Autumn BucketList

I finally feel autumn in the air.  It's cooler and crisper and I'm so happy about it... And yes I know, there have been some days this week that were in the 80s and therefore felt more like summer... but I'm going to ignore it because I'm ready for FALL. 

Fall is my absolute favorite season. I love the cooler temperatures and changing leaf color. And I especially love all the things you and do in the fall. 
As a result I think we need a whole new bucket list just for this Fall.
I would love to get everything checked off by the end of November!
Hopefully, Baros and I will be ticking things off together (unfortunately he had to miss the Renn Faire this year though).
BUT his schedule is free again and come Monday we're travelling to Providence and Boston and Pittsburgh!  3 cities in one week!

Autumn To Do:

• Walk in the crisp, fall air

Walks along the river are a must

hiking last year with Baros and Mamma bear

• Go to Renaissance Faire (Part I and Part II) 
• Organize my fall/winter wardrobe
• Clean out the junk drawers 
• Organize the kitchen cabinets
• Bake
• Cupcakes
• Cookies (Omg... it was my first ever BAKING FAIL... I made rock cookies)
• Apple Pie
• Pumpkin Pie 
• Pumpkin Bread
• Cranberry Curd Tart
• Coconut Macaroons
• Go apple/pumpkin picking (ON SUNDAY!!!)
• Carve a pumpkin
• Go hiking
• Play in NYC (on so many occasions)
• Take pictures with the leaves changing colors 

  

  fall colors

• Have a photo-shoot 
• As the photographer (looking for a subject <3 ) 
• As the subject 
• Read as many books as possible (I'm on my way!! Just finished "Girl on the Train" and will start a new one soon!)
• Borrow books from the library (still don't have a library card) 
• Study with my Turkish Book 
• Craft
• Finish started projects 
• Make a birdhouse/feeder out of bottle caps and wine corks
• Cider nights with Baros
• Go on a mini vacation with Baros in October 
• Travel
• Providence
• Boston
• Pittsburg
• Have a spa day
• Eat delicious food 
• See historic sites
• Celebrate Oktoberfest with beer and sausage at home
• Cook together
• lots of soup
• Tomato
• Squash
• more...
• roasted veggies 
• Squash
• pizza 
• Have Hot Pot with friends         

Hot Pot with my girls last year

• Sit outside and admire the view with hot cider/hot cocoa
• Halloween Parties
• Watch a scary movie: 
• The Shining (I read the book... now, I just need to watch the movie)
• Go to a Haunted House
• Host a small Friendsgiving 
• Help mom make Thanksgiving Dinner
• Photos for Holiday Cards
• Company holiday party
• Go to a holiday market in NYC
• Start Christmas shopping
• Decorate the tree

I've already started some of this fall bucket list so I'm putting those in red!

Are you ready for fall?  Do you have any ideas for your fall bucket list? 

Adventures in Adulting: Long shopping trips and Organization

So on Saturday, I convinced Baros to take a long walk down to the shopping center with me.  It was about an hour walk  but it was a beautiful day and we needed some supplies.

I had 3 goals in mind when we set out, 2 necessary and 1 optional.

1. Get a shelf to put above the fridge to create some kind of organization for the piles that live up there. 
2. Get a shelving unit to put in our bedroom for sheets, towels and other clothing items that have no home. 
3. Go to Michael's and get craft supplies for 2 or 3 projects.  Both are currently surprises sooooo you'll just have to wait to see the final products. I'm excited to get some crafting in.  

I am very pleased to say that after 4 stores we got everything we needed and then some.  

Beautiful silicon tongs

First stop was Home Goods.  We didn't find the shelving that we needed but we did find some tongs
which are covered in silicone so we don't scratch our new nonstick pans. I love those pans and don't want them ruined so it was definitely a good thing we found some non-metal tongs.  

Next Stop was Michael's... which is always an adventure with me.  I want EVERYTHING in there. But I stopped myself from looking at everything.  Since I had specific projects in mind, we honed in on those projects and Baros helped me figure out a cool way to execute them. Being creative with him is wonderful because he's great at bouncing back ideas and adding to them.  He never makes me feel like my ideas are crazy even when my plans are slightly outlandish.  Instead, he helps me figure out the best way to get things done and brainstorms with me. 

Then we popped into Bed, Bath and Beyond where we found the shelf for above the refrigerator.  Actually, it's built to go under the kitchen sink but we decided to adapt it to our needs.  When we got home, Baros put it together and then I organized all of our supplies.  It looks so much better.  I wish I had thought to take a before picture but rest assure, it was soooo messy.  Everything currently living on the shelf was living piled up. There were things we didn't even know we had up there, including a bag of seaweed packets that had expired.... Out of sight, out of mind. It's a lot of the reason I wanted a shelf up there.  I was worried about what else might expire, like fruits or veggies.  With this we can see everything up there!!  Everything has a neat place to live.  At some point I'll tackle the actual cabinets and see if I can organize them better too.   But this was a great start.  

Look at how neat everything is... It was just one pile of nonsense before

At this point we took a food break because we'd been walking and shopping for hours.  We almost went home instead but we decided to get the last item checked off. No need to wait and put off the organization any longer. 

Semi-filled with sheets and towels... still needs to be organized

We ran into Target with one major item in mind: drawers to put our sheets and towels (which just
kind of lived wherever we could fit them until now).  Of course, I immediately got distracted and picked up a shirt (I put it back right before leaving... this was not a clothing mission after all!) 

It was surprisingly difficult to find the right plastic drawers.  In Bed, Bath and Beyond, we found an option but it would have cost around $80 to execute and we weren't willing to spend that much on plastic.  Finally in Target we found a drawer set, also in plastic, big enough for all of our stuff, but still small enough that it wouldn't eat up the room and it was about half what we would have spent in Bed, Bath and Beyond. I'm still not the biggest fan of the plastic but it'll have to do for the moment (at least for the next few years until we move and then we'll see how it holds up).

Still looking a mess... but that's next on the program

Our beautiful hamper

It opens so beautifully

Then we also bought one extra item that probably wasn't 100% necessary.  

We found a beautiful wicker hamper that we couldn't resist.  Until now, we've been using a collapsible hamper that's been breaking for a while now.  We've been meaning to replace it, but, you know, life got in the way. We were originally going to just get another collapsible one for convenience but all of them were tiny.  The wicker one was more than we were thinking of spending, but it's so pretty and also beautifully made. It has two removable bags so we can separate our laundry right away by lights and darks and I can carry one while Baros can carry the other.   Alternatively, We can do one bag and leave the other to fill up! And we won't have to drag everything downstairs to the basement.  

Those were our two big purchases. Other than that I just got my conditioner and hair color.  

We spent a lot of money on our shopping run but it was well worth it to organize our tiny apartment better.  

As soon as we got home, we set everything up and did our laundry (which should have been done earlier in the week... but whatever it's done now). I feel very accomplished.  Look at all this adulting!!  Our space is really starting to come together after over a year of living here!  

Miami Mini Moon Plans

We fly to Miami tonight and I don't think I could be any more excited than I am.

And I'm really proud of us because we finished packing and we're not completely winging our plans (which is what I expect of myself).  We sat down and created a tentative itinerary with some wiggle room if we want to change something... or if the weather is uncooperative.

*I've updated the tentative list to reflect what we actually did.
To see how everything turned out, take a look here:
Miami Adventures Part I
Miami Adventures Part II 
Miami Adventures Part III

Tonight:
Arrive 10:30
Settle in and take a walk for snacks
Drink champagne in the room!

Thursday:
Breakfast at the hotel
Beach/Pool Relaxation
Naptime
Dinner @Joe's Stone Crabs
Drinks/Slushies @Wet Willie's
Walk back to the hotel via boardwalk

Friday:
Breakfast at the hotel
Bayside Marketplace
Walk
Lunch @Kush for some Gator*
Ice Pop @ Morelia Gourmet Paletas
Walk to the Wynwood Walls
Beer Tasting @Boxelder Craft Beer Market- I really want to try the South Beach Fat Kid** which is a cider with blueberry, coconut, glazed donuts, slim pickens Mead and Cider from Florida with a 6.2% alcoholic content and I know Baros will want to try some of the IPAs. 
Uber to Little Havana
Have a snack @Azucar Ice Cream Company for some artisanal ice cream and sorbet.
Back to the hotel
Dinner @ Yardbird
Midnight Swim

Saturday:
Breakfast with my oldest friend and her family
Light lunch at the hotel bar
Beach time!!!  No cameras or technology allowed for a fully disconnected afternoon
Naptime
Dinner @Katsuya for a Miami twist on Japanese
Ice Cream @Häagen-Dazs
Walk back to the hotel

Sunday:
The Beach at Sunrise for pictures
Breakfast at the hotel
Pool Relaxation
Finish Packing
Airport at 11:30
Flight at 1:30
Home by 6ish


To see how everything turned out, read here:

Miami Adventures Part I
Miami Adventures Part II 
Part III coming up soon

*I really wanted to try something alligator and maybe frog legs, but it was incredibly hard to find restaurants with those dishes. I don't know if it was my google search info or if there just aren't that many restaurants serving gator.  A bunch of times I searched, google would lead me to amazing looking restaurants like Yardbird... but there was no gator on the menu... We went to Yardbird and Kush!

**Sadly, they ran out of the cider I wanted to try BUT we tried a strawberry cider instead!

Surprise! We're going to Miami!

Baros and I legally got married 6 months ago (almost to the T) and we had the big wedding with family and friends less than a month ago. So with all the craziness of planning a wedding and working like crazy to pay for life, we never even planned on going on a honey moon.

We decided instead to do a couple of mini moons that way we'd get to escape at different times this year for some periodic relaxation . I love the idea of a long vacation, but the last couple of times I took off for a longer holiday I came back more tired than when I left. We thought that a few mini moons might give us some more frequent relax time.  Plus, we'd get to see more of the U.S.A this way.  Each mini moon could be spent in a different city in a different state and since one of our Bucket list goals is to see all of the 50 states, we thought this would be a great way to start the challenge.  I've been to 20 states and Baros has been to 10 states, but we've only been to two of those states jointly (NY and NJ) so we have a lot of exploration to do together!  <3  We can start with a few mini moons this year and then next year we can do some global travel as well.

However, we didn't even plan our first mini moon because we've been too busy. Even now, several weeks after the wedding, we haven't stopped moving.  Work has been pretty busy for me and it's skyrocketed for Baros (which also happened after our court wedding too... sooo maybe we should just keep getting married for working purposes!).

That being said, we are incredibly lucky and grateful because Baros' best friend and his girlfriend have decided to organize and send us on our first mini moon.  I think they know that left to our devices we might never go anywhere at least not for a good long time!  Silly workaholics!

So Surprise!  We're going on a mini moon in two weeks!

We're leaving on the 30th once I get done with work and we come back in the late afternoon on June 2nd.

So where are they sending us?

At some point I'm going to get a map and pin our trips too... But for now, Thank you shutterstock!!

They're sending us somewhere in Miami, but the rest of the details are still a surprise.
We can't wait!!!
We definitely need a break after the last few crazy weeks.

I can't wait to plan and plot our activities... even if a lot of those activities will involve laying on a beach or by the pool!
I'm excited for relaxation, delicious food and drink and definitely something adventurous.

I would love to go to the everglades and ride an airboat to see some amazing wildlife.  Or go parasailing!  And then try some crazy local specialties like frog legs and gator!

Other than that I'm open for suggestions!

Our Couple's Bucket List...

Baros and I have been married for 6 months now and have been living together for more than a year already.  But we haven't had much opportunity to travel together yet. Since we're constantly working to get out of debt (yayyy, expensive college!!) it's been hard to plan anything major especially since any extra money went towards our bigger wedding last month.

But now that we can, we're going to get organized and go on some Mini-Moons to places we've never been. And we'll have some amazing adventures too.

So we've come up with a Couple's Bucket List of things we'd like to do over the years.  It's a pretty epic list that I imagine we'll add to even though I don't know if we'll finish everything due to the various injuries both of us have incurred over the years. But it should be a lot of fun trying to check things off.  I think that this list will grow and change with us.

It's a long list so I organized it into different categories to find everything to check it off more easily.

Lodging

1. Stay in a ritzy hotel
2. Stay in a hotel with a Jacuzzi
3. Stay at a quaint bed and breakfast
4. Stay in an AirBnB
5. Stay in a tree-house
6. Stay in a bungalow (bonus if it's over water)
7. Stay in a tent/Go Camping/Glamping
8. Stay in an Ice Hotel
9. Stay in an Igloo

A gorgeous treehouse*

Transportation 

1. Fly together
2. Fly first class
3. Ride in a helicopter
4. Go on a roadtrip
5. Take a Boatride (first time in Boston)
6. Take a cruise
7. Ride bikes together
8. Ride a tandem bike
9. Rollerblade together
10. Go horseback riding
11. Go sailing

First Class Dreaming*

Relaxation and Cultural Activities

1. Sleep under the stars 
2. Eat on a balcony overlooking a beautiful view
3. Get a couple's massage
4. Spend the day at a spa
5. Relax in a natural hot spring
6. Visit a butterfly sanctuary
7. Watch a sunrise together
8. Watch a sunset together
9. Watch a sunrise and a sunset in the same day 
10. Go apple picking 
11. Make fresh pies
12. Go berry picking and eat fresh berries in the sun
13. Have a picnic
14. Get "snowed in" at a cabin
15. Cuddle by a fire
16. Visit a vineyard/distillery
17. Take a pottery class
18. Take a cooking class together
19. Visit a cheesy tourist trap
20. Act like tourists in NYC
21. Perform in Central Park
22. Go to Comicon
23. Go to a zoo together (first time in Philadelphia)
24. Go to an aquarium (first time in Boston)
25. Go to a museum (first time in Boston: The Science Museum)
26. Go to an art gallery (first time in Providence)
27. Go to a county fair
28. Kiss at the top of a Ferris wheel
29. Play mini golf together
30. Go to the Renaissance Fair in costume
31. Ride camels at Ren Fair
32. Visit a National Park
33. Go to a tropical paradise
34. Go whale watching
35. Enjoy the view from the top of a lighthouse
36. Rock out at a music festival
37. Go to a major league baseball game
38. Go to a major basketball game
39. Go to a major hockey game

New England Whale watching* ... we could go anywhere... but New England is so close

Adventures

1. Go to an offbeat destination
2. Swim with wildlife
3. Go scuba diving
4. Go snorkeling
5. Paddle a rowboat
6. Go kayaking/canoeing
7. Go Paddle-boarding
8. Go parasailing
9. Go bungee jumping
10. Go skydiving
11. Go white water rafting
12. Go surfing
13. See a coral reef
14. Go air boating across gator infested swamp
15. Do the polar bear plunge (aka: I'll go in, he'll take pictures)
16. Swim in the Atlantic ocean together
17. Swim in the Pacific ocean together
18. Ride a jet-ski
19. Go skinny dipping
20. Visit an epic waterfall
21. Go hiking
22. Cliff Jump holding hands
23. Hang glide 
24. Go Zip lining
25. Walk on a suspension bridge
26. Trek up an active volcano
27. Explore a cave 
28. See/walk on a glacier
29. Go dog sledding
30. Go snowshoeing
31. Go snowtubing
32. Go ice skating
33. Go sledding
34. Go to an amusement park together
35. Go to a Disney Park
36. Go on a big roller coaster together (The Cyclone at Coney Island) 
37. Do a color run or other 5k physical challenge together
38. Visit all 50 states  (6/50)

*These are not my images.  I found them on google and have linked to the websites where they are from.  As Baros and I complete our bucket list, I hope to replace those images with our own!! 

To New Adventures

Welcome to my Adventure blog where I'll write about the travel, food and general adventures that my hubby and I go on.  So let me introduce myself.

My name is Alissa but you can call me Ali.

I'm an Italian American Jersey girl and I just re-married my love, Barbaros (call him Baros) last month. We got married in court this past November and then had the big white wedding down in one of the Monmouth County parks.  We became #happilyeverKaynak (because I'm cheesy like that).

The past six months have been a crazy whirlwind of planning and hectic multi-tasking while working a full time job.  We had a short engagement since we liked the idea of a spring wedding.  Plus, we were trying to stick to a budget, so we figured in just six months, it was less likely the cost would spiral.  We stayed within reason of our budget and it was wonderful. Happiness!

That being said, my DIY tendencies and laid back nature did get the best of me.  March and April, right until the day-of, were spent finishing wonderful, yet time consuming, DIY projects.

And now that it's all over and our beautiful day has passed by, I realize I miss the activity of planning and being creative.  I miss the creative outlet.

About 4 years ago, maybe 5 now, when I lived in Italy, I used to have a food blog (which is still up but inactive for 3 years mangiables.blogspot.com) .  It was great, I got to talk about all the food that I experienced that year abroad and all the food I had been making prior to that.

However, I moved back to the states and I lost my motivation.

That, and I got a full time job with a ridiculous schedule that kept me insanely busy. I was a teacher at an ESL school with a split schedule and a crazy amount of grading to deal with.

I stopped blogging. I was too tired to do much of anything creative.

Eventually I found some other temporary creative ideas.  Two years ago, I started making and selling Crowns and Wreaths, but it's an expensive habit to maintain when a good portion of your creations go to yourself and to family.  I'm still making things but now at direct request and, well, for our wedding.

It's time to get back to writing.

I'm very excited to start this blog in conjunction with a travel journal on paper.
I've always been a big fan of traveling, of exploring new places, foods and cultures. And my husband is the same.

We've decided to start with easy trips.  We're not going on a big Honey moon, so instead we're going to try to do a few Mini Moons in the USA.  In another year or so, we'll travel internationally to Turkey to see his family.  I've never met his mom and dad in person, so I'm so excited to meet them and to finally experience Turkish culture first hand.  We tried to go last year, but unfortunately our tickets coincided with Embassy problems for US citizens so I suddenly couldn't get a visa and our plans went up in smoke.



So this year, we'll start our stateside adventures on a budget while we save for bigger travel and life in  general.  And I'll document it all here.  I'm excited to write and share pictures about our crazy adventurous lives. I even got a new instax mini 8 camera to play with.

And on paper, I'll capture notes as we travel and slowly decorate it to my heart's content.

Yesterday, I even started the first page.  It felt so nice to start cutting paper and making messes.

And today, here I am, actually starting this blog.  I feel good about this. I feel motivated and happy to share.

To New Adventures!!!