Please vote for our photo from the Travertine Grotto in the Grand Canyon on Facebook to win a trip for two!
CLICK HERE TO VOTE!
Thanks friends!
<3 Alex
Sketching, painting, sewing, branding, how-to's, experiments, raising kids, wanderings, business ideas, problem solving, travels, and so much more. By Alex Whatton
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
CFDA/Vogue Runway Video
A first glimpse from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund runway event with Frédéric Fekkai! Enjoy!
<3 Alex
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Brahmin Watercolor
Dear Brahmin,
A small token of my appreciation -
The Truffle Palomino Collection Checkbook Wallet watercolor illustration:
Thank you again Brahmin!
I love it!
<3 Alex
PS: To see a photo of the two wallets they sent me (one for me and one for a friend) in my glorious Christmas tree, see the "Brahmin, You Amaze Me" blog post.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Fluevog Contest - ends 12/13/11
Less than 24 hours left to enter! (Enter by Tuesday, December 13th, 10am PST!) Just tell your "first radio" story and your favorite radio personality!
Good luck!
<3 Alex
Saturday, December 10, 2011
A Happy Life
"To live with purpose,
To say the courageous thing,
To celebrate the simple gift,
To follow your dreams,
This is a happy life."
~ Wayland Henry
Friday, December 9, 2011
Brahmin, You Amaze Me
Dear Brahmin,
I cannot thank you enough for the quality of your designs and staff. You are SO kind to think of me this season and send me these beautiful wallets (one for a friend)! I feel completely spoiled and loved, thank you.
Happy Holidays to Brahmin and everyone else!
<3 Alex
PS: Brahmin is on Twitter and also has a Muse Contest currently running! Good luck!
Monday, December 5, 2011
All My Time Drinking, While Pregnant?!
Haha, don't you worry...it's all juice. But I am the Sober Blogger of Wine Art Wednesdays and the Sober Blogger - check it out - and I have been spending ALL of my time on this new venture. (I apologize!) I've also just updated all of our Etsy (WineArtWednesdays) listings and we need help spreading the word. Do you have any marketing tips for us?
Thanks so much readers & friends!
Happy Monday!
<3 Alex
"Squareman" by Denise Lohr (2011)
Saturday, November 5, 2011
New Etsy Listings
I've just freshened up my MarthaHaskins Etsy shop to sell a few things that I apparently was hiding from myself. What good does that do? Keeping a painting hidden? Anyhow, just a few small things and starting to get some vintage listed. I've also been working with a few friends to start a new Etsy and blog that we've been keeping to ourselves, but I feel like sharing called "Wine Art Wednesdays and the Sober Blogger." It's addicting! Wednesdays feel like my weekend now since I look forward to them so much! Anyhow, you can click on the links to the right (at the top of this blog) to see the paintings and clothing, but I'll post a photo or two for you below as well. Happy Etsying!
<3 Alex
Friday, November 4, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Rafting the Grand Canyon
My parents very generously gave my brother and his wife, my husband and myself, and themselves a 4-day Grand Canyon trip with Western River Expeditions as our Christmas 2010 gift. We were finally able to schedule it for mid-September and it was amazing! Here’s what happened:
Saturday – Monday morning:
We all flew in to Las Vegas (my first time!), got together for meals and some sight-seeing and gambling, then went to the trip meeting spot on the South end of the strip around 11 am on Monday.
(Treasure Island's terrible Siren show - what happened to it?! I heard it used to be great! At least the hotel was really nice...)
Monday:
Took a small bus from the Desert Rose Hotel in Vegas to a small airport to take a very small aircraft to a ranch on the Grand Canyon rim in Arizona. (ie: the airplane was so small that we each got weighed as well as our luggage - you were allowed a 20 lb. bag – and we got seated by weight). Took the 45 minute flight with views of the strip, Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon too the ranch landing strip made of pebbles, where we were picked-up by “Garth,” the ranch manager in another small bus. It was a short 5-minute ride to the ranch from there! We grabbed lunch, got our sleeping assignments (we slept in a covered wagon), and had our orientation. Then we went horseback riding, saw some of the wildlife that inhabit the area, and went on a two-hour ATV ride to the edge of the rim. We made it back in time for dinner (with some of their hand-raised, organic beef), showers, and their evening “Cowboy Show” (singing, dancing, story- and joke-telling), before the generator was shut-off at 10 pm with lights out! (They use solar-power since they are 80 miles from the closest town with electricity.)
Tuesday:
Up at 7am for breakfast, skeet shooting, and a quick helicopter ride in to the Grand Canyon! It was a beautiful flight (well, I’ve always been a little bit obsessed with choppers…) out over the rim and straight down to the river. The pilot dropped us off and picked-up passengers who had rafted the first 7-days of the Colorado River. It was very clear they had done this many times before!! After everyone from the ranch had been delivered riverside, we met our guides Ben & Parker and had a brief raft orientation. Then we took off for our first set of rapids! We quickly learned that those of us that sit up front are going to get soaked (see the video I posted HERE), and on some of the bigger rapids, even those in the back would get a little wet! We stopped for lunch and then dinner & camping – the stars were unbelievable and they cooked WONDERFUL meals! We were shocked!
Wednesday:
I crashed early (around 7pm) the night before, so I was up and ready to go when the sun came up! We packed-up camp and got back on the raft for our first rapids of the day! Unfortunately, it was rainy and cloudy for a lot of the morning in to the early afternoon, so it was actually a bit chilly! We all had our rain gear on for the rapids and some (like me) had shivers for a lot of the morning – I was cold! We stopped for a hike to see some very old hand painted figures, then another trek up in to the Travertine Grotto. (A lot of us took “showers” in the warmer, cleaner water and then magically the sun came out to dry us off quickly! It was invigorating and just what I needed!) All the time, hitting rapids in-between. My husband, my brother, and his wife rode up front a lot - not surprisingly - but I was really proud of my parents who both took a few of the rapids head first! Then we stopped for dinner and camp again that evening – they made surf n’ turf (steaks & rainbow trout) plus a freshly baked chocolate cake for desert – truly impressive!
Thursday:
Our last rapids on the Colorado River were in the morning! After the delicious chocolate-chip pancakes we all had engorged ourselves on and the sun shining down for the first time during rapids, we were really excited to hit some of the biggest. But after that, it was two hours of motoring down through still waters due to the silt build-up over the rocks on the bottom of the river. Our amazing trip was coming to an end. We said goodbye to our guides and were picked-up by a speedboat to travel the last bit of the River (and part of Lake Mead) to coach buses. We stopped in a small Arizona town to pick-up our bag lunches at a deli and took the 2-hour ride back to the hotel in Vegas. We were all ready to shower and pass-out! Which, is pretty much exactly what we all did. It was a trip I will NEVER forget!
(The "Skywalk." Pay $75.00 to walk out on clear plexi-glass w/o your camera...)
Friday – Saturday:
We got together for meals and gambling again (we actually all left winners, which is unbelievable to me!), and also my Aunt & Uncle were there to visit with us, before we all took our flights home on Saturday.
I still can’t believe how much we did in that short amount of time…and how I will never forget a single moment of it! Thank you Mom & Dad (and thank you Western River Expeditions!)
Happy travels!
<3 A.
PS: I thought you might enjoy seeing our camp toilet (below)...you should have seen the views!
Saturday – Monday morning:
We all flew in to Las Vegas (my first time!), got together for meals and some sight-seeing and gambling, then went to the trip meeting spot on the South end of the strip around 11 am on Monday.
Monday:
Took a small bus from the Desert Rose Hotel in Vegas to a small airport to take a very small aircraft to a ranch on the Grand Canyon rim in Arizona. (ie: the airplane was so small that we each got weighed as well as our luggage - you were allowed a 20 lb. bag – and we got seated by weight). Took the 45 minute flight with views of the strip, Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon too the ranch landing strip made of pebbles, where we were picked-up by “Garth,” the ranch manager in another small bus. It was a short 5-minute ride to the ranch from there! We grabbed lunch, got our sleeping assignments (we slept in a covered wagon), and had our orientation. Then we went horseback riding, saw some of the wildlife that inhabit the area, and went on a two-hour ATV ride to the edge of the rim. We made it back in time for dinner (with some of their hand-raised, organic beef), showers, and their evening “Cowboy Show” (singing, dancing, story- and joke-telling), before the generator was shut-off at 10 pm with lights out! (They use solar-power since they are 80 miles from the closest town with electricity.)
Tuesday:
Up at 7am for breakfast, skeet shooting, and a quick helicopter ride in to the Grand Canyon! It was a beautiful flight (well, I’ve always been a little bit obsessed with choppers…) out over the rim and straight down to the river. The pilot dropped us off and picked-up passengers who had rafted the first 7-days of the Colorado River. It was very clear they had done this many times before!! After everyone from the ranch had been delivered riverside, we met our guides Ben & Parker and had a brief raft orientation. Then we took off for our first set of rapids! We quickly learned that those of us that sit up front are going to get soaked (see the video I posted HERE), and on some of the bigger rapids, even those in the back would get a little wet! We stopped for lunch and then dinner & camping – the stars were unbelievable and they cooked WONDERFUL meals! We were shocked!
Wednesday:
I crashed early (around 7pm) the night before, so I was up and ready to go when the sun came up! We packed-up camp and got back on the raft for our first rapids of the day! Unfortunately, it was rainy and cloudy for a lot of the morning in to the early afternoon, so it was actually a bit chilly! We all had our rain gear on for the rapids and some (like me) had shivers for a lot of the morning – I was cold! We stopped for a hike to see some very old hand painted figures, then another trek up in to the Travertine Grotto. (A lot of us took “showers” in the warmer, cleaner water and then magically the sun came out to dry us off quickly! It was invigorating and just what I needed!) All the time, hitting rapids in-between. My husband, my brother, and his wife rode up front a lot - not surprisingly - but I was really proud of my parents who both took a few of the rapids head first! Then we stopped for dinner and camp again that evening – they made surf n’ turf (steaks & rainbow trout) plus a freshly baked chocolate cake for desert – truly impressive!
Thursday:
Our last rapids on the Colorado River were in the morning! After the delicious chocolate-chip pancakes we all had engorged ourselves on and the sun shining down for the first time during rapids, we were really excited to hit some of the biggest. But after that, it was two hours of motoring down through still waters due to the silt build-up over the rocks on the bottom of the river. Our amazing trip was coming to an end. We said goodbye to our guides and were picked-up by a speedboat to travel the last bit of the River (and part of Lake Mead) to coach buses. We stopped in a small Arizona town to pick-up our bag lunches at a deli and took the 2-hour ride back to the hotel in Vegas. We were all ready to shower and pass-out! Which, is pretty much exactly what we all did. It was a trip I will NEVER forget!
Friday – Saturday:
We got together for meals and gambling again (we actually all left winners, which is unbelievable to me!), and also my Aunt & Uncle were there to visit with us, before we all took our flights home on Saturday.
I still can’t believe how much we did in that short amount of time…and how I will never forget a single moment of it! Thank you Mom & Dad (and thank you Western River Expeditions!)
Happy travels!
<3 A.
PS: I thought you might enjoy seeing our camp toilet (below)...you should have seen the views!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
My Fashions Night Out – 2011
It came and went again! I can’t believe it.
My husband and I have been going since it began three years ago and
we’ve definitely got our itinerary all figured out. Fashion is my thing, so I do all the planning.
This year, I was thrilled to see that the FNO website
included a “scheduler.” You could
select the stores you wanted to go to and then add them to a list. The list showed the address, website,
phone number and a small street map next to each store (definitely the most
useful part). I printed out a list
7 pages long with stores in Soho mostly on Prince & Spring Streets or in
between. (We just prefer the vibe
downtown!) Here’s where we went
and why (in alphabetical order):
Barbour
: Famous Wax Jacket Raffle (my hubby is British – this was a
must!) They also had Pimm’s,
scones w/ clotted cream, and biscuits – definitely a huge bonus!
Cole Haan
: Shoe Raffle (you can win one new pair per month for a
YEAR!) + they had an old school photo-booth with black & white photos – SO
much fun! (And champagne, of
course!)
Converse
: Hubby wanted to look around, so I sat and rested my feet,
but I got some free candy and they gave us two free tote bags on the way out!
Diesel
: Dueling Pianos (two guys singing songs by request –
Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was played while we were there – epic) + a
flip-book booth downstairs. (I
wish I knew about that at our wedding!!!)
I also bought the new FNO shirt here – they are the softest things in
the world!
H&M
: Night in NY Raffle + $200.00 gift card for a runner-up,
but it was packed, so we were in & out quickly!
Icebreaker
: This wasn’t
on our itinerary, but we’re both huge fans and they had a few large 50% off
racks, so we did a little shopping of course! (We also went in to the store next to it that was having
$1000.00 gift card giveaway – they had beautiful leather things but I forgot
the name, sorry!)
KISAN Concept Store
: Giveaways every half hour (we didn’t win at 9pm when we
stopped in, but we felt that this was an amazing find – truly beautiful design
work here.)
Original Penguin
: (We always stop here.) They had free mini-cupcakes from Crumbs & Pirate’s
Bootie – I pigged out! People were
drinking like mad here because of some sort of tequila drink…I was driving, so
I didn’t try it, but their party is always packed. (Great DJ too.)
Papyrus
: This was a letdown.
The Pratt work in the window was beautiful! (They commissioned students to use their famous paper to
make fashion gowns – one in each of 14 windows in the city.) But, they weren’t really doing anything
else.
Paul Smith
: We always stop here since we’re huge fans (Hubby wore a PS
suit to our wedding on 9/9/07, so it’s like an anniversary celebration every
year) and it’s lovely to look at the new collection. We laughed when we walked in, because I was wearing an
anorak & socks by PS and Hubby was wearing a PS shirt & socks as well –
nice. They always have a fantastic
DJ playing.
Textile Arts Center
: I put this on the list because it was a collection of
sustainable clothing & jewelry designers (which I would be honored to be
part of some day). I bought my mom
a pair of earrings for Christmas and the goodie bag they gave me was just as
amazing as the purchase! This was
our first stop and a really perfect start to the evening.
The Frye Company
: Boot Raffle!
It was packed, so we just ran in, signed-up and got out. People were really enjoying the free
champagne!
That’s that! 12+
shops in 3.5 hours! I can’t
believe it’s over again already, but we really made the most of it! We also went to Prune for a 9:30 pm
dinner – yum, and laughed when we walked by DASH. It was a mad-house last year (picture an entire Soho block
closed by a mob), and this year it the store itself was closed by 7:15 pm and
at least 30 cops were outside telling people it wasn’t going to re-open and the
girls were out of Manhattan (a major lie, considering Chloe was standing in the
window waving and laughing – haha).
It’s always funny to me that people get so crazy over celebrities that
really aren’t that different from you or me, especially since New Yorkers
usually just ignore them…oh well, it was my only recognizable celebrity
sighting for the night, so it had to be noted. (And I do think she’s hilarious.)
HOPE YOU ALL HAD FUN!
Let me know where you went!
<3 A.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Parsons Fashion Design Basic Supply List & NYC Shop List
Sew ;)…you’re starting Parsons Fashion Design this Fall? EXCITING! I graduated from the AAS program in May. I am almost a bit jealous of all of you starting this week - I loved meeting everyone and learning from such amazing professors...but, this is about you, not me, so here goes:
Your teachers will tell you the specifics when you get to class, but I wanted to share my basic supply list. Over the semesters, I’ve learned that these things will get me through my construction classes!
Basic Supplies:
- Measuring Tape
- L-Square metal ruler
- Variform Hip Curve metal ruler
- 18” x 2” clear plastic ruler
- 6” x 1” clear plastic ruler
- French Curve (and/or Vary Form Curve Rule – metal – Parsons Professor Luz Pascal designed the first version of these! She's amazing, by the way!)
- Paper Scissors
- Fabric Scissors (you will want a really nice sharp pair!)
- Embroidery scissors or thread snips (small scissors for when you are sitting at the sewing machine/serger)
- Size 10-13 hand-sewing/embroidering needles
- Pins (probably #17 satin steel, or dressmaker pins – just buy the box, you’ll use them!)
- Push Pins
- Wrist pin cushion (you could make one! Just put a button on under your fabric “pillow” to protect your wrist from long needles & pins!)
- Thread (get white, black, and a color of your choice in 100% cotton)
- Muslin (your teachers will tell you what weight to get depending on the project)
- Pattern Paper (has 1” dots and markers all over it and comes in rolls by the yard. This is actually called “Marker Paper” in the real fashion world, because it allows you to lay out the pattern and see how much fabric you need for each full pattern.)
- Manilla “Sloper” Paper (like manilla files, but a little thicker and usually green on the other side – often come in huge rolls like fabric)
- Red/Blue Pencil
- Chalk
- Pencils & Pens!
I still think that you should go to class before purchasing, as teachers may request a specific type of muslin, ruler, pattern-paper, pencil, etc…but it’s good to know what you might be carrying around and the size of bag you may need!
There are tons of great stores in the Garment Center, but for these basics I would head (between 7th & 8th Avenues) to Sil (257 W. 38th Street), Panda (247 W. 38th Street), and/or Steinlauf & Stoller (239 W. 39th Street). Elegant Fabrics (222 W. 40th Street) is a great place for swatching (about 2” x 3” pieces of fabric), but they are really over-priced to actually buy fabric from. They also sell pattern paper (and give students a 10% discount – really convenient since it is NEXT DOOR to 232 W. 40th Street!). At 208 W. 40th Street is “Style Fabrics” (though at this time, they don’t have a name plaque anywhere, so just look for the number 208), and they have great prices for being so close to school and carry some good knits.
Good luck & Happy Shopping!
<3 A.
Your teachers will tell you the specifics when you get to class, but I wanted to share my basic supply list. Over the semesters, I’ve learned that these things will get me through my construction classes!
Basic Supplies:
- Measuring Tape
- L-Square metal ruler
- Variform Hip Curve metal ruler
- 18” x 2” clear plastic ruler
- 6” x 1” clear plastic ruler
- French Curve (and/or Vary Form Curve Rule – metal – Parsons Professor Luz Pascal designed the first version of these! She's amazing, by the way!)
- Paper Scissors
- Fabric Scissors (you will want a really nice sharp pair!)
- Embroidery scissors or thread snips (small scissors for when you are sitting at the sewing machine/serger)
- Size 10-13 hand-sewing/embroidering needles
- Pins (probably #17 satin steel, or dressmaker pins – just buy the box, you’ll use them!)
- Push Pins
- Wrist pin cushion (you could make one! Just put a button on under your fabric “pillow” to protect your wrist from long needles & pins!)
- Thread (get white, black, and a color of your choice in 100% cotton)
- Muslin (your teachers will tell you what weight to get depending on the project)
- Pattern Paper (has 1” dots and markers all over it and comes in rolls by the yard. This is actually called “Marker Paper” in the real fashion world, because it allows you to lay out the pattern and see how much fabric you need for each full pattern.)
- Manilla “Sloper” Paper (like manilla files, but a little thicker and usually green on the other side – often come in huge rolls like fabric)
- Red/Blue Pencil
- Chalk
- Pencils & Pens!
I still think that you should go to class before purchasing, as teachers may request a specific type of muslin, ruler, pattern-paper, pencil, etc…but it’s good to know what you might be carrying around and the size of bag you may need!
There are tons of great stores in the Garment Center, but for these basics I would head (between 7th & 8th Avenues) to Sil (257 W. 38th Street), Panda (247 W. 38th Street), and/or Steinlauf & Stoller (239 W. 39th Street). Elegant Fabrics (222 W. 40th Street) is a great place for swatching (about 2” x 3” pieces of fabric), but they are really over-priced to actually buy fabric from. They also sell pattern paper (and give students a 10% discount – really convenient since it is NEXT DOOR to 232 W. 40th Street!). At 208 W. 40th Street is “Style Fabrics” (though at this time, they don’t have a name plaque anywhere, so just look for the number 208), and they have great prices for being so close to school and carry some good knits.
Good luck & Happy Shopping!
<3 A.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Oh Hello Peter Burns
<3 A. (& J.)
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Irene Attempts Again
<3 A.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
NV to NJ --> 3,000+ Mile Road Trip
Warning: LONG POST! =)
August 10: Bus in to NYC, subway across town, train to New Haven, CT then car to Cheshire. *Lovely dinner with my parents and my partner-in-road-trip Jen & her parents. (Salmon, tomato + basil + balsamic reduction, cucumber + onions + awesome sauce.)
August 11: Up at 3:30 am, on the road by 4:15 am, Flight from Bradley International in Hartford, CT to Reno, NV (stopping at Chicago Midway – total of 6 hours in the air) at 6 am. *Breakfast + lunch in the airports, photos from the plane, a little Oliver Twist via Audible (thanks Dad), and in Reno in the early afternoon. Checked-in to our hotel/casino, walked around the city to see Hot August Nights (classic car show) and ate dinner (well, we had pot stickers to share and then breakfast-for-dinner meals).
August 12: Washed clothes in the bathtub in the am, then picked-up Jen’s Honda Civic then straight over to the apartment to begin packing. While Jen started to go through everything, I ran to Costco (moving kit + sunscreen + gas) and Walgreens (snacks + sunglass holders for the car), then back and packed up all the books and media in to boxes + one big box of clothes to ship back, ran to the post office, then packed-up the car and drove back to the hotel. Lots of Gatorade + Wheat Thins + dedication = less than 6 hours total. The car was packed to the brim! *Ate dinner at Brew Brothers (yum!) and watched The Title Brothers sing at a little bar, then danced back at Brew Brothers before passing out for the evening.
August 13: Up and out on the road! Salt Lake City, UT – here we come!
--> 512 miles *Ate on the road, beef jerky is my new protein friend! Plus Gatorade still going strong! Stopped in the Salt Flats to take some photos as the sun was setting!
(Salt Flats, UT)
August 14: Drive to Moab, UT
--> 239 miles *Shopping downtown (postcards) + Dinner at La Hacienda (delicious!)
(Arches National Park, Moab, UT)
August 15: Morning at Arches National Park – STUNNING – GO! Drive to my brothers home with his wife in Colorado Springs, CO (The drive through Colorado on I-70 from the Aspen exit to the Vail Pass is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I will NEVER forget it.)
--> 419 miles *Dinner downtown + trivia night at one of my favorites!
August 16: Sat on our butts and watched movies and tv all day + grocery shopping. Just what we needed in the middle of the trip. My sister-in-law cooked the most amazing meal for us – thank you! (YUM again!) Oh yeah, thanks to my brother for grilling the chicken in the rain, too!!!
August 17: Drive to Lincoln, NE
--> 554 miles ** MY LONGEST DAY** My sister-in-law made us her famous biscuits in the morning to take on the trip with us. I’m pretty sure they were gone within 2 hours of leaving. I also, somewhat entertainingly, left a water jug on the roof as I started the drive and someone had to yell at me from their car to let me know! All is well. The view goes from mountains to completely flat in a few hours. All you see is corn and all you smell are cows. *Dinner downtown: Omaha steak – best steak I’ve ever had because of the intense flavor, almost gamey – YUM!!!! I’ll never forget it!
August 18: Drive to Chicago, IL
--> 526 miles *More flatness - the road looks like it never ends. We see loads of Wind Farms! When we get to the hotel, Jen orders thin-crust pizza and I get a salad, all lazily delivered to the hotel while we watch bad HBO movies. She declares CT definitely king in pizza and proceeds to throw out the rest. This is the first hotel where we go to the room and it hasn’t been cleaned! The employee is so embarrassed that she offers to bring ice cream to our room – hahaha, I felt terrible, but her face dropped when I said I was dairy-free! We really didn’t care, but I’ve never had that happen to me before!
(Cloud Gate, Chicago, IL)
August 19: Friday, day in Chicago, IL – we went on an architectural tour on a boat on the river for 90 minutes, then walked to see Millennium Park and Cloud Gate (the giant silver bean), then lunch at an Asian Fusion place (yum, Filipino food, I have missed you!), then shopping at Borders since it’s closing! Drive to Merrillville, IN
--> 43 miles *ate in our smokey hotel room and crashed after the great day…also realize that we could have driven further, perhaps even to Ohio. Oh well!
August 20: Drive to Olmsted Falls, OH to stay with my cousin and her awesome family!
--> 307 miles *we are completely spoiled to wonderful appetizers (freshly cut fruit and chips + guacamole + salsa + bean dip), watched the latest Project Runway episode, and a Dirty Little Liars episode (is that what it’s called?), took showers, then dinner…YUM dinner. It was amazing! Grilled shrimp + tuna steaks, plus a warm potato (dairy-free) salad with corn + tomatoes + parsley (YUM) + broccoli + bread w/ olive oil. Oh my gosh, I slept well that night! (Thank you!)
August 21: Drive to NJ to my house and Jen continues on to CT to her house!
--> 454 miles (+ 105 miles for Jen to CT – her actual longest day**) Big hug for my hubby + kitties! Good to be home, but what a great trip.
I still can’t believe we did it! Over 3,000 miles (nearly entirely across the country) in 11 days! Woohoo! I sent tons of postcards, ate way too much beef jerky, and got to see things I’d never even dreamed of. I highly recommend a road trip to anyone and everyone. You could do it really cheap if you bring a tent + sleeping bags + don’t forget coolers, our soft-sided ones were most useful! (Plus bags to fill with ice since you most likely won’t be able to use any freezers or fridges.) We didn’t have AC, so we drove with the windows down (didn’t listen to much music), but we had tons of amazing conversation.
GO TRAVEL. Seek Adventure. Seek situations that make you try new things and learn more about yourself. Enjoy college, because it is the perfect new situation for all of these things.
Good luck!
<3 A.
August 10: Bus in to NYC, subway across town, train to New Haven, CT then car to Cheshire. *Lovely dinner with my parents and my partner-in-road-trip Jen & her parents. (Salmon, tomato + basil + balsamic reduction, cucumber + onions + awesome sauce.)
August 11: Up at 3:30 am, on the road by 4:15 am, Flight from Bradley International in Hartford, CT to Reno, NV (stopping at Chicago Midway – total of 6 hours in the air) at 6 am. *Breakfast + lunch in the airports, photos from the plane, a little Oliver Twist via Audible (thanks Dad), and in Reno in the early afternoon. Checked-in to our hotel/casino, walked around the city to see Hot August Nights (classic car show) and ate dinner (well, we had pot stickers to share and then breakfast-for-dinner meals).
August 12: Washed clothes in the bathtub in the am, then picked-up Jen’s Honda Civic then straight over to the apartment to begin packing. While Jen started to go through everything, I ran to Costco (moving kit + sunscreen + gas) and Walgreens (snacks + sunglass holders for the car), then back and packed up all the books and media in to boxes + one big box of clothes to ship back, ran to the post office, then packed-up the car and drove back to the hotel. Lots of Gatorade + Wheat Thins + dedication = less than 6 hours total. The car was packed to the brim! *Ate dinner at Brew Brothers (yum!) and watched The Title Brothers sing at a little bar, then danced back at Brew Brothers before passing out for the evening.
August 13: Up and out on the road! Salt Lake City, UT – here we come!
--> 512 miles *Ate on the road, beef jerky is my new protein friend! Plus Gatorade still going strong! Stopped in the Salt Flats to take some photos as the sun was setting!
(Salt Flats, UT)
August 14: Drive to Moab, UT
--> 239 miles *Shopping downtown (postcards) + Dinner at La Hacienda (delicious!)
(Arches National Park, Moab, UT)
August 15: Morning at Arches National Park – STUNNING – GO! Drive to my brothers home with his wife in Colorado Springs, CO (The drive through Colorado on I-70 from the Aspen exit to the Vail Pass is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I will NEVER forget it.)
--> 419 miles *Dinner downtown + trivia night at one of my favorites!
August 16: Sat on our butts and watched movies and tv all day + grocery shopping. Just what we needed in the middle of the trip. My sister-in-law cooked the most amazing meal for us – thank you! (YUM again!) Oh yeah, thanks to my brother for grilling the chicken in the rain, too!!!
August 17: Drive to Lincoln, NE
--> 554 miles ** MY LONGEST DAY** My sister-in-law made us her famous biscuits in the morning to take on the trip with us. I’m pretty sure they were gone within 2 hours of leaving. I also, somewhat entertainingly, left a water jug on the roof as I started the drive and someone had to yell at me from their car to let me know! All is well. The view goes from mountains to completely flat in a few hours. All you see is corn and all you smell are cows. *Dinner downtown: Omaha steak – best steak I’ve ever had because of the intense flavor, almost gamey – YUM!!!! I’ll never forget it!
August 18: Drive to Chicago, IL
--> 526 miles *More flatness - the road looks like it never ends. We see loads of Wind Farms! When we get to the hotel, Jen orders thin-crust pizza and I get a salad, all lazily delivered to the hotel while we watch bad HBO movies. She declares CT definitely king in pizza and proceeds to throw out the rest. This is the first hotel where we go to the room and it hasn’t been cleaned! The employee is so embarrassed that she offers to bring ice cream to our room – hahaha, I felt terrible, but her face dropped when I said I was dairy-free! We really didn’t care, but I’ve never had that happen to me before!
(Cloud Gate, Chicago, IL)
August 19: Friday, day in Chicago, IL – we went on an architectural tour on a boat on the river for 90 minutes, then walked to see Millennium Park and Cloud Gate (the giant silver bean), then lunch at an Asian Fusion place (yum, Filipino food, I have missed you!), then shopping at Borders since it’s closing! Drive to Merrillville, IN
--> 43 miles *ate in our smokey hotel room and crashed after the great day…also realize that we could have driven further, perhaps even to Ohio. Oh well!
August 20: Drive to Olmsted Falls, OH to stay with my cousin and her awesome family!
--> 307 miles *we are completely spoiled to wonderful appetizers (freshly cut fruit and chips + guacamole + salsa + bean dip), watched the latest Project Runway episode, and a Dirty Little Liars episode (is that what it’s called?), took showers, then dinner…YUM dinner. It was amazing! Grilled shrimp + tuna steaks, plus a warm potato (dairy-free) salad with corn + tomatoes + parsley (YUM) + broccoli + bread w/ olive oil. Oh my gosh, I slept well that night! (Thank you!)
August 21: Drive to NJ to my house and Jen continues on to CT to her house!
--> 454 miles (+ 105 miles for Jen to CT – her actual longest day**) Big hug for my hubby + kitties! Good to be home, but what a great trip.
I still can’t believe we did it! Over 3,000 miles (nearly entirely across the country) in 11 days! Woohoo! I sent tons of postcards, ate way too much beef jerky, and got to see things I’d never even dreamed of. I highly recommend a road trip to anyone and everyone. You could do it really cheap if you bring a tent + sleeping bags + don’t forget coolers, our soft-sided ones were most useful! (Plus bags to fill with ice since you most likely won’t be able to use any freezers or fridges.) We didn’t have AC, so we drove with the windows down (didn’t listen to much music), but we had tons of amazing conversation.
GO TRAVEL. Seek Adventure. Seek situations that make you try new things and learn more about yourself. Enjoy college, because it is the perfect new situation for all of these things.
Good luck!
<3 A.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
CSA pick-up plus SMALL grocery run!
<3 A.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Beading in my Vibrams - Chicago Midway Airport
Ironic that we will be driving back here in 8 days...
<3 A.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)