A case of the Mondays

This past week has been pretty upbeat. I found it really difficult to slow down today. Last weekend I worked a wedding with the caterer that I am working with and it was really fun. The hours I am getting are odd and scarce, but I really enjoy the people that I work with and I have a lot of fun.

It's really difficult living in a place that you don't know people in. I never had many close friends, but I always could surround myself with people whose company I enjoyed. Now, I am pretty lonely it's difficult to meet people when I do not interact with the same people each day.

So after the wedding weekend I was on a working high! So happy to have filled up my time doing what I love and what I was trained to do. Plus I was making money, something that is my worst enemy lately. I really dislike money, can't we just go back to trading in the hunter gatherer times? Seriously.


There was one thing in the back of my mind all week- Chris was turning twenty one and I had to find something to do on his birthday that would create great memories for both of us. So I was running in and out of stores looking for great steals all week to put in his "birthday basket". I am that type of person. If it were up to me, you would just have one huge stocking at Christmas and it would be stuffed with all cute little odds and ends. The funny thing is, I shopped only TJMaxx/Marshalls- many different locations though. I know some of you may be scoffing right now, but it is hands down my all time favorite store and they always have the best products at the best prices. There is no point in going anywhere else- when you find you favorite jeans, or the most comfortable shoes, you buy them in every color. So, I just shopped around my area and picked up all of the gifts Christopher would love.

I helped during an emergency! That was a pretty big deal to me- Chris called me a good Samaritan. I was painting something I would add to the basket for the big birthday when I heard cries outside. I was a little weary but opened my door to see what the ruckus was. A young girl was crying for help and her head was bleeding. Now I am a nervous nelly as it is, so I immediately called 911 (yes I knew the number) and brought her into my foyer. I heeded the advice of the medic on the line and stopped the bleeding with a washcloth, then I helped clean her up while the ambulance was on the way. I guess there was some neighborhood drama and a boy hit her in the head with a skateboard. She had a pretty deep gash in her head. When her mother and the ambulance arrived I wished them well and cleaned up the pool of blood that she had lost. It was a pretty big deal. I don't think I have ever had to call 911 before, and I was now worried about my neighborhood. Luckily Chris arrived home early that night and I was able to recap the story and feel better about what had happened.

My mom was headed away to Virginia this past week with my sister. She is preparing for an international competition next month in Canada. So my mom asked me to work her shifts at the hotel. I was excited (again to fill my time and make some money). I headed out early on Wednesday morning to arrive to work at nine. I made it through the day and was able to get some prep done for Friday on which day I would have to work a double. I decided to head towards Ithaca and get my nails done. Not often do I like to spend money, but I felt like I deserved it. I had a long week ahead. I then stopped at my brothers baseball game. Where I was able to say goodbye to my aunt and uncle who had come from California for a week to visit. Then I headed back towards Rochester.

I will be honest here and say that I got a little emotional. It was a beautiful day. The air felt like fall, but the sun was shining like summer, and as I drove down the lake, the sun was saying its goodbyes to the water. I really love where I am from, and I guess I had always known that. I got homesick at school- just three hours from home, I got very homesick in North Carolina- a whopping twelve hours from home, and now here I was realizing that the most beautiful place I have ever been is on the east shore of Cayuga lake. I got home and took a hot bath, wallowing until Chris got home. I had a good cry in his arms trying to explain to him that I probably will end up where I came from. I will be the podunk girl who moved back to the podunk. And he said to me in a comforting tone- "Dear, I thought you already knew that? I've known it for a long time." What a guy.

The view from our cottage at the Cove 

The next day I hustled around grabbing groceries and picking up a few last minute items so as not to leave Chris in a completely empty house with a completely empty fridge. I surprised him with little hints of me and of course chocolate pudding which he appreciated. I would only be away for two days, but this "business trip" would be the couple of days leading up to his birthday. As I gathered my things I drove off, on my way to my Aunt and Uncle's house to spend the night. It was good to see them and my cousins, and be able to eat dinner and chat about recent activities. It's a real comfort to eat dinner and have a conversation, because while Chris and I do eat dinner together every chance we get and talk about everything, more often then not I eat dinner alone while he is away working up a storm.

The next morning I rushed to the shop where I was meeting my dad so that my car could be fixed. I know, who would've thought that I would be having car trouble, but I guess it's just classic me. My dad and brother then escorted me to the hotel where I would start my all day long shift. I had prepared myself pretty well on Wednesday so I felt pretty good. The only thing that lurked in the near future were the couple of large togo orders I knew would be coming in. King Ferry, New York is primarily made up of farms. And the farmers who work all day in the heat, either stop in for lunch to enjoy the air conditioning, or just take a short break in which they consume food that they order from us ahead of time and take back to the fields. Usually the orders come in early and leave by the time service has started, but not on this fine Friday. The special is fish fry, and of course they wanted to pick up the order right at noon. Now I would have been cool if I worked every Friday and was used to the pace, but doing 78 lunches mainly by myself with the help of my dad, was pretty crazy. People came in early and I was just immediately in the weeds. Do not get me wrong, I love the weeds, I really do, but ...how much can you actually love being tangled in the weeds. I survived though. The problem I found is that, everyone wants fried fish, which is great because I am not running around making fifty different menu items, but there are only two fryers! and you can only fry so much fish at a time. Mind you I am a fried fish snob. I grew up with this fried fish, and no where else I have ever been has come close to the same deliciousness of the Fish Fry Fridays at the King Ferry Hotel. I may be biased. A tad. Moral of the story is, that the togo orders cannot be picked up at noon in the middle of a Friday service. Period. To make matters worse the health inspectors showed up- luckily just to eat lunch, but it still freaked me out a bit. I guess that if they are in to eat, then that must make us a pretty clean establishment. Please watch this Friends episode if you don't know what I am talking about. The health inspector ordered a BLT with peanut butter instead of mayonnaise. I myself don't like peanut butter but maybe you should try it.
Everything was pretty down hill from lunch (in a good way). I had a rush trying to prepare everything for the dinner service on time by myself, but we only did 56 people for dinner so it was more of a steady pace instead of a weeds pace.

After a couple of beverages I headed to my family home to spend the night- 10 minutes is a much easier commute than an hour and a half. And I crashed. After a thirteen hour day I just fell right asleep with the tv on and did not wake up until three am when I peeled myself off of the couch and made my way to my old bedroom. The next morning I woke up to pancakes, what a lovely wakeup call. My dad makes the best breakfasts, my favorite is french toast. But I think the one thing that makes the meal better than you would think is warm syrup. Always always always warm syrup.  None of that cold out of the bottle stuff. It just won't do, from now on- warm up your syrup, you won't regret it I promise. I then headed back to the hotel where I was to make pulled pork and salt potatoes. Just a side note that Chris brought to my attention. Salt potatoes are an upstate New York thing. I couldn't believe it! He didn't know what salt potatoes were, and I guess I am just stupid to think that everything I know is a national thing, but apparently, and I am sure there are some of you out there who have never heard of a salt potato. The big local garage sale that goes along the entire road the Hotel is on was Saturday so I prepared for the worst. But the worst didn't come, which was a relief. I taught my brother a few cooking trips and then we headed to the lake.

Once I returned to Rochester that afternoon, I made a cake for Chris' birthday. Baking really reminds me that I am not a baker, but I continue to experiment anyway. It was nice to reunite with Chris when he arrived home from work, and we talked about the goings ons for the next day.

It really was the best birthday, I am not sure if it was for him, but it was for me. A quality day with my man enjoying the outdoors. After church and the "birthday basket" we headed south towards Keuka Lake. We were now celebrating the both of us being twenty one so we went on a neat wine tour around the lake. We enjoyed sips of wines of our choosing and just delightful views of the lake. It really was an all around beautiful day. We traveled to five wineries, one of which was a big player in the start of grape growing in New York State- Dr. Konstantin Frank Vineyards. Chris and I mentioned how drinking wine would not be as much fun if we had not have been educated about it at school. He asked me how other people learn. It's an interesting idea though. At school we were taught how to distinguish the different flavors and the different terms. I guess that I would just feel out of the loop if I didn't know all of the lingo. But maybe it's different for people who don't know a lot about wine it's probably like a learning experience every time they visit a winery. Needless to say we had a lot of fun. We were rushing around all day because every winery in the area closed at five and we had seven wineries on the trail to visit. You can do the math and realize we did not make it to all seven, which was completely okay with us. At the last one we just sat outside and enjoyed the fresh air. The wine had finally caught up with us, (or at least me) and we stayed for a while to ensure that the alcohol would wear off before the trek home.

On the way back we grabbed a pizza, as the restaurant Chris had wanted to dine at is not open on Sundays, and spent our evening together with a movie and twenty one candles. Although it wasn't my birthday it felt like it was, because Chris and I are now adults and we are able to celebrate that legally! Even Chris mentioned that we could do just about anything, I however reminded him that for some reason you have to be 25 in order to rent a car. But we had a really great day.

And now today I have had a case of the Mondays. Which means that after a day full of the love of my life, I had to let him go back to work, and I had to slow down and take the time to reflect on the past week. Luckily Monday is almost over and I won't have to deal with this until next week. Ta Ta for now.