Catching up

Due to me falling so far behind with the blog, consider this a highlight reel of the last couple months:

We went back to Ocean City twice and loved it.  Once we went down just overnight as we dropped of Ryan's grandma to stay there for early fall.  Even though it was fast it still felt like a relaxing getaway.  We also went the weekend ofter Labor Day just to hang out.  I'd made a casserole the day before so we'd have an easy at home dinner the first night.  My casserole skills are pretty weak.  It still tasted ok, but I think I can only improve. We rode around on our bikes, went out to lunch with Ryan's grandma, and had coffee each morning at Positively 4th Street, our favorite coffee shop.  We also played some putt putt and got Johnson's popcorn for the way home.  We <3 :="" ocnj="" p="">
Labor Day weekend found us on our way to Youngstown to spend two nights at my parents house.  We enjoyed relaxing at home and hearing the noise from the fair (we didn't end up going).  We had a nice family cookout Aunt Noreen's and she gave us one of her paintings to take home.  We also saw Baba, who insisted on taking Ryan and I to Sears on a shopping spree.  It was really generous of her and we each got a few things.  I got some fall PJs that I'm excited to wear and I've already worn the jeans a few times.

Sunday of Labor Day weekend we all headed to Ryan's parents house.  Nicole, Scott and Josh were in town as Nicole was hosting her first 5k run.  It was the GRIDIROn 5k in Chagrin Falls.  My mom, Ryan, and I ran and Greg and the Williams volunteered.  We enjoyed dinner together on Sunday night, I nearly petted their dog Lucy bald, and went to bed to rest for the race in the morning.

It went really well, Ryan and I helped with packet pickup, Nicole and Scott handled same-day registration and all the other tasks.  My mom ran with me and shouted encouragements for 3.1 miles, and afterwards we all went out to lunch.

Also in September we decided to take a fly-fishing lesson.  It was really fun.  Ryan caught a small trout and I caught some leaves.  The best part was wearing the waders and standing in the river.  It was really pretty.  I had my head net on so the bugs couldn't buzz around my face and it made me feel 100% better about being out there.  I love that thing.  There were also really neat wild flowers called "touch-me-not's" that the guide showed us.  They have little buds that burst when you squeeze them.  It was pretty much my favorite part of the day.  I could have stayed in one spot popping buds for 30 minutes, they were so cool.  The guide let us borrow his gear and we ended up going on our own to the Allenberry resort and trying our luck at their river.  It was a beautiful day, and we had a lot of fun even though we didn't catch anything.

Work has been going well for Ryan.  He is enjoying working with the staff and has only had a couple of very challenging cases/patients.  We went out to a soccer game and met Dr. Grater there with his son's soccer team.  It was nice to get out and do something different.

I haven't been working much, except for a health screening.  I'm going in tomorrow to meet with a home health agency, and I go in Monday for flu clinic orientation so it should be picking up quickly.

I have been loving my pottery class and am convinced that I want a pottery studio in our basement someday!

We also celebrated out 4 year anniversary!  We went to a winery for live music and dinner.  We got some gift cards from my parents that we are saving and looking forward to using soon.

fly fishing with the amazing head net

ryan casting

on the beach in OCNJ

Lucy!

Greg volunteering at the 5k

mom and I running

ryan and I at the end of the race

O'Donnell's, Boiling Springs, and Ryan's first day

Back home for the beach, we got ready for Ryan's first day of work.  We was up early and ready go in his new practice-issued scrubs.  I took a few pics of him leaving for the office.

That weekend we were invited out to dinner with Dr. Friedman, his wife and two of their friends.  We enjoyed a meal at the historic Boiling Springs Tavern and then headed out to the Holly Inn to see a country band perform in the banquet room.  The band, The O'Donnell's were really good - they are a father/son duo singing bluegrass and country songs.  They have great voices, I'd see them again!  It was especially pleasant because although we sat right by the speakers, it wasn't ear-splitting loud.

On the way home around midnight, Ryan got pulled over when a cop turned onto the road behind him and noticed his expired Utah plates (neither of us had all the right paperwork to get our PA plates right away).  We both kind of yammered on about the titles and VIN verification, and hey look we got our PA licenses but are still working on the plates because we went to Greece between Salt Lake and here and that why our plates or expired, are you following?The cop was nice and everything, but decided that since it was late on a friday night, and we were in essence driving home from a bar, that he wanted to do some "field sobriety tests" with Ryan.

We weren't worried, Ryan only had one glass of wine with dinner, which was at least 3 or 4 hours ago.  I waited in the car while Ry followed a pen with his eyes and walked toe-heel a few times.   It took a while and both the car windows were down.  I wanted to pit them up but didn't want the cop to see me going for the keys as Ryan was being tested.  He passed the breathalyzer and we were on out way with a warning to get our PA plates.

On the way home we laughed thinking that Dr. Friedman probably drove right past us as Ryan is blowing into a plastic tube on the side of the road.

Children's Lake across from Boiling Springs Tavern

Turning 30 in OCNJ

Move-in basically completed, we headed to Ocean City to Ryan's grandmother's house.  Ryan's parents, both grandma's, his sister and nephew were already there.  We had really been looking forward to this trip, as it had been about 6 years (back when we were dating, and Ryan was just applying to dental schools) since we'd been to Ocean City.

Ryan grew up with Ocean City as a regular family getaway and has many fond memories of the boardwalk, the beach, and many restaurants, gift shops, ice cream shops, and more.  It feels good to be a part of this family tradition.

Each morning we rode our bikes up and down the boardwalk with Ryan's parents (one morning Ryan ran instead of biked) and then headed to "Positively 4th Street," our favorite coffee shop.  Ryan and his Dad picked up donuts from Brown's (arguable the best donuts on the east coast) and brought them along the first day.  Unfortunately, starting that first morning I felt a cold coming on.  All the Emergen-C packets in my purse couldn't ward it off.  Soon we were biking to Rite-Aid for Afrin, tylenol, and decongestant.

We spent the days reading, going to the beach (Ryan, Nicole, and Josh went in to jump waves, I stayed under the umbrellas with the rest of the family), and stopping at Uncle Bill's with everyone for pancakes.

Nicole has a July birthday as well, so we celebrated hers and mine with a delicious dinner at the house and cake and ice cream to follow.

The next day commenced with more relaxation and a run to a bead shop with Nicole, she was working on a few necklaces.  Walking through the bead shops brought me back to my bracelet making days.  I made a few cute things back then, but never really saw it through.  Nicole made some really cool "Tree of Life" pendants.

That evening after dinner the family went to play putt-putt on the boardwalk.  At this point I was so uncomfortable with my cold. I was sweating like crazy, blowing my nose every 30 seconds, and just experience general malaise and fatigue.  In a moment of pathetic self-pity, I started crying when Ryan's mom came upstairs to ask if we were ready to go play putt-putt.  Here I was crying because I was too sick to play putt-putt on vacation as people around the world are suffering with real diseases that actually affect quality of life.  I blame the fever for my emotional display.

Anyway, after waking up the next morning with half a cough-drop fused to the inside of my cheek I actually felt better.  I ordered coffee at 4th street instead of tea and was able to enjoy the trip again.

We stayed about a day more than we had originally planned.  We were enjoying the slow pace and relaxing atmosphere of Ocean City.  When we did finally head home, we stopped at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods in King of Prussia, PA to stock up on our favorites from each.

I left Harrisburg 29 and returned 30.  I think 30 is going to be a good year.

setting up umbrellas on the beach

Relaxing in the house

Surrey ride on the boards

Move-in

We followed my parents from Pittsburg to Harrisburg where Ryan's parents were waiting with the pods.  We Pulled in and went to the leasing office for what seemed like forever signing "addenda" and getting our keys.  We finally got them and started loading boxes and furniture into our townhouse.

We picked up Panera for lunch about halfway through the day.  my mom and I tried to hang the drapes in our bedroom, and we kinda-sorta got them up.  Luckily Greg fixed them so they would actually stay on the way.  Ryan and his dad assembled the couch, table, some shelving, and and got much of the tool-work done.

Things we coming together and we enjoyed pizza for dinner from "Wild Tomato" (they even had gluten free crust).

Ryan's parents headed to Lititz for the night to stay with their parents, and they they were heading on to Ocean City where we would meet them later.

The next morning we went out to breakfast at Capital Diner with my mom and Greg.  My mom almost ordered the "scrapple" thinking it was a veggie and potato hash, only to be told by the waitress that "scrapple" was pork fat and scraps.

We did a few more things around the townhouse and then headed out to "Hershey's Chocolate World" for a a ride through the chocolate making process complete with singing and dancing cows.  We stopped at the Hershey hotel to see where my grandparents stayed on their honeymoon and pilfer some Hershey Kisses.

We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant nearby and Ryan and I went back to the apartment to finish a few things and get to bed.

The next morning we had another tasty breakfast with my mom and Greg before they headed back to Canfield.  We couldn't have gotten all moved in without their help and they help of Ryan's parents.

After we ran a few errands and unpacked a little more we headed out to Ocean City, NJ where Ryan's parents, grandparents, sister and nephew were already waiting for us.

on the chocolate tour with mom

Athens

Early the next morning we took a cab to the airport to catch our flight to Athens.  Arriving, we took the subway for about 40 minutes to a station in the city.  We wandered around a while, unable to follow the directions I had saved on my phone.  After asking around and backtracking we found our hotel and got settled in.

We walked past several spice and meat stores that smelled delicious.  We were both hungry and ended up sitting down outside at a little tea shop.  We ordered a salad and a split bagel with cheese, capers, tomatoes, olives, and onions.  It was enough of a lunch to hold us over while we roamed around the city.

We walked up to the parthenon when a little boy and an older man were playing beautiful violin music, I gave them a euro.  We didn't actually go in the parthenon, but we walked around it and up a small hill to get a nice overlook of the city.  We grabbed a frappe and some really good cookies while we walked around.

For dinner that night we walked to a gyro store for dinner.  We walked up to the window and a guy quickly diverted us to sit upstairs.  Hmmm, ok.

Well of course the menu upstairs was totally different and three times the price of a gyro down at the window.  We immediately left, we were not going to get sheisted again!  We pretty much snuck out without that guy seeing us, and went back to the main square to a little gyro stand with no upstairs and no secret tourist menu.

That evening we had some wine on our hotel terrace with a view of the parthenon, it was a nice final night in Greece.

We had a late flight the next day, so we were able to enjoy a big breakfast on the terrace of our hotel and another walk around the area.  We soon headed to the subway to get back to the airport.  We were on our way home.

We arrived back in Pittsburg and crashed at the Hilton Airport Hotel.  We were up early the next morning when Mom and Greg came to the hotel and we followed them to Harrisburg, where we met Ryans parents for move-in day.

Our new life in PA was beginning :)

View from our hotel

At the overlook

Gryos in Athens!

Ryan, in the hotel the last morning in Greece

Last Day in Milos

The next day we explored a few more beaches, my very favorite being Firopotamos.  It had the clearest, bluest, warmest water I'd ever seen or been in.  There was a really neat ruin just up the hill, and lots of little boats docked just off the beach.  We hung out here for a while enjoying the water and the scenery.  

We drove around a bit more and walked around Plaka later that evening, picking up a Milos magnet from a ceramic shop.  

We relaxed the rest of the day, eating dinner at a funky little restaurant with great moussaka and kebobs.

Fyropotamos, Milos

Firopotamos, Milos

Firopotamos, Milos

The next morning we headed to the port to catch out sailboat tour of the Kleftiko area of Milos.  It was one of the big highlights of our trip.  We saw the most beautiful scenery, ate good food, and had a great time snorkeling.  We were greeted with coffee and cookies, then headed to our first snorkeling spot in a secluded cove.  It was really beautiful.  We saw some fish, but the area is what made it special.  Ryan of course hopped out of the water and started clubbing all around the cliffs nearby.  

We had a delicious lunch of seafood spaghetti with wine, salad, and bread, then snorkeled more through beautiful arches and caves.  The water was stunningly blue and clear.  We were given frappe's when we got back on board, and participated in a little "game" in which the captain towed us all from a long rope behind the boat.  It was kind of scary but very fun.  

We enjoyed mezze back on the boat, which consisted of octopus, cucumbers and tomatoes, grape leaves, bruchetta, and more.  The ouzo was flowing (we can't drink ouzo, its way too strong.)  I was holding a piece of the dried up tip of an octopus tentacle, thinking it was too overdone to eat.  I had no where to put it, so I was just holding it.   A few minutes later the guy siting next to me takes it right out of my hand and eats it!  It was pretty funny.

The boat tour was really awesome and lasted most of the day.  We would do it again in a heartbeat.  "Boat tour Oniero" was the name of the company.

Such clear water, Kleftiko, Milos

Kleftiko, Milos 

Kleftiko, Milos