Southbound

On our way to NC we stopped at Brother Ryan's place in Washington, D.C. for a night. Abby had her first trip to the House of Representatives (well, the Cannon House Office Building where Congressman Heath Shuler holds office....hopefully for another term) where she was much more popular than a politician. She lobbied for pets and treats and drank water from a cut crystal Old Fashioned glass. Lucky dog.

The next day we drove to Asheville and arrived just in time to make Abby's appointment with the veterinarian there. She had a growth on her tailbone that rapidly and exponentially enlarged in a matter of a couple of months and was a source of constant worry for me, particularly while our vet in Albany was between clinics at the moment. Dr. Riggle did a thorough examination and aspiration of the growth. Abby was plied with spray cheese atop dog biscuits and then spent the next several days being spoiled and smothered by my dad while I drove east to visit friends.


My next stop was Apex, NC where I met the adorable and well-named Graham. He is the baby of my friend Ashley. The last time I "saw" Graham was when he was curled up in utero at Ashley's baby shower...just waiting to use all of those baby products he scored that day. While he didn't seem nearly as ecstatic to meet me as I was to meet him...we weathered the storm and eventually became buddies over biscuits and pancakes and Sophie the giraffe. Our friend Charlene came from Raleigh for some much needed girl time even though she had a million things going on that she could have been tending to. The girls surprised me with a little early birthday celebration with some decorations and lovely gifts.

From The Piedmont I headed to the coast to surprise my very pregnant friend (now just a little over 1 week 'til her due date!) with a visit while her family was together on a trip to the beach.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to make a trip to NC anytime soon once I started my fellowship, so I wanted to be sure to get some time with one of my favorite people before her life completely changed forever!  Somehow her family managed to keep my visit a secret and Kari was completely surprised when I showed up at the beach house.  It was truly amazing to see her with this pregnant belly and to hear her give people the "what for" when they try to stop her from going on with some of her superhuman ways.   It was so hard saying goodbye to her when I had to get back on the road a couple of days later...knowing that the next time I will see her she will be a mother.  These are the times that make me feel so far away from home.  The distance should be a little more tolerable with webcams.  Now at least I'll be able to see Baby Silas all the way from Albany.  I can't wait. 

As hard as it was, I got back in the car and headed west to meet my dad and Abby in Durham.  After lunch and another difficult goodbye, Abby and I headed up north toward home with an overnight stop in D.C.  The next day we made it all the way back to Albany, both of us ecstatic to see Ian.  What a trip.

Gone for September

I'm just going to stop apologizing for being tardy for the blog post party because I was taught that a sincere apology implies making a concerted effort to avoid repeating the faux pas. So, given my track record of repeatedly missing Sunday posts, I feel the most respectable and realistic thing to do at this point is to vow to you, the faithful few (possibly fewer given the nearly 2 month long lapse in posting) that I will put my all into the posts that I do write. So, here it goes...!

September came and went leaving so much in her wake. Last month began with a trip to South Florida to join my big fun Italian family in celebrating my grandmother's 80th birthday. No wait! Actually, last month began with my completion of my doctoral degree requirements! On September 1, I completed the final requirement (a year long internship) and earned my Ph.D. THEN Ian and I went to Florida for a 3 day celebration of Grandma's birth and the 6 children, 10 grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren that followed (plus spouses and countless granddogs).

When the last party died down leaving The Haags (actually only one of us) with one soaking wet wallet, a broken camera (status post a swim in the Intracoastal), the kind of sunburn you can only afford to get once in a lifetime, bruises resulting from extreme tambourine playing (don't ask), and one hangover with a side of regret...we packd our bags and loaded up Gramma's Explorer for our Key West adventure.  (It was probably in everyone's best interest that we left the scene at that point anyway).  Actually, when Ian and I began making plans to go to Florida for Gramma's birthday, we decided that we would extend the trip to include Key West as a kind of first anniversary gift to one another.  We were there for a couple of days and had an amazing time filled with fantastic food and drink, adventures on a rental scooter, six-toed cat sightings, and the list goes on. 

(Do any of you notice a pattern in the pictures Ian and I take?)

So, with full bellies and peeling backs the Doctors Haag returned the Explorer to Rita Rentacar and spent some quality time with the proprietor before we made our way to the Ft. Lauderdale airport. 

It seemed that while we were tanning our hides in Florida, the summer had set on Albany and autumn had arrived.  Ian and I needed to turn the heat on when we got in the car at the airport!  Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.  Although autumn is my favorite season, I like it best when it comes when I'm ready for it.  Is that so much to ask? 

Once we got home, I had about 48 hours to regroup and repack for the week-long road trip to North Carolina that I planned at the last minute.  Thankfull, my little southern stint afforded me another week of summer-like weather before having to truly face the reality of the impending Albany winter that follows the beauty of fall.  So, Abby and I loaded up in the car and left Ian to be a bachelor of sorts once more.  Tune in to the next post to see what happens....!

This Year's Love

Last weekend Ian and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary.  I still can't believe that I've been a "Mrs." for an entire year now and at the same time it's hard to remember what it felt like to be anything but Ian's wife.  But, one year ago in front of the most important people in my life, I made a commitment to spend the rest of my life with the person that I love and cherish and want to spend all of my days with.  With Ian by my side there are so many things to look forward to and so many warm memories to look back on but I especially love how happy I feel in our present.   We are grateful for all of the love and support that we feel from our friends and family, and especially for your well wishes on our anniversary. 

They Came A Long Way

I am a person who has many acquaintances and a few very close friends.  So, when I moved Up North almost 1 year ago (omg) to live with my BFFL (Best Friend For Life) and to complete an internship with a class of 5 men and me, I really felt the distance from my girlfriends.  Fortunately, in the past month I have had much needed opportunitites to reconnect with almost all of them.  In June Ian and I travelled to Virginia/D.C. for a UT wedding and I got the chance to laugh and talk and sing and dance with "the wifeys" as we like to call ourselves. 

I also danced with my husband...

While it was a whirlwind of a weekend (we even got to spend some really great time with my brother Ryan in D.C.), it was so great to be with dear friends.

A couple of weeks after we got back from Virginia, my closest friends from college (Go Heels!) Charlene and Erin flew from NC to NY just to visit me! Oh, and they also said something about wanting to spend some time with Ian and get to know him better. See, until their recent visit, they had only met Ian twice. The first time was the day after Ian and I had our first date. They were actually there in my apartment in Knoxville when Ian and I had our first kiss! Unfortunately, between KU getting knocked out of The Big Dance and the half price bottles of wine that were consumed at a local bar, it was not the most conducive time for the girls and Ian to bond. But, time and love progressed from there and the next time they saw him was at our wedding. So, they wanted to see for themselves what My Main Man was all about.

Unfortunately, our friend Ashley couldn't complete our usual foursome because she is a new mom and had the Adorable Graham to tend to at home.  I don't blame her for choosing this:

over this:

Erin and Charlene's visit was a travel adventure even for me.  They flew into NYC and I met them there, where we shopped, ate, drank, walked, and subwayed 'til we dropped.  (That only took about 36 hours.)  We had a fantastic time in The City and then moved the party to Albany.  The girls got the chance to experience the wonder that is Clothes Mentor, of course we had our nails done, and Charlene took full advantage of the NY scratch-off lottery games.  We might have been exhausted when we left Manhattan, but Albany was the one that needed to recuperate once Charlene and Erin left town!

Then, Ian and I had just enough time to catch our breath(s) (and change the linens) before The Kirians arrived for their 4th of July visit.  They drove all the way from Raleigh, NC to Albany, NY in one day and arrived on our doorstep with enough energy and excitement to take a tour of Chalet Haag and catch up before hitting the sack for some well-deserved rest.  But before they could get under the covers they had to move the train that stood between Kari & Tim and sleep...a wooden toy train that is.  It was a baby gift for the much awaited Silas Kirian, the baby boy that Kari has been toting around in her belly for the past 5 months. 

Despite being pregnant, Kari (and Silas) accompanied Ian, Tim, and I on The Beverage Trail, a tour of wineries and breweries in Cooperstown, NY.  Then the guys went to the Baseball Hall of Fame while Kari and I walked around town and she told me of the wonders of pregnancy.  She is a wonder herself.  

Over the next few days, the four of us went on road trips and hikes, had a cookout and other delicious meals.  I took Kari to The Mentor and helped her shop for mostly non-maternity maternity clothes.  By the time we left that store, she had 9 new dresses, a couple of tops, a pair of pants, and a few other great finds.  It was a good thing they weren't flying home because between Kari's new clothes and Silas' new toys and onesies, they went home with a lot more than they came with.  I hated to see them go and it's hard to imagine that probably the next time I see Kari, she will be a mother.  I can't wait. 

In writing this post I've been thinking about what a bargain my 10 years of higher education was.  In addition to getting a B.A., an M.A., and a Ph.D., I got a husband and the best girlfriends I've ever had. I'd say that was a smart investment. 

Leaving the Nest

When I was a toddler I remember thinking that marrying a man other than my father wasn't an option.  While I couldn't exactly figure out how dad would be married to both me and mom, I figured this kind of thing just works out for all big girls.  As I got older, I realized that marrying my dad was just a dream that made me feel safe and sound and I started to wonder who I would marry and what I would look like as a young lady.  I remember trying very hard to imagine the day when, wearing a white dress and veil, I vowed to love and cherish a single man, who wasn't my father, forever and ever and with that became someone's wife.  Today I write this from the home that my husband and I have made together.  It sometimes seems so far away from the nest where I was raised, but at the same time I have made a new nest with a man who gives me the sense of being safe and sound.  What an essential role fathers play in the lives of their daughters and what an immense pursuit it must be to see a child through their development only to watch them leave just when they believe they are sturdy enough.  So, thank you, Dad, for seeing me through and holding my hand all the way down that aisle. 

Labor Days

So, I know that this lovely long weekend was brought to us by the federal holiday Memorial Day, but lately it's seemed more like Labor Day around these parts.  In the past week The Haag Household has gotten a series of makeovers from the outside in.  Last weekend, my mom was here visiting and she certainly earned her keep (as usual...during her winter visit she turned our house into a sewing sweat shop)!  While Ian was hard at work preparing for the graduate level psychology course he has just started teaching at U Albany, Mom and I were running the Home Depot employees ragged gathering everything we would need to create a raised bed vegetable garden.  2 hours, a 4x4 garden bed kit, 2 zucchini plants, 3 tomato plants, 4 pepper plants, 1 cucumber plant, several herb plants, and a Visa swipe later, we were ready to go where neither one of us had gone before.  We picked a small plot in the rather small back yard that seemed to get the most sunlight and got to work.  A couple more hours later and we had made the bed so to speak. 

Mom and Abby taking 1 of 2 allocated breaks.

And we didn't stop there!  We planted 2 beautiful pedestal urns with flowers and ivy to flank the steps at the front of the house.

Bargain Shopper's Tip: When I bought these plastic "urns" at Home Depot they were ugly and cheap looking.

The pedestal isn't even attached permanently to the basin.  But, when I saw them I imagined them covered in a flat black paint filled with plants at varying heights...like the ones I see in the Ballard Designs catalog.  So, for about $25 for the urns and spray paint and about 15 minutes worth of labor, I think I pulled off a look that can go for hundreds of dollars.  Just be sure to make a few holes in the bottom of the basin for drainage.  A screwdriver did the trick for me. 

By the time we got the urns planted and the bed made, it was time to hit the showers and go for much needed manicures and pedicures.  The next day, Mom flew back down south and I went to work.  When I got home that evening I put the vegetables to bed.  I was afraid of over-crowding the garden, so I decided to plant the herbs in pots. 

I'm hoping that by the end of July, I'll have something to show for all of this labor...hopefully in the form of a fresh and colorful salad!

If you're still reading at this point...Bless you.  You remember I said we've made some home improvements from the outside in, right?  Well the "in" I'm speaking of is actually a nice segue from the exterior because it's our enclosed porch.  It's really a strange little room...an afterthought for certain.  And, believe it or not, it was much stranger before we moved in.  The floor covering is astro turf and as you can see from the picture below, the carpet definitely matched the curtains.  Equally as remarkable is the view from our little porch.  The very dated and poorly insulated windows look out onto our shared driveway and our rickety cinderblock garage.  Oh and now it also looks out onto our veggie garden.  Definitely an improvement.

Up until now, we've pretty much used the porch for a storage and recycling area. Our friends and neighbors Maggie and Andy gave us some bamboo roman shades they had laying around so Ian replaced the green beauties with something less offensive.  We had a siesel rug from Ikea that we weren't using in the house and laid that down on top of the astro turf.  Another simple yet major improvement to the room.  A few weeks ago we practically stole 2 natural-colored wicker arm chairs at a yard sale for $5 each (including seat cushions), which just so happened to coordinate with a wicker end table that was handed down to me years ago by Kari and Tim.  We also had a lovely antique rocking chair being stored on the porch that we were able to (purposefully) incorporate into the room.  I put a couple of coats of dark brown glossy spray paint on the chairs and scrounged up some framed botanicals and little odds and ends I had around the house and now our little weird green porch looks like this:

Total cost of porch makeover: $30

Blogging on your own turf: priceless

I'm a mentor...

...A Clothes Mentor that is. 

Some of you already know that a couple of months ago I picked up a part time job in what I like to think of as the retail recycling business.  For about 10 hours per week I work at a women's resale clothing store called Clothes Mentor. 

Like we say on our phone greeting there, "Clothes Mentor, You've never seen a resale store like us!" 

It's true.  I've never seen any place like it.  Maybe you've heard of resale stores like Planet Xchange and Plato's Closet?  Places where they pay you for your clothes, shoes, accessories on the spot.  Clothes Mentor is like that, but it's for the sophisticated lady whereas Plato's Closet is more for the person with unbridled hormones (you know...teeny boppers and "young adults"). 

I actually learned about Clothes Mentor when I went into Plato's Closet (just next door) and the girl who went through my items told me, "Your stuff is too mature for our store."  I don't know that I've ever felt that old.  (Well, maybe when I was trying to be cool and put to use the hip lingo my cousin Mikey had just enlightened me with and in front of him and his girlfriend I said "crutch" when I should have said "clutch." Ouch.) So anyway, just when I was feeling hopeless and used up, the girl said, "but in a month or so a new store is opening up and your stuff would be perfect for there!"  I immediately envisioned a whole store dedicated to polyester blend pants with elastic waistbands and shoes with velcro straps.  In fact, I was so distraught and caught off guard about my own maturity that I walked out of the store without my perfectly mature clothing that I could have sold to Clothes Mentor.  So what happens to the "stuff" that people bring in to sell that doesn't get bought you ask?  Clothes Mentor and Plato's Closet donate everything to the Albany City Mission.  I half expect to see a panhandler wearing my old Vera Wang trench (her Kohl's label...). 

Needless to say that when the store opened to accept "buys" (they were buying people's things but people could not buy from CM), I scrounged up plenty of things in the way of mature fashion and probably made close to $200 in cash by selling to CM.  I was there for the Grand Opening (when they started selling to people) standing in line, hoping that no one had scooped up the little vintage navy Gucci bag I had been dreaming about for over a month.  The news crews showed up to capture the scene and some women were holding things up in front of their faces to remain incognito because they had apparently called in sick to work just to shop at CM.  When the owner came out to announce they were opening the doors, I tucked my travel coffee cup into my bag and marched straight over to the tower of designer bags.  My Gucci was gone.  I found plenty of other great things and found myself thinking about how fun it could be to work in a place like this...new and different stuff coming in every day...employee discount...designer clothes, shoes, and bags at great prices....a job that doesn't feel as intense as being a psychotherapist sometimes feels.  I put in an application a month later and got the job. 

I usually work one weeknight and one weekend day per week and I promised myself that I would not spend more than what I make at the store.  Over the past couple of months I have found some amazing deals and I really enjoy the women that I work with and most of the responsibilities that the job entails (my least favorite is straightening the racks...they are crammed with clothes!).  One other drawback is that they don't sell men's clothing so I don't bring finds home for Ian from work...but yesterday I did surprise him with a "chimney starter" for the charcoal grill we have (which Ian salvaged from someone's trash pile). He'd probably prefer if I got a part time job at Home Depot where I'd be (much) less likely to spend my earnings (a girl can only have so many tool belts in her closet, right?).  But for now I'm having a lot of fun and my wardrobe has never looked so good :)

If you're interested in learning more about Clothes Mentor or to see if there's a store near you, click here.