A New Place: Recap of Summer

This has nothing to do with the new apartment, but I'm sharing anyway!

I've had some exciting mini-adventures this summer, so here are a few pictures to recap.

This is me and my sister at our cousin's baby shower in Ohio.
The baby has since been born and is sooooo stinkin cute!

This is me and my boyfriend in the back seat of our friend's car on our way to pick up some supplies for the weekend (okay fine, we were getting beer...). It was the weekend of Andy's graduation from Bethany! Woohoo! Congrats Andy!

Soon after Andy's graduation, the two of us went back to Central PA to visit my family. We had a nice weekend full of food, the Boiling Springs foundry day, and exciting adventures mixed in such as discovering a Belgian bistro in Carlisle (did you like it Andy? Are you sure? You really liked it?? Was it a surprise? No really...Andy...did you REALLY like it?) <-- my dad likes to make sure everyone is happy. We also got to hang out with the most ADORABLE puppy ever, Maggie. She is a proud Scottish Terrier, and her favorite activites are cuddling (with your face), playing (digging in the dirt), and exploring (eating your favorite scarf). She really is a sweet dog and I miss her terribly!

Oh, you THINK she's looking at you...but really, she's eyeing up the mound of dirt under the swing you're sitting in...

This is a dinner I made a few weeks back for me and Andy. The fruit salad (your typical fruit salad-fruits, plus kiwi and mango) was nice and refreshing (and now moldy, as I am pretty sure the leftovers are still in my fridge). I also made a pizza (below) that was my best attempt at replicating our favorite pizza from our favorite restaurant. I bought the whole wheat crust from Trader Joe's and it came as raw dough in a ball. Tasty. Then all I had to do was roll it out and add the toppings (olive oil, pesto, mushrooms, feta, mozarella). Yum. Oh, and red pepper flakes. Of course.

THIS is the beautiful Laurelview Camp near Somerset, PA. The day after the fruit salad/pizza day, I left for a week at Laurelview to counsel CYF Conference. It was a blast, and needless to say, the weather was fantastic. This is the pond at Laurelview. Unswimmable, but nice to look at.

The days are beautiful here...

...as are the evenings.

Then...the day after camp, my mom and I got to see CAROLE KING and JAMES TAYLOR!!! It was a part of their "Troubadour Reunion Tour" and the last concert to ever be played in the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. Man, the show was so stinkin good. They had all of their original band members from their tour in 1971 (they played here then too, although it was called the Civic Arena back then). I can't even begin to explain how energetic and fun the show was. I was expecting the two of them on stools playing their guitars (which would have been great too!), but no, they were dancing around, there was a guy who was AWESOME on the electric organ, and it was just so much fun!

This is the arena before most people got there (obviously).

This is me and my mom! No flash on the camera phone...hence the dullness and the blur.

Then...over the fourth of July, Andy and I drove (well, I was the passenger the whole time) up to Cayuga Lake, NY to meet two of our ~~craziest~~ best friends for a weekend of camping and winery visits.

I totally forget where I took this picture.

Same with this one...but it was lovely!

Montezuma was definitely MY favorite winery. They specialized in fruit wines (think rhubarb, strawberry, peach) and honey wines (drool...) but also had a delicious selection of red and white grape wines. My favorite was their spiced honey wine. Since it was a honey wine, it was white, so it was served chilled. It was so interesting to taste mulling spices in a chilled wine. Interesting, but SO GOOD. It was a special release for father's day, so hopefully if we go back, it will be there again. Thanks to the PA liquor control board, they cannot ship wine to PA :-(