Southern Fried Staunton

I’m back to real life after having over a week off from school. Jen’s back to work today after having four days away from the office for our Staunton,VA getaway. We had a good time but it felt way too short, as it always does.

There’s a lot to talk about, given that Granny Joyce’s house is an internet free environment so I had no way off blogging. Friday, our first full day there, was rainy so we spent a lot of time visiting and playing games. Kinects, which I played for the first time at Christmas, is a videogame that I think is actually fun. It requires you to be active because your body is the controller. Pretty cool. Friday night we went bowling. My cousin, who shall remain nameless, and company may have “pre-gamed” at dinner then downed a few pitchers of beer at the alley. It was funny to watch. I was the DD for the night and drove the whole gang around in my Aunt’s Chrysler minivan. It’s a very nice van, but everyone protested when I tried to drop them off right up front like a limo, lol.



One of these things is not like the other.



Saturday afternoon, after a rough start for a few, Jen, Nathan and I went to check out Downtown Staunton. There were too many antique stores and it was a little boring but it was very pretty and had plenty of great places to eat. (pics) I couldn’t pass up taking a pic of this one creepy mannequin head in a window full of them.

Saturday night I went to bed early while Jen, Courtney, and Granny stayed up a little later for their girl’s night (which consisted of watching William & Kate on Lifetime). Sunday morning David and I went with others to a 6:30 am sunrise Easter service at a small, old, country church. And I thought Granny’s ‘hood was country! There were basically cows in the parking lot and not much else around for miles. It was a great service with a big pot-luck breakfast following. Easter was the first day I had sweets in over 40 days and did I ever eat them. Monkey bread… mmm….



Age appropriate?

 The most interesting part of the trip happened Easter Sunday while the cousins and I were taking a walk in the park. After reviving our inner children (pic), we came across an abandoned passport and credit card and had fun playing detective for awhile and looking for the owner before Jen realized an address would be written in the front. We decided to drop it off to the owner, Shane Harrison, who lived less than a mile away. As our walk continued, Courtney noticed a backpack down in a ditch. At this point, we were well into Scooby Doo mode and decided to investigate. The backpack (pic) contained (Jinkies!) a cell phone, iPod, hunting knife, library book, and some kind of lock-picking device, among other things. We called a number on the phone and found out the owner of the bag’s name was Shane too! But Shane Atwood. This was just too weird to have found two lost items, both belonging to Shane’s with different last names. We were convinced he was a runaway with an alias until, again, Jen realized the name on the passport was indeed Shane Atwood, Harrison was his middle name. Good one David! We ended up calling Shane’s dad/grandfather who came to pick up the stuff. I don’t think he realized quite how much we had found because when he saw all the stuff, especially the passport, he got a little worried. Direct quote, “I don’t know where the hell he is. I guess I better go find him now!” The cousins are keeping their eyes on the news for any missing Shane Atwoods.

Sunday afternoon after lunch with the fam we headed home. I correctly predicted a lot of Easter traffic close to the city and our 6 hr trip became an 8hr one by the time we got home. Not fun. It was nice to escape the city, visit with family, and enjoy a laid back lifestyle for a few days.

It was hard for us to merge back into the fast paced world that is NYC this morning. We were up early to return our rental car and head to work and school. Tomorrow should come a little easier.

Good vs. Evil... Carbs

Spring break, woo! Florida was a little out of our price range so we’re considering a somewhat impromptu road trip to VA. It would be nice to spend Easter with family… I should probably call them to make sure they’re in town that weekend, ha.


Midterms went well. School, blah.

Jen made some awesome lasagna and sausage bread for our friend’s birthday dinner. Today people were still raving about Jen’s cooking! I missed the event due to my set Fri/ Sat night schedule. Friday night I let my coworkers talk me into going out for a few drinks and I gave in, only because I’m not in class this week. They took me to their usual spot across the street called House of Brews and kept me out until 4am, but it gets late quickly when you don’t even get off work until after midnight.

Today we spent some quality time together out and about in the city. We picked up our favorite sandwich at our deli for lunch before doing some shopping in Herald Square (pic). The really fun part (sarcasm) was grocery shopping at our Chelsea Trader Joe’s afterward. Now that we’ve gone almost 6 weeks without sweets and can control most of our cravings we decided to try to rid our diet of some of the more hidden sugars. Refined carbohydrates, sweetened dried fruit and yogurts, and cereal with the second ingredient as sugar are out, for example. Jen is in complete agreement with the idea, noting that her last few pleasures in life are being taken away from her. I’ll keep you posted as to how long it takes her to commit suicide.

MIB 3

If you want to gawk at celebs, come to our neighborhood. As I’ve written before, I hear it’s much easier to get a permit to film in our neighborhood than in Manhattan because of less congestion and rules and regulations. Not to mention that two major studios, LIC’s Silvercup and Astoria Kaufman, are in our borough. Here are some side parking postings (pics) that I saw around LIC today for shoots happening tomorrow. The first flyer is for The Good Wife which must be a Silvercup production because they are always around. The second one, Georgetown, I haven’t heard anything about yet. If I wasn’t going to be stuck in lab all morning I would stroll by to see who’s in it.

Wednesday night at work my coworkers and I were all pumped to see Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith filming Men in Black 3. There were signs posted for a few days that stated they would start shooting a night scene on Restaurant Row that evening. We were fighting over the section upstairs by the windows where we could see all the big star trailers. They were supposed to start filming at 7 but by then everything was gone because it started raining. We were pretty disappointed, though I was more disappointed when someone told me Will Smith is a scientologist trying to keep it on the down low. Apparently people keep spotting him coming out of their NYC headquarters which is just a block away from the restaurant. Crazy.

NYC Health Department

Because the two dancers that were in the unit below us moved, the one bedroom in our building is now available if anyone is looking! It won’t last long. We also have some newcomers to our neighborhood of a different kind and it’s kind of a big deal. The NYC Health Department just moved into their new location in LIC and with the new location comes some very healthy regulations that I’m all for! No more food that is detrimental to your health will be sold or served, including but not limited to: doughnuts, cookies, cakes, drinks with more than 25 calories per serving, and fried food. Muffins will be cut in half and bagels quartered… no mention of cream cheese. Ha. It’s funny, but actually all true. If you want to kill yourself by eating crap then fine, but your employer shouldn’t be helping you do it.

Another way to stay fit is through exercise (duh). Maybe, now that the NYCHD is in our ‘hood, I should let them know that there’s no gym (only the private ones in the high-rises) on our Downtown side of LIC. There is a cycling studio just a few blocks away opening soon (pic), but a full gym close to home would be better.

I have mixed feelings about owning a Vespa, but think they look great. I’m a sucker for any kind of European styling. This one has been hanging out on our corner a lot lately. The owners must love LIC Bar… drunk driving?