Lazy Weekend

A lazy weekend for us in NJ. Friday evening we took Cade to the dog park, and she got a little braver since the last time we went. She actually chased around lab puppy named Hamlet that was her size.


Saturday we found a path to the grocery store. This is exciting because it takes about 10 minutes to drive about 2 miles to ShopRite because of the Jersey can't-make-a-left. I took some more flower pictures. We have 2 lilac bushes, which makes me extremely happy.





We looked at bikes (c'mon, rebate check!), and went to a mall, where we bought nothing. We tried, but I got depressed. High prices for clothing + less-fit body = sadness. Again, c'mon rebate check, I want a bike!!


Today we went to the southern most edge of Palisades Park. It's a path along a big rock outcropping on the Jersey side of the Hudson River, running from Fort Lee (George Washington Bridge) to the NY/NJ border. The views of Manhattan weren't so great today, because it was cloudy, but it was a decent walk. Don't think we'll be going back though, because I picked 7 8 ticks off of Cade. I hope this isn't foreboding of the trouncing in the woods to come this summer. We put Frontline on her, and she has her Lyme vaccine, so she should be ok if the do ticks latch on.

Happy Earth Day

Yes, Earth Day was on Tuesday. Cheesy and cliche as it is, Earth Day is every day. I'll be posting more often about earthy, green things. It's become a greater part of my life than ever before.

True Hudson Valley

Friday was Jonathan's birthday, so we celebrated by heading up to the Hudson Valley. The intent was to visit the wineries along the Shawangunk Wine Trail for a wine and pasta event, but we ended up only staying for the day on Saturday, instead of the whole weekend.


Saturday morning we headed up to Hyde Park, NY to visit the Vanderbilt Mansion. It's a National Historic site just north of Poughkeepsie. It was beautiful on Saturday; 80 degrees and sunny. We both got a little red walking around the grounds.

Our first home!! (riiiiiiiiiiiight)

We decided not to go into the mansion because it was way too nice to spend an hour in an old house. After spending a few hours walking around the grounds, we headed south to New Paltz so Molly could be our designated driver while we did some wine tasting. We visited 3 wineries and tried (and failed) for a 4th; we passed it, and it was just about closing time anyway.

We took Molly to the Guilded Otter, a brewery in New Paltz, for dinner. We were going to stay the night in NP, but decided to save $80 for something cooler, and headed home.

Today, the sun didn't come out till about 4PM, but once it did, it was nice, probably about 65. I took some flower pictures (yay spring) and some Cade pictures (of course).

Pretty daffodils; too bad they die so quickly

Not a flattering Cade picture, but look at the pretty flowers, green grass, and Jersey plates (oh nooooooo)

We just got back from seeing "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", which was really funny. I think Jonathan had a good weekend (he's currently playing with one of his birthday presents, Wii Carnival Games).

P.S. The title of the post is in reference to PJ. Some say that's in the Hudson Valley, but I disagree. If you're 40 miles from the Hudson River, and you touch a completely different major river, I say you're not in the Hudson Valley.

I might as well have an "I'm a nerd" banner in my front yard

Can you find the sign of nerdiness? It's a rain gauge! I've been logging my rainfall to CoCoRaHS since the beginning of the month. I'll add the data to here at some point. Another thing on the to-do list.

In other news, Jonathan and I like free things. A lot. Some things we've saved from the trash/curb include

• 3-pocket laundry basket
• Dresser
• Nightstand
• Set of 4 lawn chairs
• Shelving unit for the top of the desk
• 5 Wooden pallets for the compost pile

This doesn't include all of the furniture and stuff we've received from our families. I like free stuff because it doesn't cost money, and it's a way to reuse stuff before it heads to a landfill. Jonathan likes it for the former reason and could care less about the latter. He just shakes his head or plain laughs at me for some of my environmental initiatives. But that's another post.

I broke my puppy

Let's see...

Two weekends ago I went home to visit my family. We had lunch at the Democratic Spring Fling with my grandma, aunt, and Maaaaaaa, I visited Pop, and had dinner with Molly at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

Around that time, I broke my puppy. Yep. She was being nice and lovey (which doesn't happen that often, usually she's a gremlin after about 5 seconds), so I was petting her. I was petting her ears, and I heard a small pop, a little whine from Cade, and ever since, her left ear has been floppy. I think I broke the cartilage that supported her ear. Anyone could have done it. Right? Don't worry, there's no residual damage, just a floppy left ear.

Miss Cade and her floppy ear

Last Monday Jonathan scored free tickets to the Yankees vs. Devil Rays game (they shortened their name to the Rays, how lame) from work. The Yankees won 6-1 in a less than thrilling game. It was cold and windy, but we had good seats, and it was still fun to go to a game---I hadn't been since high school.

Say goodbye to Yankee Stadium!

This past weekend, we went to New York to see Becca. She came up from DC with some co-workers. It was great seeing her, and the weather was b-e-a-u-tiful. We met up on the Brooklyn Bridge (how cool is that?), wandered through lower Manhattan, took the Staten Island ferry, went to the farmer's market in Union Square, and then bid farewell. A great afternoon with my wife.


Yesterday we took Cade to her first dog park that actually had dogs. She doesn't really understand other dogs yet. Her tail goes between her legs when other dogs come near to sniff, but toward the end she attempted to chase a dog or two. I think she'll warm up to other dogs as she gets more exposed to them; she still prefers people at this point.

And now it's springtime

I used to think that spring was a boring season. I like winter. I don't want winter to go away. Flowers? Green? Warm? Psh, whatever. Those people who count down to spring (cough MA cough)? Weird. But, I've seen the light. I can dig spring. Daylight saving time is pretty nice. Flowers are nice. Not dead grass is nice. It hit 68 today, and that's also pretty nice. So, the season of spring is growing on me (HA, growing...ha)

And now it's springtime for Alexis and Parsippany................