A 30th Birthday Celebration for the Books: Hiking in Breakneck Ridge

Oh hey, Hudson River on a gorgeous, sunny day!

Hey friends!

So someone (ahem, me) just had a birthday, and it was a big one. That’s right, the big 3-0! So in honor of getting older, I decided to do something to make me feel younger–go on a 3-mile long, rock-climbing hike.

The place we picked was Breakneck Ridge in the Cold Spring area. It’s about 2.8 miles in total, and let me tell you — it is strenuous! 

Holy rock climbing!

I have some amazing friends who agreed to go on this hike with me!

Thanks for going along with my crazy idea, gang!

We all packed some food (and my husband packed a 3 liter bag of boxed wine to carry the entire way … what a husband!) and drinks and sunscreen and took off for the day. I would say it took us about 4 1/2 hours to hike it, but that included about an hour stop for a picnic at the top.

A tasty assortment of goodies, including homemade baked cookies by a good friend from college and Trader Joe’s brownies with a birthday candle from a former co-worker.

The 3-liter bag of wine that Chris took out of the box of wine he purchased, which he carried the entire duration of the hike. That’s my man.

There were many points of the hike that provided awesome and amazing overlooks of the Hudson, and it was the perfect day to hike—sunny and in the low 50s. Here’s a little bit of what we saw:

We envisioned this point being somewhere near the end. It was not.

And so, we all made it through, all the way to the end, and I was so proud of everyone…

After the hike, before catching the train back to the city, we stopped at the Cold Spring Depot (which is walking distance to the train stop) for beers:

And so that’s about it, my friends. I had such an amazing time. It felt nice to be outside, we had an amazing group with us and I’d recommend this hike for anyone who’s game for some awesome, strenuous rock climbing.

One other word of note: If you’re planning on catching the train from New York City to Breakneck Ridge, I’m told you can alert the conductor to the fact that you want to get off at Breakneck, and that sometimes they’ll stop there for you (otherwise there are only two stops directly at Breakneck a day). We thought we’d get off at Cold Spring and walk to the trail, but it turns out that’s about a 4+ mile walk. We were not game to do that before even starting the hike, so we had parts of our gang who were driving pick us up. Just something to think about.

Bis bald, friends! Off to London week after next! My lovely in-laws have purchased Les Miserables tickets for us for Friday night when we get there. I love London theater, and I’ve never seen Les Mis, so I’m really looking forward to this!

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Down in D.C.

Me and Lise in D.C., circa 2006ish

Hey friends,

So I arrived back from my trip to D.C. to visit Lisa last Sunday and I have to say, I love that girl a whole heck’uva’lot. We actually met back in college when we both worked for our school newspaper, The Breeze, and we’ve been besties ever since. We’ve both moved around a couple times in the, ahem, EIGHT years since graduating from college (good grief), but throughout it all we’ve stayed in touch.

So back when Lise first lived in D.C., we used to do a whole lot of sightseeing when I would come and visit. It looked a little something like this:

Yeah … we’re pretty cute

Anyway, these days there’s almost nothing we’d rather do together than sit around drinking wine, eating delicious food and talking until we fall asleep. We did a whole lot of that on this trip (Guapo’s in Shirlington is one of our fave spots), as well as taking walks, playing with Lisa’s insanely adorable niece and practicing with my make-up for Chris and my wedding party at the end of April. (Lisa’s doing my make-up for that, so I got my make-up done for the first time ever at the Bobbi Brown counter at Nordstrom.)

This trip looked a whole lot like this:

Lisa’s detailed notes from my Bobbi Brown makeover

All the makeup we used to replicate the look back at her apartment. She did a fabulous job, if I do say so myself.

Anyway my dears, that about sums up my trip to D.C. Oh, we also saw ‘This is 40′ at the Arlington Cinema & Draft House, where you can order beer and food while you watch your movie, and Zero Dark Thirty the following day. Lise also lovingly allowed me to visit World Market, since we don’t have a store here in NYC, and we ate at the Nordstrom Cafe before getting my makeup done, which I would highly recommend for it’s deliciousness.

Okay, bis bald, friends! Chris and I may or may not be snowboarding this weekend at Windham, and we’re in the midst of planning a little hike with some friends for my birthday (perhaps here). Plus, before you know it it’ll be London Marathon time in April! Lots to look forward to, my friends, lots to look forward to …

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A Valentine’s Day Trip to Tarrytown

Hey friends,

Chris and I just arrived back from our Valentine’s Day trip to Tarrytown, a quaint little town about 45 minutes north of the city, and I have to say–I loved everything about it. Since it’s winter it was obviously a bit freezing outside, and some of the stores in the town and some of the historical sites were closed for the winter months, but still, we managed to have an awesome time just the same.

Here’s what we got up to.

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Back in the Borough: A Beautiful, Snowy Central Park

Hi friends,

So we’ve pretty much dug ourselves out of snowstorm Nemo 2013 around here. Yesterday morning Chris and I took a snowy stroll to Central Park, and you know I couldn’t help but snap some photos along the way …

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Virginia Tomorrow–Let’s Do This!

Hey guys,

So we’re off to Stanley, VA tomorrow, where we rented an awesome little cabin in the woods with some friends and family. It’s got a porch hot tub, a big ole’ grill, rocking chairs and a game room. I am seriously so excited! I miss Virginia in the fall. And we’ll be heading to the Wisteria Vineyard on Friday before the cabin, too.

Not to mention the fact that we’ll be headed to JMU on Saturday to tailgate and catch the game:

Just me and the Duke Dog. Chillin.

Anyway, more photos and info to come when we get back.

In the meantime, though, check out Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudekis riding the exact same bikes that Chris and I did through the Villa Borghese park in Rome.

And check out my story on The Daily Meal about being a vegetarian in Germany.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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A Last-Minute Labor Day Trip

A row of sunflowers on the drive back from New Paltz. I made my stepdad pull over so I could take a picture. He obliged. Good man.

Hi friends,

So after a full week of dealing with some seriously hard-core jet lag (I mean, we’re talking serious jet lag here!), I’ve finally managed to drag myself out of the foggy haze.

It’s always worth the jet-lag in the end though, isn’t it? I can’t believe my trip to Italy is already a thing of the past. So sad.

Anyway, after pulling myself through the haze, I was facing a 3 and 1/2 day weekend, and I was feeling … antsy. Chris and I had plans to head to Far Rockaway with some friends for one last beach-filled weekend, but I bailed at the last minute. So instead, as Chris caught the subway to meet up with our friends, I hopped the train and headed upstate to my mom’s, where we took in a wine and crafts festival in New Paltz (which has seriously become my new favorite place to spend my falls, with its wineries, hiking trails, breweries and gorgeous fall foliage), ate dinner at The Gilded Otter and just generally chilled out.

I even managed to wake up early Monday morning and drag myself out to the back porch swing with my blanket, coffee and the book I’m currently reading.

I truly believe that only if you actually live in a city can you really appreciate what it means to get out of the city every now and then. I mean, I spent my entire high school career living in this same house, and never found as much solace in its back yard as I do these days.

So that was my Labor day! What did you guys get up to?

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