Findley Lake

Our friends, Steff and Craig, graciously allowed us to use their cottage at Findley Lake again this weekend.  We just love it there.  It's so beautiful and peaceful and brings immediate relaxation.  

We were shocked to see that the addition was complete with a new bedroom and bathroom on the main level.  Last time we were there, they were just starting some work and we had completely misunderstood what the addition would be haha.  We originally thought the porch was the addition.  Oops!  

Here's some shots of the new bedroom and bathroom.  It's so lovely and of course, Steff has it decorated just beautifully.  

The colors and decor promote such a relaxing atmosphere.

I loved to see the black and white in the bathroom with the cow.  I loves cows!

This is a great vanity.  It's nice and tall which is something we wish we had in our bathroom.

We go there Friday late evening and watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics.  The sunset was beautiful, but I didn't even snap a picture until the end since we were busy unpacking.

Saturday morning was drizzly with rain so we to get breakfast at the cafe on main street.  We also went to visit the local wine shop to pick up some of my favorite white wine.  He gets it from the Finger Lakes region.  It's just white table wine, which I find I like better than any specific wine, from Bully Hill Vineyards.  We got 4 bottles of that and a few others to try.  

I snapped a few pictures at the wine shop.  I thought the flowers in a wine bottle was a neat idea.  :)

The view of the lake from the back porch of the store.

Got basil?  This smelled sooooo good!!

Inside the quaint, little wine shop:

After the wine shop, we also stopped in the Our Own Candle Company store and I picked up some great candles.  I got small jars of Mulberry for 50 cents each!  They also had small jars of hydrangea and vanilla for $1/each so I got a few of all of the above haha.  The Mulberry ones were so cheap because they were "burner candles" because they were a messed up batch and they said wouldn't light so they'd need to have the wax dug out to use in a tart burner.  However, I lit one at the cottage and it worked fine so who knows!  I also picked up a jar of Cranberry Orange Spice - a new fave!

We decided to take a drive on Saturday after breakfast and shopping.  Even though we had driven the whole way up there, it was shaping up to be a beautiful day and we wanted to explore a little beyond Findley Lake.  We found lots of open road and beautiful farm land!  The rain even stopped for the rest of the day.  :)

The clouds were just amazing on our drive.

Check out this plot of land!

This is the new exterior of the cabin.  I loved the dutch door.  :)

It's great that they have a full kitchen available.  We save money by making/bringing our own food.

I thought this sign was hilarious!

The cozy living area with my handsome hubby.  :)

We've yet to eat at this table haha.  We always opt for the porch since it's so nice out there!

The upstairs has 3 other bedrooms and a bathroom, each of which are equally charming as the rest of the cottage.  I love Steff's decor!

This is where we usually spend a lot of our time reading, eating, lounging, etc.

The view from the porch:

A perfect lake day.

I was playing around with the camera some and was impressed with this photo I took of the water droplets.

After our drive, we headed back to the cabin for some lunch.  Fruit, cheese, wine, pretzel thins...yummy, yummy, yummy!

We took a nice long nap after lunch, read some, watched some of the Olympics and just enjoyed a day without an agenda.  It was so relaxing!  

Sunday morning we did more of the same and eventually decided it was time to start heading home, but not before some more R&R, some porch time, and a few pictures.  

Me and the hubs enjoying the porch swing :)

Self-timers are great!

I love this picture of Peter.  :)

On our drive home we decided to take the country road towards Erie and then pick up the highway.  It was a great drive!

The scenery is just beautiful!

So many cows!

We are so thankful that Steff and Craig are so hospitable and allowed us to use their place again.  :)

Annapolis & DC!

This weekend Peter and I got away for the weekend!  We found a Living Social deal for a hotel in Annapolis a few months ago and booked it for this weekend to go into DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival.  Due to the early Spring/Summer weather we had, the Cherry Blossoms were long gone.  We still had an excellent weekend though!

We got into Annapolis on Friday around dinner time.  We ate at The Federal House and it was the most delicious meal of the entire weekend!  We both had wine and shared a crab bruschetta appetizer.  I had the crab cake special dinner.  Both crab dishes were delicious!  Peter had a pasta dinner that he didn't like as much as mine haha.  Good thing I was full and shared half of my dinner with him.  :)

The Federal House, where we ate:

Don't all of these apples look delicious?!

After dinner, we walked around the harbor area in downtown Annapolis a bit.  We saw a young kid - maybe 14 or so - doing street evangelism.  Good for him!  He was obviously nervous, but good for him for trying.  He drew people in by drawing riddles and then shared the gospel.  We briefly stopped at Target and Dollar Tree on the way back to the hotel.  I noticed the strap on my cross-body purse had ripped and needed to pick up some thread to fix it since I wanted to use it on Saturday in DC.

Saturday we headed into DC for the day.  We got a later start than we originally planned.  We were going to go to the Arboretum and then have lunch and head into the city.  Poor planning on our part because there wasn't a whole lot around for dining choices.  We lost another hour or so before settling on a small local cafe.  The food was good and we weren't on a schedule so it was ok.  :)

We ended up skipping the Arboretum and decided we would go at the end of the day if we wanted to.  We figured since we were so close to DC, we should see some things we can't see at home.  Arboretums are nice, but all over the place.  Unlike the White House and national monuments.  :)

I used a new iPhone app called "Best Parking" which helped us score a parking spot in a garage for $9 for the entire day.  The garage was about 2 blocks or so from the White House too!  Perfect!

We walked up to the back of the White House first.  Peter was almost immediately enthralled by all of the security.  I think he liked that better than seeing the White House!  We started here and walked basically in a giant circle to see a bunch of the memorials and monuments.

Me and the hubs in DC! :)

Is it weird that I am bothered by my sweater caught on my purse in this picture? haha

Peter outside the Treasury Building:

Peter was watching these guards walk around with machine guns.  He could't stop talking about them!

There were a bunch of protestors in this area, but we could't figure out what they were protesting for.

It's no wonder when you look at this guy's signs.  Some were about Christians and Jews, one was about animals, others were about Harry (although he spelled it Hairy) Truman.  What a quack!

The back of the White House.  It looked so nice with the fountain and tulips.  And if you look closely, you can see a sniper on the roof!

I have no idea if people live in these apartments, but I thought they were so cute.  Maybe secret service live there?  I can't imagine they let others live so close to the President?  Who knows though.

This is the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.  It was huge!

Secret service were everywhere obviously!

No cherry blossoms, but plenty of azaleas!

Loving the beautiful weather in DC :)

Us with the Washington Monument in the background.

Front view of the White House.

I've been to DC before, but this is the first time I've seen the White House.

Washington Monument from a distance:

At the WWII Memorial.

This is a cool shot of the Washington Monument from the WWII Memorial.  The handsome man in it doesn't hurt either.  :)

One star represents one life lost.

Still at the WWII Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background.  A very nice lady offered to take our picture when she saw us struggling to do a self-take.

A very cool shot that Peter took:

This is the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

There were people carved into these walls.

The reflecting pool was under construction, as were a few other areas, which made it a bit more difficult to get around.  It also took away from the sites a bit, but oh well.  What can you do?  I would've liked to see the reflecting pool, but it was totally emptied.

Onto the Lincoln Memorial!

This is from the viewpoint of the Lincoln Memorial.  Pretty cool!  Too bad the reflecting pool was empty!

Honest Abe:

Another cool shot that Peter took:

Peter at the Lincoln Memorial:

 This was at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  To see all of the names on the wall was amazing.

We sat at a bench at the Constitutional Pond for a bit.

The weather couldn't have been better for walking around to see the sites.  :)

Peter wanted to swing by Obama's place one more time on the way out.

We decided to skip the Arboretum and head back to Annapolis for dinner.  We ate at Buddy's and both had the buffet.  It was quite yummy!  I was a bit bummed, though, because I was going to get scallops after looking at their online menu and they no longer served them at all!

After dinner, we walked around downtown a bit again.  It's just such a great area to be outside at.

The harbor at night is so pretty.

A view of the downtown area:

Not a great picture, but it was a great day/evening!

Another shot of the harbor:

We had a free movie rental in our hotel room as part of the Living Social deal so we rented a movie and lounged Saturday night.

On Sunday, we were stayed in Annapolis for the morning and early afternoon.

Here's part of the downtown area in the daytime:

Me and my hunny :)

More downtown Annapolis:

I loved this cute pottery shop that we parked by so had to run in real quick!

So pretty!

I loved all of the flower boxes at the windows.

Peter even got his car fix for a few minutes!

We met up with David and Amanda for a brief visit.  We wished it could've been longer, but enjoyed seeing them!  We hung out at the harbor for 45 minutes then had lunch at Buddy's.  Peter had a chicken sandwich with a crab spread on it - same as when we visited Annapolis the first time with David and Amanda.  I had the crab cake sandwich.  That made crab for me on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!  Hey, we were in Maryland and I love crab.  What did you expect?  The only downer of lunch was that the waiter dropped the plates on Peter when he was clearing the table.  :(  Next time we hope to visit with David and Amanda longer!

We had planned to stop at Trader Joe's in DC on Saturday, but completely forgot until we were halfway back to the hotel.  They don't sell wine in PA at Trader Joe's, but we wanted to get some.  Peter was kind enough to agree to take a different way home, add 15 minutes to our trip, and stop at a Trader Joe's in Virginia.  :)  We had to drive by DC to get to Arlington.

These next few shots are a little blurry and weird because they are from the car.

We were able to pick up 6 bottle of wine at Trader Joe's for $25!  I'm so glad we made the detour.  :)  

All in all, it was a great weekend.  The weather was perfect, the traffic wasn't bad, and it was so nice to see friends even though it was brief.  Peter and I are already looking into a trip back to Annapolis to just stay there without going into DC for a weekend this fall.  Hopefully we can find another great hotel deal!