Towpath (updated!)

One of my favorite things/places in the city we live is the Towpath. It is a little path between the Raritan and the canal that is lined with trees and is perfectly beautiful. I love it for long runs (I forget how much it hurts because it's so pretty!), Sunday bike rides, and most recently - walks with my parents and grandparents.

I finally got some pictures of the pretty thing!

PS - Irene wiped the poor towpath out a bit, but I'm so happy they are fixing it up for us again! Maybe someday Paul and I will ride it all the way to Trenton and back.

***This just in! I imported pictures from my real camera to my computer, and it looks like I brought it along to the towpath. Yay High Res!

We also visited Old Towne this rainy morning - a little village near my house where they have brought a bunch of historic restored building from the 17 and 1800's.
:)

Since they only do tours once a day, I decided to be a tour guide and used all their nice brochures to get my somewhat sketchy information.

I felt so lucky to have my grandparents and parents in my very own city!

I would love if this was our house - but it's not. It's from the 1700's. :)

I like the handwriting on these, and like that they say New Brunswick because we live there! (Technically in Piscataway, but NB is just across the river!)

And I loved this fireplace and it's hardworking people tiles.

Now everyone come to visit and see Old Towne and the Towpath with your own eyes!

lucky me

dance party at 12:27 am (my time of birth) to this favorite
breakfast in bed with lemon poppyseed cupcakes, scrambled eggs, and hot hot chocolate.

lucky presents (colts tickets!!! new camera lens!!!)
a bon iver morning with rain on the windows
a little clothes shopping trip for myself (while P was in class)
dinner for two

knot tying and Coldstone ice-cream cake with our 11-year old scouts
and catching up on amazing race and a new episode of psych to finish off the lovely day
nice friends and family and lots of birthday wishes.

...and mostly the sweetest husband, who puts every effort into making sure i feel loved.

hello 24 :)

Bob Ross in yo face.

If you didn't watch Bob Ross as a kid on PBS I am so sorry, but you were deprived.

But, have no fear, if that was the case I will help you out a little today - and show you just what Bob Ross can do for you.

With his easy step-by-step instructions and comical narrative, you can create a masterpiece!

We started with the sky and the lake...

Then we added some "happy clouds"...

Add a few mountains which (according to Bob) are inspired by those in Alaska (but to me, they are the Grand Tetons).

 Some misty foothills...

A nice shot of our mountains, and our instructor - Bob Ross himself in all his afro glory.

Our fellow artisans, Kerri and Drew

We even had a pallette!

 A few fancy trees here and there...

The final products...

With our creation...

Hooray for new friends in New Jersey, Kerri and Drew, who invited us along for this fun Bob Ross night for Drew's birthday.

Another creation I successfully executed recently was this delicious dinner for when my parents and grandparents were here in New Jersey.
(My mom wanted the recipes so it looks like you get them too!)

Although the presentation is less than fancy the taste was delicious!

(I will have glasses and matching plates someday... but at least I have my hand-made bowls, thank you Valerie!!!)

For the Bruschetta I used this recipe and then toasted Panera baguettes with olive oil.

For the soup I used this recipe (crockpot, baby!) but added cubed boiled chicken breast and artichoke hearts and a little Sriracha (which, according to Paul, is the best hot sauce in the world). Also, I used frozen tortellini instead of dried, and I'd recommend waiting to put that in until about 30 minutes before serving so they don't overcook.

Totally a delicious fall meal. 

my man and his bike

Paul races cyclocross, and he is doing really well in his first season racing, and I am proud of him so I'm going to post some pictures of his races.

Stop being so jealous of how good he looks in spandex.

The first race of the season was Nittany Lion Cross in Trexlertown, PA.

 Barriers!

It was one muddy race!

Nathan (brother-in-law) also raced!

And so did JPOWWWW (he won the pro race of course!)

The next race was called the Hillbilly Hustle, in South Jersey.
It was very rainy and cloudy and that means no great natural light and blurry pictures, so I only got a few decent ones. I mean, he's just moving way too fast!

At the start, Paul was nice enough to give me a little smile!

 Then it was time to get down to business.

Then we headed up to Providence Rhode Island! We didn't get to see much of the state, but we did get to see a lot of great bike racing at one of the coolest park - Roger Williams was it's name I believe. They have swan boats - next year, we are going on the swan boats.

This park was so nice, all these great lakes and old structures, I just loved it!

This was called the temple of music. ha!

 (neon sighting #7?)

Providence was a big race, so they had tents and food trucks and a beer garden, all sorts of fun.
This food truck had ice cream, but soon I realized it was vegan, and so I went with a root beer because ice cream is supposed to have milk/cream in it, yes?

Paul went with a watermelon slushy.

We sat under a tree and picnicked, and I was getting tired from long days out in the sun.

And this penny farthing guy was awesome, until we were leaving for the day and a big van cut us off, and guess it who was. Mr. Pennyfarthing.

 Triumphant statues...

See! Swan Boats!

The next morning, we were up and at it again for more bike racing.

Paul is real good at cyclocross and it's become a fun weekend ritual for us to go and get to see new places around the East. Hooray!

:)