2013 Sister Road Trip - Part 1 - New York

Sometime between December of last year and January of this year, I mentioned to my sister that I wanted to do a Road Trip up to see family in New York and then over to Salem, Massachusetts. My sister was on board and wanted to go with me. We started planning and getting overly anxious about the trip as it got closer. The plan was to go pick her up in Tennessee and then head up north.

I left Florida, Saturday August 31st to head up to Tennessee.

I ended up just north of the Florida State Line before I stopped for lunch. I stopped at a BBQ place called The Smokin Pig! I just got a Sweet Tea and a Pulled Pork Sandwich. They had the Carolina BBQ Sauce there, which I have never had before, and it was delicious. I wish I had taken a picture of this sandwich, it was huge. I just love all the huge billboards as your driving through Georgia.

As I was getting closer to my sisters house I came across this set of crosses. They were massive!


I got to my sister's house about 6:30pm. This was the first time I made it up to see my sister's house since she moved up there about 3 years ago. She showed me around the house and then we sat on the back porch watching two hummingbirds fight for the feeder. We ate some pizza and hung out some more, then I went to bed before 10pm to rest for the drive the next day.

We got up and was on the road by 7:15am. Driving through the mountains was just amazing to me, they were so majestic looking. I did not take any pictures on the way to New York. Another thing about the mountains, I am not used to the elevation, my ears kept popping the whole way. We finally made it to our hotel in Poughkeepsie, New York around 10:30pm. We got checked in at the hotel and then met Dad, my brother, and little sister at one of the diners for some food. I gave the Tinkerbell 
Painting to my little sister before we left the diner. She loved it! I should have taken a picture of her with it.


We went back to the hotel and finally got some sleep. When we got up the next morning we decided to go for a jog on this walkway bridge that wasn't to far from the hotel. The bridge went right across the Hudson River. It was kind of a dreary day.


After our jog we went back to the hotel and got ready to see the family. We did some driving around to see some of the sites with my brother and little sister.  We drove by to see the train station.



We decided to go see our Nana's grave since my sister hadn't been to see it yet. After that we went to eat some lunch and decided on Red Robin. I have never eaten there before, I got the Burning Love Burger and it was great. 


My brother works at a chinese restaurant so we went there to meet his boss. I was telling his boss that I have never had a Bubble Tea before, so he made me one.


We went back to see Dad and drove down to see the house that we lived in when we were born. I took some pictures of the flowers in front of the house. After that Dad took us to meet his friend Mandy, she was a wonderful lady.



That evening we went to another diner for dinner. I just love the diners up there. We don't have anything like that in Florida. They are amazing!


We decided to go have a few drinks and play some pool at one of my brother's favorite places. The place is called Georgio's. I did not take any pictures while we were there, not really sure why. We didn't end up staying out to late because I was super tired.

When we got up the next morning, we checked out of the hotel. Then went to visit with family. Our brother took us to go get copies of our birth certificates, just so we had extras on hand. Then we met Dad and my little sister out for lunch, at another diner. My big sister took a picture of Dad, my brother, little sister, and myself. My little sister was being silly. Then we said our goodbyes and headed to Salem.


Salem to come in the next part...

August Adventures

Wow I can't believe it has been over a month since I have posted on here. Now that things are easing up at the workplace I am hoping to become more active on here. I thought I would start by just updating on a few things that happened this past August.

Some exciting news, I finally bought my domain name. Now the blog is set to the web address www.creativelytara.com. I am super excited about this, I think it makes it easier for everybody to find me.

Earlier in the month the boyfriend and I headed to our favorite Japanese Museum, The Morikami. During the Summer they do an event called Sushi and a Stroll on the first Friday of every month. We decided to go check it out. The gardens are just gorgeous, even on such a dreary day. We also had some Sushi. Then checked out the local taiko drummers, Fushu Daiko. If you ever get a chance to check out these taiko drummers, they are AMAZING!


I usually stay pretty quiet on Facebook, and just enjoy reading most of the posts. One day a page that I follow posted a picture of a glowing cloud, and I responded to what caused it. She ended up writing a blog post about it and about my response. I truly enjoyed what she wrote! Check out her blog at Hibiscus Moon Crystal Academy and the post she wrote about me here!

One Friday evening when I got home from work, the boyfriend surprised me with a New York Giants Tervis Tumbler. I have been wanting one for awhile. I am so excited that football is back.


Here is my monthly Florida Sunset!!! It just seems like I am always taking a picture of the sun.


Later on in the month a group of friends and family met at an Irish Restaurant and Bar to see one of my favorite Irish Folk Singers, Cahir O'Doherty. I have been going to see him play with my family since I was I think right around 19.


I have still been running and trying to train for my 5K that is in December. I am definitely improving. I just need to get on and buy my entry into the race. I plan on trying to get that done this weekend.

Other exciting news and an upcoming blog post to look out for, I went on a Road Trip with my sister this past week. I think I will make that a post of its own, because I took a bunch of photos and would like to share them.

I should be getting back to my art and painting. I need to stick to a better schedule of posting. I feel I need to start sketching more to get better at my drawing, so I am trying to work on a schedule for that. I have ideas in my head to redesign the blog and need to try and get on that also. So I have a lot of work ahead of me and need to get rid of the procrastination monster that has been hanging around me!

WIP Tinkerbell Update

Just wanted to let everybody know I did work on Tinkerbell tonight! I didn't get to far with the wings, and I am trying to figure out how I am going to make them iridescent looking. I decided I am going to wait to share anymore Work In Progress pictures until she is complete. Hopefully by next week she will be completely finished.

Weekly Adventures

I have been meaning to write on here for the past 2 weeks, maybe I should call it monthly adventures. There has been so much going on, I am just going to get to it.

On Wednesday July 3rd, the boyfriend and I went and checked out the Food Truck Invasion. It was crazy packed down there with 38 trucks to choose from. We settled on Miami Gourmet Sandwiches because I saw they had Parmesan Truffle Fries and I wanted to try them. I also got a Panko-Crusted Avocado BLT, that was amazing.



They had fireworks there at the end of the night!


The next day for the Fourth of July, I made a Pork Aus Jus in the crockpot, and I made a White Wine Sangria. We spent the night with great friends and family.



All the fireworks had my poor dog so scared. He was so pitiful he wouldn't even go outside to go bathroom.


My sister and her family made it in town on the Fourth of July. The next day we went to the beach and had a nice relaxing time.



Saturday night we all went out to celebrate my nephew turning the big 21. We drank lots of shots and and a blast. The one shot he wanted to try was a Flaming Dr. Pepper, without the Flame.


On Sunday, a big group of friends and family went out to the Winery that the boyfriend and I went to a couple of months ago. Everybody loved it and I think we have turned them all into wine-o's, LOL!



The winery's grapevines are starting to produce some grapes.

The past couple of weekends I have been trying to take it easy. Work has been busy as usual. Also I am still trying to work up my endurance to race in the Color Vibe 5K race.

I also have some sad news. My Raven kitty passed away last Monday. She was such a cool chill cat. I will miss her tremendously. I did have a feeling she was getting ready to go, she stopped eating and was staying away from the house more. She was such a pretty kitty. She was 13 years old.



I am going to end this with a new song to me, that I fell in love with: