Summer Wish List Update

A little over a month ago I posted a Summer Wish List that was prompted by MamaKat's weekly writing prompts.  My list consisted of 50 things that I wanted to accomplish before the summer was over.  I've been working quite hard on the list and have crossed many things off!  However, I've also come to realize that some of the items are not realistic or just plain not going to happen, and that's OK.  The point is I made the list, I've been crossing a lot off (and am continuing to do so) and I'm having a blast doing it.

I've blogged about many of the things I've done, but I wanted to do a general overview of what has been accomplished.  The list and it's current standings is as follows...

1) Camp
2) Hike Mount Marcy (the highest peak in the Adirondacks)
3) Take a trip to Lake Placid
4) Get a tan
5) Visit a beach
6) Bike to Lake George
7) Get Cooper's Cave ice cream
8) See fireworks
9) Do some kind of volunteer work
10) Get summer pictures developed
11) Find a new job
12) Lose 15 pounds by my birthday
13) Take any birthday money I get and get a new digital camera
14) Take a picture every day
15) Run a mile without stopping
16) Bake
17) Canoe/Kayak
18) Swim
19) Sit around a fire with good friends
20) Grill
21) Go to the drive in
22) See the last Harry Potter IMAX style
23) Do some kind of outside activity every day that it isn't raining
24) Cancel my credit card before they charge me the outrageous annual fee
25) Put all babysitting money towards paying off said credit card
26) Visit a museum/tourist attraction
27) Paint my toenails either green or yellow (I stay away from these colors because I"m afraid people will think I have some kind of fungus, but there are some green and yellow polish that I LOVE!)
28) Go to the Cheesecake Factory
29) Do something with my porch like add some hanging plants or plant flowers in the boxes, so that I want to spend more time out there.
30) Get my final Forever Adirondack pin in Ticonderoga
31) Participate in an Adirondack Mountain Club function
32) Finally burn the collection of movies I have sitting on my computer and add them to my book
33) Spend a day going to garage sales
34) Read 3 books
35) Host a blog giveaway
36) Participate in a blog swap
37) Get some good BBQ
38) Make my pasta salad
39) Bike 100 miles in one month
40) Have a drink on the lake
41) Send more happy mail
42) Visit my aunts and uncle
43) Add pictures to my adventure journal
44) Visit a brewery I haven't gone to before
45) Get a haircut
46) Wear a dress
47) Make smore's OVER A FIRE (I have a gas stove and sometimes make them with those flames, haha)
48) Go to The Great Escape
49) Donate blood
50) Visit the track during track season

Don't ya'll laugh at my lack of MS Paint skills.

Some of the things that I know I won't be getting to on this list would be;

• Losing 15 pounds by my birthday.  It's in 2 weeks, and I haven't been "dieting" I've been maintaining and don't plan on seriously dieting again until the 1st.  So that's a no go, and I won't even stretch it to 15 pounds by the end of the summer, instead I'll say 5 pounds by the end of August?
• Hiking Mount Marcy.  As much as I would've loved to have done this, I'm not conditioned to do it just yet.  My real hiking season doesn't really kick in until mid August and although that will allow for a couple of the smaller high peaks, by the time I'd be ready for Marcy there would be threats of snow on top.  So, maybe next summer.
• Get my last Forever Adirondack pin.  This would require a day trip to Ticonderoga during the week, since I don't have time off to use and can't afford to take a day off during the week, I probably won't get to this one.  I'm also unsure if they're still offering the pins as it was a promotion from last summer.
• Take a picture everyday, do an outside activity every day that it's not raining...I've failed miserably at both of these.  However it doesn't mean that I haven't taken a lot of pictures or haven't spent a lot of time outside.

So that still leaves a lot to be done!  I'm going for my 100 bike miles in the month of August, I'm in the midst of reading two books, I've been sending quite a bit of happy mail and am starting to think about what to put together for a blog giveaway!

So, I know a bunch of you came up with summer lists of your own, how are you doing with yours?  Where do you stand on the things YOU'VE done this summer??

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend in Review

Firstly, I’m watching The Bachelorette and I’m going to come right out and say that I don’t care if what Ryan did is totally stalkerish.  I think it’s romantic and I still love him.
Anyway…
My weekend was packed with lots of super fun things that I’ve been itching to share with you all!  We were lucky to have such a beautiful weekend.  It wasn’t nearly as hot as the days before and thankfully the rain held off until today (and the rest of the week I guess).
Friday evening I went and saw Harry Potter, again!  This time with my BFF Alicia and just in regular ‘ol $10 a ticket format.  That didn’t make it bad or anything of course (well I could’ve done without the excessive volume of the theater next to us) and it was really enjoyable watching it the second time around.  I didn’t cry nearly as much (Snape’s memories just eat my heart out) and I was able to poke fun of Voldemort .  Did you notice that he got kind of chunky as the movies went on?  Alicia and I are pretty sure he’s a stress eater, taking over the wizarding world is for sure a stressful feat.
Saturday I spent some more time with Alicia.  She was dog sitting for a doctor that she works for and the doctor gave her access to her seasonal camp spot (it was a camper spot at a resort) and we were able to just enjoy the campground and the pups!  First on our agenda was taking the dogs out for a walk in “NATURE!!!” on the trails to try and tucker them out so we could escape for some kayaking.
  
The resort had these random dinosaurs.  It was even labeled on their map like it was some big attraction, as you can see, for us it was.  There’s Alicia with Miley and Lily – being told by me that the sign next to her says, “No Climbing!”
After our walking adventure we went back to the camper and dropped the dogs off for some kayaking!  The main lake that the RV Park sits on is obviously man made, it’s more of a pond to me.  But we were able to kayak over to the road where we could get out and cross over to the bigger lake that had real summer camps along it.  This RV park was kind of a new experience for me, not that I hadn’t been to an RV Park before, but this particular one was very much a “resort” where I’d say most of their income is generated from individuals who park their RVs there all summer.  There were so many golf carts zipping around, and people had some pretty serious gardens and outdoor decorations at their sites.
Anyway, some kayaking pics…
  
  
We also kayaked to the beach which was extremely shallow for some reason.  The water was also super warm, but it was still enjoyable.  I tried to get Alicia to go to the resort’s pool (I like pools better), but she wasn’t having it.  She’s a party pooper.
Also the doctor has a young son and daughter, the daughter had some wonderful rules to live by on her side of their little camper bedroom:

We especially loved the “You can NOT fart” and “Don’t wake Maddy earlier than 9:00”
Needless to say, I was exhausted at the end of the day!  I came home, had a couple of fruity drinks and went right to bed.
Sunday was such a glorious day!  I woke up fairly early, and decided I wanted to bike to Lake George.  It’s about an 18 mile round trip for me from the lot that I start at.  I could start it from my house, or another lot but I choose not to.  I might try for a longer ride next weekend though.  I always take pictures when I go up to Lake George, but I tried to take a few more on this particular trip.

This is the view you get as you cruise into the village.  I say cruise, because literally it’s what you’re doing.  You hit one point on the path going towards Lake George where it’s smooth sailing.  I have to say that I think biking TO is a lot easier than biking FROM.  The skies were blue, there was a nice breeze and the lake was looking especially pretty!

I stopped at The Pink Roof for a dish of ice cream.  You can see that it gets its name from it’s actual pink roof.  The people that own that ice cream shop also own the mini golf course next to it.  This is a quieter end of the village, since I don’t have a bike lock (don’t ask) I try to avoid the crowds because I have to either ride on the roads or pull by bike through people and in all honesty, I prefer to stay away from the tourists.
I sat on a ledge and enjoyed my ice cream and took way too many pictures…

I wore shorts for this trip in hopes of getting some color on my legs.  It’s kind of ridiculous how white they are compared to my arms/shoulders/face.

I didn’t stay very long this time.  I finished my ice cream, went to the restroom and decided to head back.  I mentioned that the way back is rougher, and since it’s been a good few weeks since I’ve made this trip, I was definitely slower than usual.  However, I didn’t walk ANY hill coming or going, which means I defeated that darned bridge (which I didn’t get a picture of).  The first big hill coming back takes you up to this creepy little theme park called Magic Forest.  I’ve been so wanting a picture of the statues in the front to share with you and this time I just decided to take a little break and get those pics…

Santa and Uncle Sam.  Random, right??  This is a teeny, tiny park.  I’ve never been to it, not even when I was younger, I’m not sure I’d ever want to.  They’re famous for their “diving horse” which makes me shutter just thinking about it.

I got back on my bike and headed home.  The trip was about an hour and a half total, my average speed was 12 mph.  I got home early (I usually do this trip mid afternoon) and I ended up just putzing around the house the rest of the day.  Today was a far cry from the weekend, it was rainy, I had to work and I had to get up early.  I’m hoping that next weekend ends up being just as glorious and that the week goes by at a quick pace!  *fingers crossed*

What is YOUR favorite outside activity?

Summer Heat

 I’m writing this post from my living room (nothing unusual here), but I won’t lie…I’m sitting in the least amount of clothes possible, which is still quite a bit because I have nosey kid neighbors who peer into my living room door window.  I’m not going to say I’m swealtering or that I feel like I’m in Hades….but I am warm.



This fine graphic (provided by weather.com, spruced up by me) gives you an idea of how hot it is here.  It’s 96 degrees!  96!! 

I have to laugh because I’ve had a couple of my bloggy friends ask me over the past few days, “Do people even use air conditioners up there?”  Do the people in Florida who are enjoying their 87 degree weather have air conditioners??  HECK YES!  I myself don’t have one, but I can tell you my neighbor above me has theirs on 90% of the time, my mother keeps hers on all the time and of course my dungeon at work is air conditioned (even in the winter!).  Apparently even Canada is even baking, and we all know they live in igloos year round.

Anyway, I appreciate the heat.  It’s an excuse for:

Ice Cream


Keeping the sunroof open while blaring my new favorite CD (The Band Perry, in case if I haven’t mentioned it enough this week)

Sitting on my porch with an ice cold beer and a good book


Canoing


Laying under the sun


And when else can you go swimming?  Definitely not when it’s 10 degrees out!  Or can you…?


And just in case if you forgot what record snowfall was like…
 
 

So three cheers for summer and super hot temperatures!  I’d rather be sweating than drenched in snow!

What is YOUR favorite thing to do when the temperatures are high??

I'm here....I'm here!!

*jumps up and down waving frantically*

I'm well aware of my serious lack of blogging over the past week-ish.  I wish I could just say, "I don't have anything to blog about" but the reality is that's not true!  I've actually been doing lots of fun things and enjoying lots of new things.

I've just been lazy, and distracted, and actually busy at work.

So what have I been doing?  Well I can for sure tell you that I've been eating and I HAVEN'T been exercising.  Because I'm a bum and that's all I have to say about that.

Moving on...

Last week I enjoyed some days with the girls I babysit for.  I was asked by the mom to take a couple of days off work to sit for them the whole day.  Of course I jumped at the chance (more pay, more fun, lesser hours?  yes, please).  It was great fun, and the good news is that the baby FINALLY got used to me.

Seriously.

We've been like strangers in the night for the past year (she's 11 mos) since I really only sit for this family during the evening, she was always asleep!  At the end of Friday, we were best friends...which is so nice, because I adore babies/toddlers and was super sad that she hated me.

The girls and I enjoyed beach time, games, walks and playing outside.  I loved it!

I wish I had pictures, but I don't.  Not only have I been terrible at blogging, eating and exercising, I've been terrible at taking pictures.

I also spent the weekend soaking up the sun and just enjoying summer.

And napping, I've been doing a lot of napping.  Probably too much napping, like I've gotten into the habit of napping after work...oops!

Saturday night was a big deal because I went to my first rodeo of the season (it opens up July 4th).  Which also means I got to spend time with my dear friend Eileen, who I never get to see as often as I would like.

In the summer it's common to see the Painted Pony truck, with this number in tow:

All class.  What can I say?  I have a thing for cowboys.

With that said I have a confession to make.

I bought a country CD.

Yes, you heard right.

A country CD.

I loathe country music.  I especially loathe country singers that infiltrate my pop music airways (Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood etc).

So what CD did I buy?

The Band Perry.

And I flipping LOVE it.

This is so unlike me.

You may as well throw me a cowboy hat and some boots and shout YEEHAW because I've clearly missed my calling as a cowgirl.

So that's it really.  That's where I've been and what I've been up to.  I wish I had something way more interesting than babysitting, sitting in the sun and blasting country music out my car windows...but you're out of luck this time.

Oh and PS, I am DEVASTATED that Ryan was shown the door on The Bachelorette this week.  You all know how much I loved him.  Do you think he likes cowgirls??

Thee Day Weekend!

Happy Friday friends!  This isn't just ANY Friday, this is Fourth of July Friday!  Which means....three day weekend!  BLESS THE WORLD!  I love me a good three day weekend!

And the even better news?

I only have to work Tuesday and Wednesday next week at my lamesauce office gig because Thursday and Friday the family I babysit for needs me!  Shorter days, for more pay and soaking up sun at the beach with my favorite little ladies?  In a heartbeat.

So, remember my Summer Wish List?  I've been knocking things off of that left and right!  For example, last night I donated blood:

I've donated before, but not since I was in high school, about 8 years ago.  The second time I donated I passed out and my mother forbid me to ever do it again (my iron was really low, they tested it twice to pass me through but they probably shouldn't have).  But na, na, na, na.  I did it and it was a success - and everything I remembered it to be.  I would've liked more pictures and to be honest and I'm sure the people with the Red Cross would've been more than happy to help me out with that, but I felt it would've been a little weird asking for a pic of myself on the table, hah   Maybe next time.  Check this right off that list!

I was excited to see a package waiting for me when I got home last night!  Jenn had some harsh events happen in her life which delayed my Flip Flop Exchange package.  To be honest, I would've rather heard that she forgot or just didn't want to do it over all the bad news/events that she had gotten.  Also, can you believe she hasn't opened up my package yet?!  That's self control!  Either way I still hope it lifts her spirits and she enjoys it.  Below is what she sent to me:

How cute are those flippies?  Classy and simple, my favorite combo.  And her gift from FL?  Beach sand and shells, a portable beach!  Would you believe I actually smelled it to see if I could smell fresh ocean air?  I totally did.  We have brown lake sand here, not gorgeous white ocean sand.

Modeling my new flippies AND the green polish:

So my legs are really white and I have really fat feet so I don't rock them as well as your average fashionista, but I love them!  You can't really tell, but there are sparkles around the silver rings, making them even more fabulous.  Cross two more things off that list (participate in a swap, paint my toes green or yellow)!  Thanks Jenn!!

Last thing on my summer list that I completed this week was making some pasta salad.  I did take a picture of it, but it's really nothing to get excited over, I keep it really simple, pasta, zesty italian dressing, cheese, pepperoni and onions.  No olives or tomatoes please.  I used it as an opportunity to try Ronzoni's Quick Cook Pasta which is supposed to cook in 3 minutes.  I'd say it lived up to it's claim, but it takes forever for water to boil on my stove so it still took forever to cook.

So I have to confess...

I haven't exercised at all this week.

Like, nothing.

I'd come home and I'd take a nap.  Then after my nap I'd go visit the boy, or he came over to fix my bike or I'd just get up and change to go back to bed.  I don't really have an excuse for it.  I was supposed to start week 3 of C25K back on Monday, I'll be starting it tonight.  Oops.

With that said, my bike is practically fixed.  I accidentally got one wrong sized tube (duh, I don't pay attention to anything) so I have to exchange that and take care of the front tire and then I'll be back on that.  I'm thinking tonight I'll take care of it, after my run of course.

I'm a slacker, and right now I really don't care.  Without caring, I'm not going to get anywhere so I've stopped worrying about it for now.  Eventually I'll get the motivation to lose the last 20 pounds and I'll do it, for now I'm just enjoying summer and I have actually been maintaining, so I'll take it.

Agenda for the weekend:

Saturday is going to be Harry Potter day!  HARDCORE!  The boy and I are going to be doing a full blown marathon of all the movies to date, thanks to a couple of the guys at work who compiled their collection for us.  He's only seen the first 2 and wants to see how the story plays out, and I haven't seen 4 and on any other time aside from my theater visit so it'll be nice to catch up again before the final release.

It's hard to believe it's all over with.  And boy, what a lucky break for everyone involved.

Monday I'm looking to do a possible firetower hike and Sunday is still wide open.  The good news is my favorite fireworks are going to be on Sunday, so perhaps I'll be getting to see those.

I'm almost sure that I'll be squeezing in a bike ride and/or other super fun activities, the weather is due to be GORGEOUS!

The Fourth of July is one of my most favorite holidays.  I love the red, white and blues, I love the BBQs and I especially love the fireworks.  I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday!  

What's YOUR favorite part of the Fourth of July?

Thunder and Lightning, OH MY!

You may or may not already know this, but I'm a pretty big baby.  I don't do heights, and when I say heights I mean like, you won't catch me standing on something more than two feet off the ground unless it's a solid floor (or a firetower)...you won't see this girl riding on any rollercoasters, ferris wheels or anything that flips upside down.  When I was in high school we did this obstacle course that required us walking across a high balance beam and climbing over uneven bars...I walked around those obstacles.  If I see someone walking a big dog on the same side of the road that I'm on, I cross over and as much as I love camping, I will never sleep in a lean to or without some kind of tent like shelter because you know...mice crawl on you when you're in a lean to, and they've viscous.

Aside from the height thing, being upside down, dogs or mice I'm pretty terrified of thunderstorms.  You see, when a thunderstorm comes rolling in (which isn't uncommon here in NY during the summer) and I'm alone in my  apartment, I'll run around to each window, close it and pull the shades.  Then, I turn on all the lights (particularly if it's dark) and put all my fan windows on the floor and turn them on.  Oh, and I play my TV as loud as possible...to tune out the thunder and all.

If it's really bad, I get into bed and hide under the covers.  I'm constantly anticipating that *crack* thunder, where there's a giant flash of light and then the sky sounds like it's splitting open.  Talk about basket case!

I also tend to lose power here at the slight gust of wind, so I get all my candles ready.  Just in case.

You people that live in the land of tornadoes or hurricanes...I don't know how you do it.  If there was ever a tornado warning for where I live (which there is once in a while, but it's really, really rare) or a hint of a hurricane or tropical storm, I don't know what I'd do with myself.  I'd be the person in the bathtub with the mattress over it.

Oh and I'd bring my cat in the tub with me too.

As you can probably guess, it's storming out here right now.  As promised I have all my lights on (lucky for National Grid), my fans are on, my TV on.  I've lost power a couple of times, but that seems to have subsided.  My toilet started bubbling which totally freaked me out and for whatever reason reminded me of the movie for Stephen King's IT - and the walls by my toilet started leaking!  That has also stopped.  Do you think I should tell my landlady??  Meh...

As much as I love the summer and as much as it pains me to say this, I'd rather have this:

Than this:

VIA

No wait I take it back...I'll just get on the phone and con someone to come over to keep me company.  If that doesn't work, well I can always go hide under the covers.

Weekend in Review

It's been a while since I posted my Summer Wish List and I have to say that I'm generally thrilled with the response I got from it!  So many of you went ahead and made lists of your own and I think that's fantastic! I hope everyone is able to accomplish their goals, and take pictures of themselves doing it so we can all cheer you on.  It's safe to say that I worked on mine this weekend and was able to cross a thing or two off the list!

Firstly, to keep me accountable on the food front.  Some things I've been enjoying this week include...

The ever popular eggs and bacon breakfast
Berry Kix (120 calories for 1 1/4 cups!!!) and a bagel thin with low fat cream cheese for lunch
Still eating those grapes!
Fig Newton crisps
Morning Star veggie burgers on Arnold's sandwich flats

Some faults this week...
Pizza
McDonald's
Hot dogs from our local hot dog place
BBQ from Dickey's BBQ

For those of you that don't already know, I live in New York at the eastern base of the Adirondack Park.  We don't have much in the way of BBQ that's easy to get without having to go in and sit down or over pay.  Dickey's opened up last Friday and Janette can vouch for my excitement to try this place (while mentioning she has one on EVERY corner where she lives...lucky!).  It was DELICIOUS and so hit the spot as I was craving BBQ hardcore.  I had chicken, cole slaw and fries and did have intentions of going back this weekend to try the ribs but decided against it.  It's still on my to do list!

All in all, I'd say this was a fair week.  I kept up with my exercising and completed week 2 of C25K. 

Onto other news...

No bike ride in this week.  The weather was a little too unpredictable for me, although tonight has turned out rather pleasant.  I did however come home to some HAPPY MAIL on Friday!

   

I completed my first successful Swap-Bot swap.  It was a Tote and a Note swap, and my tote came all the way from the UK!  The card I got in the mail was from a TOPS friend, she's a sweet lady and it made me smile to know that she was thinking about me.

On a Debbie Downer note, I think my partner for a blog swap that I signed up for flaked out. :(  I haven't heard from her or gotten a package (it was supposed to be sent out on the 17th), nor has she updated her blog since she plugged the swap.  I know that's the chance you take when you sign up, but I'd like to at least know that my package made it to her safely and that she enjoyed it.

Friday night I babysat for my favorite family for a few hours.  This family includes three girls (8, 4, 10 mos) and I have to say that as much as I love them they were a little testy Friday night, particularly the oldest.  She seems to be having attitude issues in general, and has been for a while but I hadn't really experienced it until Friday night.  Yikes, now I know what mom and dad are talking about!  I also haven't really gotten a close relationship with the infant at this point, even though I've babysat with her in the home many, many times...she's usually sleeping.  So with that said, she doesn't know me and has crazy stranger anxiety which can make things....interesting.  Needless to say Friday night was definitely a more eventful babysitting night but as always, well worth the cash and the opportunity to see my favorite family.  

Saturday was spent getting a new hair cut!  FINALLY!  I've been wanting one for a couple of weeks now, see once my hair gets too long it just get narly and gross looking.  In which I tend to just throw it back in a pony tail.  Once it hits that point, it's time for a cut.  I also made the decision to get my usual summer highlights, although I didn't want to pay for it to be professionally done, so I had my mom do it with a drug store kit (don't panic!  she's done it for me before!).  As usual, when I go to this particular hair salon, regardless of what I say, they always cut it TOO SHORT (really this is the third time in a row, I need to just stop going there).  I'm a creature of habit, I like my hair trimmed, "an inch or two BELOW my shoulders, with a touch up of the long layers and my bangs trimmed to my eyebrows".  I don't know if they think I say, "an inch or two ABOVE my shoulders" or they just choose to butcher it, but it's way way too short.  My highlights however, came out well.  I don't normally dig taking pictures of myself or posting them on my blog, but here you go (and yes they're super small because I'm the most unphotogenic person EVER):

I had my shades on because I was heading out to run, but they do a great job of hiding my dark circles.  This is what my hair used to look like (after my last haircut which was probably a good 3-4 mos ago)...

So cross that off the Summer Wish List!  Saturday night my favorite guy took me to go see...

Which I've been waiting FOREVER for.  I LOVE Cars, it's in my top 3 favorite Pixar movies, and I have the bank checks to prove it!

Anyway, after much deliberation and me constantly saying, "it's not going to rain!!!" we decided to see the flick at the drive-in!  I LOVE the drive-in.  I love it because it's super cheap ($8 for TWO movies) and the food is amazing, although I didn't have any last night.  But seriously, it's the drive-in, what's not to love?  Our particular drive-in is one of the few that still have working window speakers.  You can choose to use those or turn your car radio on:

We used the radios because SOMEONE was afraid that his battery was going to die from leaving it running so long (this only happens if you have a really old battery...not going to say it's never happened to me, but it's not a big deal if it does - they have jumpers!).  One time a couple of summers ago, someone drove off forgetting to put the speaker back and it shattered their window, they're heavy and that is definitely NOT something you want to do.

Fortunately the rain held off and it was a lovely evening.  I enjoyed the movie, but I knew I wasn't going to like it as much as the first one, although I will say that I don't think it warrants the bad reviews it's been getting.  Unfortunately, Green Lantern was the second movie playing and we chose to not stay for that.  I like comic book flicks, but Green Lantern looked lame.

As usual, my Sundays are spent lounging around and cleaning.  Seriously, my apartment is a mess, I'm such a sloppy bum.

All in all, I'd say it was a successful weekend!  I crossed a couple of things off of my list and of course...it was enjoyable!  Next weekend is a long weekend and as of right now, I have no plans. :(  I was hoping for camping, but I don't think that'll be happening so now I'm hoping for fireworks at least!  Either way, I am soooooo looking forward to another long weekend.

I hope everyone has as enjoyable of a weekend as I did!