Weekend at the beach

August 5th, 2010


Black Point Beach

We spent the weekend, courtesy of friends at a beach rental in East Lyme/Niantic. It was a nice break from life and great times with friends. Our friend’s kids kept Craig busy wanting to play games and go exploring. While at the beach Dunkin Donuts flew their banner over head several times.

Want an Iced Coffee?

It was really peaceful to be in a private community where you can walk around, leave the house unlocked, everyone waves and says Hi, and people follow the speed limit. There was also something rejuvenating being near the water and having the expectations lowered significantly for two days. More photos on Flickr.

Graduation

July 25th, 2010

Craig’s cousin Bryan graduated from college this past May. They combined his party with the 4th of July and I brought my camera. It was a lot of fun visiting with everyone and catching the moments on “film”.

Bryan
Bryan and his dog Anna

Val and Autumn
Val and Autumn

Dianne, Kathy and Carolyn
Fun with cameras



ttown992, originally uploaded by Lloyd Dangle.

Brilliant. (Found on Richard’s Notes)

10 Years Ago

June 24th, 2010

It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years. It doesn’t feel like 10 years and so much has happened and yet many things have stayed the same. I’m incredibly lucky to have married someone who I love to spend hours talking with, makes me laugh and if I do say so myself looks very good. My best friend and only person I trust everything to in life. I look forward to many more years. Happy Anniversary Craig.

1563506859_da7f2ff968.jpg

Great Wass Island Nature Preserve

Kerry and I decided to explore Great Wass Island today. The weather was perfect and we wanted to get out of the house, as well as get some exercise. My inlaws and Kerry had gone to this island last year but I never made it. It definitely ranks up as one of my favorite trails to hike.

Boardwalks and Butterflies

The trail included several varieties of terrain, from roots and dirt, to boardwalks and several large boulders. I love the trees through these island landscapes, they’re small and scraggly growing in directions clearly blown by the Atlantic wind. In the woods the temperature was perfect, we worked up a good sweat. Along the trail I managed to scare a red squirrel and a spruce grouse.

At the terminus of the trail we got an incredible view of the Atlantic Ocean. We had the whole beach to ourselves for quite a while.

The Hikers

The rocks were wonderfully sun baked and kept us warm as the wind picked up and made for a chilly but sunny lunch. We were able to keep with our vegan eating packing left overs. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. According to the LoseIt app, our 2.5 hour hike totaled 1100 calories burned.  We spent a total of 3.5 hours out on the island.

Bundled Up Lunch Time

Onto tomorrow and more adventures!

Retreating to Maine

May 30th, 2010

This year we’ve taken two weeks to vacation/retreat in Maine. The house as it turns out is being rented out to the public for the first time and I think we are the first renters. The view and location are incredible. We’re only 45 minutes from Bar Harbor and 20 minutes from Ellsworth. High speed internet was supposed to be in place, but it took a while for the internet company to get things going. With that said, Fairpoint is so much better to deal with than AT&T.

Bunker Cove

Unlike last year we’ve had incredible weather. Almost everyday has been sunny with a light breeze and as I said before, gorgeous views. I’m incredibly grateful for that. We’ve spent a lot of time reading and brainstorming projects and future plans. We’ve made some delicious healthy meals and working on sun tans. We both managed to get decent burns after sitting out for 5 hours on one day.

The Readers

We made a trip into Bar Harbor and enjoyed town life and lots of lobster. I visited my favorite store, Cool As A Moose and picked up some new Life Is Good swag. Today begins the second week and we’re off to do some biking and enjoy the outdoors.

View from Cadillac Mountain

Relaxing on a Saturday

May 15th, 2010



sitting outside with @kregmusic and watching the clouds go by, originally uploaded by criana.

Sitting out on the deck with Craig enjoying this gorgeous weather. We’re reading books, catching up on email and having our great philosophical conversations.

Sugar Snap Peas and Edamame

One of my favorite recipes yet from The Kind Diet is the Edamame and Sugar Snap Peas. The recipe is so easy to make and uses only olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, shallots and ume boshi plum vinegar.

Spring

April 20th, 2010



Spring, originally uploaded by criana.

Hiking Black Rock

April 17th, 2010

Hiking at Black Rock

In my efforts to lose weight and get my health back, I opted for an impromptu hike nearby last weekend. We’ve tried to hike at Black Rock twice before but our timing wasn’t the best (frigid winds in the winter). I came armed with my map found at the CT DEP‘s site. We headed up the blue trail on the western side of the park.

As usual with CT, it starts off gradual for about 50 feet and then up! This is a deceiving “short” hike. The funniest part was on the way back down we passed several people in their 20-30′s who said, “good grief I feel old”. I’m guessing too many of us sit behind our desks and computers too much. Then there was one guy who was pretty lean and limber and was doing the loop, up and over the mountain and back down, he passed us 3 times. Pretty damn impressive.

I’ve kept up with eating vegan and exercising minimally 3 times a week. My total weight loss is 12 lbs so far. My short term goal is another 8 lbs. The next goal is 45 lbs from that point. The final goal is another 25 from there. I’m sure there will be plateaus and I’m preparing already to mix things up.