What's Up?

Hey, guys! It's been hard to peel myself away from being outdoors now that Stephen is off for the summer. But my own deadlines are looming this week, so I figured I'd take some time to write on the blog to tell you what we've been up to lately.

// Lake George

We went on a very last-minute vacation last week to Lake George, NY. The last time we'd been up in that part of the Adirondacks was in 2009! It was just as beautiful as we remembered, though, and it was fun taking the kids around to places we enjoyed when we were basically still newlyweds.

Here's a few photos:

I've been interested to see that many of you are asking on Instagram if we're going to Cape May this year! I realize we go most every year, but this year we decided to switch it up with the ADK. We are going to Wildwood Crest this summer with my in-laws, though.

23 Weeks Pregnant

I had a doctor appointment last Friday and I'm now in my 23rd week of pregnancy. Everything is going well aside from occasional heart palpitations (I have a test set up to see what's up with those). Still running 4-5 days a week, but I've switched it up due to the heat where I'm running .75 miles and walking .25 miles for four miles total instead of running three straight. It's working out better that way.

I will be sure to do a more formal pregnancy update soon, but I'll be honest and say my two are keeping me plenty busy. It's flying by, which is a new and welcomed experience for me.

House Projects

We're in the middle of extending our backyard fence right now. I love and hate summer because we have lots of time to do work . . . but the money flow is more stagnant than usual. That said, Stephen decided to switch up how he gets paid this year, so we got a nice balloon check at the start of the summer and now feel confident we can frugally do a few projects.

Other items on the list:

• Moving Eloise's room (painting)
• Painting the nursery (because we never finished before Eloise came along)
• Adding a side yard garden

Stock Tank Pool

Our other big project was the stock tank pool. We're absolutely loving it. Again, I'll do a full update on it soon along with some stuff we've learned after installing it and using it for a month or so. In this heat wave, it's been such a blessing to have a small pool of water to soak in! And I love how it looks. I don't think we'll ever do a bigger pool. This one is totally manageable and pretty. Yes, trendy . . . but, hey, I am into trends that make sense.

Here's part I of the stock tank pool story.

What's next?

I have a homemade granola bar recipe I plan to post on either Thursday or Friday. It's vegan, gluten-free and peanut-free. I mean, I eat all those things, but I know some of you have more restricted diets and appreciate these types of recipes. So HOLD ME TO IT! I am hoping to post twice a week during the summer. Again, HOLD ME TO IT! I still love blogging, it's just hard to transition between seasons of work/coaching/etc. during the year.

Hope you're all having a nice summer and staying cool.

And happy 4th of July!

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Spring Bucket List

It was like a whole new world outdoors yesterday. Yeah, there was still some stubborn snow on the ground. (And, yeah -- we’re getting more over the weekend.) But we don’t take walking outdoors without coats (and shoes -- in my case!) for granted. Even in April. Here are a few things on our spring wish list for 2015.

I think it’s going to be a good one.

#1: Finish projects. We have several projects in our home that we started and never finished. Painting is a big one, and we’ve already spent some time this week checking rooms off the list. I have a few things to complete in the kitchen, but I’ll be writing more about this stuff soon.

#2: Hike in nature. We didn’t do much of the whole hiking thing with Ada when she was a baby. But we’d like to start taking her to more local natural attractions. So, some hikes in the Finger Lakes are in order.

#3: Take a weekend getaway. We don’t have the means to travel much, but I’d like to go on a one or two night trip somewhere -- with Ada -- within close driving distance. Maybe the ADK or down in PA. Not quite sure yet. Suggestions?

#4: Go river rafting down Pine Creek. There’s an all day 17-mile trek that Stephen and I would like to check out before the waters dry up in the summer.

#5: Cook out. Time to bust out the grill for the season and start cooking up some meals al fresco. I’m thinking grilled pizza is on the top of my list. I need to perfect that method/recipe.

#6: Do some landscaping. New year, new house. We want to start looking at landscaping. We won’t be able to do it all this year, but I have pinned some ideas of flowers and plants that I like. Can’t wait to get our yard looking lush.

#7: Visit family. Along with other mini trips, we’d like to get down to visit both families at least a couple times before the summer. Ada doesn’t have cousins, so it’s nice to see her spend time with Stephen’s cousins’ children in particular.

#8: Race here and there. I don’t have a ton of races on the calendar, but I’d like to do a few in the time I have before TTC again. After a few weeks of ramping up mileage from zero to, well, anything -- I’m planning to follow this intermediate 10K plan for the Laurel Festival 10K in June.

#9: Frequent festivals. There are lots of big and small festivals that go on in our area -- and we haven’t been to most of them. I want to get out there and experience the culture (food, music, fun) our area has to offer versus always wishing I was living elsewhere.

#10: Advance the homestead. Along with making the yard look pretty with more plantings, I want to get our composting system going and plant our vegetable garden. I think I might be a bit too late to get my seeds started (I had such good plans!), but I may end up getting some plants from a local nursery this year.

What’s on your spring bucket list?

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Catching Up

If my first week of 10K training is indicative of how the rest will go, I think I'm going to be in good shape. With the exception of shifting my long run from Sunday to Monday (to accommodate a travel-date, which I'll get to in a moment), I got in all my workouts and even fit in a run with a friend.

M: Off
T: 5 mile, fartlek
W: 4 miles, 34 minutes -- 8:22/mile
R: 6 miles, 54 minutes -- 8:54/mile
F: Off
S: 5 miles w/ friend
S: Off
M: 8 miles, first 4 slow, second 4 fast

TOTAL: 28 miles

+    +    +    +    +    +    +

Besides running this weekend, Stephen and I took a little day trip to Corning, NY, which is a small "city" about 40 minutes north of Wellsboro, PA, the town where I grew up. We had both planned on running the Wineglass marathon here, and then dropped to the half marathon, and then dropped the whole thing altogether due to Ada's surgery.

Still, we wanted to make a visit just for fun.


We first grabbed brunch at The Cellar. I ordered the Green Goddess omelet (incredible! full of asparagus, pesto, chevre, and mushrooms). Stephen got the Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon. I also sipped the most peppery Bloody Mary I've ever experienced (read: delicious), and Stephen got his fill of french press coffee.

After that, we strolled in the chilly air, taking in the sights + scenes.


It was fun gallivanting around just the two of us.


Completely off topic, but Stephen won a half marathon last weekend. Like, won the whole thing. He finished in 1:12:39 (5:32/mile), smashing his previous record by 2 minutes. The best part? He won a blanket, among other things. (It's the little things . . . ) Great job, Stephen!

If you didn't notice from the photos, stuff was a little dead in Corning because it was, well, a Sunday morning. Next time, we'll have to go either later in the day or on Saturday when everything is open, the farmers' market is in full swing, etc. Regardless, we found our fill of stuff to do. Next time I really want to check out the Museum of Glass and make a necklace.

Before we left, we visited the Market Street Brewing Company.


We sampled and savored -- the Wheelhouse IPA being our favorite. It was cool to chat with the owner, and for those of you who live in/around the Finger Lakes, you should definitely check out the Finger Lakes Beer Trail. I've never been much into wine (which is what the region is famous for), so this newer trail is exciting!

We stopped by my childhood mall on the way home (and by that, I mean it was the closest mall to us growing up, about 1 hour away!). We ran into my grandparents, which was an awesome bonus. And I couldn't resist grabbing an old favorite treat of mine.

Happy Halloween to me! (Truth: I bought two of these guys.)


I think it's been like 50,000 years since I posted a weekend recap like this one. Probably because most of our weekends are super duper low-key. It was a nice change of pace, that's for sure. And something we need to make more time for, even if it means shifting long runs to fit in lots of brunch food, drinks, and ridiculously amazing desserts.

Happy Tuesday!

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NYC: A Tourist's Guide

The (first) photo dump of our NYC trip is up on Writing Chapter Three, if you'd rather gawk at pretty pictures. I wrote this post somewhat selfishly because I'd like to remember the places we enjoyed on our trip.

Sigh. I have major case of post-trip blues . . . 


We stuck primarily to the midtown + Flatiron area since it was where we stayed, so this is -- obviously -- a rather limited scope of what you can do in the city. We took the subway one day, but mostly walked everywhere else. I estimated like 6 to 8 miles a day!

That being said, I'd love to know some of your favorite spots for future trips. Or if you've been to any of these places, what you thought about them. Please, tell us!

Here's my NYC guide -- from my perspective as a tourist.

LIGHT BITES + ETC.
I love casual eateries, and NYC has plenty to choose from. I think by far my favorite on this list is Hu Kitchen. Thanks, Steff, for taking us there!

Crumbs Bake Shop 

(Flatiron, 655 6th Ave) 

:: oh my gawd I ate way too many of the Cookies 'n Cream cupcakes. definitely wins my dessert category.

Hu Kitchen 

(78 5th Ave)

:: totally gluten-free, this place has smoothies, juices, breakfast bowls, and awesome baked goods.

Lenny's 

(Flatiron, 16 West 23rd Street)

:: great for a basic sandwich or bagel on the go, inexpensive.

Argo Tea Cafe 

(Flatiron, 949 Broadway)

:: yummy warm and cold drinks and grab-n-go salads.

Pick-A-Bagel

(Gramercy, 297 3rd Ave)
:: We went here on our way out of town. Several different kinds of tofu cream cheese. GIGANTIC bagels. All different varieties. Super-fast service. Wish I found it sooner!

Whole Foods
(Union Square)
:: This isn't a NYC thing, but we don't have one any closer than that to where we live. And this place has kombucha by the growler-ful. We stopped in for some necessities, as well as green smoothies we shared as a family.

Gimmee Coffee
(228 Mott Street)
:: Gimmee boasts several locations -- Manhattan, Brooklyn, Ithaca, Trumansburg. So, it was sort of neat to visit the big brother to our little college town favorite. Oh, yeah. Their coffee + other drinks are fantastic, too.

MEAL SPOTS
We were really fortunate to have TWO nights of babysitting during our week-long stay. We took full advantage. The other nights? We got ingredients to bring back to the apartment and cook in. Delicious! I miss the food already!

 

Eataly 

(Flatiron, 200 5th Ave)

:: can I confess we went to Eataly every day of our trip? yes. you can get lost in there, in the best way possible. it's a market and a collection of awesome Italian restaurants.

Birreria 

(rooftop at Eataly)

:: we went here on one of our "date nights" for some brews, a delicious cheese plate, and fish (Stephen) + grilled portabellas (Ashley) with a pear-cheese fondue!

Patsy's 

(Greenwich Village, 67 University Place)

:: best pizza I had in the city. i hear the location in Harlem is the original, but the spot on our way home from Washington Park was pretty fantastic.

Heartland Brewery 

(Union Square)

:: this was sort of a random choice for lunch, but it was there, it advertised beers (pretty good house selection), and the food was pretty interesting.

Dhaba 

(Murray Hill, 108 Lexington Ave) 

:: Stephen's uncle told us we were staying right near "Curry Hill" -- a cluster of great Indian restaurants. it was hard to choose, but this place called our names. can't say enough good things about the vegetarian/vegan food and the service.

SHOPPING
Honestly, we didn't do a lot of shopping. It wasn't what the trip was about. But, staying so close to 5th Avenue definitely had us passing by some fun spots several times a day.

Vintage Thrift Shop 

(286 3rd Avenue)
:: Seriously amazing spot. Lots of unique finds. I got this amazing vintage Zara dress/tunic for like $15.

Giggle 

(352 Amsterdam Ave)

:: We stopped in here to buy Ada a blanket (ridiculous, I know) because it was frigid when we trekked to the Upper West Side. Lots of cute, high-end stuff I never see in stores around my home area.

Lush 

(7 East 14th Street)

:: I feel like this place needs no introduction. I bought several hard shampoo bars. I love them. I just don't love the pushy (but nicey-nice) sales strategy. Maybe it was just that location?

Madewell 

(115 5th Avenue)
:: I shop -- the sale section -- online all the time. But I found an amazing dress for a fall wedding I'm attending on clearance with an extra 20% off. w00t!

Uniqlo 

(31 West 34th Street)
:: My friend Matt suggested this place. Amazing basics. Great prices, almost like H&M, but much, much better quality. Plus, the store is just fun to walk around with all the lights, mirrors, and music.

SIGHTS
I don't want to whine, but it was cold + windy during our stay. Like every day. If we didn't have Ada, I think we could have widened our scope -- but we didn't pack for that weather (rookie mistake), so we did a lot of sight-seeing on foot during our runs, which I'll write about another day. Here are a few places we did manage a visit . . .

Dakota Building + Strawberry Fields 

:: I went through a John Lennon phase in middle school/high school . Had to make the pilgrimage to his former digs + 

Madison Square Park

:: great views of Empire State Building, Flatiron, etc.

Union Square Park  

:: Favorite playground for Ada, good shopping nearby

Washington Square Park

:: Gorgeous park, less hectic than the others

Central Park

:: Didn't spend a lot of time there, but obviously worth a go!

FAO Schwarz

:: fun for the kiddos + parents alike.

NY Public Library
:: I'm a dork (and also worked in a library for many years), but it's such a gorgeous building and adjacent to Bryant Park, so I could pretend I have some connection to fashion week.

RUNNING As I mentioned above, I'll write more about the running another day this week. This photo is from the East River, looking down toward the Brooklyn Bridge. So pretty!

East River Promenade

Hudson River Greenway

Random family trip tip: Coordinate your packing efforts, at least when it comes to jackets. We all packed the same coat. Are you kidding me? Look at this! I think this is pretty much like wearing the same bright red t-shirt at Disney or something.

I hope you enjoyed by tourist-y guide to NYC. I know I missed a ton of great stuff, but there's no way we could see it all in just six days. What should we put on our "DON'T MISS!" list for next time? I already know I want to see The Book of Mormon . . . I'll have to save my pennies until then.

Have a lovely day!

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Weekend in Photos and Giveaway Winner

Hey, everyone! Thanks for bearing with us during our long weekend off from blogging. We had intended to take a little break anyway (for our anniversary), but the weekend took some twists and turns we didn't exactly expect. In short: We weren't home. At all. And our anniversary celebration is on hold for the moment, too. But it's all good: Welcome to Tuesday!

Here are just a few photos from our crazy here-there-and-everywhere weekend. We'll get into the who/what/when stuff in more detail soon.

ITHACA





NEW JERSEY





PHILADELPHIA






GIVEAWAY WINNER

Congrats to Emmy (of Why Isn't Chocolate on My Meal Plan?) -- she's the lucky winner of our Operation Beautiful book giveaway. We'll mail out her copy of Caitlin Boyle's new book ASAP.




Here's what Emmy had to say:

Hi Ashley, I've never commented before but I love reading the blog- it is so inspiring. I have my own blog focusing on my recovery from anorexia and your current post inspired me to comment since I think Operation Beautiful is so wonderful.

Here is my story about a random act of kindness that changed my life (and includes the word beautiful): It was a morning last spring before class. I was standing in front of the mirror in absolute despair, hating my reflection. I had been trying to recover from anorexia for 3 years and just felt stuck, like I would be the one person who could never get better. On this particular morning, I had tried on approximately 10 different outfits and was still dissatisfied. I was about to crawl back into bed for the day and skip my classes when I suddenly thought "I am tired of feeling bad about the way I look. I would never treat someone else the way I am treating myself. I am tired of feeling fat and ugly." So I put on the first outfit I had tried on a walked out the door. The first person I passed on my class was a random boy I had never seen before. He said "you are beautiful."

I have had many ups and downs, but I've been dedicated to recovery ever since. Keep up the awesome work with your blog.

xoxo Emmy

So, that's all for now. It's good to be back. I see that a lot of you enjoyed the beet pizza dough! That's fantastic!!! On Friday night (when we visited with our friends Lindsey and John, above) -- I decided I may need to hire a creative team. John immediately said, "Oh, you mean -- BEETZA?" I don't know how I missed that one . . .

What did you do this weekend or for the holiday? We're (again) getting psyched for autumn. Leaves are falling and temps are getting cooler, at least at night. Anyway, let us know! Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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