Two Months...

Til I'm outta here!!! Hooray!!!!!!!!!!! That has nothing to do with my post, but I am excited nonetheless so I just had to say it. Anyway, here is the real post:

When I'm not obsessively looking for apartments on Craigslist, I do other things, such as, going to rehearsal dinners for weddings I'm not invited to. But when you get invited by your best friend (who lives all the way in Colorado) to a rehearsal dinner that's catered by Dinosaur BBQ and Cayuga Creamery (see my yelp review :),) you don't turn that down. If you are not familiar with Dinosaur BBQ, I highly suggest you get familiarized with it... maybe not if you're living somewhere like North Carolina, but definitely if you are living in Upstate NY. It's pretty delicious as far as I'm concerned, and if you were to ask anyone I went to high school with, I'd bet you a hundred bucks that they would agree. I wish I took a picture of my food cause you would totally be jealous right now. Crumbly honey cornbread, smoked brisket, and spicy sweet ribs falling right off the bone. Oh yeah...

What a perfect night for a rehearsal dinner!


Mostly though it was fun to hang with my friend Erin who I went to grad school with.

That's us!


Sadly I do not see her as often as I would like (which is to say, every day, so I guess even if I lived in Colorado, that would probably remain true) so I take what I can get, especially since she just adopted a supremely beautiful baby girl from Ethiopia who is just so sweet and has seemingly adapted quite well in the last three weeks she's been here.

That's her!


Aside from the fact that she just does not want to let me hold her, she is quite perfect. A lovely time had by all.

Also, I actually have plans for the rest of the weekend, which makes me a happy girl. Heading to a girls night with some of my Ithaca ladies tomorrow night and to Watkins Glen on Sunday. There are sure to be more pics ahead, so keep an eye out!

Weekend Synopsis.

Hello all. So I headed to NH last weekend to see the boy. It was fun. We went to Boston to look for apartments on Friday but were very tired and got suckered into an apartment that was really way too expensive for us. A few days later we came to our senses and decided against it, which is really too bad cause it had a pool (and not a gross sketchy one either!) and a gym. But sadly, logic outweighed our (see: my) big dreams of getting skinny and looking super hot. Oh well. So the boy has very kindly taken on the frustrating job of finding us an apartment (I guess there are some perks to living in Ithaca) I also watched him play rugby. That was fun. But seeing bunch of dudes pile up on him and realizing that there is a tiny little piece of you that is very anxious that he won't get up=less fun. Nothing of the sort happened though, so we went and drank with his friends. Sunday was largely uneventful, but involved some grilling and catching up on some light reading about couples therapy. I was very sad to have to head back to Ithaca. Just a couple of short months left!!!!!!!!!!! (yay.)

It is almost always a gorgeous drive from Ithaca to Keene. This time was no exception:

Ithaca Fest

If you don't already have pre-conceived notions about Ithaca, let me begin by telling you it's a strange place. The people who have "drunk the kool-aid" (which seems to be an oft heard expression around here) think it's bees knees. Those people probably have children. If you don't have a child, aren't spending inordinately long hours with your face shoved in a book and don't enjoy fueling your anxiety by running from your desk to the stacks in fear that someone might steal your book before you get to it, then you will probably not enjoy Ithaca.

*Sidebar* Okay, seriously, if anyone out there knows why the students at Cornell run from their desk to the stacks that are literally 5 feet away, please, please share. It boggles my mind. Or why people insist on running across campus. I understand if you are late to an appointment or something, but for some reason, I feel it is not the case here. Everyone is just spazzing out ALL OF THE TIME. But I digress. That is a different rant for a different day.

So if you are single (and by single I mean you are uncoupled or your partner is living far, far away. Boo.) I would say Ithaca is not the place to be. Apparently I was the only one who didn't get the memo that if you are going to move here you should probably move with your loved one, or at least a friend who wants to go on a wild adventure and move to Ithaca, NY!! Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't say that I am friendless-- not by any means. I have met some really fantastic people that I will miss very much when I move (luckily most of them are moving as well, so I don't feel as bad) but most of them are partnered off and spend a lot of time with their person, as well they should. It's probably my own fault that I have not gone off exploring all that Ithaca has to offer by myself, but you know, it's just not as fun. I have gone on a few hikes with the pups in some decent places, but aside from that, it doesn't feel like there's a whole lot around aside from the Farmer's Market and a few pretty parks.

Enough about the less favorable points of Ithaca, let's talk about some of the good stuff. Ithaca has its share of festivals, and if there is one thing that I love, it's a good festival, with food. Mostly I love the food, but you know, whatever. The Ithaca Festival is a strange little festival with lots of local music that I could hear right outside my window (both the joys and frustrations of living right on the commons.) Some music was pretty bad and other bands were fairly entertaining. There are a lot of people who like to dance in this town. Some of them seem crazy. Others just get really excited about music. (I had a little movie that I filmed via Iphone that showed exactly how excited people get, but I couldn't figure out how to load it on to my blog. Boo. It is really very entertaining.) Oh, that's the other thing about Ithaca. There are a lot of... let's say, interesting people here. Sometimes I look at the people who wander around the commons and I think to myself, does that person have serious mental health issues? Or are they just weird? It's really very hard to tell sometimes, and I'm a professional. There were also small children performing random things all over the place. One performance was of small children doing karate. They were so freaking cute and looked a lot like this:



The Ithaca Festival was kicked off by the Ithaca Parade. It was a Luau theme, can you tell? I'm pretty sure half the population of Ithaca was in the parade doing random things such as the following:



Apparently there was also a "Volvo Ballet." Unfortunately I missed it. I think it was to drum up excitement for the used Volvo they were giving away as a raffle prize. It looked a little like this (I'm not even kidding):



Okay, one last picture to leave you with:


Aren't Tuffy and Biggie just the cutest things? They were super snuggly at the parade-- probably cause they were terrified of all the people around them, but cute nonetheless :)

I'm heading to see the boy in NH next weekend. Huzzah!

Doing it and doin' it and doin' it well...

I'm not sure if it's ironic or appropriate that I am shoving my face with Thai food as I write this. I've been thinking a lot about my trip lately and missing Thailand oh so much. The food, the people, the scenery. I could go on and on. Part of what I miss the most though is the person I was when I was there. I know that seems ridiculous, but the person that I was in the summer of 2011 was confident and happy and didn't give a shit about what people thought. I was out there doing stuff! Not pondering what it would be like if I was doing stuff or complaining about not doing stuff...

Sadly, that does not feel like the person I am now. Now I am living in Ithaca feeling as though this place has sucked the life out of me. That's harsh, I know. Prior to moving from Boston, I had such high hopes for this "city" in Upstate New York-- It was a small, but eclectic town with a diverse, big city feel that held a job I had worked really hard for. Not to mention, it was a place to start over. I didn't want to think of it that way because for the first time I wasn't moving because I was trying to run away from my life and that felt really good. But there was a little bit of truth to that-- a place to start over. I mean I knew no one and no one knew me. As such things go though you can never really start over. After all, I am inherently the same person as I have always been-- someone who loves new experiences but sometimes struggles to do things alone; someone who is open to meeting new people, but somehow always manages to feel a little lonely and awkward; and clearly someone who is inconsistent at best (forgive me loyal blog readers who have been requesting that I start writing again. Thank you for keeping the faith.) So maybe I was deluding myself into thinking that I had changed. In my defense though, I felt different and full of life. In Ithaca I am mostly alone and bored, which makes me very, very cranky. You can really only go on so many walks with the dogs, people! I have made a handful of good friends who are all coupled off and often busy with their partners, conquered the creation of homemade bread and pickles, finished more books in the last year than I have in the last 10 years and stayed up to date on Gossip Girl and Glee, but otherwise Ithaca has not given me much of anything aside from the desire to GET OUT! It probably doesn't help that most of my friends here are also hating on Ithaca and leaving soon.

Before I get ahead of myself though and go off on a rant about Ithaca, there is one amazingly lovely and wonderfully happy, happy thing that has come out of this place. Thanks to having nothing to do and no place to go and no one to hang out with (see I told you my negativity wouldn't go that far) I reconnected with New Hampshire Boy #1. Truthfully, he hadn't gone that far either since somehow we had managed to stay (mostly) "friends"/friends the whole time. After many nights of insanely long phone calls and a handful of awkward moments, we have since gotten back together and now I am totally and completely in love, like... smitten. As a result (see March 2010) New Hampshire is now officially off my shit list. Go ahead, vomit a little, I know you want to-- I mean even I am a little bit disgusted by how crazy I feel sometimes. Anyway, I won't bore you with the details of our romance, but let's just say I am awfully happy with that part of my life, so much so that we are both moving back to Boston!! Hurrah!

Okay, I know I started this post off being totally down and out and now you're probably thinking, what is this girl bitching about?! I promise I'll get back to my point even though I'm not entirely sure what that is right now. I love Thailand, I hate Ithaca, I love boys (mine in particular).... Okay, my point is that I want to write more. Yeah, yeah I know you're thinking that you've heard this all before. I am a fickle soul what can I say? But the other day I was sharing with the boy that I have always wanted to be a travel writer. And last year, I made a goal for myself that I was going to go to one new place (out of the country) a year. But it seems that given my new life plans (yay love! yay Boston!) that traveling this year may not be a possibility. So I decided, why wait to start writing again? I can write about Ithaca and wherever else I go to on the weekends (Keene, NH-- you better start getting a little more interesting) And it will all be good practice for when I actually decide to adhere to my life goals and go somewhere. I mean so much of what I loved about myself last year was that I was doing things, not thinking about them and hemming and hawing over whether or not something was the right decision or wrong one. I was just doing it and not caring and feeling pretty damn good about it all. So I'm trying to get back to that. Okay, so writing about Ithaca may not be the most exciting thing ever but the point is that I am doing something, not just talking about doing something....starting... now!

A Moment in the Sun.

Like the spiders that hang from the ceiling of my guest house, I swing back and forth in the air, trying to relax as I hang from the rope that is keeping me from falling 60 feet to the rocks below. I manuever myself to avoid banging into the tree that grows from the side of the mountain. It is my first attempt at rock climbing and I am going to get to the top if it kills me. This is what I am thinking at that very moment. Because after attempt number four to swing my leg to the next notch available, I am starting to get frustrated. My new friends below have already shimmied up a couple of different rock faces and here I am, swinging in the air, having fallen. Again. The sun is hot and the rocks feel like they are melting my fingertips. Only ten more feet and I'll hit the ring that signifies my success. Sweaty sunscreen trickles down my face, stinging my eyes. I am going to do this if it fucking kills me. The thoughts of anger and frustration run through my mind. Tapes that had started to feel unfamiliar come back more easily than I would like them to, creating cobwebs in my brain. I am tangled, trying to fight through to the positivity that seems to be winning over these days. With another curse under my breath, I gather up every ounce of strength and grip on to the small slippery ledge I have available to me. I heave my leg up and it catches. Oh my God! I did it! I am up to the top in a few short motions. I bounce off the side of the mountain as I work my way down. I think to myself, with a bit of self- satisfaction, It's about time I left the web weaving to the experts...

The North

Since my last entry, I've explored Chiang Mai where I went to a cooking class, learned how to make curry paste, pad thai, tum yum goong, and most importantly mango with sticky rice (get excited friends!)


I went to a jazz club with a friend of a friend the next night, listened to some incredible music and was surrounded by people who filled the room with the most contagious positive energy. I smiled so much my face hurt by the end of the night.
I then moved on to Pai for a couple of days-- definitely NOT enough time in case you were wondering-- and met a couple of people with whom I shared some great conversation(a rarity in travel companions.) We spent our days riding through Northern Thailand on motorbikes, watching the countryside pass by as we rode our way up to the Coffin Caves in Supong. Up until that point, I had never seen scenery so beautiful... Hugging the curves of mountain after mountain, we prayed for large rickety trucks filled with people to avoid hitting us as they flew past. I went solo to the waterfalls, trying to beat the setting of the sun. I watched it sink behind the huge fluffy clouds that looked almost cartoonish while people on the side of the road called out offering opium. You know, just in case I was interested... (for the record, I was not.) When I finally reached the waterfalls though, the fear of being stuck on a motorbike I wasn't super familiar with riding, particularly on a dirt road in the dark, dissapated. I jumped in the waterfall and swam around, the water cold, but envigorating.





I was sad to leave Pai, but Chiang Mai beckoned with the prospects of meeting my friend and finally staying in a hotel that didn't have blood stains and gecko poo on the bed. Who knew that my standards had dropped so significantly?? Toilet paper AND soap?? SIGN ME UP! We spent our time wandering around the city, exploring temples,

pushing our way through crowds and trying out random but delicious street foods. Taking chances with some interesting chip flavors (teriakyi chicken and sweet basil anyone?) and Archa, the PBR of Thai beers, we escaped the frequent downpours and watched some questionable (at best) Thai TV.

Saying our goodbyes at the end of the weekend as I moved on to Ko Phi Phi and he to Laos felt bittersweet as it often does with many of the people I have met along the way, but I suppose that is a post for another time. This has already gotten pretty long and my Internet time is running up. Until next time...

A Little Lonely...

The one thing I had really been nervous about prior to leaving for this trip was being by myself. Because being by myself would ultimately fuel a sense of loneliness, a feeling that I have never particularly been comfortable with. Thankfully though, since being in Thailand, there have been very few moments where loneliness has hit, but it is happening right now, as I am riding on the overnight bus to Chiang Mai, writing only by the light of my cell phone. After a couple of pretty spectacular days in Bangkok with friends, new and old (although I suppose in this case, "old" is somewhat relative) the feeling of being by myself is overwhelming and a little sad. I have a hard time not imagining them having experiences that I will not be a part of. I know that as I continue on my travels, I will also continue to meet new people and new friends. To me, these connections are what makes traveling such a transformative experience. In a way, it makes the world feel like a smaller place, and causes you to wonder how and why certain people come into your life. Take my friend Jon for example. During this trip, I've thought to myself on a number of occasions, that had I never met him in the first place, I may never have come on this trip. So did he come into my life for that reason? To help me feel compelled enough to leave my job and go to Thailand? Perhaps. Even if not, I am grateful for his presence, for helping me to not feel so alone on this trip and introducing me to his friends, who I think have done a great job of including me despite their prior close connections. And so we come full circle, back to this sense of loneliness that has subsided a bit in writing this post. Because I know that even as I sit here on the bus, in the dark, that not only are there are people out there who know me and love me, but also so many people I have yet to meet...

New Friends!



And Some Old...