MIA and an Upcoming Adventure

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I have a real good reason as to why and I'll just say that life left me feeling out of sorts during the past week or so. However, I am back and hope to get some of the posts that I had planned on publishing out here on the blog (one includes a blogiversary which may, or may not, include a giveaway)!

However, the big news I have from this past weekend is that my honey and I booked tickets for our next backpacking adventure together! We are going back to Europe for another three weeks!! (cue the excitement!!!!)

So of course, I immediately got these babies:

Last year we went from Barcelona, Spain, through France into northern/middle Italy. We knew for this trip, we wanted to concentrate the first 10 days or so in Italy, as we fell in love with it last year.

My current travel guides didn't really go into southern Italy past the Naples area (and was really outdated - 2011), so I bought Rick Steves' guide (Sidenote - I used his guide exclusively last year and loved them) dedicated to Naples area and the Lonely Planet's guide to Southern Italy since we want to make it all the way down to Sicily.

And so far the Rick Steves' guide looks a little like this:

And my planning calendar is already taking shape:

This is how I planned our trip last year and it worked out beautifully. Being a super organized person really helps. By doing this, I know where we will be when and how many days we will spend in each place in order to reserve hotels. As for planning what to do, we will go with a rough idea of what we want to do, but not lock ourselves into anything.

After the first half of our trip, we will once again head to Athens, Greece. My honey's father lives there so we will spend a few days with him before taking the ferry out to Chios, where we will be doing a lot of swimming in this:

Uh, yes please!

 

Just like last year, I'll be updating my Instagram page as much as I can with snaps of what we experience. Everyone seemed to truly enjoy seeing them and joining us on our little adventure.

 

The countdown is officially on!!!! Less than three weeks until take-off!

Sunday Adventure & Knitting

I will warn you that this is an extremely picture heavy post. Was very hard to narrow down the pictures to share. So with that said....

Manny and I decided to go out on one of our little adventures this past Sunday. We took the top off the Jeep and headed out to Greenport, Long Island. The day couldn't have been more perfect!

Greenport, LI:

(We had the most delicious meal here while looking out into the harbor)

(A close-up of what we think is a Seagull sculpture)

(Our bellies were full and I in a new hat)

Orient Point:

(Catching a Ferry coming into dock)

(Catching Manny skipping stones in the ocean)

Vineyard Hopping:

Lenz (Stop #1)


Pellegrini (Stop #2)



Finally, just so there is some knitting content, a picture of the Sock Yarn Blankie.

Good progress has been made. I have been picking up stitches between 2 blocks to create the second row of blocks. I currently have only 5 more blocks to attach to complete the first row. After that I will pick up half the stitches on each end (cast on for the remaining half of the block) and the second row will be done. I spent my dinner break last night weaving in yarn ends. I think this will be the only way to keep my sanity. Weave in as I go.

Philly Distance Run

DB and I spent this past weekend in Philadelphia for the Philly Distance Run (13.1 miles) on Sunday. We arrived Saturday afternoon, did some sight seeing, ate some pasta for dinner with friends and went to bed as early as possible to be able to get up at 6:30am for a race start of 7:45am. I had no problem getting up considering I woke up all on my own at 6am. Guess I was a tiny bit excited about running the race that morning.

When we signed up for this race back in June, I was suppose to be one of three runners doing this together. Turns out I was the only one able to run the race and was the woman representing the men of our little group. I think I did well. I finished the race in 2 hours and 10 minutes - my third best half marathon race time and best since 2006/2007.

Here is the race in photos - complementary of my photographer DB.

The start line before the crowd came.

Even Rocky was there!

Gearing up to take my place at the start.

The Pro's...Ryan Hall was the winner and finished in 1 hour 1 minute. He's in the white tank wearing #1.

This is me crossing the start line. Apparently I was the only one running at this point.

Me at mile 4.5.

Me quite happy to see the mile 13 marker and DB. The finish was right around the corner.

Very happy!

This medal is way cool and doubles as a weapon!

Summit Point West Virginia

Another week. Another weekend past. All I can say is that this past weekend was jam packed filled and came home thoroughly exhausted! A good kind of exhaustion mind you. DB and I drove down to Summit Point, WV on Friday to spend two days at the track so DB could do more riding. Here is our weekend in pictures. There is even some knitting content at the bottom.

Summit Point Race Track:

This is one big bike! DB positioned me hanging off the side of the bike so I could see what it was like when he goes into a turn. It was extremely tough!!!! I think I even screamed like a girl when I thought I was gonna fall off.

Took three tries to get this pic of us.

This is how I spent the afternoon hours on Sunday. Chillin' in the oversized camping chairs. Swwweeeetttt!

Sights along the way:

Saw lots of farm land while driving to the track.

I took this picture at the track at the top of a bridge overlooking the racetrack. I wanted to capture the mountains off in the distance.

Snapped this pic while driving back towards the highway to go back to NY. This is part of the Harper's Ferry National Historical Forest. Absolutely gorgeous!

Knitting Content:

Who is that masked man holding my sock? DB was kind enough to pose with my latest knitting project. I started the Froot Loop socks using Gpysy Girl Creations yarn I bought off of Kim last year. I'm still working on the cuff.

Finally, ya'll remember the Gathered Pullover I knitted last year? Well may it rest in peace. Last fall I had an extensive email conversation with Marsha about the fate of this sweater. We both agreed that it was better to frog and reknit, than leave it as a sweater that will never be worn again.

Until last week I didn't do anything with it. After talking with my sis, I found a new pattern for this yarn. So on Thursday evening, I started the frogging progress. What have I learned from this? That I weave in my ends pretty darn well. Fortunately, I have a lot of patience. As of right now, the sleeves and collar have been wound back into cakes. I am still in the process of frogging the body. Will hopefully have the finished in the next day or so. Thank goodness the body was done in the round.

Hay is for Horses

Imagine you are driving along some country rodes. You are amongst nature and all it's glory. The roads you are roaming around on are all dirt and gravel, barely enough room for two cars to pass side by side - in some places impossible. Then all of sudden you see this...

This beauty looked right at me and decided she would pose...

Isn't this stud a handsome one?

Over Labor Day I went back to Indiana to spend my four day weekend. We did alot of driving around and on Sunday afternoon we were touring a place called Crosley's. This is a huge amount of land that many go to hunt and fish.

You should have heard me when I suddenly spotted these horses. They were the last thing I expected to see. You could literally reach out and touch these beauties. These horses belong to the Christian Horse Farm in the area.

I had another great trip and as always time flies way too fast when you are enjoying yourself. I did manage to get some running in on this trip. I ran my friends challenging 8.5 mile Crosley Loop. A good portion of this run is trail running in the woods with some serious hills. I mean hills that you are running up but are so steep you feel like you are barely walking up them. The last few miles are along the highway and again major hill climbing. Let me tell you, I was very happy to see the finish line inside the county park. This was extremely challenging! I finished in 1 hour 40 minutes and have been only the 7th person to have successfully run this loop. I felt very empowered.