Tag Archives: ithaca

21 September 2010

Race Recap – Ithaca 5 & 10

By Nicki

I admit I took a hiatus from writing this summer.  I was outside a lot and ran a lot of races.  I was inside a bit visiting with family who live on the West Coast and I get to see all too seldom.  So a little over a week ago, I ran a 10 mile race in Ithaca, New York.  As much as I love Ithaca, I live about 40 miles southeast of the city so I had to figure travel time into the race schedule.

This race is one lap of five miles if you are doing the five and two laps if you are doing the ten.  I loved the lap that we took from the Ithaca High School down into the center of the city, then out to Stewart Park and past Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes.  I was very concerned about the race at first as, regardless of all the hills in Ithaca, this course is basically flat.  The only inclines my legs felt were going up bridge inclines.

This was basically my birthday run.  My birthday was Sept 11 and the race on the 12th.  I looked down at that race bib and noticed the new number in the age area.  It was a very odd feeling.

The goal here was to finish the ten miles in less than two hours.  I finished in 1:57 so am very happy.  Below are a few pictures of the scenery that we runners got to take in that day.  These were all taken after the race and the post-race massage.

7 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Fitness, Just my Thoughts

5 April 2010

Sunny Saturday

By Nicki

I have to admit I tried to cram as much as I possibly could into Saturday as the weather was amazing!  Saturday’s mid-80 temps may mean summer was here and gone but the sun and heat were fantastic!

On the way home from Ithaca, my daughter and I stopped in at Six Mile Creek Winery.  The tasting was good and the photo opportunities wonderful.  Since I like the slideshow option, I am going to put up another one but I promise there will be actual, hopefully thought provoking posts coming up this week.

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2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts

4 April 2010

Ithaca Farmer’s Market Opening Day

By Nicki

Saturday, April 3rd was opening day at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market.  My daughter Elise and I headed over on an absolutely summer-like day to see what we could find.  There were tons of people in attendance.  I think we sat through the advanced green arrow to turn left about ten times as the road was so full of people!

To test a new WordPress feature, I am going to do a slideshow of the shots from the Farmer’s Market.  I took over 60 pictures but will probably not use all of them.

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4 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

8 March 2010

Date Night: Friday Night

By Nicki

No, I do not mean date line.  I mean I had a sort of, kind of, impromptu date on Friday night.  I know.  None of those terms – sort of, kind of or impromptu – are generally used when describing a date.  So here goes.

Friday I worked hard in the morning after deciding that I needed to rest the ankle a bit.  I got dressed after showering to head to Ithaca.  I was going to Happy Hour with friends which you can read a bit about at A Friday Tradition.  I have posted a few pictures from a previous Happy Hour below.

All plans were to spend a bit of time at Happy Hour and then, inside my wallet, I had three star-shaped sticky notes with the galleries/shows I was hoping to see.  We all left Chapterhouse and headed our separate ways and I ended up at The Kitschen Sink for Dee’s opening.  It also happened to be Dee’s birthday so we had cake.  Then, downtown to The Commons as Alice has a show at Korova and stopped in there.  After that, I headed to The State of the Art gallery for the annual juried photo show.

As I headed out of the photo show, I realized a good friend of mine was suppose to be attending Levon Helm at the State Theatre.  I quickly texted Howard, telling him to have a great time at the concert.  The reply I received threw me for a second.  Remember, somewhere on this very blog, I have admitted to being a planner.  He had an extra ticket.  Did I have plans?  Did I want to stay for the show?  I did give it a little thought, though not much I admit.  Threw all the plans – I was on my way to the parking garage to head home – in the trash, turned around and headed to the theatre for the concert.

Howard is a person that I met on an online dating site several years ago.  We have been friends ever since.  His car broke down near my house once – which is a good 70 miles from where he lives – and I picked him up and put him in an empty bed here for the night.  Turns out the car was not repairable.  Amazing he would want to test another night with me.  :)

Anyway, the company was good, the concert fantastic!  Thanks, Howard!!

11 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Art, Just my Thoughts

21 February 2010

Carriage House Cafe, Ithaca – Review

By Nicki

I still have to arrive at the Carriage House Cafe during regular business hours.  I attended a party in the upstairs hall last Friday evening.  If the food and atmosphere that were present upstairs carrying into the daily operations – and from the menu, I believe they do, this location could become my new favorite place to eat in Ithaca.

A few high points in the location are that it is close to Cornell University.  While not directly in CollegeTown, it is on Stewart Avenue and easy to get to from downtown Ithaca.  The Carriage House Cafe is also a LightLink HotSpot.  I do not live in Ithaca and do, when I am there for the day, sign up for a one day LightLink account.  Some places are not HotSpots and that leaves them out of my agenda when planning.  Not so with The Carriage House Cafe.

The upstairs events hall is known as The Hayloft and provided a wonderful environment for our gathering last Friday of about 50 people.  I believe the limit is 75 so it is not for a huge gathering but is perfect for intimate groups.  You can see photos from #Twithaca here and the room is The Hayloft.

The food we had at Twithaca was amazing.  There were beautiful sandwiches – wish I had gotten a photo of the food but I failed in this aspect, including a vegetarian option.  I had the veggie sandwich as it was a Friday in Lent.  The white bean hummus that served as a spread on the sandwich was perfect.  The roasted veggies – words are hard to find to describe how good this was.  On top of that – actually next to it on my plate, they served a wonderful slaw.  I think there were apples and carrots in it but it didn’t matter to me if it was just cabbage.  The dressing on the slaw was amazing

I strongly recommend you all stop by The Carriage House Cafe for breakfast or lunch on any Tuesday through Sunday.  I am hoping to get there for lunch this week as I am meeting a friend for lunch on Wednesday.  If you happen to be on Four Square, be sure to log your visit.

4 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Food and Recipes, Just my Thoughts, Product Reviews

28 November 2009

Shop Local

By Nicki

Yes, again!  I will drive this thought home every chance I get as I believe it is important to support our local businesses.

In 2008, the City of Binghamton did a push at holiday time for local shopping in the city.  I have not heard or seen anything like it since that time.  Some local businesses have taken to advertising as a cooperative but it is not the same thing and I think there are five or six of them that are together.

Last holiday season, I recall hearing ads on the radio to shop in Johnson City but have not heard them yet this year.  One local mall is in Johnson City but the ads were for Main Street, not the mall.

I have recently blogged about The 3/50 Project and shopping locally during yesterday’s Black Friday rush. Yesterday, I became aware of a concerted effort by over 70 businesses in the Greater Ithaca area to promote local shopping.  Granted, Ithaca is about 40 miles away but that is not a long trip for me since I do have at least one client in that area.

Local First Ithaca has its own web site and a fan page on Facebook.  By shopping locally, you can get a stamp at participating shops and enter for chances to win cash cards.  This is a wonderful way to advertise and to spread the advertising across many businesses so the cost is not exorbitant.

Let me know what you have found for shopping locally.  Where are you and should we all come support your local economy by shopping in your town?

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

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