In Ireland, Safe and Sound

The subject says it all! Sat next to a very nice woman on the flight (Aer Lingus). More later :)

Hope - Spring flowers on the streets of my brick New York City prison

Hope
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

The current view from my window. I think this tree burst into bloom overnight. Living here makes the Frost poem make so much more sense "Her early leaf's a flower."

I wrote some good, calming tips for Happy blog tonight. Justin was rad and edited all my piling up videos. I'll post one tomorrow and later decide the frequency. :)

So what did you do for Earth Day?

Well thanks to MK we went to see the "Colbert Report". It was cold and hilarious. This was one of the intro pieces however you can see the rest of the episodes here.

Abandoned New Jersey Beach

Gate on the beach
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Val! and I went for a drive after my 4 mile run with Thao yesterday. We explore southern New Jersey and discovered a beautiful preserve, larger than Yosemite, called the Pinelands. Thank goodness to National Geographic Adventure for recommending it. It was beautiful! There were so many trails, a beautiful lake with an adorable goose that was fishing in the cool water, and even a babbling brook!

After we left the pinelands we came to a little town and met a kind young man at a convenience store that recommended we head to Long Beach Island. It was so cool! You can easily walk from one side of the island to the other - it can't even be a 1/4 mile across. The beaches were so beautiful, pristine and deserted!

After hanging out there for a while it was time to head back toward Rutherford. Val! and I ate at a Cajun/Texmex place. The chips. salsa, guacamole and queso were actually all very good. Yummy!!! It was a FANTASTIC day full of great photos and a lot of fun. I am looking forward to another like it soon. :) Check out more photos of the day here.

Just a Little Jog... in the Adidas Run for the Parks!!!

Going for a run with Thao... and about 5,000 other people! Wish us luck. ;)

Happy Val! - Photo Walk

Happy Val! - Photo Walk
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Vallie! came over tonight so we could walk around in Forest Hills Gardens taking nighttime pictures. It was a nice, relaxing evening punctuated by happy banter and lots of blurry, orange photos. I still like the way they came out, particularly because I got a few nice pix of Val! enjoying herself! :)

Flowering Tree of Queens Blvd

Here is a photo I took with my Blackberry of a tree that was in full bloom as I walked home from the Forest Hills JetBlue office.

Even though they are pretty, I know behind all those colorful petals and blooms, they are the cause of my sickness. *shakes fists* damn them.

Tomorrow Vanessa will have to walk me to work so I can show her this flowering tree. The one right next to it is much prettier. However, it was not wanting to be photogenic. But trust me, it was cooler. ;)

Ness and Justin - Coupley Goodness

Ness and Justin - Stop Staring
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Yes, I've been informed I am slacking on my photo updates. I worked from 9AM - 9:30 PM Friday, literally, then I was up til 2 AM Sunday working, and I just couldn't muster be on a computer any longer to do photo updates. Sometimes work gets in the way. Le Sigh. I'll try to do better for the rest of the week!

Not feeling too hot today. My allergies have become all stirred up again and I just haven't been feeling up to snuff. I'll take some antihistamines tonight and hope it goes away!

Photo caption ~~What's up dude behind us? Yes, I did set my camera on a wall so I could get a photo of Justin and I in this pretty, evening light. Do you have a problem with that? Is it really so odd that you must stand there, mouth agape, and eyes slanted? Hrmph! Pretty photo :D

Photographing Trains

Justin at dinner
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Sorry guys - lots of photos today... Justin stayed late to have some drinks after work with JetBlue people, and since it was a nice day (it was really a wonderful, clear, beautiful day and the perfect temperature), I picked myself up by my bootstraps, grabbed Beloved, and waltzed over to the Forest Hills Long Island Railroad station... I LOVE trains and photographing trains. Being there was so ridiculously peaceful. I don't know why I don't go there more

often!!!

I am also including a photo of Justin from dinner tonight because I really like the way it turned out. :)

Yay tomorrow is Friday!!!

Dinner time

V is for Vanessa is going to eat me!
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Justin and I had dinner at Garcia's on Austin St. This is not an unusual occurrence by any means. Unusual would be us making dinner at home! I was super excited that there was a V-shaped chip in the mix, though. We were also able to hear some pretty lousy karaoke. All in good fun.

I am proud of myself because I went for a jog today - my first jog in MONTHS. Go me go! Even if it was only 20 minutes. :) I was able to jog, shower, and dress in 45 minutes - record time! Now if I can

just keep it up a few days a week. ;)

Justin made a scary hand in my picture. :(

Ruby in the sunshine

Ruby in the sunshine
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Look at her little snaggle tooth!

Ness and Justin @ Uno

Ness and Justin @ Uno
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Yep - we had dinner tonight at Uno. It was good. Service was slow. Met a nice waiter though. Brief update as the night is still young and so are we! ;)

PS: Sorry my pic of tonight isn't better!

Sunday is for Sushi

Sushi accents
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Another laid-back day. Justin and I worked a little on Adventured.net updating the background and left hand side, including our contributors links/social networking links. All in all, we're very pleased with the changes. I had to take a nap in the middle of the day to sooth my mood. It worked brilliantly and both the puppies slept with me, even though Justin was in the living room. We concluded the night by ordering in and watching I am Legend. I promised Val! my take on the movie, which is:
Decent, sad, slowww.

Impressive Arch - Wandering in Forest Hills

Impressive Arch
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Justin and I spent the afternoon wandering around Forest Hills. Today I woke up and wrote a bit on the novel Val! and I are co-authoring. She's much more motivated about it than I am. I've only written on it twice and, in total, it is probably 5 pages long. Val's effort and output is at least 4 times that of my own.

I trace my fingers along the top-most ledge of Sacre Couer’s grand entry – what a spectacular view of Paris. The seedy underbelly begins at the base below. The hostels, hookers, ‘red light district.’ Beyond, there is a mosque, there stands the Eiffel Tour, so proud now so many years after its birth into a society that completely detested it.

Justin woke up and we just sort of hung around. I read a bit in the book Val! lent me: Time Traveler's Wife which I am quite enjoying. We headed to Garcia's for some Mexican food and both left feeling miserably full. We then wandered around a bit trying to locate "something odd" that a new flickr friend of mine told me about. I think I found it! If I am correct about this oddity, it is the arch in this photo. It definitely looks a bit out of place between these two drab apartment buildings in Queens. I wonder why it's there and what it represents...

After shooting up a storm, Justin and I decided it was time to do a little shopping. I purchased a pair of blue jeans and a pair of slacks and. as shopping generally bums me out, it was good that we went for massages immediately afterwards, and bubble tea directly after that. La sigh!

Our last stop was Bath and Body Works, which really lightened my mood. I love spending time in that store, smelling all the new smells and checking out their products and marketing. They might try harder than practically any brand out there to constantly come up with new products and ideas!

I hope you're all having a great weekend!

Last Night's Dinner with Thao and Katie

Thao comes over for Dinner
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Justin and I had a really nice time having Thao and Katie over for dinner Thursday night. Thao shared with us a lot of her photos from Kenya (you can see them here) and narrated as she walked through the different experiences. Justin hooked my laptop up to our TV so we had a good viewing arrangement. It was so neat. I definitely want to go to Kenya now! If I can get a detailed itinerary of Thao's journey, I'll put it up here. She visited beautiful, deserted beaches; lovely, cheap inns; took a self-guided driving safari with some friends; took children to a giraffe feeding/petting area (not only did she escort these children, but she helped raise money so they could go in the first place - right on!); and all the while got around in bizarrely decorated buses. It looked and sounded like a lot of fun. She also brought me back salad spoons with rhinos on the ends! I love them :) Thanks Tizzle! :)

It was nice having Thao and Katie over... I just feel bad they got home so late on a Thursday night! Tonight, Val!, Justin and I went to Hill Country. A new friend of Val!'s, Chris, met us as well. The wait was an hour and a half but we had a good time. We sat there talking for hours and then for another half an hour on the sidewalk once we'd decided to leave. I pronounce "Friendship Friday" a serious success! :)

How Time Changes Us

Val! was sharing old photos with me. She sent one of herself, my cousin Karen and me all dressed up and ready for a night of clubbing. I remember the night and all of our photos fondly. We actually met a club-photographer that night and had a good time. He was the first of that type I'd ever met, though certainly not the last. At any rate, I was feeling sad, not to mention older, looking at the photo and thinking of old relationships. For instance, I haven't talked to Karen in years, which is sad because she is a cool chick and we grew up together. Life is odd - how we fall away from one another. At any rate, in the depths of my melancholy, which I was sharing with Justin, he sent me a photo from last weekend. Wow! How times change. For your viewing pleasure (you may want to enlarge these):

Taking harp lessons in Stowe in 2008.

Going out clubbing with Val! and Karen circa 2001.

Event at the Scandinavia House

Event at the Scandinavia House
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

What a nice day! I accomplished a lot at work today - discussed SEO objectives with our analysts, communicated with our web team in India regarding their progress on our social networking site, added photos to a press release (ALA's Favorite Top Ten Hikes), and changed all the maps from their previous, ugly Google Earth images to beautiful and colorful images created by our designer that truly evokes the ALA brand.

As I was about to hunker down into catching up on work email, my Outlook popped up a reminder. This afternoon was the ExOfficio PR event and mixer! Uh oh! Thank goodness for technology reminding me about things. I rushed to change out of my casual clothes to more appropriate attire, quickly fixed up my hair and makeup, and rushed Justin home from work (thanks for hurrying home, sweetie). We were on our way to Manhattan in record time.

I was so glad to be in the city during daylight hours. Well-dressed individuals were leaving work or heading out, arm in arm, for the evening. The best part was seeing the trees full of heavy buds. Some were already blossoming! Are they dogwoods? Magnolias? I am not sure. It was so lovely. The trees in Forest Hills haven't gotten their flowers yet. Strange how the environment changes in 4 miles! :)

Justin and I had a nice time at the mixer. The ExOfficio (Chris and Rudy) people and their PR people were very nice. I really enjoy talking to Chris. She is such a vibrant, fun person. We both talked about engagements, traveling, work, marketing, etc. She is also going to Brazil for the Adventure Travel World Summit! Ahh!! I want to go! Isn't that something I should be, like, required by LAW to attend??? Justin and Rudy talked about domain names and web stuff. Now it's late - again. I am exhausted - again. At least it was all for a good reason.

I am looking forward to hearing all about Tizzle's trip to Africa tomorrow! She is back and coming over for dinner. Yippy!!! :)

For those of you that haven't checked out Follow Your Happiness yet - you're missing out! We've just discusses Wellness Wednesday - don't miss Tout your Talents Thursday for crying outloud.

Queens Blvd, Forest Hills

Queens Blvd, Forest Hills
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

I was at a loss for what to add today and decided just to take my camera with me on my way to the grocery store. Not bad for nothing much! :)

In other news, Val! and I have a new positivity project where we'll only be posting happy things, crafts, etc. Feel free to check it out: Follow Your Happiness. We anticipate Mom's blood, sweat, and tears also.

Yes, the site needs some TLC! :)

Harp Strings, Rock Wall, Last Day in Stowe

Harp strings and metal
Originally uploaded by pandoralyrael

Well, we had a great time yesterday for our last day in Stowe!
It was tough to choose to place a photo of an inanimate object up for my photo of the day. I sort of wanted to put up a climbing one, out of obligation, but my heart chose this one. :)

Aside - Running behind today on my updating. We took some photos with Beloved on Sunday and Justin spent a while trying to get my laptop to work with the camera.... *shakes fist angrily at Vista*

All is well in the world, except that it's almost 2 AM and I am exhausted.

More Photos - I've updated the gallery to contain only photos from the weekend in Stowe and be in chronological order - Friday through Sunday!

Justin and I had a lovely last day in VT! We woke up early, scarfed down breakfast (fruit, pastries, cream of wheat with cinnamon and craisins - and honey in mine) and headed to the fitness center for indoor rock climbing! It was awesome. I LOVE that.. although we barely made it under an hour. Our forearms were screaming after a few times up the wall. :)

We wandered around for a while and then gathered up our things. Justin checked out of the hotel and I went to my harp lesson! Woo! I love the harp - both the way it looks (I admit) and the sounds it can produce. I am so not musically inclined, having never played an instrument. Sadly, despite a couple of years of choir, I never even learned chords/how to read music. The instructer was super patient and nice and helpful. It was a good experience. Mom would be proud as I have finally done something sort of Irish - thus embracing non-German roots for a change. haha :)

It was a beautiful day as we drove back to Burlington to catch our flight. The sun was melting the snow and icicles so it really was the perfect time to depart. I still would've loved to stay and try cross-country skiing! Maybe next year. *crosses fingers*