Organize a Camping Trip This Summer

[At Bash Bish Falls with my man]

As the weekend approaches it is time to make some plans. Last weekend we went camping right by the Delaware River. It was a great trip with 15 friends, tons of great food and drinks, water rafting down the Delaware river and LCR (possibly one of the best games to play with a group). The campsite we went to I would not recommend as the campsite were flooded with water, making it hard to pitch our tent. The showers did not have filtered water, so it smelled like sulfur (rotten eggs), and we got in trouble for being too loud?! So I can not recommend Indian Canoe Peak. I recommend Bash Bish Falls (2 hour drive from NYC).


My wonderful boyfriend loves checklists (as do i). I know perfect match! So here it is:


Gear/Clothes

• Air mattress
• Air mattress pump (& batteries)
• Bathing Suit
• Batteries
• BBQ brush
• BBQ tools
• Blanket(s)
• Boots
• Brush/comb
• Bug spray
• Camera
• Camera Charger
• Can opener
• Car chargers/adapters
• Cards
• Cell Phone
• Cell Charger
• Charcoal
• Citronella candles
• Contact lenses
• Cooler
• Corn skewers
• Cups
• Cutting board
• Fire starter
• First Aid kit
• Flashlight
• Flask
• Flip-flops
• Folding chair
• Frying pan
• Games
• Garbage bags
• Gloves
• Grill rack
• Hand Sanitizer
• Pillow Case
• Plastic cups
• Pot
• Pot holder
• Radio/Stereo/Speakers
• Shampoo
• Shorts
• Sleeping Bag
• Sneakers
• Soap
• Socks
• Spatulas
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Sweater/Hoodie
• Tent
• Tin Foil (heavy duty)
• Tools/tape
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Towel
• Utensils
• Water bottle/Nalgene
• Windbreaker/poncho
• Zip-loc Bags
• iPod
• iPod Charger
• Jacket
• Jeans
• Knife
• Koozie
• Lantern
• Lighter
• Long sleeves
• Matches
• Outdoor blanket
• Paper plates
• Paper towels
• Pillow

Food/Drinks

• Beef Jerky
• Beer (cans, not bottles)
• Brats/Sausage
• Bread sandwiches
• Cheese
• Chicken
• Chips- Doritos
• Condiments
• Cooking oil
• Corn on the Cob
• Donuts
• Eggs
• Gatorade
• Hamburgers/buns
• Hot dogs/buns
• Ice
• Instant coffee
• Liquor (ideally plastic)
• Meat for sandwiches
• Milk
• Pickles
• S’mores: chocolate, marshmallows, gram crackers.
• Soda
• Spinach dip/chips
• Splenda/ sweet’n low
• Trail Mix
• Veggies: peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, etc.
• Water
• Watermelon

Stay tuned for some yummy 4th of July Recipes! And happy packing for wherever your Holiday weekend takes you!

Making Plans for a Friend's Visit

I can't believe tomorrow is already Thursday! Isn't time flying fast these days? Well my friend, Rachel, arrives tomorrow. Super excited! I thought I would share our plans with you, so when some of you have friends visiting you could get ideas of what to do in this great city. As I mentioned in a previous posting, I think organizing plans for your guest's arrival is critical in that it makes it stress free, therefore giving you more time to spend with your guest!

Thursday: I am working, so I have made a list for Rachel to take along with her. At night I am hosting a game night with my friends (dorky I know, but trust me it is so much fun!). I am making appetizers and I told everyone to bring a bottle of wine (ha yes you need wine to make the competition in people come out!) We will be playing Cranium Wow which is a blast if you have never played before.

Friday: Again I am working and Rachel may tag along for a bit, but the list I am sure will keep her busy. At night we are going to Lime Jungle in Hells Kitchen. Their margaritas are organic and so tasty! I think so many restaurants make their margaritas wrong, but this place has perfected them. They even opened another restaurant with the same name 5 blocks down (that has got to say something about the food!) Afterwards we will head down towards the West/East Village for some dancing?

Saturday: If it is a nice day I would love to take Rachel down to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk across it. This is my favorite bridge, as the views are spectacular. Once you cross the bridge and stay towards your right you land in a place called Dumbo (sounds so disney). There is this amazing bakery called New Almondine. Usually I just grab something from here and sit outside by the park (may be too cold for that, we'll see). We will probably spend the rest of the day shopping in Brooklyn and Manhattan. At night we are going to see a 9PM showing at Broadway Comedy. I got a great deal on tickets by going to nytix.com. $5 cover charge plus a 2 drink minimum, which is pretty standard at most comedy clubs in the nyc.

I will post my NYC list of things to do for Rachel tomorrow! Sleep tight.

A Guest Comes to Visit

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween! I am having a great friend from college come visit me this weekend! Very exciting I wanted to share with you how I prepare for a guest's stay.

Having a guest stay with you means a couple of different things. Time to get your place organized, get your errands done in advance (more time to spend with your guest) and of course being flexible to their needs.

I have made a 5 Step Checklist that I will use this week...

1) Grocery list: Ask your guest for any special items they made need (ex: what they like for breakfast) I just make sure I am stocked up on basics (OJ, oatmeal, eggs, cereal, some snacks, water bottles, wine, beer)

2) Offer transportation: If you can pick them up from the airport, do it. If like me, you live in the city, search transportation options for them.

3) Make itinerary for their stay (ask your guest what she/he would like to do) Sometimes your guest will just say spending time with you is great, but I like to be prepared with options and plans rather than wasting hours on deciding what to do next.

4) Figure out where they are going to sleep. Make sure you have extra clean sheets, pillows, towels, ect. If you do not have a guest room or pullout sofa, you may want to invest in a air mattress. I like the Aerobed collection. The best component of air mattresses is that they are easy to store!

5) If you are working and your guest will be alone for some of the trip, offer points of interest for your guest to visit (get a map and circle the areas you think she/he may enjoy!)

I will write up my itinerary and points of interest this week to share with you for NYC.

Happy Monday! Bundle up today!