Tuesday, September 25, 2012

"D" is for...

I've broken my silence and made my first baby blanket in over a year!  In Singapore, it was impossible to find the soft minky plush fabric I use in my blankets so I couldn't make my signature blankets.  But, now that I'm back in Houston, I have access to my fabrics again.  I prefer to buy my minky fabric at Hobby Lobby.  Joann's has them too, but they're not nearly as soft as the brand that Hobby Lobby carries.  Much to my delight, I found that during my absence over the past couple of years, Hobby Lobby has increased the variety of colors they carry of the minky fabric.  Oh the possibilities!

I picked up the NYC fabric on one of my trips to the city and have been waiting for the right person to use it for.  Little Darya was born in Jersey, but just moved to TX.  So, this will be a little reminder of her East Coast roots.  I'm a little late with my gift as she is now a few months old, but it's better late than never right?

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Friday, September 21, 2012

Wild Crazy 30th Bash

Our 30th bash was a trip to the fun and happening town of Ithaca, NY.  It's where we spent four years of our lives, where we met, and where we fell in love.  We were originally going to go to New Orleans, but it was a good thing we didn't because Hurricane Isaac rolled through town earlier that week and would have definitely killed our plans.  But, we had the wise foresight to opt for a trip down memory lane in good ole' Ithaca.

So, on labor day weekend (the weekend after my birthday and the weekend before Aslik's bday) we flew to Philly, then took a little turbo jet prop over to Ithaca.

Before I start my picture reel, I must preface them with the admission that in an effort to get this post written up, I have opted to post my pics sans photoshop.  I'm currently in NJ, but my laptop is home in Houston with Aslik.  I managed to upload all of my pics to flickr before I left so now I can still post them.  Posting pictures without editing kind of feels like stepping out without your makeup on...oh wait, I don't wear any makeup anyway! Ok, well then nevermind, I'm going to be shameless and show you the pics anyway.

So, our most important stop in Ithaca was our alma mater - Cornell University!
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Listened to that clock chiming every hour for four years...

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The top of libe slope - had to climb the giant slope every day my Sophomore year.
Aslik has no sympathy because he climbed that hill for 3 years!

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Where we had our first lunch "date" as friends

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Where Aslik took me on our first real date - it was a  fantastic(free)
Jewish dancing/spoon playing concert.  I believe we lasted about 10 minutes.

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West campus view of the slope - I lived in the tower on the left my Sophomore year.

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View of my Arts Quad from the top of the clock tower

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One more look at the iconic clock tower and Uris library...spent countless hours studying there.
Aslik, on the other hand, never needed to study...no fair.

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We even caught a rare sighting of the Big Red Bear on Ho Plaza!

We also visited one of our favorite spots - Robert Treman Park
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Amongst our friends, this is known as the "Magic Spot".  It truly is magical
when you climb into the gorge and enjoy the waterfall up close.

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While hiking, we saw these people walking their pet.....goat.  Seriously?!?

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We drove out to Taughannock Falls, or, er....where Taughannock Falls is supposed to be. It's the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi.  However, because of the dry summer, there was no water.  Shocking!!

We spent some time driving along the Cayuga Lake wine trail.  We did a little bit of sampling, but really went for the scenery.  I made Andy do a photo shoot with me.
IMG_5490On the grounds of Sheldrake Point Winery
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Sorry, the color of this one is so different from the one before even though it's the same scenery.  I changed the settings on my camera and couldn't edit the two to look similar.

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Seneca Falls Episcopal Church
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Of course we had to do a fun picture as well....I said gangsta pose and somehow I
managed to come up with my fobby pose.....maybe I'm going for fobby gangsta?

We had a fabulous time, ate great food, and got to enjoy a weekend in the nice and temperate climate of central NY.  Turning 30 wasn't so bad.....:-)

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Jslik's 30!

It's been exciting around here lately as we've been busy celebrating birthday week in the Slik household.  I am only 11 days older than Aslik so we usually combine our birthdays together and have a fancy dinner out. But this year was the big 3-0 for the both of us, so we went all out.

If you remember, Andy got me a serger for my birthday....or more like Andy allowed me to buy myself a serger.  I found a slightly used one on Craigslist for a steal so Andy surprised me on my birthday with a new pair of earrings.  My first pair of diamond earrings - a classic that every wife should have :-)

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Then we had a fancy dinner at Uchi in Houston.  Uchi was named to Bon Appetit's top 100 restaurants of 2012.  It was fantastic!

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Note - I was actually born on 8/29, but, according to my mother, the nurse wrote the day down wrong, and thus my legal birthday is 8/28.  I take the best of both worlds and have turned my birthday into a two-day celebration!

Here are some of the tasty things we ate.  I can't remember the names for all of them....we ordered so many dishes!
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My favorite - smoked yellowtail with pears and yucca crisps

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Andy digging into one of the dishes

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This was like a hotstone rice - so yummy!

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The 30-year-old me :-)

After a great night out, I continued my birthday celebration the next day.  I drove up north to visit some friends in my old neighborhood.  I had a fantastic fruit tart from Central Market and a couple of my favorite kiddos helped me celebrate.

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I asked for a nice picture - this was the only one I got.

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All the other pictures were like this one.

It was a fantastic birthday, and now I've officially entered a new decade!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Friends and weddings

Ok, so I have to back track a bit....things have been a little busy around here and I haven't had a chance to blog in almost a month! Whoops.

A few weeks ago, we took a trip up north to Dallas for a college friend's wedding.  The best part of going to college friends' weddings is that they usually turn out to be a bit of a reunion, not matter how small.  We got to see some of our good college buddies (and their significant others).

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Congrats to the newlyweds!