Columbus 3-Day Weekend

This weekend was a 3-day weekend in Massachusetts-- Monday off for Columbus Day. So, Rodney and I decided for another fun adventure. :) Saturday, we went to Saratoga Springs, NY so Rodney could drop off some instruments for the studio at UMass, so we browsed Saratoga streets (beautiful!) We got home Saturday night and went to a Grad Student Campfire party, which was also really fun. Then, Sunday morning, we got up early and left for Colchester, VT to have an enjoyable weekend with Rod and Glenna Copeland again (family friends on Rodney's side). We stayed there until Monday night, when we returned home. Great weekend! Mini vacation! :)

A wonderful store in Saratoga with fancy racetrack hats-- these cost $100-150 each!

On the streets of Saratoga.

Rodney LOVES antique stores so he can look for records.

Rodney remembered this place from when he went to Saratoga Springs with the other grad assistant last time, and remembered loving it. So, we came here again! :)

THIS place is the birthplace of the potato chip! Turns out, the first time the potato chip was invented was out of spite and anger. It's a restaraunt, and so a customer ordered the "potato fries", which were really thick potato slices that were fried. The customer complained, stating that he wanted it thinner, so the waiter took it back so they could redo the guy's potato slices. When he received the second order, the customer still complained, stating he wanted it even thinner, so at this point the waiter was angry at the customer's pickiness, so took the order back and asked the cook to please cut the potatoes so thin that it wouldn't even really be a potato slice anymore, but instead like a thin piece of grease and crisp. He brought those slices to the customer, the customer LOVED them, and all the other customers around him were crowding around to try this "new fried sensation." Isn't that great?? All this happened at this Potato Chip shop in 1858.

Our drive up to Vermont-- Vermont is called the "Green Mountain State", and I completely understand why. It's COVERED with trees-- a complete smattering of color, and just GORGEOUS. Here are some of the pictures we took from our car window (the first couple were taken in Massachusetts).

A piece Rodney is playing, composed by someone for Amherst.

The beautiful driveway to Rod and Glenna's house off Lake Champlain.

Rod and Glenna's house (the front)-- it's right off the lake (which is behind it).

These two pictures are great-- we're driving on a thin land mass that cuts through Lake Champlain-- the first picture (above) shows New York in the background. The second picture (below) shows Canada in the background. You look left, you see NY. To the right, Canada. It was great!

Some funny plastic "masks." haha!

This picture shows "Camel's Hump", the tallest (and most well-known) mountain in Vermont. It's named Camel's Hump for... well, obvious reasons. :) Some call it "crouching lion," but I don't see that so much.

We HAD to reenact this picture! We came to Vermont to visit Rod and Glenna about 4 years ago, and went to this cheese tasting place (Cabot), and outside there's this cow. We had NO idea it would still be there when we came this weekend, but it was! So, we reenacted the picture. :) The old one (from 4 years ago) is below.

Glass blowing. :) I liked this first picture because the flash makes it look like a lightning bolt is going through the oven to the man! haha

Pretty scenery!

THE VON TRAPP HOUSE!! Remember The Sound of Music? This is the Von Trapp family's house when they moved from Austria after the Nazis chased them out. The liked Vermont because it looked very similar to Austria. The two parents have died, but some of the children still live, and they have quite a few grandkids.

Rodney and me in front of the Von Trapp house.

The REAL Sound of Music crew-- the actual Von Trapps. :) Maria (the main character from the movie) is on the top right (next to Captain Von Trapp). The woman to the left of Captain Von Trapp is his first wife, before she died.

Another great weekend! :)

Feeling Pathetic

Today, I'm feeling completely pathetic.

We got home from Saratoga Springs, NY (more about that trip in the next post to come), and I had a sudden burst of energy to get in shape! It's been... not exaggerating... 6 years since I've really worked out. I've done some small things here or there, such as coaching the cheerleaders how to do kicks, jumps, and warm-up drills, but that's it. So, after I realized my higher metabolism isn't going to last forever, (and proof of that is starting to peek around the corner), I decided to start getting in shape. Heck, I'm in Massachusetts, with this BEAUTIFUL scenery around me, a nice calming run will help me get in touch with nature, right?

ARGH. I just finished my "run." I got all "suited" up, with my new iTouch armband, workout pants, and tee-shirt, did my stretches, kept playing up in my head that "aw, it really won't be so bad. Like riding a bike, just like riding a bike." I thought back to the days I was in cheerleading and would run a mile at 5:30am every summer morning (CHS cheerleaders, you know what I'm talking about), so really, what could be so hard? All of those out-of-shape ads and statistics, they won't apply. I'm powerful Angela Zuroeveste, and I have all of the running equipment I need... iTouch tunes will SURELY provide a fit heart. No doubt.

So, I stepped off my front steps and proudly started jogging with my head held high. Looking around at all the fall leaves, the squirrels prancing along, the chipmunks scampering, and I am "one" with nature. I wave to the neighbor, feeling proud as I think about how I am role modeling the ways to stay in shape. I've run past about five apartment buildings, and I'm thinking, "Wow, really a cinch." But then, just as Keith Urban's "Only You Can Love Me This Way" comes on the iTouch, I start bogging down. Oh no! It must be the song, it's too slow! I quickly change it to something more lively-- The Used? Sean Kingston? Cobra Starship? Why don't any of these work?? After only about... oh, 6 or 7 apartment buildings (probably close to 100th of a block), the familiar pain in the chest... (only it used to come after a mile or so), the side cramp, and my legs feel like I'm carrying 20 full-grown men on my back. I know that I'm still in sight of my neighbor, and she saw the building I came out of and the short distance I've traveled. So, I push on, beginning to really feel like a trooper. Maybe I can push through this?

I round a corner...after what feels like an eternity, and what would amount to probably only about two blocks, and I HAVE to walk. My mouth is one big cottonball, my throat feels like I just swallowed a bag of sawdust, and my whole body is aching. So, I walk. I tell myself I'll only walk the same amount of time I jogged. Luckily, no one's around to hear me breathing so heavily one would swear I ran a marathon. Finally, I set off again. This time, the aches begin immediately, but I trek forward. I mean really, am I this bad??

After finally making it around the three apartment complexes, I had traded off jogging and walking probably four or five times. And we're talking... 1/4 of a mile. Really. That's it. I jogged up to my apartment, thankful the neighbor wasn't there anymore to see the quick return of the pathetically panting lady, and walked into my apartment. Everything was darker from the blood rushing to my head, and I sank to the coach. The sick feeling came then-- nauseous. I then proceeded to complain to my ever-so-patient husband about how sorry I felt for myself because of how badly out of shape I was. I mean, really-- 1/4 mile, and I return from it feeling this exhausted?

It's because of Keith Urban.

:]

Hobby Needed

I've realized through many hours of boredom that I just need a good, solid hobby. I already do a LOT of reading at school (subbing tends to be quite a bit of videos and quizzes), and we do really fun things on weekends. What I need... is a weekday hobby. Something that is inexpensive (preferably) and will keep me busy. Any ideas? Please comment. :]

Hamilton Orchards, and a Smelly Festival

Today, we went to the Hamilton Orchards with the saxophone studio. It was really fun-- we went apple picking, ate cider donuts, went to a petting zoo, and drank LOTS of apple cider. (Rodney would like to go on record that he ate 13 apples from the apple trees.) It was great-- some really funny times and just a wonderful day outside. Yesterday was rainy and cold, and then a BEAUTIFUL day today. We really lucked out!

It was really beautiful outside, and a GORGEOUS view around the orchards. It's hard to see in some pictures, but you get the general idea.

About 1/2 of the saxophone studio went to the orchards (some were at a marching band trip to Connecticut). Great view in the background!

Here's the start of apple-picking!

Some orchards...

ADORABLE pigs!!! Their pen was all muddy because of the rain yesterday-- it made them even cuter! :)

Goats!
This one got stuck in the fence like this-- we eventually helped him out. :)

DONKEYS!

THIS guy was right by the door opening to my side of the car! It's kind of fuzzy, but basically a REALLY big bee. It took me a few praying moments to sneak into the car. With five people in the car we were driving, I didn't want him getting in and go through a stinging frenzy. :)

Some of the view driving up to the Garlic and Arts Festival in Orange, MA. It was a very "on the whim" trip-- we were heading home from the orchards and decided that it sounded fun, so took a 30 minute detour to a cute festival (or-- "smelly" festival as it was advertised). :)

Some of the Garlic and Arts Festival-- a hula-hooping contest going on. :)

THE DREADED GARLIC TEA BOOTH. We were really curious, so we got a sample of "Organic Garlic Tea"-- it left our mouths burning and we were never the same again. Pretty insanely disgusting. It also shot our palates for the next few samples. Yuck! Garlic Tea= never have.

An overview from the food area.

Tom (the senior grad assistant at UMass with Rodney) checking out some pretty funky pumpkins. From Canada? (If I'm remembering right).

Great day!

Pumpkins, Lake Champlain, and Apples

Hello, friends and family!

Rodney and I have FINALLY settled into a pretty solid schedule and routine. The first few weeks of substituting, I was still getting used to Rodney's school schedule, so we wouldn't see each other very often. Now, Rodney has a better grasp on his weekly schedule, and we're able to have dinner together every night, and he's only gone two to three nights out of the week. On weekends, we usually do something fun outside of the area. Tomorrow (Saturday) we're going to an Art Museum Community Day at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College (we have to stay indoors Saturday because it's raining all day!) We were originally going to go to Orange, Massachusetts for the Quabbin Garlic and Arts festival, but the rain would definitely put a damper on that trip. :( We're also going apple orchard picking with the saxophone studio on Sunday (no rain-- 70 and sunny!). We'll post pictures when we get back from those places.

Substituting is getting easier... my earlier post talked about the many drastic differences between Amherst High School and the districts I'm used to, but I'm now starting to think I just had a very different mix of classrooms at the beginning. This week I substituted three times at the high school and twice at the middle school, and those three times went great.

The weather's getting colder (as it is I'm sure in Boise), but the trees are starting to change color! I guess the second to third week in October is when it gets really pretty-- we'll take lots of pictures and post them on here. :) New England foliage-- yes!!!

Recently (a couple weekends ago), we went to Vermont to see family friends Rod and Glenna Copeland. It was wonderful to have a relaxing weekend in such a beautiful home right off Lake Champlain.

The view from their back porch. Gorgeous! New York is far off in the background, you can take the lake off to the left to get to Canada. :)

We went to a Balloon Festival, where they launched Hot Air Balloons.

Rodney and-- Rodney! :) This is who Rodney is named after!

Going up!

We also went to Shelbourne Farms, which is a famous farm that's known for teaching other farmers, as well as schools and the community, more about the importance of farming and finding ways of preserving land and using new resources to get the most out of natural resources. Amazing area!

Shelbourne mansion

We also went to visit Aunt Robin, Hillary, and Andrew in Andover, and while we were there visited the Applecrest Farm Orchards in New Hampshire. It was great! We both picked pumpkins and had our first experience in an Apple Orchard!

Petting zoo! :)

We went on a hayride through the apple orchards.

The lovely hay we sat in. It took a minute for us "city folk" to gather the nerve just to sit in hay-- how pathetic are we?! :)

Rodney was pretty excited about eating apples fresh off the tree. :)

Shall we vote? Which bite is bigger? Rodney on the left, me on the right.

Magic! Levitation baby!

Fun country music!

This was adorable-- a pie-eating contest for kids! The winner got to pick out any pumpkin.

Sunflowers! Huge ones!

Picking out our pumpkin...

...and finishing off with ice cream. :)