Travelin' Man

James left home this morning and won't be back until October. Honestly, take a look at his schedule for the next four weeks. It includes two weeks of working with a client in upstate New York followed by another week in Chicago for the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) and then back to NY to finish off the job he started today. Out of the next four weeks, he'll be home for a total of three full days. Yikes!

Once James finally gets back home at the end of September, then I'm off for a number of work related trips of my own in the months of October and November. It's a busy schedule and it will be tough to be away from each other for such long stretches (though I'm not going to lie, I spent tonight eating PB&J and watching chick flicks). At least I have Summit to keep me company. The shot below shows James saying goodnight to Summit (and me too!) from NY via iPhone Facetime. Pretty cool, right? Well, at least we have that.

And guess what's right in the middle of all this travel? Our first wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that we've already been married for a year! Seriously, how did that happen?

Good Outdoor Fun

A few of our friends invited us to go camping and white water rafting in western Massachusetts last weekend. So after Bobbi's funeral, we packed up the car and headed up to Peppermint Park Campground for a little R&R and some time out-of doors. When we arrived, we set up our tent and waited for the others to arrive back from their zip-line adventure.

Their tents...and ours.

After everyone arrived back at camp, we started up the campfire and made dinner. Usually when James and I camp we're in the backcountry and dinner consists of Ramen noodles and packets of hot chocolate. That was not the experience we were treated to on this night. Our friend Chris cooked us a gourmet dinner of roasted veggies, potatoes and corn on the cob along with some kind of pork roast for the meat eaters and veggie burgers for the vegetarians (thankfully I was not the only one!). For dessert, of course, we had smores.

On Sunday we woke up, packed up the tents and headed to the Moxie Outdoor Adventures headquarters in Charlemont, MA to get ready for a day of white water rafting on the Deerfield River. Neither James or I had ever been rafting before so we were super psyched.

The section of the Deerfield River that we rafted is known as the Fife Brook. The major Class III feature along this stretch of the Deerfield is called the Zoar Gap which was by far the most fun part of the ride down. Because we were part of a small group, our guides actually let us do it twice. James and I got to sit in the front of the raft, which are the most exciting seats on the boat, but also two of the most important because you have to work together and paddle in sync. They are also the only two seats on the raft where there is nothing to wedge your feet into and not much to hold on to. Still, beside one casualty out of the boat (James) and one fat lip (Cary), we did alright.

Rafting the Zoar Gap, Photos by Moxie Outdoor Adventure

It was so much fun we really want to go again and try our hand at some Class IV and V rapids. There are a few advanced trips we could do in western MA and even more in Maine. Maybe we'll have to put that on the list for next summer.

Goodbye Bobbi

Last week, my (great) Aunt Barbara, or Bobbi as we all called her, died. She was 86 years old. Bobbi was my grandmother's sister on my dad's side of the family. Because my grandma Chadwick passed away long before I was born and because Bobbi and her husband Carl never had children, they were a big part of our lives growing up and were thought of like grandparents. Barbara was the last of my "grandparents" still living.

We'll always remember Bobbi for her warm smile, unending generosity and her ability to spoil us silly. When we were kids, my brother Curt and I used to love sleeping over Aunt Bobbi's house because that meant we'd get to sleep in "tent city," drink Coca-Cola and sweetened coffee and stay up to the wee hours of the morning watching old westerns on Uncle Carl's big box TV. Bobbi would take us to Ames and let us buy one (or maybe two) new toys and she always sent us home with a bag of freshly baked cookies or homemade pies. Such sweet memories.

Saturday was Bobbi's memorial service at her old church in Meriden. I was prepared to read a poem, but just before the service started, my mom showed me a note that Bobbi had clipped out of a newspaper and placed in a box labeled "important documents." My mom found the box when she was cleaning out Bobbi's things after she died. The note was so perfect and so Bobbi that I decided to read it instead. If there's one thing you could count on when you visited Bobbi, it was a smile.

Bobbi's Clipping:

A smile costs nothing, but gives much. It enriches those who receive, without making poorer those who give.

It takes but a moment yet the memory of it may last forever. A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business and is the sign of friendship.

It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and is nature's best antidote to trouble.

Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is something of no value to anyone unless it is given away.

Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours. No one needs a smile so much as he who has none to give.


Goodbye Bobbi, we love you very much! This picture really makes me smile.

Change is in the Air

You may have noticed our new look (hint, scroll up). Since we aren't technically newlyweds anymore, I figured it was time to change our blogger banner. Like the new look? Also, be sure to check out our new "projects" page to the left (the button titled Creatively Satisfied). This is where I'll be posting some of our handmade projects and artwork. We love your feedback, so be sure to let us know what you think!

Also, our blog isn't the only thing that has gotten a face lift lately. I decided to go all out and finally get my PWC (post-wedding chop). It is SHORT, but I think I love it. James is a fan too.

More changes are heading in our direction over the next year, and they are much bigger than a blog update or haircut. Unfortunately it's still too soon to announce it just yet so you'll all just have to wait. I know, suspense is killer, but it's my secret weapon to keep y'all coming back!

**Since we've received a few anxious inquiries about the big secret, I am adding this note to clarify...no, I am not preggo. We are still living happily in dog land and will be for awhile. =)

Summer Vaca, Part II: San Francisco

The last day in Hawaii was spent teaching our second Maps on the Web workshop. We finished around 4 pm, hopped on a flight to Oahu and then caught a red-eye to San Francisco.

View above the clouds as we approached SFO

We woke up, blurry-eyed in San Francisco and were ushered to a friendly work related meeting with an old colleague at the SF Bay Area Conservation District to discuss an upcoming training scheduled for October (woot, woot - another trip to SF!!).

The Ferry Building and the Bay Bridge as seen from the BCDC office ~ The Financial District

After a power nap, we met up with one of my Gettysburg College roommates, Becky, who had flown in from Washington state. The purpose of the San Francisco diversion was for the wedding of another G-burg roomie, Molly and her fiance, Greg. Another one of our roommates, Kendall and her boyfriend Javi drove into the city for the wedding from their home in Petaluma.

G-burg ladies: Kendall, Becky, Molly and Cary

It's been awhile since all the roommates were in one place at one time. The wedding was held at Greens, a world-renowned vegetarian restaurant right on the water at Fort Mason. It was a beautiful, relaxed wedding and the food was seriously TO DIE FOR. I didn't hear one meat eater in the crowd complaining about the menu either, haha.

The rest of our time in San Francisco was spent sight-seeing, relaxing and eating more delicious food. We visited the Cable Car Museum, trolled along the Embarcadero and Fisherman's Wharf, climbed Coit Tower, window-shopped in Union Square, toured the bay, Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge by boat and enjoyed glorious San Francisco sourdough and the best ice cream in the world.

And just in case you didn't already think I was a little nuts, I also got up at 4 am the morning after the wedding (which also happened to be the same day we were to leave SF on a red-eye home) to run the San Francisco Half Marathon. Indeed, I was exhausted, but it was definitely worth it. The course was amazing and the experience of running over the Golden Gate Bridge at dawn is something everyone should do once in their lifetime (but be warned, it's much longer than it looks!). I went into the race with low expectations and a slow pace, but by the 8-mile point decided to pick up the pace because I was feeling better than I thought I would. Maybe it was the bridge that did it but in any case, I started ticking off 7:30 miles and felt invincible right thorough the finish line. Part of me wished I had just run the marathon instead. Oh well, maybe I'll get to that this fall.

All in all, our unlikely summer vaca turned out to be one that we'll remember for some time. Hawaii is simply breathtaking. At every corner there's something new and astonishing to look at. San Francisco, with it's culture and diversity, was a refreshing change from the status quo. Still, it was nice to return home and reunite with family and of course, Summit, who seemed to thoroughly enjoy her own two week vaca at Grandma and Grandpa's house which consisted of running every morning with Gramps and swimming in the lake each afternoon. We all love our summer vacas, don't we? Too bad there's no such thing as an endless summer. So now, we head back to work.

Summer Vaca, Part I: Hawaii

Hello again, faithful readers. Sorry it's been so long. We trust you are all enjoying your own busy summers and hope you've found time to fit in some kind of get-away with your family or friends. Summer vacas are the best aren't they?

For us, summer vacations are typically road trips and outdoor adventures, mostly here in the northeast. This summer, we had a unique opportunity to go to Hawaii for a week. What brought us all the way to Hawaii (that's SIX time zones away!)? Work, naturally.

Honolulu and Waikiki Beach ~ James, Cary, Sandy and Dave

As part of a national training grant, UConn CLEAR was commissioned to hold two trainings for the USDA Region 9 in Hawaii, one on Oahu and one on Maui. Three of us got on board to conduct the trainings, myself and a colleague Dave, along with some help from an old friend, Sandy (remember him?). It was great having the crew together again and along with James, the four of us were quite a traveling team.

We spent three and a half days on Oahu, mostly in the Waikiki area. Waikiki is a very popular tourist destination. The streets are lined with major hotel chains, restaurants, gift stores and people. LOTS of people. It was nice but I think we got out of there just in time. Three days was certainly enough! While we were on Oahu, we had a chance to visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial as well as the USS Missouri, the warship that traveled to Japan in 1945 to officially end World War II.

On day three and a half, we flew to the island of Maui. Maui was simply stunning. As soon as the plane landed on the tarmac we could tell we had made it to paradise. No big hotels, no bustling street sides. Everything about Maui was laid back, relaxed and easy-going. We quickly made our way to the small town of Paia on the north shore and found the Nalu Kai Lodge (although truth be told we drove past it a few times - it was so unobtrusive that if you didn't know what you were looking for you'd miss it). The Nalu Kai Lodge was more of a bungalow than a lodge and definitely nothing like the hotel we stay at on Waikiki. There were a total of eight rooms in the whole place. No TVs, no bathroom doors and no distractions. I think we could all agree it was...perfect. We settled in and then set off on foot to explore Paia and find something to eat. Paia had no shortage of excellent small town restaurants. We had a multitude of choices - from fresh seafood to Mexican, Mediterranean, Greek, Italian and more. Not to mention the gelato. Oh, the gelato! We ate well while we were there and probably came home a little chubbier too.

Paia Town Center and the Nalu Kai Lodge

On our days off we explored the entire island. From the Road to Hana and beyond to the top of Haleakala and the bottom of Honolua Bay, we saw beautiful beaches, waterfalls and rainbows; rugged mountain tops and volcanic craters; lush valleys and desert slopes; endemic plants, lizards, tropical birds and furry roadside rodents; narrow and terrifying country roads; sea creatures, SEA TURTLES, sunsets, moon rises, fallen stars and more. Much more. Too much to even describe. You must go. Or live vicariously through us. You can start by watching our video. Mahalo!