24
August
2008
I need to be cherishing these last moments of freedom, because a week from now I will be back in school. I don’t even want to think about that right now.
Kyle and I had a nice relaxing weekend. We went out to breakfast yesterday morning. I got a cornmeal waffle with pecan butter and maple syrup. It was so good! Kyle got amaretto french toast with almonds on top. Yum! After breakfast we saw Pineapple Express. I went in with pretty low expectations, and I was very pleasantly surprised. It was hilarious! I felt like Kyle and I were the only ones laughing though… I don’t know what that means. Then we came home and watched Seinfeld for the rest of the day.
Today I made crepes filled with peaches for breakfast. I finished A Passage to India and started The Sound and the Fury. If I can finish this book before school starts, I will have read all the books I set out to read at the beginning of the summer. Yay for productivity! I also watched Gone with the Wind this evening. I thought the movie was great. I’m really enjoying watching older movies. I watched Casablanca last week, which was great too. Meanwhile, Kyle watched some disgusting insect documentary. He was telling me how gross it was to watch slugs mate. I think I’ll pass on watching that.
Work last week wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, so I’m thinking this week won’t be that bad either. It sure will be nice to have Jenn back at work though!
Posted: Summer Stuff
6
July
2008
Yet another weekend has gone by and I didn’t get enough done, nor did I relax as much as I would have liked. How is that possible?
I did, however, manage to spend money this weekend. Somehow I’m always able to do that.
I’m working on redecorating my office and I found this adorable owl will that will look quite charming on a shelf that I just hung:
I also hung my William Blake quote decal:
I also made a pretty good blackberry peach crisp:
Well, it’s time to go do my Sunday ritual- laundry!
Posted: Decorating, Summer Stuff
4
July
2008
I’m sad to say that I haven’t posted since February. I suppose it was around that time in which I became completely swallowed up by my graduate work. It was a rough semester… I’m certainly glad it’s over. While I could go on and on about the intricacies of the semester, I would rather talk about something that is much more interesting: our upcoming trip to EUROPE!
It’s official, Kyle and I are leaving for Europe in exactly four weeks! While this is insanely exciting, I’m starting to freak out a bit. I have a lot of planning to do. While I was very proud of myself for getting our plane tickets and booking (most of) our hotels, I still have a lot of work to do. Although I don’t plan on following a strict itinerary, there are some things I would like to prepare for.
If there is one thing I have learned in college, it is this: when stressed, make a list.
Things I need to do in preparation of our trip:
- Figure out transportation:
- What the hell is the difference between an Oyster card and a travel/paper card? Which one should we get? (Looks like the Oyster card is our best bet- At this point- I really don’t care if it is or isn’t, I’m just sick of doing the research.)
- How do we get from Heathrow to our hotel?
- Become somewhat familiar with the tube stations and their proximity to the places we’d like to go.
- Figure out transportation to/from the Lake District (see below).
- Get Eurostar tickets to Paris. Find out how to get to the Eurostar station from our hotel.
- Find out how to get from Eurostar in Paris to our hotel.
- Become somewhat familiar with the Metro stations and their proximity to the places we’d like to go.
- Find out how to get from the Eurostar station in Paris to our hotel in London (it will be a different hotel- near Gatewick).
- Figure out how to get from our hotel to Gatwick.
- Find someone who is kind enough to take us to/from the airport, or see if taking Yolobus is plausable. Kyle’s Ma is taking us, and my Ma is picking us up.
- Research day trip to the Lake District. I really want to go, but I’m not sure it’s practical. But is a trip to London and Paris practical to begin with? Nope. So why not indulge? Per the experienced travelers on the Fodors forum, save Lake District for another trip. 5 days is barely enough time to explore London itself.
- Come up with flexible itineraries for each day. Okay, I’m not a psycho who has to follow an itinerary down to the very minute, but I don’t want to spend all this money getting over there, and then waste time by not being organized. Plus, I will schedule in time for spontaneity ;)
- Buy an electrical converter (or whatever) so Kyle can charge his laptop and I can use my hair dryer.
- Buy a laptop charger for the plane. I’m not sure we’ll be able to use it, but if we can, it’ll be nice that we have it. Decided not to, as the chargers for Kyle’s MacBookPro are $50.
- Take a looksy at my Mom’s luggage, see if we can use it. It’s pretty hideous, but it will work!
- Make sure my mom can watch Piddy while we’re gone. Piddy’s going to her grandparents’ house while we’re gone! They had better not spoil her too much!
- Make a list of things to pack. Make sure I have said things.
- Make copies of pertinent documents (passport, credit cards, etc.).
- Make sure I have fun things to do on the plane. Bring a book (or two?), some magazines, iPod, etc. Have Kyle put Spaced and other shiz on his computer. What great fun it would be to watch Spaced on our way to London!
- Buy tickets to see King Lear at the Globe Theater. That’s right, mother fucking King Lear at the mother fucking Globe Theater.
- Look into buying tickets online for cruise on the Seine. If you purchase them online they take 4 euros off (making it 7 euros each, not bad!). But I want to make sure the dates/times are flexible if you buy them online.
- Look into trip to Versailles. How much will it cost? Is it worth it? What am I talking about, it’s Versailles! Of course it will be worth it! We’ll probably hold off to see Versailles until next time…
- Make sure my camera has enough memory for the entire trip. If not, buy another memory card. (Kyle assured me that we don’t need another one.)
- Make sure rent/bills are paid before we leave.
Wow. Lots to do. And I’m sure I’ll come up with even more. I had better get busy!
Ooh! I already remember one more thing!
16. Book hotel near Gatwick on last night.
Posted: Summer Stuff, Vacation
4
August
2007
June 18th was Paul McCartney’s birthday. It was also mine. Kyle took me to San Francisco to celebrate. We took BART into the city. It only took about 40 minutes and our hotel was only a few blocks away from the Powell Street station. The hotel was wonderful. It had a pretty nice view, a mini fridge stocked with soda and booze, and a drawer filled with snacks. Although we didn’t actually eat or drink anything (as everything was priced over $5), it was fun knowing that we could if we wanted to.
We went to dinner at an all vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant. It was nice knowing that I could eat anything on the menu, rather than having to sift through the menu looking for veg or possible veg items. Everything was delicious. After dinner we had tickets to see Pablo Francisco. Google maps showed that the comedy club was only a mile away from the hotel, so we decided to walk. Unfortunately, Google maps does not account for giant fucking hills. It took us about an hour to walk one mile because the hill was about a 90 degree incline. Going downhill was just as bad because I had to take tiny steps so I wouldn’t tumble down the hill to my death. Everest shmeverest.
Pablo was great, and the drinks were too. We hiked our fat asses back to our hotel and I decided I was done for the night. We wanted snacks though, and it was too late for room service so Kyle went out to find something greasy for us to eat. Apparently while Kyle was in a convient store some people mistook him for a member of the KKK. He quickly took his services elsewhere. He dodged a few drug dealers and passed a few titty bars and came back with pizza, Guiness and Ben and Jerry’s “Chubby Hubby.” We watched America’s Funniest Home Videos and Seinfeld. I was smitten.
The next day we had a greasy breakfast and walked around Union Square. I drooled over some overpriced bags made by 8 year olds in East Asia and then we took BART back home.
The trip was wonderful. When we got home we got Chinese take out and played Wario Ware.
My actual birthday was on Monday and my mom was nice enough to take me to Calistoga. We had a great time. I had a facial and my mom did a mineral bath and massage. I didn’t do the mud bath thing because I didn’t want to partake in the all day nude-fest, which is really what a mud bath is.
We came home the next day and made stuffed bell peppers and mashed potatoes. We played Wii Sports and Wario Ware (my mom played too! and she kicked my ass at bowling).
I was bummed to go back to work but we had pizza during our meeting for my birthday! I also got some pretty cool gifts. My friend Jenn gave me a book that gives a walking tour of Bath, Jane Austen’s old stomping ground. Hopefully I’ll be able to put that book to use!
So yes, I know that I’m spoiled. I had a wonderful birthday week!
Posted: Summer Stuff
28
May
2007
Earlier today Kyle and I realized that it was Memorial Day so we decided to have a little barbeque. We made portabella burgers and corn on the cob. I made a marinade with garlic, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil. I also made basil mayonnaisse with a little bit of garlic and lemon juice. We topped the burgers with pepperjack cheese, red onion, tomatoes and lettuce. They were juicy and delicious.
For dessert I made delicious barbequed fruit. I chopped up some pineapple, apples, peaches and bananas, put them on skewers and sprinkled a little bit of sugar over them. We put them on our barbeque and then I glazed them with a honey-lime glaze (about 5 tablespoons of honey and 1 or 2 squirts of lime juice). They were heavenly! The bananas tasted like toasted marshmallows! I’m not kidding! They are a great alternative for marshmallows (since marshmallows are made with gelatin). I bet it would be delicious to toast bananas over a fire and eat them with chocolate and graham crackers. I know it sounds absurd but I bet it would be great!
Posted: Recipes, Summer Stuff
