wannabe Crafter: September 2009

2009-09-09

5 am...

The new time I will be getting up for the next four weeks. Why, you might ask, am I this crazy? Well, it was not my doing, I can tell you that much. Zach is doing a general surgery rotation in Manhattan and he was planning to drive in. Well, yesterday, after the 45 dollar parking charge(yes you read correctly, 45!!) that he was supposed to be able to get validated, we decided that was just a little on the stupid side... okay, a lot on the stupid side. So after a long hard look into all the options, or should I say lack there of, we were left with just one; Aubrey and I getting up and driving him. No trains run at that hour and the option of taking a bus would have him leaving home at 3am... and I'd have to drive him to the bus station!

The drive is not so bad, 30 minutes max one way(no traffic at that time!), but stressful still. A lot of random turns to be made while battling taxis(why they have so many out then is beyond me) and the ever loved Lincoln Tunnel(why is it so narrow??). At least this way I've done something on my list of 'random things to accomplish'--drive in Manhattan:)

2009-09-06

Garage Saling.....

.... I just hear the words and smile. I blame this on my friend Lisa; it's her fault that I am the way I am. Around this time last year she started showing up at home(they live in the apartment below us) with car loads of treasures and it got me curious. Where did she find all these wonderful things?... beautiful chests, dressers, frames, mirrors...? How could she afford it(students, like us)? And that's when she told me two words that will forever change the way I think about a saturday morning: "garage sales". How could a person not fall in love with a type of shopping that could get you a beautiful armoire for $30?? A cute teapot for two bucks, books for 50 cents, a kitchen for Aubrey for $3... yes, you read correctly, $3!!! The Menno in me shouts "hurray!" at theses prices! And so does our budget. Now Lisa, she's in a league of her own, you see, she's been doing this for years and has also found a way to turn a profit, a real pro. Me, I'm just in it for a good deal, a bargain... a morning to myself with a coffee and a twenty in my pocket. Sometimes I find nothing, but then there are times when you find a jackpot, like the little side table that I got yesterday morning for a fiver! But the point is, you never know what you are going to stumble across and all these things add up to an interestingly furnished apartment, garage-sale chic ;), and a very happy me!

2009-09-04

Another update post...

Well, here I am, blogging once again and feeling quite guilty for the lack of blogging that I've been doing... again. It always seems to be the same story, blog for a few days, fall behind, feel guilty, and repeat. When I do remember, it feels as though it's going to be too big of an undertaking to start up again. So the circle continues! Well, here's my attempt at getting back into it again. We'll see how it lasts, I'm not making any promises:)
Our summer has been jam packed. Aubrey's grown, we travelled to Canada for five weeks, Zach wrote another board exam... pretty much the same thing we do every year, the exception being Aubrey of course! She is keeping me busy as ever and on my toes. She loves to get into things and chat's my ear off every day(although I have no clue what she'd saying). She's become such an outgoing kid, she's constantly waving and saying hi to other people, especially the elderly. She has a way with old people, it's just too cute. It's as though she knows that they love it when little ones talk to them, clever kid!
Our trip home was great. Time spent with family and friends was awesome, but the only down side was not being to see everyone as much as we'd have liked. Five weeks sounds like a long time, but it flies by. Aubrey really got to know her Oma, Opa and Grandma and she's head over heels for all of them and was in her glory when she was with them! She spent a lot of time with her cousins and she got so used to having someone to play with, these last few weeks at home have been kinda rough in that aspect. I need to get her out more and that's when my tendency to be a homebody is not going to cut it!

This summer we also got to attend our friends Sean and Kristin's wedding in Alexandria Bay NY and it was amazing! The ceremony was in one of the most beautiful locations, the St. Lawrence River, and now we've been ruined for all weddings in the future:)

This fall is shaping up to be quite a busy one, we have three sets(plus possibly one more couple) of guests coming to visit and it's going to crazy, but great! The great thing about people coming to visit(other then actually getting to see people) is that we get to see more of the beautiful area that we live in, not just the daily stuff. Fall and Winter are mine and Zach's favorite times of the year(Grenada ruined summer for us!) and the East Coast is, hands down, the best place to be during those seasons. So lots of trips in to The City and many day trips are in our future. One in particular is a weekend in October where Zach, Aubrey and I are heading to Philadelphia because Zach's writing yet another board exam(actually, it's more of an oral exam) and we've never been there, so we decided to make a weekend of it. It will be a well deserved break for us all because Zach's starting a four week long General Surgery(translation--awful hours) rotation, in Manhattan at Lennox Hill Hospital, this coming tuesday. Good times all around... sure, right. After this rotation he has a few slacker ones so that will be a nice change. And now for some pictures!