Random Acts

A few nights ago, a friend of mine and her husband came home to find half a dozen roses on their porch. There was no note, nothing to identify the giver. They live in a fairly rural area, so someone would have had to drive to their house. When she told us, asking if any of us were the anonymous culprit, I told her I found it creepy and she agreed. Not long ago, another stranger (or perhaps the same one?) left a note on their door to tell them how much they enjoy driving by their house since they’ve renovated it. I thought that was sweet at the time. I still think it’s sweet, as long as it’s not the same person who left the flowers.*

But it got me thinking, have you ever done something for someone anonymously? Or something that someone couldn’t pay back? Not all random acts of kindness have to be creepy. When I was a senior in high school, I found myself underdressed and under-budgeted in a very expensive restaurant with a friend. After hearing us express our concerns to each other over the price of the menu and our t-shirt and jeans attire, a woman at the next table paid for our dinner. The sweetest part about it was, we didn’t know she’d footed the bill until we asked for it, long after she had left. To top it off, it had been her birthday and she had told the server she “just wanted to do something nice for someone else.” There was no way to thank her, she hadn’t spoken to us at all during the dinner, (but we knew she had noticed us as we’d heard her comment to her friends how cute we were for ordering iced teas) and left no way for us to repay the favor or even thank her. It struck me as such an unselfish gift. She didn't need or want the satisfaction of seeing our faces, or hearing a "Thank you", like so many of us (myself included) do when giving gifts.

That night, my friend and I vowed to pay it forward. One day, when we were able, we’d do the same for someone else. Whenever I can, I try to pay some stranger a kindness that can’t be repaid. That night is one I’ll never forget because of that woman’s anonymous gift. After we’d recovered from our shock, the server told us, “she told me to tell you to never worry about how you’re dressed or about spending a little money, and to just enjoy life.” Words to live by.

*For the record, it turned out the roses were a random act of kindness (and not creepiness). A day or two after they found the roses, they found out they were from their neighbor.

Some Fabulous Things

This post really should be called “Some Fabulous Things I Just Discovered That Everyone Knew About 5 Years Ago”, but I thought that was a little long. I am totally late to the game on just about all of these, but I totally don’t care. These may be old news to you, but if they aren’t, you should check them out:

Basil: As in the herb. In our last two Harvest Routes baskets, we received a bunch of basil. I'd always loved the smell of fresh basil, but I don't think I'd ever been completely engulfed by it before. On the way home from picking up our basket, the large bunch of basil made my car smell like happiness and hunger. I'm now thinking about putting sprigs of fresh basil in every room. Is that pizza you're making? No, that's just the basil under the bed.

Thai Food: Yes, I know this sounds a bit like Columbus "discovering" America, but bear with me. Kurt and I just recently discovered Thai food (for ourselves). I don't really know why I'd never tried it before other than the fact that I didn't know of any Thai places in our area. Two years ago, Ploy Siam opened in the shopping center near our house and a few of our friends raved about. So we decided to try it one night and ordered takeout. Not knowing anything about the menu, we took some guesses and ordered. And the food was fabulous. It was fresh, flavorful, just spicy enough (you can tell them how spicy you want your order from 1 pepper to 5 peppers). It wasn't long before we were craving more, so we stopped in one night. The restaurant is absolutely gorgeous. The amount of detail that went into the design of the place is incredible. From the huge skylight detailed in gold leaf to the statue that sits in a reflecting pool. It's refreshing to find a restaurant that put just as much thought into the decor as the food.

Grounds for Sculpture: This state fairground turned sculpture garden in Hamilton, NJ (or "Princeton" as it claims) is definitely worth a trip. Surprisingly enough, I'd never really walked through the grounds. I'd been to Rat's (the AMAZING french restaurant modeled after Ratty's house in The Wind in the Willows) and I'd attended a wedding ceremony at GFS, but I'd never taken the time to walk the grounds and look at the sculptures. If you've ever been in the Hamilton area and have seen random, enormous, odd sculptures placed along highways, you've seen some of the overflow. The 45 or so acres are owned by sculptor, Seward Johnson (of the Johnson & Johnson family) and are filled with contemporary sculptures, some permanent, most temporary. Located in a corporate park and surrounded by warehouses, you'd never guess such a beautiful outdoor museum was placed here. It's a great place to go for a walk on a nice day and enjoy some beautiful and interesting art.

Downton Abbey: Last Sunday, I spent the entire day on my couch in a marathon session of Season 2 of this show. I found Season 1 on Netflix and was hooked after the first 2 episodes. I couldn’t stop thinking about it until a few days later when I finally had the time to watch the rest, in one night (which, if you ask me, is my definition of a great show/book/movie, etc.). If you like period dramas, the English class system, great acting and/or fantastic writing (and really, who doesn’t?), I highly recommend this show. Maggie Smith is in it (Professor McGonagall for all you Harry Potter fans) and that’s about it. It’s one of the things I like most about the show. Besides Maggie Smith (and Bernie from Notting Hill), I don’t know a single actor in it. The story is compelling, scandalous, funny, and heartbreaking all at once. It’s like an hour long emotional roller coaster that I just can’t get enough of. There are a ton of characters and the stories follow not only the noble family, but their servants as well, and there are fabulous plotlines for each character. I was amazed how quickly I became invested in each and every character. And now I'm kicking myself for starting it now since Season 3 won't be available in the US until January. So, in the meantime, I'm watching...

The Big Bang Theory: I can’t tell you how many people have recommended this show to me. I shrugged off each and every one of them, for no reason really. I kept forgetting to DVR it or really wasn’t that interested in starting a new show, or was deeply engrossed in 5 hours of Downton Abbey. I finally decided to order Season 1 on Netflix…and finished the entire 1st disc in one sitting. And then watched it again the next day because disc 2 had yet to arrive. This. Show. Is. Hilarious. Seriously, laugh out loud funny. I love all the characters and their quirks, but Sheldon is by far my favorite. I love the dorkiness of it and the psychologist in me simply bursts with delight every time any character reveals a new neurosis. The humor is smart and sarcastic - my favorite kind. Two thumbs up (although it would be more if I had more thumbs).

Learning to Live With It

Ok, I know I’ve been neglectful, but all that time not spent blogging has been put to good use. And so, I will have some great decor eye candy for you soon. Since we closed on our townhouse on May 18th, Kurt and I, my sister and her boyfriend, and our fathers have been working on it, pouring our blood, sweat and (my) tears into the place to make it ours. Here is a quick listing of what we’ve managed to get done so far:

• Moved the cabinets and soffit from over the peninsula to against the wall to open up the room 
• Installed boxes for 3 pendant lights over the peninsula
• Primed and painted every inch of every room and hallway (including the 20ft. walls in the stairwell) 
• Fixed the leaky faucet in the main bathroom 
• Installed blinds in the living room and master bedroom  
• Updated outlet and switch covers 
• Replaced wood trim on the front windows (all wood trim will be replaced at the end of the month)  
• Replaced carpeting in the 3 bedrooms 
• Trimmed overgrown trees in the backyard  
• Weedwacked the 10 square feet of grass in the backyard  
• Powerwashed the entire house and patio 
• Cleaned gutters  
• Replaced all doorknobs 
• Installed deadbolts on front and back door 

We still have a ton of things to do before we can really relax, but we’re getting there. From spilling 3/4 of a gallon of paint on the carpet to  realizing everything leaves a mark on flat paint, to running out of paint entirely for every room and none of the gallons matching each other, we’ve had some mishaps and are learning valuable lessons the hard way, understanding it’s a process is half the battle. 

As for the decorating, I’m learning to be patient and see the potential in things. There is not a single white wall in our entire house. Kurt and I both grew up with mainly white walls and wanted as much color as we could manage, so we might have gone a little overboard, but the rooms and their colors make us happy. We’re replacing and collecting furniture slowly, which has been the hardest part for me. I want the rooms to be done, but “done” costs money, and with a mortgage hanging over our heads, “done” needs to be slowly achieved. The thing is, since we’re collecting furniture from friends and family, nothing matches in that perfect, eclectic way and everything tells a story. We have a 1950’s era campaign dresser-turned-buffet inherited from my Nonni, a beautiful 300-lb, solid wood headboard and footboard given to us as a housewarming gift from friends who bought them at a yard-sale for $75. Our desk and dining room table were donated from friends, our dresser is another inherited piece from Nonni, and our gorgeous couch and refrigerator were beyond-generous gifts. All of this means that every piece of furniture we own means something to us. Yes, I might paint the desk and the dresser and replace hardware to give them new life, but they’ll never lose their meaning.

While slowly furnishing and decorating our home will save us money and ensure our house is truly that, there is one downside. And that downside is the blank, unadorned walls, the books sitting homeless and unorganized in boxes because we have no bookshelves, the mismatched bathroom because I haven't had the time to paint the vanity, the feeling that no matter how clean the place is, it won't "look" clean because of the various piles of tools and supplies scattered around the house. This has been a struggle for me. I dislike clutter very very much, especially when guests are over. But I'm learning to relax and let it go. They're my friends, they won't judge me because I haven't swept in 3 weeks or because they have no pretty art to look at. They'll get over it and so should I. That being said, I can't promise I won't go back to my neurotic ways once the house is more finished, but for now, I give up. The clutter wins. And I don't/am trying not to care.

Goodbyes

Tonight is our last night in Allentown. Tomorrow night, we’ll be packing the moving truck with all our worldly possessions and heading to the new house. Right now, I am surrounded by boxes, the walls are bare, our home is stripped down to its bare bones. It’s looking very sad right now. There’s nothing sadder than an empty home just begging for someone to fill it with memories and things. I’m sad to be leaving this apartment, our first place together. For all its quirks and alien insects, I love this place. And while we’re only moving 10 minutes away, I can’t seem to fight the urge to walk Main Street again, to get ice cream at Swal’s or a slice of pizza at La Piazza, or go for a run in Heritage Park. It’s silly, I know. I can just hop in my car and be back in 10 minutes, but I also know it won’t be the same as living here. I'll miss our neighbors. I’ll miss the old man who sits on his porch across the street and waves hello. I’ll miss the crazy, sweet lady next door and her enormous bear of a dog. I'll miss handing out candy to a thousand trick-or-treaters during the parade. I’ll miss being able to walk to my favorite pizza shop. I’ll miss the lake in the backyard even though it evicted us from our apartment for awhile. And then there’s the apartment: I’ll miss the built-in bookshelves, the hand-laid, 100-year old floors, the crown molding, the ornate radiators. At least I know it’ll be in good hands once we’re gone.

But we have new neighbors to meet, a new house to make a home, a new neighborhood to learn (or re-learn in my case) and that’s exciting too. I’m looking forward to adding our touch to our new place and filling it with new furniture and pictures and making it ours. I’m definitely looking forward to be finished painting and (hopefully) losing the arthritic ache in my hand from holding a paint roller for way too many hours. We’re onto a new chapter in our lives and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Why We'll Be Poor for the Next 30 Years

Kurt and I have some big big news to share: we bought a house! We closed on May 18th. I know most of you know this already due in part to Facebook and to the fact that I’ve told everyone we’ve spoken to in the past month (shh, don’t tell Kurt). Kurt wanted to keep it mum until everything was set in stone, so as not to jinx it. While he’s usually very practical, he is extremely superstitious when it comes to these things. “The house is NOT ours!” he’d say anytime I referred to it as such, and “It’s going to fall through, I just know it.” Ah, the power of negative thinking. Anyway, it’s an 3 bedroom, 2-1/2 bathroom end unit townhouse in the development where I grew up. It’s a little weird moving back there, but everything about the transaction just felt right. 

It needs a little work and a lot of painting, so we’re doing that in the 4 weeks before we move in. The process has been a learning experience, but we’ve been extremely lucky. We had a great realtor and lawyer and it has all gone very quickly and fairly smoothly. From putting our offer in to closing, the entire process took 50 days. Before that, we looked at houses for about 2 and a half weeks.

Here, I'd like to discuss how House Hunters depresses me. When we started looking at houses, I became obsessed with finding the perfect place. I searched realty sites, design blogs (to make our perfect place even more perfect) and DVR'ed every episode of House Hunters I could find. Well, my friends, that last part was not smart. Not smart at all. I learned that in Georgia, I could get a 4 bedroom McMansion in our price range. In New Jersey, well let's just say our options are less fabulous than that. Not to mention the fact that the taxes in this state are ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous. If we had moved across the river to Pennsylvania, for instance, our taxes would be half as much as they are in this lovely state. This was our biggest source of stress: taxes. Because yes, it is a buyer's market, but the taxes only go up year after year, and in New Jersey, they are already astronomical. They very rarely, if ever, go down. While we looked at houses, I became more and more stressed at what we could afford and where. But once we found this place, we decided to stay in Jersey. It was just too good to be true. And perfect for us.

The neighborhood and town is exactly what we wanted. The schools are amazing and the town is growing. Since I grew up in the neighborhood, I feel comfortable here and I know firsthand it's a good place to raise a family. We feel very lucky to have gotten such a great deal on this place since we almost completely wrote off looking in this town, thinking we’d never be able to afford it. The most exciting things for me in the entire house? The fireplace in the living room. It’s my first fireplace! I'm a little sad we're moving in in June and can't reasonably use it for another few months.

For the past week and a half, we've been working on it; painting the exterior wood trim, trimming the overgrown trees in the backyard, taking down cabinets from over the kitchen island (and moving them to the wall instead. Being where they were, they closed off the kitchen and dining room. Taking them down makes the floor plan much more open. Before and After pics to come.) My dad took up the carpets and primed and painted the 3 bedrooms so the carpets can be installed on Friday. I have a newfound love for power washing, and a newfound hatred for painting. We still have a long way to go, but it's coming along.

So now the fun part starts. Decorating. I have been scouring design blogs and websites, browsing the “home decor” section of Pinterest, and making “to do” and “to buy” lists as long as my arm. I can’t wait to go to IKEA and the antiques market nearby. Kurt and I had agreed awhile ago that we wouldn’t be buying any new furniture until we bought a house and knew what we could fit. So I’ve been antsy. I absolutely LOVE walking through IKEA and finding things to mix and match with the pieces we have already, so that will be one of our first stops. We have some furniture from my Nonni we’ll mix in here and there. I’m thrilled to get to make this place our own, little by little, finding the perfect dining room table here, a great set of stools there. I can think about nothing else.

We won't move in completely until the 15th, so we'll have time to get all the major work done before we move in. I'll be posting some before and afters in the weeks to come. And while I know this is going to be a lot of work, and that our work will never really end, I love it. I love being able to work on "our house," to change the colors, move the cabinets, choose flooring, paint vanities and switch out light fixtures; to really make it a home. For the next 3 weeks, unless we're at work or sleeping, our lives will consist of painting, sanding, and drilling. So if you're in the area, stop by. We'll be there.

Harvest Routes

A few months ago, our friends decided to start up their own CSA (or Community-Supported Agriculture), called Harvest Routes. Essentially, they work with local farmers to provide fresh, local produce, eggs, meat, and honey to the community. There are a multitude of farmers in our area, but the lack of farmer’s markets is apparent. It’s difficult and time-consuming to buy local. Their solution is to provide a box of produce and eggs (and whatever else you would like to add on) to subscribers each week from various farmers. If you’re familiar with a co-op, this is similar, only more farms are involved and when you pick up your box every week, it’s already packed for you.

I’ve been super excited about participating. I’ve always thought it a shame that “The Garden State” doesn’t have more opportunities to buy local and seasonal food. Farmer’s markets are growing in our area, but they’re only once a week and still somewhat limited. We picked up our first box yesterday – an enormous box filled with kale, mustard greens, arugula, radishes, oregano, lettuce, leeks, eggs and more (see pic below). Since we get whatever is in season, each week is a fun surprise. I love it. I’m already looking up recipes for some of the produce I’m less familiar with. Because of Harvest Routes, we'll be trying and experiencing new foods and learning new recipes. There's nothing a foodie loves more. And I love that we’re supporting the local farms. As summer gets into full swing, we’ll be getting tomatoes, watermelon, green beans, beets. And everything is fresh, seasonal, and local. 

One of the best features this CSA offers is flexibility. You can sign up for weekly or biweekly pickups and can add on raw honey, fresh coffee, and more to your box. If you go on vacation, you can “freeze” your subscription until you come back. It’s a really great feature. Since it’s just Kurt and I, we’re signed up for biweekly deliveries at the moment and I think it will be plenty of food. For more information and a much better explanation, you can visit their website: www.Harvest-Routes.com

Antigua (a.k.a. The Longest Blogpost Ever)

I know I’ve been M.I.A. for awhile, but not without good reason. We’ve been house hunting (more on that in a future post), vacationing in Antigua, and otherwise keeping insanely busy.

I know you’re all dying to hear about our vacation in Antigua, at least I’m dying to relive it through the written word. So here it is:


As previously mentioned, we had been looking to book a vacation for this Spring. This vacation had two requirements: It had to be cheap, and it had to be somewhere we’ve never been, which turned out to be a pretty tall order. Unless you want to spend 5 days in Ohio (no offense to Ohio-ans, I'm sure Ohio is breathtaking, it’s just not where we were thinking), you have to leave the country to save money, but you can't go too far as flights are ridiculously expensive at the moment. Months ago we found the perfect vacation via CheapCarribean.com. It sounded almost too good to be true. Five all-inclusive days in Antigua (flights and transportation to and from the resort included) for less than 2 flights to Europe? We were in. Then I started to panic. In my experience, if something seems too good to be true, it usually is. My mind started reeling: The food will be inedible. The room will be tiny and dirty. The island will be dangerous. It must be the rainy season. I worried for naught. Everything about our vacation was practically perfect. I’ll give you that we’re not hard to please, but I can’t imagine many people finding fault. The weather was perfect; not too humid or hot, with the most perfect island breeze. It rained a bit on the first day we were there and poured on the morning of our departure (while we laughed and pointed at all the sorry tourists having to spend their last day in paradise packing inside), but otherwise, we had sunny and somewhat overcast skies (I’ll tell you, those clouds ended up being a godsend. Whenever the sun came out of the clouds, the temperature rose about 15 degrees and I could feel my pale half-Irish skin burning quickly).


When we arrived at the island, we found our way to our car service and loaded our bags into the van (not before being told about a departure tax that we had to pay if we wanted to leave the island, which I confirmed to be truth and not scam with every other tourist we met). Here’s the thing about the drive to the resort: As Antigua was once a British colony, Antiguans (or at least our driver) drive on the left side of the road, while hugging the center line, passing everyone they can, while pedestrians, goats, chickens, and stray dogs walk along the road. So as not to panic every time we almost hit a dog/car/pedestrian/chicken (which was about every 5 seconds) I focused on the landscape for most of it. Driving on the left blew my mind. I’ve been to England before and for some reason it didn’t faze me as much. Maybe the streets in London weren't so narrow or the taxi drivers weren't so liberal with their interpretation of driving laws, I don't know. What I do know, is it's a good thing we hadn't decided to rent a car. On our way to the hotel, there were a few 5 road intersections at which Kurt and I both admitted not knowing who had the right of way.


We arrived at our resort, Jolly Beach Resort, an hour before check-in and were encouraged to leave our bags at the front desk and explore the resort. Mostly we explored the bar at the pool where I discovered my favorite drink for the rest of the trip: Antigua Kiss - a combo of pineapple juice, peach Schnapps, and white rum. When it was time to check in, we were driven to our room, a junior suite. The entire resort featured white concrete walls and our room was no different. At first glance, the bed seemed hard and uncomfortable, and the room seemed a bit sparse, but we quickly realized we were in paradise and couldn't care less what the room looked like. The room was clean, had all the amenities we needed including 2 balconies with beach views, and the bed turned out to be more comfortable than our own. We quickly (but carefully) threw on sunscreen and our swimsuits and headed to the beach.


Never in my life have I seen water so blue. It was amazing. I spent the majority of our time on the beach just staring at it, mesmerized. The shade of blue, coupled with the soft sand and green mountains on either side of our beach's little cove made for the most amazing scenery. We spent most of our time on the beach, relaxing and reading. Every once in awhile, a local entrepreneur would show up and try to sell us jewelry, fresh aloe (even though we weren't sunburned yet), a jeep tour of the island (and some illicit drugs), and massages. We turned down every proposition, yes including the illicit drugs (do you not know me at all?) and each would-be vendor bid us good day and walked away. 

On our third day on the island, we decided to splurge and buy two tickets for a catamaran tour around the island. The tour was to be 7 hours long, included lunch, snorkeling, and drinks. It was the best thing we did. 

Since we'd only had 1.25 days to get any sun, we decided to sit under the awning so we didn't get burned. We made our way around the island with about 40 other passengers (including some old German men in speedos - and I don't mean the racing speedos that offer a bit more coverage where it counts, I mean high-cut, bikini speedos that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. And believe me, these men were not the type of men you want to see in speedos.). For about 20 minutes, we crossed the Atlantic in open water and I felt incredibly seasick. For the longest 20 minutes of my life, I sat in silence, staring at the horizon, willing myself not to vomit, while people on the front of the boat held up their arms and screamed while we rode the 10-foot swells like a roller coaster. Once we got back into calmer waters though, the seasickness subsided. We pulled into a little cove with a private beach and those who wanted to go snorkeling (me!) were given masks, flippers, and flotation devices. 

I nervously jumped in the water and followed our tour guide around the coral reefs. I thought it would be a little scary or at least unnerving, but it was beautiful. The fish were gorgeous, colorful little things that didn't even seem fazed by the 20 enormous humans hovering above them. At one point, I looked up and saw a tiny long-snouted fish right in front of my mask. On our way back to the boat, our tour guide called out, "Quick! Get over here! There's a stingray!" Naturally, assuming he meant we needed to hurry up and GET AWAY (I mean, one of those things killed Steve Irwin!), I swam as fast as I could to catch up to him. When I arrived (panting), he said, "Look! It's right underneath us!" Heart pounding, I looked down and about 20 feet below us was an eagle ray, with a tail longer than I've ever seen on a sting ray. And it was beautiful. Seriously. It looked like a bird flying through the water. I watched it until I couldn't see it anymore, and we headed back to the boat for lunch and a 2-hour stay on the private beach.

I think this is as good a time as any to mention the food. I was beyond impressed with the food on our trip. It was spectacular. While I'm not a picky eater, I know good food and prefer it. And this was good food. There were 4 restaurants on our resort: a buffet place called Hemisphere's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, an Indian restaurant called Utsav, an Italian restaurant called Bocciolo, and a seafood restaurant called Lydia's, and we ate at every single one (Utsav was so good, we ate there twice). I was so impressed with the food. I couldn't believe how good it was. My main concern with an all-inclusive resort was the food. I had read many, many customer reviews of other all-inclusive resorts and they all mentioned the food and that it wasn't good. The reviews for our resort mentioned good food, but I had no idea how good. At Jolly Beach, it was fresh, flavorful, tender, all the good food adjectives you can think of. Even the lunch on the private catamaran tour was fabulous. Plus, while eating on the patio at the buffet, we could watch the birds face-off. About every few minutes or so, two birds (or Carib Grapples as we would come to learn) would face-off over a piece of food and for all intents and purposes, dance at each other. Whichever bird danced better, won...like West Side Story...at least in my mind.


The day after the catamaran tour, we ventured off the resort, something I was longing to do. I'm not the kind of person who is content going to a foreign country and not actually seeing it. We chose Antigua because it didn't come with a "don't leave the resort" disclaimer. We walked to the little harbour town near the resort, explored a bit, and walked around the grocery store. If we had been there for more than 5 days, we would have explored a little more. I would have liked to have done a jeep tour of the island or gone to St. John's for the day, but the beach was just too appealing. Next time. Because there will be a next time. I would go back to Antigua, back to Jolly Beach, in a heartbeat. 


The resort had plenty of activities throughout the day, though we chose to relax instead of joining in. At night, there were dance shows, dancing, and a bonfire with limbo and fire-breathing.


We made a few friends over the duration of the trip: a quintet of sisters from Canada and their husbands, some Italians with whom I got to practice my language skills, and a few other couples. We learned early on that not everyone was part of the all-inclusive package, which meant there were tip jars at the bars. Kurt and I being overtippers to begin with and seeing the poor countryside, felt weird not tipping the staff, so we periodically visited the front desk for change for our twenties. Tipping wasn't necessary I guess, but we figured, why not?


All in all, the trip was near perfection. The island was beautiful, the locals were friendly, we felt safe the entire time, and the food was FABULOUS. The only thing we wanted more of was time to further enjoy the island.