Austin Nemecek

Little baby Austin Nemecek is here!  Check Lexi's blog at www.bebenemecek.blogspot.com to see how cute he is!!!

Busy Busy

Yes, now that school (aka work) has started and so has graduate school you may say goodbye to my regular postings on this site.  Don't cry though-I have started a new site for graduate school where you can track my progress and view my projects; www.AshleyInglese.blogspot.com.  See you there!

Virginia

I recently returned from my last vacay of the summer:(  The frowny face is not for the vacation but for it being the last.  I went to Charlottesville (which will be referred to as Cvill from now on) to visit my sister, Hilary.  She and boyfriend, Corry, just moved into a really cool loft-it's actually a real loft not a fake one.  We spent to week visiting wineries and eating a lot.  There is a lot of beautiful wine country in VA about 30 minutes outside of Cville.  See for yourself.

This Summer

This summer has been really awesome.  Start it all off with a trip to Greece-it can't get better than that!  (Check out the cute photo of Tony and me in Paros.)  Last summer sucked-I did get married which was awesome but I wasn't working and had a teaching contract but wasn't getting paid b/c I hadn't started yet; blah blah blah.  I was bored and too broke to do anything about it.  Anyways this summer I'm rich-just kidding-but I have stayed a perfect balance of productive and relaxed.  

My biggest goal this summer was to revamp all of our photo albums and scrapbooks and to create a wedding album.  I have successfully accomplished this goal and all of our photos and memories are preserved and beautifully displayed in albums-check.  I also had  a goal to do some gardening and I got a huge pot and planted some herbs that are growing too fast for us to eat-check.  I have taken some great vacations other than Greece such as Disney World and I am going to VA to visit Hilary next week and my house is immaculately clean-check, check.  

The only thing left that I want to do is to cover the window on our front door with some type of cloudy screen thing-it has a name but I'm not sure what it is.  Oh yeah-Tony and I also put new super organized shelving in our closet and I reorganized all of my jewelry into trays in my wardrobe.  Wow-I've been super-productive this summer.  It hasn't been all work though-I've had my share of tv watching and laying out by the pool.

I've always had aspirations of making my own cleaners at home and I have started doing that as well.  It is actually way cheaper than buying them at the store and if you've read my previous posts you know I love non-toxic, eco-friendly cleaning solutions.  The one I use the most is an all purpose bathroom or kitchen cleaner.  It is the easiest, cheapest thing you can imagine; equal parts water to vinager.  I got a gigantic bottle of vinager at Target for about 2 dollars and free water from the tap and put them in an old spray bottle from my store bought cleaning solution that ran out.  It works better on mirrors than anything I've ever used and keeps my shower clean longer.  It does smell like vinager so don't use it right before you have guests over but the smell goes away in a few hours.

Another that I've used is a fabric whitener.  I didn't want to buy bleach b/c anything that smells like it will burn my nose hairs probably isn't that good for me and honestly I'm pretty sure I would ruin stuff with it.  I found a recipe used for whitening fabrics that consists of soaking said fabrics in a solution of 1 tablespoon salt and 1/4 cup baking soda.  These are all things that we have at home anyways and nothing toxic or damaging about that.  I soaked my white towels for an hour and it worked pretty good.  The only thing I will change is that I may soak them in hot water next time instead of cold.

Day on the Lake

Here I am enjoying a day on the lake.  I really need a break from having the summer off:)

As you will see in the following photos Tony is a great wake-boarder but even the best has to wipe out at some point.
Our new camera is so much better at capturing shots like this.  The zoom lens really helps get close up and the shutter speed is so fast that action shots are frozen in time.

Here is where the speaker should be.

So then why is it floating in the lake?

I know this isn't a lake picture but it is a photo of Tony and me on our 1 year anniversary!

Disney World

My friend Andrea and I are both teachers so what else would you do during the summer except go to DISNEY WORLD?!  I went when I was about 4 years old and I think she was around the same age as well.  I hated it but I did grow into a huge Disney fan throughout my childhood.  My Dad recently bought a retirement home outside of Orlando so we had a free place to stay and opted for a little road trip.

It is definitely not cheap getting in, nor is it easy; they really allow time for the anticipation to build.  But immediately upon arrival you are greeted on Main Street with barber shop quartets, balloons, and the smell of sugar.  Yes, the streets smell like sugar!  The smell actually comes from the confectionary where the make delicious treats like Rice Krispy treats and fudge.  They also have every type of candy you can imagine including about 30 different colors of M&Ms. 

We did have a Wally World moment; Space Mountain was out of order but we rode just about everything else.  Splash Mountain and the teacups were my favorites.  We stayed until midnight and saw the fireworks and the parade.  You turn into a twelve year old again for the day.  I left the camera at home but luckily Andrea had her iPhone and was able to snap a few shots.

Greece

Greece was definitely the trip of a lifetime.  It was actually more than I expected.  As my school year was winding down I would often need a little boost during the day so I would look at pictures of Greece online.  All of the pictures were so beautiful that somehow I thought it wouldn't or couldn't actually be like that in person but it was.  After spending most of my twenties so far backpacking through Europe during the summers; carrying my belongings. sweating profusely, and staying in shitty hostels this trip was a breeze.  We used a travel agent so we had someone to help us choose islands and hotels in our price range and she handled all transfers, ferries, and island hopping planes.  The transfers were the best part for Tony and me because rather than our usual get off an airplane-find a train, bus, whatever-walk to the hostel-pain in the ass we had people standing at the airport with a sign that had out names on it and they would kindly take our bags and drive us to our next location; they even had AC!!

Our fist stop was an island called Paros.  It is a small, non touristy island.  We stayed there for 2 days and spent one of those at the beach.  The best part about Paros was how nice the people were.  All Greeks learn English from the second grade so there are really no language barriers and they were so friendly we felt like everyone on Paros was our best friend.

Next we were off the Santorini.  We stayed in a town called Oia (pronounced Ee-ah).  This was as gorgeous as all of the books and websites said it would be.  We were so impressed with Paros and how beautiful it was but it could not hold a candle to Santorini.  For that reason we were glad to have gone to Paros first because in reverse order Paros would have been somewhat disappointing.  In Santorini we had a relaxing beach day and a not so relaxing boat cruise.  The beaches on both islands were so cool to us because they were not the typical white sand beaches.  They had rocky sand and the one we went to on Santorini actually had black volcanic rock.  It was very hot but also more unique.  The beaches were also surrounded by stunning rock formations.

We were then off to Athens.  The Acropolis was cool at night and the to go gyros were amazing but other than that I could have stayed in Santorini for 2 more days.  It was hard to choose pictures because we took over 700 of them but I hope you enjoy these.

I would also like to add that Tony and I celebrated our one year anniversary yesterday and it was awesome.  We went out to dinner on Saturday night to Blackstone which was the site of our rehearsal dinner exactly one year earlier and spent yesterday out on the lake and eating our year old wedding cake which was delicious btw. 

This is the view of the Acropolis lit up at night from the roof top bar at out hotel in Athens.

These 2 are a gorgeous sunset in Oia.
Oia
Below is Kamari beach in Santorini.

The 2 below are views from our hotel in Oia.

Below is Kolimbithres beach in Paros.
Below is the sunrise from the patio of our room in Paros followed by our hotel in Paros.

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Today my mom and I went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  I had never been and she took the week off of work to get things done so we decided to spend a few days doing fun things around Atlanta.  Tony and I have been getting more and more into photography and trying to learn how to take pictures so I thought this would be a great time to practice.  I'm really pleased with how the photos turned out (although it's almost impossible to take a bad photo in the orchid center).  You can also really see a difference between the photos I took today and the ones I shared from the park about a month ago.

Also-we did just return from Greece and it was awesome; stay tuned for that entry!!!!

New Camera

Wow!  I haven't blogged in a while.  I'll either blog more this summer because I won't have anything better to do or I'll blog less for the same reason.  

Tony and I recently bought a new camera, a Canon Rebel, in preparation of our trip to Greece in 2 weeks.  We've had a good time learning how to use it thanks in part to our "free" classes at Wolf Camera and a little bit of practice.  I hope you enjoy our day at Settles Bridge park in Gwinnett County.

Biloxi

Last weekend I went to Biloxi for my friend Casey's bachelorette party.  She is getting married in April in New Orleans and unfortunately I won't be able to go but luckily I was able to party with her for the weekend.  There were 4 of us; Casey, Danielle, Lacy, and me.  The four of us had been on a road trip together before; 3 years ago we went to New Orleans together for Jazz Fest and had a great time.  

We arrived in Biloxi late Thursday night and we had a free room waiting at the Isle of Capri.  This hotel actually has nice rooms; they are spacious and all of the bathrooms are newly renovated and that makes a huge difference.  The decor is pretty hilarious though; it reminds me of Grandma and Grandpa in Miami.  We stayed at the bar until 4 am "gambling" which for us consists of sticking a dollar in the video poker games often enough to get free drinks.  Casey did win big money though; she walked away with $2.50.  

The next day we checked out and moved to the Beau Rivage which is a beautiful, Vegas-style hotel and casino.  It was a beautiful day so we put on our swimsuits for the first time this year and set out to get sun burned.  Lacy's burn showed up first so even though we were all bright red we only laughed at Lacy and her "white tank top".  That night we ate sushi and went out dancing.  We had goofy scratch off cards with bachelorette party dares of things like dance like your drunk or ask a guy for a condom.  We danced our butts off until about 2 am.

Day 2 we ate at Mary Mahoney's which is historic for it's food and colonial architecture; I had the crab cakes.  That night we went to the movies and saw "He's just not that in to you" and I ate a whole movie size box of Milk Duds.  It was a great weekend.  Enjoy the pix.

Lately

I thought I would take a minute to give an update on my resolutions.  One of my resolutions was to send birthday cards to friends and family and so far I have been doing very well at that goal.  It's only been 2 months but I think I can make it the whole year.  My second resolution was to lose a few pounds and I am still actively working on that one.  I've had to really learn a lot about lowering my caloric intake because I have always eaten very healthfully but I am now learning that it takes a little bit more than that to drop pounds.  I am working out a lot though.  My third resolution was to get a new hobby with Tony and we did invest in a Canon Rebel SLR and we have a few photography classes on the schedule.  We still have to download the software for the new camera but stay tuned for some awesome pix!  

Breckenridge

Yes, I know.  It's been a month since we went to Breckenridge and I haven't posted any of the pictures yet.  Well, it was an awesome trip.  Tony and I went with my sister, Hilary, and her boyfriend, Corry.  We all went skiing together last year in Snowshoe, WV and it was a great trip so we decided to head out to Colorado this year.  I have to admit that I was a little bit nervous.  I had skied 2 years in a row in WV but east coast slopes and elevations are pretty different from those out west.  I'm a pretty good skier but still learning and I am definitely not a dare devil so I was a little bit anxious to see how my abilities would transfer from east coast to west.

It actually wasn't as hard as I'd expected (either that or I'm just a bad-ass).  

Breck (as the locals call it) is a great town.  We stayed at the River Mountain Lodge which is ideally located just 2 blocks from Main Street and a short walk or shuttle ride to the gondola.  I will definitely go back to Breck in the future.

New Year's Resolutions

Whether you believe in them or not New Year's Resolutions are all over the place.  I usually don't make them but this year I did and I'm putting it out there for all to see.

1.  Send birthday cards to close friends and family members.

2.  Get below 120 (I'm about 123 right now) and stay there through the end of the summer.

3.  Get a new hobby to do with Tony possibly dance lessons or photography classes.

My good friend Casey mentioned to me that one of her resolutions is to get more "green" so if that is one of yours or you just feel the need to be more environmentally friendly anyways here are a few tips that can be easily incorporated into your daily routine.

1.  Drive Eco-

I'm not telling you to go buy a new car but if a new car purchase is in the cards for this year try to get one with high mpg's.  If the car you really, really want is not "green" make sure you do ALL of the following things to make up for it.

2.  Recycle-

Come on; if you still aren't recycling you're living in the stone age, just plain lazy, or both.  All you have to do is call your garbage company and they will drop off a bin and you set it out with your trash each week.

3.  Bring your own bag-

To the grocery store, Target, wherever.  You can get a bag (mine are from Publix) for about $1 at most places and 2 should do it for your average grocery trip.  If you forget to bring them one day don't worry about it too much.  I reuse grocery bags as trash bags in the bathroom or for cleaning the kitty box; you can also recycle them (see #2).

4.  Buy organic-

Foods are the most popular organic items but you can also easily find organic soaps, shower gels, sheets, and all kinds of stuff and the prices are very comparable to non-organic items.  Here are a few reasons to make the switch:

-They are healthier for your body because they do not contain pesticides or toxins.

-Most organic farms use environmentally friendly systems such as wind energy and recycled packaging.

-Less pesticides used on foods means less toxins in the environment.

5.  Use natural cleaners or make your own-

I previously published a post on natural cleaners so you can refer to that in the archives.  I would also like to point out that John Travolta's son died a few days ago and from what I heard he had a history of seizures caused by a condition called Kawasaki syndrome.  They think that he contracted this disease as a toddler crawling around on carpet that contained harmful chemicals either from the products they use to manufacture it or toxic carpet cleaning materials (or both).  If that isn't enough reason for you to cut out the chemicals in your life I don't know what is.

Being more "green" isn't supposed to stress you out or make you feel guilty.  It is about awareness.  Take what works into your life and know that it does add up and make a difference.