New Home

I know that I've been really bad about writing about moving into our place but it has been a pretty hectic 6 weeks! I can't even take the time to write about it now but I'll say that we are loving it here! We've definitely been challenged with a few issues but overall are having a great time. We just don't seem to ever have enough time here - I guess that's just the way it always goes. There is still a ton of unpacking to do, but it's livable and comfortable. Here are some pictures:

BCTC 2008

Two weekends ago, Mike and I got to go to the "Belgium Comes to Cooperstown" beer festival run by Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY. And I must say that it was AWESOME! We headed there Friday night and camped two nights. Friday night was pretty much hanging out, then Saturday was the actual festival. It was just the most laid back beer festival that I have ever been to - it was such a great time!

This year's festival had a theme of The Big Lebowski, and one of the brewer's, Wes, dressed as the Dude. They also had the movie showing both nights on a huge screen behind the brewery. They're so crazy!

Here's Wes (Dude)

Here's the Ithaca Beer Co. booth with Mike, Chief, Bill & Mike
They were serving Brute, White Gold & Vitus - an excellent line-up!

This is the back of the brewery - this place is a little piece of heaven settled out by itself in the beautiful, rolling hills of central NY.

Dogfish Head was there as well and we were able to catch up with one of the brewers, Brian, who Mike worked with when he worked there, and his girlfriend Alexis (again - no picture - I've been really slacking with the pictures lately).

Ok, and I had to throw this picture in. They actually had a guy with a Birds of Prey show during the festival. I found it a bit strange, but the birds were beautiful to look at.

The gang from Sam Adams!! It was great to see these folks again (last time was at the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston). (Andrew, Bert & Megan)

Here I am with Megan at our campsite.

Bill & Mike relaxing after the festival....ha

Summer Happenings

I'm back! I have so much to write about but I can't spend the rest of the night at the computer - so I'll attempt to cover as much as possible in a short time.

So the last time I wrote, I was heading to State College for the Arts Festival. It was a great time and I was able to squeeze a lot into just a couple of days. When I arrived to town, I met up with my mom, Jeannie, Evan and Conell. It was kid's day, so we walked around and checked out the crafts. It seems to me that there are more and more cool ideas every year. I was especially excited to see some duct tape and papercuttings being represented!

Here is a cicada that Evan found, which had just come out of it's last molt. It was really cool - the boys loved it!

Evan & Conell eating lemon creamery ice cream - yum!!

Aren't they the cutest!

There was a parade towards the end of the day - everyone was pretty psyched about it :)
(Here is my mom, Evan, Conell & Jeannie)

My friend Joy and her family were also in town. It was the first time that all 5 were in State College - I guess ever (at least since Avi, the baby, was born). It was really great to see them all. Her son Gabe was in our wedding - he's now 10!! So crazy! Her kids are great and we all had some fun bonding times.

Here's Joy holding Avi and her husband Josh next to her.

Me and Gabe!

Layla and Avi - they were posing for me :)

I also got to spend some time with our friends Scott, Ellen & their daughter Olivia, Scott's parents and grandma and the Readinger's too! It was so nice to see everyone and to see how much Olivia has grown.

Here is Ellen with Olivia.

I was also able to catch up with my friend Justine. (I didn't get a picture - boo). But it was so good to see her. She has actually been in State College for several months helping her mom recover from a serious surgery. It was really great to have some quality time with her and catch up. We had lunch at Otto's (State College's brewpub) and then walked around the People's Choice Festival in Boalsburg.

So overall, the trip was very fun-filled and full of nice visits. I must admit that I didn't get as much time at the actual festivals that I had hoped for, but I have a feeling that they will be back next year ;)

Limbo is the Life for Us

Watkins Glen - always so beautiful

Gray Petaltail Dragonfly


Just a quick post.
Yesterday, I got done working about 6 straight weeks of around 60 hours per week. I now have to take a "required" break from the state (unpaid) for about two weeks. In regards to my work, it couldn't have happened in the worst time of the year. But for me and my own personal sanity, it is fantastic timing. This is just something that happens for all temporary/seasonal employees of the state. After so many pay periods (I think it's 14), you have to take a two week, unpaid break. So since I started back in Nov., it is falling right now. Oh well, at least I have a wonderful staff and they should be fine. And now I am off to State College to enjoy some of the Arts Fest!

On other great news - we have officially been approved to buy our house!!! YAY! Have a drink in celebration! Only about 6 months after starting our search.....not too shabby. And it looks like we will finally be able to close next Wednesday! So at least my break won't be completely wasted. One week of relaxing and one week of unpacking. Not too bad of a deal.

We have been staying with our friends Bill & Patina and their son Dylan. They have been so wonderful and have completely opened their lives to us. We are forever grateful to their kindness.

Here is Patina & Dylan at the Saturday night concert at Taughannock State Park.

Billy J.

Big D.

And we finally did end up being able to move our stuff into the garage of the house. We are so grateful, plus, it's going to lend to a nice and easy move - just across the doorways.
Because of the time constraint, we ended up going with the basic "clay" color for the siding. We really like it though and think that it was done really well. We can't wait to truly call it "home."


So that's the update from the West Side of the Lake. Stay tuned for the coming attractions!!

Truckin

So much is going on - I just wanted to post a couple of quick things.

First of all - our internet stopped working over the weekend. We were going to get it fixed but then decided that since we are going to be out of our apartment within a week - that would be silly. So if you send us emails - we might not be getting them. (I'm in our gym right now.) If you really need us - just call :)

On the house front - we still do not have a closing date. The owners are siding the garage right now with hopes of it being done this week. We then need to wait for a new inspection and assessment to be done, then a date can be set about a week after that. There is a chance that we can move our stuff into the garage, but we'll see if that works out. For now, our plan is to move all our stuff next Saturday - either to the garage or rent a storage unit. Then we will be completely out of our apartment by the 30th. It is looking like we will be staying with some friends over the next couple of weeks. We are so grateful for all of the wonderful and kind offers that we have received for places to stay.

Next up, it was the Ithaca Festival this past weekend. Mike and I had to work most of the time but I got to go to the opening parade on Thursday and then we both went to it yesterday for a few hours.


It was raining - it seems to rain almost every year. Luckily it wasn't as bad as last year's rain. Here I am with Nicole - we were twins :)

Yesterday was a big day at the Festival. There was an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the World's largest peace sign. The decision isn't in yet - but as far as we know, we did it. The largest known sign was 2,500 people - we had around 5,814. here is an article on it from the Ithaca Journal. They're going to post something on Youtube in the next couple of weeks.

There I am! Can you see me?




Ithaca Beer had a tent set up there. Mike wasn't going to work at it but after the huge rush from the peace sign, he couldn't resist stepping in.
All of the plates, silverware and cups at the festival were recyclable and or compostable. Ithaca is really good at making this happen with most of their big events. Here is my Ithaca beer - Partly Sunny, in my compostable cup with my bean from the count for the peace sign. :)

And onto the saddest news of the week. Last Wednesday, I was heading to work in the morning when I got into a car accident. I was making a left turn onto a main road and a woman ran a red light and tore off the front bumper of my Scarlet :(. I was really sad about it and it's been a big pain. At least no one was hurt though and it really could have been much worse. I can still drive it and thankfully for a witness, the other person's insurance should be covering the whole thing. It just couldn't have happened at a worse time. Anyway - what can you do? Just move on and stay positive - although I must admit that my positive vibes are running low.


Well, I hope that everyone reading this is doing good! If you're going to be in Ithaca next Saturday - you are more than welcomed to come to our "moving party :)" Should be loads of fun! Also, don't mail us anything either. I'm in the process of getting a PO box and don't have the address yet. As you may have guessed - since we won't be in the house for a little while, we can't get mail there.

PEACE OUT!

Oh yeah!

I'm sure I'm just procrastinating about packing now, but I wanted to show two papercuttings that I just got done.

This first one was for our friend Kirk who got married last year in CA. We weren't able to make it to the wedding, but I still wanted to make them a papercutting. Unfortunately, my slackerness set in for this one and I didn't cut it until about 3 months ago. And THEN, I slacked off even more and didn't get it framed until last weekend. But it finally got in the mail and hopefully has reached them safely by now (a few days after their one year anniversary). I really liked the final product though - can you find the koala bear?


Then this one is for a girl who is actually working with me this summer. I gave it to her as a thank you and also a congratulations for graduating college. She did her internship with me this past Spring semester and worked full-time with no pay! I was so grateful to have her because she really helped me get ready for this summer. Over the semester she developed a Black Bear program, so that's why I did bears. Also, it's kind of hard to tell but this is the first time I mounted a cutting on a clear frame (it's just stuck between two layers of glass). I LOVED the effect - so I think I will be doing more with this style.

AND, as I'm sitting here on the computer this morning, Myra discovered the mattress leaning against the wall and decided it would be a perfect climbing gym. Cats are so silly. Our poor pets are freaked out about all the packing going on, this will be their 8th move in 5 years - I think they are also ready to plant some roots.

Happy PaPA's Day!

Just a quick shout out to all those Dads out there and especially to our own two Dads :) We're sorry we can't be with you but hope you have nice, relaxing days! Thanks for being so great!
Love you :)

On the Move

So much to update on, so little time...but I'm gonna try :)

We've begun our packing finally. Some of you may be wondering why we're so late in this process but it's because we've had some set backs with our house purchase. To make a LONG story very short, we've been having issues with the garage not being sided. Our bank feels that it should be before they approve us, so we've been going through so many different scenarios to get the thing done. As it has turned out, the owners have finally agreed to do it themselves and should hopefully have it done within the next week. Our hope is that we will still be able to get in by the end of the month (since we have to be out of our apartment then.)

Anyhooo, it's been an adventure, an emotional roller coaster, and we still aren't positive that the whole thing will go through. But we're keeping our spirits up and staying positive about it all. It really helps to have the packing underway. It makes it feel more real - and we're getting super excited to make our final move, at least our last move for several years!

So I realized that I never posted pictures of our apartment after we moved in. I know it's kind of late, but here are some before and NOW pictures of our place - for those who never made it :)

Our living room (my mini-papercutting gallery :)

now!

More living room - the beast - want to come help us move???

Abner! More living room - you can see our balcony.
.

Dining room - kitchen on the left

Kitchen
More kitchen :)
And more kitchen!

My tribute to Delaware - plover papercutting, great blue heron & a going away gift of the towers found on the shore of DE.

Tiny bath

Before

After

Guest room before

now :) - did I mention that we have a little bit of stuff to move?

So I hope you enjoyed the tour (sorry I didn't get pictures of our bedroom - it's way too much of a disaster zone). Stay tuned for the new set up :)