Hope's Way is gone...

On Thursday, January 28, 2010, Hope's Way, a local restaurant, cafe, and caterer, closed their doors for the last time.  They had been in Ithaca for 16 years and had made a nice name for themselves.  I had attended many lunches that they catered and had been to their restaurant/cafe inside of Triphammer Mall a couple times.  Every time I went I was always very impressed with the fruit/vegetable decorations they had on each tray of their salads.  They had amazing creations in the shapes of different animals or funny looking people using just different kinds of fruits and vegetables and a little creative cutting and carving.  It was amazing! 
I was surprised to learn of their closing just the day before it happened.  Spontaneously, a group of friends and I decided to visit Hope's Way one last time before they closed and enjoy a final meal and dessert there.  Here are the pictures from that event. :)

Nashville, Tennessee

This past weekend I went to Nashville, TN to meet up with my parents there. My dad had a conference in a town nearby and he and my mom arrived a little early. Since they were practically to where I live and the flight was cheap, I decided to meet them halfway. It was especially nice since it was Mother's Day weekend. I was able to make breakfast in bed for my mom and be there in person for the day.

While there, we went to this restaurant called the Aquarium. They have this really cool 10 foot tall aquarium right in the middle of the restaurant. It is really big and it has all kinds of really big fish, sharks, moray eels and manta rays in the tank. While we were there, someone went scuba diving in the tank to feed all of the fish. It was pretty amazing to watch. The food was pretty good too, but the fish were captivating. There was a particularly interesting looking fish called a Shovel-nosed Guitar Fish. It looked like a cross between a manta ray and a shark.

Next door to the restaurant they also had this little area where they had a few more creatures on display like poison dart frogs and different lizards. Best of all, though, was a shallow pool containing several manta rays that you can pet or feed. Some of them were really big. There were two ways to feed them. You could stick your hand under the water with a shrimp stuck between your fingers and your hand in a loose fish. You would hold your hand near the wall and a manta ray would soon sweep over your hand and suck the shrimp right out of your hand. The time that I did it, it felt kind of like a suction cup on my hand. It is pretty scary to do it that way though, because some of those guys are really big and it is a little unnerving when they come swooping down on your hand. The other way that they often get fed is by people kind of holding the shrimp right there on the edge of the pool. The rays have learned that people do this and so they have learned to jump out of the water to get the food. They have to since their mouths are on the bottom of their bodies and not near the edge. It was amazing to watch some of the really big rays hoist themselves 6-7 inches out of the water in a big splash of water just to get a shrimp hanging off the edge of the pool. It was so crazy. They usually hung out for a minute there on the side while they were chewing or digesting or whatever so that you had a good opportunity to pet them between the eyes. They feel soft and a little bit slimy, but it's pretty cool.

One of the other great adventures that we had while in Nashville was going to the Grand Ole Opry. This was actually one of the items on my list of approximately 50 Things I Want to Do in Life. So I was pretty excited about it. I was also excited because there were two performers that were going to be there that I like pretty well: Darryl Worley and Reba McEntyre. They both did an excellent job - and actually, all of them did. I really enjoyed the entire show, even the ones that I had never heard of before. They were all really good and it was definitely a good value for our money. Darryl Worley sang a new song of his that I really enjoyed called "Sounds Like Life to Me" as well as the hit that first made him famous, "I Miss My Friend." Reba sang four songs including her new single, "Strange," and "And Still" which comes from her show as well as another from her show and another one that I don't remember the name of. She's a good stage performer as well as singer though. There was also this gospel barbershop-type group that was really good called Ernie Haas & Signature Sound. They were really good and their final number, an a capella number, received a standing ovation from some people in the crowd. I was really glad that I got to go and I was thoroughly pleased with the entire concert. I was very impressed with the Opry and would love to go again.

On of the other adventures that we had in Nashville was that we went to a place called the Hermitage. It was the home of General Andrew Jackson, war hero of the War of 1812 and two term President of the United States of America. It is one of the best preserved presidential homes. I really liked going there because I enjoy learning about history, especially when you can see where it happened and what shaped it. I liked it because we learned a lot about what it was to live life during that time, both as a land owner and as a slave. It is also interesting to see how different facts are represented and what things are emphasized or demphasized. I also liked it a lot because Andrew Jackson was one of the people that we spent a little more time studying when I took either Block or AP History. The book The Age of Jackson was one of the extra books we had assigned that I actually read instead of just skimming. Anyway, I really enjoyed seeing it and I'm glad that they were able to preserve it so well.

I had a lot of fun seeing my parents and I am glad that I was able to spend some time with them as we explored parts of Nashville together.

Halloween Fun 2008

My friend Michele had a Halloween party on Halloween this year. It was a lot of fun! Friends from all over came. I got a picture of each of them in their respective costumes (I insisted), as well as some group shots of everyone and situational poses - and some candid pics too. I am posting some of my favorites here.

I was a bird this year for Halloween. Also, I made the mask myself with a basic mask mold, lots of feathers, and hot glue. It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself (and I do!).

Note the orange stockings. Pretty good, huh?

So what do you think? Could we be the next Birds of Prey? I think we look ready for the job!

(For more details on Birds of Prey, see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312098/)

The whole group:

Winners of each of the three rounds of donut-eating contests.

Winners of the Trick-or-Can competition with a total of 91 cans in an hour!

Road kill - get it? Road kill? Oh, never mind. (Notice my tongue sticking out.)

My Apartment Pics

Okay, so I have been planning to post some pictures of my apartment on my blog for some time now. I actually took these pictures a few months ago, but my apartment is still basically the same. One really funny thing is that each time a new person comes to my apartment for the first time is that they always say a variation on the same thing, "Wow, this looks like a real apartment." - or a grown up apartment or adult or some such thing. The thing is, I felt ready for a real apartment. It was the first time that I had the opportunity to furnish an apartment myself and decorate it how I wanted. It was completely up to me since I didn't have a roommate at first, and then even when she moved in, she generally didn't mind what I did with it. So... here it is. I hope you enjoy. At least in the living room (which are really the only pictures in here), the colors are black, tan, and green with iron wrought accents.

I'm particularly proud of how this one turned out. I love the table and I think the effect of the candles and Family Proclamation is very nice.

I really like how the windows turned out too. I wanted to hang these curtains because we have so many windows and it gets cold and doesn't help with the utilities bill. It turned out lovely with the window scarf. I really, really like how it turned out.

These are the window open so you can let light in.

These are the windows closed to keep the warmth in on those cold winter nights. Who knew that black, tan, and green went together so well?

Bookcases and the picture in between of the Sacred Grove, right above the TV - used exclusively for movies and the Wii, of course.

Dining room area. There are actually curtains on these windows now too - black with a green scarf identical to the one on the curtains (shown above).

Field of Stars

Last night I went to a little creek and wooded area right by my apartment. There I saw one of the prettiest sights and I had been waiting nearly my whole life to see it. It looked like the stars had touched down close to earth and we're excitedly telling their friends about the adventure by blinking on and off. I had always wanted to see fireflies and for the first time I saw them - a whole bunch of them. They are Mother Nature's fireworks show. In fact, they really do kind of look like my favorite type of firework, the ones that are really sparkly and leave a shower of twinkling glitter behind. As I stood in the middle of the field and watched the sparkles lining the creek and the edge of the woods, I saw a little blinking light slowly pass right in front of me. The fireflies are these little beetle type of bugs and they make their abdomens glow. Ashley had told me the technical term for it - some kind of enzyme - but I don't remember right now. I do know that it was beautiful! It was one of the things that I was hoping to see during my time out on the East Coast!

The Joys of Petsitting

So last week from March 2-8, I had an interesting experience. It was my first time petsitting ever. I also happened to watch the house, but the pets were the big deal. I took care of three big Pyreneese dogs. Think husky type dog, but white and much, much bigger. They are really cute and really friendly, but also very adventurous. They liked to explore, but when they would run to the other side of the creek and wouldn't return when I called - they really tried my patience! I had to walk or drive clear around to the other side and park by the side of the road and try to catch them before they molested some neighbor's dog or cat and before they got hit walking in the middle of the road. Thankfully, someone usually stopped to help me catch them. Three big dogs are quite a handful, especially if they have a mind of their own. But they were very cute and very friendly.

My other aspect of the adventure is that I discovered on my first day into the week-long job that I appear to be allergic to the dogs. So every time that I touched the dogs I had to wash my hands. I washed my hands so many times that week! It was pretty rough on my hands too. I have excema on the palms of my hands and that much soap and water was overkill for them. They were peeling a lot by the end of the week. I was so relieved when the week was over!

I also watched 50-60 peacocks and 20-30 chickens. They had enough food in their boxes that I didn't have to worry about that, but I did need to water them every day. Some days, the water dishes that weren't heated would freeze over. I had to break the ice out of those, scoop out the chunks of ice, and then pour in more water. The chickens were really cute. There were Mini Bantams and they were cute because they were small adult chickens. They also laid eggs that I gathered everyday. The other chickens were big (regular size) and fluffy. They also had feathers all the way down their legs and even covering their feet. That was pretty cute too. They also came in the most beautiful colors: Black feathers with the tips edged in gray, Brown with similar gold trimming and others.

But the peacocks... they were beautiful. I only saw them open their tails a few separate times when I took the time to stand and watch them for a bit. It is amazing, especially the ones with really long tails. He has all varieties of peacocks as well. He has several of the normal blue-green variety and a few with extremely long tails. He also has some that are all white, or white with a few grey or black spots. One of my favorite white ones had a long tail and a few black feathers that were well placed so as to be striking, not odd. There were also peacocks that were mostly brown. There were two different kinds of brown peacocks: both a dark, striped brown and a light brown mixed with white. The most interesting ones were the ones that were crosses between the white peacocks and the blue-green ones. They were generally white all over, but on their necks and other places, they had patches of the blue-green coloring. It was different, but striking and interesting to look at because of the contrast.

In Spanish, the name for peacocks literally means royal turkey. As I have had the chance to examine them more closely, I can see the similarity to turkeys, but they are much more beautiful. I secretly hoped that a peacock would drop a long tail feather while I was there and that I would get to keep it. No such luck, but that is okay. I enjoyed them while they were mine anyway.

The most adventurous day was on Wednesday when I finished the morning chores and headed out down the driveway to go to my morning class. I didn't get very far before I discovered that the driveway was blocked by a ... very large branch?... no, two small trees! I tried to pull or push or move them out of the way to no avail. I was able to untangle them and get the smallest tree out of the way. Its trunk had merely bent while the other one had snapped but not completely broken. Even though I am not a wimp by any means, I was not able to budge that tree. I couldn't believe it because I only consisted of three larger branches and a lot of smaller ones. Luckily, I had the number of the guy who plowed the driveway and I called him asking for help. He couldn't come until much later that day because he was working. So I contented myself to missing class and I spent the day doing laundry instead. To top off the day, two of the three dogs ran away later that day when I let them out of their pen to go pee and to play for a little while. It ended up being the hardest day of chasing dogs for me. I got plenty of exercise while I was there and I had no problem sleeping because I was so exhausted every night. I also got up at a reasonable time every morning since I had to take the dogs out to go pee and water the peacocks and chickens.

I wish I had taken pictures while I was there so that I could have some to post, but I kept forgetting my camera. I apparently did a good job last time because the guy wants me to petsit again the next time he needs someone. I will wait until then to break it to him that I discovered that I am allergic to his dogs and would really rather not. I also discovered that I really like my comfortable be and my comfortable apartment and that is why I made them that way - because I like to be comfortable. It is like living from your suitcase on vacation or even visiting home (like your parents' house) when you are staying at someone else's place for a week. Not entirely uncomfortable, but not entirely comfortable either.

So that is my long spiel on my first (and possibly last) petsitting experience. I'll let you know if I am ever brave enough to try again in a less demanding situation.

International Year of the Potato

Okay, so I know I have a lot to catch up on, but I found this video on a friend's blog and I had to post it here to share with everyone because it was just too randomly cool!
Please enjoy!