Pieces of Mae: March 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Day 30: What's Your Favorite Flavor of Ice Cream? - 31 Day Blog Challenge

My favorite flavor is not necessarily an ice cream. When I crave a cold refreshing treat that usually means we are heading to The Bent Spoon in Princeton. In the shadow of Princeton University is the best artisan sorbet I've had. Of course the fact that it's created with local ingredients (some of which are grown at our favorite orchard) makes it that much better too.

We are die hard Spoonies. Although they have so many amazing and often interesting flavors of organic sorbets and ice creams I always go for the organic raspberry sorbet. It is the best I've had anywhere. My daughter is in love with their organic mango sorbet so the two of us are always so predictable with our orders. The daring one in the group is my husband. He's been trying a different flavor every time. Just writing this is making me crave some. Maybe we'll take a trip to savor some this week since it is spring break. And maybe one day I'll finally break my pleasant habit order the lavender mascarpone I've been dying to try.

My daughter with her mango, my raspberry and my husband went for coconut ice cream.

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Day 29: What's Your Favorite Time of Year and Why?

In New Jersey we are fortunate to experience all four seasons. The beginning of each of them is always exciting, enjoyable and something to look forward to. But my favorite time of year has always been fall and my favorite month has always been October.

Through spring and summer the trees are waiting patiently in the wings. They go mostly unnoticed in spring if they're not the flowering kind. They then offer much needed shade on those thick, moist summer days. But once fall comes they finally have their chance to take center stage. The foliage is not only breathtaking but offers such an overwhelmingly pleasant aroma of the landscape to enjoy simultaneously. The crunch of the leaves underfoot also elates me.

I was fortunate enough to find myself traveling through the Swiss, Austrian and German Alps during mid-October in 2005 during the peak foliage week. It was breathtaking and a fall I will never forget. It was absolutely the perfect time for me to be exploring those countries. We drove from country to country passing old castles in ruins and exploring the perfectly preserved castles of Ludwig's grand estates. This photo is one I snapped looking out from Neuschwanstein. It was the King's view and it's one of my favorite photos of mine that represent my favorite time of year.

The view from Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany

Autumn in New York is pretty Grand too!

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Day 28: What's Your Guilty Pleasure? - 31 Day Blog Challenge

I have a few guilty pleasures. Shoes, getting pizza wasted (like I did tonight), daytrips to New York City (that is one expensive city) and Rachel Zoe. My husband cannot stay in the room when I'm watching her. He finds her irritating. I don't care because I find her fabulous. I am so happy her show The Rachel Zoe Project is back after a much too long hiatus when baby Skylar Morrison came along. I pretty much stalk her. I Facebook stalk her, inbox stalk her and I TV stalk her. It was love at first, "OMG, That is so MAH-JOR!" I'd write more but she's about to take over my television for the next hour.

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Day 27? - 31 Day Blog Challenge

So Day 27 of this challenge did not happen. The writing prompt was "List 3 online friends you've never met but you hope to real soon." I have no online friends that I don't know or see outside of the web. I tried so hard to think of something else to write about yesterday too since the prompt didn't apply to me at all but nothing came to me. My creative juices were zapped up by the last two weeks of chaos at work. So I went to bed early instead.

Thankfully since I'm about to reach the point of stress-overload, I took off tomorrow to enjoy a nice three-day weekend with my family. I'll be heading into the city tomorrow with my daughter to visit the Museum of Modern Art. The last time I visited that museum was with my husband for the Tim Burton Exhibit. It was A M A Z I N G!

After many trips to different art museums and checking out the different genres of art my daughter has decided that she loves modern art the most. Andy Warhol is her favorite and there are a few good pieces of his we've admired at The Met. We recently checked out the "Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years" Exhibit at The Met which she loved! She followed the audio guide through the entire exhibit. I can't wait to see what she thinks of the MoMA tomorrow!

She likes to sketch surrounded by art in the museums.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Day 26: What's Your Favorite Food? - 31 Day Blog Challenge

(I'm a day late. I just worked two 12 hour days. Please forgive me.)

I currently have a love-hate relationship with food. I have always been sensitive to soy but toward the last few months of last year I became completely intolerant. I cannot consume it all now which is near impossible if you've read the ingredient labels on most foods at the supermarket. It's used as a preservative in almost everything from dressings, bread, snack foods, even ice cream! My favorite hummus and coffee creamer also use soy. As I read more and more labels over the last few months I've become really disgusted with the ingredients found in American Food. As a result we're working on transitioning our kitchen to a fresher kitchen (many trips to the farm market) with very little processed foods so we all can eat the same (soy free) meal.

But like I said, it's a love-hate relationship because I haven't had the time to really find tasteful recipes. Most of what I've been eating is the same few things over and over. I've been soy free for three months now and it hasn't been easy. But the immediate side effect I felt was that my chronic migraines (I'm talking 8-10 days of every month) have completely vanished. It's been since early December since I've had my last migraine. It's amazing the effect processed food has on you. Eliminating it has been the best thing for me. I still get frustrated at my lack of options though which is why I made it a goal of mine to master some new recipes by adding it to my 30 Before 30 List.

At least I still have pizza and double stuffed Oreos! (Regular oreos have soy, double stuff don't, this makes no sense to me.) I live in New Jersey so it's only natural that I consider pizza a food group. I must consume it at least once per week. And it must be from a local family owned pizza place. I sure do have my options too because there's at least 100 pizza places (probably even double that number) within driving distance to me. Now when I say pizza, I mean REAL pizza. Not a chain, not frozen pizza, real pizza made by the countless Italian immigrants that have opened up shops in New York and New Jersey. (I still maintain that Jersey Pizza is better than NYC Pizza). You cannot say you don't like pizza until you've had Real Pizza.

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Day 25: Describe Your Location - 31 Day Blog Challenge

When I look out my window I see the street that knew my bike tires well as a little girl. At the end of our street is what we referred to as our "Dead Man's Hill." It is the hill that slopes steeply down the bluff we live atop right up to the creek that feeds the marshes and wetlands we overlook.

A few blocks away is the street I grew up on, Mae, and I still carry the pieces of my life there with me every single day. My stomping grounds included the forest behind my parents house with countless brooks that led to the creek and marshes. If we weren't in the street playing with all the kids on the block we were down in the woods building forts, exploring, hiking, even hunting for Indian and Revolutionary War artifacts that our parents made us turn over to the local State Museum. We didn't need toys in this neighborhood, we had such big imaginations.

Summers on Mae were the best times so it's no wonder I settled so close to where I grew up. I have always loved the location as well. We are halfway between New York City and Philadelphia which we frequent often and minutes from Princeton (where I also work). We can get to the Jersey Shore in under 30 minutes. We have 127 miles of gorgeous Jersey coastline (not to be confused with MTV's portrayal). And there is so much history at our fingertips.

I may be in the suburbs in an extremely overcrowded town but our piece of land is very secluded, tucked away in a quiet neighborhood that overlooks some pretty amazing sunsets. We are surrounded by such a culture rich environment that it satisfies our every thirst.

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Day 24: My Most Embarrasing Moment - 31 Day Blog Challenge

I think it's hard for us as adults to find anything embarrassing anymore. By this point in life most of us have learned to just laugh at ourselves when we do something that would otherwise be embarrassing. I honestly have had to go all the way back to high school to remember something that at that time mortified me.

In my sophomore year of high school our marching band took a cruise to the Bahamas as part of a band competition festival. We performed in the streets of Nassau shortly after docking which was an amazing feeling since I had choreographed the routine we were performing. I felt invincible because we all performed so perfectly.

Later in the day when they ferried us to Blue Lagoon I was still feeling that post-performance adrenaline high. Then I fell down a flight of wooden steps in front of all my friends and countless others and skinned and bruised my shin and toe good. I still to this day have a small indent in my shin where it took most of the impact.

Reality really hits hard doesn't it? It pulled me right back down to the ground from the clouds I was walking in after our performance. I was mortified when it happened but looking back now I should have went and found some ice for my bruised shin and ego. Instead I just tried to brush it off and pretend it didn't happen.

My most recent fall down the steps happened at my parents house. I terrified my poor daughter who had to witness it first hand as I fell hard and hit ever single step on the way down. I was ok, just some massive bruising on my elbow and hip. But once I landed at the bottom I was consumed by uncontrollable laugher. Maybe because my funny bone hit every step on the way down? When my brother finally got to me he thought I broke my arm and was hysterically crying. It was quite the opposite, those tears were from laughter. I can only imagine what was going through my daughter's head as she still was in shock from what happened. I'm just happy I've learned to let these klutzy moments just roll off my back.

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Day 23: Do You Have a Hobby? - 31 Day Blog Challenge

If you know me then you know I love to take pictures. My fondness of this obviously came from my father who also made a hobby of it. Every family vacation we took he was always snapping away behind his SLR and we have tons of family photos albums to show for it. I find I do the same thing as my favorite thing to photograph is our day trips or travels. I usually photograph every single detail, big and small, from the scenery right down to the texture of the sand so I can look back on it and remember every bit of our trips, the memories we made and the good times we had. Sometimes my family gets annoyed at the quantity of pictures I take but when we look at all the pictures after the trip is long gone all is forgiven and they are thankful. Being our family photographer is my favorite hobby.

Here are a few memories over recent years:

Cape Henry, VA

Tian Tian at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

Bleeding Hearts at the Central Park Zoo

Green Island, Antigua, B.W.I

Bushkill Falls hiking trail

The one that inspires me most, my daughter

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Day 22: What Do You Do When You're Home Alone? - 31 Day Blog Challenge

I'm a day late with this post. Yesterday was just so bad in so many ways and I could not bring myself to a happy enough place to write. I did not want to put negative energy out there in the world so I resorted to sleep therapy. It's crazy how our bodies react to situations when we feel we are being attacked under false pretenses. So after a nice good cry, a new pair of shoes, pizza therapy, lots of hugs from my family and a very long night of sleep I'm feeling like I have a better perspective on the negative situation that arose. I feel like I can now approach it professionally and with a level head.

But onto the topic of being alone. I am never alone. I honestly cannot recall the last time I was home alone. I imagine for most people being home alone can be incredibly relaxing but for me it's quite the opposite. I am most relaxed when I have my whole family with me under one roof because I don't need to worry. When they are not with me I worry like crazy. So if I were home alone I imagine I would find things to do around the house to keep my hands and mind busy until they were all back home with me again. I am crazy for hating the thought of being home alone?

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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Day 21: What's Your Biggest Fear? - 31 Day Blog Challenge

I have quite a few fears. Most of them I find absolutely ridiculous for me (not as phobias in general just that I managed to develop these specific fears). But they just kind of happened. I have read that you can develop these so-called "ridiculous" fears as the result of a traumatic experience in life. I would say there is truth to that as I never had these ridiculous fears before my daughter was born premature. I'm gaining more control of over these fears though when they start to set. These fears of course involve me not having complete control over a situation or myself. I could get all psychoanalytical here but I won't. What's important is that I understand why I fear these things so that I can conquer them.

These ridiculous fears are claustrophobia and a fear of heights. Neither of these ever terrified me when I was younger. Now I cant even drive over those ridiculously long and high bridges into New York City without feeling both claustrophobic with how narrow the roadway is and acrophobia (yes I Googled that) from how high above the water we are. I have a lot of trouble driving through tunnels as well. And Tiny confined spaces like cruises are terrifying! I will have a chance to work on this fear soon hopefully as my mother wants us all to go cruising to Bermuda to celebrate her upcoming 60th birthday. Wish me luck that I won't need to be sedated to walk through those tiny corridors. There will be lots of meditation because I don't think there is enough room for yoga in a cruise stateroom.

I also fear natural disasters. The past 2 years has brought unusual weather to New Jersey. We get some pretty bad thunderstorms and winter Nor'easters but hello tornadoes, earthquake and two bad hurricanes in the last two years. The main fear I have of these disasters is trees falling on houses because it happened to us 4 years ago in a freak storm that included twisters and strait-line winds. So every time we have a thunder or snow storm those trees terrify me. This fear I don't think I can conquer but I can cut down the insanely large trees that are entirely too close to our house. Which kind of sadly is happening any day now.

And lastly, as every mother will tell you. I fear ANYTHING bad happening to my daughter. No need to elaborate on this one but this fear takes precedence over anything else. That worry is constantly in the back of my head and I'm sure it always will be.

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Hello Spring - Wordless Wednesday

This was last spring. I wonder what this spring will bring.

Day 20: What Do You Collect? - 31 Day Blog Challenge

Other than the laundry collecting in in quite a few hampers throughout my house and the collection of toys proudly scattered all over the floor of my daughter's bedroom, I do collect a few things.

We seem to have a large collection of books in this house. I'd guess anywhere between one and two hundred. My daughter's collection rivals a small bookstore!

I also collect old (and new) cameras. Vintage cameras are my favorite and I'm slowly expanding that collection which started when I acquired my Poppy's old Kodak Duaflex II camera from my Dad. That camera took so many photos of my father's childhood during the 1950s. Just thinking about the many moments that camera focused on and captured is why I love old cameras.

My mother has an old Kodak Instamatic from the 70s that she's been trying to hunt down for me. Hopefully that will be added to my collection too. I also have a Kodak Brownie that my husband bought me for Valentine's Day a few years back (my kind of Valentine Chocolate!). He followed that up with a powder pink Polaroid Cool Cam the next year. And by that Christmas I got a (new) white Fuji Instax mini! It's so much fun.

I also collect shoes. I love shoes! I need shoe addicts anonymous. At last count I had 93 pairs of shoes. But I have since purchase maybe ten more pairs over the winter. It's bad. I rotate them out in my closet per season otherwise they don't fit. I put my summer shoes away in September but Honeymooned in Antigua in October so some of my wedges and open toe heels never made it into storage this year. This is about a third of that collection:

I told you it was bad. I need help. And as crazy as it may seem, I do wear them all in a rotation. And if a pair of shoes goes unworn for an entire season I get rid of them. I find homes for the gently loved shoes and toss the rest. The cobbler is my best friend, I go through heel caps like you wouldn't believe.

The last thing I collect I have no photo of. My daughter adores the lunchbox love notes I write her so much that she will write them to me as well and slips them into my purse before I catch her. When I get to work I'll find them tucked away inside so I tack them up on the wall of my office. They're good medicine for those stressful days.

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Day 19: 5 Blogs I Read on a Regular Basis - 31 Day Blog Challenge

It has been quite a while since I've religiously read blogs. I spent most of last year obsessing over wedding blogs like Style Me Pretty, Ruffled, and 100 Layer Cake while I planned my dream Wedding. I so badly would love to submit some photos from my big day to any one of those blogs but I need to find a day with a few extra hours in it somewhere first. But at least I have found a little time to read and catch up with my favorite blogs with my morning coffee.
One of my absolute favorite blogs that I think I've been reading for at least four or five years now is Whatever by Meg Duerksen. I am one of five kids and she is raising five kids in such a similar way to how I was brought up. So of course I'm obsessed with her blog. From her Craft Thursdays and her amazing home decorating skills to her photography and charity work she's amazing. I have a blog crush on her. Meg also has such faith in God and although our beliefs are very different, it is her unwavering faith in general that inspires me.

A second longtime favorite blog of mine is Snapshots of a Good Life by Karen Russell. Her photography is A M A Z I N G! And besides the photos, she is so honest in what she writes. I keep saying that one of these days I am going to make time to take one of her photography classes. And maybe this year I will since I set a goal to really learn my camera in full manual mode.

I also love vol.25 which I found through Jessica's gorgeous Etsy shop. I want almost every single piece of her art! It's so inspirational. And I adore the tidbits of her family, inspiration, art and project she sprinkles into her blog.

Another great blog is A Beautiful Mess. This blog speaks for itself. Go check it out NOW! I promise you won't be disappointed.

And finally, I saved my favorite blogger for last. Tiffany is not just a blogger to me, she is my cousin who I love and miss so dearly. There may be thousands of miles between us but we always manage to see each other once or twice a year which makes my heart smile. She was also just one of my bridesmaids and I am so incredibly thankful she was standing next to me on that day. Tiffany is the most genuine and easygoing person I know. (And she's so much FUN!) Her blog Fabulous Finds by Tiffany is a new everyday read of mine. I wake up, grab my coffee, and go see what Tiffany has to say each day. We keep in touch with each others lives so frequently but I still have so much catching up to do on her blog. I'm in love with her other blog Cleverness of Me too and I hope she finds time to keep writing it.

My Favorite Blogger and I. Love this girl.

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Monday, March 25, 2013

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Tuesday, March 19, 2013