Clockwise below: Natalie & Brynn looking out over the lake; breakfast burritos on Monday morning; Brian and Sean playing at the ICE CASTLE in Saranac Lake; Sean & me smooching on frozen Long Lake; Brynn’s knives have moose hats; the unfrozen side of Long Lake; the men; Brynn & Brian in Lake Placid; and in the middle is a smiley Natalie on Sunday night at the brewery.

This past weekend I took the train from Buffalo to Albany, where my friend Kim was waiting to take me to her place in Northampton, Massachusetts. I’d been there once before, for about two hours, and was eager to check the place out. Kim’s apartment is right in the heart of Noho and we spent the weekend eating tons of food, shopping (and looking) in all the cute little stores, and catching up. I was so distracted by the friendship and eating that I barely took any photos beyond my iPhone (and if you follow me on instagram you know I at least took a ton of those). On Sunday morning before I got back on the train to come home, we had breakfast at The Roost, where I took the below photos. My sandwich was a delicious blend of egg, cheddar, avocado, and pico de gallo, and I did not want to stop eating it at all, even to preserve its memory in a photograph.

So yeah, my two weekend trips were successful and have inspired me to plan a few more for this Spring. What’s your favorite place to visit for a weekend? How far are you willing to go?

Yes, I’m very behind on my prompts. Catching up now!

Prompt 9 – Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.

Brynn and Brian’s wedding weekend was kind of perfect. They rented the Crane Point Lodge in Blue Mountain Lake, New York, and a group of 20 of us stayed with them at the lodge. Crane Point is one of the Adirondack’s great camps, and its kitschy decorations and endless hallways provided never-ending eye candy.

We feasted on well-coordinated potluck food the first night, and delicious catered wedding food the next night. The guests from Long Island brought a giant bag of bagels, and Brynn’s sister, Kami, brewed pot after pot of strong coffee.

We had a day of warm, sunny weather, and another of cool, crisp fall air. The dock was available for fishing, sitting, and sunset viewing. Music on Saturday afternoon was a string band from Boston. The house musicians (a.k.a. the groom & friends) played all other times.

. . .

During the month of December 2010, I will participate in Reverb 10 by posting a response to the daily prompts here on this blog, either one at a time or in groups. Reverb 10 is “an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead.” To join in the fun, go here.

My beautiful friends on Friday afternoon, standing in the same spot at which they were married Saturday. Their ceremony was one of the most powerful, joyful exchanges I’ve witnessed. So perfect, so them–I couldn’t stop crying. Congratulations and much love!

The festival is held at Nazareth College and holy smokes is that campus beautiful. It’s technically in Pittsford, New York and is very close to the Erie Canal. Just gorgeous.

Anyway, the festival was amazing. The entire event was teen-focused which meant that the teens in the room had first dibs on the seats, the questions, and everything else. There were 25 young adult (YA) authors present and they each presented three times during the four workshop slots. We were able to see presentations by Holly Black, Laurie Halse Anderson, Alyson Noel, and Matt de la Pena. Their “presentations” ranged from speeches to powerpoints to an hour of interactive Q&As. Holly Black and Matt de la Pena were super interactive, and  my favorites of the day (Matt = hilarious). Laurie Halse Anderson gave a tried-and-true presentation using Powerpoint and was entertaining. Alyson Noel got stuck in the chapel and while it looked cool, her speech from the pulpit sounded, well, speechy. Whereas the other authors we saw were in small, intimate spaces, she was up high and far removed. Too bad for her, I was looking forward to hearing her talk.

All in all, the day was great. I loved spending it with Lisa and Brynn too. Lisa is just finishing up her MLS and Brynn, as I’ve written before, is a librarian in the Adirondacks. We talked over lunch about how funny it was we all ended up in the same field and really, it’s not surprising. We were all English majors with Women’s Studies minors in college, writers, feminists–there’s something about this field and this job that has attracted us all. I couldn’t be happier to know that I’m embarking on a professional path with them.

After the festival, Lisa had to hit the road and Brynn and I went on a walk along the canal in Pittsford. Photos from the walk are below.

Unfortunately Spring also means allergies for me and I had my first allergy sucker punch this afternoon at work. The whole swollen eye, hurts to see thing. Came home and took some medicine, blah blah blah. Anyway, I started writing this post to say that while I was resting tonight I watched The September Issue on Netflix. I’m not a fashion person, and I still liked it. And it inspired me to share the following photos:

Gorgeous, right? They are beautiful, Italian stockings that my friend Brynn brought back from her February trip to (surprise) Italy. When she and I travelled there together in college I brought back three or four pairs of stockings, all of them amazing. This pair she brought me might beat them all. I love the delicate flowers, so much so that I haven’t tried them on yet for fear of ruining them (I know). I’m also waiting for the perfect Spring outfit. More photos here.

Back to the documentary, have any of you seen it? Did you love Grace Coddington and her wild red hair? I did. Maybe she’ll be in my dreams since I’m going to sleep right about now.

These are pictures of my friend Brynn’s two sun porches. Even though it was January and bitterly cold when I took them, doesn’t it look so warm and festive in there?

I can’t frickin’ wait for summer.

I drove through some bad weather on Thursday night and it made my ride an hour and a half longer than it should have been. When I got to Brynn and Brian’s house they had chili and hugs waiting for me. My stressful drive was all but forgotten.

On Friday I went to school with Brynn and observed her for the day, fulfilling both credit hours for my School Media Center course and my long-standing curiosity as her friend. Long Lake Central School is small (65 students total, K-12) and very, very neat. I learned a ton from Brynn and am so looking forward to having my own school library one day.

After school on Friday Brynn and I drove to Lake Placid. We planned to grab dinner at this great Mexican restaurant, get some work done at the coffee shop, and maybe catch a movie. As we entered Lake Placid we were greeted with this lovely scene:

It was so cold on Friday (and Saturday) that there were very few clouds in the sky. With that fact and the glaring spotlight of a full moon, Whiteface Mountain was frickin’ glorious. I mean come on, what else would you call this scene?

Brynn let me stall our night for a few minutes as I snapped the best photo I could. Nothing I got does it justice but it was -5 degrees outside and my poor right hand was in pain from the cold.

The rest of the weekend was fun too. I slept sort of late on Saturday morning, went on a brief (freezing) photo walk, and got some school work done. Brynn and Brian prepared for that evening’s “Chocolate Fest” library fundraiser and town open mic, both of which proved to be excellent events. I ate more chocolate-themed desserts than I care to disclose and I got to see Brian sing at the open mic with his younger sister Nicole.

My drive to Buffalo was clear and quick. Sean and I grabbed dinner at Hardware with Kevin and Sara, and went back to Kevin’s to drink tea and, as it turns out, practice juggling.

All in all, a lovely extended weekend–I feel great.

(1) Brynn at the Lake Placid diner in Lake Placid, New York. This place is so delicious and perfect that I kind of want to drive six hours just to eat there. Like right now. (2) A care package Brynn sent me a couple years ago. Her mother buys these trashy mags and sends them to Brynn, and then she sends them to me. This time she also included fun tights. (3) A sickly-sweet photo of Brynn in New Orleans in January 2005. She loves ponies and there were all these pony-hitching posts all over the city. We had to take a picture. (4) When we get together we like to play Yahtzee. Here is one of my yahtzees, I am the best. (5) Brynn reading Forever by Judy Blume on our vacation on Tilden Lake, summer of 2007. We took turns reading each chapter aloud.

BONUS PHOTO CLICK YER MICE HERE!

After I booked my flight earlier this week, I started thinking about my only other visit to New Orleans in January 2005. It was my senior year of college, and my friend Brynn and I rented an apartment in the Bywater neighborhood, which we found via Craigslist. Every day that week we walked or took the bus to and from the French Quarter, downtown, and the Garden district. It was an amazing trip.

About eight months later, Katrina hit and since then both Brynn and I have wondered about the fate of Bywater and whether the house we stayed at still stands. I’m sort of embarrassed to say that up until a couple days ago, I didn’t do much beyond wondering. In preparing to return to NOLA, I decided to do the obvious and googled Bywater. Good news: the floods pretty much avoided the neighborhood.

After learning this and seeing some signsof Bywater’s continued revitalization, I started searching for our house. A little background: all the trip planning for my 2005 NOLA visit was done via my college email account so unfortunately, I lost the owner’s contact information as well as the address of the property. I honestly thought it was more likely I’d never find the house or owner again than not.

I decided to try a  Flickr search, and the first photo I found was this one(sorry, the photographer won’t let me post it here so click on it). I noticed the the street signs for Dauphine and Mazant, and they sounded familiar. I figured I was just remembering major thoroughfares thugh and clicked to another. That house, with all the smoke behind it, it was the one Brynn and I rented.

Incredible, right?

After that, I was able to find another ad on Craigslist, this one posted on March 1, proclaiming the house available for NOLA visitors. I felt a tremendous amount of relief reading through the ad, and then some good old-fashioned happiness. I know most post-Katrina New Orleans stories are not relieving or happy or anything but depressing, and I’m thankful that this small search turned up something good.

Maybe my trip this May will bring more.