goodbyes are hard to do

got back into md last night. took the random no tolls sort of no hwy route as i had no cash on me (haha). the spontaneity of this whole summer seems to be good for all things in life. last minute wrap ups before i say goodbye to this blog-

linda is my absolute hero. 55 and one of her goals this year was to complete a triathlon. not only did she finish but she wasn't fazed by anyone else around her and enjoyed it just for her. go linda! 

now that i'm back there's so much about vt i want to hold onto:

• spending more time outdoors
• not taking myself seriously
• cooking more
• trying new things
• there's probably a lot more but i can't think of them right now

i'll be back over at my usual blog:) 

odds and ends of vt

it's almost the end of my internship and i'm feeling pretty sad about it. unfortunately, the drama of the office politics and the participants this week are making it much easier to say goodbye. but here's probably one of my last updates from this beautiful state i got to spend a summer in...

wish i had found their bread earlier- at the mt.  holly farmer's market and picked up a loaf of their rosemary olive (not pictured) and ate it with baked brie (i love love love baked brie. probably not as much as cabot sharp cheddar cheese but pretty high on the list). 

i never knew how nice sitting by a bonfire at the end of the day could be. margaritas and bonfires will always make me think of vermont.

as annoying as it is to drive a minimum of 30 minutes to get anywhere, the vermont countryside is gorgeous. i want to get more pictures of new england houses before i leave but this still makes me think of maryland. two more days of work and it's all over. i'll try and get some more pictures before i leave!

oh, and went to fireworks restaurant in brattleboro today (linda's son works there). it was super tasty!

i got the hearth baked bread with a tomato, onion and olive feta cheese dip (omg, so delicious!)

i didn't get a shot of lisa's or linda's food very well but betsy's verdura pizza was soooooo good (we finished off both and a tiramisu and death by chocolate cakes).

moose, meese, mooses?

went to a moose seminar at the mt. holly library the other night. it was completely spontaneous after swimming in the lake (if i hadn't mentioned before, lisa is obessed w/ all things moose). we were thinking we (lisa, betsy and i) would be the only ones at the seminar but the whole room was packed and people were even standing up to listen.

the guy was great (i think he worked for the fishing and hunting governmental something or other...we got in a little late and missed the intro). the presentation was a bit too long (1.5 hrs before a nice lady gave him a gentle nudge to speed it up) but moose are pretty freaking awesome. some highlight facts:
- can dive up to 18 ft
- 6 to 6.5 ft in height
- their belly is 36" off the floor (better adapted than deer to high snow fall)
- 1 moose eats what 3.5 deer would eat
- typically healthy moose will have twins every other year
- new offspring weigh between 25-35 lbs
- can track age of moose by teeth (like rings of a tree)

the things i learn here, too bad there's no moose in md! a little over a month until i'm back.

cape cod!

it's my 2nd to last week here! crazy how fast everything is going. got to teach a lower impact cardioboxing class yesterday as the boss was out sick and that went pretty well. i'm getting better at gauging people and thinking on my feet so now i'm excited to get back to teaching at speed back at school. but anyway, the weekend was wonderful, wish it were longer but then it wouldn't be quite the same.

friday afternoon started off the relaxing weekend- we took the women to plymouth state park and while they kayaked betsy, kate and i got to lounge on the beach and get tan (kate was of course nice enough to point out that she was getting paid to sun...). we left for MA around 5 and got to linda's brother's house around 10 to have a nice mojito and call it a night b/c we had some serious biking to do.

cape cod has a long freaking trail (44 miles round trip) and we took the bikes out saturday morning after breakfast. we started around 10:30 and finished around 2. there were some gorgeous parts of the bike (around the ponds and the cranberry fields would be awesome during harvesting time) but a lot of it was trees on the side so it got a bit repetitive, but it was a wonderful way to spend a perfect day out in the sun.

after the bike ride we were pooped and managed to have dinner at linda's brother's house and then we called it a night (nothing like biking 44 miles to get your appetite going- we killed chips and salsa, guac, brie and crackers all before the actual dinner- grilled swordfish is amazing!). sunday was breakfast again at jack's outback II (their popovers are pretty freaking unbelievable) and spent the first half of the day on corporation beach. the water was pretty seaweedy but i got to play with a hermit crab. as much as i like the idea of the beach, i can't handle an entire day just laying on a towel. we left MA around 2 and headed to RI to have dinner w/ betsy's grandmother and her husband and a couple cousins. her family is so cute and her grandmother and stepgrandfather were adorable together. 


oh, and it was a week of being asian so the new joke at work is for me to respond with "is it b/c i'm asian?" 
one of the participants last week was sort of eyeing me all day but not approaching me, but then she finally did and started talking to me about her achy shoulder and whether or not it would be okay to get a massage and i'm looking at her like she's crazy and i said "maybe you should ask one of the fitness staff about your muscle before asking the intern." and she was like "aren't you the masseuse? they said her name was tamaki." when i told her the masseuse was another asian lady she was like "oh, i knew the lady was asian so i figured that was you. you must get this all the time from dumb americans."  oy vey...


oh, and i want to live in a lighthouse:)

week wrap up!

i can't believe it's been so long since i posted! the fam was here this past weekend and since the majority of those reading this are fam, i'll just say it was lots of fun and lots of food.


some randomness that is ludlow (or vermont maybe)
- happy hour is illegal is vermont
- sales tax is 9% (chicago is higher at 10%)

 - hasselhoff is very popular at cumberland farms (the major gas station chain in vermont)

mr darcy's just recently opened in ludlow by sam's steakhouse so lisa and i went to try it out. i wasn't super impressed with the food but it wasn't bad. the drinks are cheaper than downtown grocery (but i think lower shelf liquor) and the bartendar, mark, was very friendly. i can't believe tmrw is already thursday. 2 more weeks after this and cape cod is this weekend!

pies and canoes

sundays are the best:D helped lisa move her stuff this morning to the condo above our building as more participants are coming with the summer months. after that she, and old friend from americorps and i went to the vermont apple pie company (website under construction) to grab brunch and pie to go. the place is super cute and i want to try to get a picture of it soon. it's run entirely by a family (so service can be very slow...) but the food is good (next time i would go for over easy instead of sunny side up eggs. the home fries are bomb and the fresh whipped cream is delish!). 

and of course there's the pie. we got ours all to go. lisa and i shared our pies (she got peach i got blueberry) with the kitchen staff (sharing is caring and all the jazz, it also saves you a lot of calories w/o feeling ripped off). the pie was packed to the brim w/ blueberries. i wish it was baked fresh but that would probably be impossible and i wish there was less crust, but it was super good. i kind of want to try their chocolate chip pie. 


lisa and i went out to bridgewater lake where the sous chef's family runs a large camp and where we borrowed one of their canoes and took it out to get some sun. canoeing is a lot more difficult than i remember, but it was a lot of fun. okay, i'm just so tired and this will be the first time this week i will fall asleep on one day and wake up on another. i need to calm these crazy nights out. haha, vermont is doing crazy things to me (but i almost don't want to leave). g'nite!

may the fourth be w/ you

one of the breakfast cooks always puts up funny sayings w/ the chalk board food board and "may the fourth be with you" was for the 4th of july. 

some of the participants w/ sparklers before the main event

yesterday was a fun day at work- we had fun games for the women- 3 legged race, water balloon toss and staff vs. participant beach ball volleyball (staff 21: participants 20, oh yeahhhh. hahaha). our baked dessert got moved to wed night so they could make this black bean brownie, whipped cream with strawberries and blueberries topping thing that was amazing (i snuck into the kitchen during dinner time and had leftovers!).

ludlow has their own firework show, so we drove the women to the parking lot and got shuttled to the viewing area. for such a small town their fireworks are pretty awesome, especially when there were only maybe 300 people watching them. it started drizzling again which always seems to happen on the 4th no matter where i am. 

is it friday yet though???