Summer is officially done!

Summer went way too fast.  Now it's already cold and rainy and not much has been accomplished.  I was hoping to do a pretty large trip, but it got postponed to fix the water problem I had in the basement.  So a lot of money later, the basement is now dry, but it meant I stayed close to home most of summer.  Updates....

I had a few visitors.  Sara VA came so we could hang in Philly and see Beyonce and Jay-Z.  The show was pretty good, but we also saw a few sights.  We went to Valley Forge, had cocktails in several locations, saw Al Capone's cell at Eastern State Penitentiary, and had fun just hanging around Philly.  

Cocktail stop #1

Rooftop Drinks

Eastern State

Al Capone's Cell (supposedly)

The Show

I also had a lovely visit with Aunt Judy and Uncle Tim.  We spent one day seeing the history of Philly and then a second day up in NY to go across Judy's favourite, the Brooklyn Bridge.  We saw it all.  It was really great fun!

Philly Sites

Roast Dinner at the Dandelion

Bridge walking

Pizza on the Brooklyn side @ Juliana's

The reflecting pool at the north tower

My fav place to take people in NYC for beers

I also got to spend a couple days with my 2 neighbors, Johnny and Clarke doing outings of their choosing.  Clarke's day was first and he chose the Strasburg Train.  Johnny wanted to jump on the trampolines at Get Air.  Lots of fun locally.

Clarke's train adventures

Johnny jumps into the foam pit

Brock, Amber and the kids came out to Ohio to see Mom and Dad, so I drove over for a quick visit.  We had a great time just hanging around at the butterfly festival, the country club pool, the brewery and Young's Jersey Dairy.  So great to see nearly everyone in the Ohio contingent at the BBQ.  

Malcolm on the swing with Oscar

Malcolm is getting around everywhere!

Nora (or is it Elsa?) at the Butterfly Festival

Nora and Grammy look at the Goats at the Jersey Dairy

In early September, I had a work trip to Huntington Beach, CA, just outside LA.  It was right on the water so in any free time, we tried to get out there.  Lovely days and evenings.  But we did work I swear.

When we landed, we rented a surrey and biked up and down the shore

Beach pics

I also managed to get along to a few shows this summer.  I saw Questlove at the World Cafe, Boyz II Men and Bruno Mars at Wells Fargo and back to World Cafe for MN fav The Jayhawks.  Not quite as many shows as I would have liked to have seen, but they were good, particularly Boyz II Men and Bruno.

Questlove spinning his fav Prince tunes before we watched Under the Cherry Moon

One of the set changes on Bruno's tour

The Jayhawks

After the basement was proven dry, I did decide to rig up a small little basement cinema thing happening down there.  It was totally on the cheap, so not super fancy, but it does have a screen, projector, sound system and stadium seating of sorts for a small number of visitors.  Looking forward to that in the wet, cooler season.

Complete with inflatable day bed and pallet couches

At the end of this ridiculously hot summer, I decided it was time to cut off my hair.  It is so much better now.  And of course, now it isn't so hot. But it definitely was worth it.  No more fringe either.  

Not much planned for the fall.  A short trip up to Northern NJ for work followed by a weekend in Boston.  Maybe LDI in Vegas in Oct?  Thanksgiving this year will be spent in NYC with Mom & Dad.  We splurged and are staying right on the parade route.  We even have all our meal reservations done too with a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at Smith and Wollensky.  I am sure more trips ahead in the new year.

Hoping to have more visitors through....so get in touch with me if you are planning on being anywhere nearby.

Lots of love,
Sarah xo
PS I just noticed an error in my last blog.  This past July the blog was officially 12 years old.  Not 10 years old as I stated last time.  I have been without FB for over 10 years now.