My birthday is fast approaching.
In unrelated news: I love flowers. And shoes.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Weekend Update--Memorial Day Edition
I had both a lazy and productive weekend. Very nice.
I finally finished unpacking (although I have one box left of stuff I don't know what to do with--empty picture frames and other random stuff) and I actually hung stuff on the walls. I never did this in my old apartment, so this place is SO much more "finished" than the last one. It looks pretty good actually! The family room is still blah, but since I don't hang out there that much I don't care too much. :)
On Saturday I went to the grocery store for the first time since March. Between moving and going on vacation, it never made much sense to me to go to the store. I had such a good time! I was up early (thanks Sadie) and after an hour walk with the pup, I left for the store. I got a coffee and shopped for a good hour. Tons of produce, some seafood, and other natural, healthy stuff and I was out the door, $135 lighter. The total was a bit of a shock, but I reasoned it away with "well, I did get olive oil" and "it's healthy food!!" And the best thing? I wasn't embarrassed by anything in my cart. Ever since the time I bought ice cream, mac & cheese, peanut butter, and a snickers bar behind the guy with organic vegetables and tofu I've been really conscious of what I buy. This was the first time that I was proud of my purchases! Veggies, fruit, chicken, and no processed, crappy food. Yay me!
Now comes the fight against time so that my produce doesn't spoil before I eat it! Chicken and leeks with a salad last night for dinner, shrimp and chickpeas for dinner the night before. Tonight? Um...leftovers, probably. With a salad. For some reason the lettuce gets bad on me first.
And I brought cherries and an apple to work today. Yay cherries! (They're better with Nutella though)
I also wandered over to the 7-11 that is near my apartment. It's so close! That's trouble since I love me some slurpees. I had two this weekend. I try not to think about how much sugar is in one of those things.
In between all of my unpacking, grocery shopping and slurpee drinking, I saw a few movies: The Departed (awesome), Just My Luck (horrible, ugh), and Happy Feet (eh, fine). Plus 4 hours of Veronica Mars. I'm so sad that show is off the air.
My apartment is also part of Chicago's new recycling program so my roommate and I are recycling maniacs. We've filled our recycle-can three times already. Go green!
I finally finished unpacking (although I have one box left of stuff I don't know what to do with--empty picture frames and other random stuff) and I actually hung stuff on the walls. I never did this in my old apartment, so this place is SO much more "finished" than the last one. It looks pretty good actually! The family room is still blah, but since I don't hang out there that much I don't care too much. :)
On Saturday I went to the grocery store for the first time since March. Between moving and going on vacation, it never made much sense to me to go to the store. I had such a good time! I was up early (thanks Sadie) and after an hour walk with the pup, I left for the store. I got a coffee and shopped for a good hour. Tons of produce, some seafood, and other natural, healthy stuff and I was out the door, $135 lighter. The total was a bit of a shock, but I reasoned it away with "well, I did get olive oil" and "it's healthy food!!" And the best thing? I wasn't embarrassed by anything in my cart. Ever since the time I bought ice cream, mac & cheese, peanut butter, and a snickers bar behind the guy with organic vegetables and tofu I've been really conscious of what I buy. This was the first time that I was proud of my purchases! Veggies, fruit, chicken, and no processed, crappy food. Yay me!
Now comes the fight against time so that my produce doesn't spoil before I eat it! Chicken and leeks with a salad last night for dinner, shrimp and chickpeas for dinner the night before. Tonight? Um...leftovers, probably. With a salad. For some reason the lettuce gets bad on me first.
And I brought cherries and an apple to work today. Yay cherries! (They're better with Nutella though)
I also wandered over to the 7-11 that is near my apartment. It's so close! That's trouble since I love me some slurpees. I had two this weekend. I try not to think about how much sugar is in one of those things.
In between all of my unpacking, grocery shopping and slurpee drinking, I saw a few movies: The Departed (awesome), Just My Luck (horrible, ugh), and Happy Feet (eh, fine). Plus 4 hours of Veronica Mars. I'm so sad that show is off the air.
My apartment is also part of Chicago's new recycling program so my roommate and I are recycling maniacs. We've filled our recycle-can three times already. Go green!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Kick Some Ice
Oh, Blades of Glory. I shouldn't have laughed. But I did.
I even clapped with glee once. That was embarrassing.
I even clapped with glee once. That was embarrassing.
BARCELONA, SPAIN, May 18, 2007
Jeanene left this morning, so we're down to four. And it's out last full day in Spain. Sadness.
Our plan for the day was to head out to a neighboring town, Sitges, to lay on the beach for a while before heading back into Barcelona for our last dinner and night out.
It took a bit to figure out how to get to the main train station, but once we got there it was pretty simple to jump on the train and head out to the pretty little beach town. It was kind of like jumping on the Metra in Chicago to go to Naperville--frequent stops and just 45 minutes away.
We got into Sitges around 2:00 and followed the crowd toward the sea. The town was really cute--hilly, narrow streets, and little boutiques. I'm so used to the crappy beach towns in Florida that it was nice to be in a place that was residential and pretty. And clean! And there weren't junky souvenir shops every two feet like in Daytona.
We got to the beach, covered ourselves in sunscreen (we had all gotten a little sunburned the day before), and layed down in the soft Spanish sand. It was really nice--about 75 degrees, clear, and a little breezy. Perfect.
We were only on the beach for about 1 1/2 hours, but that was perfect for me as I get a little bored just sitting in the sand. We did venture into the water a couple of times, but it was FREEZING. So cold that I lost my breath for a few minutes once I hit chest-high water.
Once we were done with the beach, we had lunch at a beach side restaurant (hamburgers that weren't so mu;ch beef as possibly sausage), and walked around the town a bit before catching the train home around 6:00.
At home, we started the cleaning of the apartment and packing our suitcases. It didn't take too long considering there were 6 of us at one point and we were there for over a week.
Around 11:00 we left the apartment for our last night out in Barcelona. We first stopped by the Groucho Bar for a drink and to reminisce about the last time we were there. We had been doing that all day, really, telling stories of things we had done while we were in Spain--I think we were all sad to be leaving.
After our drinks, we went to go find dinner. We didn't have any place in mind, so we walked around a bit hoping something would strike our fancy. On one street there were three restaurants in a row, and just like Goldilocks, we decided on the third one and it was just right. Actually, it was amazing! The best dinner we had in Spain.
The restaurant, Anima, was incredible. Fusion food that sounded slightly intimidating when you read it off the (moderately-priced) menu but was delicious in person. We decided to split everything and ordered 3 appetizers and 2 meals. Babaganoush, lasagna, sirloin, mushrooms, even the bread was beautifully presented and cooked perfectly. SO GOOD. We sat outside, but the decor was minimalist but warm. And, to top it all off, our waitress was charming and attentive. She didn't speak much English but didn't seem annoyed by our attempts to speak Spanish. Overall, a wonderful experience.
Happy with dinner, we left (Terri with a menu she got from the bartender!) and headed to the Whiskey Museum for one last time. Unfortunately, since it was Friday night, it was way too crowded to go in. Oh well. Back to Groucho.
At Groucho, we decided to pool all of our change since we can't change coins in for US dollars. It turned out to be around 20 euros, which is pretty good! We ordered a round and went for it. The bartender there kept flirting with Rose and eventually brought us all a round of shots. It was a special that night--1 euro per shot and they even had a menu of the different kinds. They were all girly shots, but it was fun to try to figure out what they all were since the menu was in Spanish. My free one (that I DID NOT pick) was the banana one with whipped cream. Some of you can guess what we call that one at home.
Flirting, flirting. Drinking, drinking. And another round of shots--this one was purple with squeeze of fresh lemon, topped with an energy drink. It was good! And I hate energy drinks!! :) Around this time we decided it was time to go. It was almost 3am and we had to get up at 8 the next morning to get to the airport. We left for home, happy with our last night in Barcelona.
Oh, and we paid the whole tab in change. Everything, down to pennies. They much have been pleased.
Note: Pics on Flickr
Our plan for the day was to head out to a neighboring town, Sitges, to lay on the beach for a while before heading back into Barcelona for our last dinner and night out.
It took a bit to figure out how to get to the main train station, but once we got there it was pretty simple to jump on the train and head out to the pretty little beach town. It was kind of like jumping on the Metra in Chicago to go to Naperville--frequent stops and just 45 minutes away.
We got into Sitges around 2:00 and followed the crowd toward the sea. The town was really cute--hilly, narrow streets, and little boutiques. I'm so used to the crappy beach towns in Florida that it was nice to be in a place that was residential and pretty. And clean! And there weren't junky souvenir shops every two feet like in Daytona.
We got to the beach, covered ourselves in sunscreen (we had all gotten a little sunburned the day before), and layed down in the soft Spanish sand. It was really nice--about 75 degrees, clear, and a little breezy. Perfect.
We were only on the beach for about 1 1/2 hours, but that was perfect for me as I get a little bored just sitting in the sand. We did venture into the water a couple of times, but it was FREEZING. So cold that I lost my breath for a few minutes once I hit chest-high water.
Once we were done with the beach, we had lunch at a beach side restaurant (hamburgers that weren't so mu;ch beef as possibly sausage), and walked around the town a bit before catching the train home around 6:00.
At home, we started the cleaning of the apartment and packing our suitcases. It didn't take too long considering there were 6 of us at one point and we were there for over a week.
Around 11:00 we left the apartment for our last night out in Barcelona. We first stopped by the Groucho Bar for a drink and to reminisce about the last time we were there. We had been doing that all day, really, telling stories of things we had done while we were in Spain--I think we were all sad to be leaving.
After our drinks, we went to go find dinner. We didn't have any place in mind, so we walked around a bit hoping something would strike our fancy. On one street there were three restaurants in a row, and just like Goldilocks, we decided on the third one and it was just right. Actually, it was amazing! The best dinner we had in Spain.
The restaurant, Anima, was incredible. Fusion food that sounded slightly intimidating when you read it off the (moderately-priced) menu but was delicious in person. We decided to split everything and ordered 3 appetizers and 2 meals. Babaganoush, lasagna, sirloin, mushrooms, even the bread was beautifully presented and cooked perfectly. SO GOOD. We sat outside, but the decor was minimalist but warm. And, to top it all off, our waitress was charming and attentive. She didn't speak much English but didn't seem annoyed by our attempts to speak Spanish. Overall, a wonderful experience.
Happy with dinner, we left (Terri with a menu she got from the bartender!) and headed to the Whiskey Museum for one last time. Unfortunately, since it was Friday night, it was way too crowded to go in. Oh well. Back to Groucho.
At Groucho, we decided to pool all of our change since we can't change coins in for US dollars. It turned out to be around 20 euros, which is pretty good! We ordered a round and went for it. The bartender there kept flirting with Rose and eventually brought us all a round of shots. It was a special that night--1 euro per shot and they even had a menu of the different kinds. They were all girly shots, but it was fun to try to figure out what they all were since the menu was in Spanish. My free one (that I DID NOT pick) was the banana one with whipped cream. Some of you can guess what we call that one at home.
Flirting, flirting. Drinking, drinking. And another round of shots--this one was purple with squeeze of fresh lemon, topped with an energy drink. It was good! And I hate energy drinks!! :) Around this time we decided it was time to go. It was almost 3am and we had to get up at 8 the next morning to get to the airport. We left for home, happy with our last night in Barcelona.
Oh, and we paid the whole tab in change. Everything, down to pennies. They much have been pleased.
Note: Pics on Flickr
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Where in the world?
I've just gotten an e-mail from American Airlines that let me know that I have enough miles to travel to an exotic locale (off-peak) with my accrued miles. Hurrah! That's totally amazing!
But...I don't know where to go. When the whole world is available, how do you choose just one place? I need suggestions.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?
But...I don't know where to go. When the whole world is available, how do you choose just one place? I need suggestions.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
BARCELONA, SPAIN, May 17, 2007
For the last couple of days, we had discussed going on a one of the bus tours that go around Barcelona in order to see the whole city in one go, but had put it off and put it off, opting instead to wander around on our own. Today, however, we decided to finally get on the bus and see the city as touristicly as we could.
Around 12 (which is GOOD for us! We got out of the house before 2!) we headed over to the Placa de Catalunya to catch one of the buses for a tour. One of the touts for a bus company approached us and convinced us to with their tour other than the more popular Bus Touristic--which turned out to be a great thing! The lines were shorter and we got to see the whole city instead of just a portion of it. We hopped on board, paid our fee, and headed up to the open-air top deck to plug in our headphones and start the tour.
As the bus snaked it's way through the city, we we able to revisit some areas of town that we had already seen, which was nice. It was almost like reminiscing (even if it was only a few days ago). We passed by the Gaudi houses, wound through the Exampile area with it's beautiful facades and balconies, and moved north to pass by Parc Guell. After showing Stuart the hill that we had to climb to get to the park, the bus moved south into the more urban/city area of Barcelona. We got of the bus here to do a little shopping and get a cafe con leche. We popped into a little bistro, had some tapas and coffee and wandered down the street (Diagonal, I believe) and shopped a bit. We then caught a new bus to move to the football stadium and into Mont Juic.
This was a new area for most of us as we had not yet ventured too far west. Mont Juic is a large hill/small mountain in Barcelona that holds a lot of the Olympic venues as well as a castle and other regal looking buildings. We got to see the Olympic spire, which I THINK is the one that had the guy shoot a flaming arrow into it to light it, as well as Olympic circle where a number of sports were played. When we got to the Miro museum, we again got off the bus to check it out.
Now, I'm not a big art fan, so I don't have much to say here. The museum was nice. I recognized some of the art. The guy was obviously talented. I didn't get most of it.
Once we left the museum, we decided to see if we could walk to the castle that was at the top of Mont Juic. We didn't really know the way but thought we'd give it a shot. About 45 minutes and a few hundred feet later, we made it. The walk was pretty much uphill, but along the way we got some amazing views of the city and were surrounded by trees and nature. Not a bad thing!
The castle itself was kind of need (we didn't poke around much) but it afforded the best views of the city by far--we could see EVERYTHING. The port, the beaches, Sagrada Familia, the big phallic-looking building, La Rambla, etc. After a quick snack, we decided to take the funicular down to catch the bus and move on with our tour.
After getting back on the bus, we were all pretty beat. We sat up top and just enjoyed the drive down Mont Juic, into Port Vell, by Barcelonetta, and by Olympic Village. The tour ended up back where we started and we hopped off to head home.
Later that night, we went out to dinner to celebrate Jeanene's last night in Barcelona. We walked a bit and ended up having dinner near home (pasta this time!) before headed on to The Whiskey Museum for drinks. There's a story from this night that includes a couple from Michigan, a big imposing guy, and stupidity, but I'm not going to spell it out here. If you're interested, let me know and I'll tell you in person. :)
Around 12 (which is GOOD for us! We got out of the house before 2!) we headed over to the Placa de Catalunya to catch one of the buses for a tour. One of the touts for a bus company approached us and convinced us to with their tour other than the more popular Bus Touristic--which turned out to be a great thing! The lines were shorter and we got to see the whole city instead of just a portion of it. We hopped on board, paid our fee, and headed up to the open-air top deck to plug in our headphones and start the tour.
As the bus snaked it's way through the city, we we able to revisit some areas of town that we had already seen, which was nice. It was almost like reminiscing (even if it was only a few days ago). We passed by the Gaudi houses, wound through the Exampile area with it's beautiful facades and balconies, and moved north to pass by Parc Guell. After showing Stuart the hill that we had to climb to get to the park, the bus moved south into the more urban/city area of Barcelona. We got of the bus here to do a little shopping and get a cafe con leche. We popped into a little bistro, had some tapas and coffee and wandered down the street (Diagonal, I believe) and shopped a bit. We then caught a new bus to move to the football stadium and into Mont Juic.
This was a new area for most of us as we had not yet ventured too far west. Mont Juic is a large hill/small mountain in Barcelona that holds a lot of the Olympic venues as well as a castle and other regal looking buildings. We got to see the Olympic spire, which I THINK is the one that had the guy shoot a flaming arrow into it to light it, as well as Olympic circle where a number of sports were played. When we got to the Miro museum, we again got off the bus to check it out.
Now, I'm not a big art fan, so I don't have much to say here. The museum was nice. I recognized some of the art. The guy was obviously talented. I didn't get most of it.
Once we left the museum, we decided to see if we could walk to the castle that was at the top of Mont Juic. We didn't really know the way but thought we'd give it a shot. About 45 minutes and a few hundred feet later, we made it. The walk was pretty much uphill, but along the way we got some amazing views of the city and were surrounded by trees and nature. Not a bad thing!
The castle itself was kind of need (we didn't poke around much) but it afforded the best views of the city by far--we could see EVERYTHING. The port, the beaches, Sagrada Familia, the big phallic-looking building, La Rambla, etc. After a quick snack, we decided to take the funicular down to catch the bus and move on with our tour.
After getting back on the bus, we were all pretty beat. We sat up top and just enjoyed the drive down Mont Juic, into Port Vell, by Barcelonetta, and by Olympic Village. The tour ended up back where we started and we hopped off to head home.
Later that night, we went out to dinner to celebrate Jeanene's last night in Barcelona. We walked a bit and ended up having dinner near home (pasta this time!) before headed on to The Whiskey Museum for drinks. There's a story from this night that includes a couple from Michigan, a big imposing guy, and stupidity, but I'm not going to spell it out here. If you're interested, let me know and I'll tell you in person. :)
Sunday, May 20, 2007
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