A Fresh Start

January, as of two years ago. How far we've come! 

(And how much warmer it is, too!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! More Christmasy posts soon.

Ode to Truck

Dear Truck,

We loved you so.
(click the link to read full post after the jump)

I Spy: Northern Spies

Since apples seem to be the theme of the week (apple-picking, applesauce, new apple crate title) I thought we might give those tasty fruits their full fifteen minutes of fame. 

Here are some photos from apple picking in Ithaca from last year. Since it was October, it was a little bit cooler (check out our heavy coats and mittens) and even snowed later that day. 

Once again, an apple tune for your listening pleasure. The Andrews Sisters are a cheery complement to this rainy Richmond morning.

Northern Spies.

I should mention that before we did any apple picking, the car got stuck in the mud. My sister helped the orchard owner while I took pictures. (Tricky, tricky me.)

 Getting the tall ones.

Dad approved.

 I'd expect nothing less from a Newton family adventure.

Highlights from Niagara

I forgot to post pictures from the holiday weekend....here are a few.

Before we got soaked.

Poncho = salvation from pelting mist.

Foreground: American Falls. 

Background: Horseshoe Falls. 

Niagara Falls is only the city name.

The In-Laws are Coming, the In-Laws are Coming!

The calendar on the wall in our kitchen has been rapidly filling up since March. I just returned this week from Seattle/Portland where I spent five days with my sister, family and friends. One of the main highlights was the Sixth Annual Seattle Cheese Festival, a tradition that my sister and I have kept up since we accidentally stumbled upon this amazing festival during its very first year. As I say to anyone who gives a quizzical look, just imagine a street full of booths with (free!) cheese samples from around the Northwest and the world. We have attended in pouring rain and blistering heat, and since our second or third year we've learned to tote along our own loaf of bread and bottles of water. This year some of our favorites were the Rogue Lavender Cheddar and the Rogue Ale Cheese.

Oh, I guess I should address the title of this post. The in-laws are coming on Wednesday! (As I was saying before about the calendar--just returned from Seattle, in-laws are coming for a week, then a week later we leave for our month long trip to Europe!). We are so excited to have the Mito B&B open for guests again. When my dad, stepmom and sister visited in October, we had such a wonderful time here making coffee in the morning, playing Wii and cribbage after dinner, and cooking some really delicious meals. Hopefully we'll have just as much fun with husby's parents--only with much better weather this time! Local gorges, a day trip to Niagara Falls, and some enjoyable walks around Ithaca are already on the itinerary.


I can hardly believe Chris graduates next weekend and will have his masters degree after only one year. I married a genius! I'm very much looking forward to Richmond when he won't have to spend all of his time studying. And if I can find a job that offers work during normal business hours (sorry Starbucks, but 5:30am on a Sunday is getting to be a little much!), we'll be able to spend our weekends exploring Richmond, D.C., the beach, and other parts of our new state.


Ok, enough for now. I've got to get back to tidying up our B&B to impress our new guests!

Ithaca is...

...boring. And cold. It is a small town full of college students and lawyers (lawyers, lawyers, everywhere!) surrounded by even smaller villages. Today I finished work early, looking forward to the next two days of sleeping in and not working at all. It was a sunny day--but chilly--and I just felt like bundling up and going exploring in a part of the city that I haven't seen. But I've seen Ithaca. I wanted to scope out a big city...one with districts and good Mexican food and quirky little shops.


We ended up going to the movies. And I fell in love with 3D dragon named Toothless.


I digress. Here's a break-up letter I've been drafting. I think I'll get the nerve to send it in a few months.


Dear Ithaca,

You've been great. We've had some fun times, but you've really been quite cold to me lately. I think it's time I move on. It's not me, actually, it's you. And I hate for this to get personal, but size does matter. I need something bigger. I hope we can still be friends.

Bye.

P.S. Don't think you can win my heart back completely with the advent of spring. It won't work. Well, maybe just a little.

Time Loop

When you work in retail/customer service/etc, it's easy to forget what day of the week it is. In fact, all of the days seem to run together into one recurring day. Like a time loop. My morning at work begins at 5:30--I wait in the chilly doorway until my coworker arrives. I punch in and we set up the store to open at six. Two regulars come in, always the same drinks. At around 7:30, the next employee arrives. We make drinks for the predictable morning rush. Polite small talk about the week or weather is always exchanged in the same manner. Everyone gets the SAME thing. Quad grande peppermint white mocha/venti pike with room/decaf tall nonfat cappuccino in a personal cup. They practically don't have to say anything...I just know. It's incredibly odd to feel like the same day is happening over and over and over again. And for the time being--in my black pencil skirt, black button up shirt and green apron--I guess there's no escaping this espresso saturated deja vu.

For a hilarious story about an ACTUAL staged time loop in Starbucks, pant-less people on the subway in NYC, and a fake birthday party for a stranger, check out Improv Everywhere and their spot on the This American Life episode "Mind Games".

Snow and Ice

It's below zero outside right now and the wind chill takes the temperature into the negative teens. The lake is frozen, the falls are frozen, and our faces freeze when we go outdoors---but I do have to say that I'm enjoying the Ithaca winter.

Instead of the dreary drizzle of rain for several ongoing months in the Pacific Northwest, the snow is kind of a cheerful change. At work, where two of the four walls are floor-to-ceiling windows, I get the feeling of being in a snow globe. It forces me to wear all of those hats and scarves I've collected over the years; what were previously fashionable accessories have now become insulated necessities in the frigid weather.

The temperature also brings out the colorful language in everyone. Because when push comes to shove and your fingers feel like the frozen icicles you see on every house and your face is pink like a sunburn from the wind and the down coat you bought still doesn't keep out all of the cold....there isn't much else to do other than make a curt exclamation of an expletive under your foggy breath.

Pictured: a conversation on a frozen lake.

Cold, cold, cold

It is freezing--okay, let's be truthful here--BELOW freezing in Ithaca. I woke up this morning to find my weather.com widget on my dashboard tell me that it was zero degrees out. So bundled in my ear muffs, red festive scarf, down coat, fleece lined mittens, and Keen boots, I set out to make peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes for the world at large at 5:15 in the morning.



Fast forward to evening: with the cranberry apple bake in the oven and the inches of snow outside, it feels very Christmasy in Ithaca. But this season won't be complete until we spend a few days in New York City before heading back to Portland for Christmas. The following things are on my holiday-must-do-list:

1. Make and eat lots of sugar cookies (mostly the dough)
2. Watch 'Christmas Eve on Sesame Street' with my dad and sister--a yearly tradition
3. Give all of the pretty wicked sweet homemade gifts that are wrapped and packed in the carry-on
4. Watch as many more Christmas movies as I can (viewed: Home Alone, Holiday Inn, Love Actually, Elf; yet to view: White Christmas, A Muppet Family Christmas, The Santa Clause, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and Charlie Brown Christmas).

Well, dessert is done. Now if only I could get my hands on some Tillamook vanilla bean ice cream to top it off...

"I'mmm dreaming of an Oregoniannnnn Christmas....."

Christmas!

I just can't get enough of the holiday season. It's not even October, but I've already pulled out the Christmas candle (mostly to get the scent of my vegetable soup out of the kitchen) and now I'm watching 'The Holiday' after drinking peppermint tea at work. I DO actually live in the moment, however, because I ate a pumpkin scone this afternoon as a celebration of today--the first day of autumn.

The leaves are already falling (some of them, at least) and crunching beneath my feet. I hope most of the leaves will stay attached to their respective trees until the week of October 11th--when my dad, Sue and Alyssa come to visit! Other tourist attractions planned for their NY vacation may include the following: apple picking (followed by apple pie baking), visiting local wineries on Seneca Lake, and adventuring around one or more of the local gorges. And given my current employment, probably lots of coffee consumption as well.

Curtain Up

Here we go: my attempt at a blog. With our recent move to New York, a fully stocked kitchen of registry gifts, a copy of Julie and Julia from my beloved Powell's Bookstore of Portland, and a full-fledged love of all things vintage, I've decided to go ahead and start documenting the chic and swell things in life. It's partly a convenient way for the family and friends we left behind to see what we've been up to, and partly because there are so many blogs I love and perhaps I want to be like them just a little. But with slightly less fashion sense and amateur photographic ability. Nevertheless, here I am.

I should also let you know that I kind of belong in the 1950s, and that I'm in love with anything that has the word 'vintage' thrown in. So expect a dash of family, a few culinary successes, vintage inspirations, local adventure documentation, and who knows what else in this blog. I'll just give it a go.