Catching up on Happy Memories -- AKA: Happy Days 68-72

I've done very little blogging in the past week or so but aside from being sick for about three days I've also had some happy photo taking time.. and more importanty happy memory making time -- so now it's time to play catch up (really isn't life a perpetual game of catch up?)

Happy Day 72: Yesterday was super busy (and I'm trying not to schedule myself like that anymore but it was worth it).  In the morning Henry and I headed to Carroll County (bonus in itself) to go to Happy On Hooves for a trail ride with friends.  Can you believe I got to the ripe old age of 37 and had never been on a horse.  It was actually the first time for most of us and it was a lovely day for it. I was paired with the slowest of horses named Caboose and we were great friends by the end of our hour together and it's a good thing because he was slow enough that we often could not see the rest of our group on the path.  There were also other fun animals to visit with on the ranch and the dogs pictured (Daisy and Oreo) walked the trail with us and then found a nice spot in the sun for a rest at the end of our adventure.  

Happy Day 72 Continued: After exploring our outdoorsy/adventurous side we shifted gears, drove to Southern Maryland and met up with some friends for a wine and paint night.  It was lots of fun but I learned that I like to have clear instructions when crafting and that perhaps more practice at letting my creativity bloom would be a good idea.  I kept worrying about whether I was doing it right! And usually I wasn't -- though I was assured repeatedly that there was no right or wrong... sure...

 

 Happy Day 71: Dinner and drinks with my boy. Definitely a nice treat after a long week of illness and playing catch up.

Happy Day 70: Margo met the puppy next door and she didn't hiss through the glass!  This is impresseive for my Margo that doesn't always take quickly to new situations or people but maybe animals will be a different story?

Happy Day 69: Happy Bosses Day!  I have an awesome staff at the library where I work and they celebrated their bosses at a staff meeting that I sadly missed while I was out sick. They saved me this awesome banner (and some awesome goodies!!) and I love the take on Dr. Seuss.  I definitely felt appreciated and thankful to work where I do.

Happy Day 68: Pumpkin Carving and general group craftiness :-)  I forgot how hard it is to carve a pumpkin!  It takes muscles to get those guts out!  We all had a great time carving and painting and crafting and eating pizza and candy... I especially loved painting and eating candy! Oh and we roasted pumpkin seeds which were a huge hit among the hungry masses.

Happy Hiking! Happy Day #67

Yes - I'm still a few days behind but we had such a lovely day hiking on Monday that it deserves a "happy days" blog post.

First happiness of the day- we were off of work! YAY! An extra day off given as "staff appreciation day" was appreciated by staff in return :-)

So three of us from the library headed off to Harper's Ferry in search of colorful fall leaves and exhilarating, and heart pumping hiking.  I will admit I was a bit worried right up until the end of the hike that the weather was going to betray us.  It rained the whole way there and then sprinkled on us pretty good when we stopped for lunch but other than that, fog was really the worst we dealt with while actually hiking.  We put in about 9 miles and boy was the uphill hard after not seriously hiking for several months.  Big thanks to my hiking companions for not leaving me in their dust! After our hike we found a little coffee shop in town and drank a huge serving of hot apple cider and shared an apple dumpling...one must always reward themselves after a tough hike :-) Sadly I didn't take a photo of the treats but here are a few from along the hike.

 Pretty views!

 lunch under the umbrella - sorry for the weird face!

Yay!  We made it to the overlook-- Actually we climbed much higher than the overlook but this is where we could take pictures with no fog obstructing our views!

National Apple Harvest Festival and Fond Memories - Happy Day #66

On Saturday even though I was still fighting a bit of a cold we took off for the National Apple Harvest Festival in Biglerville, PA... about 10 miles outside of Gettysburg.  My GPS (probably mistakenly) took us right through Gettysburg to get there.  When I realized I had just passed the entrance to Round Top Campground (where I pretty much grew up on the weekends as a kid) I did a quick turn around to go back and take a drive through memory lane :-)  I forgot to snap any pictures while we were there (driving through the campground against the rules - you are supposed to stop at the office to check in as a visitor but every once in a while I'm a rule breaker... lol) but here is one of the main lodge of the campground where I talked my dad into buying many sugar stick candies and played bingo upstairs on Friday evenings.  I was also fascinated by the water wheel on the outside and always wanted to stop and watch it for a minute.

 I took Henry on a tour up the hill where my parents last "permanent" (meaning they parked the camper there for the season and just had to bring themselves up when they wanted to camp) campsite was and pointed out the loop where I had my scariest bicycle accident.  It was a quick trip in and out but it was good for the soul to bring some memories to life.  Those weekend trips to the campground are some of my fondest memories... I can almost taste the french toast made on the grill by my pop dripping in butter that I would eat while sitting close to the campfire on a chilly Sunday morning.


After our tour through Gettysburg and the parts of the battlefield that my directions took us through (which was hopping busy on Sunday!) we headed to the Apple Festival to look at some crafts, listen to some music and sample some delicious food (and hard cider and spiced wine!).  I of course snapped some cheesy selfies along the way :-)

These are our serious faces! The second is Henry laughing at my attempt at a serious face.  It was a beautiful fall day!

We found some delicious hot ham and cheese sandwiches and finished off our lunch with these sweet treats... pumpkin makes everything more delicious.. even funnel cakes :-)

Beautiful Fall Weekend (Happy Days 63-65)

Happy Day #65 - Christmas PJs!  OK -- it's early yet but they are flannel and warm and it was chilly :-)
















Happy Day #64 - The Zoo.  We went to see the new penguin exhibit which somehow I didn't take any photos of... but I really enjoyed watching the flamingos as well.  Such interesting creatures.




Happy Day #63 - Fall is one of my favorite times of year... especially with such good company.  Here we are chilling out along a little walking path attached to this school park and I took the opportunity to make a wish with a dandelion... I can't tell you the wish though or it won't come true :-)

 

Happy Photo Days #60 - 62

Day 62:  I rock at coloring :-) Storytime craft awesomeness!

Day 61: HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO MY MARGO!! She got some new toys (which she was afraid of at first) and some delicious treats.  My baby is all grown up!  How did that happen?

 Day 61: Chilling out in a nice rocker.  I need a front porch with a rocking chair!

Day 60- hilarious kites and GIGANTIC sodas -- if you don't notice the frog right away... somehow these kites seem obscene...and I don't think this picture does justice to exactly how LARGE this large soda was...

Happy Photo Day #59

Happy Photo Day #59 - I'm sharing more than one photo but hey - it's my blog and I make the rules here :-)

Saturday was a lovely day for hayrides, corn mazes, pedal tractor racing and hanging out with farm animals :-) I learned I am terrible at following directions (corn mazes are not my specialty) and that goats are still the awesomest animals ever! The goat below however was greedy and one person had to be feeding him if anyone wanted to feed any of the others.... hungry boy!

Happy Photo #58 -- TFIOS style

My very first Blu-Ray ever and of course its The Fault in Our Stars.  I saw it twice in the theater and I'm sure I'll watch it repeatedly...but I'm in the mood for a tear free weekend so I think I will just look at it's pretty box and the fun infinity bracelet that it came with that has quotes from the book on it.  Notice my awesome infinity ring as well... which did not come with my TFIOS movie but does accent the happy photo nicely :-)

Happy Photo #57 - Chicken Corn Chowder (with recipe)

Ingredients:

1 can chicken broth (I wound up using a tiny bit more than a can)

1 can corn (I drain the regular corn)

2 cans cream style corn

1 pint heavy whipping cream

Chicken breasts 

1 can Rotel (or can us a can of diced chili peppers or both)

Onion

Garlic

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Rice if you like a thicker soup

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Chop onion and saute in soup pot and then brown diced chicken.  Add stock and garlic and let cook for a bit.  Add all corn and rotel/peppers and let cook for 20 minutes or so.  Add whipping cream and bring to low boil.  Add as much rice as you like to thicken.  When almost done add cheese and stir in to incorporate into chowder  (I just eyeball this too.. depending on how fattening I want it).  

Serve with yummy bread... I added chopped garlic to the bread too... need to keep the vampires away :-)

Happy Day #56 - Rainy Day Adventures Turned Sunny Day Exploring

We started our day at Washington Monument State Park hoping to do some hiking... but the rain got the best of us and after a walk to the monument and back we were water logged and ready to dry out...

We had a great lunch and the skies had mostly cleared so we headed over to the Monocacy Battlefield and checked out their museum while we dried out a bit.  This is us all cramming into their photo op spot which is supposed to be all of us looking out the space in the boards of our basement onto the battlefield with sadness and horror...

 Here we are walking around the battlefield with happy faces!

It was a lovely day of hanging out with friends, enjoying nature, learning to skip rocks (I have to relearn every time!) and relaxing.

Comfort Food -- Happy Photo #55

Happy Photo #55:

When I was a little girl I didn't like sauce on my spaghetti.. just butter and parmesan cheese.  Sometimes I still crave it that way and to make it better... it's super easy to make and cheap :-) Bonus happy because of the cool bowls I just got from Carrie that I am putting to good use.  

Halfway through Happy :-) Photos #49-54

#49 - Outside the post office where I mailed packages off to a good friend deployed to Afghanistan right now.

 #50 A new stash of yarn.. because I didn't already have a closet full of yarn :-)

 #51 First Christmas present finished... it was a quick project that turned out pretty cute :-)

 #52 I've been meaning to make a wreath for my front door for like forever... it only took about 15 minutes but it's always extra fun to check something off your to-do list!

 #53 Shes hard to see but there is a Margo waiting for me to get home from work in the window... when she sees me get to the door she runs out of the kitchen and is right at the door when I open it, a nice welcome home!

 #54 Crazy pic of me but I have declared it fall and I am wearing cords! YAY!  <3 Fall!

10 Books

The Challenge: List 10 books that have stayed with you throughout your life. Not necessarily "good" books; don't think too hard and don't show off.

1. Wizard of Oz (Little Golden Book)

2. Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

3. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

4. Looking For Alaska by John Green

5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

6. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

7. The Giver (and Gathering Blue) by Lois Lowry

8. Kittens First Full Moon by Kevin  Henkes

9. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

10. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I don't have them in any order of importance except that the first book on the list is near and dear to my heart because my pop read it to me over and over and over again with me curled up in his lap when I was a little girl until I could "read" the book myself.  I love looking back and thinking about those moments.  He may not have realized then how important the memory would be to me now.