where we live, pre-snow

This is our neighborhood. I walked (HA! WALKED!) to the hardware store to buy a lightbulb shortly after moving into our rental house in October and snapped a few photos along the way. (Somehow, they never actually got published… Life happens, I guess.)

This is the top of our neighborhood where the road meets up with Quaker (a.k.a. 20A) which is the road that takes you to East Aurora. It extends east that way (the way you’re looking, above) and west through Orchard Park and further past the Bills stadium and, eventually, turns into Southwestern Blvd., which is a main thoroughfare here and also the street on which the Y resides.

Here is this adorable little gift shop on Quaker called the Lemon Tree. I finally went in once when Emily was visiting and it’s definitely your typical gift shop with kitchen items, kitschy items, papers, baby stuff, etc…

And this even more adorable children’s bookstore called “B is for Books.” The name is interesting, though, since I came to find out through writing an article for the paper that the owner’s last name actually starts with a ‘B,’ so I thought that was neat. It’s the kind of place I can envision myself going once we have kids, although by that time I’m hoping we’re settled in East Aurora! There is a used bookstore in EA, as well as the library on Main Street, so those will have to do.

Here’s a shot from the intersection of Quaker and Buffalo Roads, the main intersection of Orchard Park. I love the lampposts–they’re the kind that play music, too.

Here’s the hardware store, around since 1907. It’s no Lowe’s, but it has the necessities and is way closer (and walkable!), which I love. And I love shopping locally. I think it’s becoming more and more important these days to do that. I’m not saying I’m ready to swear-off my Honda Pilot or other foreign-made goods (I’m all for good, old-fashioned capitalism), but when all things are equal, I’d rather support the local economy and reduce my carbon footprint.

And we’re back! Here is our actual street and our house is about two past the stop sign on the right. It’s a cute little street filled with cute houses and youngsters. Ours, as a rental, leaves a bit to be desired in the curb-appeal category, but it gets the job done.

Now, imagine all this under a blanket of white. That what happened yesterday just before class, and by the afternoon, it was all gone again. I’m thinking my snow boots are going to get a run for their money this winter…

10-miler = 10-fold reward

OK, maybe not a “10-fold” reward, exactly, but I did have a great day!

I planned on doing a long run this weekend since we were in East Aurora. I LOVE running there. I have my usual routes, and sometimes I mix it up. Today, because I was going extra long, I combined my usual 4.5 mile route down toward the high school with a new “village perimeter plus some” route.

The weather this weekend was unseasonably warm (upper 70s!) and I probably could have worn a tank top if I’d brought one. It was beautiful and sunny and there was a hint of fall in the air. Despite the perfect weather, my run started pretty crummily…I blame it on the abundance of sugar I had the night before at Pumpkinville (two donuts–they were small!–pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin soup–which was more sweet than savory, unfortunately–along with fries and popcorn and M&Ms after we got home). So yeah, between that and my elevated stress level and lack of sleep (Hadrian never sleeps well at other people’s houses), I wasn’t exactly running on all cylinders. I was tired and with the first almost two miles being uphill, I could feel it.

Must stretch! I always do, and Andrew never does. I don’t get how people can NOT stretch. Turns out I must’ve underestimated my abilities this morning; I averaged about 8:20/mile, which is awesome! After a couple miles I did perk right up definitely felt that “runner’s high.”

I forgot my Honey Stingers at the hotel, so I had to scavenge for portable, energy-packed foods to take with me. Thankfully, I found some nuts and dried cranberries in the kitchen–SCORE! Go Mom Layer for having 100-calorie packs of walnuts and almonds! I threw in some M&Ms to make it like trail mix, but I didn’t end up eating any. In fact, for some reason, I didn’t need more than a couple bits of nuts–must have been that sugar overload. I carried a partially full bottle of water, too. I hate carrying stuff with me, but I hate being thirsty even more.

I had to write my route out on paper–too many lefts and rights! Disclaimer: I totally spelled “veer” wrong, and knew it immediately. I would normally correct it, but I was in a rush to get out the door. I’m not sure now which I would prefer; having it spelled wrong (above), or having corrected it and proving to all my friends that I really AM as OCD as they think I am.

Andrew and I have been craving Charlie’s Diner, and I figured today would be the perfect day to go–the weather was phenomenal, and I’d just burned like 1,100 calories running…

I enjoyed my usual post-long run Sprite–absolute bliss! I fantasize about Sprite while running sometimes. There is just something about how it tastes and quenches my thirst after a long run when water just won’t do.

BLUEBERRY PANCAKES! They have the best, hands down. Super doughy and sweet and GIANT plump berries! Seriously, they are that good.

We didn’t get there until after 12:00, so Andrew ordered lunch: a BLT.

We were hungry!

After lunch, we went back to the Layers’. Andrew headed off to work, Carolyn was off watching the Bills game with Ben and I enjoyed a fantastically quiet and peaceful afternoon in the kitchen. BAKING! (I also threw in some cleaning–we’d made such a mess in just two days!)

Pumpkin bread! (Andrew always hates it when I pose like this… He thinks it looks silly.) Oh well.

I used my mom’s interchangeable pumpkin/zucchini bread recipe. Except that I changed it around a made it healthier. It wasn’t my intention; I didn’t have butter, so I used both oil and canned apple butter (like applesauce), decreased the sugar (who needs extra sugar, anyway?) and mixed white with whole wheat flour.

I made one loaf plain and mixed raisins, oats and pumpkin seeds into the other.

After I started cutting them up, (of course I forgot to take a picture of both loaves still whole) I made a tasting plate of two teeny slivers. I had to make sure they were good…

I assembled a plate for the Layers and a baggie of half-pieces for the ladies who work the front desk at the hotel, then bagged up the rest for me!

Side note: Perhaps the biggest “reward” of today was signing our lease! The short story is that we found a small house in Orchard Park to rent and God has provided an amazing landlord who will let us have Hadrian and be flexible on lease terms (less than a year). I’ll post more details later, but I can say with certainty that neither of us thought we would be as excited as we are about going into a rental! We celebrated with more rewards–pizza and wings! (We are terrible, I know. But really, on what other day can I splurge like this than on a day I ran so much?) We tried out John & Mary’s, a place on Main St. The verdict: Not bad, but no Pasquale’s!

EA Tour of Homes

Andrew and I packed up and spent the day in East Aurora yesterday. That’s pretty much what we have to do if we’re going to be there for more than an hour or so; we take the dog, his food, the computer, my homework, and, this time, a change of clothes to go out to dinner. Whew! It’s certainly a trip. I can’t image what it would be like with a kid, too.

We started off the morning with the East Aurora Tour of Homes. It’s a yearly event showcasing some of the older, nicer homes in and around the village whose owners are willing to open up to the public. I don’t think Andrew’s parents had ever been, but Moog provides tickets to some of their employees, so Andrew’s dad grabbed a few awhile ago and we thought we’d give it a try. The tour is a fundraiser for the Aurora Adult Day Services, and the crowd was just as you would suspect; 90% blue-haired old ladies.

We picked up maps and bite-sized treats at the Roycroft Inn before heading out in our cars. It was CHILLY yesterday! Cold and wet and rainy. Andrew said it was more “November weather” than October weather for here, which relieved a little of my fears that it would be snowing any day now. I love the cold, but since ALL my winter clothes and shoes are packed away, I’m in no hurry for it this year!

We started at the Dewey’s house, which Andrew had actually been in before. Their kids are our age, so Andrew ran cross country and played basketball with their two sons.

As you can see, it’s a gorgeous house. It sits on at least an acre, which is a very large lot for the village, so that’s another thing that makes it stand out. The Deweys have done a lot (or rather, not a lot) to maintain the historical integrity of the house.

All of the walls and wallpaper are original to the house. They even have a 1920s oven. The house was very large and certainly quite neat. Awesome kitchen, but I have to admit, I would have updated with some sleek, stainless steel appliances.

We moved on to a house on Fillmore Avenue, which is one of the most desirable streets in the village due to its proximity to Main Street. If only we could find something there! There is one for sale down the road, but it has a hot tub in the living room. IN THE LIVING ROOM. What do you do with that? If it were only that, I think we could figure something out, but it just wasn’t the one for us.

As you can see, fall is in full swing here with the leaves on the ground. Love the porch! This house was really neat because of the barn. It has a basketball court on the top level! Mr. Young went up with us and Andrew shot some hoops. We even signed our names on the drywall at the urging of Mr. Young, who was surprised Andrew had never been up there before for various events during high school, i.e. parties and homecoming-float painting. Guess Andrew just didn’t hang with the cool kids… (But I guess when you’re the valedictorian, your circle of friends is more smarty-pants than party-type.)

We left the village “proper” and took a side street to a neighborhood-y area and checked out this large, yet unassuming, house.

WOW. As Andrew put it last night, it takes A LOT of stuff to make a 5,000 square-foot home look cluttered. I don’t know that it looked “cluttered,” (all the decor was done very well), but man was there just a ton of stuff! It was insane. Everywhere you looked there were collections and paintings and artwork and everything you could imagine. But again, it was all done incredibly well. Actually, it was very much my “style,” (color, unique pieces, symmetry) but, basically, on steroids. I’m much more of a minimalist in my decorating, but basically with the same stuff.

The island in the kitchen was amazing. She said they called it their “bowling alley.” Gee, must be nice. She had collections of quilts and hats and artwork all over the place. I loved the mudroom area and the master bath was just beautiful.

The last house we visited is on Main Street and it’s one of the houses I always notice when we drive into town. Not sure why, probably the green color catches my eye… I love the columns in the front, although I think I would pull out the boring shrubs in favor of smaller landscaping to show off the front of the house more.

This one was beautiful and well cared-for. I wouldn’t say it was terribly historical or large or even unique, just beautiful. Honestly, the best thing about it was the double-chocolate cookies they had from the Elm Street Bakery! Holy cow–they were like smooshed brownies with giant chunks of chocolate inside. I went back for seconds.

After the tour Andrew and I checked out a rental house in Orchard Park. I think we’ve admitted defeat and are going to have to rent over the winter in the hopes that we can find something we actually want to buy sometime next spring/summer. The rental was in a great section of the OP village, the owner is fantastic and will let us have Hadrian AND is amenable to a short-term/month-to-month lease, both of which are important to us. It’s a three-bedroom and will fit all our stuff with a nice, DRY basement. The kitchen and living room carpet leave something to be desired, but really, what more can you ask for in a rental? We’re very thankful we found this one.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with car-cleaning (Andrew), homework at Taste (me), then going out to dinner at Rick’s on Main for restaurant week. I had the most amazing Asian-marinated and grilled chicken breast with an awesome black bean and ginger salsa. Then we headed BACK to Taste for dessert; Andrew got a too-sweet caramel apple steamer and I had a peppermint tea and a slice of their peanut butter/brownie pie.

More homework for me today!