It takes courage to grow up & become who you really are.: such a needed weekend.

My mom and dad headed to Ithaca friday afternoon for a night's getaway and to visit their favorite daughter (joking kree). My parents picked me up and we drove to their hotel (a little over 2 miles away) where my dad watched a movie and my mom and I headed out to campus to get a solid workout in. Mom and I walked through the circles, back by terraces, through campus, around the new A&E center, down to the commons and back up the hill to my apartment. I changed, headed up to the hotel to pick up my dad who was infatuated with the movie he was watching (Enemy of the State) so much so that we were late to our dinner reservations at a new to us Restaurant; Antlers. The actual restaurant itself was great. very rustic, open fireplace, dim, warm atmosphere. Food wise I was completely disappointed. I thought at a place called Antlers there would be a wide variety of meet options. WRONG. The most appealing thing to me that night was baked shrimp and crab cake, not too bad but I was really crazing one of those beefy steak and potatoes kind of meal. My parents both enjoyed their meal so maybe I just got the wrong thing. If you are headed there.. stay away from the seafood. ohhh.. and ask for more garlic bread, it was to die for!! After dinner we headed back to my apartment and watched the Sabres lose, yet another frustrating game. (still love them though!)

Saturday I met my parents at their hotel to have breakfast and fell in love with their granola. So much so that today I decided to make my own (more to come on that later). We left the hotel by 10, checked out a potential place for my rents to stay for graduation and headed to Barton Hall over at Cornell to watch Rachie's track meet. Rach competed in 55m hurdles, 55m sprint and long jump. It was great to be there and support her like she supported me on the sidelines of all those field hockey games. I'm going to miss that girl! Good thing she's my cousin so she'll have to see me at least twice a year!

So the main reason my parents came was to attend Chilifest. After the meet we planned on coming back to my apartment and go down to Chilifest. Turns out because of the nasty weather it was postponed until the day after. Go figure. So we came back to my apartment and just relaxed until we met with the other Browns for dinner @ the Nines. My favorite restaurant in Collegetown. An old fire department renovated into a pizza place, and a place to drink at night. This place has the best pizza ever! My parents headed back home after dinner. I was disappointed to have them leave but rejuvenated by their visit, as quick as it was. Mar and I watch the NBA All Star shooting event and laid in bed all night.

Sunday afternoon Mar, Mel and I headed down the Commons to attend the long awaited.. CHILIFEST! I am a new found lover of Chili and it was great!!! For $10 we got 11 tickets for samples at whichever station we wanted. About 60 vendors were there and it was fantastic. Perfect afternoon and great Chili! My favorite was the chicken wing dip chili, but that could be because I love me some chicken wings!! After we came home Mar and I decided to head to the mall to poke around. I bought a fabulous dress, appropriate for a wedding I am attending this summer, a graduation dress and a dress to wear at my future job. I saw it as encouragement to get a job.

Okay, so back to the granola. After we came back from the mall, we needed another reason to put off doing homework so it was a great time to head to Wegmans and buy the ingredients for homemade granola. While it isn't nearly as good as the granola from the hotel, my concoction was fantastic none the less. I cannot wait to have it with my Greek Yogurt for the next week. YUM!!

I truly needed a little break this weekend. It was great to be with my mom and dad, my aunt and uncle, head to chilifest and just take a breath during this stressful semester. Tomorrow it's back to the grind. Tests to study for, resumes to send out, and work to be completed. Will someone just hire me to be their personal assistant so I can stop stressing about a job? I promise I'll do great!!

Mom's VIT (Very Important Teacher) Pass. Ithaca appreciates their
NY teachers and offer discounts and incentives to visit Ithaca during their February break.
We took advantage of this pass at Antlers, the Nines, the hotel and Chilifest!