ANNIVERSARY MUSINGS

Since all of my favorite BLOG sites seem to include anniversary updates, I guess I should comply and issue my list of things that have (or haven’t) occurred since I began posting blogs last June:

- I am still employed as a teacher and I will continue with that position for one final year …start that retirement countdown clock!

- The farewell tour of Greece Central has ended and I was notified that I’ll be spending my last year at the wonderful Pine Brook Elementary School…life is good!

- With the help of Al and Aaron, I have begun the project of turning our basement back into a space (from the solid that it had become) by donating boxes of books (and such) to the teachers and students of Pine Brook! The classroom sets of books alone are filling the shelves of the bookroom and teachers have already borrowed them for their classes to use and enjoy this past school year!

- We’re planning for our first cruise vacation this summer and looking forward to all the wonderful things we’ve heard cruises include…staying in one location and having the scenery change all around us is one of the things we’re looking forward to.

- I’m still the same size as I was a year ago (even though I managed to lose over 25 lbs. I have managed to put it all back again) and when I visited the dr. today he seriously mentioned that he’d like to see me lose 100 lbs. by the time I see him again in December…I’m usually the family optimist (right, Abbey?) but I don’t realistically see that happening even with my current 6 month enrollment at Weight Watchers!

- I have continued to knit and read (two real big calorie burners, I might add) and have many a completed project (and many more incomplete projects) and completed books to add to my accomplishments. I do still journal on a daily basis but as faithful blog readers have found out, I sadly have not been as determined in that department.

- We have added one more Spartan to the family. Aaron’s May graduation from MSU makes our legacy complete! He now begins the task of raising the bar even higher as he begins the challenge of acquiring his PhD from Michigan State as a graduate assistant in August. Go GREEN!

- Adam and Abbey continue to work and enjoy life in the great state of New Jersey. As I subscribe and read New Jersey Monthly, I am continually learning factoids about that great state…like NJ is the nation’s most densely populated state with 1,175 people per square mile compared to the national average of 83.8 or NJ’s public schools spent $12,981 per student in 2004, more than any other state in the nation. Gotta love a state with stats like those!

- Aaron and Abbey have convinced us that we NEED to spend the winter holidays down in Florida again this year after our breakaway holiday vacation to Las Vegas last year! Our plan is to stay in the new All-Star Music family suites so there will be room for all without the use of aero beds when Adam and Abbey arrive. The added convenience of a mini fridge and a microwave will help with quick meals, like breakfast. I think if we enjoy cruising (translated as somebody doesn’t get seasick), maybe a holiday cruise could be in future plans.

- Since beginning blogging, we have added to our frequent quest for microbrews and microbreweries. On our trip to Southern California in July, we had dinner at Rock Bottom Rest. and Brewery in La Jolla but missed the Firestone Microbrewery right off the expressway to Los Olivos. We did manage to sample some beers along with wines at the Solvang lower level tasting room on the main strip. In August there was Rohrbach’s Highfalls Brew fest and meeting up with Adam and Abbey at the NASCAR Watkins Glen race (in the Kodak hospitality tent), September and October brought tailgating at MSU which is synonymous with beer and November had us at a Brew fest in Ellicottville, NY at Holiday Valley (where I drank a lot of Starbucks coffee and chatted with some very “happy” individuals) and at the Rochester Food and Wine Tasting in the Rochester Convention Center. (There I met up with Jenny Muhl who now teaches in Brighton but she still moonlights at Casa Larga winery so she hooked us up!) Our Thanksgiving trip back to metro Detroit led us to Rochester Mills Brewing Co. for a quick meal and taste of real beer. When we were in Las Vegas, besides the Monte Carlo Brewpub, which was the central meeting place for our group, we did manage to find the Main Street Station Brewpub (and the great video poker machines for doubling down) and Big Dog's Brewing Company/Draft House Barn & Casino. Since we missed the Custom Brewcrafter’s Festival of Ales in the fall, we made a January trek to Honeoye Falls to get some growlers before meeting up with Adam and Abbey in February (sp?). It was Abbey’s first official brew fest (as a participant and not just as the designated driver) at the Central New York Brew fest in Syracuse, NY. Needless to say, certain New York State Fairground Facilities will never be quite the same without significant hosing down. On our February break to Sonoma and Napa, we managed to find a few microbreweries (unlike North Coast Brewing in Fort Bragg which wasn’t open the day we made the LONG northern coast drive) for food and beer…Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa, Ukiah Organic Brewing Co. and Pub in Ukiah, Napa Valley Brewing Company/Calistoga Inn in Calistoga, Silverado Brewing Company in St. Helena and San Francisco’s Beach Chalet Brewpub. It’s hard to believe that most people go to northern California for wine tasting! In March, Tastings helped us continue our quest for GREAT BEER by having a food and beer-pairing event sponsored by Brewery Ommegang, brewers of Duvel in Cooperstown, New York. Since I ran face to face into Meg Keller-Cogan upon entering the dinner, I was prepared for the worst but I would have loved to see the expression on her face when we “won” the GIANT 3 liter bottle of Hennepin. (And we thought that getting the Duvel goblets as our souvenirs was going to be the highlight of our evening out!) April we headed down to NJ to spend Easter weekend with Adam and Abbey. To begin our celebration, Abbey found the Cricket Hill Brewery “TOUR” which was AWESOME! We “toured” from 5:30 pm until after 8:00 pm and left buying a mixed case of their micro brewed beer. On Saturday, we headed over to the Pocono’s in Tannersville, Pennsylvania and hit two different microbreweries…we had lunch at The Pocono Brewing Company and after an afternoon we had a quick one at the Barley Creek Brew Pub and Restaurant before heading back to NJ. In May we headed to Aaron’s graduation @ MSU but on May 5th Old Chicago Pasta and Pizza had Margarita specials for Cinco de Mayo but they still had their fantastic selection of beers on tap. After Aaron’s graduation on our way from E. Lansing to Penna’s, we stopped with Abbey and her dad at
Michigan Brewing Co. for a cool one and a basketful of peanuts. The following weekend we drove with Abbey’s dad, Lenny, to NJ to pick up Adam and Abbey to make the trek to Long Island, NY for their beer fest in support of the North Shore Animal League at the Huntington Hilton (where we also spent the night after enjoying all the new and intriguing beers from around the mid-Atlantic area. Over Memorial Day weekend, we got together with Ellen and Lyle and the theme was BEER TASTING as Lyle shared the beers that he’d brewed with the beer making kit that he’d gotten as a gift for Christmas! It was fun to get caught up with our friends (who seem to enjoy a good micro brewed beer as much as we do)!
Needless to say, when you realize that we’ll be experiencing many an Alaskan microbrewery on our shore excursions from the cruise in July…you might begin to see a pattern here!


As my anniversary blog reaches a conclusion, I am reminded of a famous quote, when I apply it to my previous blogging, I guess it is pretty evident what our philosophy is…hope this upcoming year is just as entertaining beer wise!

“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes.” Eleanor Roosevelt