Bully Hill House

Married Six Years

2012-04-01T18:49:00.000-04:00

Wedding shot on Bolex 16mm from Shawn Bannon on Vimeo.

Yes, April 1 is my anniversary... This is dedicated to my one and only, Mr. Mark. Married six years, together for 12. What did we do for our anniversary this year? You'll have to come back and find out next week.

Books with Friends: Feed by M.T. Anderson

2012-04-01T16:38:00.000-04:00

Back in, wow I think it was October, I attended a social media ideation session facilitated by the Dachis Group--and--quite a few interesting ideas came out of the session--perhaps most interesting was a recommendation to read the young adult novel "Feed" by M.T. Anderson.

Since the book: 1.) Has a distopian/cyberpunk theme and 2.) Looked like an easy read, I picked it up and went through it in about a day.

The story itself is OK.

The writing is just a bit better then OK. There is no meta-story in this tail or even any real subtext. But, the writer takes an inspired look into a not so distant future.

In the book everyone has an Internet "feed" located directly into their brain, so all of those personalized ads we see for the 6 to 8 hours a day in 2012, are a 24-7 reality in the future--and even more personalized because the "feed" is implanted at birth, so BIG DATA, becomes even bigger real quick.

Basically, in the future of this book, intelligence is based on one's ability to access one's feed. There is no longer any need to remember facts or memorize timetables.

The book is worth the read, if not only for the thoughts it will undoubtedly inspire in the reader.

Also, If you get a chance, pick-up Jennifer Egan's "A Visit from the Goon Squad" and take a couple days to read it after "Feed." It's adult fiction, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 and is currently being made into an HBO series. I don't want to tell you what or who the Goon Squad is, but let's just say that Egan's book spans about 70 years starting in the 1960's and moving through to the 2030s--where life isn't all that different then the life portrayed in "Feed."

New Jersey Flower & Garden Show

2012-04-01T16:19:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago Mr Mark and I thought we'd get a jump start on Spring and check out the New Jersey Flower and Garden Show. Quite honestly we didn't know what to expect but it turned out to be a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

The theme of this years show was "Movie Classics" and as you look through the list you will see that although all of the plants and flowers are beautiful, some of them certainly align better with the theme than others.

The terrariums were some of my favorite pieces in the show.

But I can't for the life of me remember what movie they represented.

Another favorite was the "Pine Walls." Rather then bring in the whole tree to be judged, entrants brought in boughs. This portion of the event was "Cold Mountain."

Subaru was a sponsor of the show, so several entries included cars. Below, is "At the Drive-in." I love the carnation sundea arrangement below because my grandparents sent me the same exact arrnagement when I turned Sweet 16 (a little over 20 years ago now). It's such a fun and easy arrangement to make--I have to member it for the future!

OK--to be honest--my ABSOLUTE FAVORITES of the show were the kid's entries. A group of kids made terrariums in plastic UTZ pretzel jars. This is such a super-fun idea, I'm definitely going to try this at home. (The movie theme was "Pirates of the Caribbean" and some had sand in them).

Next up were the "Harry Potter" wands make out of organic material. Looking at these I thought about how amazing the floats are at the Rose Bowl Parade because everything on the float has to be organic plant-based matter.

Next up was a true story classic, "Charlotte's Web." Talk about a tear jerker, I remember my teacher reading this aloud in class and having no idea that although Charlotte was keeping Wilbur alive, she was going to get it in the end. Perhaps this is why I decided I needed to focus so heavily on reading comprehension and eventually English Lit in school--I wanted to understand foreshadowing the best I could so that I could eliminate future surprises.

There were quite a few big displays at the show which were so large it was hard to get a photo of the whole garden, from "Willy Wonka" to "Snow White" and from "Gone with the Wind" to "Wizard of OZ"--but my favorite, conceptually was "Rear Window" because it paid homage to the rare but there, NYC Garden.

I look forward to starting Spring in February again next year at the New Jersey Flow & Garden Show.

Happy 2012 from Bully Hill

2012-01-22T23:15:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year! So, it may be January 22, but this is the first weekend since the end of the November that I haven't been sick, had company or been fretting about work. All of the presents that got lost in the holiday joy of Bully Hill House have been sent and all of the platters, glassware and holiday plates have finally been cleaned and PUT AWAY. The linens have been folded (I'll iron them when I pull them out next year) and ever last Fraser Fir have been vacuumed up. No sneezing or sniffling and all of my clothes have been hung up.

Come on 2012, I think I'm ready now!

All that being said, we did have quite a nice New Year's Eve at home here at Bully Hill. Of course we had a cheese tray to start off the night. Mr. Mark gave me a nice new slate cheese board from Brooklyn Slate.

I have a new favorite cheese, Drunken Goat is still high on the list but has been replaced by Rogue River Caveman Blue.

This year we decided to do Spanish Tapas in honor of our some of our favorite holiday house guests Ana and Bebe from Bilbao Spain. They brought us some Bonito del Norte so that is what we used. Below is Bonito with onions, light homemade mayo and anchovies on top.

Mr. Mark made the mayo from scratch. It was amazing.

We had shrimp because it's easy and tastes so good.

And the traditional tortilla patata.

After that we had a good old fashioned clam and lobster-tail bake out on the grill.

I also made Ensalada Rusa (Russian Salad) which is one of my favorite Spanish comfort foods.

After we snacked throughout the night we played Apples to Apples and at midnight we watched the ball-drop and drank some Champers. YUM!

Stitch was super-tired from her year full of fun at Bully Hill!

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Best of Stitchie 2011

2012-01-22T15:42:00.000-05:00

I never imaged I could love a little dog as much as I love Stitch, she has such a gentle personality. She loves to snuggle. She's the only dog I know that doesn't want to wake up in the morning. When one of us wakes up, she literally goes from room to room to see if she can find someone else to hop in bed with.

Just because I can.

Always has to be in on the action, curious as to what's going on.

Waiting for Mr. Mark to come home.

Frenchies don't do great in heat, so when we bring Stitchie to the beach we have to take lots of water.

She loves playing in the sand.

And, she loves staying on the look-out for other dogs as potential playmates.

Stitch is not a big fan of the cold.

More snuggle-time action.

With her paws out.

Halloween is a great night for Stitch because she LOVES to be around people, especially kids.

Bat-Dog!

Twiggy, Stitch's best friend and cousin.

Twiggy strikes again.

Stitch is ready for 2012. Her New Years Resolution is to sleep more.

Christmas Eve: Battle for New York

2012-01-22T15:37:00.000-05:00

If you follow football at all--you all know that our team LOST the battle for New York--the Giants won and today they will play to win the NFC Championship. We may have lost but we did show up at 9 am for a 1 pm game and had a great tailgate in the parking lot with my sisters and brothers. It was a great way to spend time together as a family on Christmas Eve Day.

My brother Kyle, the youngest of the 5, came to visit from LA.

We had a nice Christmas table cloth, but it was so windy we ended up just putting out our Christmas Wreath and Candle centerpiece.

Mr. Mark got the grill ready to make flank steak, egg and mushroom sandwiches from Tom Colicchio 'craftwhich cookbook.

Caitlin and Kyle waited (under covers) for the rest of my sisters and brother to get there--Amy, Shawn and our sister-in-law Alix.

He made portobello mushroom sandwiches for the vegans.

Merry Christmas from MetLife Stadium!

Hope Christmas Craft Market 2011

2012-01-21T16:52:00.001-05:00

2011 was the 34th Anniversary of the Hope Christmas Craft Market in Hope, NJ out near PA on Route 80--and it was the second year that I've gone. Last year was the first year I went and I was hooked. With over 200 Artisans and a mandatory that all items must be handmade, this is perhaps the best craft festival I've ever attended--and living in Ohio s a kid--I've attended a lot of craft festivals.

I've written about the town of Hope before during one of me and Mark's "Adventures in an Antiquing Weekends." It was originally settled by Moravians and still has a couple of buildings in town build in either the Row House or Block Stone style made popular by that group of religious Germans.

Hope is like a mini version of Bethlehem, PA, which was also settled by Moravians on Christmas Eve in 1741, is know for its weeks long Christkindlmarkt and is the home of Moravian College.

Virtually the whole town participates from the houses down near the town including my friend Brain's pictured above, to all of the shops and the more than five different buildings that house the vendors including the Grange, Middles School, Community Center, St. John's Church and the Firehouse.

This year was nice and sunny as we walked from venue to venue, but last year it was clod and snowy--both times were fun!

The School is usually our second stop and seems to have a lot of ornaments and wreaths.

Our course we go to "The Nest" which is one of my all time favor shops in New Jersey.

But, my FAVORITE PLACE to shop during the festival is in the Community Center at the booth by a company called Home Spun Style, they also have a blog and of course a great Etsy store.

If you like the French Grain Sack look, you'll like Home Spun Style, and they offer good prices. According to their website the company is ran out of house by "...two moms who are passionate about creating comforting homes through sewing, re-purposing, crafting and thrifting."

Next year, Ill be going to the festival again-- and I might even have a booth. If I have a booth I'll let you know, so that you can stop on by.

Books with Friends: America Pacifica by Anna North

2012-01-08T13:34:00.000-05:00

Eutopia and Utopia are two different words, even though they are pronounced the same and most people they are the same word. Eutopia is actually the direct translation from the Greek as "Good Place" and it has come to mean: a place in which human society, natural conditions, etc... a place so perfect that there is compete contentment.

Utopia, simply translates as "No Place." Hence, now you can see why the two words are often confused. I'm pretty sure everyone reading Bully Hill House has read "1984" or "Brave New World" and has a pretty good understanding perfect societies don't, and because of human nature, most likely can't exist, so the perfect place is no place at all.

So, this brings me to "American Pacifica" by Anna North a pretty straight forward dystopian, post-apocoliptic piece of fiction I read back in November. It's taken me so long to get this blurb up on the book because quite frankly I found the book a bit boring. I'm a huge fan of these kinds of works and any fiction where the natural decay of society is slowly or quickly revealed.

Unfortunately, North's novel seems to lack a strong sense of place and the real science that leaves the island of America Pacifica the last inhabitable place on earth. As a reader we know that the island is in the Pacific and the different sections of the island are named after sections of the US like Manhattan or Hollywood, but the island itself as a real place that might have specific vegetation or physical characteristics seems to get lost.

A couple of years ago I read, "Daughters of the North" by Sarah Hall, a British writer with a similar story. However, Hall's novel is rooted in the Lake District of the British Islands, and she interviewed futurists to understand how if we as humans continue down certain paths we set off a chain of events that lead us from our present state to utopia--no place really. In her novel, people are pushed to urban centers, which is indeed a trend happening across the world right now.

If you love this kind of work I suggest reading both books--if you have to choose one over the other--read Hall's, it has more overt feminist threads but that's only because it has a greater sense of time and place which leads to stronger characters.

T-Day at Bully Hill House

2012-01-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is Mr. Mark's most favorite holiday. Since 2005 he's been in charge of making the turkey based on a Tom Colicchio recipe. He starts on Thanksgiving Eve by prepping his special herb butter which is his primary ingredient.

Mr. Mark gets up at about 5 am and starts prepping for the day. He makes the turkey, stuffing and gravy and I make the sides. We have all the usual suspects--mash potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce--the best part is always Mark's stuffing. He uses a homemade venison sausage in it that really brings a rich textured flavor to it.

Every year Baby Stitchie get to eat the turkey butt after we have finished with our meal. Needless to say this day is torture for her--she smells the turkey all day but knows she has to wait.

At about 1 pm we put out some cheeses for our guests to eat before dinner way served. This was super fun because we had some of our little things we'd picked up on our "Adventures in Antiquing" weekends including a huge wooded butcher block from the Blue Raccoon in Lambertville and the porcelain cheese markers that we got in Napa. These were really awesome because it really encouraged people to try all of the different cheeses and talk about which they liked best and what was from where. It's amazing how adding a bit of context to food makes for great conversation.

Humboldt Fog was my favorite this year. I'd been on a Drunken Goat kick for a while but Fog changed all of that.

When my mom passed away in 2005 she left 5 sets (not all complete) of china... the one above for Thanksgiving, a Lenox set of traditional holly for Christmas, a set of Herend, and one set from each grandmother.

Stitch is patiently awaiting her CHICKEN BUTT!

Hmmm... Tis Himself... himself indeed.

Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potatoes with a teeny bit of brown sugar.

Stitch is like, "Is dinner ready yet, or what?"

Of course we had cupcakes from Natale's Bakery--just like we do at every holiday and event.

Wine is breathing, getting ready to get drunk (as in have someone drink it).

We had a couple bottles of Martinelli's on hand, we didn't drink any that day but had it the next morning as a hangover cure (three pigs pate on toast is also good for holiday hang-over).

Stitch helped Kitten set the table.

One of my favorite T-Day traditions--the Relish Tray--there are always leftovers but some is always eaten.

It was a beautiful sunny day.

2:30 pm and Mr. Mark's Turkey is done. Now it will sit for 45 minutes while I put the finishing touches on the rest of the side dishes.

The End

Halloween in The Office

2011-10-31T21:18:00.002-04:00

We had our annual office Halloween Party today. Different floors competed for best decoration and my department had some nibblers and brought in TONS of candy!

I found the cute bags above on sale at CVS last Thursday, it was something like 40 bags for .99, so that night I watched the real "Office" (as well as all of the shows that come before and my favorite new show of the season "Prime Suspect") and filled the bags with candy.

The plant above is on the ledge behind my desk so we decided to give it some eyes and hang some punkins from it (yes, I like to say punkins as opposed to pumpkins).

I found the Halloween candy rings above at CVS and HAD to get those to give out.

Our floor dressed up at "Puns" or "Word Plays." The Kiss of Death (above) won the costume contest.

Copycat was a pretty close second.

Party Animal (above) made some super-yummy brownies with orange frosting. They were so good I had two!

Probably the funniest costume went to Drag Queen (above).

Survey Monkey was the most departmentally appropriate because he works in MI (Marketing Intelligence).

Holy Mackerel was the most difficult to figure out but once you did it was like... Duh....

Kiss of Death and MCAT.

I love our costumes but some of the decorations on the other floors were phenomenal. The 7th floor has to be the winner of the decorating contest with their "Mad Hatter's Tea Party" theme.

They transformed one of the conference rooms into a "Wonderland" with a large display screen playing the Alice in Wonderland movie and projectors showing creepy and cool oversized images from down the rabbit hole.

They lined the halls to the Tea Party with life size mushroom drawings.

Alice and the Queen of Hearts are very good friends in this Wonderland.

Another set of decorations I really liked on the 7th floor was the "80's Rocker" theme.

I loved the KISS punkins.

And yet again on 7-- another team created a graveyard bar--

and headstones for the people who drank there.

Great job everyone and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

October's Winter Wonderland

2011-10-31T20:55:00.000-04:00

Bully Hill looks awesome under snow.

But Snowtober is a little outrageous!

MetLife Stadium has Gone Organic

2011-10-31T20:53:00.001-04:00

I am wildly surprised and extremely happy to see that MetLife Stadium (formerly the New Meadowlands Stadium) has introduced organic and vegan fare. A couple of weeks ago when we were at the stadium to see the Jets kick the bejeezus out of the Chargers (well, the game was actually a bit of the nail-biter), Mark and I got the dogs below.

Mark got the "Jersey" which is an organic all-beef dog with chili on top and I got a soy dog on whole-wheat flatbread with onions and yellow mustard.

I'm still a big fan of Nathan's but it's nice to have a choice and these healthy dogs were mighty good!

The Hunt in Far Hills New Jersey

2011-10-31T20:43:00.000-04:00

This year we decided to head out to Far Hills and attend The Hunt once again. It's been a couple years since we had headed out to the races. My Aunt Terrance and Uncle P have been attending the races (and parking in the same spot on the hill for over 20 years.

The race is actually a huge charity event to help raise money for the Somerset Medical Center. It originated out in Montclair on 1870 as the Essex Hunt. It was moved out to Moorland Farm in 1916.

Over 40,000 people attend every year and I have to say, if Occupy Wall Street is all about the 99%--then The Hunt is really kinda about the 1 %--or those aspiring to be the 1%--but it's fun and it's for charity.

I found the tin below for $10 on one of me and Mark's "Adventures in Antiquing Weekends" so I filled it with carmel and gave it to my aunt and uncle for inviting us to join them every year.

The race track is turf. People park their cars and trucks in a loop around the track the set out extensive tailgates.

I brought a plater of Sloppy Joes from the famous Millburn Deli--the best deli in New Jersey and perhaps the country!

We are parked by the finish line but we still need binoculars to see the details. There is a flat-bed truck that takes bets on each of the six races with purses over $250,00.

This was Kitten's first time at the races. She drank some of Ivan's home-made wine and had a great time!

Our family friend Ivan helped us understand how to read the racing stats and Mark ended up picking 6 our of 7 winners. Too bad the cap on betting is $20. Next year Mark and I are thinking about getting our own spot and you are ALL invited. Let me know before next year!

Our Lightness to Dark Halloween Soiree

2011-10-16T21:45:00.004-04:00

This weekend we had our Lightness and Dark Halloween Soiree. At Bully Hill we like to have a lot of small intimate get togethers that involve a little food, crafting and card reading.

We decorated masks using the theme "Lightness to Dark."

Baby Dog Stitch Luv dressed up in her bat wings.

We had apple cider, cupcakes and...

Kitten made Ghosts in a Graveyard with instant chocolate pudding, cool whip & cookie crumbs.

After we decorated our masks we had ricotta and pumpkin stuffed shells, arugula salad with lemon and tarragon dressing, Spanish chickpea stew and breadsticks (we were going to make witch-finger rosemary breadsticks but ran outta time).

After that we had our Lightness to Dark Mask Parade.

Missy.

Mr. Mark.

Kitten.

Aunt Terrance.

Amelia

Then the night came and darkness covered the land so it was time to begin our mystical activities. We started by grounding ourselves and reading Angel Cards.

And then moved on to Tarot Cards.

After that we were supposed to top off the night with a marathon of spooky movie watching... but I only made it halfway through Disney's "Watcher in the Woods" before I fell asleep on the floor. Aunt Terrance had to head home after that and Amelia and Kitten fell asleep too.

Twiggy came to the party as well, she loves visiting Bully Hill where all good dogs are welcome. She was tired after a long day of Halloween-inng!

The Lived-In Look

2011-10-16T21:31:00.000-04:00

If I had to profess a style, I'd say that I LOVE the "Lived-In look." I love places and spaces that look like people are actually living, loving and work in them. I hate perfection and I love for things to be just a slightly bit dis-shevled.

Perfection is not for me. I like organically crafted, good-old fashioned MESS. Like the book shelf in my dining room. If there was one space in my house that best represented me, it would be this space.

In January 2012 Bully Hill is going to go under a massive renovation. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, I hope we don't sacrifice the way we live now--a bit cluttered.

Fall Decorating!

2011-10-16T15:20:00.003-04:00

Those of you out there who know me well, know that about six years ago I lost my mom suddenly to a brain tumor. Well, one of the things my mom left behind was box, upon box of holiday decorations. In fact she had a three car garage filled with boxes of decorations.

At one point I had so many decorations that I did't feel like getting ANY of them out, and then I would end up walking into Target or somewhere else and buy MORE decorations so that I had "something" out. Now, after six years, multiple trips to the consignment store and the dump--not to mention re-gifting to relatives and my five siblings, I am FINALLY down to a couple boxes per holiday.

So, this year I got all of my fall decorations out and put them up--and this is the final test, if something doesn't work or is broken, out it goes. I guess I'm lucky though, because the other thing I inherited from my mom was a love of "holiday decorating," so this was fun!

And Bully Hill never looked so cute!

Now we are all ready for the Bully Hill Lightness and Dark Halloween Party!

Fall Fest in Maplewood NJ

2011-10-12T08:33:00.001-04:00

Every Fall I remember that Fall is my favorite time of year, just as every Spring I remember, Spring is my favorite time of year. As they say, every season is its own. The best part of Fall in NJ, and perhaps anywhere really is football, apples, sweaters and weekend fests. A couple of weeks ago we popped into the town next door, Maplewood, to check out their Fall fest.

Maplewood is this amazing little town in Essex County that some people call Brooklyn, NJ because for many people my age, Maplewood is the next stop after Brooklyn. The town has one of NJ's best restaurants, Lorena's, with French inspired food--I've eaten at a lot of places but had some of my best meals ever here. I suggest going for Sunday brunch when you can most likely get a seat and try a number of different dishes. Like a lot of great places in the state of NJ, Lorena's is BYOB.

Another highly reviewed restaurant in Maplewood is Arturo's Osteria & Pizzeria. It's a wood fired pizza joint that uses only fresh seasonal ingredients from local farms. This place is a James Beard Award Semi-Finalist and was given a "Don't Miss" rating by the New York Times.

On the day of the fall fest though, Mark and I did what we like to do on a lazy fall Saturday, met up with a couple of friends (Claudia & David) for a couple of Pints, at the BEST Irish Pub in NJ--The St. James Gate--which also happens to be in Maplewood!

Future Fall Fun for Me and Mark:

Halloween Party: "From Light Comes Darkness"
The Hunt in Far Hills
New Hope/Lambertville Day Trip--This trip won't be about antiquing it will be scary fun, visiting the physic on Main Street and then taking a Ghost Tour of New Hope
Bucks County Antiques Dealer Show Nov. 5th & 6th
42nd Annual Antique Show and Sale in Hunterdon Nov. 26 & 27

Adventures in Antiquing Water Gap: Part Two

2011-10-06T21:56:00.004-04:00

We were hungry for some good food, thirsty for a whisky or two (remember the decanters we bought in Hope), and tired! Plus, we wanted to do something spontaneous... so I remembered the little town of Milford, just north of the Gap Park on the PA side.

And I remembered the Hotel Fauchere, an amazing small hotel owned by Relais & Chateaux, the same company that Per Se and Daniel in NYC. We've been to Milford many times on rafting day trips and even camping one weekend and I'd always wanted to stay at the hotel. Unfortunately we didn't have Stitch with us, our little French Bulldog and the proprietress of Bully Hill, because the Hotel Fauchere welcomes dogs with open arms. Don't worry Stitch you are coming next time.

After we got to our room and check in these yummy chocolates were waiting for us. We decided to save them for later after we got some REAL food.

Another nice touch was this hand written note. The staff was sweet and gracious and since we were out in PA, cool, friendly and young!

Almost immediately we headed down to Bar Louis for some grub. We ordered a bunch of food. Including Salt Cod Stew, Deviled Eggs, Fried Green Tomatos and Steak Frites, but the best thing we ordered was the Homemade Charcuterie. The meats are cured on the premise and the liver is potted there as well. Super duper good, especially with the nice bottle of Portuguese wine that was suggested. It was a great bottle made by some young guns or so the story goes. I can't remember the name but email if you are interested and I'll ask Mr. Mark.

After dinner we had a nice little whiskey tasting. Starting with Macallan (above)

Mark after a second after glass.

We ended with Isle of Jura which did actually have a flavor of grass and was my favorite.

The next day we strolled around the sitting room and grounds of the hotel.

Cool tile floors.

Comfy chairs.

Lots of plants.

We got some great ideas for our backyard.

Mark is super cute and this weekend was super fun.

Breakfast was included but I forgot to take pictures of the food.

Thanks Hotel Fauchere, we want to come back on New Years!

Adventures in Antiquing Water Gap: Part One

2011-10-06T21:10:00.000-04:00

As part of Mark's birthday weekend, we took one of our Adventures in Antiquing weekends. Spotlight: West NJ/East PA, Delaware Water Gap. We started the weekend at the Farmer's Fairgrounds in Harmony, NJ at a small antiques festival called the Warren County Antiques Fair and Festival.

It was a rather small event, roughly three exhibit halls of antiques. I bought a couple small ticket items that I can't write about now (I'm going to be bringing them to The Hunt in a couple weeks), and there were three or four large ticket items that we were interested in but, no one took credit cards, and this was the first time we came across that. I guess we are normally at larger venues.

After roughly two hours at the fair, we decided to move on to the small but great little town of Hope, NJ... closer to the Water Gap we got!

BUTTTT.... before we got there we stopped at a couple small fruit stands and apple orchards along the way. We found a great little farm called Mackey's Orchard.

Mackey's had some great produce and the best apple cinnamon doughnuts I've had in NJ-- but those of you who really know me, know that I spent part of my childhood in Canfield, Oh and every fall we went to White House Fruit Farms which has BY FAR the best doughnuts and Fall Celebrations Weekends in probably the country. I love these doughnuts so much, a friend had them flown to me for my wedding. Although I think the love has something to do with the childhood memories as well.

Mackey's was a nice surprise find and we had a great time.

We finally made it to Hope about 2 pm. We were planning on having a nice large dinner further up the Gap at the Walpack Inn, so we just ate our Apple Doughnuts for lunch.

Hope was founded by German Moravians and has the great stone houses and buildings that can also be found down in Bethlehem, PA (a trip I've done before and am looking to take again this winter around Christmas time).

There are a couple cute antique stores in Hope, but the town has one of my favorites: The Nest at Hope. What I love about this store is the way that it merchandises it's products. Also, the prices are great. I made a couple small purchases at The Nest.

Steak Knives from Sheffield, England-- we needed more knives and I went to grad school in Sheffield.

And, a couple whisky decanters-- Rye and Bourbon.

After this it was roughly 3:45 and we were ready for our 45 minutes trek through the Delaware Water Gap National Park to the Walpack Inn and their salad bar.

It was a beautiful drive until.... duh, duh, duh.... we hit the road which lead to Walpack and it was closed. We chose to head South down the river (the wrong way).

What will we do and where will we head to next in our Adventures in Antiquing?

Bully Hill Birthday: Mr. Mark

2011-09-25T18:18:00.002-04:00

It was my husband Mr. Mark's birthday this past Thursday. Usually, Mark and I don't make a big (if any) deal about the days we were born, but since he has been under the weather for the last couple of weeks (about six), I decided to go a little above and beyond.

So, I got him two gifts and planned one of our "Adventures in Antiquing" for the weekend.

I gave him the first gift on Wednesday night. We went to an awesome restaurant in Summit called The Huntley Taverne. The look & feel is very Arts & Crafts and the food is local, which makes it seasonal.

We had a wine that we had never tried before but was excellent, Clos Blancheau, James Berry Vineyard, Paso Robles ‘09. It had a lightness in color and wasn't buttery which is perfect, because I like chardonnay, but I don't love it, and it can't be yellowy, or I won't even like it.

In any case, after we had a couple sips of wine, I gave Mark his gift: A 5 day/4 night trip to the Cayman Islands in November. He was in shock and I had never planned anything like this without him, so it was a new experience for us but one that went very well (so far, I'll let you know more after the trip). See him in shock above, and understanding what is happening below.

I gave him his second gift on Saturday. I will be writing a couple posts on our "Adventures in Antiquing" weekend, so I'll keep this story short.

Mark's second gift was a Bank in a Form of a Pig from Areaware and designed by Brooklyn based designer Harry Allen.

.
Mark is notorious for letting his change drop all around the house, so after 12 years of that I finally found a great place for him to put his change--and got a gifting opportunity out of it too.

Lucky for us this piggy bank holds up to $10,000 in dollar bills, but I think Mark will have it filled with change within six month. Happy Birthday Mr. Mark!

Jets Take Jacksonville Jaguars

2011-09-25T17:07:00.001-04:00

The game was a week ago, but I'm just getting to my post now--as I watch our Jets play Oakland on my 52 inch Samsung in the only carpeted room in our house--otherwise known as OHIO.

Yes, we named the back room of our house, Ohio, because it is super comfy with oversized furniture and a big screen TV. Every house in Ohio has a room like this--sometimes in the basement sometimes not.

In any case, last Sunday was a perfect day for a football game. We tailgated and made friends, and shared chili-cheese fries during the third quarter.

I got a ton of compliments on the shoes I wore that day. A pair of cream and brown Bass saddle shoes so I decided to take a picture when I was in the stadium and share.

It's now 3rd & 9th, in the second quarter, NYJ14-OAK7.... got to go :)

Bully Hill "Books with Friends": Nom de Plume by Carmela Ciuraru

2011-09-25T14:11:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a book reading--it was actually more of a discussion really--at Words Bookstore in Maplewood NJ.

The book being discussed was Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms by Carmela Ciuraru and the people doing the discussing were Carmela and Christopher Healy, a local author who will be dropping a series of tween books in the Spring--it also turns out that Carmela and I have worked together in the past and Mr. Healy attends my church, the Unitarian Church in Summit. It's a small world out in Jersey sometimes.

Now back to the book: it's basically like a series of mini-bios on writers who used pseudonyms. Some of the writers are more famous than others. For example, we all probably know that Mark Twain is Samuel Clemens and vica versa, but did we know that Sylvia Path and the Brontes had all used pseudonyms as well. I had no clue. And, until I read the book, I didn't know that the name George Orwell is a pseudonym.

All very interesting! Here is my question though--should a name matter to us the reader? Was it my high school teacher's duty to let me know that Charlotte Bronte was Currer Bell? It shouldn't change the reading experience but it does. I really don't think I would have loved Jane Eyre and if a guy had written it (sorry guys).

In fact in the case of the Brontes, their stories and their lives were somehow intwined into the entire Bronte mythology of lonely souls walking the moors.

After reading Carmela's book I now understand that pseudonyms DO have deep-seeded emotional, psychological and sometimes even physical impacts on the lives of the writers who use them. If you want to find out how. Go read the book! After that we can discuss.

J, E, T, S... Jets, Jets, Jets.

2011-09-12T21:17:00.003-04:00

Mark and I have season tickets to the Jets games. There were a couple reasons we decided to take the plunge and get the tickets, one of them being that my grandfather Butch had 8 tickets since the time the team was the Titans and they played at Shea Stadium.

Needless to say, when the new stadium was built and PSL's where introduced those 8 tickets went away.

Last night's game was a special one, because of course it was Sept. 11 and there are few things more "American" than football.

We left for the game around 4:30 but didn't get there until 6 pm. There was extra security and every truck and cars was being searched. The dogs were out!

Mark made blue-cheese hamburgers and we heated spinach and artichoke dip up on the grill. Usually we make a lot more food but since the game didn't start until 8 PM on Sunday night and we'd already had a full weekend, we decided to keep it simple.

Lady Antebellum sang the National Anthem and George W. Bush was at the game. He came out on the field for the coin toss. I was proud of the fans because they stood and clapped for "W." He might not be my favorite president but he deserves respect. I felt a lot of national pride last night.

The game... we won, the Jets beat the Cowboys, but it wasn't pretty and it felt like Revis was one of the only players out on the field--Holmes looked frustrated.

The lights were dimmed for half-time and a tribute to 9/11 was performed including a voice over by Robert De Niro, who was also at the game, he also appeared in the pre-game show.

For a full read-cap of the game, read the Daily Fix in the Wall Street Journal.

As always I'll end with a picture of my favorite, my husband, Mark.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!!

2011-09-11T14:56:00.002-04:00

My sister Caitlin was born on Sept. 11, 1988--I was 15 years old.

Ten years ago, when she turned 13, my husband Mark and I were with her, Kyle and Stitch out in Arizona. Since then our parents were divorced, our mother passed away and Caitlin , Kyle and Stitch came to live with me and Mark.

There is so much to say but for now, let's celebrate! Yesterday we had a brunch with strawberry shortcake from Natale's Bakery in Summit.

We had broccoli & cheese quiche, ham & Munster cheese on croissants--as well as lots of yummy sweet buns.

Amy came from Brooklyn & she brought the champagne.

The best part was that we surprised Caitlin with a dinner at Sayat Nova Restaurant and Hookah Bar last night.

Happy Birthday Caitlin, God Bless America and 9/11 We Will Never Forget.

End of Summer

2011-09-11T10:29:00.004-04:00

I can't remember the last time we actually took a vacation during the summer. We seem to reserve vacations for sometime between January and May, the perfect time to get away from the doldrums of winter in New Jersey.

Our summer weekends usually consist of cookouts and day trips. This year out goal was to find a beach that would welcome our little dog Stitch--and we found a close, beautiful, beach, less than two hours away--Island Beach State Park.

The best part of Island Beach State is that it is a State Park, so there aren't any "snack stands" or restaurants near by, it was almost like "Day Camping." We got up early brought food and shelter for the day and hiked out onto the beach and set up camp.

The dunes are pristine.

Our awesome day shelter--otherwise known as "Bully Hill on the Beach."

The summer of 2011 may be over, but we are looking forward to going back to Island Beach State Park next year.

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