Sunday, July 10, 2016
Work News and other stuff
It's Sunday, another week gone by and things have changed quite a bit. But let's start from the beginning.
Monday was the 4th of July and we were at work but got out around noon. Afterwards we checked out a winery not far from the office in Newburgh (Glorie Wines) for some wine tasting and then had lunch near the water at the River Station Restaurant. Had a nice afternoon.
Tuesday we went into the office as normal but things went sideways from there. I haven't really written much about what's been going on at work. I think I did write that our company was recently (early May) taken over by another bigger company. Everything was fine at first but let's just say it started to become clear relatively quickly that our future there might not be so bright.
Well to cut a long story short. The office/branch where Mike and I work is being closed down and we were laid off. I finished out the week working for my old boss to tie up some loose ends. And Mike is doing the same until the end of the month.
It's obviously not ideal but it's ok. One door closes and another one opens. We will land on our feet and find something else. Going to spend next week reworking my resume and looking at various job sites.
On a more fun note, today Mike and I went for a quick walk at a park in Southport followed by lunch at Flipside in Fairfield. Going to be hanging out with my friend Jana later at night. Already have a date set up to meet up with my friend Falguni on Tuesday as well. Going to try and see my friends while I have some extra time on my hands. Might as well enjoy some of this. :)
Mail Update. I received a letter/owe a reply to: Emilia/Finland.
Posted by Hanna at 02:49 PM in Food and Drink, Holidays, Wine, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, July 04, 2016
4th of July weekend
Happy 4th of July to all my American friends. :) The holiday happens to fall on a Monday this year which is turning this into an extended weekend for most of the country. I say most of the country because I still ended up working on Saturday and today. But it's ok, not the end of the world.
We really aren't the BBQ or picnic type people mostly anyway so it's not the end of the world. We actually did have an invitation to go to a BBQ/picnic yesterday but already had other plans so that didn't work out.
Saturday after work we had a leisurely lunch at 121 in Oxford. And on Sunday we took advantage of the nice weather and spent some time outdoors. Went to Hyde Park and walked along a trail by the Hudson. The weather was pretty humid though so even the short 2.5 pretty flat trail felt like a challenge. We did have fun being outside though.
Afterwards we went to the Mill House in Poughkeepsie for a late lunch and to watch the France-Iceland Euro game. When that was done we went to the place where Candy Hearts was playing. It was at a pizza place in Poughkeepsie and had more of an open mic feel. Kind of weird but pretty neat all in all. There were a bunch of other people playing before Mariel came on. Had fun hanging out and listening to the various people though.
Today we are at work but should get out of here by noon. Afterwards we are going to check out a winery not that far from here (Glorie Wines) for some wine tasting and then lunch near the water at the River Station Restaurant. Should be a nice afternoon.
Mail Update. A letter went out to Eunice/Malta on Tuesday last week. All caught up with my mail at the moment. :)
Posted by Hanna at 10:41 AM in Food and Drink, Holidays, Outdoors, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, January 04, 2016
Remaining Canada Recap
Back to work and every day life today so just a quick update on the rest of our trip. :) Saturday we went to the art museum where they had a really neat Monet exhibit.
Then had a late lunch back at Les 3 Brasseurs/The 3 Brewers. Yum. Picked up a few things at some stores along the way and eventually headed back to the hotel. For dinner we went to Vineyards Wine Bar in Byward Market and had some good wine and a delicious meat and cheese plate.
Then Sunday morning we had breakfast at Eggspectations, a really good Canadian breakfast chain we first discovered in Montreal. Had the most delicious breakfast before heading back to CT.
Now it's back to real life and trying to eat a bit healthier. It's been a bit of a challenge but it's only day 1. I will get there. :)
Mail Update: Letters went out today to: Carmen/Malta, Charles/TN, Kimber/Canada, Tiffany/OK, Lotte/Denmark, Celia/MA, Nina/WA and Caroline/Scotland.
Posted by Hanna at 09:03 PM in Food and Drink, Travel, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Almost Christmas
Four days until Christmas Eve. This weekend is already the 4th Advent. Where has the time gone? Can't believe it's already Christmas this week. I am mostly done with my shopping but just realized I should do something about wrapping some of the things I bought. Still need to pick up a few things and a few more things are coming in the mail as well, tomorrow and Tuesday. I guess maybe I will just wait and leave the wrapping for another night when I have everything together. Not a ton of stuff and I am feeling kind of lazy and content at the moment.
Spent the later part of the day drinking lots of tea, writing a letter and reading more of the christmassy book I am currently reading ("The 12 Days of Christmas" by Trisha Ashley) Very enjoyable seasonal read. My usual go to book for this time of year is "Winter Solstice" by Rosamunde Pilcher but I thought I would find something different this year and so far I am quite enjoying this book.
Had to work Saturday but we got out a bit after 2 and were able to check out a winery not too far from our new office in Washingtonville, NY called Brotherhood Winery. Neat place. Really enjoyed the wines we tasted and were able to pick up a bottle of sparkling rose wine for New Year's Eve.
Speaking of New Year's, not sure if I mentioned this on here yet or not. We are heading to Ottawa, Canada for 3 nights over New Year's. Really looking forward to being away from work for a few days. It will be nice to relax, check out some museums and have some good food. Will still need to take care of some things for work for year-end but it will still be nicer to be away rather than at work.
Mail Update: A letter is going out tomorrow to: Laura/Spain. Received letters/still owe replies to: Lotte/Denmark, Celia/MA, Kimber/Canada and Tiffany/OK.
Posted by Hanna at 08:17 PM in Food and Drink, Holidays, Travel, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Finger Lakes Birthday Weekend
A quick hello from the Finger Lakes. Already have to check out and leave again today. 3 days/2 nights really is too short. :) But we have had a great stay so far and have a couple more things planned for today before leaving the region and heading back to Connecticut.
Friday we left CT in the morning and headed upstate. Got to Seneca Lake a bit before 1pm and had lunch at Dano's. The only Heurigen in this country that I know of. We discovered the place quite some years ago now but are always happy to visit whenever we are in the area. Such a yummy place. And the location on the lake is great too. If you are curious what a Heuriger is click here.
After lunch we headed over to Cayuga Lake for some wine tasting. One of the wineries also had a neat shop with various sauces, jellies, jams, oils etc. You could taste and try everything which is always fun. We ended up buying jalapeño stuffed olives, a habanero infused olive oil and a jar of cranberry orange marmalade. Yum.
The place we stayed at is just a tad over from Lake Cayuga close to the next lake between Auburn and Skaneateles. Really neat place. Had a yummy dinner at a brewpub in Auburn.
Yesterday, Saturday, we checked out the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge which was really neat. The weather wasn't as nice as on Friday (Fr we had perfect blue skies) but it was fitting somehow for the fall season. Walked about 4 miles.
After that we headed down Cayuga lake for some lunch and more wine tasting. Had a delicious cheese plate and curry pizza at the Copper Oven at Cayuga Ridge Vineyard.
After some more wine tasting headed back and had a delicious dinner at a place called Gilda's. Tapas/small plates, great wine, etc. Small place but really great.
Today we are having breakfast in Skaneateles at the Bluewater Grill before heading down the other side of lake Cayuga for some more wine tasting before driving home to CT.
Mail Update: Received letters from: Carmen/Malta and Nina/WA. Hopefully replies should be going out to both of you Monday.
Posted by Hanna at 11:55 AM in Food and Drink, Nature, Travel, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Friday, July 31, 2015
Hello from Germany
Hello there. :) Saying hi from Northern Germany. Arrived safe and sound yesterday. Flew from NY to Hamburg where my parents picked me up.
Once in Hamburg we had lunch at a lovely fish restaurant in Finkenwerder. After lunch we headed up to Luebeck where our hotel is.
Today we went for a nice drive around the countryside, looking at some of the ship and cargo operations along the canals, zig zagging around the countryside, crossing the canal via the ferries etc.
Had a nice lunch at a pizza restaurant in Brunsbuettel (pizza topped with tuna and onion - a truly European creation) and later on the way home stopped at a snack booth where I had some yummy currywurst.
Now back at the hotel where I am enjoying some delicious German Riesling we picked up on the way home. And tomorrow we have reservations to tour one of the tour ships that is docked near here. Enjoying some nice time with yummy food and drinks. What could be better? :)
Mail Update: Received letters from/owe a reply to: Caroline/Scotland, Nina/WA and Lotte/Denmark.
Posted by Hanna at 03:35 PM in Food and Drink, Travel, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, May 31, 2015
NYC Movie Afternoon
And already almost June. This year is definitely flying by. Was off Monday for Memorial Day. The rest of the week was pretty busy dealing with post holiday stuff at work. Now we are past that but next week I have someone on vacation so that's going to be a busy week too I am sure. Well we will see how it goes.
Saturday I had to work but we got out at 2 and headed down to the city. Traffic was crazy so it took much longer than we had anticipated. But we still managed to have a drink and quick snack before going to the movies. Saw "Barely Lethal" at a theater in the East Village. A fun movie and neat combo of your stereotypical teen movie (aka Clueless, Mean Girls, She's all that, 10 Things I hate about you, etc) and spy movie with combat/fight scenes.
After the movie we decided to walk back to midtown rather than take the subway since the weather was nice. Walked past a bunch of places and decided to stop at a cool looking wine bar called Vitis on 3rd Avenue. We're only going to have a drink but then ended up staying quite late and didn't get home till almost 1am. Definitely a cool place and fun atmosphere.
Today we slept in and then had lunch at Elmer's before heading to the movies to see "Aloha". Weird weather day today with showers and thunderstorms throughout the whole day so it was a good movie day. Stopped at work after to finish up some month end stuff.
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a reply to: Lotte/Denmark.
Posted by Hanna at 05:43 PM in Film, Food and Drink, NYC, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, January 04, 2015
New Year's + California Travel Plans
And here we are in 2015. Another year gone by. I know it's a cliché to say that the years fly by faster when you get older but I think there does have to be some truth to it. Anyway let's hope 2015 is a good one. I have had mixed messages from various friends. Two engagements with weddings planned for 2015, but on the less positive side one of my friends lost relatives in the Air Asia crash which is just so sad. So a mixed bag as they say.
Personally we had a nice New Year's. Work was busy leading up to it as expected. New Year's Eve we had reservations in Bethel at a wine bar where they had a pre-fix 4 course wine tasting dinner with great food and wine. The only drawback was that they decided to do communal seating so we ended up with three other couples at our table. I wasn't really prepared for that and we didn't have much in common with the other people but oh well.
Had the 1st off and went to the movies to see "Big Eyes" and then had a small feast (brie & baguette, shrimp cocktail, pepperjack & crackers, veggies & dip and pigs in a blanket) at home.
Worked on Friday and Saturday. Today we had off and slept in. Then drove up to Massachusetts to check out a restaurant. Papp's Bar and Grill at Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield, MA. Will be heading back soon-ish to watch some TV when we get home.
In different news we booked flights out to California for February (17-24) Will be out there for Mike's birthday and also meeting up with Nicki, our Australian friend who will be there. Really looking forward to it. Our flights are to LAX but planning on spending a night up in Santa Barbara and maybe a day trip to Catalina.
Mail Update. Received a letter from Alexandra/Peru.
Posted by Hanna at 05:37 PM in Food and Drink, Holidays, Travel, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, December 28, 2014
The Breakers - Newport Christmas Spirit
So here is another update to write about today's adventures in Rhode Island. Didn't want to squash it all into one post so here is a second one for everyone to enjoy. :)
Worked Friday 26th and Saturday 27th which means I now have a floating holiday/comp day to enjoy later on. Same goes for this coming week as I will be working Friday and Saturday as well. Not a huge deal since we will get Thursday (Jan. 1st) off.
Saturday we managed to get out in the afternoon and were able to take advantage of the mild weather and were able to check out a rail-to-rail trail close to us before the sun set. The weather has been about the same here as it has been in southern CA which means it's been very mild for us but cold for them.
Today, Sunday, we decided to head to Newport, Rhode Island, to tour The Breakers, a Vanderbilt mansion. Such an opulent place. In today's money it would have cost 175 million dollars to build. And they built it in 2 years. Crazy.
We have been there before but I wanted to see all the holiday decorations which were truly amazing. Was a lot of fun to see everything. It's crazy to imagine people actually lived there and celebrated the holidays there once.
After our visit to the Breakers we headed back towards CT and stopped in Westerly which is right at the Rhode Island/Connecticut border for lunch at the Twisted Vine. Very neat place. Updating from here now and heading back home after finishing our wine. Tomorrow it's back to work and every day craziness.
Mail Update. A letter is going out tomorrow to Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 04:07 PM in Food and Drink, Holidays, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Birthday Weekend - Shelter Island
Hello from Shelter Island. :) Been busy unpacking and spending most of my time after work in the evenings moving boxes around, rearranging, unpacking, decorating and trying to piece everything back together. So this weekend has definitely been a welcome change of pace from all that.
Had a yummy diner breakfast at Elmer's on Friday morning before leaving Danbury. Then headed towards NY and Long Island and out onto the North Fork. It's amazing how quickly the landscape changes out there. One minute you are driving through strip malls, the next you are out amongst vineyards and farms. Pretty neat.
Checked out three vineyards we had never been to before. It's amazing how many vineyards there are out there. Been to quite a few of them but there are still some we haven't seen. Had fun wine tasting and also had a cheese platter at one of the vineyards. When we were done we took the ferry from Greenport over to Shelter Island.
Our B&B only has 5 rooms and is pretty cozy. Found a nice place for dinner and then relaxed in the room for a bit. This morning we slept in which was very nice and then took advantage of the gorgeous fall weather to hike through the Mashomack Preserve which is run by the Nature Conversancy. Hiked for about 6 miles through forests, meadows and marshes. Definitely the perfect day for it.
Now we are back in the room for a bit relaxing before heading out to dinner. Going to take the ferry back over to Greenport as there are more choices over there. If you take the ferry as a passenger without the car it's only $2 so that's not so bad. So that's what we will be doing later. Then tomorrow we will probably sleep in some more before checking out and heading back over to Greenport. Might do some more wine tasting before we leave L.I. and head back to CT.
Then next week it's back to work and back to more unpacking. Need to start looking into buying a washer/dryer, a couch, kitchen table and some other smaller things too. Work's going to start getting busier too with Thanksgiving only a bit over a month away. Don't even want to think about that just yet.
Mail Update: Owe replies to: Charles/TN, Jessica/DE and Carmen/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 03:24 PM in Food and Drink, Nature, Outdoors, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack