Brunch

I'm at Eddie's cousins for brunch when out walks his cousin with Cisco
the mcCall. He's very cool, he keeps saying the he loved me while
dancing. Very cool.

Indian Culinary Experience

One of Margaret's best friends is Indian and her mother offered to
cook dinner for us. So amazingly good!

The whole meal was vegetarian which made it easy. There was a potato
and chik'n stew, yellow lentils, baby eggplant in a spicy smooth tasty
mixture and then these homemade from scratch wheat tortilla type of
things. The tortillas were good on their own but then when you used
them to scoop up the food. .. I ate way to much. :) Then for dessert
she cut up this super sweet and juicy mango.

After dinner we talked and enjoyed conversation. It was a really nice
evening. A nice quiet end to a long and busy day.

Eddie's Reception - LA

I'm in LA, I arrived yesterday and spent the day catching up with
Eddie and his new bride Margaret. Today was their CA reception, they
got all dressed up and we ate and watched their wedding video. It was
nice. As you can see, they make a very handsome couple.

DMB at the Gorge

For Chris's birthday I scored two tickets to the Dave Matthew's Band concert at The Gorge which is a few hours drive East from Seattle. This venue is absolutely amazing and legendary.


The band has four concerts scheduled here over Labor Day weekend and we have tickets to the second night.

When I bought the tickets I purchased an insurance policy on them because I knew that there was a good chance we wouldn't be able to actually make it to the concert. But we just found out we've overcome the first hurtle - Chris actually got the time off to go. Well, actually, scheduling screwed him over yet again, but he went in to the Chief Pilot who was in a good mood and shifted things around for him. So he now has eight days off in row, right over the holiday weekend.

Now we just have to actually get on a flight out there. We haven't decided yet if we'll be finding a hotel or camping out. Either way I think it will be an amazing evening if we can make it out. Since he scored so much time off we might even be able to spend some time catching up with his family.

UPDATE - turns out that our trip to Seattle will coordinate perfectly with my good friend Eddie's wedding reception party in LA. I'll be flying out there next weekend to hang out with him and participate in the festivities. It's especially special since I had to skip the actual wedding in Maine when Chris couldn't get the time off. So yay for visiting Eddie AND DMB concerts!

Shared Art Day

Four years ago, just before moving North, I got together with three of my closest friends for a day of art in the park. We each had a canvas and we each painted about one quarter of our canvas before passing it to another who then painted one quarter and so on, until we each wound up with a canvas that was touched by all.

Last weekend, almost exactly four weeks after the first art day, we had another. One participant changed and the overall skill set of the group increased greatly but the agenda remained the same, and yet again the result was amazing. See?

This is mine from last year. I did the bit with the sun, Hannah did the glitter, Amy the street and Megan the stars.

And this is the new addition from this year. I'm the bottom right, Hannah is the flowers, Megan did the plane scene and the vine is from Laura.

It was a fun day.

Sick Time

Ususally I don't mind that Chris is gone a lot. There are definite benefits to being married with extreme independence. There are also major negatives to being alone so much. For example when you're sick and there's no one to play nurse. Thank god we live near family again, Mom promised to have Dad deliver an order of cough syrup and other necessities tomorrow. It still can't quite compare to having someone here to make noodle soup and honey tea.

The worst part is that even though I really wish he were here to take care of me, I'm actually grateful he's not home. It would suck for him to waste his precious few days off taking care of me or worse yet for him to catch whatever I have and have use his sick days on actually being sick - he needs those sick days to make commuting easier.

Rediscovering an old Friend

I stumpled accidentally on UCFTV the other night to find Ani DiFranco live on the artists den. It wasn't until then that I realized I miss Ani.

While I may have the inner strength and ability to express myself openly, I was not given the gift of articulation. It is aww inspiring to me when people are able to not only take their thoughts, passions, beleifs and feelings and put them into well thought out prose, but to then have the skill and talent to put that prose to music. Ani DiFranco in particular has a style and beat that really speaks to me...

32 Flavors
squint your eyes and look closer
i'm not between you and your ambition
i am a poster girl with no poster
i am thirty-two flavors and then some
and i'm beyond your peripheral vision
so you might want to turn your head
cause someday you're going to get hungry
and eat most of the words you just said
both my parents taught me about good will
and i have done well by their names
just the kindness i've lavished on strangers
is more than i can explain
still there's many who've turned out their porch lights
just so i would think they were not home
and hid in the dark of their windows
till i'd passed and left them alone
and god help you if you are an ugly girl
course too pretty is also your doom
cause everyone harbors a secret hatred
for the prettiest girl in the room
and god help you if you are a phoenix
and you dare to rise up from the ash
a thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy
while you are just flying past
i'm not trying to give my life meaning
by demeaning you
and i would like to state for the record
i did everything that i could do
i'm not saying that i'm a saint
i just don't want to live that way
no, i will never be a saint
but i will always say
squint your eyes and look closer
i'm not between you and your ambition
i am a poster girl with no poster
i am thirty-two flavors and then some
and i'm beyond your peripheral vision
so you might want to turn your head
cause someday you might find you're starving
and eating all of the words you said

the arrival's gate
gonna go out
to the arrivals gate at the airport
and sit there all day
watch people reuniting
public affection is so exciting
it even makes airports ok
watching children run
with their arms outstretched
just to throw those arms
around their grandpas' necks
watching lovers plant kisses
old men to their misses
at the arrivals gate
watching a mother
with a mother's smile
don't tell me to move
i just wanna sit here for a while
i have determined
it's a sure cure for cancer
watching excitment turn family
dogs into dancers
at the arrivals gate
i got me a white bread sandwich
with some shredded lettuce
and i got me a ringside view
for my quaint little fetish
i just wanna drain my little pink heart
of all its malice
and kick back for the afternoon
in this flourescent palace
everybody's in a hurry
here in
purgatory
except for me
i'm where i need to be
at the arrivals gate

I need more Ani in my life.

TV Ad

Just saw a commercial for this. Had me cracking up. Seriously, who exercises their neck?

Where do people come up with this stuff?

Kayaking

Mom and John have the day off in honor of Independence Day. We decided to enjoy the outdoors and get some exercise by going Kayaking at Blue Springs. We left the springs and went along the St. John's River, around an island and then up a canal before letting the current take us back. It was nice - but my arms are definitly sore :)

Winter Park Day Trip

Last week Chris had five whole days off. We actually had enough time together to develop a routine, first time since we moved to the new house. We spent one morning over in Winter Park, we started with the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour which Chris had never been on.

See the owl?

The boat tour was fun, we saw lots of birds, but no gators. The tour guide had this cheezy sense of humor but he was great. He told us that a few years back the lake chain was over-populated with gators so they had animal control come in and they relocated more than 150 gators to Lake Jessup. More pictures are on my flickr - here.

After the tour we wandered along Park Ave. and then had a nice lunch a Chris's favorite spot - Dexters, he loves their pressed duck sandwich.

Graduation Time

There were a lot of graduations around us this year. Chris had a few cousins graduating both college and high school. My pseudo-sis Megan finished as UCF and my brother John recived his BA from FSU in Tallahassee.

Megan walked and we had a nice dinner to celebrate. John didn't want to walk but we wanted to celebrate with him. John chose a small family vacation. Mom found a vacation rental in Hudson, FL which is about 20 minutes from Tarpon Springs, FL which has a high Greek population, sponges, Greek food etc. (for perspective, Tarpon Springs is about 45 min north of Tampa).

Tarpon Springs wound up being really touristy and cheezy, but we did find some good food. The house was sweet, it came with a hot tub, paddle boat, fishing poles, a golf cart and more. It was relaxing.

The last night there we had a little family style graduation ceremony for John, awarded him sashes for his accomplishments etc.

Pictures are up on Flickr - here.

Prius Commercial

Now that we have a DVR I don't really watch many commercials, but one was so intriguing, even when fast forwarding over it, that I actually went back to watch it. I have to say this is one of my all time favorite commercials, it even beats out the baby who talk about trading stocks. The beauty of it is that it's beautiful, has a great message and that the two actually intertwine so much that you remember it.



I was so intrigued that I went on a quest to find out how the commercial was made and I found allaboutprius.com which had a link to this which I think is worth watching:



So, forgive me if I seem like an over-excited tool of a consumer, but I want to go test drive a Prius now :)

Back in Town

We all made it back from our trip, though some later than others :) - all the details are on our travel blog here.

I was able to get all of the pictures up on my Flickr, you should check them out. There are also videos on YouTube here.

While there are lots of pictures of the cities and sites, I also enjoy taking candid shots of people while we travel and since kids do the darndest things....here are my favorites:

Private Flight

Are you still there?
He's still at the age where as long as he can't see you, you can't see him.

Dancing in the Rain

Away Message

Hi,

Thanks for visiting my blog, but I'm not posting here right now. I'm on a European vacation, you can learn all about it at my travel blog, here. If you would like to leave a comment you can do so after the beep.

Prague, Czech Repulic

Munich & Hamburg, Germany

Dublin, Ireland

Thanks, and have a great day.

Beep.

European Adventure

I know what you're thinking "what? away again? in europe, again!?". Yes, it's true. We're using Chris's benefits as much as possible. This time we're taking my parents along....it's hard to believe that this time last year we were all in Greece. This year we're going somewhere a lot less tropical, but hopefully equally enjoyable. If all goes as planned we're going to start in Prague, Czech Republic, then we're going to Germany to visit Munich and Hamburg where I have family, finally we'll spend one night in Dublin Ireland before returning home.

Chris just got home from work, he's very excited to be off for the next two weeks. Things have been especially frustrating and stressful for him at work, so this vacation is much needed. We have tomorrow to finish up the last minute stuff, pack etc. then on Friday we're off!

Watch for my away message in the next post, as usual, I'll be checking email while gone if anyone has any photo/souveneir requests, etc.

Piglet Flu

Thought this was funny considering my view of the whole swine flu craze.

Swine Flu Craziness

By now everyone is hearing all sorts of media-frenzied stuff about the Swine Flu. I have yet to hear the same numbers twice, I hear 2 deaths, than 150, than 6 - know one really knows. Never bother that way more people die from the normal old flu. The worst part is that there is really no way to get the really story because all sources are influenced by the absurd media.

Needless to say I'm not too worried about it, however my husband does work in airports and planes etc so I figured it would be wise for him to bump up his game. We went to multiple pharmacies to pick up some Anti-Swine-Flu Goods, Hand Sanitizer, AirBorne, Zinc and Zycam...they were all out!

I'm shocked.

People need to chill out.

Ducks & Gators

Went looking for gators with Rick this weekend. He'd never seen one in
person, much less in the wild. We went all over and finally found
a gator swimming in Lake Adair.

In addition to the gator I spotted this very awesome duck mamma. These
ducklings were pretty old, they'd already lost their fluffiness, and
there were still 11 of them. They swam up and then came on shore to
say hi before swimming away.

-posted from my iPhone-

Celebrating Exotic Cars

There was an exotic car show over in Celebration, FL today. C and I
went together, it was well organized with a great turnout. A nice way
to spend our Saturday together. Plus C had fun calling buddies to
brag. ;)

The picture is of a line of Ferraris.

Overeaction/Heros

I am back, with no interesting thoughts to share that don't relate to travel so instead, my favorite post secrets from this week:

I'll come up with something else cool to post soon. :)