Welcome To Quiet Time

Christmas and New Years are big loud holidays with lots of people and lots of activities. It can be hard for the introvert or overwhelmed extrovert to find a moment to sit down and relax. Sometimes the best thing is to go to a quiet spot where no one will bother you. If that doesn't work, get in the car and drive off. If that still isn't an option and running off to join a convent is starting to look better and better, I suggest taking a long walk.

I love the holidays, I really do. I love being around my family after not seeing them for a long time. I enjoy all the food (when don't I enjoy food). I especially love seeing all the decorations. Sometimes, though, it does get a bit much.

If I'm in a situation during the holidays where I might find myself becoming overwhelmed, I have a few strategic plans to find that calm, quiet place.

1) Get up early or stay up really late - my sleep cycle sometimes suffers a little, but if I really need the quiet time, I can usually find a time (like 3am) where I am the only person awake.

2) Have a set of car keys handy - it's the easiest escape route. If I don't have my own car, I try to have an alternative.

3) No car keys, no problem, I take a walk - at least I'm off on my own.

4) It's okay to say no - sometimes the best way to find peace and quiet during the holidays is to say no to big parties. Instead find a different time to visit close family and friends when there are less people around.

5) I have a quiet spot set up in advance to hide out in - the only downside is that people need to respect this spot. If they don't, then the quiet spot won't stay quiet for long.

Also note, that although I know I need the quiet time, other people don't know or understand. People can get upset if someone doesn't feel up to being social. Don't compromise your mental well being during the holidays because someone else is upset.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to a Full House

This week, my roommate's family came in from Brazil. They are going to stay through to the new year. It has been a few years since my roommate has seen their family and it's their niece and nephew's first time in near New York City. They aren't used to the cold like we are.

I have a really big extended family and having everyone in one place was always fun as a kid. I loved seeing all my cousins, aunts, and uncles. There was a lot of laughter and sharing of embarrassing stories. Though there never seemed to be anywhere quiet to hide.

Our apartment isn't the biggest. It's not bad for two or three people and my room is my place of zen whenever we have a lot of people over (probably because it's so messy and no one wants to see that). It can be tough having a lot of people here. I have to be really quiet while making breakfast, which can be hard with our squeaky floorboards. Also timing when to get in the shower can be a challenge.

It's worth it having people visit. Especially when they come from really far away. My roommate doesn't get to see their family very often and this visit is even more special since it's Christmas. My family also now lives far away and it's wonderful when they come to stay with us. There's tons of food, which is always a plus.

There is a small language barrier. My roommate's mom only speaks Portuguese, but their niece and nephew understand a lot of English. I only speak a little Portuguese (according to my app I'm 5% fluent). Between English, Portuguese, and a little Spanish (my roommate's mom understands some Spanish) we can have full conversations. That doesn't stop some misunderstandings from happening.

I do tend to follow a few basic steps when there are a lot of people staying with me.

• Offer to help with anything (especially if it's not your family visiting) - it can be as simple as making someone a cup of tea
• Have a quiet place - if you are someone who needs down time, having a safe and quiet spot to go to is key. It could even be a short walk around the neighborhood or sitting in the car for ten minutes.
• Ask what people are doing - it doesn't pay to be caught off guard
• Above all else - enjoy the moment. The apartment/house won't be full for long, so it's important to enjoy it while it lasts. The memories will last a life time.

Having an apartment full of people can be a challenge, but it's a challenge worth taking. I wouldn't trade my apartment full of friends and family for a short period of time for anything.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome To Christmas Lights

In about a week it will officially be winter, in less than two weeks it'll be Christmas and it feels like it's the middle of spring. I was able to walk around outside in a short sleeved shirt today. I wouldn't have known it was almost the holidays if there weren't so many decorations out.

Everywhere I look there are evergreens, Christmas lights, train displays, and bright red ribbons. Much like Halloween, people seem to go all out for Christmas and Hanukkah. The towns are all lit up and have trees decorated. There's a long line to visit Santa at the malls.

The Christmas Lights were up in New York in November. When I was there the tree in Rockefeller Center wasn't lit yet, but the tree at Radio City Music Hall was. I saw people lined up around the block to get into the Rocket's Holiday Show. I remember going when I was 7 and it was really cool.

My roommate and I put up two trees. We both had one. It was fun to put on Christmas music and set up the trees. Unfortunately they aren't real trees, but I guess that means we have less clean up. Still glitter got everywhere and we had to vacuum a few times to get it all up.

The Big Tree

My tiny tree and yes that is a spider web as the tree topper.

I remember when I was a little kid, putting up the Christmas lights was exciting (except when I had to put the lights on the holly bush, then it hurt). We had two trees, one in the front of the house and one in the back. I would get to decorate one and my sister would decorate the other one (with our mom and dad's help of course). It was usually cold and we'd hope for a light snow fall.

It was magical then and it still is now.

If you enjoyed this post (or it pissed you off), please like, share or leave a comment. I enjoy hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome To Lunch Time

It starts with a drop in blood sugar and a decrease in concentration. It ends with the stomach rumbling and the need to take a break. Lunch at the office is typically between 12 and 1pm and can sometimes be as late as 2:30, which means I usually start eating around 10:30. If that logic doesn't make sense to you that's because I eat smaller meals throughout the day and eat my first "meal" around 10:30. I eat a slightly bigger meal around 1 and a second smaller meal around 3. This way I'm not starving when I get home.

Most of the time I make my own lunch. It has it's benefits. It's definitely cheaper than eating out everyday and I find cooking relaxing. Sometimes I even go all out and make faces with my food.

A tuna, spinach, cheese, and carrot yawning sandwich

Apparently I also eat really healthy food when I bring my lunch because one of my co-workers asked me if I was on a diet or if that was just how I ate after they saw my lunch. My response was that was just what I like to eat. I typically include some sort of protein, a piece of fruit and tons of veggies.

I call this the chill bento lunch...

I like to plan out my meals for the week. Usually I make my lunch for four days and on the fifth (again usually a Friday) I treat myself out to lunch. Occasionally I go out to lunch with my co-workers.

I will admit, the first few times that I went out to lunch with my co-workers, I didn't want to eat in front of them. I felt I was awkward and my inner critic was over analyzing my manners. I'm also not the best at small talk. I prefer to listen and let other people direct conversation. That's not to say that I can't start a conversations, but again, my inner critic is usually telling me to be quiet.

However, it is important to spend time with co-workers and get away from my desk. Lunch time is the perfect time to do that. It's when people can relax a little and talk about what's going. There's also a group of us that watch the Chew while we eat.

Now I need to plan this week's meals. Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Long Journeys

They are worth it...

The trip from where I live in New Jersey to where my dad lives in Virginia can be taken several ways. The quickest, is probably by plane, followed by taking the train. However planes and trains are expensive and can be inflexible with their timing. That's why I drive.

Again there are several routes that I can take to get to Virginia. The most obvious is via the Turnpike. It is also the one I hate to take the most. Mainly because New Jersey is notorious for two things: traffic and tolls. The tolls between Northern New Jersey and Baltimore are some of the worst and traffic is unpredictable at best. I therefore choose to go the "long way" through Pennsylvania. It adds about an hour to the trip (if traffic is good on the Turnpike) and only costs a dollar in tolls on the way out of New Jersey. So I can get into this state for free, but I have to pay an escape fee??? Thanks New Jersey.

I've made this trip four times already. I don't want to think about what it's doing to the mileage on my car. It's a long drive and I spend my time listening to music or audio books. I also come up with new plots for my writings (this blog included). Heck I sometimes come up with new theories in philosophy and science (though nothing that realistic). It might be a long drive, but it's worth it. Seeing my sister and dad this Thanksgiving was wonderful and I'm thankful that I was able to see them. I wouldn't trade the opportunity for anything.

I am very thankful for the flexibility in my schedule to travel to see my family. Last year I traveled across the United States to visit my family in California for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and I hope to go out there again at some point.

Where as this past summer I spent a very long day (and two even longer ones coming back) traveling to the upper peninsula of Michigan. If you've never been there, it's well worth the trip. It's one of the most remote places I have ever been to and Lake Superior really does look like a giant sea. I honestly don't think I could survive up there in the winter. People might go weeks without seeing another person outside of their town.

Lighthouse in the middle of no-where Michigan.

The longest trip I've ever been on though was to Osaka Japan. I flew non-stop 13 hours to Tokyo and then another hour to Osaka on a Pokemon plane (plus a half hour or so drive to Nishinomia).  It was a tough trip for an 11 year old, but so much fun. I admit that I was a little emotional the first few nights because I was so far from my home and family, but it was so worth it. The memories and experiences I have from that trip are priceless.

My roommate's family is coming this month from Brazil. It's a really long trip by plane and they are getting into New York at around 6am. They might be really tired the first few days, but my roommate is so happy and excited. They'll get to see each other after a long time apart.

It might seem like a long way away (and traffic might be a pain in the butt), but hitting the road to see family or the world is priceless. I live far away from my family now, which makes the times I do see them all the sweeter. I'm thankful to see them whenever I can.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or you hated it) please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. If you want to and since it's the weekend after Thanksgiving, leave a comment about what you're thankful for in the comments.

Welcome To Dating

As Dot Would Say "I'm Cute!"

Dating in high school and college is very different from dating after you've graduated. For one thing, you aren't forced to interact with people your age for hours on end every day. You have to search our potential partners, which can be twice as hard if you don't like going out.

My first significant other out of college, was actually an old college friend. We lived an hour from each other, but they were going through army med school and I was just starting out, so the distance didn't bother us. Now, though, if I want to date someone it's different.

In college/high school I might have a class or two with a potential date. I might have even been in the same club or sports team. It was easy to know who they were and what they were interested in (and Facebook helped). I thought that dating in college was easy, especially since I ignored anything remotely romantic in high school.

Now, I have a couple of options for finding a date:

1) Going to a bar - you have drinks to help loosen you up, but it can be loud and and hard to start a conversation with someone. I've tried it a few times and none of them ended well. Other people I know enjoy meeting people this way.

2) Online dating - though I haven't tried this option, several of my friends have been really happy with it. My roommate from college lucked out and found a great person. My current roommate didn't have the same luck and met their current significant other outside of a bar in Hoboken. I think it's one of the easier ways to date in this day and age. After all, the media is constantly complaining about how Millennials are attached to their phones.

3) Random everyday occurrences - though I don't recommend dating co-workers (that could be awkward), there are many day-to-day interactions that could lead to potential dates. For example on this week's episode of The Flash (it's on the CW, Hulu, and Netflix) one of my favorite characters asked out the coffee barista. Another example would be me getting someone's phone number at the farmer's market (I then proceeded to run away, but if you are aware of who I am, this fact wouldn't shock you). You never know how you'll meet.

You never know who you're going to meet in the so called "real world". You might run into a friend you haven't seen in years and rekindle a friendship. You might stumble across someone who has the same interest in Halo that you do.

My point is, that I never expect to meet the people that I do. For better or worse they end up in my life and I have to figure out if they should stay in it.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing for my readers and I hope you like hearing from me. Now, if only I didn't run away when someone gives me a complement.

Welcome To A Break In The Routine

Because on  Wednesdays we wear pink...

I am a creature of habit. This is a fact, not an opinion. I won't get too much into my weekly routine because this is the Internet and I have no idea who is reading this blog. However I do have a few habits. For example, I hit my alarm clock snooze button three times before actually rolling out of bed. As soon as I get to my office, I turn on my laptop and then go and get my first cup of coffee. On Sunday I go to the farmers market.

We all have our quirks.

So any break in my routine will throw me off. Daylight savings time is the worst offender of this change. For about a month after the changes, I'm really confused as to what time it is. It might be 9pm as I write this, but I feel like it's 10pm and should be fast asleep. It's also really confusing leaving work when it's pitch black outside instead of as the sun is setting.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has these issues and I do welcome change. A disruption allows me to be flexible and learn to deal with change without freaking out (it's not a major life change).

This week, I had a major break in my routine. I had Veterans Day off. I had never had this day off before and the fact that it took place on a Wednesday really through me for a loop. When I came back to work on Thursday, one of my friends and I noticed how much it felt like a Monday. Which lead me to be even more confused when I woke up on Saturday.

Now that it's Sunday, I am still working around the fact that I have to go to work tomorrow. I would rather sleep in an extra day, but that's not in the cards (or at least not for so called adult people).

How do I deal with these breaks in routine? Well, I usually have enough warning to get ready for the disruption. I try to keep my weekend and vacation routine similar to my weekday routine (I wish I could sleep past 8am, but alas I can't).

What about those days that I can't plan for? Usually my first response is to freak out. I'm stubborn like that. I hate any sort of change that I can't account for at least a week in advance. My next response is to calm down and assess the situation. I can calm myself down any number of ways from calling someone to talk it out to practicing meditation breath. One of my yoga teachers even recommends standing on one foot to make a quick decision (I haven't tried this one yet).

 Routines are familiar, safe and something I can control. However, life isn't safe, it's not something I can control, and as I keep moving forward, I am constantly put into situations that I haven't encountered before. A break in my routine can be welcoming. It can also freak me out. That's life. I sometimes think that it's the small stuff, the small everyday choices, that snowball into huge changes and are easier to deal with one small step at a time.

If only that was how all changes were presented. I don't know exactly what's going to happen tomorrow, but I take a guess that I'll still hit my snooze button at least three times before rolling out of bed.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome to Fall Leaves

They're everywhere!

I think the 60s and 70s really missed an opportunity for a pile of leaves to be a monster in a B movie. I mean, who knows what could happen if you get caught in a pile of leaves and they certainly get everywhere. I've had to clean my car out because of all the leaves at least once a week since they started to fall.

Brightly colored leaves are a factor of fall. When I was younger raking the leaves was one of the worst chores I could be assigned. It took forever and the leaves would be back by the end of the week. Jumping in the leaves was fun. I could pretend I was diving off to a new world like in Alice in Wonderland. I'm grateful I don't have a front lawn.

Bag of leaves were also often used as a Halloween decoration. People would buy these big orange bags with jack'o'lanturn faces on them. A few people would even jump out of the piles of leaves while we were trick or treating (maybe it was their way of cheating us of our candy).

I love the colors. Bright yellows, lush oranges, and fired reds make the whole world seem to glow. It's comforting and makes me excited for all the tastie foods. Sure the days are really short (especially in New Jersey), but when the sun is out its a prefect picture.

To deal with all of the leaves, I try to keeps a broom or vacuum cleaner handy. I don't know how many times I've dragged leaves into our apartment or have found a few stuck in my hair while I've been washing it. A quick vacuum gets most of the leaves up.

Fall is definitely my favorite time of year, even if it has it's annoying quirks. I'm actually about to make baked apples (hull out the middle of an apple, add brown sugar and butter, bake u Gil tender and you have a delectable dessert).

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now about those baked apples...

Welcome to Halloween Decorations

Tis the Season to Decorate like Crazy

Halloween is officially over. At least according to major retailers. I'm still celebrating by watching Coraline and the Nostalgia Critic has an extra Nostalgiaween episode coming out this week. It will probably be another week before all of the Halloween decorations have come down.

All of the pumpkins at market!

 
Then comes the Christmas decor. I wouldn't mind too much, except that Thanksgiving comes a good month before Christmas does and retailers barely seem to pay any attention to that holiday (though I personally feel it has a great potential for a market).

Personally I think Halloween has the better outdoor decorations. There are a lot more options for the spooky holiday. Driving through the different neighborhoods, I saw skeletons, ghosts, spiders (I think a lot of people read the same magazine there were a lot of them), and graveyards popping up on people's lawns.

Neighborhood decorations

Growing up, we had a small hill on our property that was the perfect spot for a graveyard. We would put up tombstones, have a witch crashed into a tree display and show everything in an eerie green light. It was a lot of fun to set up (taking it down was another story). We would put a fog machine next to our front door and put decorations in our front bushes that the trick or treaters would have to walk next to to get candy. Everyone who drove on our side of the neighborhood could see our house and we always got complements on the display.

My roommate and I were able to put up a decoration on our door. It's a ghost saying "Boo". We also put up smaller decorations like candles and a few signs reminding us to have a "spooky time". Though it wasn't a lot, it was still festive. We don't exactly have a lawn to put up a graveyard. I wish I could have recreated something like what I saw at the Chelsea market in New York City.

Decorations at the Chelsea market in NYC

The town of Ridgewood even set up decorations in town. There was a small celebration in the park at the center of town for the little kids. It wasn't a lot, but it was still cool to see. Definitely something for kids under the age of 7.

The park in Ridgewood featured a graveyard with ghosts and spiders on Halloween.

They even had a pumpkin patch for the kids to pick out pumpkins in.

Sorry Linus, no Great Pumpkin in this patch.

I'm sad to see all of the Halloween decorations come down. Yeah, sure Christmas is just around the corner and I'll start getting the whimsical magical feeling deep down in my gut. I'd rather have Halloween stick around a little longer. After all, if it's aceptable to have Christmas lights up until February, shouldn't we be able to have that graveyard up until December?

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to the Parking Wars

I Guess I'm S. O. L.

Ridgewood is a really cool town. There is no denying that. I love the fact that I can walk to a coffee shop at 9pm, take a train to New York or the airport without paying huge fees, and seeing all the cool events that happen in the park (Halloween celebrations are starting up).

If there was one major draw back about this town, it's parking. Not only are there limited spaces, they also have limited times or (even worse) meters. For the most part, I don't have to worry about parking. I only really think about it when people are coming to visit. My current solution is to have people who visit me park at my office since there isn't any guest parking at my apartment.

Growing up in the DC suburbs and then living outside of Baltimore, I was spoiled by the amount of easy parking. It was only if I went within 5 or so miles of th city that it became a problem and even then I could get creative in getting around those restrictions. Not so in Ridgewood.

Parking has become a huge issue in the village. So much so, that a few months ago I started noticing a flyers going up around town. It called the "Vote Yes on Parking" campaign. There was no other information available. So I decided to do a little digging.

Apparently someone who owns one of the parking lots in town wants to turn it into a garage. This would be helpful if it increased the number of parking spaces available. It doesn't seem to for those of us who live in town. The town government also wants to increase the meter times from 6pm to 9pm and there is still no free overnight street parking. At least this is the information I've been able to track down.

I continue to pray to the parking gods that there will be a favorable solution. As of right now, I'm glad I usually have a place to park. It is just another thing to stress me out on my long list of things that stress me out.

Until...wait next weekend is Halloween! Oh boy! It's the best day of the year. Maybe I'll finally see a ghost or a vampire (not one that is sparkly). I'm gonna get ready by reading Uzumaki. It's about a town infected by spirals. I know what you guys are thinking, spirals aren't scary. You guys would be wrong, very very wrong.

If you enjoyed this post or it really pissed you off, please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome To New York City

They Tell Me It's The City That Never Sleeps

There is a small stretch of highway that goes up a hill that I take on my way home from work. On clear days I can see the closest major city (and most likely one of the top ten five powerful cities in the world) New York City. It's not like Washington DC or Baltimore. For one thing it's much bigger than either of the cities I grew up around. For another, it's a very different culture from what I'm used to.

Honestly I sometimes can't explain what makes these cities feel so different. Maybe it's that the two are a lot smaller or that one of them is the seat of the national government. Even the people are different.

If I were to describe Washington DC (DC for people who live there), it would be professional. I feel it's the heaven for a lot of Millennials hoping to make an impact while maintaining their nerdy hobbies.

If I were to describe Baltimore (from what little I was able to explore), it was DC's quirky cousin. There was still some government presence, but it allowed for a lot more personality. Heck, we used to have a Batman cosplayer (may he rest in peace) who would visit children in the hospital as well as drive his batmobile in the Inner Harbor.

Two weekends past (yeah, I know I skipped one), I was in New York City with my family. We stayed on Broadway somewhere in Midtown (or what I assume was Midtown, it might have been part of Chelsae). It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed my time in the city. I'm still not sure what to make of the city.

The hotel I was at had a few unusually large rooms, for the city that is. Hotel rooms are typically the size of a closet. One room I was in was only able to fit a full size bed and the bathroom door would only open part way.

The city is beautiful. We were able to walk along a path that had once been part of the subway (Google isn't supplying me with the actual name). Though it was crowded, the view was great. It was a great way to see the city without feeling like an ant.

We then headed to Chelsea Market which was all decorated in Halloween stuff. Seeing all of the shops was cool, but the displays were so much fun. They were advertising an event in the 30th for the holiday. If it wasn't while I was working I would totally go.

My favorite thing we did was go to a theater and see a radio type show featuring Lovecraft readings. It was so creepy and awesome. The theater was in the East Village (or at least I think that was the area). It was very different from Chelsea and Midtown. The theater was small, maybe 100 seats. It was very different from anything I'd seen in DC.

New York City is huge and each neighborhood has its own personality. I'm having fun exploring and hope to do more. Now I just need volunteers to come with me.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Frustration

When nothing goes your way.

I will be the first to admit, that I tend to learn things the hard way. This can be very frustrating. I want things to go smoothly, but it's not always that easy.

In math, learning things the hard way is actually quite practice. It makes it easier to identify short cuts in equations and solve problems a lot faster over time. The way people  work is not the same way as equations. I have to constantly adapt to different people's styles and personalities to get similar results.while one person might get back to me right away, another might take a whole week to respond.

Personally, I don't like this kind of inconsistency. I live for stability and patterns. Humans aren't that great at either of those two things. Just because change is a constant, doesn't mean I have to like it, only accept it.

When my stress levels are through the roof, my frustration levels go off th charts. Yes, these are too different things. I can be frustrated about the fact that I am suffering from writers block, but not stressed out about it. On the flip side, I can be stressed about getting to a place on time, but not frustrated since nothing is preventing me from being on time.

Does that make sense?

The way I combat frustration is similar to how I deal with stress:

1) Knitting - it soothes the soul and helps me calm down. The repetitive nature of knitting is soothing and I feel like I'm being productive.

2) Medetation - It helps me focus on what I can control vs. what I can't change. Since I'm not able to make other people do what I need to, I have to learn to accept that fact. Meditation helps with understanding my feelings and accepting them.

3) Writing - if I can't control my world, I might as well control someone else's (even if the characters aren't real). I am able to put myself in a different pair of shoes to see a different perspective.

These things work for me, but there are other ways people can cope with being frustrated. I recommend sharing them on social media. Shout it out with a hash tag. Sometimes it is good to take th see things out.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome To The Farmer's Market

Most places are closed in my county on Sunday. It's either an old tradition or law that keep most stores closed (including Target). I don't mind that much. Sure I have to plan on doing most of my shopping on Saturdays, but it's not that big of a deal. I can use Sundays to catch up on other things.

Like going to the farmers market. Yeah, despite the fact that most places are closed, the farmer's markets in my area are open Sunday morning.

There are two markets in my area that I go to regularly. The first is at the Ridgewood train station. It's small and I can easily walk to it. There are two vegetable stands, a baker, a man selling jams, a pickle stand, and a truck which sells fresh mozzarella. The food is always delicious and I can get a about half a week's worth of grocery shopping done.

The Ridgewood New Jersey train station

The other farmer's market is in Ramsey. I have to drive there and it's always crowded , but it's well worth the trip. Not only are there the traditional vegetable stands and bakers, but there are artisans, a winery, a few butchers, a fisherman, and other specialized stalls. I loving going to the bakers there for breakfast and fresh bread throughout the week.

Farmer's Market in Ridgewood New Jersey

Unlike when I go to a regular supermarket, I can't always make a list. Most of the food I want is available, but sometimes I'm completely surprised by what I come across. For example today I was planning on buying some cauliflower and when I got to one of the stalls they cauliflower that was white, orange and purple. I had no idea that cauliflower could grow in those different colors. I asked if there was a difference in taste and the seller said that she didn't know of any.

I don't think I've ever seen a purple cauliflower at a Giant or Wegmans.

An orange cauliflower that I brought at the Farmer's Market in Ramsey NJ

The farmer's market in Ramsey occasionally has special events and features musicians and demonstrations. One weekend I went and they were doing a recording for a TV show with a food demonstration. I didn't feel like waiting in the crowd, so I didn't stick around for that one, but it did smell wonderful.

Farmer's markets are fun to go to and they help support the local community. I love talking to the people who run the stalls and have found some things I wouldn't have imagined trying if I gone. If you have a farmer's market near you, please check it out and support your local farmers.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. If there's a topic you'd like me to write about or have any questions about my transition from college to the working world, please feel free to ask.

Welcome To A Neighborhood Cafe

My roommate (who is awesome) works at a cafe in the town of Nutley New Jersey. It's about a half an hour drive from our apartment. I try to go on the weekends she is working.

It's a small, family run place. They make all of their food and have some of the best gelato I've ever tasted. I usually go for a cappuccino and gelato and to do some writing. My roommate occasionally is able to eat lunch with me. I usually go after the lunch rush, to avoid a crowd.

Most of the people who go to the cafe are regulars. They are also, including the owner, mostly Italian. They speak Italian at the cafe, have Italian news papers, and serve all Italian food (which is delicious). A mix of Italian and English are spoken and sports are always on the TVs.

Now that the summer is almost over, it's starting to get a bit busier with everyone back from vacation. The town of Nutley isn't what I'd call a tourist town. It's more of a tight-nit community, where almost everyone knows everyone else. At least that's what I've seen of the area. My roommate feels the same way. Most of the people who go to the cafe, have been doing so for years and know the owner.

It's a lot of fun to go for a lazy weekend afternoon. Everyone is greeted with a big "hello" and friendly atmosphere.

While I was there today, I started talking with two of the regulars. They were gentlemen in their late 50s or early 60s (I'm basing this off of the conversation). One of them had been in a band for over 40 years. He said his band had gotten together in 1969 and stayed together until the late 80s, early 90s. They played for weddings, festivals and did a few openings at concerts. He said that, at one point in his career as a musician, his band had been ranked the top Italian American band in the New York/New Jersey area. People would book his band two years in advanced, they were that popular.

And this was just his hobby. He had also worked full time as a manager at a company. Some how he managed to balance his hobby and work life. He said it took a lot of time and dedication, but it was worth it.

I hope to someday be able to do that. Maybe I'll be able to balance writing novels with a full time job. I just wouldn't have a social life.

Hearing about the experiences of these gentleman, though, made me miss my grandparents. I used to love hearing their stories about growing up where they did or adventures they went on. One of my grandmothers drove across the United States in a Model T (or maybe it was a Model A) with her grandparents. I wish I had been able to ask her about it (though I hear she her passengers weren't the most pleasant to travel with). Unfortunately I can't hear those stories first hand, but that doesn't mean I can't hear about other people's adventures.

There are a few people I know who love to read the obituary section of the newspaper. It's not because they are morbidly curious to see whose died recently, but because some of the things that are written about the people are just so amazing. Sometimes I wish I could get a copy of the person's biography. I hope it's a long way off, but I hope to leave behind one awesome obituary. 

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now, off to live my great adventure.

Welcome To The "What If Loop"

Or Why Being A "New" Adult Is Stressful

I like security and familiarity. It's probably why I have such a hard time getting rid of silly things like pictures or all of my books. I feel at home with them. Unfortunately this past year hasn't been the kindest to my sense of stability and familiarity.

Sure, I have a stable job and income, but I just moved several states away from all my friends and family. My roommate is great, but we've only known each other for a few months. Sure, I have my own room, but I sometimes still feel like I'm invading someone's space. It's a new experience that I don't have a reference point for. It makes me nervous and occasionally more paranoid than usual.

Then there is my questioning. Some days I worry that I'm going to wake up and find out I made this whole trip of to New Jersey up and that I don't actually work here. So far this fear hasn't become too irrational, but it's always in the back of my mind (variations of this include being fired, ending up in the emergency room for insert physical malady here, and insert horrible natural disaster here).

This leads to my "what if loop." What is a that? Basically it's how I think of my anxiety. When I'm really anxious, all I can think about it what if x, y, or z happens. Heck, sometimes I think in term of what if a, b, c or d didn't actually happen and instead I made them up (this happens a lot when I'm dating someone). 

These thought patterns used to not be that bad. They usually followed along the lines of "what if I don't pass this test" or "what if I forget my lunch at home." Sure it was hard to concentrate thinking like that and I tended to make them seem bigger than they really were, but they weren't all that life changing. Now, though, there's a lot more that can change. I don't feel that I have the same safety nets I did in college. These are the worse when I can't fall asleep or am so worked up that I can't stop talking in a loop.

Okay, yeah, everyone is a phone call/text message/ skype call/email away, but it isn't the same as seeing them in person. There are days where I wish I didn't worry all the time (then again, I sometimes wonder if I'd be happy if I didn't worry about something).

The trick is trying to stay calm and just go with what ever is happening. I have to remind myself that I can't control everything and that I need to calm down enough to make a critical decision.

How do I calm myself down? I think there's already a blog post about that (Welcome to Self Reflection should be it), but in a nut shell, Yoga, meditation and writing help out a lot. My focus doesn't even need to be on my problem while I'm doing any of those activities. I am able to let it all out and feel mentally prepared for my next step.

Which could always lead me right off a cliff if I'm not paying attention. It's a delicate balance.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please, like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now to go figure out this life stuff.

Welcome to the Bargain Hunt

It's Labor Day weekend. That means sales, sales and, oh, did we meantion it's the unofficial last weekend of summer? Except we're too busy trying to sell you back to school stuff. Like at most holidays, ads are everywhere and it's tempting to go out and buy an entire new closeted things you don't need.

For that matter, how does someone go shopping and not break the bank?

Well I'm pretty notorious for only spending money when I have to, but when I do need to buy things (like food, always food). I have a few rules that I try to follow.

Budget, budget, budget - just because something is on sale, doesn't mean I should automatically buy it. First I have to like it and second I have to make sure it fits in my budget. Ifi know I'm nearing my limit and it's not a necessity, then it can wait.

Coupons are my best friend - signing up for groupon, and online coupons for favorite stores or websites. 

Take advantage of seasonal sales - sometimes things go for as high as 75% off.

Goodwill and other second hand stores - I love these places. You never know what people are going to give away. One of my favorite second hand stores for video games and books is 2nd and Charles. I took my dad there for the first time and he couldn't believe how inexpensive the books and DVDs were. (Though I will always first recommend going to a library to get books).

Buy good quality - sure it's expensive, but it'll last longer. If you can't afford it right this second, save up for it. Good quality items will prevent you from having to replace things every couple of months / years.

Shopping for cloths, food and other necessities is an expensive activity. Careful planning and some good luck are always needed. I have a long list of things I need for work, hopefully I'll find some of them tomorrow.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome To Being Local

Being a local of a so called "Village" is not the same as what's seen on TV. It's not really a small town because all of the towns up this way pretty much merge into one another. People also come and go a lot.

What is nice is having a lot of things to do. There are a lot of shops and restaurants (that are also always coming and going, but hey at least there's variety). Plenty of community events like every other Wednesday in the summer they were showing movies in the town square. I can easily walk to the library and what I think is a community pool (I haven't confirmed that).

For the most part, I'm only social when I need to be. I go to the gym 2-4 times a week and talk to other people in my classes. My roommate has me going to the cafe she works at on the weekends. I also sometimes go out to eat.

Now, eating at a restaurant by yourself is a little intimidating. I say intimidating instead of other adjectives because I like eating by myself. I like not having to cook and getting out of the apartment. It can be a little intimidating because it's just you by yourself surrounded by other people who are with other people. Often I am the only person going solo to the restaurant. This is why, most often than now, I end up at the local bar. I feel it's less awkward.

Having a local bar isn't really like how it's portrayed on TV. It's not even where people really know your name. There always seems to be someone new when I go to the bar. Hell the only people who I know are consistently there are the bar tenders. Who knows, maybe they are judging me for going every other weekend by myself to a bar. At least I get to watch sports (still don't have cable).

You also never know who you might meet at the bar. I've had conversations range from how the new Suicide Squad movie looks to debating the finer points of the art of pizza making. I might go to the bar because I have nothing better to do with my life (plus happy hour), but I stay because I'm having fun. Hopefully I'm not making too much of a fool of myself.

Heck just this past weekend, I got into a conversation with a group of people at the bar. One of them gave me an apple to "keep the doctor away". I'm not sure how drunk this person was (though believe me, he had been long before I showed up), but he was certainly interesting to talk to.

If being a local means you've lived in the area for 5+ years, then I haven't accomplished that yet, but I am very familiar with the town. I walk to and from the gym without worrying too much. Sometimes I even recognize people and say hello. Well, I've been around long enough to see business open and then turn around at the end of the season and close. I'm a resident of this town, I feel like a local.

It might not be the towns shown on TV, but it is home.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, or leave a comment. I like hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Let me know if you guys ever have a topic you'd like me to write about.

Welcome to a Language Barrier

Because why only know one language?

Americans seem to be stereotyped as a people who only speak one language, American English. I wouldn't say that's an accurate stereotype for the Americans living along the Eastern sea board (or at least northern New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and New York). There are a lot of different people and cultures.

My roommate is Brazillian. She speaks Portugese and English (and I think she also knows Spanish). A lot of her friends are also Brazillian and though they also speak English, their friends and family who come to visit don't. This can lead to difficult conversations.

Today, I went to visit my roommate, who has been working at an Itallian cafe (it's a neighborhood cafe in Nutly New Jersey). A friend of her's was also at the cafe with her family visiting from Brazil. Everything that we said to each other had to be translated. I really wanted to be able to communicate with them, but I didn't know enough. I even accidentally said "good morning" instead of "good afternoon". 

My roommate's family is coming to visit and I don't want to sit there awkwardly while they're staying here. Therefore I've decided to learn Portugese. 

It's not the most difficult language I've tried to learn and thankfully I have a background in Spanish that helps a little bit. That doesn't mean Portugese the same as Spanish. I'm already noticing a lot of differences between the words. It does mean that the sentence structure is familiar and I can figure out a lot of the vocabulary with context clues. It's easier than learning Japanese (and some of my family members have been trying to teach me Japanese since I was young). 

I've been studying Portueges by using an app call Duelingo and listening to my roommate and her friends speak. So far, I can understand a little bit, but whenever I go to say something, I almost always end up saying something in Spanish. 

But I can't give up. If I want to be able to master a new skill, I have to keep practicing. 

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post or it really pissed you off, please like, share or leave a comment. I like hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now, back to the studying.

Welcome To Creativity

I recently read an article that said reading 30 minutes a day (or was it a week?) will help boost creativity. I wonder if they were only talking about books or just reading in general (you know, news stories, comic books, ingredient's labels...etc).

I read a lot. Fiction, mysteries, manga, biography, fanfiction are just a few of the many things I read on a regular basis. Sometimes I'm reading to learn something new. I recently got a copy of Jimmy Carter's autobiography (which he signed 😄) and have really enjoyed hearing about where he grew up and his live before he was president. Other times I'm off in a fantasy world, possibly fighting dragons with alien parasites. Thank you "Song of Fire and Ice" books (Game of Thrones) by George R. R. Martin for those crazy dreams.

Reading is a big influence on my life (even if it did take me a long time to start). Harry Potter is a huge part of my life and I'll never forget the first time I picked up an Astrix comic book. Reading has helped me imagin undiscovered worlds and dream up situations I wouldn't have before.

Maybe that's why I write so much. A lot of my writing is based on my dreams and even my nightmares. When I'm bored I'll think up new places to explore or monsters to fight. Hey everyone has at some point dreamed of being the hero...right?

And creativity isn't just about writing or drawing comics. It's also creating music, making cloths, knitting, designing buildings, solving math equations (yes, math requires creativity, lots and lots of creativity) and solving problems that aren't intuitive (like when you're toilet explodes for no reason or there's a BBQ and no one remembered a spatula).

Since this is the age of the Internet, it has become easier for people to share their creativity with others. Some great sites to post work (or see other people's work) are listed below. I personally use a few of them (user name will not be given) and have so far had a positive experience.

From YouTube to FanFiction (you know the place "Fifty Shades Of Grey" became famous), there are plenty of places where a person can post their creative work. For the movie makers there's Vimeo, YouTube and Facebook (how's that working out by the way?), for the writer there's FanFaction, her sister site for original content FictionPress, and many blog hosting sites. There's DeviantArt, Pintrist, and Tumblr for artists. ComicFury, The Duck and more for inspiring comic book and manga creators. Heck social media is a great place to share creative work (one of the many reasons this blog is shared on Facebook).

It might be true that reading 30 minutes a week helps with creativity, but there are other things that inspire creativity. I find that taking walks is very helpful to the creative process. It's not a "one size fits all" approach. And thank the higher powers for the Internet. There might be a lot of strange and random things floating on the web, but there are a few gems too.

After all if "Fifty Shades of Grey" started on the Internet, then the next " Game of Thrones" might be floating around somewhere on here too.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome To Family On The Go

Guess what everyone! I've hit my two year anniversary since starting this blog. What does that have to do with this post and why was it that I didn't update last week? Well, it has to do with all the changes I've recently been going through.

Between the end of March and the beginning of May, every single person in my immediate family moved. I'm not kidding. We all went from being in one central geographic location, to stretched all along the north east. I was the last to officially move (see any blog post in March, April or May to hear my whining thoughts on that). It's been tough being far away from my original support system and its even harder trying to build a new one.

With my current job, I have a grand total of 15 personal days (not including sick leave). This is a luxgery for someone's first job right out of college (personally I thank the fact that I work for a French company for this much time). However, I was used to the college schedule of having a month off between first and second semester and then three months off in the summer for vacation. It's true that I used a lot of that "free time" to work jobs and internships, but I was always able to travel if I wanted to. Now I have to squish all of that time into 15 days.

It makes you look at your priorities a little more closely.

Do I take that adventure in Hawaii or visit my mom in Michigan? Should I go visit my cousins in North Carolina or my family in California? When was the last time I saw my family in Arizona? Should I really take that long weekend in October or save up for the holidays?

For my summer vacation time this year, I decided to visit one of my favorite childhood places with my mom's family. This required a two hour plane ride and then a nine hour car ride. It was worth it. Though it was strange to have TV for the first time, we still didn't have Internet.

It was calm and it was relaxing, but because I spent so much time in Northern Michigan, I wasn't able to see all of the people I wanted to in the Detroit area. I also felt a bit rushed at times to get everything done.

Today I'm heading out to visit my family in Pennsylvania. I'm a lot closer (geographically) to them now, so it's not as big of a trip. I'm excited to catch up in person as Facebook only tells you so much.

It seems like I'm doing a lot more traveling since moving to New Jersey and all of it to see family. This isn't a bad thing. I love visiting my family. I have their backs (even when I don't agree with them) and hopefully most of them have mine (when we're not driving each other crazy).

It's a tough balance and I'm still not sure how to do it aall. It requires a hard look at what you value doing, who you value seeing, timing and how much everything will cost (hey I'm still just starting out and have to budget everything).

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post or it really pissed you off, please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. If ever you guys have questions or have a topic you'd like me to write about, let me know.

Welcome To The Gym

Yeah, I joined a gym. It's to help counteract all of the bagels and muffins I've been eating since moving to New Jersey. Not really, but it helps with that too.

I joined a gym to stay healthy and help keep myself strong enough to get out of a fight if I need to. Also to someday try out for American Ninja warrior. That show is awesome (the Japanese version even more so). My roommate talked me into joining the same gym that they go to. It doesn't have a pool, but there's an ocean about an hour away from here. I think I'll manage.

What did I do before I joined a gym? I worked out at home. It was convenient, didn't cost anything (except maybe a few bucks for DVDs), and I had my own space to do my work out.

So, why did I decide to join a gym even though I had a good thing going for me working out at home. Well, back in Maryland I had a ground floor apartment. It didn't matter how much noise I made or how often I banged on the floor. Now I live on the third floor with all wooden flooring, plus a baby lives down stairs. It wouldn't be polite to my neighbors (or roommate) for me to work out at home. I also thought it would be a great place to meet new people and learn some new workouts. So far, I've only accomplished learning the new workouts. Making friends is hard (if you don't believe me there's a blog post linked at the bottom for you to review).

Finding a gym wasn't the hardest decision for me. I went to a few different gyms, tried out there equipment, looked at there prices and made my decision (no, actually I did all my research online and ended up taking a great deal after checking the place out). I liked this gym because it wasn't expensive, I could walk to it, and my roommate belongs so I don't feel completely alone.

So far, I've been happy with the decision. I take two yoga classes and a spinning class every week. I also try to go one extra day to do weights. It can be a little difficult because my shoulder and hip still give me problems (old rugby injuries), but hopefully after a few months they won't be that much of a problem any more.

Now, would I recommend joining a gym after just starting out. Eh, it depends. If you have a very strict budget, my answer would be no. It's not something that is necessary. However, if you are in a new area and it wouldn't be easy to workout at home, I say go for it. You never know who you might meet at the gym.


If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Oh, right, here's that blog where I mention how hard it is to make friends after college. Enjoy...
http://startingoutinwonderland.blogspot.com/2014/03/welcome-to-learning-curve.html

Welcome to the 100th Post

I almost didn't realize it was my 100th post until I went to check on which titles I had already used. It doesn't seem like it has been long enough for 100, but I guess it has. This week was a fairly average week. Nothing super exciting happened. I can sometimes be hard to find something new to write about.

After our big party last weekend, my roommate had a fairly calm weekend (or at least I did). Yesterday was a shopping day for me. I discovered that the Bed Bath and Beyond near me is huge and has almost all of the products one could find at Target except for cloths, produce and a frozen section. Today I went to the farmers market and then my roommate and I cleaned for the rest of the day. I feel somewhat accomplished (though I never did get around to writing anything for my web-comic or novel).

Here's to hoping next week is just as smooth.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I started a web-comic. No I'm not going to link it to this blog just yet. I'm still trying to find my voice and get a better feel for my style. I will say that it is a mixture of humor and mystery (mostly humor). I've started watching Twin Peaks, which is definitely helping with the ideas. It's the strangest mystery show I've ever watched.

 The web-comic is just as much an experiment as my blog post started out as. Yet here I am at blog post number 100, still occasionally struggling to figure out what the heck to write about. I don't think I've explored all of my wonderland just yet. Oh, no, then I wouldn't freak out every time something new happens to me. But maybe I've started to get used to all the changes.

I don't know, at least I know how to fix a running toilet. UPS and I still have our issues, so not everything is peachy.

Let me know if you guys ever want me to write about a topic. I'm sure I'll have one for next week.

See y'all then.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me. I'm going back to watching Twin Peaks. Maybe I'll one day live in a town like that (the almighty only knows).

Welcome To Party Time

Summer is in full swing and what's the best way to celebrate than with a party. Yesterday my roommate and I threw a party to celebrate all things summer. It was my first major party that I was hosting (or at least helping with the hosting) since college. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to next one.

Throwing parties now is very similar to parties I threw in College. Major differences include more food, better drinks and the number of people to help clean up (there were seven people in a house on campus as oppose to an apartment with just me and my roommate).

For anyone wanting to throw a party and need a little advice, below are some pieces I picked up from my roommate and lodgemates.

1) Pick a simple theme and is seasonally appropriate (also that isn't offensive to another culture). This is helpful because decorations will likely be easy to find and might be on sale. If you decide to not have a theme that's okay too.

2) Make your apartment / house look clean. I don't mean do a full scrub down before the party, just a quick rub down so that people aren't questioning the green stuff growing in your sink (just kidding). Parties tend to be messy and you have to clean up after them anyway. Why put in all of the effort to make you apartment spotless before hand only to have to clean up all over again the next day?

3) Recruit people to help out with set up and clean up. You will need the help. I don't know how many times I've woken up after a party, looked around and wished I wasn't the one who needed to clean up. It's a little less daunting with a few extra hands.

4) The type of food to have. This is tricky because I feel it depends on the type of part. If you are throwing a dinner party or back yard BBQ it's kind of a given that there will be a lot of food and enough to cover at least one meal. If it's neither of those than I would suggest some finger foods. Things that are easy to put together and clean up after. Chips and dip are good bases for these parties, but not usually enough. Small sandwiches, meats and cheeses with crackers, and plenty of desserts keep people filled up.

5) Have people bring something (drinks are the best recommendation). When I was in college, my lodgemates and I threw a party within the first few days of moving in. We had a supply of drinks and some chips when we started the party. The next morning we didn't have any more chips, but about three times as many drinks as we had started with. Yesterday we asked everyone to ether bring a drink or a snack. We currently have a cooler full of drinks and no more tuna sliders.

Of course these are suggestions. All parties are different. Heck there have been many parties where it's just a group of friends who order pizza. Clean up, though, still sucks.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post or it really pissed you off, please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now I just need to be ready for work tomorrow. Joys.

Welcome To America's Birthday

Happy Forth of July everyone! Or at least the day after the forth of July. And what better way to end the holiday weekend celebrating everything 'Merica than by watching the USA in the Women's World Cup. It is a glorious game.

The forth of July was a little different this year. It was the first year that my dad, sibling and I didn't set off our own sparklers (the legal stuff of course). Instead we watched what we could from my dad's balcony and the PBS special. To be honest, I thought watching the DC fireworks show on TV was a lot more fun  than actually going to DC. At least we can hear the music and fireworks when watching it on TV. It was also really cloudy yesterday and made it hard to see anything.

All other forth of July traditions were celebrated.

Our first mission of the morning was going out and buying a Blueray copy of 1776. If you've never seen the movie, it's worth it. Mr. Feeny (William Daniels) is in it and it totally explains why the high school in Boy Meets World was John Adams High.

My sibling and I then fought over control of the TV as both the England v. Germany game was on and Independence Day (another must in my family). Sibling won, and I followed the game online (today's game was way more important anyway).

We finished off the day by watching Jurassic Park (the original of course). I really wanted to see it again after seeing the new one and we all wanted to laugh at the original line Jess Goldblum says in both Jurassic Park and Independence Day ("Must go faster! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!")

In some ways the forth of July reminds me what American's fought for (and are still fighting for), the right to be independent and create there own destinies. No one tells the United States what to do (well they try, but we tend to ignore them). It also reminds me of how our nation has changed since we signed a piece of paper telling the world that we didn't belong to anyone.

Since 1776, we no longer have to have property to vote, we can be of any race or nationality as long as we are a citizen of the US, we don't have to be a man, we have 17 more amendments than we started with, and we are continuing to grow. Sure we don't agree on anything (internationally and internally), but we're learning and evolving. Hopefully for the better.

If I had one wish for the United State's Birthday, it's that we keep growing and evolving. We're probably going to make some more mistakes (it's not like we haven't before), but we have to continue creating our own destiny.

Here's to another year and not f!%*&$g it up too much.

If you enjoyed this post (or it pissed you off), please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome To The Weekend Getaway

This weekend I went up to Connecticut to visit one of my cousins. We had a lot of fun and my cousin showed me around his home town of New Heaven. It was a lot of fun and Connecticut pizza is amazing.

Visiting my cousin was my first big trip in the area and it was worth it. I was nervous about driving in a completely new area, but thankfully my roommate lent me her GPS. It worked great on the way to my cousin's house, but on the way back today I kept loosing the satellite signal. I just kept praying that I'd eventually find my way home.

Part of the fun of weekend getaways is exploring new places. Being new to the area allows for a chance to meet as many new people as possible and go to tons of new places. I still haven't seen a lot of New York City and Sleepy Hollow is about a 15 minute drive.

Weekend getaways can be planned out way in advanced or decided on in half a second. There's a guy who lives in my building who takes his motorcycle, picks a direction and just goes. I wish I could do stuff like that, but I'm a planner.

Some tips for a weekend getaway (for those who are on there own or with a friend).

1) Check for toll roads - if you don't have an EZ Pass or cash on hand things can get tricky. Also tolls in general just start to add up. It's almost 30 dollars to go from Baltimore Maryland to Ridgewood New Jersey. That's more than a tank of gas.

2) Where to sleep - this is more important if you are doing a spontaneous getaway. For the out door adventurer,  it might be a good idea to have a tent and spare air mattress in left in the car. Hopefully a camp ground can be found. Otherwise, hope a decent hotel has a vacancy. These are the days I'm so glad we have Yelp.

3) Avoid getting lost - at least avoid getting lost for too long. Investing in a good smart phone or GPS (for those of us who are technologically challenged) is extremely helpful. Sometimes you can even program them to avoid tolls and major highways.

4) Take chances - if there are a lot of cars in the restaurant parking lot, or a line around the corner. It might be worth it to stop in and try the food. It could be a tourist trap or it could be a great life time experience. Either way, there will be a story out of it.

5) Forget about work on Monday (or which ever day you have to go back to work) - yeah it'll still be there when you wake up bright and early Monday morning, but just for that moment pretend you don't have to worry about anything. Let yourself be in the moment and enjoy it.

I'd like to thank my cousin and his wife for having me this weekend. Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you like hearing from me.

Welcome To Points of View

Happy Father's Day! It's the day  role to celebrate the dad in your life. It doesn't matter if they are biologically related to you or were just a great role model in your life, they are someone you call dad. I love and appreciate my dad (even when he's driving me crazy). If I were able to visit him today, I'd give him a big hug.

My parents taught me a lot of things. One of those was that you might not agree with everyone you meet. In these cases its good to listen to the other person's ideas and what they think and then tell them your point of view. Well, that's the ideal world any way.

Hearing other people's points of view, especially if they are very different from yours, can be very challenging. Often to avoid a fight, the person least likely to start a fight will just nod their head and hope that the subject changes soon. Other times an argument is inevitable. Those are the worst.

It's also hard to put yourself in someone else shoes. Until something is perceived it is hard to be aware of or understand it. It can be hard to relate to someone who has a very different way of viewing the world. It's best to be as respectful as possible.


Of course, sometimes no one in the party agrees to listen. Or they've both listened so much, but can't get their point of view across. This is typically when I have to walk away.

The only way to proceed is with an open mind and the ability to listen. Hopefully the both parties will be able to learn from each other.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post, or if really pissed you off, please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and hopefully you guys like hearing from me. Being a grown up and acting like one is really hard.

Welcome to the Heat

I saw "Jurassic World" today. It was a great monster flick, but holds no candle to the original. I liked the kids. They weren't annoying at all. I liked Chris Pratt and the girl he was with. It was just so easy for me to predict who was going to live and who was going to die. I also missed the sense of aww and wonderment when seeing the dinosaurs. There wasn't a "look it's a dinosaur" moment where I felt like I was five again.

I've ranted too long...

Since moving to New Jersey, I would say the third thing that I miss the most (behind my friends and family) is the lack of central AC in my apartment. Oh we do have AC, it's just not on all the time and it doesn't cover the whole apartment. If I'm cooking in the kichen, then it's like I'm being cooked with the food.

Anyway, next weekend it will officially be summer and boy do I wish it was over already. I can't stand the heat. Yesterday I was in Newark for a festival, it was so hot I slid off the chair I had been sitting in. I felt so gross. 

And of course if you want to go from outside to any restaurant/store/movie theater you freeze your butt off. I just went to the movies in shorts and a T-shirt and I really should have packed a sweater as well.

Several ways I have been beating the heat this June (and will probably carry on through July and August) are as follows:

1) A fan - my fan is awesome. It circulates the air and I get cooled down. I use it with the air conditioning sometimes to help the cold air move faster.

2) Making iced drinks - I make a pot of coffee at some point during the day. Either pour fresh coffee over ice or stick it in the fridge for a few hours to overnight. Yeah refrigerated coffee gets a bit stale. But at least you have cold coffee for breakfast.

3) Go out in the morning or at night - it's the coolest time of the day and plenty of people are out at those times to talk to.

4) Cold showers - not only do they help with getting cooled down if your overheating, they help get rid of excess sweat.

5) Go to a coffee shop/the library - hear me out. You buy a drink or just sit down and enjoy a good book. It's also where a lot of creative things happen. You never know who you might meet there as well.

If the heat has you down, you can also find the local pool, head to the beach/lake or participate in other water related activities. Just have someone with you that knows water safety.

Hopefully I don't get too pink this summer. Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post or it really pissed you off, please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Have a good week.