Tulip Festival

The Mr. and I went to the Tulip Festival yesterday. It was definitely worth checking out since we didn't get downtown last year.  There were bands playing all day long at two stages, carnival food, some small rides, random entertainment, contests, and an art festival.  A tulip queen was chosen along with some other 'festival' type of goings-ons.

The tulips reached their peak a few weeks ago, but luckily a few were still in good enough shape to be the popular focus of many cameras.

I don't think I've ever seen black tulips before, but these were pretty cool.

Aren't they so pretty? I think next year I might have to go to the park a week before the festival so that I can take some tulip pictures without so many people around!   We enjoyed our time outside, but it was about 80* out so we were ready to head inside when we were done!

I hope everyone had a great weekend - and Happy Mother's Day, mom!

Say 'Awesome Autumn Weather' 5x fast

The Mr. and I were super busy this weekend, and we were sad to see the weekend end. We took full advantage of the beautiful weather, some free time, and had a lot of fun.  Friday, we watched ISU beat U Conn to lead them to a 3-0 record for the season. I was really surprised, but it's nice to see them win some games!!

I tried to get a shot of my boots in the reflection of a window on campus.

Saturday, we went to a beer festival which was pretty fun. They even had accordion players and sauerkraut, but I somehow didn't see anyone wearing authentic lederhosen.  We also went grocery shopping, but that is not nearly as interesting. {Wait- I had to search the store for 20 million minutes looking for mascarpone, but - and here's the exciting part - I found it!!}

This little pink rose bush near our place still has blooms! I think they're so pretty.

Sunday, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen. We made slow-cooker lasagna, butternut squash and sweet potato soup, sunomono salad, chocolate and hazlenut coffee biscotti, and donut-misu.  SO, now there is food to be eaten for the week. We also went out for a few walks, sat outside to read at a nearby park, and played some card games.

A few of the trees are starting to change color. I edited it a little bit and liked seeing the hills in the far distance.

Dr. Spaceman and some more lovely flowers :)

30 Rock is one of the shows that I watch a ton. Dr. Spaceman, played by Chris Parnell, is one of my favorite (but somewhat rare) characters on the show. Below, he says that "science is whatever we want it to be", since he is a "doctor" who has a loose grasp on pretty much everything. Since I like science, I think this is pretty funny. (Btw, if your doctor is similar to Dr. Spaceman in any regard, I would be worried!!)

Image of Science is whatever we want it to be

For my 'show off your shot' entry this week, I took a picture of my ultra-important timer which keeps me on task! I wanted to have a great deal of contrast, but I learned that I needed to keep it dark enough so that I didn't lose the details in the shadows of the timer's knob. {I'm sure there's some photography-speak for what I'm trying to say.}

 

Some purple flowers from the previous trip. They used to be more pink, but I decided it would be fun to color shift them to purple.

I used some different textures and 'crystallized' this flower.

pink Gerber daisy

...more daisies from the same garden. I'm surprised how this came through editing! I liked what the texture did for this photo.

orange and yellow Gerber daisies

I hope everyone is having a lovely Thursday!

Half-way done with the week!

We planted these awhile ago and they've been fairly neglected. They've grown quite a bit since this post, and they seem to have especially flourished with the rain from the hurricane. 

 

A rainy day picture, since it's been raining a TON recently! I like the blurriness that the rain-drops gave the trees. I'm still trying to figure out what my camera can do, and what's out of it's limits.

HDR-ish style giraffe from our travels westward, recently. I think he was posing for me. :)

A flower from the conservatory that was also part of the zoo. I have no idea what kind of flower this is. Any ideas?

Knowledge is power and flowers are pretty!

The theme for 'Prompt Me' this week is school, which is appropriate for me since I went back to classes this week.

It's been an interesting few days of school so far, which has included a few, erm, snags...along the way.

• I drive to campus, and haven't quite figured my way around yet. But I have managed to find decent parking. If I got to campus a whole lot later, though, I'm thinking the spots would be filled up.
• My classes are tiny compared to what I'm accustomed to: 7 others in one class and 20-30 in the other.
• Long story, here: not necessarily that interesting!! {You've been warned!!} SO, this weekend we stocked up on what was left in the water aisle at the grocery store. I'm not a huge fan of drinking bottled water, so I've been trying to drink them to get rid of them faster.  Between classes I figured it would be nice to eat lunch outside and study. I om-nom-nommed on my apples and green soup, and, lo and bohold, I BECAME THIRSTY. Silly me, I reached for the water in my bag, twisting the lid to open it and... IT FIZZED ALL OVER. All over what? It fizzed all over the bench I was sitting on. My super expensive textbook. My shirt. My pants. AWESOME- I did not know it was carbonated/sparkling water, and was not overjoyed by the minor explosion. Luckily, the bottle of water was not pointed at my face, which I later read on the bottle that it should be opened away from one's face. **plays the "The More You Know" sound** \endstory
• After the water bottle incident and drying out, I tried to look for a new area to sit which didn't involve so many wasps and bees flying around. I headed for a library nearby, and opened the first door. Then I opened a second door.....aaaaaaand, I'm pretty sure I set some sort of alarm off with lots of flashing lights and sirens. So I didn't wait around to figure it out, and just decided to go back the way I came from. Awesome story, right? That is where the Urkel soundclip (below) comes in.
Did I do that?
• Unlike every other physics class I (or the Mr.) have ever been in, we do not get to use formula sheets on quizzes or exams. Calculators probably aren't allowed, either, I bet. Maybe we'll be each be granted an abacus for the second test if we all do really poorly on the first test. har har har.
• My drive back from school was alarmingly fast. I'm hoping I wasn't evading the law in some awesome high-speed chase that I wasn't aware of, but it concerned me based on the way the earlier part of my day had gone.

________________________________________________________

Switching gears away from school, the theme for 'Picture Perfect' this week is plants!

I took this pic in my sister's yard (hey, em!!) when she was explaining my camera settings to me. I really haven't messed around with much on my camera and so she was helping me learn about the 99% the camera's features that I've been neglecting to use. I think this was my favorite picture of this plant, and I used the 'vibrant' setting.

This picture was taken while visiting the sister's local free zoo + conservatory. I like her picture a whole lot better here since you can see reflections, shadows, depth etc. way better. My camera didn't do too bad of a job fwiw, but I can definitely see the role that camera quality plays in making a nice composition. 

Another pretty flower in the conservatory. :)

  

Yaddo Gardens

After a recent kayaking excursion, the Mr. and I found Yaddo Gardens randomly by using the GPS.  We were trying to find any ol' spot to sit down and eat our picnic lunch. Close to giving up and driving around in a few circles, we finally found Yaddo Gardens in Saratoga Springs which was very much hidden away. In fact, we drove past the entrance two or three times since it was a leafy, foliage-y area. We were ready to sit at a lone picnic bench somewhere, but I'm glad we kept looking just a little bit longer!

The mansion

It was a really pretty, free place to stop by for lunch. You can read about Yaddo's history here.  The huge house on the property is for artistic types, but the gardens are generally open to the public, from what I can figure out.

Guess what time we were eating lunch?

 The inscription on the sundial says:

Time

~   is   ~

Too slow for those who wait

Too swift for those who fear

Too long for those who grieve

Too short for those who rejoice

But for those who Love, Time is

~   Eternity   ~

"Yaddo

1901"

View from the center

A statue named Christalan, which symbolizes youth, chivalry, and victory over mortality

 There were many bright flowers

We had a beautiful day to spend outside.

One of my favorite photos from this trip!

Linking up through lowercase letters for Miscellany Monday!

Busy weekend!

Phew!  Our Friday went like this:

9:00 Leave for the north DMV
9:30 -10:10 DMV stuff {holy cow, we were not expecting it to go this fast! 40 minutes here vs. 4 hours at the other place!!}
10:10-2:00 We had to take the car to get inspected, then the mechanic fixed the car, and reinspected it so it would pass.  We paid a bunch for it and in the meantime we ate lunch {sushi} and browsed around the nearby mall.
2:00 - Left the DMV/mechanic/mall area for campus
2:30-3:00 I got my picture for my new student ID card, got the campus parking sticker for my car, and bought books. That also set us back a few bucks.

We had a little downtime to have a smoothie and relax before heading out again.

4:30 Left for some organized bowling. I'm pretty sure we drove through some ghettos, and made it there late, but alive. GoogleMaps estimates of driving times through cities is about half of what it actually is. Ugh.
5:10 BOWLING!  We bowled and the Mr. scored 147 then 145.  I bowled 109 and 112.  We bowled until
7:30 left the bowling alley, taking a different way back, making much better time than before
8:00 got back to the apartment
8:15 headed out to the movie theater to meet up with another couple to catch the
9:10  showing of THOR. I thought it was a pretty fantastic movie. It lasted until
11:10 at which point we drove back and basically fell straight asleep!

I've gotten so used to going to bed around 9, that I was honestly surprised that I stayed awake after such a busy day.  I even kind of tripped on the escalator since I am so nimble on my feet {har har har}.

On Saturday and Sunday we did more necessary paperwork and chores.  Today we went on a walk through a protected forest area, and that was pretty interesting.  We also planted some seeds, so hopefully those will turn out well!

I hope everyone else had a fun, relaxing weekend!

Part of a nice day...I'll take it!

Saturday was rainy and pretty crummy here... There was a high wind advisory with the rain, so we stayed inside and got lots of necessary paperwork done.  Sunday started out chilly, but warmed up in the afternoon.  We got the majority of our pictures hung up, for now.  We ran errands Sunday afternoon, and were able to go for a walk and enjoy the brisk spring air.  The blooming plants sure are nice to look at, but I'm pretty sure they're the source of my allergies right now!  Via the Internet, you can see what I saw, sans the sneezing and sniffling. :)

budding tree

I'm not sure what kind of flowers these are. If you know, I'm curious to find out.

Roses!

The mister came home from work yesterday with a very lovely bouquet of roses for me! I like them very much, and was able to find a vase to accommodate them without chopping them too short. It was a pretty nice surprise! Aaaand, they smell wonderful, too. :)

collage of roses that I made!