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Sunday, July 31, 2016

Summer Hikes

IMG_20160730_133244Finally the weather has cooled down a bit after a whole week of 90+ degree F (33C) temps. It's dreary outside today, cloudy with the occasional rain shower passing through. But I am totally fine with that. It's a nice break from the crazy heat and sun. Nothing against nice summer weather but when it's so hot and sometimes humid on top of it ... yeah no, that's not my kind of weather. Honestly I would be happy with year round mid 70ies F (23C), a nice breeze, no humidity, that's my perfect weather. :) 

Well enough complaining. Yesterday, while humid, was still a pretty nice day especially the first part of the day. So we took advantage of it and went to Ossining, NY (about 35 min drive from us) to check out a place called Teatown Lake Reservation. A bunch of neat trails. We only did the Lakeside Trail which as the name suggests circles a lake. About 1.5 miles so not super long but it was really nice with lots of pretty views. There are plenty of other trails we will need to check out when it's less hot and humid. I bet it would be super pretty there in the fall as well. Always excited to find new places. 

After our hike/walk we went for lunch at a restaurant nearby called "The Boathouse". It was right near the Hudson and we were able to sit outside in the shade overlooking the river/boats. Had a delicious avocado and crabmeat salad. Yum. Glad to have found a new restaurant that's close to some nice hiking trails. Perfect combo. :) 

Today we are going to stay indoors and head to the movies to see the new Bourne film. Looking forward to that. Afterwards we will probably go to lunch somewhere. Should be a relaxed day all in all. 

Tomorrow I have my unemployment hearing over the phone at 10.15 am. It's mostly a formality since I was laid off (they have some questions in regards to the vacation pay that was paid out to me etc) So I will need to deal with that tomorrow. Other than that nothing planned for the rest of the week as of yet. Will try and get some more reading in. Applied for a neat sounding job close to home and hoping that I might hear back from them as well. Fingers crossed.  

Letter/Mail Update: A letter went out to Celia/MA on Thursday. 

Posted by Hanna at 10:54 AM in Film, Food and Drink, Nature, Outdoors | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Broadway NYC Weekend

IMG_20160723_162703Ugh it is still hot. A little less humid today than yesterday but still in the 90ies F (35C). I know it's summer but ugh.

Had a nice weekend nonetheless. Yesterday, Saturday, we had tickets to see "An Act of God" on Broadway. Took the train into NYC and walked from Grand Central to Times Square. Had a drink at a pub before heading to the theater. The show was really good and a lot of fun. Sean Hayes did really well. 

After the show we went to dinner at Osteria al Dodge. We've been going there for 16 years and it's always great to be back. Super yummy food and just a great place considering it's right in midtown and tourist central. Had lasagna which is my go to dish there (honestly BEST lasagna EVER!!!) and Mike got the spinach ravioli with a butter sage sauce, his favorite there. Yum. 

After dinner we walked back to Grand Central and took the train back and met up with a few friends locally at Two Steps in Danbury. 

Today we went to the movies to see "The Secret Life of Pets" which was pretty funny and adorable. They did well with the personalities of the various animals. 

Letter/Mail Update: No outstanding mail at the moment :)

Posted by Hanna at 03:19 PM in Food and Drink, NYC, Performances | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday, July 22, 2016

Sadie & ugh this heat

IMG_20160719_185156Been meaning to make a quick update but the days are just getting away from me. Not even sure why exactly. :) 

Tuesday we had a vet appointment with our cat Sadie. She was doing fine for the most part, eating, playing, acting as she normally does but she was having this weird cough on and off. I wasn't sure what was causing it so after about a week and a half of her doing that I decided that we should take her to the vet to get things checked out.

Sadie is a sweetheart but to say that she's neurotic on a good day is an understatement so you can only imagine that the trip to the vet was not any fun. I lucked out getting her into the carrier as she was sleepy so I was able to grab her relatively easy. Once she realized that she was trapped she was NOT happy though. She normally doesn't talk/meow very much or very loudly but oh my god the volume she developed was ear piercing. She was bouncing around in the carrier like a tasmanian devil trying to get out. I felt really bad. 

Well to make a long story short, we got her to the vet, they checked her out, took x-rays and determined that she had a bit of a respiratory infection so they gave her a shot of antibiotics. She also has mild asthma so they gave her a steroid shot that's long-lasting so she should be ok for some time. If she starts coughing again then we will take her back to the vet and she will get another shot but hopefully that won't be needed for at least a few months.  

In other news ... ugh it's so freaking hot. The weather was pretty decent and actually really nice on Tuesday and Wednesday. But yesterday it started getting really hot again. Today it's hot and humid and tomorrow is supposed to be even worse. 

We have tickets to see "An Act of God" on Broadway tomorrow. Looking forward to it but not looking forward to being in the city when it's that hot and disgusting out. At least we won't be outside very much, just walking in between Grand Central, the theater and the restaurant for dinner afterwards. So all in all it should be fun of course. :) 

Letter/Mail Update: No outstanding mail at the moment :)

Posted by Hanna at 02:42 PM in Cats, NYC, Performances, Weather | Permalink | Comments (0)

Monday, July 18, 2016

Hot weather, new TV & trip planning

And herePixlr we are, week one of being at home is done and over with. Spent a good amount of time playing around with my resume, looking at various job openings and reading up on things on different job search websites. There are so many websites out there geared towards job search. Mainly trying to figure out exactly what sort of job I am looking for versus what is out there in openings. 

Besides that I did some things around the apartment, cleaned and vacuumed and straightened out a few things. It doesn't help that it's so freaking hot. Ugh. Went for a walk most mornings except Friday when it was just too hot. Didn't go today either because it was already in the 80ies at 9am. It's supposed to be better tomorrow so I will make sure to go for my walk tomorrow. 

Also been catching up on my reading. Finished "Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and now am already halfway through "The Ashford Affair" by Lauren Willig. Have another Agatha Christie book to read when I am done. Yay for free library books. And the library is also within walking distance of where we live so that's convenient.

In other fun news we took advantage of the Amazon Prime Day deals last week and bought a new TV. The one we had was small and we had talked about replacing it for a while but just never did. Glad we waited because we ended up getting an awesome deal. Only $299 for a 43-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV. So cool. We used to have a big screen TV but it was a projection TV and really heavy so when we moved from the house to the apartment a year and a half ago we decided to leave it behind and ended up using the smaller TV we had in the bedroom as our main TV. Nice to have a big TV again. :) 

And in more fun news, we booked a one-week vacation to the Northwest for early August. We decided it would be nice to go on a trip because who knows when we will be able to take a real vacation again once we find and start new jobs. So it will be nice to get away for a week. Flying to Seattle and spending 3 nights there, then 2 nights in Portland/Oregon and another 2 nights along the Oregon coast. Really looking forward to it!

Had a nice weekend despite the heat and enjoyed some time on the patio at Rosy Tomorrow's and The Foundry. Delicious seafood fest at Rosy's and yummy deviled eggs at the Foundry as a snack, with some nice Gruener Veltliner wine. Relaxing Sunday. 

Letter/Mail Update: Mailed a letter on Thursday to: Emilia/Finland. 

Posted by Hanna at 11:10 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Work News and other stuff

PixlrIt'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

20160704_084131Happy 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)