A Warm Up Hike to celebrate Spring and the Spring Equinox...

We went hiking!! I haven't been hiking in so long, (well a year) and on Sunday morning we were lying in bed thinking, what should we do today? Then the sun came shining through the windows and there was no turning back, we were going hiking! I packed up our backpack a little bowl of dog food and a bowl for water for Lealu, a bottle of water for us and a towel in case we got wet (Delaware Water Gap has an awesome stream and I usually end up putting my feet in!) And off we went the hour and half drive out to the NJ side of Delaware Water Gap. There is a Pa side where there is a cute little town near the Gap where they have cool little restaurants and a jazz festival every year. On our drive we saw a sign that said Walmart, and we stopped in to pick up some juice for the hike (you can never be too prepared)...so we stopped in and let me just say whenever we go to a store, we always end up spending way too much time and money there. We tried to keep it an a minimum, but it was difficult. Martin found water canteens, like the old fashioned kind made of like some kind of leather that you hang on your belt, knife/spoon/fork combinations that have wine openers attached, a soccer ball, large frames (these were for me) that I found for only 3$!, a compass on a keychain (you'd think we were going camping for a week! lol), and finally some juice. He loves survival stuff, we have a closet full already! We made it out to the car barely alive...financially anyways! We finally were driving again towards the Gap. We arrived, we parked, we hiked for about an hour up, and then stopped cause we were just too tired to go all the way up. Then hiked an hour back down. I'm calling this our warm up hike for the summer:) By the time we got home we were pooped from all the hiking...and shopping! :)

It was nice and tranquil sitting by the water-

Isn't this neat? Its like a ladder for fairys!

Can you find the butterfly? It was so camoflauged I didn't think it was there at first!

I'm glad we brought Lealu's food and water cause she was very thirsty after walking up (I just washed old chinese food dishes that came with lids and used them)

And I think Lealu really enjoyed her first hike!

journal - jan 5-6 2010 Hawaii

Aloha guys!! Sending you some love and peace from Hawaii!! The trip has been beautiful and fun. I stopped into a little internet place to print up directions and I had to stop on here and say aloha!! :) Since we got here we went on a trek down to the very bottom of the Big Island where there is the worlds only green sand beach. Its a bit of a hike, about 2.75 miles on clay rock to the small inlet cove. The cove is carved out of black lava rock that you have to climb down to the get to the green sand beach. I have a theory... I think the green sand is from the clay color mixed with the black sand beach, that makes it green. Anyways, its beautiful. Most of the beaches at the south part of the island are black, so it was cool to find this one. A few people were hiking out there at 4pm and I was alittle worried for them coming back, we told them it might be better to turn around and come back another day when they leave earlier since it would be really really bad to get stuck out there in the dark. But maybe there are enough stars out here to light the way back. When we got to the beach, we climbed down to the water and there were about 10 people there. We layed out on the warm sand and we swam for a bit in the green light colored water. With the sun shining down it seemed like the water had little shiny crystals in it, I picked up a little bit in my hands and saw the black sand pieces, so thats what it must've been shining off of. The water was so soft and smooth on my skin. If you do this trip, bring 2 bottles of water (we only brought one and were so thirsty on our walk back), sneakers and towels would be a good idea. The less clothes the better. People were walking it in their bikinis. On our walk back we saw a bunch of dolphins do spinnies in the water and some whales flipping their tales and doing blows. It was so peaceful to watch, without any noise or cars.

Last night we took a tour up Mauna Kea, 14000 feet up, the tallest mountain they say, not the highest like Mt Everest but the tallest. I didn't understand the difference but whatever. It was really cool. The tour took us in the middle of the mountain and we stargazed through this high tech digital telescope. We saw the galaxy andromeda (they said was 2.5 million light years away, so if someone were to shine light from there to us, it would take 2.5 million years to get to us, so what we were seeing was the light from 2.5 millions years ago)...that just blew my mind. We saw Orions belt, with taurus the bull, and the brightest star in the sky, sirius or the dog star, that was next to virgo. across the other way we saw jupiter with its 4 moons, that was pretty crazy to see too. It was an awesome tour. We're off to see an acupuncture school today and grab some kava!! :) Mahalo for stopping by!

Hawaii here we come!

Martin and I are off to the airport for a week bound for the beautiful flowery warm island of Hawaii! this is our favorite place and I'm so so excited and grateful and happy to be spending a week away from the cold, snowy, work filled (well for us anyways) New York! :) I will miss Lealu though:) I spent some extra cuddle time with her this morning, and she is such an awesome puppy. We have some really fun things planned once we reach the island we're staying on. I just want to squish my toes in the sun warmed sand and feel the warmth from the smiles of the people. I also am trying to figure out a way to get M's last two surprise party invites out without him knowing...working on that as I write! :) I'll be posting throughout the trip about the cool things I see in the Actual Travelling section of my blog, if you want to come along! Hope you have a great week!

Love,
Nikki

Pennsylvania Trip October 2009

Pennsylvania is so gorgeous this time of year! The trees looks like big valley dips of different colored puff balls sloping up and down. I just wanted to jump out of the car and slide down one! Luckily the car door was locked and I couldn't get out! hehe. Its a back at work after a 3 day weekend joke:)

The roads were dug through the mountains, it was so nice to think that while we were driving through an ordinary tunnel, we were actually going inside the heart of a mountain too. There were doors in the tunnel that I'm sure led to little hideaways in the mountain too. So pretty!

While we were visiting my sister and her fiance in Pittsburgh, we went out to see the Cirque de Soliel show Allegria. (sorry, no cameras were allowed!!) I've seen the circus before, like the Ringling Bros in NY, but this was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was amazing, in the beginning like a creepy nightmare that turns into a magical dream where all the characters wave goodbye at the end as you begin to wake up. The music was weird and alittle spooky in the beginning, it went like this da da (the first too medium tone) and the next tone da was long and strung out and went low and the next da was medium tone. I'm not explaining it exactly right but I guess because the music wasn't exactly high pitched and had so high pitches in it, it made me slightly uncomfortable! which may have been a motivation when writing to the music to grab the audience's attention? but I got used to it. The main woman singer was dressed in a white tootoo with this large white web surrounding it that sort of held it down and swirled with her as she moved. The other characters had lots of weird funny faces, kind of like that you would see in a dream or a nightmare. They did things like swing on a high swing and do gymnastic moves, they had trapeze artists and gymnasts doing jumping sequences on a trampoline that rolled out from the floor. As the show went on, the nightmarish turned into dreamlike with lighter music. There was one scene where a single lone man (with a weird face) came out and put himself inside a large silver circle and rolled. It was amazing and with some sad music in the background (sad I mean it was like a lullabye but with low keys) it seemed like we were watching this sad lonely child play by himself. All of the little scenes were dreamlike or childlike in that way, it was as if the cast played like that every day and we were just watching them this one day. It was magical beautiful to see. In the middle of each scene when they'd have to prepare for the next, two oddly dressed clowns came out and one made a paper airplane and was throwing it and the other was playing with his toy horse. At the end all the characters actually did come out and wave goodbye, I felt like a little kid again after a funny dream where I had met all these odd creatures and I wanted to stand up and wave back to them.


After the show we went out to eat and then back to my sisters apartment. My sisters apartment is so so pretty. She has a degree is studio art and has always been an amazing painter, and this has leeked into her designing. She always has such style in decorating, where she can completely transform an area with one flower, or manages place something in such a way that the area looks like it was specifically put there for a purpose so that even the apple that spilled . I wish she would come to my apartment and help!! :) I posted some pics for you to see how she designs!

Applefest, October Warwick NY

Trees of upstate NY are changing so fast into their fall colors!

This past weekend we went to the 21st annual Apple Festival in Warwick NY. Warwick is this cutesy little town in upstate NY where people still wave high to eachother as they walk past, antique shops line the streets and restaurants say "no problem" and give your puppy a water bowl when you bring her to lunch:) The old fashioned victorian houses in the area look like these-

We usually go up to Greenwood Lake NJ, a town about 10 minute drive from Warwick on the weekends and the population of the town is few, maybe I see 50 people walking around. With the Applefest, 35,000 more people came to visit! We parked a few streets away and walked in. The first thing I saw were dancing girls on the town squares stage (isn't that so cute and old fashioned? a town stage?? I feel like I only see those in movies anymore). Some were doing jazz and then younger girls were doing Irish dance! It looked like a recital:)

As we got into the town area, there were more and more people, we had to hold Lealu close so she woudn't get run over! She was pretty good with the people and even let some of the kids pet her:) If you are ever in the area around October, the Applefest is a great place to go but there were very few apples! I wanted to get a big load of juicy fresh picked ones to bring home but the only stand we saw that sold apples was one in the corner that had about 5 smaller apples in each bunch. I would call the Applefest an Octoberfest instead:)The best way to go is apple picking in the area if you're looking for fresh big juicy ones! There were great stores though, a ton of crafty stores selling centerpieces, homemade soaps, some organizations (we found one that does broommaking and blacksmithing), face painting and a bunch of other artsy items. There is a great clothing store in Warwick called the Style Counsel, almost every weekend they have a sale going on where they put out clothes they mark down and sell for 10 bucks! (its a steal).

While we were there we stopped at this French restaurant called "Le Petite Cuisine". Their breakfasts are so so yummy, I've actually tried a few of their dishes at home! One is in a small crockpot dish. You add two eggs, cheese, spinach, tomato and roasted peppers. Sprinkle herbs on top (whatever you like) and bake for 20 minutes, and done! Another is the panini, this one I haven't made yet, but I'm likely making it this week. Its a slice of bread, heavy bread like french bread, with pesto on top, then assorted greens, then tomato, then roasted peppers, then cheese spread over top. Roast for 10 minutes and done! They are so simple and tasty, I can't wait to try that one! They also have cafe lattes that are so big they serve them in a bowl! Here are some pics:

and Lealu on the way home:)

Thanks for stopping by!

A Magical Fall Wedding in Harrisburg, Pa

A very good friend, Laura, and her now husband, Dave had their wedding in Pennsylvania this past Saturday! Her ceremony took place at this gorgeous A frame Unitarian Church along a wooded road with lots of pretty trees surrounding it. At 4 o'clock guests had arrived and the wedding party began their walk down the isle. Their dresses were a beautiful truffle color and her dress was such a pretty champagne with rhinestones all around. She looked so magical and sparkling! One thing that I LOVED LOVED LOVED about her wedding that I had never experienced in one before (not even in my own) was her music. Her piano player played really cool love songs from different movies (including Reality Bites - U2 song "When All I Want if You") which was beautiful! and another was Somewhere Over the Rainbow, but it was just the piano, it was truly the perfect touch. Then, after everyone's speech, the piano player would play another song, all the way through, in the beginning it felt slightly long, but then as she continued to play, it was as if time had stopped for their moment. You know how some weddings feel alittle rushed because of just everything going on? I don't know about you, but for mine, I was nervous and I tried afterwards to remember everything about the way I felt at the moment marrying my husband, but it is now just difficult, I guess because I was so nervous in front of everyone that my mind wasn't focused on the moment. Well, this wedding was so not rushed! It was like throughout each song that played on, the sounds would inspire a different emotion that would bring new light to the room that the beautiful couple could experience together on stage. They seemed so "there" through the new experience of each new song, it was so nice to be a part of! After the ceremony we went to the Holiday Inn Harrisburgh for the reception. Everything was beautiful! Her flowers were fall colors, red, orange and yellow. Her dress sparkled in a way that matched her hair and her jewelry.. The food was delicious too! We had brushetta, salad, chicken and veggies, and finally her amazing strawberry and cream cake!! Mmmmm it was delicious and so pretty! (before we all ate it anyway). The open bar was very nice too, hehe. There was this drink that both Shannon (from milk and cuddles) and I had, I think it was Kalua and Cream...mmm it was so good! It was wonderful to spend time with amazing friends who I haven't seen in awhile. Laura (the bride), Shannon (milk and cuddles) and I lived together in Brooklyn NY at the end of my senior year in college. We lived and learned lol together for a while, and its so great to be a part of eachothers lives as we're getting older! At dinner my husband and I got a chance to sit next to Shan, Michael and their little Molly, who is so ADORABLE!! She is such a cutie and so giggly!

One of the best parts of the wedding was having the reception in a location that was so close to where we were sleeping. We could drink and party til late and dance and not worry about how to get home! It was such a great night of celebrating, drinking, friends, dancing and so much fun!!

Apple picking at Ochs Orchard Warwick NY

This past weekend for Labor Day my sister Stef and her fiance came to the lakehouse to visit for a bit. It was so much fun to hang out with them, especially cause its been so long. They live in Pittsburgh Pa and we are in New York, NJ area so with work and just other things going on, we sometimes only get to visit once every few months. On the Saturday Stef and I had a girls day of going to Michaels shop where I bought new yarn and we made a mock floral arrangement centerpiece for her wedding tables! She is doing light green sagey colored hydrangea's with fusia pink roses in the middle in a clear circular short vase with a sagey colored ribbon tied around it. Can't wait! My gift to her is doing her flowers, so I'm ordering them to get to the house we're staying at together for her wedding weekend on the Thursday night (we'll be there late) and I'll be bringing all the vases, sagey ribbon, ribbons for the bouquets, along with pins. Afterwards we went to Starbucks and had coffee and tea and just sat and talked and talked! It was a great time and I miss doing that with my sister. There is nothing like sitting with a girlfriend and talking and talking without a care about time or if the other person would rather be doing something else, or well you get the point, it was just really nice! After that we drove home and walked Lealu the puppy around the lake. After that the boys got home from a drink fest at the Renne Faire lol and we had dinner and watched some movies. The next day, we woke up late and watched more movies (no cable there so just lots and lots of dvds!) and then went apple picking at this great place called Ochs Orchards in Warwick New York. It is only a drive of about 10 minutes from north jersey, Greenwood Lake area. The old farmhouse store had a bunch of handmade delights including pumpkin bread mix and lots of canned items. (I took a peak at there canned tomatos as I'm thinking about doing that!) It was a beautiful little farmy homey place where even though the paint was coming off the walls in some places and dirt was visible on the outside of the store, it still felt clean. You know that feeling? When you are somewhere that might not be so clean visibly but the warmth and hominess of the place either makes you not realize the not so cleanness or you just accept the dirt as part of what makes the farmy place so homey? lol I'm rambling alittle (i'm still on my detox diet and this is day 2). It was a great time and the apples looked (and tasted) sooooo delicious and sweet and juicy! Our big huge bag costed us 12 dollars (but it was a bag that will last both of us all week and with as many apples as we eat, thats pretty good!) It is definetly something fun to do if you're looking to get out of the house, pick some fresh fruit and spend some time with friends. They also had blueberries, peppers, tomatos, pears and peaches. I can't wait to go back and pick some more!

Collins visit to NYC and some other old friends

Our friend Collin came to visit NYC from Scotland recently. We had a great time and went to a few different places in NYC. We met up with old friends who we went to New York Film Academy with (thats where Collin and I met) at Penn Station one of the days and then went on a little journey through the city. First, we went to the Starbucks on West 4th Street (how can you come to NY and not go to the Starbucks??) :) Afterwards we went into the theatrical bar/restaurant Jekyll & Hyde and had a few pints and some lunch. We had calamari and I had a big ceasar chicken salad, which was delicious! It was interesting too because while we were sitting at the tables there is a man who is dressed in a suit and walks around and talks to everyone and finds out interesting information. Then during the meal, he intercoms a mic from a back room that sounds like its coming from either a dead manaqin, or a scary mounted wolf head! It was fun to watch and made a young kid laugh:) Then as we were leaving my sly husband chatted with him for awhile, went into his back secret mic area and he started talking to me from the wolf head! lol. The man started talking about acupuncture school etc and asked if I would give him some and I told him I wasn't licensed (across a room of people!) and he said "what do you do at your school? kegstands??" lol. It was actually really funny because the guy said it in a really funny voice! So in case you go to Jekyll & Hyde, remember that if you'd like your children to laugh or want to embarress your husband/wife or whoever just talk to the man who is dressed in a suit who looks like this:) After the restaurant we walked around a bit and went up to the Highline. The Highline is this new above ground elevated railroad turned park. It was so pretty with all the flowers planted and it was nice to be above the car honks and fumes:) They are even making a few organic cafes up there to stop by at! It was a nice walk. After that we stopped by a nearby pub and played darts (three of us tied!) And then it was time to say goodbye to the old friends as they headed off to Penn Station and two back to the city and Collin back with us to our place. It was great to reconnect with old friends and see where everyone is now.