Yard Tour

Just thought I'd take you for a quick tour around the yard. Can you believe the grass (and weeds) are so green?

Nearly a foot of growth on this fig tree since it was planted the beginning of July!

Delicious cherry tomatoes. They're what keep me going out back to tend to the weeds.

A few projects

We haven't been too busy around here lately. As the cats are demonstrating, we like to kick back and relax. I did finish up two projects lately. This pillowcase was an appliqué project I'm pretty happy with. It gave me a little practice for a quilting project I'm waiting to get started on. The second project was a cover for our nightstand. It's a little less than perfect, but I'm still pleased. I have another one to make, so I hope to include a few modifications to make it perfect.

Reminiscing

Emily, Sean and their kids visited us on Friday and we had a fun time catching up and enjoying a dinner together as they traveled through the area. Spending that time and reminiscing back to our college days in State College made me think of our honeymoon. I realized I hadn't blogged about it, so I pulled out these pictures today.

We spent our honeymoon at Emily's parents' home just outside of State College. It was a beautiful home located in a remote setting. We enjoyed fires outside, relaxing together, and visiting the local hangout, Couches, a small town shop with food, groceries, and movie to rent.

We both fell in love with the beauty of the Happy Valley when we attended PSU. We spent most weekends taking long hikes together, so it was fun to be back in the area. The weather over our honeymoon week was quite rainy, but we did make it out to Bellefonte's beautiful park. We also stopped at the overlook at Joe Hayes Vista, and did some wine tasting at Nissley Vineyard.

We hoped to have dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant we enjoyed our senior year at PSU, but unfortunately it was out of business. We did enjoy several special meals, including one at the Tavern (courtesy of Mel and Thom), were I tasted my first escargot and liked it! Zach also got to return to his favorite pub and reclaim his mug.

Our honeymoon was a wonderful time to enjoy our new life as a married couple and return to the spot were our relationship first began.

Dog Just Do "Dog Things"

I hope this picture made you at least give a little chuckle. This is my childhood dog, Peaches, who, despite having a chewed box of Cheerios stuck around her head, acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary as she greeted the family. Sometimes dogs just do "dog things."

Two days ago my mom and I experienced another situation of dogs doing "dog things," but it was not quite as benign as this tasty box of Cheerios. Instead, my sister's dogs, Jack and Natas, (who were staying at my mom's house while Mel and Thom vacationed) ended up in the hospital after ingesting medication. It was certainly a frightening situation, even for me, who works with situations like this all the time. Jack presented with seizures and a fever, while Natas presented with milder neurological and gastrointestinal symptoms. Fortunately, both dogs received amazing critical care treatment by my coworkers at Willow Mill and AEMC. After 24 hours of hospitalization, both dogs left with tails wagging and were enthusiastically greeted by everyone (human and canine alike) at home.

The cute, mischievous puppies - Jack & Natas.

Why do dogs do these "dog things" anyway?

July 4th Weekend

After a long two weeks away from home, I was very thankful for the relaxing weekend planned with my husband and our families. Here's a summary of the events:

July 3rd - Clam Bake

The annual clam bake at Mom-mom and Pop-pop's is the greatest thing the Hawks have introduced me to (well, second to my husband I suppose). It's true that I had never had much seafood past my lips before I attended my first clam bake. I managed to (very) slowly chew and finally swallow one clam that first year. Since than I cannot wait for this special day to devour a whole sack of clams, king crab legs, shrimp, kielbasa, chicken, onions, carrots, corn on the cob, and last but not least, stuff in some dessert on top of all of that! It's so delicious, words can hardly do justice.

July 4th - HSO and State College

For the Fourth of July, I visited my parents for a yummy grilled pork dinner while Zach visited a friend in State College. Later that night, my parents and I attended the Harrisburg Symphony's concert on the lawn in Carlisle. Zach enjoyed reminiscing over his former college years and his evening included a great fireworks display.

July 5th - Pinchot

On our Monday off, Zach and I got to spend some quality time alone together and went hiking at Pinchot Park. Despite our attempt to have a lovely day, we were slightly disappointed. The hike was blisteringly hot, the trail was quite boring (at times in the an open field and not at all "Lakeside" as the trail's title implied), and our destination which we hoped would have ice cream, didn't. After literally dragging ourselves back to the car, we decided to hit the local bar for dinner, where I was served the worst pizza ever. It seriously tasted like plasticy cheese pizzas we served at my little brother's Little League concession stands. Hoping to end on a high note and finally get the ice cream I missed out on at the park, we left the bar and stopped at the local ice cream shop which...was closed.

However, I am rather stubborn and I still wanted my ice cream, so I suggested stopping at Rutter's because I knew they would be open. (And they were!) But, once we walked into the store, we found the ice cream refrigerators were covered with yellow "do not enter" tape and several displays were placed in front. SAY WHAT?!? Yeah, that's about how we felt. Fortunately, the problem was not in the ice cream, but rather the doors to the refrigerators, so we just had to ask the poor employee to get our Cookies and Cream ice cream and then we were on our way home to enjoy a bowl of ice cream in our lovely, air conditioned home.

All in all, I was happy to have spent the day with my best friend!