Thursday Outdoor Adventures in Maine

Thursday brought more adventures in Maine and lots of outdoor sporting activities. All the Texas crew left from Pushaw Lake (the other 6 were staying in another house nearby on the lake) and headed towards Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park. We stopped at a gas station on our way out to pick up some breakfast and I had a PB Whoopie Pie for breakfast....ahhhh, Maine Whoopie Pies are incredible!! Not sure having one for breakfast was the smartest idea though.

Once in Bar Harbor, we grabbed lunch and then most of us rented bikes to bike over to and through the Park.

We had so much fun!! Getting to the park was rough....big hills, but once we were in the park the riding was mostly easy and then it was all downhill back to the bike shop. We enjoyed different views from the Park, riding by several lakes, playing in a river, and picking blueberries. Since I'd been to the Park before, I didn't mind that we missed out on some of the great cliff-top views and beaches you can drive to and thought this was a fun and different way to experience other parts of the Park.

With Toby & Todd at the Park Entrance after

biking up some major hills to get there! With Jennifer & Vickie and our first view

of the harbor in the background Todd & Jennifer!
A HUGE Beaver dam we saw
View of the Harbor & Sailboats

We past a couple of pretty lakes with the
mountains in the background Crazy lake filled with broken tree trunks

Jennifer, Todd, and I climbing around in the forest!

We found a river to climb down to and cool off in

Toby even dunked his head in!

Jennifer & Todd enjoying the refreshing water

I saw an old couple picking blueberries and went over and chatted with them. They've been picking blueberries in the park for years and love to make pies with them! They told us it's okay to pick them as long as they're for your own consumption, but pick the ones further off the paths so you can be sure a dog hasn't peed on them! They were soooo good!

Todd picking & eating

Jennifer & Vickie, home free on the

downhill ride back to the bike shop

After biking, we walked around Bar Harbor - the shore, the beautiful Inn, and the shops! I love it there and would love to spend a whole weekend staying at the Inn some day.

Jennifer & I down on the coast in Bar Harbor The Bar Harbor Inn - love it! Gorgeous flowers & ocean views Typical main restaurant...lobsters & buoys!

Tamara made this entire hat on the way to Bar Harbor and back...impressive. It came compete with braided ties under the chin, a tassel at the tip, and a cute flower on the front. She made it for another friend named, Susan. I couldn't believe she whipped it up so quickly. She knows I would never wear it, but I told her I'm going to find a cute one I would wear that she can make for me and I love the flower she knitted so she can put one of those on my hat for sure! For fun, I wore it into the BBQ at camp that night and got some funny reactions from Sean and then his twin brother! On our way out of Bar Harbor, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up the food for our BBQ dinner back at Camp. Tonya & Sean had invited everyone who was in town over to cookout and enjoy the outdoors. When we got there, it was still light so I wanted to Kayak since I knew it would be our only chance. Todd, Elizabeth, Toby, and Jennifer decided to join me. It was great and I kayaked all over Fields Pond exploring. We also got to see one of the Bald Eagles that lives there!

Dinner was great...I honestly don't even know who cooked the steak that Tamara, Elizabeth and I brought over, but it was good! I also enjoyed my blueberry wine that night. Later, we had a big fire and s'mores...yum!

The owners of the house we rented left us a s'more
making packet that we put to use that night - fun! Tonya & I

Sean had a lot of stuff he wanted to burn up before the

wedding, including his old picnic table. I love fire!

I also love late night boat rides under the stars!

What it takes to get a good picture of a group of Texans in Maine

Tonya and Susan got the memo to pose, the girls in
between did not. Oh, and where are Vickie and Dean? Good job with the excitement, Toby. Too bad the
smoke (or Camp Ghost?) invaded this pic.

Pure chaos. Tonya is apparently ready to dance.

Dean is sure enjoying that cigar. Where'd Sean go??

Ahhh, perfection!

An Average Wednesday in Maine

I spent 5 glorious days in Maine for my friend's, Tonya & Sean's, wedding. It was a wonderful vacation and the wedding was beautiful and so much fun. Tonya is a friend I met at church in Dallas and several of our other Texas friends came up for the wedding. They also had a lot of family come from Kansas and co-workers come from all over the US because they mainly travel and work from home. It was a blast. Because we did SO much while we were in Maine, I am going to break this trip up into several posts....so as not to overwhelm myself or my readers with a really long post!

I arrived to Maine on Tuesday late at night...I had a 10pm flight out of Newark and have never seen an airport so empty! My flight was easy and I was the first wedding guest to be on a plane that actually arrived on time! Tamara and Elizabeth were at the Bangor airport to pick me up and take me to our cabin on Lake Pushaw. We had 3 other roomies join us for Wednesday night thru Sunday, 2 of whom are co-workers of Tonya & Sean's that I had met before and one of their husbands. It turned out great! Our house, King Pine, was fine...a little outdated, but it had everything we needed and was clean. I had trouble sleeping that first night because the house was just feet away from the lake's edge and the water was very wavy that night and SO loud and, like many homes in Maine, there was no air-conditioning, so we had to sleep with the windows open. I made use of Tylenol PM most of the other nights to help me sleep through the loud lake noises. Upon waking up Wednesday morning, I discovered just how beautiful it was. The lake views were gorgeous and our little house was surrounded by pretty flowers. It was warm and sunny and I was in heaven. I got ready and then layed on the dock until Tamara and Elizabeth were ready to start our adventurous day!

Tamara reading on the back patio
of our cute little lake house Just outside our back door View of the lake from our dock

We went to breakfast at Dysarts, basically a truck stop. It was pretty good. Our next thing on the agenda was to drop the house keys off at Tonya & Sean's so that our other roomies would have a way to get in our house when they arrived, then we were off for a day-trip. However, when we got to Camp (what Sean calls his land on Field's Pond), it was too fun to leave straight away. I was SO excited to see Tonya!! And she had some fun things to show us at Camp.

Pails of goodies and weekend necessities
given to all the wedding guestsThe picture doesn't do it justice, but this is
the gorgeous diamond necklace Sean
gave to Tonya as a wedding gift. They had a flag made for their wedding day
that matched all their invites/programs, etc...
So cute!!

Camp is the same place where I spent 3 days two summers ago with Sean, Tonya, Elizabeth, Tamara, and 2 of Sean & Tonya's co-workers. It's such a peaceful, pretty, and fun place! There were lots of other people hanging around Camp on Wednesday and it was so sunny....I wanted to take advantage of it! I headed down to Sean's new dock (built specially for the wedding) and enjoyed basking in the sun while talking to his friend's and their 4 kids that were down there enjoying the day. After about an hour of sitting in the sun, Sean took Tonya, myself, and some of their co-workers on a boat ride and gave us the full tour of Field's Pond.

Tonya enjoying Sean's new
boat (her wedding gift to him

Sean giving the tour of Fields Pond

Sean & Tonya with some of their

co-workers (all from NYC!!) Myself and Jen, their co-worker (from NYC!!)

After a couple of hours of sunshine, I was satisfied and ready to get back to our schedule for the day! Tamara, Elizabeth, and I drove to Winterport where we went to a winery and enjoyed wine tasting. They had many wines that were specific to the area like Cranberry or Blueberry. I really liked one of the Blueberry wines (it was similar to a Merlot) and bought a bottle to enjoy at the BBQ we would be attending on Thursday night.

We got back in our car and continued heading south toward Rockport through a couple of cute towns like Belfast and Camden. We stopped in Belfast to check out the ocean view, a few cute shops, and get some ice cream. We wished we had time to stop in Camden as well because it was super cute.

Elizabeth and Tamara and the "Faces of Belfast"Harbor View in Belfast

We left our mark on this sign in Belfast.

Look hard and you might find me!

Elizabeth got on this bike and the fishs'

tail would move as she peddled

Our final destination was Rockport, ME, where it was the first evening of the annual LobsterFest. I was so excited to be in Maine for this!! We made our way to the main tent for a lobster dinner. Our Texas friends made it to Maine that day and met us for dinner on their drive up from the Boston airport. The lobster dinner was not the best I've ever had, but it was still a fun experience to be there. We also got to see the crowning of the Sea Goddess of Maine. I truly aspire to be the Sea Goddess one day :)

The Lobster Cookers placing a basket

of lobsters into the steaming water

The Sea Goddess of Maine and King Neptune

We had a late night drive back to King Pine cottage and we were all quite tired, but it was worth it. We had a great first day...fun with friends, a little more tan, and a belly full of lobster!

Chicago Weekend

A few weeks ago, I spent a great 3-day-weekend in Chicago with two of my friends from high school, Kate & Maggie. My main purpose in going to Chicago was to do whatever I could to help Maggie's family during a busy time in their lives. Maggie & Mike just had a second baby (Abe) in June (Anna is 2) and they are moving out to a house in the suburbs in a couple of weeks. I stayed with Kate and her husband Joe and baby Georgia (I got to sleep in Georgia's soon-to-be big-girl room). It was so convenient as Kate lives walking distance from Maggie and I got to spend a lot of time with both their families. I spent most of my day time at Maggie's where we packed boxes, held the baby, and tried to keep Anna entertained...poor girl's world is being turned upside down! Then, we went to Kate & Joe's for dinner on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night we ordered Giordano's pizza....it's so good!!! On Sunday Kate made enchiladas that were equally great and salad and black beans and rice, too! On Monday, I rode with Maggie and the kids so she could run some errands, but otherwise, I didn't leave their neighborhood the entire three days! It was just what I wanted to do, though. It was great to see these girls and their kiddos after almost 2-years. Say a prayer for Maggie's family as kinks in the selling of their condo and buying of their new house seem to keep coming up...pray that the rest of the move would be smooth as they make this transition while still transitioning to having a new baby in the house. And pray for Kate's family as they prepare to welcome a new baby to their home in the next few weeks, too!

Kate, Myself, and Maggie

How cute are they?! Maggie, with Abe (1month)
and Kate about 8+ months pregnant! And how cute are they?!? Georgia & Anna
Anna is a very busy little girl so getting
her to stop for a pic wasn't easy!

Georgia, however, loved having
her picture taken!

Summer Fun in NYC!

Okay, so major post-computer-malfunction catch-up blog is in order! The week before I left for Chicago was glorious. There are so many fun things going on in the summer and I’m trying to take full advantage! Let’s see what I did:

Dinner at Sala (yummy Spanish tapas) with Shera. Shera is my Baylor friend who just moved to the city a few weeks ago. We weren’t super close at Baylor, but shared a mutual friend, my roommate, Nicole. Shera went with Nicole and I on spring break Sophomore year. I always laugh that we chose to go to the Mall of America for spring break that year…not really your typical college spring break trip. We road-tripped up I-35 all the way from Waco to Minneapolis – crazy! Shera transferred to OU our junior year and I hadn’t seen her since. It’s been fun to reconnect and introduce her to my friends here.

Cocktails in the Garden at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. I’ve been wanting to go to this museum for a long time and when I heard we could go AND have cocktails in their garden (the largest private garden in Manhattan), I knew I had to go. I gathered up some girls to go with me and we had a great time! The Museum is actually located in a mansion that used to belong to the Carnegie family, so it was cool just to see that. The big exhibit they have right now is a felt exhibit – all clothes and furniture made from felt. It was kind of strange. Oh, and Barbara Bush (the twin) used to work there! The garden was beautiful and there were lots of people there and a jazz band. So fun!

Cooper Hewitt Museum View of the crowd from the patio

The band on the patio

Lucy & I in the Garden Christina & I

Lucy had the bright idea to go see a French film they were playing in Washington Square Park after the garden party. We went with Kim, Nicole, and Christina and picked up sushi for dinner along the way to take with us. When we arrived at the park there was no movie to be found!! We picnicked anyway, and sat near a jazz band that was putting on an impromptu concert in the park. It's not really the greatest park to be in at 9:00pm...lots of rowdy homeless men, so we didn't stay too long. Afterwards we went to a super cute bar in the area and enjoyed a drink and fun conversation.

Random band in Washington Square Park

That Saturday, I did Kids Club in the morning and then headed out to meet some friends and go to the Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens. I've been hearing about this place forever and on such a warm, sunny afternoon it was the perfect spot to be. Four of my friends were there and a couple of Sarah's co-workers and their friends so we had a large crowd. It was fun getting to know some new people and after we were there a couple of hours Sarah pulled out the UNO cards and we played a couple fun games. After heading back into the city, four of us went to get Tapas for dinner. We were going to go to a new place but the wait was super long, so we ended up back at Sala which was just down the street. It was even better this night than two nights before. We ordered really well that night!

With Kim & Shera at the Beer Garden

Sarah & Robyn

That Sunday, I babysat the kids during the Parent's CG...we spent the whole time on the playground and it was SO hot! We only had 4 kiddos that day (summer vacay for many families). They have hopscotch painted on the ground and next to it is another game with boxes that have the alphabet letters in them....anyone have a clue how to play that?? One little girl, Savannah, and I made up our own game because no one knew, but I'm sure it must have some purpose! Let me know if you've ever seen it before! I'd love to teach the kids a new game out there.

After babysitting, I skipped the service to head to Brooklyn and meet Rocio at the Brooklyn Tabernacle for church. She goes every week to their service and then to our service, too! Crazy! Since I'd only been to BT for their Christmas program, I'd been wanting to try their regular Sunday service. Rocio is moving this week so I knew it was my last chance to go with her. I was surprised that I really disliked it. You always hear such great things about the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir - they're basically famous! And I'd heard some good things about their pastor's sermons. I thought it would be amazing. Rocio obviously loves it, but I guess it just wasn't my style. I found the music to be cheesy and I thought the sermon was too long, repetitive and dumbed-down. Sadly, I was not impressed.

That Tuesday was Philharmonic in Central Park. This is one of the best nights in the city and all of Manhattan seems to come out for it. The crowd is massive. I got really frustrated this year because I couldn't find my friends where we had planned to be. Because there are thousands of people there trying to find their friends, cell phone service is overloaded so calling and texting doesn't work. After about 45 minutes, I decided to call each of my friends one more time and then give up. Amazingly, Erin picked up! Yeah! She was able to explain exactly where they were and I found them easily at that point. I was actually one of the first people to find them, but eventually everyone found us...Erin's archaic cell phone (it's so old it has an antennae) was the magic trick for all of us! It was a fun night from then on. Great weather, wine, cheese, music, friends!

This is a picture of about half the crowd @
Philharmonic in the Park...the rest of the
people were behind me

It was restaurant week again! Since Christina and I had planned to go see a movie in the Meatpacking area that week, we decided to take advantage of RW and go eat at Spice Market before the movie. Kim and Shera joined us. I've been to Spice Market twice before and thought they'd have a really good menu for RW. They actually had 4-course menu, which is unusual...most are 3-course. The first two courses were appetizers and were amazing, but the entree and dessert left something to be desired. Not really that great at all. Afterwards, we headed over to the pier where they were showing Vicky Cristina Barcelona...I've been wanting to see that movie and was excited to see it for free and out on the pier! But, we got there and it was crazy crowded and there was no way to get close enough to see or hear the movie, so we left. Super disappointing.

Since the movie didn't work out, we decided to go check out the Highline. This is a new park that is elevated and goes from the Meatpacking District to Chelsea. We had all been talking about checking it out, so this was the perfect time to go since it was just across the street. It was really cool...beautiful, creative and affords amazing views of the river and city. It was fun to finally see our new park in the sky!

So much to blog, so little time to do it!

I have so much to catch-up on my blog. I have been very busy the last few weeks and just received my home computer back today...I'd been waiting to do any posts I have pictures for until I could download them! I'm still at work tonight and have a busy week ahead, so I'm still not sure when I will get to all those pictures. However, I did have one excursion 2 weeks ago that I don't have pictures from, so I'll blog about that today.

ETSY LABS

My friend, Sarah, has an old co-worker who works for a non-profit that was hosting a craft night at the Etsy Labs. I had heard about this place and was curious to check it out, so I was excited when Sarah invited me to go with her. Both Etsy Labs and the event turned out very different than I expected, but it was still a fun night. It turns out that Etsy Labs is the headquarters for Etsy. They have their offices in the building we went to in Brooklyn - I was surprised to find out that they have over 70 employees! We did not see the offices, but were on the floor where they have a small craft room and a room where they create all their promotional materials (flyers, videos, etc...). The craft room was what I was excited to see, but it ended up being much smaller than I envisioned and did not have all the craft supplies I expected (I thought I'd seen a picture of this place, but it was not at all like the picture I had in mind).

The event ended up being put on entirely by the non-profit and Etsy was not involved at all...we just used their space. We basically were given a lot of information about the non-profit and then a lady who owns a Yarn store did a craft with us. I was disappointed that the craft was basically a friendship bracelet...similar to one that I would have made and worn when I was a camper in elementary school. It was still fun and I'd be interested in trying out a real Etsy Labs craft night sometime when they are making something I'd actually want to keep or use. Looks like Ryder will be getting a "Beach Bracelet" when I see him in Seaside this weekend!