With Love From Califon

Wow! What a weekend we've had! It all started with our middle-of-the-night trip to Jersey for the wedding of Jill and Tom, two of our favorite friends. We accomplished our mission - no traffic! It did mean, however, that we rolled up at Lois and Earle's at 2:45am - needless to say we did not receive the usual Steeves house welcome (though Kat is always up for a snuffly Hello). We slept a bit to prepare for . . . .wedding activities!!!!

We had a great time Friday evening, first at the rehearsal at Jill's long-time family church, St. John Neumann in Califon. Jill's priest, Father Bill, has known her since she was just a bitty. If I were ever to convert to Catholicism, it would be because of Father Bill! He is so warm and funny and compassionate, truly a vessel for the inspiration and loving kindness that Christianity is supposed to be all about. After a giggle-filled rehearsal the wedding party all trooped over to the Clinton House for dinner - only my second time there after all my years living in Jersey! Jess and I were lucky enough to sit with the Harrison siblings at dinner so we got all the wedding gossip and were within spit-ball throwing distance of the bride and groom (we restrained ourselves). It was a great start to the weekend's festivities.

Saturday was all about relaxation - Jess and the bridal party boys headed over to the golf course for 18 holes and the ladies went to breakfast and a mani/pedi session. I know the boys had fun and our pampering with the girls was just further opportunity to spend time with Jill and look over goofy family photos. Plus Jill's sister Brianne had put together a hardcover book of all our plannings and commentings from the blog - 'Jill's Bridal Beauties' - that we'd been using over the past year to stay in contact and discuss wedding stuff. Later that evening we spent more time with both Jill and Tom at a day-before-the-wedding-cocktail-hour at the golf course, where I rediscovered the joys of white wine and peach schnapps :) Needless to say, my sober Hubby drove Wally home that night!

Sunday morning was so exciting! The bridesmaid's single job was to keep the bride calm and happy on her wedding day. We were 90% successful (show me a bride that can remain 100% blissed out the morning of and I will show you the illicit substances that were required to accomplish it!) and we even got Jill to the church on time! The ceremony was beautiful (only a "minor" vows snafu that Father Bill smoothed over), a full Catholic mass, lots of singing, lots of people truly happy for the bride and groom. I got to walk with Jill's brother Drew - think I may have even gotten a smile out of him! I guess the only hitch was that the bridesmaids all walked up to the front of the church and as soon as we saw Jill enter with her daddy, we all realized we'd forgotten hankies! Many, many happy tears followed as Jill and Tom made their commitment to eachother surrounded by their family and friends. I'm sure it all flew by for Jill and Tom, but everyone there that day knew they were in the presence of something strong and beautiful - we danced out our happiness on the dance floor under a big tent in St John Neumann's backyard, and it even stopped raining long enough for a rainbow to come out - exactly on cue!

And all that was only the start of our adventures in Jersey! After a lazy Monday morning at the Steeves ranch Jesse got a long-awaited phone call from a Syracuse principal - "Congratulations, you're hired!" It's a 3rd grade inclusion classroom - just about the same position he had been teaching in last year in Brooklyn. Jess waited to start his hoopin' and hollerin' til after he hung up with his new principal, and then celebrations were started all over again! So much happiness in such a short period of time!

Since we were in Jersey and feeling like our summer together was truly official now (no more pounding the Syracuse school district pavement for Jess) we got to visit a few places before heading back up North. We had an unbelievable feast at John's dad's restaurant - Woody's Parkside Grill. If you're ever near Sparkill, definitely check this place out. It's a great mix of neighborhood bar (we watched the Olympics on their lovely flatscreen tv's) and fine dining - the food was outta this world! I would especially recommend the stuffed mushroom and coconut shrimp appetizers and the lemon chicken and linguini as a main course . . . After happily crashing nearby at D's house, we even got to see Jesse's grandma - and ran into Jesse's mom who was also visiting! Well, after having all this good luck following us we had to heed Margaret's advice and bought a megamillions lotto ticket - "hey, you never know."

Well, this has turned into an epic of a post - that's the update for us. We are happily snug back in Syracuse, dreamin up ways to use our couple weeks off before school starts up again for us both. We hope you are all well and enjoying the summer as much as we are.

Lots of love
Caitlin and Jesse

Summer's Here! (Officially)

Whoo hooo!! I am posting here now while officially on my Summer vacation! Final's have been taken and passed (yipee!), Portfolio's have been handed in - the next few weeks I am free as a bird!

I have two pictures to show you:

Do you see these lovely muffins? Why yes, they ARE blueberry bran - Jesse's first foray into muffin making! They came out of the oven at 6:10pm and are rapidly disappearing. The inspiration for the muffins was born out of a very real, very serious necessity - we have too many goshdarn blueberries! We picked heaps of them with downstairs neighbor Chelsea and her two kids, Windy and Fox. While Windy kept pronouncing the berries "Good," she didn't quite seem to get the idea because she preferred the green ones to the juicy blue big boys! Fox mostly drooled throughout the afternoon and kept the rest of us good company.

And this is the other latest addition to 203 Hawthorne: an overflowing wine rack! Thanks to two weekends of trips to the Finger Lakes with Lauren and Dan and then Steven and Olga we are well stocked for at least . . . a couple months???

Lauren and Dan's Visit

I don't think Lauren and Dan knew how much we were looking forward to their visit. We had a full weekend planned for them, from the hiking at Watkins Glen to the food and drinks we were having for dinner.

We started them off right, with one of Lois' Dream Dinners (peach marmalade pork) and a shot of tequila! It's become one of our customs that a weekend of fun start off with the guests' drink of choice...

Saturday morning after breakfast we drove them down to Watkins Glen State Park. It follows a beautiful stream with 19 waterfalls and over 800 stone steps that wind their way through a glacial gorge that is at points over 200 feet deep.

We then proceeded to hit up 5 wineries, where we tasted a variety of house wines, on the western shore of Seneca Lake. We stopped for lunch that we had brought, as well as afternoon relaxing on a dock along the shore. The finger lakes are north-south lakes with rolling hills between them, almost entirely covered with vineyards and cornfields. With the exception of the corn, we could have been in the south of France.

After an early evening nap, we took them out to our local tex-mex place, Alto Cinco, for really good food. A movie afterwards, and we had ourselves a full day...

They had to leave early-ish Sunday, so they missed the arts and crafts festival of downtown Syracuse, which Cait and I hit up. If we don't make the effort to go down there, we'll go for weeks without doing so, but I always forgot how beautiful the historic buildings are downtown. Some of them are from the early 19th century, made of gorgeous stone and brick. The festival itself had over 175 vendors, some of which were truly talents artists: painters, sculptors, woodworkers, and photographers, among many others were all set up in the historic district.

The Big Chop

So I finally did it - went for the big chop. I will include before and after pictures so that all may truly appreciate the enormity, the hugidity, the deafening snip! made this afternoon that made my head a full (it seemed) 10 lbs lighter! (Seriously, after that first big snip, I almost lost my balance.) The braid is in a clear plastic bag for me, so I'll just be sending it along via snail mail to the locks for love center. Jess was a little skeptical before the appointment ("How about just a trim?"), but I think I look sassy and I think he's come around as well :)

And out of the hair realm . . . .Lauren and Dan are coming to visit! They are actually en route now - hopefully they won't hit any snags - and we'll be welcoming them to 203 Hawthorne as our first guests in our first home together! Such being the case there will, of course, have to be several kinds of shenanigans, some high-jinx, and most likely a photo-op or two - especially of the guest room that was made up just in time for them. I don't think they'll mind Jess and I popping in there from time to time to snap photos of our fabulously furnished bed room - right?

Yes, we are dorks, and we love it.

I'm sure we'll have lots more stories and pictures to share over the coming weeks as our guests come and go . . . .Happy Summer!

Syracuse in July (so far . . .)

I can't believe our summer is already pushing towards the end of July - maybe it's because we've been so busy!! Between dinner with the neighbors, weddings, and adventures throughout the greater Syracuse area, we're getting to know our new city and keeping in touch with friends and family back in Jersey and Brooklyn.

First things first (though not chronologically speaking)! Aren't those berries gorgeous? We just got back from some summertime berry picking in Baldwinsville, about 25 minutes from 203 Hawthorne. Henckle's Farm had red raspberries, blackberries, were just about out of their strawberries, and we never did get to the currants (red and black!) and gooseberries across the road. Rows and rows of berries! It was hot, juicy work, but someone had to do it. Jess ate about just as many as he put into his bucket and I think my ratio was even worse. Sun-ripened red raspberries, hiding neath broad leaves - unbelievable. We've decided to freeze a bunch of them because we just couldn't stop picking them and ended up with about 5 lbs of berries!

The beginning of the month was kicked off with a visit to Lew Beach for 4th of July. The gathering was huge - we were glad to bring along D and Beth and Johnny for reinforcements and to have the Stovers to introduce us to everyone, including Greg and Sue. Colonel Mustard (Moose, Mutard, etc), D and Beth's teddy bear of a shitzu (spelling? sorry!), immediately joined the pack of 10+ other dogs there and quickly impressed everyone with his bottomless energy, enthusiasm for balls (bocci, golf, whiffle, and otherwise), and . . . his swimming skills!




Recently we got to see a lot of fam at James and Mary's wedding in Detroit. I don't think I've ever seen so many Casazza's in one place - all clones of each other! We had a great time and danced, danced, danced and got to see our relatives throw their limbs about with great abandon. Even Lois and Earle cut a gi-normous rug during a couple of big band songs. Jess was flagging towards the end of the night but couldn't be shown up by Grammie and Grandpa who were still at the reception at 12:30am! It was one of those genuinely happy occasions and I can't wait to spend more time with Mary - hopefully up at Sebago in Maine! On the wedding front in general, we have 3 more to attend between now and October. We'll be putting the miles on Wally (who, incidentally, admirably braved a near-over-heating fiasco while idling in traffic for 3 hours at the Canadian border - Renee and John, we'll update you with details!).

What else . . . isn't that enough? We'll be celebrating Nally's bday soon (and Dad's for that matter!) and I'll be finishing up with my Gross Anatomy course August 4th. We're kind of winding down now that we've finished up with the bones and muscles and are moving onto internal organs - there are a lot less organs than muscle and bones! I had a real "whoah" moment yesterday when we sawed (yes, sawed) off the ribcage and got a look at the organs of the chest cavity - mostly because of the lungs. I know everything was gushy and red and stuff but I thought the lungs were beautiful and delicate and soft - the softest thing I've ever felt (dont' worry - through rubber gloves). Really, really cool.

Ok! Enough for now! I need to studying for my second-to-last Gross quiz. Love to you all and HappySummer.

Our front yard jungle!

Our landlady, Danielle, had told us that we'd have a really nice summer garden from which we could take clippings, but we had no idea that we were getting a floral jungle!

The hollyhocks are huge and have taken over the front of the garden, which made us wonder why they weren't in the back. Mom, or Jan -- are hollyhocks usually planted in the front of perennial gardens? There are at least 4 colors of lilies, which are stunning. We have two crawling clematis bushes, not to be confused with clamidia, which you definitely do not want crawling up the front of your house...

Every time we step out onto our porch we are hit with a blanket of floral scents that is incredibly lush. Especially after
a rain.

Settling In...

After a day of languishing in back pain due to consecutive days of lifting the hundreds of books that we own, we're finally getting the place to resemble a livable apartment. I never considered myself to be tremendously domestic, but setting up house is fun! Cait and I were so excited yesterday when we moved the couches around to their present position; and getting all our books into shelves makes the place feel so much more homey.

Of course, we still don't have a box spring for our bed, so its still laying on the floor - though its infinitely better than the air mattress Cait had been sleeping on for 6 weeks!

Getting the kitchen island upstairs has doubled our counter-top space, a huge necessity for us as we love cooking. I couldn't get the dishwasher up the stairs though - two nights ago I was literally collapsing every time I tried walking...figured I'd wait till the lower back regained some strength - thus the plethora of dishes that still need handwashing...

Hope you all recognize the various pieces of furniture scattered about the apartment. We absolutely love all of it!

Love to you all...