The past few weeks/weekends have been quite busy for Adam and I due to work, planning for the wedding and our impending move to Park Slope – it wasn’t really an ideal weekend for traveling to Penn State but since we already bought the tickets, it would be wasteful not to go! To begin with, Adam had a crisis going on at work and we left Manhattan quite late and then we got home and tried to have some semblance of a dinner while Adam continued to work. I then suggested to him that we might as well buy a MiFi (I admit, it’s because I’ve been lusting for one since I heard those existed) so he could work through the evening in the car while I drove. The MiFi is pretty cool, you can buy it at full cost without a contract for $150 and then pay $40 a month for unlimited service. It worked pretty well along Route 80 going through Pennsylvania but there were obviously some pretty big gaping holes in service in a few areas. Unfortunately, our car isn’t outfitted with an AC power converter and he failed to charge his laptop before getting in the car so he only got to do some real work for a few hours of the trip. This meant I did most of the driving and he stayed up until 6am that morning working on bug fixes once we got to State College.

We left Long Island around 10pm Friday and only made it to State College around 3am which meant we missed the free pizza and booze with my dad and his college friends. I went right to bed and, as I mentioned earlier, Adam stayed up to work and then we woke around 10am to try and navigate ourselves to Beaver Stadium for the game while still half asleep. I have to mention that I do not miss living in a dorm at all. We were very lucky to have the opportunity to stay with Jennifer’s boyfriend, Hitesh, who lives on campus because our alternative was sleeping in the RV my dad’s friends rented for the weekend. Both meant uncomfortable sleeping situations and questionable restroom facilities, but at least there was enough room to move around in the apartment.

The game was a huge disappointment and the Nittany Lions lost to Illinois but we still sat there in the boiling sun until the conclusion of the game. The Blue Band, as always, was enjoyable, but I think I was experiencing mild heatstroke because I can’t really remember what they played and only that I took a few snap-shots for Jennifer’s scrapbook of the weekend. Afterwards, my dad did his traditional tailgate, albeit on the smaller side, and we attempted to play an awful game of ring toss interrupted by a few curses and the occasional “I hate this stupid game! Why are we playing this again?” We also visited Hitesh’s tailgate and munched on paneer and chicken marinated in yogurt sauce. We were also treated to the drunken antics of his tailgate neighbors who also reminded me why I chose not to live in Pennsylvania anymore.

We wrapped up the night hanging out with the “Hedgehogs” at the RV made up of my dad’s friends from college. Please don’t ask me where that name comes from because I don’t know, and I’m quite certain they don’t remember either. They held their yearly homecoming meeting, inducted new members into the sacred order of the hedgehog and I think I was assigned the task of creating a web site for everyone and coming up with members only t-shirts. Sunday morning we hopped on over to the RV again for brunch and said our good-byes before heading off back north (but not before we stopped at a RadioShack and purchased an AC converter which promptly blew out our car’s cigarette lighter’s fuse whenever Adam attempted to charge his MacBook!)

It was nice to see everyone but I think I would have also enjoyed staying home instead of spending the time driving just because of everything that’s going on. I know we’ll be attempting to recoup our lost sleeping hours this week!

Family at Brazilian BBQ

Last week we got back from a five day trip down to Aruba to relax and, more importantly, scout out possible wedding sites! When I say “we” I mean me, Adam, my sister Jennifer, my mother, and Adam’s mom and dad. It was a whole family affair! After all the walking around and scouting, at the end of the week I swore that if my dad had come along on this trip too I would have seriously been tempted to just elope right then and there!

We stayed at the Occidental that is an all-inclusive hotel. That gave us all our meals for free as well as access to a bunch of water sports. We were able to finally get some kayaking that I’ve been dying to do since I first did it on a river up in New Hampshire a few years ago on a camping trip the first summer I met Adam. He wasn’t able to do it with me that time because his Grandfather passed away right before we were scheduled to make the trip, so it was really nice to finally be able to kayak with him.

Jennifer also snagged us a couple hours of dedicated boat time Sunday morning at 9am which had to have been the most perfect time to do it. It was still quite cool before the sun began to soak the beach and because it was Sunday morning, the boats and water skiers weren’t in the port yet to cause wakes.

Adam, me and Jennifer on the boat

We rode on the boat from Palm Beach to the light house and passed the bed and breakfast we stayed at last February. I definitely prefer the calmer, non-touristy side of the island. The beach sand isn’t as “nice” and curated but I think that is what makes it special.

After breakfast, Adam and I ran away and rented a Jeep for a day to off-road to visit some of the places on the island that we missed the last time we were in Aruba. Our main objectives were the Natural Bridge (or what’s left of it,) the Arikok National Park, and Baby Beach. It would have been nice to go to the Natural Pools but you would have had to really go off road in that part of the park and our vehicle wasn’t up to the challenge.

We spent most of the afternoon going down to the Natural Bridge and snapping pictures too close to the edge of the cliffs. We then took the Jeep to maximum potential and rode around off-road to visit a few places in the park. One of them was a beach with a deadly rip-tide. We got our feet wet and were entranced by the almost translucent crabs that were desperately trying to shovel sand out of their hole-homes. (Very cute by the way!)

We stopped by the caverns just before exiting the park and were able to walk all the way in due to the holes open to the outside to let sunlight in. It was deathly stuffy in there due to no air flow which had been keeping me relatively comfortable while walking around outside in the blazing sun.

To finish off the trip, we managed to twist around and find our way down to Baby Beach. The thing about Baby Beach is that it is incredibly still, and has an extremely gradual slope so you are able to walk all the way out to the edge of the cove and still have your head  above water. It was here were we took our second try at snorkeling. Last year I had a less than desirable experience snorkeling at the bed and breakfast due to the abnormally harsh waves and I basically froze and had a panic attack in the water thinking I was going to drown. Adam had to physically drag me back to shore. Suffice it to say, I was quite anxious about trying to snorkel again!

I’m very glad to report that I was able to get over my phobia of snorkeling and enjoy the colorful aquatic life that swam under the currents. I took it bit by bit and was able to putter around under the water without freaking out and impressed Adam when I was able to catch up with him after telling him to go ahead and enjoy without me while I went at my own pace.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wading in the water and decided that we should head back because our mothers were probably having fits wondering where on the island we were. On our ride back we enjoyed taking the top off the Jeep, listened to some local dance radio, and watched the sun slowly creep towards the horizon.

Adam and me at what's left of the natural bridge

Of course our main assignment was to find out where we wanted our wedding to take place. During the day we visited the different hotels along the coast at the high rise hotels and met with the wedding planners and directors to get more information on what they offer. We narrowed it down to the Marriot, Hyatt and Westin. On Saturday and Sunday evenings, my mom and me or Adam’s mom and me scouted the beaches to watch people get married and to check out how their receptions looked. I was pretty set on going with the Marriot until my mom and I caught a ceremony and saw that they had placed the ceremony right next to the water sports equipment hut. Now, maybe it’s just me, but that would be a pretty ridiculous and ugly photo backdrop. We also took note of the beach traffic from onlookers since Aruba’s beaches are all public and the noise from nearby restaurants. After taking everything into consideration, I definitely think the Westin is the way to go. We even had a chance to talk to the mother-of-the-bride the day of her daughter’s wedding and got the low-down on their take on the whole ordeal.

Now I must do the hard part and try to figure out what exactly I want at our wedding. The wedding planner gave me a check list to fill out of my “wishes” but I can’t even begin to think what it is I want! I was never a girl who dreamed from a young age about my wedding and planned everything down to the tiniest detail. I think I would be happy if someone else just decided it for me and just made it classy and to our personalities after talking to us for a bit.

I better figure out soon, otherwise I’m going to keep getting nagged by the respective families and settle on the final date!

Can't you tell we're sisters?

My sister Jennifer graduated from college in the spring and recently moved to Philadelphia for her new job post-graduation. She lives about 2- 2.5 hours away from my place so we have been talking about how easy it should be for us to visit each other every few weekends. Since her apartment doesn’t allow dogs and she’s still trying to unpack, I suggested that she visit me first so I didn’t have to make special arrangements for Isabella.

I had plans to hang out with some of my Westchester Geeks Friday night and see District 9 (which was great by the way) and she timed it to coincide with us just getting out of the movie. Poor Jenn. The trip wasn’t long, but if you knew her you’d understand. I doubt if she’ll ever drive up again to visit because she now absolutely despises paying tolls and using the George Washington Bridge.

Traffic and car trips aside, Adam came along and over the weekend we decided to take a trip to the Bronx Zoo and get some beach time in. On Saturday we all managed to sleep in to a relaxing hour and then organized ourselves to get down to the Bronx Zoo which is only about a 20 minute ride away. Luckily, this weekend was in rare form and it was quite sunny and warm!

Tiger working through enrichment activities.

Last time I went to the Bronx Zoo was with Adam and it was either soon to be winter, winter, or just getting out of winter and there was very little to see except for the big Siberian Tiger which I had re-learned is a winter-loving animal and thus most active in the winter. Luckily for us he decided to come down that afternoon to do enrichment activities with the trainers at the sanctuary.

We also got a chance to see some swimming puffins and bee-catcher birds who could catch insects on the wing. They did a demonstration for us at the zoo but because they had been overfeeding the birds since little hatchlings needed every opportunity to be fed, the birds weren’t dive bombing as much today.

After a long walk the park was closing and I suggested to take Jenn to my favorite Korean BBQ restaurant in New York City for dinner. We managed to find “cheap” parking and had a nice dinner cooked in front of us on the burner (the first time Jenn had a chance to do it.)

On Saturday, Adam had to wake up early for his Rescue hours on Long Island so he stole my car and sped off. Jenn and I took our time and slept in until almost noon! We then got our stuff together and drove down to Long Island for some beach therapy. It was a nice afternoon/early evening and managed to nap some more while sun bathing. We finished the day with some pizza and I sent her back, begrudgingly, towards the GWB and on her way home.