Tag: Holiday

Red White and Blue

harkinchronicles

Our long Fourth of July weekend started a day early – I had taken the day off work to go to court to get my name changed and then spent the rest of the day running around town changing my name with the DMV and banks and everything. By the time I was done, it was nearly dinner. It had been such a hot day (and our first day of nice weather in who knows how long) that James and I went to Squantz Pond State Park. Lots of families were taking advantage of the nice weather and grilling for dinner at the park. We brought some food and even managed to go in the water – James sat on a giant rainbow floatie. A lifeguard tried to tell him that it wasn’t allowed but some random guy in the water was like “duuuuddeee let himmmmm, he’s got a messed up leggggg”. 

Thursday was the actual Fourth of July. Our town has a parade but the parking for it is at the top of this huge hill and there’s no way James would have easily been able to make the trek down and then back up the hill. Plus it was way too hot. We went to a friend’s house for a cookout. He has an inground pool and the floatie from the previous day made the trip so James could cool off in the water. We brought Lilly with us and she even went in the pool! Later in the evening, we stayed inside, playing pool and arcade games. I’m not sure exactly what it is but it appears to be a computer with a TV screen and some modded game controllers built into an old arcade game facade that lets you play thousands of games. I’m definitely a fan. Once it got dark, we drove Lilly home so she wouldn’t panic during the fireworks. Our friends set off a HUGE fireworks show in their backyard. Many of their neighbors joined in so fireworks were going off all around us!

I made the mistake of not requesting Friday off from work…I was the only counselor in and the office was DEAD. I could not wait for the end of the day. James and I went to see Toy Story 4 that night. The movie was definitely made for the now-adults that were kids when the first movies came out. I loved it! I so rarely go to the movies that I was actually confused when we go to the theater…now they have assigned seats and there was like character merchandise for sale at the theater?? I’m sorry…when did going to the movies get so fancy?? Saturday was for the most part a day for cleaning but at night we met up with a friend (Jeff) that was visiting for the weekend.

On Sunday, we went out on Doug’s boat with Jeff, Will, Matt, and Ashley. We mostly hung out at Chicken Rock. The boys (minus James) jumped off the rock. I went off the rope swing and was very proud of myself for doing so! There was a girl that climbed to the top of Chicken Rock that wasn’t jumping off – that isn’t so unusual but one of her friends yelled her name (Chloe) over a loudspeaker and the entire bay started cheering for her to jump. She was up there for at least an hour before we left…I still don’t know if she’s jumped off that rock. Maybe Chloe just lives on top of Chicken Rock now. Once we got in from the lake, we went to 440 for dinner with the boys and our friend Bill.

All in all, a great, American, holiday weekend.

Until our next adventure! 

Lake Fireworks

harkinchronicles

Every year, the City of Danbury shoots off fireworks for Fourth of July from a small island in the middle of Candlewood Lake. Last year, Maranda and I had the BRILLIANT idea to go to Koo (one of our favorite sushi restaurants) and then walk to the beach to watch the fireworks. 

We decided to repeat that idea this year. Maranda unfortunately couldn’t make it but James, Matt, Rich, and Ari all went to Koo for dinner. James and Matt even had matching outfits (I can’t with these two). Afterwards, we went to the Lakeside Pub across from the beach. It was a bit breezy and we were thinking of going inside but as we were walking in to the empty table I had just seen, it was now occupied by two blonde women. They turned around and it was Carolyn and Christina from 440! It turns out the view from the inside table sucked so they joined us outside and once Bob was done at the bar, he joined us too! It was great watching the fireworks with a large group of people – we are definitely making Koo and Lakeside Pub a tradition for Lake Fireworks.

Until our next adventure!

Cinco!

harkinchronicles

I love most holidays – I like the food, the celebrations, and the decorations. I think James is afraid of what’s going to happen during Christmas (my absolute favorite, decoration-wise).

My best friend’s mom was my middle school Spanish teacher. Every year, she’d throw a huge Cinco de Mayo party and I’ve celebrated Cinco de Mayo ever since (although one year it wound up being Ocho de Junio because of my work schedule). I have a special love for Mexico and Mexican culture – I did my study abroad in Oaxaco, Mexico!

Thanks to some handy new kitchen gadgets, I went all out for this year’s Cinco menu. On the menu this year:

  • Homemade guac and store-bought chips (literally a year-round staple wherever I am)
  • This elote dip that was AMAZING. I actually sent people out to get more corn so we could make a second batch.
  • These shredded chicken tacos that came out SO GOOD. I’m normally not a chicken fan but these were my favorite tacos from the party!
  • These pork tacos. They came out okay…we bought less meat than the recipe called for so there was A LOT of sauce.
  • Chipotle veggie tacos that I made using a copycat Chipotle recipe. Amazing.
  • Beef tacos that James made (sorry, no recipe there!)

Our friend Will told us about this fun game for the Apple TV that we promptly downloaded and spent the next three hours playing. It was hysterical and I’m pretty much bringing our Apple TV everywhere we go from now on.

Literally the only picture I have from the day. The caption is in reference to a party last year when Will dropped Grace’s BRAND NEW puppy, Riley (Will maintains that she leapt off his shoulder).

We don’t have any holidays coming up soon but I’m sure we’ll come up with a reason to have people over the house soon!

Until our next adventure!

Talk Derby to Me

harkinchronicles

Our family friend Tara hosts a Kentucky Derby party every year the day of the race. James has been before but this was my first time attending. My last Derby party was back in college and we went all out with bright dresses and big hats so I asked James about 1000 times before the party if people “dressed Derby” for this party and he told me yes, dressing the part is an expectation. Luckily we had the Nip Hunt that same day and I had an outfit that worked for both events. I may have worn the hat from the relay race at Justin and Jasmine’s baby shower…

We got there right in time for the race to begin. Our roommate Matt came along and neither Matt nor James was dressed particularly “Derby” so again walking up the driveway I asked James if people dressed up. He said yes and then laughed. I told him I was going to kill him if I was the only one dressed up. I may have been in the brightest dress but luckily all the other women had hats! A lot of people made their own hats that were much larger (and more “Derby”) than mine.

Even though I have been to Derby parties before, I don’t think I’ve actually ever watched the race. I know absolutely nothing about horse racing but while we were watching the race, I commented that it was awfully strange that the horse in first place made such a wide turn. He nearly caused a horse pile up behind him! Well after the race was over, there was all this commotion because there was some type of penalty for the horse that came in first place and officials were going to review video footage to see if the results would be overturned. The first place result has NEVER changed in all the previous 144 years so this was a BIG. DEAL. After 20 minutes of us watching the officials watch replays from every angle, the results were overturned and the first place horse was disqualified meaning the second place horse was now the first place horse. A historic Derby moment!

Until our next adventure!

Hyped for the Hunt

harkinchronicles

Our friends Adam and Savanah hosted their annual Nip Hunt one recent Saturday. Rather than hiding Easter eggs around the yard, Adam and Savanah (with the help of a few family members and friends) hide mini alcohol bottles all over the yard while we wait in the house. All the guests contribute nips and Adam and Savanah make a big deal of counting and keeping track of the totals year after year (always trying to break that record!).

This year, we DID break the record with over 570 nips! We were like one or two short and then someone RAN into the dining room with two more nips. It was super exciting to break the record.

After all the nips were hidden, we all gathered on the porch for a picture and then ran all over to find the nips. While I did get more than I’ve ever managed to get before, I need to make a mental note that short dress and floppy hat does not make for an easy time.

Everybody in front of the porch ready to go! Photo taken by Savanah

Each year, a “golden nip” is hidden somewhere in the yard. The person who finds that wins a full size bottle of alcohol – last year Matt won! This year it took forever to find. Savanah’s mom kept yelling that nobody was even close to it. I was over near some bushes and just as I was about to move to the bush closest to the back door, a girl started screaming bloody murder. I saw that her arm was in the bush and I honestly thought that like she was getting attacked by squirrels or wasps or something. Nope. She found the golden nip! The prize was some pink lemonade drink and not gonna lie, I was def jealous!

After the golden nip is found, people trade with each other for nips they like more than the ones they found. I didn’t realize that James and Matt were also trading with people to try and get more Jameson nips for the house…because that is exactly what I was doing! Adam also takes pictures of everybody with their favorite nip.

This year we had to leave earlier than normal to get to another party (we’re so popular) but it was great to see Adam and Savanah and other old friends again!

Photo stolen from Matt

Until our next adventure!

Our Passover Seder

harkinchronicles

Even though James and I aren’t religious, we love learning about other cultures and people’s traditions. Last year, Jake invited us to his parent’s house for a Passover Seder. We enjoyed learning about the symbolism of everything on the table, the different songs, and of course Jake’s cooking.

This year, we told Jake that he was more than welcome to host a Seder for our friends in our new house. Matt, Will, and Paul all joined us. Jake made the main courses and I made the side dishes. All the food came out amazing AND there were leftovers (I think I’ve only bought lunch once or twice since starting my new job so leftovers make me happy).

We definitely are going to make this a yearly tradition for our friend group!

Until our next adventure!