P2- Delray Cont

Rustica- deluxe pizza (caprese mm)

Delray Day 3-

Boca Raton, went to the beach, was gonna go snorkeling, but the waves were too big to safely get to the reef- haha idk like 8 feet…plus the flag ripped off Garrett so it would have been dangerous with the boats- I guess recently a snorkeler was killed there because a boat driver didn’t see him and ran him over!! Boo.

Instead, we sunned on the beach then had lunch…Garrett’s dog Shamus is so adorable!!  After that, we went to Gumbo Limbo- in Boca, a turtle reserve/ nature conservatory type place.  There were these huge spiders there on the nature trail and around the butterfly garden too..I need to look them up and see what kind they were…black, red and yellow, stripes, big webs….

I made stuffed shells and then we went to see the movie RED. Good movie!

Florida P1: Delray

Got picked up in Delray by my friend Kev and his friend Mike. We went to get dinner at Dub’s (thank goodness we went right away, I really wanted some real food other than Cheetos and pb crackers- which was what was easiest to keep on a 13 hour train ride!!)  Got a chicken salad, and found the best chicken wings I have ever tried…the skin was so crispy and delicious- I usually am the one to pick them apart and not touch the skin (some wonder what the point of eating them if I pick them apart that much is), but these wings totally changed my mind about wings.

Chill night, watched The Taking of Pelham 123, then hit the hay.

Day2- Walked E Atlantic and looked at some shops, and then hit the beach with one of K’s friends (Garrett).  Started working on my tan, enjoyed the beach and the ocean- the waves were good, and water was great- a little chillier than Isle of Palms, but definitely not cold by any means.  I wanted to stay longer but decided after like 4 hours that I didn’t want to push my luck in the sun (even though I wore sunblock) because I will be down here for like 2 ½ weeks…pace myself. 

So, as you can see I decided to catch you all up on the adventures of my past few weeks and destinations.  After writing all this I decided to check on my “tan”…def got some color today, and I guess I need to remember to put sunblock on the sides and inside of my legs--- whoops…Aloe and overnight and I should be ready for tomorrow. I believe I’m going snorkeling and beach again!! So glad to not be in the snow/ cold of ny right now- I guess it only snowed like once, and didn’t really stick, but honestly I am a lot happier in the sun, at the ocean, in my suit and flip flops/ shorts! 

Thinkin of maybe doing some seasonal work if I don’t decide to get a full time right now. Maybe do some more restauraunt and bar stuff, possibly nanny, or a season at a resort again. Love the possibilities!!

Need to figure out flight to Atlanta still, and when I am going to Miami…

Oh crap, I went to brush off the sand from the beach chair I had- I set it inside K’s door so no one would take it, and a lizard leaped out. Ahhh I forgot about those suckers!

Later on- I went to get something out of my book bag and realized that the lizard could be in there because I forgot to zip it…all these things I forget about living up north…if it gets lost in my bag and dies there I will be freaked out. I just went though all in the zipped pocket, but still nrvous about it so I left it open so it can climb out hopefully if gosh darned its in there.

Charleston ... Recap!

Visited Kara in Charleston.. beautiful city, historic…summary would be- Folley Beach (Taco Boy)- all kinds of Mexican food, tacos, good margarita selection.  Surf Bar- real chill place right on the strip, surfers on the tvs, decorated very well- pics, articles on wall, surf boards, island feel, chill bartender and friendly staff.  Reminded me of the keys, down by the beach…sandy parking, palm trees everywhere- excuse me, Palmetto trees (South Carolina’s state tree).

Kara had to work the next few days, so I went to downtown Charleston, walked around King Street, got some ideas of stuff around at the Visitor’s Center… had a picnic at a park downtown and watched some sword fighting slash tai chi type stuff…at first I was surprised to see people all ver sunbaithing at the park, but then I realized, why not? Who cares if it’s mid October….it’s great weather, and keep in mind I’m not in NY anymore!  Dinner at Vickery’s…beautiful setting right on the water, boats, good view, yummy food and drinks…then Red’s Ice House- cool bar right on the water, open, bi-level on a canal…Phillies San Fran baseball game on, live southern music… 

Isle of Palms…beach accesses all over the place..at first I didn’t realize that you can park all along the road as long as you’re 4 feet from the curb.  Tons of huge houses, like 3 levels along the beach. I also visited their town recreation center and talked to a great lady who I learned had lived in many places and she recommended some places to check out.  Mount Pleasant has a larger recreation department than Isle of Palms, but it’s because they are a larger community/ town than Isle.  I learned a bit about their facility and the types of programs that they run in their recreation department.  After checking that out, I headed to the beach to enjoy some sun and the ocean.  The water was incredibly warm…about 76 or so…maybe even warmer.  I caught up on my travel journal while I was there too, which was a good idea because I had been doing so much!! I learned that pretty much all of the houses that were more than 2 levels were built recently, and the “original” town houses were smaller, a lot of times one level houses.  

I checked out Market Street Saloon..Coyote Ugly type bar..fun atmosphere- gets kinda crazy, but fun! The bartenders have choreographed dances on the bar, and a few even hula hoop- which, as you can probably guess- I joined them for that part J.  Fun times…then, after that part was over, proceeded to hoop around the bar, both in and outside on their deck…I wish I made (or purchased) a hoop that you can take apart for taking on the plane…I will have to invest in one, or everyplace I go maybe I will just buy one and leave it as a gift to those I am staying with for their entertainment later on! 

Kara had the next day off, so we enjoyed bottomless mimosas downtown at Toast- and I got a very southern breakfast, but delicious. (crabcake on a fried green tomato, w a poached egg, biscuit and gravy, and cheese grits).  I didn’t know grits were made from corn..also, I am not a fan of the famous gravy everyone loves down here, but the rest of the meal was delish.   I really like the friend green tomatoes..I’m gonna have to start making those!  We went shopping at the Market downtown, then went back to the house and took naps.  Market Street again, and afterwards decided to have a crazy dance party back at Katie’s… aka dance with some Svedka till 5am.  I woke up the next morning to find I had 3 cats asleep on top of me all night (thank you  to Kara’s camera phone). They must have known I am an animal person!

Last day, crazy schedule…finally were around/ showered/ dressed and out the door to lunch/brunch at Triangle by 1.  They have great black bean burgers, and I got my collard greens- good, but they were spicy (for all of you that know I don’t like spicy I sure have been up-ing my heat/spice level tolerance- yes, be proud).   Decided that we needed a “morning coffee” at 3 in the afternoon…process haha.  Then we went and checked out the Firefly Distillery….famous for their sweet tea and lemonade infused vodkas. The lemonaide one you can only purchase at the distillery itself…their staple vodka.  We did their vodka tasting and then a wine tasting from Irvin-House Vineyards.  We visited Angel oak- the oldest Oak tree in the US…they think it’s about 1500 years old, incredible to see…the branches get so heavy they touch the ground then keep growing up from there…pretty amazing that something can get that huge!  Chill night- BBQ’d at Katie’s and watched a game.  

Next day, Amtrak at 5am. Cheap way to get around if you have time to kill in getting to your destination…I ended up sleeping most of the way. I talked to a girl from Spain who was pretty cool- she went to school in Winter Park, FL but we talked about our Charleston visits. 

Toga and Albany Part 2

Went back to Albany, met up with a college friend.  We hung out in Albany for the first day then went to Saratoga Springs....The weekend consisted of all sorts of fun, including hooping, longboarding, green man shenanigans, tshirt bracelets and art, playing with the pup, enjoying parks around the area, seeing the mineral bath at Saratoga Springs State Park, football practice, getting cooked a delicious dinner, and grilled pb-jelly or bananas(...if you've never tried it you need to!!!), homemade fork mashed hummus :), baseball games, Four Lokos, learning about funny places that should be visited around NY- thanks to Wierd NY (can be purchased at your local Barnes and Nobles), balancing acts and wrestling in the park, Hamboning, the Regular Show, and Prism Glass Works to name a few.


Met some cool ass people who I surely hope to slash WILL be seeing again!!



I will add more and spice this post up tbd....gotta go revamp my resume and get a ticket to colorado, fl, sc, or vegas. Which one should be next?!?!?

Boston Part Duex

Sorry this took me so long to get up here#!!

So, Also in Boston, the aquarium...really cool, lots of sealife, their special exhibit were penguins. I was a bit disappointed because they had advertised to have the largest touch tank for rays on the east coast (I think, it was that or in the US), but never mentioned that they are working on it and it isn't opening up until April or May of next year..Bummer!!

Matt and I walked the Freedom Trail all over Boston and ended up at Bunker Hill. It's neat how they have a red line (Painted some places, and brick in others) that you can literally follow all around Boston which is the exact trail you need to hit all the spots on it that include: Boston Commons (where we also saw a larger than life macaroni noodle), Massachusettes State House, Park Street Church, Granary burying ground (w/ graves of Sam Adams), King's chapel and burying ground, first public school site and statue of Benjamin Franklin, former site of the Old Corner Bookstore (Where famous writers all used to gather), Old South Meeting house, Old State House, Boston massacre Site, feneuil house, Paul Rever's house, Old north Church, Copp's hill burying ground, the USS Constitution (war boat) and Charlestown navy yard, and the Bunker Hill Monument. 

After the freedom trail, we took the T (which I navigated, yey!) to harvard and walked around the campus and the town up there. Got some tasty beverages in their bookstore- which was absolutely beautiful by the way. 

I met up with my friend Emily and we went to a Japaneese Noodle House that was really good...one of those hidden gems.  Lots of neat stores around the area she was in too... Patagonia, 344, etc.

All in all, I had a great time in Boston, I really liked it and even though it was a city I feel it had more of a town look to it- very beautiful.  I definately am planning on going back, possibility of living there at some point as well!

Public Garden...Where Everything is Public (Boston)

Made it to Boston, with Laura and Fiona (very happy baby by the way).  We stopped in the Berkshires and had lunch in Stockbridge at a lovely little cafe- had a picnic outside to enjoy the day.

Arrived at the train station, made it to South Station and met Matt.  From there we took the T to Matt's so I could drop my stuff. Had a lovely conversation about Theology and what he does in his major.  We walked around Cleveland Circle and got some dinner, then met up with my friend Bryan.  We went to downtown Boston- it was really nice, I liked it a lot. Saw the world's biggest Apple store..or was it the US's largest...idk. Also, got oatmeal cookie frozen yogurt- amazing. 

Went to the Public Garden..so beautiful at night, and the buildings were all lit up(obviously) but it was really nice.  There was a building that the top looked like a castle, complete with the little flags and the moon behind it was cool too.  We definitely ran into some "interesting" people at the park...haha..never before and probably never again....

Also, we went through the oldest subway station in the US.

DC / NYC/ Bear Mountain

So- It is kinda hard to keep up with this while on the road and constantly traveling, but I will try! I hung out in Mohegan Lake...late start leaving from home, of course. The next day I trained into NYC and then got a bus to DC.

I had a great tour guide in DC :). We did lots of stuff there...I learned The mall was the strip of the Smithsonians and monuments and stuff..haha, I thought at first he meant likea  shopiing mall and I didn't really feel like doing that!


A Quicky list of what I did/ where I went would be- Adams Morgan, Reeves (a cool rooftop bar- I want one or two of these at least wherever I relocate to!!), the H Garden, Air and Space Museum, saw the Capitol Bldg and First Looking Glass Pond, Freer Art Gallery, the Sculpture Garden (This had a really cool metal tree in it), the National Archives (my first time seeing the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and the Constitution- amazing), <We got to go to the US Constitution's Birthday Party they held there...complete with two types of cake and drinks!!>, Museum of Natural History (Also a butterfly garden which I loved- so did Mike, haha; the Hope Diamond, Gemstones, etc.), the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Monument/ Reflection Pool, and the Korean War Memorial. This was a very busy day- and that was only about half of it!

H-Street Festival- I went to check it out- full of vendors, musicians, contests, artists, food, interesting things to see and do/ people, etc. They had a tattoo competition- best/ worst/ most unusual tats. There is a studio called the Joy of Motion, and they did some dance demonstrations- the afro-modern one was really neat- another thing I want to do- dance again!! :) Beautiful artwork- my favorite in particular was Francisco Esteban...such beautiful work! I also heard a band called Lucky Dub that was pretty neat. Chess competitions, decorated cars- one from the Baltimore Rock Opera Society that had a stage set up on top of their car display, and you could take a turn with their "guitar" and have about 30 seconds to go on top and totally rock out to a song they would play for you.  People were really into it and creative with their performances!!

Later that night I went with Tommy out with his friends for his friend's birthday.  We went out in Dupont to a bar and a club. The club was so much fun! (Obviously I love to dance, and around here there are not many options)!! It was a fun time.

I decided to stay an extra day there because I had a lot of fun, and then also pushed back my bus too..ahh, the luxuries of not having a very specific schedule..all the flexibility. :)
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Bus ride back went ok- I slept a few hours and then in Philly the bus filled up and I met a new friend on the bus which made the time go by faster.

When Back in NYC, hit up a festival in Little Italy (I need to check the name again). Lots of dancing and food and vendors (like every festival, haha). I got a sweet head scarf I'm pretty excited about. Got some authentic Chinese food too- first 24hour Chinese place I have ever heard of!
 Didn't get back to Dena's (Mohegan Lake area) until like midnight..I was pretty tired!

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Bear Mountain State Park

Very pretty! Nice drive, beautiful scenery...they had a mini zoo there- brown bears, owls, amphibians and snakes, hawks, a bobcat, porcupine, bald eagle, etc.

We walked the _______________________ Bridge and back- super windy on top, but it was pretty cool- super high up too!!

We headed back around 730, helped Dena (and Kima) move back to Cortland..not with a T at the end (I went from one Cortland to the other Cortlandt was the joke).

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Next stop... Boston!