Tuesday, August 06, 2019
Hopkins Inn, Hawk Ridge Winery and more
Alright Tuesday morning. A little behind this week it seems. I have been pretty good about writing my weekly posts on either Sunday or lately Monday
but somehow didn't happen this week so here I am, Tuesday morning, instead. Alright, let's see. Well, it's August. I know that's very cliche but it's always a turning point of sorts to me when one month changes to the next. I really don't want to be wishing summer away because there are things I truly do enjoy about the summer. I like being able to sit outside for lunch/dinner, linger outside at wineries or other places, people watch, all relaxed. Being able to go for walks, the pretty scenery, blooming flowers, etc.
What I don't like about summer is the crazy business at work. Plus the crazy heat and humidity. It hasn't been all that bad with the heat and humidity this summer. I mean we have definitely had it but I think it was worse last summer. But we still have most of August to go so who knows. Work has definitely been crazy. I do feel like this summer has been worse than the last 2 I experienced. But who knows. It could just be a combination of different factors as well.
Anyway, last weekend was nice. Saturday we went to Hawk Ridge Winery in Watertown, CT. Completely accidental Google find. They have only been open for about 2 years but seemed really busy when we were there. Beautiful deck and grounds, a full food menu (we didn't eat this time but definitely worth coming back for) and good wine. Hung out for about an hour before moving on to 121 in Oxford for lunch.
Sunday we went to the Hopkins Inn. Pretty much a yearly ritual to go there once every summer. It's always great to have a delicious leisurely lunch sitting outside overlooking the lake. They have an Austrian chef so I always end up getting Schnitzel or something along those lines. We shared escargot for the appetizer and I had the Toblerone Sundae for dessert while Mike got the mint parfait. Plus some Earl Grey tea and we shared a bottle of Gruener Veltliner. All super delicious. It's also pricey so it's a special once a year spot for us. Really amazing though.
Well, now we are back in the work week and just trying to make it through the week. This upcoming weekend we are heading to Boston (for 1 night, Saturday-Sunday) so I am looking forward to that. The one thing I can't really complain about this summer is that even though we haven't taken any real vacations we have been able to sprinkle mini getaways and fun outings in throughout the summer to keep things interesting.
Oh, I probably didn't even mention it yet. But I'll also be going back to Austria at the very end of Sept into early Oct. Just for a week to visit with my parents.
Letter/Mail Update: Owe a reply/received a letter from Lotte/Denmark.
Posted by Hanna at 07:30 AM in Food and Drink, Outdoors, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, October 16, 2017
Fall Weather - warm & cold - up & down
Happy Monday. The weather has been so strange for October. This past weekend it was pretty warm and also weirdly humid. We went for a short walk/hike yesterday and the humidity was really high. So strange for mid October. But then tomorrow morning we are supposed to have a frost warning and only a couple degrees above freezing. But then I think it's supposed to warm up again. So weird.
Had a nice and relaxed weekend all in all. On Saturday we slept in late and then went for lunch at 121 in Oxford. Later met up with our friend John and hung out for a bit longer. And yesterday, Sunday, we went for the walk/hike at Weird Farm (it's a National Historic Site, part of the National Park network) We have been talking about going there for ages and finally did. Looks like they have a few more trails to check out. Might be nice when the humidity is not crazy but hopefully not too cold either. We will see what the rest of the season brings.
In the late afternoon/evening we caught up on some more recorded TV until close to midnight and yeah, now it's Monday again. Nothing much planned for this week besides work. Oh Friday I have an appointment for x-rays for my braces. I am finally going to get started on getting those. We will see how that turns out. I will know more after Friday I suppose. Other than that nothing much else planned for the week.
Well, we will see how it pans out. Have to get through Monday first. :) Been contemplating buying a new bedroom set so that's something on the horizon for the future for the next few weeks. That's the one I have been mainly looking at but there are a few others that are nice too. We will have to measure and figure out how it all would fit. We would probably have to move one of our old dressers upstairs into the attic. The old bedroom furniture is truly old (from Mike's parents) so it's definitely time to upgrade. But it's always nice to have some extra storage space so if we can keep one of the older dressers in the bedroom in addition to the new set I'd prefer to that. I know it won't match but I am always looking for storage space so I'd value that over everything matching. Anyway, just something to ponder. Haven't quite decided what we are doing yet.
Letter/Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a reply to: Eloine/NY and Eunice/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 07:39 AM in Nature, Outdoors, Weather | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, July 17, 2017
Hopkins Inn
And here we are, it's Monday again and I have a week of coverage in front of me. Let's see how it goes. To be fair at least I am covering for a co-worker
I am pretty familiar with/know a lot of the clients she works on etc. Her files are usually very well documented and she goes out of her way to make things smooth. So fingers crossed I will make it through the next week and a half alive. Haha. :)
Let's see what's new. Last week was busy but then all weeks in the summer seem to be busy of course lately. The weather was weirdly unstable pretty much all week. Thunderstorms, massive downpours, humidity. It mostly cleared out Friday into Saturday at least so that was nice. I think we are supposed to have a similiar weather pattern this week. Guess we'll see. So far it seems ok today but I think tomorrow we are supposed to get more rain.
Saturday we went to the movies to see "The Big Sick". Really enjoyed that movie and would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it or hasn't heard of it. It's based on a true story and Kumail Nanjiani does a really great job, as well as the rest of the cast. It's pretty much a romantic comedy but based on true events. To sum it up in one sentence: It is the story of a relationship between a Pakistan-born aspiring comedian and a grad student who falls ill as they get to know each other. Anyway, go see it. :)
Sunday we went up to the Hopkins Inn for our annual dinner. We usually go once during the summer, usually around our American wedding anniversary (July 12). The weather was great and we were able to sit outside on the porch and enjoy some delicious food. Had escargot, mozzarella & ham & arugula for starters, Wiener Schnitzel and Seafood Saute for the mains and Toblerone Sundae and Mint Parfait for dessert. Paired with a delicious bottle of Gruener Veltliner. Definitely a great meal.
Well, now it's Monday morning and I'm getting ready for the day. I actually had some leftover schnitzel and roesti potatoes for breakfast. Yum. :)
Letter/Mail Update: Received letters from/owe replies to: Kimber/Canada and Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 07:17 AM in Austria , Food and Drink, Outdoors | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Vermont Easter Weekend
A little behind with my updating but here's a quick recap from our weekend in Vermont over Easter. :)
Went into work at 7am on Good Friday so I was able to leave at 11am (only 1/2 day for us) Once I was out of work we drove up to Vermont. About a 4 1/2 hour drive. We were slowed down by some construction work so I think it took us about 5 hours but still not too terrible.
Once we made it to Burlington we checked in at our hotel. We had booked a neat boutique hotel in South Burlington (Green Mountain Suites Hotel) Our room had a cozy fireplace and a nice layout overall. After freshening up a bit we went to check out a store called 'Wine and Cheese Traders". Really neat store. Vermont definitely seems to be all about the cheese. Not a bad thing in my eyes. :)
Afterwards we headed into downtown Burlington. Walked around for a bit and ended up having dinner at the Vermont Pub & Brewery. Pretty neat place. Then on Saturday we headed out of the city to go wine tasting. It turned out to be a really nice day even if it didn't start off that way initially. On our way up from CT the day before we had gotten a tire pressure warning in the car. We checked on the tires but they didn't seem to have any real issues. The next day we put some air into the front tire and that made the warning go away (well for a bit anyway) Once we got to the first winery we checked the tire again and by that point it had really gotten low so clearly something was off. At that point it was Saturday mid morning on Easter weekend. We called around and luckily found a tire repair shop some miles away. And by some miracle we managed to limp to that place without getting stranded on the side of the road. They couldn't fix the tire (there was a screw in it) but they had a compatible tire at least. Fixed us up and we were on our way to continue the wine tasting for real this time. Stopped at two wineries and were able to sit outside, enjoy a cheese platter & drink some wine. Very enjoyable way to spend the day.
Once we got back into Burlington we had dinner at Citizen Cider. Neat to be able to taste various ciders while also having yummy food. And well Sunday it was already time to head back. We had breakfast and stopped at the Ben & Jerry's Factory on the way home which was fun. Got to taste some ice cream and break up the drive home a bit. Yesterday, Monday, it was back to work. Lots of Europe had Monday off for Easter Monday so my communication with any European offices was slowed down quite a bit. We will see what today and the rest of the week brings. The weather is very up and down in typical April fashion. Can't complain too much I guess.
Letter/Mail Update:Letters went out yesterday to: Bianca/Germany, Eloine/NY, Nina/WA and Eunice/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 07:39 AM in Food and Drink, Outdoors, Travel, Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, April 10, 2017
More nice weather - finally recovered from the stomach bug
And i
t's Monday again. No idea how the weekend went by that fast but I guess it always happens that way. I am just glad that I am finally feeling better. This stomach bug/virus thing I caught last weekend turned out to be a really nasty little bug. I thought I was feeling somewhat better by Tue/Wed but then it came back with a vengeance and made me feel crappy again for Thursday and Friday. I finally recovered by Saturday so at least got to enjoy the weekend this time around. Really glad that seems to finally be over and done with now - ugh, just horrible.
Well let's see what this week brings. This past weekend we had a vet appointment with Bailey (our newest cat). She's such a little thing. It was her 3 month check-up after her surgery (getting the mammary tumor removed) so they wanted to do blood work to check on a few things. But because she is such a little cat and has very low blood pressure they couldn't get any blood from her paws so they had to sedate her to get some from near her neck. She ended up staying at the vet for a few hours, just to make sure she was doing ok. Should get the blood test results today - fingers crossed everything comes back fine. We shall see.
Another busy week at work ahead. Summer is our really busy season and I am not sure how that will go just yet. I guess we will see. Will just hold on, buckle in and go along for the ride. All I can do really. :) This week on Friday I have a 1/2 day for Good Friday which is nice. We are heading up to Burlington, VT for 2 nights for Fr and Sat so I am looking forward to that. It's not a super long trip but it will be nice to be away for a bit. A change of scenery is always nice.
I guess that's about all the news here from my end for now. Going to get ready and head to work in a few. At least it's a nice sunny day today. I am still waking up and not quite ready to face the day but it being nice and sunny out definitely helps. Last week we had a couple super dreary, cold and rainy days where it was dark all day. That was just super depressing and not motivating whatsoever. Combined with the fact that I wasn't feeling great due to the stomach bug .... yeah ... this is definitely much nicer. I think tomorrow it's supposed to be even warmer. Maybe I'll bring my book and read outside during lunch. :)
Letter/Mail Update: Received letters from/owe a reply to: Bianca/Germany, Eloine/NY, Nina/WA and Eunice/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 07:08 AM in Cats, Outdoors, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, April 03, 2017
Beauty and the Beast, Stomach Bug, some nice weather and more
Finally saw "Beauty and the Beast" last Saturday. We saw it at the 10am showing and the theater was still packed. When we tried to see it on opening weekend it was sold out. So yeah the movie is definitely doing well. I am glad we saw it and I liked it. The weather was pretty crappy on Saturday so it was a good movie day too.
Over the weekend I caught some sort of stomach bug/virus. Really annoying. Ended up with chills and a fever, stomach cramps. running to the bathroom, all that fun stuff. It's slightly better today so that's something at least. I was able to work from home today so that was helpful. Thank god for understanding people at work. :) Also had a check-up follow-up appointment at the dentist today and everything seems to be healing ok. I have a consult for braces scheduled for the 19th so we will see what that brings once it gets there.
Sunday despite fighting my stomach bug I decided that we needed to take advantage of the nicer weather. Just been going stir crazy so it was nice to get out and go for a walk. Probably walked for a bit over 4 miles checking out the Still River Greenway Trail. Nice to find another paved trail that's good for rainy/muddy spring weather where everything else is difficult to manage.
Other than that not too much has been going on. Work's been busy but I know it's only the beginning as our busy season is the summer so I am sure I haven't even begun to see the real craziness yet. I guess will get there soon enough. :)
Oh in fun news. I booked my flights to Europe for September. Heading to Croatia to meet my parents there on their vacation and then spending a few days in Austria before flying back to the US. By the time September rolls around it will have been a year and a half since I last went to Europe. Crazy how time flies.
Well, going to rest and read some more before calling it a night. Been trying to rest up in an effort to rid myself of this stomach bug. Our little cat Bailey also has some sort of bug (unrelated I assume but I understand how she feels) She was puking yesterday. She's over that today and seems happier but just lethargic. Hopefully she's back to her old self tomorrow. If not we will need to call the vet to get her looked at but hopefully she bounces back ok.
Letter/Mail Update: Received letters from/owe a reply to: Bianca/Germany, Eloine/NY, Nina/WA and Eunice/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 07:06 PM in Cats, Outdoors | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, November 06, 2016
Autumn Weekend
Had a nice lunch on Tuesday in Montreal before heading back south. Spent the rest of the week catching up with some errands and various other things since I start my new job tomorrow. Can you believe it? Time really has flown. It feels like all the applying, interviewing and searching took forever but in a way it also feels like just yesterday when I still worked at my old job.Where did the last 4 months go? Crazy.
I am excited to embark on this new adventure but also a little nervous. It's been such a long time since I started a new job. 14 years. But it's definitely neat to be doing something new, learning new things, meeting new people. Send me positive vibes for my first day tomorrow. :) I will update once I have a few days under my belt, latest by the end of the week.
Yesterday, Saturday, we took advantage of a relatively nice fall day and went for a 5 mile walk. It's one of the places we regularly go to during all seasons as it's a paved trail (border of Cheshire and Meriden, CT) so it's fine most of the year. The only time you really can't go is after it's snowed a lot as they don't clear the trail. But once the snow has melted some it's usually fine and even rather pretty walking by the frozen lake etc. So we had a nice walk followed by a yummy lunch at Flipside in Fairfield.
Today the weather is sunny but cooler and windy so I am glad that we went for our walk yesterday. Today we went for a yummy diner breakfast at Elmer's followed by a stop at the liquor store for some wine and the grocery store for cheese & crackers. Going to relax, hang out on the couch, catching up on our recorded TiVo stuff, snacking on cheese and crackers, tea and wine. Should be a nice relaxed afternoon/evening.
Then tomorrow it's off to work. I start at 9 tomorrow. Will find out my permanent hours when I go tomorrow. But I do know that I am only going to be working Monday to Friday which will be nice. At my old job I worked a lot of Saturdays which wasn't the end of the world but it will definitely be nice to have a regular Monday to Friday job. Well I will update more as the week goes on.
Letter/Mail Update: Letters went out on Wednesday to: Carmen/Malta, Celia/MA and Nina/WA. Received a letter/owe a reply to: Eloine/NY.
Posted by Hanna at 02:02 PM in Food and Drink, Outdoors, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Gorgeous Fall Day, Job News and more
Took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a fall foliage drive (we went on loop #4 if you want to check it out here) on Tuesday. The weather honestly couldn't have been more perfect. Brisk blue skies that highlighted the beautiful colors of the leaves. We are definitely at peak or even a bit past peak here now. The leaves were raining down from lots of trees while we were driving creating super pretty scenes. I love fall/autumn, just wish it would last longer.
Now on to the news from the job search. It's truly been a bit of a roller coaster ride. Monday night I received a message telling me that I didn't get the job and they picked someone else. Tuesday morning I received another message letting me know that there was a new development. Wednesday I was able to speak to someone and learned that I was their second choice candidate and that a second position had also opened up. So now they are running background and reference checks (criminal, verifying my degree in Austria etc) and once all that comes back I will hopefully be receiving an offer. So everyone, please keep your fingers crossed just a little while longer. :) This process could take another 2 weeks, depending how long it takes for them to verify everything, speak to my references etc. So more waiting in my future it seems.
Other than that not too much going on. Yesterday, Wednesday, our friends John and Jana came over to our apartment and we watched the third presidential debate together. Always fun to hang out with friends even though the debate itself was a crazy mess of course. I can't wait for the election to be over but am also still a bit concerned. We will see how it goes. That will be another crazy night in front of the TV. Since I am still an Austrian citizen I can't vote so I will have to rely on everyone else in this country to do the right thing.
Today I am just catching up on a few things and drinking tea. On Sunday we have Broadway tickets to see "The Great Comet of 1812". We splurged and got stage tickets. I am really excited to go as the seating and layout just seems super unique and fun. Also going for dinner at Osteria al Doge afterwards. Yum. Can't wait. :)
Letter/Mail Update: All caught up with my mail at the moment. :)
Posted by Hanna at 01:09 PM in Current Affairs, Food and Drink, NYC, Outdoors | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, October 17, 2016
Weekend Update
And it's already Monday again. I am still waiting to hear from that company about the job. They said they would be in touch by the end of today so we will see. I have been distracting myself with cleaning, catching up on a few episodes of shows online and browsing all the other job ads I get emailed each day. Saved a few things to go back to and look at after. At the moment my mind is just all over the place. Hopefully something will happen sooner than later so I can figure out what to do next.
The weekend was fun and did pass by pretty quickly. We went to see the movie "The Accountant" which was a lot of fun. On Saturday we took the train down to the city as we had tickets to see the band Chvrches at Radio City Musical Hall. Before the show we went to a neat bar called Draught 55. Really good food and a huge selection of drinks. Hung out there for a while before heading to Radio City for the show. Chvrches was really great and we both really enjoyed the concert. Took the train home after and ended up being home around 1.30am. If you're interested to hear a clip from the show you can check it out here.
Sunday morning we headed to Wurtsburo airport for Mike's glider ride (Christmas present from last year) The weather cooperated and everything went well. Afterwards we stopped in Newburgh and had lunch at the Hurricane Grill there. I think that was the first time we went back to that location since we stopped working in Newburgh. Had a nice lunch and later on met up with our friend John for a bit before heading home and catching up on a bunch of shows on TiVo.
The weather has turned from fall weather back to summer weather for a few days. Tomorrow we are going to take advantage of the nice weather and go for a fall foliage drive around CT. Should be nice. Might as well take advantage of the fact that the weather's nice mid week and we aren't stuck inside an office, right? :)
Well, hopefully I will have more job news during my next post. I am really crossing my fingers for this job. But I suppose what will be will be and if this isn't meant to be then something else will come along. But fingers crossed for now.
Letter/Mail Update: All caught up with my mail at the moment. :)
Posted by Hanna at 02:46 PM in Food and Drink, NYC, Outdoors, Performances | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, October 09, 2016
Ikea/new couch, hiking and Broadway
Ugh. What a miserable, chilly, rainy day. Had originally talked about going to the CT Garlic and Harvest Festival b ut this weather is really not the kind of weather you want for that. Don't want to be walking around in the rain, getting drenched, chilled to the bone. So instead we went to the movies to see "The Girl on the Train". I liked the Don't and thought they did a decent job converting it from the book, even though it's of course not the same.
Yesterday we went to the city to see "Something Rotten" on Broadway. Such a fun show. It was really amusing and well done. Our seats were in row A in the balcony so we had great views. Afterwards we went to Chevy's for dinner and then headed back home.
The weather wasn't too great yesterday either. But it was really nice Wednesday through Friday so we took advantage of that and went on a hike. And on Friday I was able to meet up with my friend Falguni in Scarsdale. Was nice to catch up and hang out for a bit.
And on Tuesday we rented a pick-up truck from U-Haul and went to IKEA to pick out our couch. Had fun checking out all the various options and found one we liked. Brought it home and decided to unpack it in the driveway cause the box weighed 130lb. Then assembled it and now we have a new couch. Yay. :)
So that's all the news at the moment. Still waiting to hear on news from the job. Hopefully next week. Fingers crossed.
Letter/Mail Update: Letters went out on Friday to: Lotte/Denmark, Laura/Spain and Jessica/DE.
Posted by Hanna at 04:40 PM in Home Improvement, Nature, NYC, Outdoors | Permalink | Comments (0)