Peach Picking 2012

I know, I know. I am a terrible person for neglecting this blog so much. But here are peach picking pictures from (almost two weeks ago) this summer.

We've had a miserably hot summer in New York. My garden has been terrible because the weather has been so scorching and incredibly humid some weeks. Hence, no garden pictures. Trust me, it isn't a lovely sight this year, and I've already ripped out several plants.

Much to our surprise, Lewin's Farms was allowing people to pick peaches this year. The peaches were delicious despite the weather, too. We went on a very hot and humid day (please don't mind the glossiness of my face, seeing as it was hard to keep my makeup from just melting off). Don't let that beautiful blue sky in these pictures fool you; this was a stay inside with the air conditioner on full blast kind of day.

I made a peach crisp with most of the white peaches we picked, and the others we enjoyed eating.

 That white car in the background ruins this picture of good ol' farm life...

Blackberry and raspberry picking were closed that day, but the fields were located right across the street.

When I said to William, "Hey, look at this baby peach tree!" he responded, "Oh, a tree for you to pick from." What a nice boyfriend...

Dear Society

I'm going to start a new series here on the ol' blog, titled, "Dear Society." It'll basically consist of my ranting about my disappointment in society in open-letter form. Let's give it a shot...

Dear Society,
    When I am a pedestrian walking across the street/parking lot/whatever, I have right of way. In other words, you better watch how you drive because if you hit me, you are automatically wrong and I can sue the bejeezus out of you.

Dear Society,
   I don't know who came up with the term "swagger," but I personally think it's atrocious. In no way, shape, or form, does having "swagger" make a male attractive. In fact, most of the men I hear using this term are wearing their jeans below their ass, using a belt to keep them from completely falling down, and walking like something is unpleasantly shoved up their rear end.

Dear Society,
    You would think you'd be more careful with the way you drive. Cars aren't very cheap and many people are feeling the economic challenges that exist within the United States and much of the world. Driving like maniacs can cause your car to become totaled, and not everyone can just go out and buy/lease a new vehicle. Also, I really don't have the money for a new car, so let's just all be a little more safe and less aggressive on the roads.


Sincerely,
Amanda Regina
   

Life Like Weeds

  I'm working on buying a new stereo for my car so I can have an auxiliary plug that will easily allow me to listen to my Zune. (Yes, I have a Zune because to me, Apple products are overrated, expensive, and break in just a few years.) So I've been stuck with a cd player or the radio, but I don't own cd's anymore. So that leaves me with a radio. Which isn't the most wonderful at times.
   I really only listen to my music on my laptop nowadays. It's like I've rediscovered Modest Mouse's The Moon and Antarctica because I've been listening to it a lot. It reminds me of Alaska (and Antarctica, obviously). I always wanted to go to Antarctica. I'm also currently longing to revisit Alaska. Maybe this longing for cold-weather places is because I was watching The Thing last week?

All this talkin' all the time and the air fills up, up, up
Until there's nothin' left to breathe
And you think you feel most everything

And we know that our hearts are just made out of strings
To be pulled, strings to be pulled
So you think you've figured out everything
But we know that our minds are just made out of strings
To be pulled, strings to be pulled

I'm Back...

   Obviously, for a while, I quit blogging. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed keeping up with this little blog, and I still do regularly read many blogs. However, I discovered that I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. We're all so quick to just document the good in our lives, and so many blogs out there showcase only the perfections. Life isn't like that. My life certainly isn't like that. It isn't just all cupcakes and wonderful times with families.
   I decided to come back to the blogging world, making a promise to myself that I won't be one of those blogs that only document the positive things going on in my life. I started this blog because I wanted to document my college years and I will continue to do that without masking reality. I want to remember the tough times I face because I want to be able to look back and realize how far I've come. I want to remember the ups and the downs. I want to take pictures along the way, too, and be able to go back to those as well.
  So here's to a totally revamped blog, with a whole new style of writing. I want to write what I want, when I want, because that's just who I am. I am a writer, and current English major, and this blog will serve as my space on the Internet. I will still document the adventures I go on, but if I have something on my mind and writing makes me feel better about it, I will write it out here. Because it's not about however many followers I have or making a profit off of my blog. It's about who I am, what I want to document, and what I want to write.

  If you would like to come along for the ride, I'd love to have you!


  I don't want to make this text-only, so here is an inspiring picture that I took in July 2005 (Wow, it's been that long?) in Alaska. I was thinking about this trip earlier today, and promised myself that William and I must take a cruise there one day.

Winter in NYC

I was on blogging hiatus from October until now. While in school this semester, my schedule looked a lot like this: School-->Work-->Sleep.

But now I am back and taking some time to myself this winter break.  Mostly because working so much has taken a toll on my health and now I work to pay a chiropractor :)

This past weekend was William's 21st birthday, so Saturday we spent the day celebrating. On Sunday, we went to the city to see the tree. First we had lunch at Chipotle, then we walked around and purposely got lost, which was all part of the "adventure" as William put it. We saw some gorgeous shop windows, bought chocolate at the Lindt store (my favorite chocolate ever, and now they make them in adorable bear shapes for Christmas!!!), and stopped in some stores so I could show William some expensive gifts I plan to one day acquire.

There's certainly something special about Christmastime in New York City. If you've ever been there during this time of year, you can feel it wherever you go. New Yorkers know what I'm talking about. I can't imagine feeling that way in any other city, either.

Pumpkin Picking

Hurricane Irene ruined pumpkin picking this year, too. It took us forever to find three decent looking pumpkins, and as I write this a week later, I can officially say that the three "good" ones we picked last week are started to rot.We'll probably carve them this weekend instead of the night before Halloween so they're not a total waste.

We still had fun scoping out the good pumpkins and wound up walking the entire patch. The weather was beautiful and cooperative. It was chilly and breezy--the perfect fall day to go pick pumpkins. We were aiming to get an armful for $25, so poor William had to carry three large pumpkins only to find out that they'd cost us $18. We planned on going to the market too, but it seemed like everyone else had the idea of going pumpkin picking that day and it was just too crowded. Instead, we just got ourselves some more roasted corn and a baked potato. Afterwards, William took us out to dinner at Applebee's.

Apple Picking 2011

Back in September (yes, I'm aware I've neglected the blog since then), William and I went apple picking. Like everything else, Hurricane Irene ruined that, too. All of the rain towards the latter part of the summer affected the apples and Lewin's Farms didn't get as big of a yield as they normally get. They pre-picked the apples and set them in bins for us to "pick." No, it wasn't as fun as previous years, but we had to keep the tradition alive.

We drove out to Wading River one Saturday, which wound up being our first cool, breezy, fall day. The sky was looking funky, but luckily, it never rained. After picking and making our routine trip to the market where we ate roasted corn and a baked potato, we went out for a late lunch/early dinner at Chili's. It wound up being a very wonderful date.

The "smile" before this one was absolutely ridiculous, so I made him laugh and this is what I got.

And this was the attempt at a more "serious" picture after laughing in the previous one.

The following week I made an apple pie with the apples we picked and it lasted a mere three-four days.