goat morning.

I am here on my first day in Alabama. When I first arrived I was greeted by the program coordinator at the school, Ali. She was so friendly and was so enthusiastic about the place I would be living and working. I

took this as a very good sign. After a long drive to get to the middle of nowhere, we arrived at the camp. The sun was already setting so I didn't get a good look at the place but when I finally got outside and looked up I got a breathtaking view of the stars. I could see the Milky Way and shooting stars and the many satellites. The tree line back on the ground was sparkling with fireflies. I was completely taken back by the beauty of the night in the place I had just made my new home for a while. I followed Ali through a barn and she asked if I wanted to milk the goats, um hell yes! So I met them. Sandy, Veronica, little Lola and the buck, big boy Blue. Ali gave me a little lesson on how to prep the girls for milking. It looked so easy, I knew I’d be great. When I sat down next to the bucket though and stated squeezing, nothing came out. I eventually learned the proper technique and got a good flow going. Unfortunately, soon after Sandy finished her dinner and become impatient and grouchy. She started kicking and jumping and almost kicked the milk bucket all over the ground. I learned how to calm her down and make her be patient. Yay, I had done it! I finished up and let Ali take over for the next milking. After, we headed back to the building that would be my new home. I met some of the people I would be working with and we just sat around the living room getting to know each other. After they all left, I explored my new place. It is a two story beautiful wood structure in the woods. I chose a corner room and set a few of my things up around the room. I played some tunes on my uke and went to sleep, very excited for the next morning’s adventures.

i don't wanna wait... for my next trip to Wilmington, NC.

I know I did not get a chance to visit any museums in Wilmington, but the bit of culture I did pick up was that it was where Dawson's Creek was filmed, oh my! And it definitely had that quaint, small city feel. The city has a harbor on Cape Fear, (I know what you're thinking, why wasn't the show called Dawson's Cape?), anyway, the place was great. The University of Wilmington provides a bit of a younger crowd to the town as well as a trickle over of soldiers from the Marine base. Overall, the place reminded me of a port city Ashville. Hip and fun with many of the older style southern buildings.
The University offers some pretty good environmental programs so we decided to go check out the campus. It was really nice although because it is the summer, it was pretty devoid of people. We were so happy to have made the stop though because we got to see this beautiful hawk just chilling on top of some electrical box. I mean, how cool is that?

 With the baby all snug at her grandparents, Shayna and I finally got a chance to go check out the city. We went into a trendy dress store, a quirky t-shirt shop an made it to the delightful Shucking Shack. This was a small restaurant but with only about three tables, it was more like a seafood bar. In fact, it was so squeezed in that there was not enough room for the kitchen. The waitress brought the food to the table from the dumb waiter behind the bar. After dinner, we walked around a bit more and I saw the very strange character of the city, it's poor drainage issues. What made it more interesting to me was that it seem pretty normal to the people there. It seemed people were a little concerned about a bad hurricane however no one seemed to bother that their cars were only one storm away from floating down the creek. We even saw a guy strolling along the street walk straight through this huge puddle that was practically up to his knees. I mean, he didn't even seem fazed at all.
After, Shayna and I went to a 'happening' bar with two floors and live music on the roof. It was a great night and it was good to be out spending time with my sister.

the land of the pine.

I made it to North Carolina! The best part is I got to see my sister, brother-in-law and last but not least I got to meet baby Julia! She is so tiny and beautiful and we already love each other! My sister lives on the U.S. Marine base, Camp Lejeune. Truthfully, I did not know what to expect when coming here but really it seems pretty normal. You need an id card to enter and when my sister shows it to the man with the large gun at the gate, he salutes her before she drives on her way. So yeah, that's a little different. The MCX logo is everywhere (marine corps exchange) which makes for a bit of an eerie feel but besides for that there are also regular fast food franchises and chain stores. What is interesting are the people who live here. Everyone here is from somewhere else. Although my sister and her hubby live in the officers quarters, where it is typically quiet, there are other parts of the base that are more lively. Because of all the young soldiers living here there is a party town feel some nights. So far I haven't really seen too much southern living as we have mostly stayed in the house. I guess that is what happens when you are taking care of a new born baby. It's been very nice though to be able to spend time with them. I have learned a lot about babies in the past 48 hours and helped to assemble the crib and other general chores around the house. It's been a pretty relaxing and joyful time down here so far.

sa ya soon new york.

For my last few hours in New York for a while, I enjoyed my time with many of the people I love. My best friend Meagan came up for the weekend and my oldest friend in Buffalo, Sam, came out with us for the fun too. My girl Chelsea went with me for my last plate of wings at Duffs. Chris was there later too and of course, Kevin. Although I was feeling a bit nervous for my big adventure ahead it felt good to have all these awesome people have my back as I headed on my way to the unknown for the next few months.

park ave fest and the alien invasion.

This weekend was so packed out with fun. I started it out with Chris and I enjoying another cool night at the free Thursday canalside concert. Shelia E, the Prince's drummer, performed and it was pretty sweet. We met up after with Kevin at Founding Father's, and later with my friend Sam on Hertel.
Saturday, we drove to Rochester to meet my friends from Long Island, Bre and Diana at Park Ave Fest. Bre lives right on Park Ave which is one of the central, hip and popular blocks in the city. It was your typical festival with lots of people, drinks and food. We invented a really cool card game that we called celebrity and included shout-outs to Pokemon, Antonio Banderas and every place in the world, ever (mythical or real). We got some olive oil rich food at a great Mediterranean place and Diana even got her ear pierced so all in all a very fulfilling fest. Before the rain started, Kevin, Chris and I head to Greece, NY for a friends birthday party. During the party we were visited by what we thought at first to be aliens. We chased them around the block and were mesmerized by their ultra bright lights. Unfortunately disappointment struck when we figured out it was just the coast guard testing flares. Either way it was pretty cool.

me in the mist.

Looking for some thrills in the Buffalo/Niagara area? Well, ya gotta go to the Maid of the Mist. For my last week in town I had the opportunity to go with my job for a sort of field trip with some of the BPN people. The Maid of the Mist is essentially a ferry that takes you on a 20 minute 'tour' that brings you up close to the Falls. You get to wear one of the famous Maid of the Mist ponchos that is really a blue plastic bag with a couple of holes in the top. I loved that I got to enjoy the trip with the kids from my school because they were so amazed by the force of the Falls and really appreciated the incredible wonder of nature that it is. Many people I speak to often take Niagara Falls for granted as it is a bad tourist trap in an economically depressed part of town. But really, it is like no other place on Earth and I am thankful to have gotten so many chances to gazed upon its massive amounts of running water.

le weekend adventure: montreal.

Kevin and I took the weekend to travel to Montreal. Only a six hour drive from Buffalo, but once there it felt a world away. For starters, everyone there spoke French. Unfortunately for Kevin and I we only knew how to say 'merci,' plus all the other words we made up. Either way the trip was fantastic. We crossed into Canada by the Thousand Islands and made our way towards the city. Once there, we drove towards our hostel and managed to catch a glimpse of St. Catherine's street and stopped the car to check it out. The street had strands of these pink plastic balls draping across the street and interesting street art and park areas to see. This street only allowed foot traffic and gave us great insight into what the rest of the city would be like: totally exploding with life. There were people everywhere, going to cafes and stores and getting haircuts. Also, oddly enough, these were majority regular people (i.e. not tourists). Coming from Buffalo it was so refreshing to see a city that actually acted like a city. On further inspection, we came across multiple strip clubs advertising male nudes and it dawned on us that we definitely booked our hostel in the city's gay district. In the end it totally worked out because it was centrally located to the city's night-life. Our hostel, M Montreal, was great. Very clean and accommodating, with a free breakfast that included deliciously fresh croissants and lots of interesting people to meet.
After struggling with the parking for a while due to our inability to read French, we went on to explore. First we headed to Old Montreal. This part of the city is all cobble stones and of course old looking. We stopped at a corner poutine restaurant and enjoyed an entire pitcher of sangria together. After, we walked through some art galleries and touristy shops and then headed to the harbor area. Again, this area was constantly busy with people walking, bicyclists and some odd horse drawn carriages. Later we headed back to the hostel and I watched the city's weekly fireworks from the buildings fire escape. After, we wound up going to a gay bar/club with our hostel-mates and had an amazing night. Overall, an awesome first day in Montreal.

The next morning, we left on foot to see all we could see. We stopped at a bunch of shops, posed with some moose statues and used the restroom in Montreal's underground mall. Eventually we made it to...another fabulous Olmsted park! Within the park is Mount Royal. We hiked to the top and enjoyed some pleasant views on some cozy Adirondack chairs. At the bottom of the mountain was the Sunday weekly tom tom drum circle. We watched from under a large tree as a handful of people did a rain dance to the music during a Montreal sun shower. There we asked some locals the ideal place to have dinner in Montreal and we made our plans for later that night. Ready to eat now though, we left the park and came upon a beautiful garden cafe. Kevin sat across from me on a pile of slate that functioned as a bench as well as the edge of the koi pond. 

For dinner we ate at Le Quartier General. This place was many blocks from our hostel and when we finally got there we were kinda soaked from the rain but in the end it was so worth it. We brought our our wine and were seated in the last available table for the night (it was fate). The whole menu was written on a chalk board and of course, it was all in French. We had the waitress read it to us in English one too many times and. really everything sounded amazing. All in all we wound up eating

mackerel, veal, venison, gazpacho, earthly mushrooms, odd cauliflower puree stuff and the most amazing chocolate mousse of which I actually used the word 'decadent' whilst eating it. Probably one of the better meals I have every had. One our walk back we stopped in at pub and watched a band with some of the sickest players I have seen in real-life. Kev and I had a great night.

one good bar.

photo credit N. Ciesielski

Last night I took the train down to the harbor for the Buffalo Canalside free Thursday concert. This event may just be one of the best that Buffalo has to offer. For starters, it's free! People from all over the city attend as well as many of its food trucks. Once there, I met up with a couple of friends, Chris and Nicole and we enjoyed the epic sunset on the river. We ate some yummy food and then I ran into another friend who I shared some ice cream with. Have I mentioned there was food at this event? After the show we decided to try to contact my boyfriend Kevin. The interesting part of that was that Kevin has a broken cell phone. So, we went to his job to leave a message for him. We all felt so old fashioned and proud for using word of mouth as a method of communication. 

Eventually he got out of work and we all headed to Goodbar on Elmwood, (which may or may not have been the location of my awesome karaoke performance the night before.) It was such a good night to be out in the world, enjoying friends and good vibes.

Happy Birthday Julia!

photo credit S.M.

Today we welcomed my niece, beautiful baby Julia, into the world. I will be going to visit her soon in North Carolina and I can hardly wait until then. She was delivered bright and early this morning at 5.6 lbs. I am so happy and proud for my sister and brother-in-law. I know they will be great and loving parents.
Later, after all the amazing news, my coworkers and I took a trip to the beach. Although I am an Island girl, I do see something special in Lake Erie. The water was so refreshing and the sun was out and it just felt like the whole world was smiling.
Today has been such a blessed day.

thanks Olmsted.

Yesterday we had great weather. Kevin and I decided to start our day in lovely Williamsville for breakfast. After waiting for over a half an hour for a table at this crepe restaurant we decided to give up and go with bagels instead. After that I dropped him off at work and made my way towards Delaware Park. My first stop was the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. I thought it would be a great activity for my Sunday afternoon but when I got there I changed my plans. It turns out there was a free jazz concert on the lawn. I wound up meeting these two older ladies and I joined them to listen to the music. After the show, I made my way to the path along the parks lake. Like New York City's Central Park, the park was designed by Fredrick Law Olmsted. The place makes me feel like I am wandering a European estate in the 1800's. I could just sit under the massive weeping willows all day. I ate my lunch under the trees, played my ukulele for a bit and then tried to play frisbee for a minute until I remembered how bad I am at frisbee. Overall, it was the perfect lazy Sunday.

A summer's day in Buffalo.

Saturday mornings is a day for farmers markets. The Elmwod-Bidwell market is great as there are always vendors selling meats and dairy. It's also a great place to just relax and people watch. I start my morning at Aroma Cafe and make my way towards the crowds. Through the park there are people playing music, walking dogs and playing lawn games. It is a great place to really feel the spirit of the city.
Still, sometimes I go to the University Community farmers market instead. Located in the University Heights, within the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood, it shows another side to the city. Though a struggling community, there are hundreds, if not thousands of citizens working to revitalize the area. This farmers market brings farm fresh and healthy foods to people who normally do not have access to such options. The Buffalo Promise Neighborhood is the organizing force behind many of the positive initiatives seen within the community. This area shows the epitome of Buffalo's story: going from a dismal rust belt city toward a renaissance of productive culture and community.
A summer Saturday in Buffalo often offers street festivals. Last week I attended the Taste of Buffalo, credited as the largest 2 day food festival in the United States. It was pretty massive. I was there for hours walking around and still didn't see every street of vendors at the event. A couple of weeks before that was the Allentown Art Festival. This event was a lot of fun because even if you're not usually an art junkie there are still so many things to see, do and taste. I bought this small glass terrarium from an artist who blows the glass himself. Inside are two succulents and a small cactus. It definitely helps to brighten up my apartment and adds a little character too.
This weekend is a personal favorite as it reminds me a bit of my home on Long Island: The Galbani Italian Festival. This festival features music stages, carnival games and rides and of course... FOOD! Last night I went and enjoyed a loaded plate of fried mushrooms and cauliflower complete with warm marinara sauce. It was so so delicious. I also made sure to grab an Italian ice on my way out. Lucky for me, the festival will go until Sunday so I have another two chances to stop by and taste some cannoli's, zeppole's and of course pizza. I am looking  forward to gaining a pound or two over the next 48 hours.

2 weeks and counting.

I leave Buffalo in approximately two weeks. It's strange to think that I have spent the majority of my adult life in this city and now I am getting ready to leave it all behind. The city has treated me well. Here, I graduated with my degree from the University at Buffalo in May 2013. Since then I have been working with 8th graders as a student advocate, tutor and teachers assistant. I have made countless connections to many good people. I have eaten lots of chicken wings and have visited Niagara Falls more times then I can count. It was the first place I came after I moved out of my parents house and went independently out into the world. I guess I never knew it until recently but I believe I am a Buffalo girl now. A little piece of my heart will always resign here.

At the end of those two weeks I will be getting on a plane and flying to my sister in North Carolina. She lives there on the Marine base with her husband and they are expecting their first child a little more than a month from now. I am so happy for them and also I am so excited to be an aunt! I'll be there with my sis before the baby comes. I hope to help her set up the baby room and do her general bidding while she is massively rotund. I really look forward to hanging out with her and her hubby for a bit. After that, I head to the site of my new job. I found out last week that I have been hired for a seasonal employment position as an environmental educator for a camp in Alabama. I am just so excited to be heading on this amazing adventure. I know this will be a big transition in my life but it is one that I have been waiting for, for some time now. Buffalo is a very homely city but to be honest I am ready to leave the nest. I pray that in the coming months I find happiness along this new path that life is leading me on.