What better place to start than in paradise.

What is a wedding without being followed up by a good honeymoon? Again due to lack of time, I will just let the photos do the talking again. From July 1 to July 6, Emily and I traveled to Jamaica. We stayed in Negril at the Couples Negril resort (which we highly recommend)

Exploring the pool and beach off in the distance.

Our room with a nice balcony overlooking the beautiful lush garden.

One of the many tropical flowers in the gardens around the resorts. The gardens were full of lush green plants, flowers, ponds, tropical birds.

There were a handful of hammocks hidden throughout the gardens and along the beaches. What a peaceful place to relax with your new wife!

A snapshot of that ring that started it all (along with its new wedding band).

One of the many activities that were offered at the resort was an arts & crafts activity of rock painting. Emily and I painted this rock and left it behind with the other painted rocks in their garden. Looks like we'll have to go back sometime and pick it up. ;-)

The food was AMAZING! This one picture of a decadent desert and slice of tropical fruit does not do justice to all the great food we ate.

A view of the pool and main building for the resort.

Another one of those colorful tropical flowers.

Mango trees growing in the garden. How cool!

One of my favorite pictures of Emily in her beach had and blue polka-dot sun dress.

One of many tropical birds we observed throughout the resort.

Another popular activity was beach volleyball. I played practically every day!

Emily and I on a catamaran cruse to western Negril. Not shown in the picture is the "Pirate Cave", which would be just to the left of this view. I took a swim there with a few others on the cruse.

An egret that came down from his perch in the palm trees for a photo-op.

A view of the pool and swim up pool bar from the main building.

The begining of something special...

Instead of writing at length about this big event in my life, I will just let the photos do all of the talking.



On May 21, 2011, Emily and I celebrated our Marriage at St. Catherines of Sienna in Mendon.
(This coincidentally was also the date of "The Rapture"... which made for plenty of good jokes.)

My beautiful bride.

Us on the altar.

The wedding party at Honeoye Falls.

What a stunning dress!

A kiss shared at the falls.

An adoring look into each others eyes.

Behave now!

At the covered walkway at Nazareth College.

Time to PARTY!

The wedding reception held at The Burgundy Basin had wine themed favors and decorations. After all, we did get engaged while traveling around Keuka Lake on a wine tasting weekend trip.

Stemless wine glasses as favors.

The COOLEST nerdiest cake in the world incorporating our love of both mathematics and chemistry.

Look familiar? ;-)

Happy Labor Day Weekend.

Labor day weekend 2010 was spent ironically doing just that... laboring! For some odd reason I felt the desire to clean, organize and de-clutter much of the apartment. To pile some more work into my weekend, I had the opportunity to play with a new toy that Emily bought me, a canning starter kit.

Yeah, I know, it sounds pretty lame but when Emily and I went to the Rochester Public Market (recently awarded title of "Best Market in the Nation"), I had this crazy idea that I could take some if this fresh inexpensive produce and preserve it for future enjoyment during the winter. I watched my father and grandparents do this... how hard could it be? Surprisingly, not that difficult at all.

Basically: 1) Cut up stuff, 2) Cook stuff, 3) Put stuff in jars, 4) process in boiling water
DONE!

I made a pretty kick-ass salsa, a marinara sauce (which turned out OK) and just today got even more fresh tomatoes and jars from my dad. I'll keep seeing what I can whip up with this new found skill!

It was not all work this weekend though. Just today Emily and I traveled out to Buffalo to celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday. Yesterday we attended a welcome back party for a friend of ours who recently returned from the Peace Corps. And of course, most importantly, I drafted my fantasy football team on Saturday night. Let the fun begin!

I also fit in an 8 mile run this morning... Rochester Half Marathon in less than a week.

Reason # 2371 Why I Love My Fiance.

Yesterday morning, a group of my friends (Brad, Chris and Kiel) met up at our apartment for our weekly long run. Normally when you return from a long run you feel rather famished and lethargic to the point where it may be tough to be motivated enough to put together a decent breakfast.

Upon our return though, we were greeted with a nice spread of bagels, orange juice, cereal, oatmeal, cantaloupe and bananas thanks to Emily who took a trip to Wegman's for us while we were out. We were more than happy to devour everything until we were replenished.

And that's one of the many reasons why I love my fiance. :-)

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 Recap

Started off the weekend with an evening walk around the Erie Canal to enjoy the sun set.

We continued with a lot of good food and wine.

Lots of visiting with family and friends and their several dogs. All together a total of 5 were at the house.

Jon finally came out of hiding after a couple of months!

And of course... our new nephew Tyler was making the rounds, mostly in Emily's arms.

Rug pulled from under my feet...

There have been a few times in my life where something happens and it feels as if the rug has just been violently ripped out from under my feet. Something so great as to shake the very core of my being and force me to rethink the way I approach the world around me. Recently, I have had several personal experiences that have met those criteria.

The death of a young man named Peter Cannon was a major story in the news around the greater Rochester region over the past month or so. Peter was 18 years old and lost his life in a car accident while on his way to go cross country skiing (one of his favorite activities). Peter is Emily’s brother… he would have been my brother-in-law. This tragedy has cast a dark dark cloud over the family in the past month or so.

The outpouring of sympathy and support for Emily and her family has been unlike anything I have seen. The experience of seeing Emily’s parents stand by their 18 year old son’s bedside to the very last minute of his life is a heartbreaking that I wish no one should ever have to witness or live through.

So what happens next? How do you rationalize this? I lost my Grandfather in the middle of last summer, but that had a completely different feel to it. It was tragic, but deep down; we all know that we will eventually lose our grandparents (we just don’t like to think about it). But you are not supposed to lose the younger members of your family. Right? This experience is one big slap in the face for me to wake up and cherish the times with the people that you never expect to lose.

Peter was very active with volunteering in the community and helping others out. Perhaps this can be rationalized by noting that now there will be a scholarship set up in his honor that will help many students pay for college. Some of Peter’s organs were also donated allowing for the lives of others to be saved. Maybe it is like a Mitch Abom - “5 People You Meet in Heaven” story where one day we’ll learn that one of those people that was saved went on to cure cancer or something. It is a warm fuzzy thought, but a painfully difficult story to live.

So I am left with the “rug pulled from under me” feeling. No answers or rational explanation. No clear idea of what to do next. Anger and confusion dominate. No scientist like me likes to be in a situation without answers and a rational understanding. I fear I will never have these answers despite a lifetime of searching.

No one should ever have to experience these things.

The First Chapter of a Long and Happy Story…

Once again I have neglected this blog for an unacceptable amount of time. Before I resume my posts, I must update the readers on a very important story.

It all started on one Friday the 13^th back in March. Two young twenty-somethings who had been dating each other for quite some time were getting ready to go on a trip. In this story, the young man's name is Glen (me), the cute young woman's name is Emily. We were going on a trip to a bed-and-breakfast at Keuka Lake to spend a weekend tasting wines from the local wineries

After settling in at the fancy bed-and-breakfast, we got some dinner and relaxed for the evening. Emily was a little disappointed though. To her, it did not feel like our vacation had started yet. I had an idea though. I looked into her eyes, and began to tell her some of the things I loved about her. How she is intelligent, funny, supportive and somehow understands me. I told her she is like one of the puzzle pieces that is falling into place to make up the picture of my life.

She thought I was just giving her a compliment, but I had something else in store. It was at that point, I pulled out a small box and went down on one knee and asked Emily to marry me.

She said yes. And thus begins the first chapter of what I hope to be a long and happy story.

:-)

We're on a road to nowhere.

Greetings!

I am traveling on a road to nowhere for this weekend because for once I am not traveling somewhere. During the past three weekends in July I have traveled to Buffalo for my cousin's wedding (see the picture from the previous post) and traveled to the Thousand Islands for a weekend getaway at a cottage my parents rented. Most recently, my travels have culminated with Emily and I circumnavigating Canandagua Lake, tasting wines along the way and staying at a Bed and Breakfast on the way. Is it any wonder I am content with doing NOTHING this weekend!?

So let's start with the wedding of my cousin Matt and his now wife, Emily.

The wedding went very well. It was on the fifth of July which meant hot weather. It was fine that it was hot because the reception was held outside.
I can't remember the place where they had the wedding but I do remember that Emily and I thought it was very nice and had great food. Not like we were taking notes on wedding ideas or anything. ;-) It was also nice to see my brother and his girlfriend that weekend, (and my parents and family too).
As it turns out, Emily and I would be seeing my brother and his girlfriend and my parents at the cottage in the Thousand Islands again the following weekend. You would think I would have gotten sick of them, but we managed to avoid getting on each other's nerves (for the most part). It's hard to get on people's nerves when you are in such a relaxing and beautiful area of New York. I would love to share pictures, but unfortunately my camera seems to be undergoing some malfunctions preventing me from removing pictures. (GRRRR!)

The only thing that marred that trip was a little rain on Sunday and the fact that following a 13 mile run I did up there I ended up getting sick with some vomiting and a mild depletion of my electrolytes. To much protest from my family and Emily I have since went back to a doctor to figure out what is wrong with my stomach. I have a history of acid reflux problems for some reason. Right now it is continuing to make it difficult to run. I'll fill you in on that more later.
Last week, Emily and I went on a trip in which we circumnavigated Canandagua Lake. We stopped at wineries along the way for tastings and pictures. Above is the mansion at Sonenberg gardens.

The gardens were nice even though there was not too much in bloom. It was very HOT! Within the gardens were a few statues that oddly looked like they were peeing into fountains. There was also a fair amount of unclothed statues.Ain't she a stinker! ;-)

Here is a beautiful but hazy view from the southern end of Canandagua Lake. Even though I was reluctant to spend a night at a Bed and Breakfast I enjoyed it a great deal. It was very relaxing and an interesting experience to socialize with the other couples (most of whom were older and getting away from their children). I wouldn't mind doing it again actually.

So you now see why I have been silent through the month of July.