Don't Go. Don't leave.

Rhinebeck, New York. This is one of my favorite homes; it is where I used to babysit little Alexis and Matthew Barge every Monday and Wednesday night, while their mother, Roxanne, partook in kick-boxing classes in the evenings. This beautiful home is located right in the very heart cavity of the lovely village of Rhinebeck. It includes antique appeal with a modern flare, old-fashioned stand-alone tubs for bathing, and a wonderful kitchen. I remember it well. The exterior used to be at some point painted a nicer shade of cornflower blue, although this green does seem to compliment it in some sense. I loved that home, right on the corner of the street. I love Rhinebeck, and wish desperately to get back to visit soon, but this time I want to take a special friend of mine for whom I care deeply for, spiritually, and for whom I know needs a break away from the city. I'd like to go to Craig Farm, so that I may pick delicious large, plump, viciously sweet blueberries, which I can eat whole and also turn into the most succulent preserves to top home-made crepes with which I'll have to make (one of my winning recipes,)
and crisp, cinnamon carving apples, a true delight to munch into when the air is the crispy Autumn Chill I so crave every year of my life. Delicious. And Blackberries, thousands of them, thousands of them, in my little belly. Walking up and down the orchards and fields in this never-ending October paradise would be one of my biggest desires right now.

Oh, to simply escape Manhattan for a short while, and to top off my day with delicious steamed cider with mulling spices. I already know how I would fall in love with Rhinebeck all over again, and how very much at home I would feel. It's a town of gold.
And right now I am focusing on making my life wonderful so that I can be where I want to be, and then finish college, and move on in life, and hopefully start my career, and start eventually, a family. Oh how very important that is to me. I do have the power, I have the strength, I am Krissy. I am borne of Rhinebeck air and sweet wind and wild ways, a child of the woods, a pumpkin carver, a believer in faeries, a Taco Juan's devouring feline. Ah, Woodstock! Am I getting off track? I am overwhelmed, I dream every night lately, it seems... And Woodstock, how I love you! Woodstock, only twenty minutes from Rhinebeck over the Kingston-Rhinecliffe bridge! Oh, to be home again! Manhattan ages you, but living near enough to commute to work in Manhattan like my father did out of Rhinebeck for almost eight years... I can't possibly see how it might be impossible to pursue. To buy a small house in the village, to commute to work in the city and if given opportunities to work from home then taking full advantage of it with all of my might! Oh, that would be my dream! To live in and raise a family in Rhinebeck one day, my little children, my darling husband, my studio office space for creative work, I'm dreaming too much right now. Rhinebeck is only 1 hour and thirty minutes from Manhattan by commute via Metro North out of the Poughkeepsie train station. It is an easy commute, a comfortable one, and you land straight in Grand Central Station. Taco Juan's was always one of my favorite places to eat, in Woodstock. We used to go on the weekends and make fun of my Colombian dad, Juan. They had the most divine tasting Tofu Plate, with Mexican tomato rice and cumin.

I need to take a trip home to Dutchess County, and maybe in time for the fair this month! I promised myself I would go. The County Fair is this month from August 19 through the 24. I can't possibly miss it for a ninth year, can I? I must make damn sure I attend this year, even if I only go up for the day. Now, after having spilled my guts out emotionally, I am going to change into my gym attire, and head over to Bally's and kick some more ass. I'm already noticing a small difference and so I'm going to continue working really very hard, losing weight, growing my beautiful hair out again. It would have been so long, and over-flowing, and wavy and lovely now! I envision my physical transformation, and I envision my transformation as the pounds melt off, and the my hair grows out, and internally, at the same time, as my lungs continue to heal from the many years of damage that smoking has done them, and I continue this metamorphosis into the most powerful, driven, strong, determined, and committed woman alive. I am like my father, and I will fight for those I love deeply. I will never give up, I will never give up.