World According to Shia

This massive ship went by! Lil Lighthouse Okay my fall vacation...duh obsessed with fall!! Leaves and Light Stone lock? Even though it was fall...still some pretty flowers. More fall foliage! Weird fountain ah so pretty more pretty I just want to let you know I sat on this porch for like an hour...imagining how it would have been back then...how peaceful and how inspiring. I could have written a million blog posts on this porch...well you know the equivalent to a blog post in 1904. Now for the hilarious.... They had a continuous video playing about the history of the house. Since Paul and his mom watched it while I was out on the porch I went in after and was the only one in the room.  While I was waiting for the movie to restart I thought I would do some Ghost Hunter photo tests. I mean all this love and heart break it just HAS to be haunted. Right? These pics we...

So while we were on our Fall vacation, one of the attractions we visited was Boldt Castle in Alexandra Bay, NY.   It was one of the most beautiful spaces that I have ever seen not only because of the architectural but the history behind it as well.  I thought I would share the saddest love story before showing you my pics. From Boldt Castle's website Beginning in 1900, the Boldt family spent summers in the 1000 Islands at the Boldt Families Wellesley House near Mr. Boldt’s Wellesley Island Farms while 300 workers including stonemasons, carpenters, and artists fashioned the six story, 120 room castle, complete with tunnels, a powerhouse, Italian gardens, a drawbridge, alster tower (children’s playhouse) and a dove cote. Not a single detail or expense was spared. In January 1904, tragedy struck. Boldt telegraphed the island and commanded the workers to immediately “stop all construction.” Louise had died suddenly. A broken hearted Boldt could...

So I am gearing up for my vacation in September.  Paul and I are going to upstate NY and into Canada.  I have tons of things I want/need to get. 1) Passport - the pit - it has been so difficult to get a passport.  There aren't that many places around town and tomorrow I am taking a half day to wait in line in a completely different county in order to get this show on the road. 2) Tote - the peak - so I have been wanting a tote bag to carry on the plane and in the car (while we are traveling around Canada) so I can have my laptop and work on my blog and upload photos, etc.  I've looked into Vera Bradley but I just can't see myself paying that much for something kinda ugly.  So you all might remember when I bought matching bags for Marissa and I (click here to remember).  Well I found the matching tote on eBay.... Plus wait until you see my passport cover I am making!!  So now I only have to have/need ... cute fall outfit idea...

{Remember when I went to New Hampshire last year and wrote in a notebook while I was gone from the blogging world... well I wrote this and never posted it so here it finally is....enjoy!} So it's Sunday late evening and we are staying in because everything is closed.  It is super quiet.  The nothingness and the overwhelming sense of calm just makes me think of death, you know like slowing down equals time ending.  It always has.  Just those quiet moments with the sun going down, peaceful and quiet just makes me think of how short life is.  We live in such a fast paced world.  Everything is go go go.  I'm guilty of "wishing for the weekend" so in a sense I am "wishing my life away".  These moments of calm are just daunting to me in a way.  Creepy?  I know.  But when you think about it don't we just rush and do so much to experience life?  Aren't we just trying to do enough to make our lives meaningful? ...

So as stated in my earlier post - Sunday was pool day.  Ever notice how much stuff you need to tote over to the pool and heaven forbid the beach.  It can be daunting.  So here's some suggestions from yours truly to make it effortless. 1) Pool/Beach bag - whatever bag you already own that you don't use everyday - make it your pool/beach bag.  You can use a reusable shopping bag which you can pick up at your local supermarket for 99 cents.  Keep your sunscreen, sunglasses (if you have more than one pair), beach towels, etc. in this bag at all times.  Wash the towels and shove them right back in the bag.  Keep the bag in your car, closet, where ever it is convenient.  2) Water - going alone?  No need for a cooler.  Freeze bottles of water and have one in the frig.  By the time you are ready for a second bottle - it's melted and ice cold.  Also tote the bottles back home and fill them up for next time. 3) K...

So as of tomorrow (Friday) I am on vacation until Wednesday!  Believe me it is much needed and couldn't have come soon enough.  Paul and I are doing some day trips to some places but other than that it will just be some peaceful relaxing time spent with Paul.  I'm going to do like I did in NH.  Don't tell me what day it is and no counting down the days until I return....actually no thoughts of work.  I hope to have lots of blogs for when I get back.  I mean it's not a LONG time away but a long weekend is just as nice as a full week!   I'm going to start getting back to the randomness of my blog.  So I'm going to compile MANY MANY topics while I'm away.  There's too much going up about food, working out, etc.  I'm getting healthy...okay!  Moving on!   I want to start writing some solid pieces with some depth and or amusement...maybe even both.  

No joke I wrote this blog on the plane....days after the last post where I dissed the South...I calmed down and then this happened.... So we're on our last flight headed to Jacksonville. I haven't been annoyed by "stupid people" until now. So we all know I have issues with people and a true part of me that hates people well I think I have narrowed it down to a deep hatred of ignorant crackers. Currently, I am surrounded by a toothless (no joke) ignorant cracker family that thinks its hilarious that "Bubba" (that was his name folks I am not making this up) has to sit next to an Indian man wearing a turban. Look crackers if you aren't prepared to enter the real world stay at home and watch that glowing talking box to see it. When are they going to break out the banjo? I'm seriously disappointed that the minute we get anywhere near Jacksonville I'm surrounded by the very ignorance that makes me hate Jacksonville. Also, it's been a week an...

(Again written on vacation and I am FINALLY posting...YAY!) So isn't there some kind of saying about southern hospitality? Well as a northerner who has been living in the South for almost 20 years (OMG I just found that sad...can I even say that I'm a northerner anymore I've officially lived in the South longer than the North...excuse me I need a minute...I can't deal with the fact that I could be dubbed a southern), I will have to say that I like the northern stand offish mentality a lot more than the "fake" hospitality of the South. Come on I don't need to spell it out but those overly enthusiastic people that you see on a day to day basis that are complete strangers = F A K E! I remember when we first moved here and anytime we passed a vehicle on the road they would give the wave. Really? I don't want to give you a wave? I don't know you. I'm just trying to get from point A to B. Also, just because northerners are stand offish doesn...

So we're looking into taking the plunge and traveling out west! We're wanting to visit Spokane which is all the way on the east of the huge state and other places like Seattle, Tacoma, Portland etc all the way on the east coast. Flight and road trip? Two flights? Sigh...this is what I have Paul for. =) He'll have it figured out in no time!

   

      Hopkinton, NH This is classic NH charm.

      Here's the condo we rented in Laconia on Lake Winnipesaukee and the views of the Lake we could see from the Condo property.