Warwick Winery Weekend

On Saturday, I went out with some new friends to the Warwick Winery in upstate NY. I had never been before, but had heard a lot of great things about it, so off we went!

The first stop was Applewood Winery. I was a little disappointed because the cafe was closed for the season, and I heard they had amazing cider donuts. The wine was ok, but the views stole the show.

made a new friend: Dani + Dan

view from the top of the hill

another new friend at the top of the hill

frands

cider quotes

The second stop was Clearview Vineyards. Apparently this is only their second year being open. The wine here was better than the first. It was run by a cute older husband and wife. We sat and had fruit, wine and cheese on their gorgeous wraparound patio.

borrowed from their website: source

Our last and final stop was Warwick Valley Winery and Distillery. This place was PACKED! It was also much larger than the other two wineries. Luckily we were able to get a table for all of us. We noshed on pizzas (lots of brick oven pizzas), pulled pork sandwiches, and fries. And of course more wine! Their best seller was called Black Dirt Red, because of the black dirt where the grapes are grown. I picked up one of those and a Black Dirt Blush which I haven't tried yet. They had live music from 2-5, so after eating we went outside, threw down some blankets and relaxed in the sun until sunset. It was an absolutely amazing day! 

foods

frands

my girl triple fisting it- 2 bottles and apple cider donuts

sunset view

How was your weekend? 

Friday Favorites

Made it to Friday! Is it just me, or did feel like the longest week? But after the shitshow that my life has been the last few weeks have been, I finally have some good news:

• I got a 28/30 on my first ever grad class midterm!
• My performance review went extremely well. Now hopefully I'll get a raise come December.
• I've had eczema for the past few months, and am relieved to say that it is finally mostly gone. 
• I'm heading to a winery this weekend and am super excited. 
• Bush AND Gwen Stefani came out with new singles:: 

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And now for some funnies::

Always makes me laugh

necessary

hilarious because we were just talking about this theory in class 

I laughed too hard at this one

Get out and enjoy the weekend!

California Dreamin, Part 2

You can see Pt.1 here.

Sunday (Sept. 14- sorry for the delay) was my last full day in California so of course we were up and out early again. Our first stop? Rodeo Drive, of course. Not that I could even afford a keychain at any of the stores there (yes, I checked. Beyond redic), but being a big huge Pretty Woman fan, I had to see it firsthand.

This dress was in Versace. It looked even better in person. I would love it in white as a wedding dress for my non-existent wedding.

The Beverly Wilshire

Room of the piano scene.  I was sad to learn that they sold the piano a few years ago, and obviously redid the entire space.

grand chandelier in the lobby

The front

After that, we decided to head on over to Hollywood. While in the cab, I asked if there was an In-n-Out nearby. He said we would pass one, so of course I had him drop us off there first. I was surprised by the super long line- this was a fast food place, no? It was worth the wait though. The fries weren't good, but the burger was deeeelish! I think the magic is in the sauce.

After filling up, we took a short walk over to the Walk of Fame, where I took far too many pictures of stars and spent too much on souvenirs. Also, I was seriously shocked that Julia Roberts doesn't have a star. What the hell?? And I know for sure because there's a database of celebrities with stars, which I checked beforehand. You can search for certain people, and it tells you where their star is located. She is my absolute favorite actress, so this was very disappointing.

I was surprised that there were no flowers or anything here

My hands fit perfectly! Legend has it that's supposed to be good luck.
Who's block is this? Don't remember :-(

With my second favorite actress's star

We were pretty far away, and this was taken with my iPhone zoomed in, so please excuse the blurriness.

tourist-ing out

souvenirs- an ornament and magnet for me, the rest for others

After the walk, we stumbled upon the Pig n' Whistle Restaurant. Apparently stars such as Shirley Temple, Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Loretta Young and Cary Grant were regulars. I thought I took a picture of the ceiling because it was so ornate, but maybe not. It definitely looked how I would imagine old school Hollywood to look like. 

At this point, we were both kind of tired, but also wanted to clsoe out our Cali trip with something fun, and didn't have any ideas. We were originally planning to go to another town, but the concierge said it would cost upwards of $50 each way, so that was out. And then C texted saying that Whitney Cummings was doing a show that night on Sunset Blvd. Have I mentioned that I LOVE Whitney Cummings? Ever since her show Whitney. I was so sad when it was cancelled, it was one of my favorites. Anyway, tickets were only $20 and it was supposed to be an all-star cast. It was fantastic. And we both got picked on, which made it even more hysterical. Seriously the best ending to this trip!

Pet Peeves

So I haven't been participating in #Blogtober14, but this prompt was right up my alley today, so I'm sharing 10 Pet Peeves:

+ slow walkers. Oh, and people who randomly stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk. Keep it moving people.

+ people who don't/take forever to respond to texts. Especially if I can see them posting all over social media.

+ people who chew with their mouth open. Gross.

+ voicemail

+ paper jams

+ people who ask for your advice, don't take it, and continue to make the same mistake over and over and then whine about it even though I may be guilty of this from time to time

+ slow internet connections #firstworldproblems

+ The Stomper in the apartment above me. I can literally hear every step she takes.

+ loud drunk assholes, but particularly on the train. Handle your liquor fools.

+ people touching me excessively/for no reason and close talkers. Get out of my space. Respect the bubble.

What are some of your biggest pet peeves? 

And Then There Were Two: A Life Update

Disclaimer: This is quite long, and there are no rainbows and butterflies, because life isn't always easy. So if you're looking for that, sorry. Maybe tomorrow. For anyone who wants to know what's actually been going on, here ya go.

Three weekends ago (I think? Something like that) was great. Saturday my friend and I attended the Global Citizen Festival (details soon!) and Sunday was spent with friends at an epic Sunday Funday. Then all hell broke lose. I'm blaming it on that whole Mercury in retrograde thing. And because I don't know how else to continue, I'm just going to make a list:

1. My Grandfather passed away on Sunday, September 28.
My family is very, very small. It was really only my grandpa, my mom, and me. I'm his first grandchild (now there is one more), the only one for 25 years, and the only girl. We were pretty close. My mom has 3 half siblings from my grandpa's side, but she's not close to them and I've only met one of them. And the one I met I don't like, because she's very conniving and sneaky. But that's a whole other post. I bawled. Like, in crouching position on the ground, bawling. The worst part was that that one sibling, E, called to tell me, and didn't have my mom's number. So I call my mom and tell her that her father passed away. That was definitely the hardest call of my life. She took the news surprisingly well- better than me in fact. No tears, no screaming, just acceptance. He's was quite old, and not sick at all. He had had 2 heart attacks, but that was at least 7 years ago, and he had been fine since. They said he passed painlessly in his sleep, with a small smile on his face.

I was able to fly into Puerto Rico for the services from Wednesday to Thursday night, but my mom couldn't come. My friend picked me up from the airport, we picked up her son (my Godson) from school and dropped him home, and then went straight to the other side of the island (~2 hours away). Well I was almost on time... except we got lost. There were 2 funeral homes with the same name within a 5 mi radius, and of course we went to the wrong ones. And then my friend parked in such a way that we got locked out of the car. the only way to get into her car is by unlocking the driver's side door- which she forgot about, and parked with the driver's side door flush against a wall. Unfortunately, I had to leave her there. I hopped in a cab and went to the wake, and the part with the Priest had just ended as I walked in. I was disappointed, obviously, but I know that my grandpa knew I tried so hard not to miss it. I was there, and that was what counted.

One of the hard parts of this was that E said that my grandpa wanted to be cremated, but couldn't until all of the siblings (including my mom) signed off on it. She faxed it to my mom, but being that he had never said anything like that to either one of us, so she was VERY weary of agreeing to it. In the end, she didn't sign, but she also didn't tell me before I got to the funeral home. So you can imagine my surprise when I walked out after paying my respects, and E approaching me with burial information. Her exact words were "Well, we have to since your mom wouldn't sign the paperwork." Luckily my flight wasn't until Thursday evening, so I was able to attend.

My grandpa was a Vietnam War veteran, so he was buried in the PR Veteran's Memorial site. E had given me some pictures and a glass cross that my grandpa had in his house, but the only thing my mom really wanted was the flag that covered the casket. She was adamant about it. Luckily, E didn't give me any shit when I told her. When the trumpet played, and after they handed me the flag, was the second time I broke down since hearing the news. Luckily my friend was there, since I really didn't "know" the rest of my family who was there.

2. My annual performance review at work was on Friday.
I flew in Thursday night and, knowing the situation, my boss let me have off on Friday. But he still wanted to have my review over the phone, because HR needed it by a certain date, and he and I would have been out for the following 2 weeks. I prepared all morning, but we just had a hard time connecting (he was never at his desk!), and when we finally did connect he told me that he spoke to HR and due to the circumstances, they would accept my review later. I have it today.

3. Monday morning I realized my bank account had been hacked.
I had been watching every penny since the trip to PR was so unexpected, and my mom helped some. So I was quite surprised on Monday morning when I checked and realized it was overdrawn by almost $300. I looked at the pending transactions, and realized they were all fraudulent. I immediately called the bank and had them cut off my debit card, but they said I shouldn't close the account because the transactions were still pending. They also said I couldn't start filling out a fraud claim because the charges hadn't "hit" my account yet; they were still pending. Except they kept charging me overdraft fees.

So that was Monday. My paycheck usually comes in through direct deposit, and payday was Friday. Luckily I was able to open a new account, and get Payroll to cancel my direct deposit in time and receive a physical check. However, my bank told me they wouldn't cash it because I didn't have enough funds in my new account. Um.... WHAT? I am still waiting for that to be resolved.

4. Tuesday night I had my midterm for my first Grad class.
My mom suggested that I just tell the professor what happened and get an extension, but since it was open book and open notebook I decided to just take it that day. Fingers crossed I didn't fail. 

5. Thursday night I broke up with my boyfriend. 
This was completely pre-planned and premeditated. He has some anger issues, and honestly, I didn't want him to be at my apartment when I told him, for fear that he might break my stuff. So I told him over the phone, and later at night so he couldn't take a train over to my place (he lives 2 hours away and doesn't have a car). I had been wanting to for awhile, but I felt like I didn't have a real reason, other than "I'm just not that into you." The last straw was the night that I found out my grandpa passed away. Not only was he not supportive in any way/shape/form, he was actually a bigger douche than ever. He threw a tantrum about wanting to go home, and I didn't because um hello, I was upset, so I gave him my keys so he could go to my place. He took my keys and THREW THEM IN A ROOFTOP GUTTER. Which was just so ridiculous that I could hardly believe it happened. So I made him climb up and get them, but I knew right then I was done. The only reason I didn't do it then was because I had so much other stuff going on. 

6. Sunday morning I was sent out to Denver for a work conference. 
This was the best part- getting to leave town for a few days. Little did I know there was pre-assigned reading (that I hadn't done), and 2 tests at the end- one written, and one role-playing that was videotaped. If I pass though, I will get a certificate. But I won't know for at least another 5 days. 

So that's what's been up with me. Hope you have all been having a less tumultuous month!! 

10 Awesome Things//Friday Favorites

The last two weeks have been stressful to say the least. I'll fill you all in on that next week. But for now, I'm trying to stay positive with 10 awesome things:

1. perfect fitting jeans

2. Gchat convos with my friend to make the day go faster

3. pumpkin ice cream

4. curling up on my couch with a blanket and a book

5. my porch

6. BBW candles

7. coffee

8. Payday

9. Uber. Usually I take a train and/or subway when I need to get somewhere, never a taxi or (gasp!) Uber because that's more monies. But after the Global Citizens Festival, I was DONE. Could not move. My friend sent me her Uber referral so we could both get a free ride home. Totally worth it. Want a free ride (up to $30)? Click here!

10. being on TV!! I was stopped the other day on my way to work by a guy with a mic and a video camera. He stopped me and explained that it was "National Smile Day" and started asking me all these questions like what makes me smile. Being that I will likely never do a vlog, here's a chance to hear me! (I'm the cliche in the Northface, aviators and traveler's mug. There are 3 clips of me, starting at 34 sec):  Montone On The Move: World Smile Day « CBS New York


Have a great weekend!