This Past Week (and then some...)

Happy Tuesday!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend and a great start to your week!  Things have been busy around here, but nothing super exciting.  Just trying to stay warm and enjoy the nice days that are given to us this winter!  

One of the beautiful (albeit cold) aspects about living right on a river is that on very cold days, the river will freeze (partially) and all of the ducks, geese, and swans will hang out on the edge.  I loved seeing the bright white of the swans and the dark bodies of the ducks on the ice contrast each other - makes the cold walk over the bridge a little more palatable!

Jason and I have been trying to be active by exploring parks around the area and joining with some Meetup groups  One cold but sunny, Saturday, we met up for a five-mile hike along the Delaware & Raritan Canal.  We started out at Washington Crossing State Park (oh yeah, where George Washington crossed the Delaware) and this is definitely somewhere we would like to explore once the weather gets better!  Just a bike ride down the canal path...

We had some "major" snow here in NJ recently...not the same as Upstate New York, but I'm not complaining.  I grabbed the above shot in my pajamas early one Saturday morning...one of the benefits of having the canal right in your backyard!

Jason and I also did some exploring on our own and hiked up to Goat Hill Overlook one snowy day.  It's a short hike, but the view once you get to the summit was definitely worth it - a great bird's eye view of New Hope and Lambertville.  Hopefully we'll make it up here several times this year, but it would make for a great series of photos during all four seasons.

Before the Oscars aired, we went to our local theater to watch the nominated animated and live-action shorts.  (Maybe next year we'll make it to see the documentaries as well...)  My picks for the winners were The Feast for the animated shorts (which won) and Parvenah (which did not win), but my favorite live-action was La Lampe Au Buerre De Yak (Butter Lamp) and the funniest animated short was A Single Life.  If you have a chance to see any of these, I highly recommend it!

For Valentine's Day, Jason and I spent the day relaxing and I made a fancy dinner (thanks Martha Stewart).  The good thing about eating at home is that we paired each course with a drink - much cheaper to split a bottle in the comfort of your own dining room!  In the mood to make something special?  You can make the same menu here.

Even with all of the snow we've had, there are still some nice, sunny days interspersed here and there...here's looking forward to spring!  Daylight Saving is this upcoming weekend, so we're getting there...

Hope your week is fantastic!