Weekend Recap

A Weekend in Philadelphia

June 21, 2021 by Alicia 2 Comments

Every time I go back to Philadelphia, I feel like Philadelphia forever has a piece of my heart. Perhaps it’s because it was my first place I lived by myself, away from where I grew up. Of course I lived away from home for college, but it’s not the same as having your own apartment, job hunting, commuting by train and having the freedom to discover yourself. The Philadelphia chapter of my life was truly learning more about myself.

I’m thankful that I still have friends there that I stay in touch with. It was nice to go down for a weekend. We had the most perfect weather of 77 degrees but cloudy so you didn’t feel too hot.

We headed to the zoo Saturday. While we talked about going there, we didn’t buy tickets in advance so Saturday morning as we ate a late breakfast, I looked up the zoo and due to covid, we had to purchase tickets in advance. It was already about 10am and they only had 11-11:30 and 12-12:30 ticket slots open. I tried to go for the 12 but as I went to check out, it said sold out..so then I quickly did 11am tickets and purchased successfully as we scrambled to get ready and leave the house. Luckily my friends are only 20 minutes from the zoo and since the ticket time slot was through 11:30, we arrived just 5 minutes after 11:30 and got in fine. I look forward to more normalcy and hopefully not needing to reserve tickets for zoos soon.

Since the zoo is mainly outside, you are only required to wear a mask through the indoor exhibits. We spent a good 4 hours at the zoo, walking over 3 miles. My friend’s daughter is 3 years old and she didn’t get in the stroller once. She immediately went to sleep when we got in the car to go home.

On Sunday, I left my friend’s house around 9:15am and headed to Villanova suburb to do yoga at Stoneleigh Circle Garden. Considering that I used to live in the next town over in Bryn Mawr, I never knew about this secret garden on the other side of the university. It was another beautiful day and it felt amazing to do yoga in the grass, despite watching the bees on the clover flowers around me very closely.

After yoga, I caught up with my friend, who was the teacher and I did my original 200 hour YTT with her. We grabbed lunch, talked for an hour and then it was time for me to get back on the road back to Binghamton. Luckily the rain passed and it was a good 3 hour drive back. I was home just in time to change and head out to Sunday dinner with the family.

Then back to the work week. Honestly I felt so re energized after the weekend. It was so good staying with my friend. We would talk until 11pm each night (sooo late for me) and yet I would still be awake at 6:30am. As much as I am an introvert, I love talking one on one with people for some socialization. The past year has been pretty isolating for all of us. Even though I love to stay home and keep to myself, I still need some social time and this weekend helped a lot.

Diamond Painting and 90 Degrees

June 7, 2021 by Alicia 2 Comments

While Memorial day weekend is usually the start of summer, it was chilly in NY state. Thankfully this weekend made up for it with 80-90 degree temps. Saturday I stayed inside most of the day, staying cool. An activity that kept me busy was diamond painting, the latest art trend I have seen around. I decided to buy myself a kit from Amazon and got Minnie Mouse. It arrived Friday, which was the perfect way to kick off the weekend. I loved having the activity to keep me busy on Saturday afternoon as well.

diamond art progress — progress with red diamonds and a few other colors

Sunday we got out of the house. I went to the gym around 8:30am for a workout. Then I had a snack and we packed up our bags and cooler to meet my friend’s family at the local state park for a picnic and beach afternoon. I was busy keeping up with her 2.5 year old between the beach area and the splash pad area. Even though it was 90 degrees, it didn’t feel too hot outside. I was excited to wear my new swimsuit from Venus.

We managed to stay at the beach for about 3 hours and I think the kids were pretty tired after.

On our way home, we stopped for some ice cream. The dairy free options this year haven’t been my favorite, so I haven’t had ice cream this season yet. I decided to try the Chocolate Dole and it was pretty good. I think it was just when I had a fruity dole, it was too sweet and I didn’t like it. Ice cream was pretty much our dinner since by the time we got home, it was about 4pm. I went back to my diamond painting for a while and had a snack. Then we ended the night watching some episodes of Guy’s Grocery Games. Although I was good at drinking water, I still ended up with a slight headache which was probably just due to dehydration. Luckily Advil and sleep helped. Now it’s time to kick off the work week.

Watkins Glen State Park and Weekend

August 10, 2020 by Alicia Leave a Comment

It was a wonderful relaxing weekend without any homework to do. My friend Ashley has been quarantining in New York with her family and we decided to meet at Watkins Glen State Park. I have driven by the park many times, but never stopped to walk the trail. The Gorge Trail leads to Rainbow Falls which seems to be the popular trail. Honestly there were so many people on the trail and it was crowded. I didn’t stop to take too many pictures as people were stopping along the trail and holding people up. Plus, I didn’t want to stand next to too many people at once. I didn’t realize that the trail was mostly steps ,so it was basically a mile or more of steps. My Garmin automatically sets my stair goal to 10 flights and I got 40 flights hiking the trail. I definitely got in a workout and while wearing a mask, I started to sweat a bit. However, the weather was beautiful mid morning as we hiked up. It was cloudy but warm, probably about 80 degrees.

We came back down on the South Rim Trail and that was flatter and had less people so at parts we took photos and took off our masks if no one was around us.

Watkins Glen also has a pool, but by the time we got back down to the main entrance, we decided to grab a late lunch in town. Brian and I had stopped at a BBQ place back in December when we were passing through so we went there. The outdoor seating was full, but their door and windows were open with a breeze you could feel. The tables were spaced far apart and we felt ok dining in. It is definitely still weird to dine inside a restaurant as you try to take all precautions. We both got combo platters with a meat and sides. We also started with fried pickles which were delicious.

We were non stop chatting and sharing stories and it was so nice to be out in nature and also with a friend for part of the day. After eating, we headed back to our cars to drive to our respective houses. It was an hour and a half drive for me. I decided to stop at Wegmans on my way back since I didn’t go in the morning and picked up some things. When I got home, I had a slight headache, which grew worse in the evening. I was pretty sure it was from my lack of not drinking enough water and my car said it was 90 degrees when I left the park. We were happy we hiked in the late morning since it was cooler with the cloud cover before the sun came out. I spent the evening just relaxing on the couch, taking a mini nap for my head and then around 8pm, I moved into bed to read until 9. I was deep into a book that I was trying to finish, but ultimately I chose to sleep shortly after 9.

Sunday morning I was up bright and early without an alarm. I think my mini nap affected my sleeping in. After tossing and turning a bunch, at 5:45am, I just decided to get up. I decided to make some lemon water and honey because my stomach just felt off and I relaxed on the couch doing my 10 minute meditation and then reading. I then made some toast and bacon for breakfast and finished my book shortly after Brian got up.

At 8am, I went out to the back porch to workout. I had Brian assist me as I wanted to do some glute bridges with the barbell, but my weights are light so I needed some help getting set up for my sets. Plus, it makes Brian work a little haha. I definitely miss our Sunday morning workouts at the gym together. At this point I am really thinking I will need to get a squat rack and bench as we set up the garage for a workout area for winter.

Most of Sunday was laid back without plans (as Sundays should be). I did some much needed cleaning around the house and caught up with my sister on Facetime. We try to Facetime each weekend, which has been nice. In the afternoon, it was time to start reading the newest Twilight Book, Midnight Sun. I preordered it and it arrived last week. I am hoping to finish it before my fall classes begin and then mail it off to my sister to add to her Twilight collection and read.

A Weekend with No Plans 9/9/19

September 9, 2019 by Alicia 1 Comment

This was the first weekend with no plans in over a month!! It’s no wonder August totally wore me out. It was so nice to sleep in both on Saturday and Sunday and ease into the days. Friday night I got home from work and I honestly wasn’t feeling great. My throat had started to get sore and I was very sneezy throughout the day with a stuffy/runny nose. Brian figured it was allergies, but it felt more like a cold to me. I decided to take my economics quiz Friday night right when I got home. Economics feels like it will be my harder class this semester and one that I was worried about. The quizzes have no give because they are all true/false questions pretty much, so you are either wrong or right and my 50/50 selections are usually wrong when I guess…I was further annoyed when I submitted the quiz and I couldn’t even see how I did. In the first quiz we could immediately see what we got and got wrong or right, but I’m guessing the teacher blocked that because with a week to take the quiz, maybe students shared answers? It would at least be nice to see your score even if you couldn’t view what was wrong or right, but I’m not the teacher.

The rest of Friday night was spent relaxing. I was wiped out and Brian and I just watched some tv. We both headed to bed early and slept nearly 10 hours which was so needed. Unfortunately, on Saturday morning, I felt worse. I rolled a lot overnight and didn’t sleep great due to my throat burning and I must have been dehydrated because I got a charlie horse in my leg when I woke up. I amped up the vitamin C in the morning and the only thing that sounded good for breakfast was a smoothie. I had to improvise a bit though because I didn’t have any spinach or frozen fruit. I used a full banana, some frozen cauliflower, protein powder, almond milk and ice to make it extra cold. I love our powerful Blendtec blender for blending all the ice up smoothly. I also cooked up some bacon for me and Brian. I used to buy bacon all the time, but then stopped and switched up breakfasts to more avocado toasts, eggs or mini bagels. This past week I went back to oatmeal though as the temps have lowered and I wanted something hot for breakfast.

my smoothie basically looks like a milk shake

I still headed to the grocery store Saturday morning. It was the only thing on my agenda for the day besides homework. Brian joined me since his truck was at the shop getting new tires and it worked out that I could drop him off to get his truck after shopping. Brian returned with his truck and also a Tim Horton’s iced tea for me. Iced tea is my thing when I don’t feel good. It started sometime in college with Brian, actually. There was a day I really didn’t feel good so I requested Tim Horton’s iced tea and a bagel. Now when I don’t feel good, iced tea is my go to and sometimes the bagel or a mini bagel at home.

Saturday I worked on my business analytics homework. So far we have only worked in Excel, so most functions have been familiar to me and simple. I finished up the homework within a couple hours, had a snack and then asked Brian what he wanted to do. I didn’t really feel good, but I also wanted to get out of the house for a ride and see how Brian’s new tires were. Brian suggested going to Salt Springs Park for a quick walk. So we headed there.

Salt Springs Park PA — smiling even though I didn’t feel great

It was my first time to the park, but Brian used to work nearby, so he has explored the park. Honestly the hiking was a bit much for my body, but the fresh air felt good. We only stayed maybe 30 minutes or so, just took a short trail around, which was all I could handle for the day. The afternoon, I spent cuddled up on the couch watching the last season of Jane the Virgin.

After 4, I decided to get started on dinner. Even though the prep time said 20 minutes on the recipe, I didn’t have everything chopped and ready, so it took a bit longer, but I thawed the chicken and marinated it. While that sat in the fridge, I started to make mini donuts. Both recipes from the new The Healthnut Cookbook that I just got.

My timing worked out well as I had everything ready to eat around 5:30 and called Brian up from his office downstairs and we enjoyed dinner. Then I continued to watch Jane the Virgin for a bit before decided to take a bath before bed.

Sunday morning I felt a little better. My throat didn’t hurt, just my nose was still bugging me. My body had ached on Saturday, but besides the Charlie horse in my left leg, my body felt much better Sunday. Hoping if I do have a cold, it is working its way out of my system.

I made some green smoothie pancakes for breakfast from The Healthnut Cookbook for me and Brian. Brian said they were good so that’s a success in my book.

After eating breakfast, I got to work on my next economics lesson for the morning. Again I love 2 classes because I can focus on one class on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Brian finally hung up my painting!!

I stayed in my pajamas on Sunday until about 2:30pm when I decided I needed a walk outside in the sunshine.

Then I baked muffins.

Then it was time for more study time before winding down for the night with dinner and some short TV time. Overall the weekend was much needed with lots of quiet time and down time to relax. It also helps to get back into my homework routine for the Fall as we enter week 3 of classes already.

Have you tried any new recipes lately?