast at this cute little place in Geneva that had great food. When I finally got home, I got to steal Hunter back from Grandma. He was busy hanging out in the pool (soo tortured, I know), who was happy to see mom. Trevor got home shortly after (he was at drill all weekend), and Hunter was happy camper! We all went to dinner at the new Distillery in Victor with my Mom, her boyfriend Joey, and my little brother. All in all, it was a great weekend, I will absolutely consider going next year and would highly recommend it for any wine lovers out there!

PS, My new favorite wine!!

TGIF.

Knowing I had a pretty exciting weekend coming up, Friday couldn't have come soon enough! Trevor was away at drill this weekend, so unfortunately he didn't participate as much as I would have liked, but what ya gonna do? Friday started off with us joining Trevor's brother & fiance, Kansas, Al, and some of their friends for dinner in Henrietta. Hunter loves China buffet. Mostly for the grapes I assume, but also it's sort of nice because 1, they don't charge us $7.99 for a kids meal, (Yeah i'm talking about you APPLEBEES), in fact Hunter eats free. and 2, I can get him a good mix of his favorites! (Fruit, Pizza & French Fries). We had fun, and it also gave Trevor some extra time to spend w/ Hunter before he took off Saturday morning.


After dinner, Hunter and I headed over to Amanda's house for a sleepover. She lives in Henrietta so it was actually perfect placement. Amanda and her sister (and her dad) were going to watch Hunter during the day Saturday for me so I could head over to the Watkins Glen Wine Festival with some friends from work (More to come on that one). So, I decided to come over Friday night so we could hang out. When we got there we took a quick run to Walmart, Marketview (to grab a bottle of wine), and stopped @ The King and I to pick up Amanda and Delaney's dinner. On a sidenote, I LOVE thai food, maybe more than anything else, so I cursed myself several times for eating dinner already.

We hung out, had some laughs (aka, Hunter dancing, hanging out in a saddlebag (see above), throwing rice all over Jake (the dog), etc. Hunter fell asleep with his Tigger (and Delaney), and Amanda got a text from one of her friends saying they were heading out for a drink @ Woody's (a bar near her house). With Delaney's blessing, we headed over to have a few beers and hang out. We didn't stay out too late, but it was a good time. Hunter LOVES hanging out with his B.F.F's.

The. Coolest. Thing. Ever.

Alright, so let me start by saying I never claimed to be “cool”, in fact I get excited about the dumbest things sometimes. I often compare myself to that of a 70 year old woman, in the sense that I enjoy craftshows, craftstores, and just crafts in general. Aside from that, I am also a very intense “decorator”. When I get on a theme, I just go with it, and usually love the finished product! [This is one the reasons we need a house, as I have run out of space to put things up!]. That being said, I have been essentially “stalking” this one product on Amazon.com for I’d say about a year now, ever since I started my kitchen/dining room theme of “Wine-Grapes”. Let’s just view the product shall we?

So, the idea behind it, is it “preserves” corks and serves it’s purpose as a cute “wine friendly” decoration for the wall. When I saw this, I knew I had to have it. Your thinking to yourself, “If she saw this a year ago, why is she just purchasing it now?” Well my friends, let me explain. Although Trevor and I had a nice sized apartment in Penfield, we literally ran out of room on the dining room walls. I had a decent amount of decorations already up, and unfortunately the space in the “dining” room didn’t allow us to add a new piece (16.5 x 1.5 x 16.5 inches) without making it look over-decorated and tacky. So, Kara practices something she usually lacks, and that is “self control”. Patiently I have waited, and in anticipation of this very moment, I have even been collecting wine corks from our dinners, get-togethers, etc. Right now they are in a plastic bag, some of them even marked w/ the occasion in permanent marker.

Now that we are moving into a larger space I have purchased this “kit” and am just waiting on the arrival. Of course when I get it, I will begin putting the corks that I have in, and as you may have guessed, it will remain incomplete until I have around “60” corks. I’m probably in the range of 20 right now, so I guess I’ll have to drink 40 bottles of wine in the next week. I’m up to the challenge. Of course I’m kidding, even I can’t do that…What I’ll most likely end up doing is continue to collect, and complete the project as I go. It’ll probably end up on the wall even in it’s incomplete phase, because it will still look cute. I will check back when I receive it, and keep track of the progress. Cant wait for the finished product!

Kristin Hannah.

Who you ask, is Kristin Hannah? Well, to sum it up-she has gotten my attention.

She's a New York Times Bestselling Author, who has written several "female-based" novels that (so far) usually contain the usual elements; Love, Family, Friends, Hard Times, Life Lessons, etc. The first one I found, was a book called "Firefly Lane".

Honestly, I hadn't had any recommendations to read this, I basically took a shot in the dark. I was walking through Target, and the book caught my eye (don't judge a book by it's cover-I think not.). After reading the synopsis, I soon found out that it is a story about two best friends who meet at a young age. Both are very different, but compliment each other in a way that lays the foundation for a lifelong friendship. It highlights the good times, as well as the struggles, and to avoid spoiling anything let's just say it's a tear-jerker. [Lucky for me I was reading it alone in my backyard]. Shortly after finishing it, I handed it off to my Best Friend for a good read. I'm pretty sure she liked it also! All in all, if your looking for a good read, pick up this book!! It's fairly long, but very easy to get into.

Moving forward, a few weeks ago with our annual Pocanos trip coming up, I decided I needed to pick up another book to fill my time. Last year we had a very new baby (3 months old) when we went, so there wasn't much "extra" time to read/relax. Well not this year! Now that we've got Hunter's schedule down, we can anticipate his naps/how long they last, and his bed-time! With all this in mind, I stopped by Target on my lunch break, and went searching for the perfect find. TA DA! To my discovery, Target carries a few other Kristin Hannah books as well! (I should say on a sidenote that about 99% of the time i'll order my books from Amazon, as they are generally cheaper, but this time I needed it right away). I decided to take a chance on one that came out this past January called "True Colors".



To sum it up, it's a story about three sisters, close in age, who are VERY different from each other. The oldest is an intelligent, introverted, bookworm that has self proclaimed herself to be "heavy" and unpopular. The middle girl is the "peacemaker" of the bunch. Who come to find out has her own issues w/ finding happiness. The youngest daughter is the beautiful, "can-do-no-wrong" favorite daughter. The story is very long, just like firefly lane but has a lot more going on! As to not insult anyone's intelligence, or spoil the story (I would go buy this immediately. What are you waiting for?), I wont give you a detailed account of what happens but let's just say it's VERY intriguing (I finished it in 3 days), and turns into somewhat of a "murder-mystery-love story". Highly, highly recommend this.

Let's just say from now on, I will take a chance on any of her books, in fact I am going to start reading "On Mystic Lake" as soon as it arrives! I'll keep you posted on how it is.

I have a blog? Really?

Okay, so to say "it's been a while" is the understatement of the century. I think we last left off with a 3-Month old Hunter. Well, needless to say, I now have a very active 14 month old. He walks, he runs, he laughs and tries to speak words. Yes, I have myself a very good little toddler.

Just a real quick update, here is my handsome little man...

The picture was of course, taken by his talented Auntie Heather.

I think he is a good mix of the 2 of us, and a lot of people agree. I'll post more on Hunter, pictures, milestones, etc. when I have some time. For now, I just wanted to jump back in because I knew if I didn't do it now, I never would.

Nothing too crazy has happened since I last left off, as to avoid boring everyone, I will just make a quick list of life events since September:

1. Hunter celebrated his first Halloween. (He was of course, a dragon!) We picked Pumpkins at Wickham Farms here in Penfield, per Trevor's recommendation and I was very pleased. Of course it wasn't too exciting for Hunter who just hung out in his front pack the whole time. But Trevor and I enjoyed the picking him his first pumpkin.















2. Hunter Celebrated his first Thanksgiving. We celebrated with Trevor's family this year, as the timing for dinner makes it very difficult to see both families. Next year, we'll visit my family!



3. Hunter celebrated his first Christmas. This was my First year with a real Christmas Tree. In the past my family has always had a fake one. I loved our tree growing up, but Trevor's family apparently got a real one every year. I made a proposition. This year we would try the real one, and as long as he vacuumed up the needles, and took care of it, we could keep the tradition alive.

Well, he did. I actually enjoyed the smell of fresh pine, and it really did look great with all the lights and decorations on it. Hunter got several "new"ornaments for his 1st Christmas.

This Christmas we will keep both our families traditions alive, as well as start our own new ones.

4. January marked mine and Trevor's 3 year anniversary. Holy crap that went fast! I joke around a lot, but in all honesty I couldn't have asked for a better father and best friend. I look forward to many more w/ him :).

5. In March, Hunter took his first big road trip to Virginia to see Trevor's Southern Family. We stayed with Grandpa, but visited Great Mema & Grandad, Uncle Chris & his family, and had a few visitors stop by! It was great that everyone got to meet Hunter while he was still "small". We wish everyone could have seen him as a tiny baby, but better late than never!

6. May was a very busy month for us! Trevor and I took a trip to New York City to celebrate my birthday with our best friends. [Amanda, Mike, Devon & Al]. We drove down on a Friday morning and stayed until Sunday. It was a short trip, but it was one of the most memorable trips i've taken yet. The only thing I can hope, is that we do it again soon!

I had my first "real" Mother's Day. I put that in quotes because I feel that ANY mother, whether their baby is born or still in their tummy is considered a Mom, so technically last year was my first. But this year was my first with Hunter to enjoy it with.

I turned 23 years old. Oh my goodness! I feel like it was just yesterday I turned 21 and had my first beer. (Hope your reading this mom!).

Hunter turned one year old. I cried for a bit on his actual birthday, remembering what that day felt like a year ago. We celebrated his birthday the weekend before his actual birthday because it fell on a Tuesday. It was a dinosaur theme, and we held it at a park in town. It was a great day. Our families, and closest friends came to celebrate a very special day!

My twin sisters were born. They are very tiny, but very cute. It is unfortunate that they live such a distance, as it makes it difficult to visit.

Also in May, my Nany's birthday (she passed away in 2005), she would have been 59 years old. My mom's birthday brings up the end of May, so essentially May is a super-busy month!

7. In June, Trevor celebrated his first Father's day. Hunter got him a game of Golf at his favorite course. My Dad had his birthday. I co-hosted my first baby shower for Trevor's sister Heather who is due in September! I am so excited to meet the baby (don't know the gender yet!), and look forward to having a playmate for Hunter.

8. This brings us to July, our current month. We took our annual trip to Pocanos last weekend. It was very relaxing. We hung out by the pond, enjoyed some good food, and I managed to take a few naps! I also finished an entire book on the trip! (more to come on that).

So, in a nutshell, that was this past year. I will update more frequently moving forward, so stay tuned!