Weekend Recap – Page 4

The Ups and Downs Over the Weekend

August 13, 2018 by Alicia 1 Comment

The weekend started on a down note when I learned my grandfather passed Friday morning. We had just learned about 3 weeks ago that he had pancreatic cancer and it was terminal so I was basically hanging by the phone for 3 weeks waiting. I am very glad that I got to visit my grandparents in early July and that my grandparents made the move from Florida to Ohio when they did so my grandma is not alone and has support from my aunt and isn’t by herself. Friday/Saturday also happened to be the 1 year anniversary from when Brian’s dad suddenly passed. It’s one of those days in your memories that you can recall all the details when something like that happens.

Despite the sad news to begin the weekend, it was a very exciting weekend for me. By the time this post is up, I will be in University Park, PA starting my grad school MBA program with Penn State. It’s funny how life goes sometimes. I actually had applied to Penn State my last year at SUNY Buffalo when I wasn’t sure what to do with my life so I was looking to get a degree in meteorology. When that didn’t work out, I entered the “real world” and moved home and got a job. Now 6 years later, I have worked in 3 states at 3 different companies and moved 4 times (plus world travel for 4 months) in 4 years. I do believe that things happen when they are meant to and this time I feel much more ready for grad school.

While the program is an online program and I am new to taking online classes, they require a 1 week residency on campus and we complete about 50% of the work for a required team work class in this week. I have been working on the readings and assignments over the last week and I think this class will definitely provide a lot of insight for me to apply to my current job and future. I am also excited that I get to meet fellow students and my online teachers to network with everyone. Penn State has a HUGE alumni network, probably bigger than SUNY Buffalo and I love that!! I went to a large high school (class of 800 students or so) and my dad always thought that would mean I would want to go to a smaller college. Nope I keep going bigger and bigger. This is why I am a city girl at heart.

Saturday was a rainy morning and I had some errands to run but the store I wanted to go to didn’t open until 9am and of course my “sleeping in” meant I was awake at 6:30am. I had some time to make breakfast and started to watch Nailed It on Netflix. If you are looking for a good laugh, I highly recommend. It definitely lifted my spirits some.

After running my errands, I did some cleaning and packing. I didn’t really have much on my agenda for the day, but just checking things off my to do list felt good. I did more reading so that I won’t be cramming in reading during the busy week at school.

Since the rain stopped by the afternoon, I decided to head out for a 30 minute run. This was the first time I had to run for a full 3 minutes within the 30 minutes. I alternated between 90 second jog, 90 second walk, 3 minute run, 3 minute walk per the couch to 5k app. It was definitely tough, but I pushed through and immediately took a cold shower following because it was quite humid.

I then decided to bake some cookies and finally used my fancy pampered chef cookie scoop. It’s definitely fun to use and then all the cookies look more uniform, but I also like using a teaspoon like my mom always did for baking cookies.

Cookies made and it was time to be lazy on the couch for the remainder of the day. I assembled my dinner with whatever was left in the fridge which included black beans, zoodles and I cooked up some chicken from the freezer. It was actually quite a filling meal.

Sunday morning I was up around the same time, 6:30am as the sun was streaming in the bedroom. It was nice to see the sun in the morning after Saturday’s gloomy morning. I made some breakfast and then went to a yoga class I haven’t been to in a while. I usually lift on Sunday morning but with being out of town this week and already being sore, I needed some yoga.

Yoga was a great start to my morning. I then came home and assembled a snack plate and had some salad for an early lunch. Then around 11:30 I decided to get on the road. It was only a 3 hour drive which took me 3.5 hours with a stop to grab an iced tea (always) and to pee from drinking all that iced tea lol.

I checked into the hotel and I was an hour early, but it wasn’t an issue. I changed into my swim suit and decided to find the pool. After asking a couple workers at the hotel, I got directions and the guy said “good luck” which made me think the pool was hard to find, but once I knew kind of where I was going, it wasn’t bad at all. Oh man I haven’t swam laps since swimming in various pools around Australia, so it was nice to get into the water and swim again. Like riding a bike it came right back to me, but due to some kids playing in the pool, I didn’t try to swim laps for too long. I then enjoyed the hot tub.

pool ready — nice long mirror in the hotel bathroom

A quick rinse off shower and then I got dressed and headed to State College to grab some dinner. I got a hamburger since I know most of the week will be buffet style food and not really sure what that will look like. Dining alone was a bit awkward, but it was nice to explore the town for a bit.

My feet and ankles were quite sore from running Saturday though so shortly after 6 I headed back to my hotel room and did some more reading and relaxed before the busy week.

If you went to grad school, was it right after your bachelor’s or did you wait a few years?

Time with Nature and Donuts

July 30, 2018 by Alicia 1 Comment

During the last week, our weather has been the same here, 79 degrees for a high with a chance of scattered showers. I figured the weekend would be no different, but I was pleasantly surprised and happy about it.

Friday night I took my last yoga class with one of my favorite teachers who is moving away for a new job. That left me a bit emotional and then Brian found out he would have to leave for work on Sunday night after only just getting home Thursday night. It wasn’t long enough and I was upset.

Friday night when I got home, Brian and I just had some time together. We talked about weekend plans to make the most of our time. While there are many house projects, our time was cut short and I wanted to do an activity together.

Saturday’s forecast was partly cloudy with a chance of showers. I headed out early in the morning and bought some new sneakers. With my training for a 5k, I have felt like my current shoes are wearing out. I also wanted to try a new brand. I’m not much of a runner, but I happen to follow a lot of running blogs because I am just so amazed how people can go out and run half marathons, marathons, or even an “easy” 5K. I love reading runner’s stories about how they felt mile by mile, because while people make things look easy, running takes a lot of mental work as well to stay in the zone and push through. I have been training with the couch to 5K app. Despite my weight lifting ability, I have little endurance, which actually just might be because I haven’t tried to train to up my endurance much. ( <-foreshadowing a coming post)

Anyway I finally caved and bought Brooks. I can tell you that for the past 10 years, I have worn Asics sneakers. A couple years ago, I tried some Nikes, but quickly learned those were not for my feet, at least the pair I bought. But I wanted something new. I not only fell in love with the color of these, but also the feel felt great on my foot. I need more cushion towards the ball of my foot and these felt like they had it. I’m no expert, but you have to try something to really know.

I got home and Brian was still half asleep so I decided to try out my new shoes and take a run around the neighborhood. First run down and they feel good. I know you need to do a lot of miles to really break them in though so I’ll try to keep you updated.

After my run, I changed clothes and Brian and I headed out to state park. I wanted to go paddleboarding. While the clouds seemed iffy at first, it ended up being a perfect afternoon on the water. Turns out the state park only has a couple paddleboards so I paddleboarded and Brian took a kayak. Just paddling out to the middle of the little lake was so calming. It was quiet and being surrounded by the water and trees was something I needed. I definitely miss my last apartment which was right on the Delaware river, so whenever I was feeling tense, I took a walk by the water in my own backyard. I don’t have any pictures since we left everything in the car besides the keys and sunscreen. I need to get an underwater camera.

We were out for an hour on the water and it was the perfect amount of time since we started shortly after 11 and I was getting hungry. Actually I was like hungry since Friday because it was just one of those couple days where I could eat and eat and eat.

We decided to stop at Beer Tree on the way back. While I don’t drink beer, they have an amazing taco food truck, Fox and Farmer, there. Lunch time was the perfect time to go there because it wasn’t too crowded and they had tons of tables outside to sit at. I got some pulled pork and Brian had some tacos. There also happened to be a donut truck, Juke Box Donut Shop there, so we couldn’t pass that up. You can get 3 mini donuts with different toppings on them and they were fresh off the fryer. I got chocolate and peanut butter (my favorite), smore’s topping and plain. The freshness was amazing!!

JukeBox Donut Shop — can’t get over the cute mini size

We ate by the river and since I had my swimsuit on, Brian had me pose for a picture.

Beer Tree and Donuts were an unexpected part of our day but that’s what I loved about it!! We headed home to shower and then needed to run out for a few items for the house projects. All that running around took us to dinner time so we swung by the grocery store and picked up steak as I wanted some steak tacos and put together a delicious meal. Brian brought down the smoker from his mom’s a couple weekends ago and he set it up and cooked steaks and kale on the smoker. The kale turned into nice crispy kale chips.

I whipped up some guacamole and a cucumber and tomato salad as well. I’m building up my spice collection again, but right now my favorite is Thyme. I added rice vinegar, a bit of oil and a sprinkle of Thyme to the salad and it was delicious.

We enjoyed our dinner while starting the first Lord of the Rings movie. I discovered that all of the movies are on Hulu and it was nice to find something to watch we agreed on. We only made it half way, literally, through the movie when Brian was falling asleep.

Sunday morning I headed out to the gym, a new workout plan I was excited for. Then I made a quick trip to Wegmans for groceries before coming home and somehow spending the rest of the morning in the kitchen. It was so relaxing though. Brian was cutting trim for the bedroom and coming in and out while I was making pesto with my fresh basil and a new pot that we got as a housewarming gift this weekend from a family friend. She also brought us some pasta so I cooked some of that up and added the pesto on top. It was delicious!! In addition, I baked muffins and made bean salad.

While we ate our pasta for lunch, we continued Lord of the Rings. Luckily we were able to finish it just in time before Brian was off to the airport again. I think we are both hooked now, but I want to wait and watch the remaining films together. I am curious about the books now though and might actually buy the boxed set to read.

Also a movie is much better when you know you have visited some of the filming locations, aka New Zealand for Lord of the Rings. Brian and I watch in ahhh because we loved New Zealand so much and Hobbiton was seriously the best.

crown range rd south island — New Zealand Flashback

So yes 17 years later, I have finally watched the full first movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

What’s a movie you were late in the game to watching?

Making a Watermelon Baby Carriage and My Weekend

July 24, 2018 by Alicia 2 Comments

I didn’t share this post on Monday because I wanted to keep the watermelon baby Carriage watermelon a surprise from some of my co workers as only a handful knew about my secret project.

Friday kicked off with Friday night yoga which was much needed. I couldn’t believe it was nearly a month since I had been to the yoga studio as I have just been busy and weightlifting tops my workout priorities. I was glad I went because I learned the teacher got a job and is moving so this Friday will be her last class and I am hoping to make it.

By the time I got home it was already 8pm and I just had a light snack and lounged on the couch watching Younger which I am totally addicted to. I am so glad there are 4 seasons for me to watch on Hulu and at least 2 more seasons to come in the future. I love Hilary Duff and Sutton Foster. Honestly though the whole plot line of the series seems like how can someone keep up such a lie. I am quite shocked it has made it to 6 seasons in a way and just hope I don’t get bored of it dragging on like I did with Pretty Little Liars (maybe I will finish that series one day…).

Saturday morning I made some pancakes for breakfast, did some cleaning around the house and then went shopping for a watermelon and fruit down the street.

Then it was time to lounge before heading off to aerial yoga!! Yay for 2 yoga classes 2 days in a row and it was also nice to be back to aerial after a month hiatus. I am glad they added the Saturday class so I can drop in from time to time.

After aerial I made a quick shopping trip at Wegmans for the remainder of my weekly things. I like a lot of Wegmans brand items, from deli meat to almond butter.

I came home and assembled a lunch snack plate.

Then it was time to get to work on my watermelon baby. I wanted to carve out the melon knowing that would take the most time. This is also a much smaller melon from the first time I made one back in 2013 (I can’t believe that was 5 years ago). I have been waiting for someone to have an end of summer or fall baby to recreate this masterpiece again.

Taking some self timer photos along the way, the process took an hour so that wasn’t too bad and I certainly had a full refrigerator after that. Thank goodness I have an entire fridge to myself now.

watermelon baby 6 — loved this little triangle cutter tool that came with my melon baller

watermelon baby 5 — melon baller tool is essential (yes I mainly bought one for this project…)

The rest of Saturday wasn’t too exciting. It was actually quite nice to have so much down time after 3 weekends of travel.

Sunday’s plan included a workout at the gym and then I got ready to head to a bridal shower.

We had some delicious greek food. I’m not a big fan of greek food, but I love pita and hummus and the chicken and rice dish was delicious.

After a bit we headed out and I hung out at Brian’s family friend’s house, chatting and then staying for dinner. We had pizza for dinner and it was fun to hang out with them. I only took pictures of the dogs…

Now fast forward to Monday night when I finished assembling the watermelon baby carriage beauty. Next it was time to form the baby head with the cantaloupe. I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds and sliced off the skin. My watermelon was on the smaller size, so I sliced a bit off the bottom and voila, a nice baby head. Add blueberries for the eyes and a pacifier in the mouth. Also pro tip when you add the fruit, add fruit behind the “head” so it stays in place better.

Then I added the wheels with a slice of orange and slice of lemon for each of the 4 wheels, held together by a toothpick for each. Then I filled the rest of the melon with fruit and surrounded the carriage with more fruit since I had tons. I think I’ll be eating watermelon for a while as I still have a full bowl in my fridge because I added a container of blueberries and the rest of the cantaloupe to the carriage.

I think I did a pretty good job. This time was easier because my melon was fairly small but that was the size at the store and I think it still made a great carriage size. I had a lot of fun creating it and can’t wait for my co workers to see my watermelon baby and enjoy the fruit.

Have you carved fruit before or made anything special for a party?

Another Weekend of Traveling

July 17, 2018 by Alicia Leave a Comment

The East coast is in another heat wave for a couple days as it was above 90 Sunday and Monday. Speaking of the weekend, it was another weekend of travel for me. I guess when you have limited vacation time, you should make the most of your weekends right?! I went from San Diego to Ohio to Tupper Lake (the Adirondacks in NY). 3 weekends of adventures and kind of looking forward to a weekend at home again soon. This coming weekend is already pretty booked, but at least I will be spending the night at home on Friday and Saturday and hopefully get back into my weekend routine a bit.

It was very nice to have Brian back, even if only for 5 days.

Friday after work, we headed to the Syracuse mall, basically the only place to do shopping and it’s a bit over an hour drive. Since I got out of work a bit early, we arrived at 5:45 which was perfect for my dinner time. We had to stop at Cantina Laredo. I got steak tacos and we filled up on chips, salsa and guacamole. I was super full by the end of that meal. I still couldn’t leave the mall without getting a Mrs Field’s cookie to split with Brian.

I had 2 things on my must get list: a Microsoft surface pro and Lululemon sports bra. I have never spent so much at a mall in one day, but hey it’s actually the first computer I have bought myself so I consider myself pretty lucky I have been around computer guys (aka my dad and Brian). I have been thinking about a Microsoft pro for a couple years and with starting school again in August I needed a portable and reliable computer. I got the one that turns into a tablet too and has tons of storage and memory so I should be set for a while I hope. Now I just have to learn windows 10 and office 2016.

As for the Lululemon sports bras, I went with 2 of the Free to be wild bras. I don’t own much Lululemon but I did buy 2 of their sports bras for the first time last year and I really do love them and needed more in my rotation of sports bras. I know they last and for me to get a couple good quality pieces a year is worth the money.

We browsed a few other stores, but nothing stuck out to me. Then Brian wanted to look for shoes in Dick’s and somehow he left empty handed and I bought a new bicycle helmet. I even found a 20% off coupon on Retail me Not while in the store so I got 20% off which wasn’t bad. My other helmet as we moved my bike to the new house was grossing me out and it was time to trash the old 10+ year old helmet. Next I need to get new tires for my bike, but I am also still debating a brand new bike.

On Friday Brian stained the floors in our bedroom so we slept in the room that will be a guest bedroom. The floors came out looking super nice though and the stain he is using pretty much goes on dry and is even more environmentally friendly.

Saturday morning we drove up to Tupper Lake, with a detour to Sandy Pond to drop off something at his aunt’s cottage. It was a beautiful weekend for driving and there were quite a few cars on the road. Thankfully this time I was just a passenger because I have done my fair share of driving recently. We were heading up there to visit with Brian’s mom and attend a family friend’s party. I also happened to find out another one of Brian’s friend’s whom we met up with during our travels in Australia because he is living there now, was in town with his Australian wife. It was great to see them again and Brian enjoyed catching up with some old friends. I enjoyed talking but also eating, because somehow I was non stop hungry Saturday afternoon.

Then it was time for the event we came up for, a wonderful party right on Saranac Lake. I even met a person who works at the same company as me.

It was the most beautiful night after a hot day. It was perfect for dining outside on the balcony and just sitting among the trees with the water view was so calming.

We got home pretty late, enjoyed a quick view of all the stars, but I was pretty tired and quickly changed and got ready for bed.

Sunday I somewhat slept in until 7am. I mean there was a dog nose in my face earlier until Brian’s mom fed them and they went back to sleeping. I was the first one up and read for a bit and then around 7:40, bang, there goes the power. The cause…a squirrel. This was our entertainment of the morning, squirrel running on a power line and blew a fuse and killed himself of course. By now, the street is a pro at this situation, because it’s the third time this year that this happened. After some 911 calls to report the issue, they sent a firetruck and someone took care of the squirrel after the report was written and 30 minutes or so later the service truck was sent out, but we headed out for breakfast.

After breakfast, it was time to load up Brian’s truck with a couple things we were taking back with us and then get on the road.

We got home around 3pm so I had time to run to the grocery store, make some muffins and prepare my food for Monday before we headed to Sunday dinner.

What a whirlwind of a weekend. I wish we could have spent a few more days up in Tupper Lake because the weather was so nice for a swim or paddleboarding and more. Totally in need of more vacation time, but anyway Brian is back out of town for work and I have some chill time again for now.

Where do you like to take weekend trips?

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