We're back from our trip to London and Paris - actually we got back last Monday night, I've just been too busy to update my blog. It's hard to whittle down 1800 pictures to 30 or so of the highlights.
Our trip started in London. After our 9 hour transatlantic flight (LOVE the tvs in the back of the headrests on the planes and the 200 free movies!!), we landed in London around 9 am (3 am US Central time). After making our way through immigration we got on the Tube and went off to our hotel. Around 3 pm we met up with our tour group. There were 26 other people in our group from all over the US. Our tour was through Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door. We highly recommend his tours - small group, they take care of everything, and you really learn about the history and culture of a place. Our guide's name was Martin. He was from Wales. Martin was great fun and had a fun personality. Chip and I ate dinner with him one night in London at an Italian restaurant called Ask. It was nice to get to know him more and talk about life in the United Kingdom and how their economy is going through a similar time like ours is.
I found London to be clean, friendly for the most part, and full of interesting history. It was weird to see all the cars driving on the left side of the road. After nearly getting run over by several taxis, I finally figured out which way to look when crossing the street.
Some of the sights we saw in London were: the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, took a Thames River cruise, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the British Museum and Library. We saw the crown jewels, Henry VIII's armor, the Rosetta Stone, the Gutenberg Bible, pages from Leonardo da Vinci's journal (in his own handwriting), and many other neat things.
One of my favorite places to see was Westminster Abbey. You couldn't take any pictures inside, but I wish we could have. The architecture was amazing, especially the ceiling detail in the Henry the VII Chapel. One neat thing were all the people buried there: Sir Isaac Newton, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and George Fredrick Handel just to name a few. Like them or hate them, these people had an impact on our lives. The Abbey is also where every king and queen of England was crowned.
After a few days in London we took the Eurostar train to Paris. The train ride lasted about 2.5 hours and went under the English Channel. We arrived in Paris' Gare du Nord. I was SO excited to be there. From the train station our group got on a bus and headed out to our hotel. Along the way we saw the Moulin Rouge, the Champs Elysee, the Arc de Triomphe, and made a quick stop at the Trocadero to get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower - one of many for Chip and I.
Paris was as wonderful as I hoped it be, though there was a lot of graffiti and pigeons everywhere. We found the people to be very nice and treated us well. It was fun to get to use my french. I was very proud of how hard Chip worked to learn key phrases and how he always tried to speak french when we went out.
Some sights we saw in Paris were the: Eiffel Tower, Seine River cruise, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, Saint Chapelle, the Conciergerie (prison where Marie Antoinette was kept before going to the guillotine), countless museums including the Louvre, Montmatre, and several others. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Rodin's The Thinker, Whistler's Mother, several Van Gogh paintings, and Monet's Waterlilies. All were amazing! I still can't believe how many original paintings we saw! I was so happy when Chip finally agreed with me how cool it is to see the real painting as opposed to a print. You can see the brush strokes these famous artists made on the canvas as they painted, the globs of paint, and their signature. That is just the coolest thing to me!
Our last day in Paris we took the train out to the Palace of Versailles where King Louis the XIV, XV, and XVI lived. The size and opulence of the palace was still amazing even considering today's standards. Again, it was just the coolest thing to be in a place where so much history took place. We tour the palace and saw the famous Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed that ended WWI. We also saw Marie Antoinette's bedroom. Our audio guide said 19 princes and princesses were born in that room and 2 queens died there.
After 10 wonderful and action-packed days we boarded a plane for home. I always get vacation let-down when I have to come back to real life. This time was no different. At least I have the 1800 pictures and dvd of videos to remind me of what a wonderful time we had.
Ok, ok time for the pictures! Click here for about 30 of the pictures from our trip. I'd love to write more about my trip, but know most of you are falling asleep at the keyboard right now. Even my mother won't read it all, she'll just scroll down to the pictures so don't feel bad :) Enjoy!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
anniversaire heureux et bon voyage
Today is Chip's and my 5th Anniversary! Yay! Five years have gone by pretty fast it seems. I'm very grateful to have such a wonderful husband who takes such good care of me and loves me.
In celebration of our anniversary we are taking a trip to London and, drum roll please....Paris!!! I'm over-the-moon excited to be going to Paris!! I can't wait to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, go to the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa (!). I also plan to eat my weight in crepes and pastries :) I promise I'll post tons of pictures when we get back. Until then....au revior mes amis!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
old friends, new town
This past weekend we went to Tallahassee to see some old friends, help some other friends move to town, and see a show 15 years in the making.
On Friday afternoon we went to the Leon County Civic Center and saw Cirque du Soleil's show Saltimbanco. I have been wanting to see it for 15 years. Long story short, when I was turning 13 this show was in Chicago (where I lived at the time) and I wanted to go for my birthday. I ended up not getting to go, but 15 years later I made it! Chip and I both enjoyed the show. Cirque's shows are always artistically beautiful and fun to watch.
While in Tallahassee we got to see our friends Joel and Kristine. It was great getting to hang out with them and catch up. Kristine is almost 12 weeks pregnant, so it was cute to see her starting to show. I also realized this weekend that I have known Joel for 10 years - that's a long time! I can credit Joel for introducing me to Chip - thanks!
On Saturday we helped welcome our other friends Austin and Ashley to Tallahassee from Jacksonville. Austin is starting FSU's Medical school in just a couple of weeks. I still think it is too perfect that the biggest UF Gator fan I know is now a Seminole! Life can be funny!
As part of their welcome to town, Chip and I took them on a tour of FSU's campus. I showed them my old dorm and buildings I had classes in. Ashley even asked about the location of a certain "incident". The highlight of the tour was taking them to Doak Campbell Stadium. As luck would have it, the gate was open so we went inside. Austin, being the staunch Gator fan he is, was hesitant to enter, but we made him. Hello, he's a Seminole now!
Once we got inside we noticed the gate to the field was open, so we went out. It was SO tempting to go run out on the field, but there was a "Stay Off the Grass" sign. Not very official looking though. So after a moment of hesitation, I made a break for it. I didn't go far, but for those few seconds it was pretty awesome. How many people can say they ran on the turf at FSU's Stadium?
We had a great weekend! It was so great to get to spend time with everyone and help some great friends move closer to us! :)
Sunday, April 19, 2009
too perfect not to post
I had a moment of eupohoria a minute ago while logging into my Yahoo email. On Yahoo's homepage they have a highlight box of recent news & human interest stories. The one that was on there a few minutes ago was entitled "Eradicate this font." I said out loud, "I hope it is Comic Sans", and wouldn't you know when you click on the story it was about Comic Sans!! I'm glad to know there are others like me out there.
My distaste for Comic Sans began a few years ago when I first got involved in the world of graphic design. It's not that I hate it completely, it's just used too much and in the wrong places. Comic Sans is great for something geared towards children, though I think there are better fonts. It is not, however, suited for anything meant for anyone ages 10 & up. The article sums it up best when they say using Comic Sans on anything and everything is like "showing up for a black-tie event in a clown costume." I couldn't say it better myself.
So please, next time you are doing a PowerPoint or making a flyer think about the font you are using - and refrain from using Comic Sans.
My distaste for Comic Sans began a few years ago when I first got involved in the world of graphic design. It's not that I hate it completely, it's just used too much and in the wrong places. Comic Sans is great for something geared towards children, though I think there are better fonts. It is not, however, suited for anything meant for anyone ages 10 & up. The article sums it up best when they say using Comic Sans on anything and everything is like "showing up for a black-tie event in a clown costume." I couldn't say it better myself.
So please, next time you are doing a PowerPoint or making a flyer think about the font you are using - and refrain from using Comic Sans.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
deep in the heart of texas
For my spring break this year I went to Austin, TX to visit one of my closest friends, Bethany. As always, we had a great time catching up and hanging out. It was sad to go home; I wish we lived closer to one another so we could see each other more often.
Heres a few pictures of the highlights...
Heres a few pictures of the highlights...
Sunday, March 29, 2009
al-b-quirky
Last week Chip and I returned from a trip to Albuquerque, NM. Chip was out there for a computer seminar for work, so I decided to fly out there at the end of his training to see the sights.
ABQ is quite different from the humid, flat terrain of Florida. It was nice to see something different. My sinuses, and skin, didn't quite adjust so well. I had nosebleeds and very dry skin. Oh well!
While in ABQ we went to the Biological Park, home to the zoo, botanical garden and aquarium. I loved the zoo! It was well set up so you could see all of the animals closely, plus they were active since it was a glorious, non-humid 65 degrees. We also went on the Sandia Tram. It was fun to ride in a glass box dangling from a cable thousands of feet above the craggy rocks below. It is the world's longest tramway as well. From tower 2 to 3 is over a mile! You can barely see tower 3 in the distance when you pass tower 2! The view from the top was great, you could see for miles.
The highlight of the trip was going on a hot air balloon ride. Albuquerque is famous for their international balloon fiesta every October. It was fun to glide through the air in a big, colorful balloon. Our captain, Randy, was very nice and has been flying hot air balloons for 28 years. Can you imagine doing that as a job? Man, my job is boring!
Here is a slide show of some of the highlights:
In addition to all of the activities and sight seeing we did, we ate a lot too. Chip and I try to stick to a "no chain restaurants" rule while on vacation. We pretty much stuck to it the whole time we were there.
Of course, ABQ is full of new Mexican/southwestern food. So our first night there we ate at El Pinto. It was pretty good. All dinners were served with sopapillas - fried bread. You pour honey on it and eat it to fan the flames of the chilis - that are in everything! If you aren't a spice fan like me, go for the green chilis since they tend to be mild.
Another restaurant I enjoyed was called La Provence. We had a friendly french man named Jean Francois as our server. He was very attentive and very nice. Chip and I had croque monsieur's - a ham and Gruyere cheese sandwich with bechamel (white sauce) and baked in the oven. Delicious!
We also ate at the Frontier Restaurant which was right down the street from La Provence. This place should totally be on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." It was a fun place that is crazy busy! It has been there for 38+ years and apparently is popular. The food was pretty good, too. Most of the places we went to eat were around the University of New Mexico. There just seemed to be a lot of fun places to eat there with a wide array of food types.
We drove by a place called the Dog House on our first day in ABQ. I loved the sign because it reminded me of my dog Frank! It is an old place that serves, you guessed it, hotdogs. I'm not a big hot dog fan, but we ate their one night after eating a big lunch. The food was actually pretty good.
Before we left for ABQ I looked online for places that sell cupcakes. Ever since going to the Magnolia Bakery in NYC and I have renewed love for these tasty treats. I did a google search and found 2 places to go. Both had the most amazing array of flavors I've ever seen. I knew I had to eat a cupcake everyday I was there - and I did. I had a chocolate chip cookie dough, s'mores, grandma betty, and red velvet cupcake. All were tasty! We got them from Cupcakeology. Check out the website and drool!
In the mean time, enjoy these pictures of our tasty travels!
Well, that's the highlights of our trip. It was a lot of fun. This week I am headed out to Austin, TX to see Bethany. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures and stories to share from that trip. We always have fun and crazy times when we get together. I'm so excited to see her!
ABQ is quite different from the humid, flat terrain of Florida. It was nice to see something different. My sinuses, and skin, didn't quite adjust so well. I had nosebleeds and very dry skin. Oh well!
While in ABQ we went to the Biological Park, home to the zoo, botanical garden and aquarium. I loved the zoo! It was well set up so you could see all of the animals closely, plus they were active since it was a glorious, non-humid 65 degrees. We also went on the Sandia Tram. It was fun to ride in a glass box dangling from a cable thousands of feet above the craggy rocks below. It is the world's longest tramway as well. From tower 2 to 3 is over a mile! You can barely see tower 3 in the distance when you pass tower 2! The view from the top was great, you could see for miles.
The highlight of the trip was going on a hot air balloon ride. Albuquerque is famous for their international balloon fiesta every October. It was fun to glide through the air in a big, colorful balloon. Our captain, Randy, was very nice and has been flying hot air balloons for 28 years. Can you imagine doing that as a job? Man, my job is boring!
Here is a slide show of some of the highlights:
In addition to all of the activities and sight seeing we did, we ate a lot too. Chip and I try to stick to a "no chain restaurants" rule while on vacation. We pretty much stuck to it the whole time we were there.
Of course, ABQ is full of new Mexican/southwestern food. So our first night there we ate at El Pinto. It was pretty good. All dinners were served with sopapillas - fried bread. You pour honey on it and eat it to fan the flames of the chilis - that are in everything! If you aren't a spice fan like me, go for the green chilis since they tend to be mild.
Another restaurant I enjoyed was called La Provence. We had a friendly french man named Jean Francois as our server. He was very attentive and very nice. Chip and I had croque monsieur's - a ham and Gruyere cheese sandwich with bechamel (white sauce) and baked in the oven. Delicious!
We also ate at the Frontier Restaurant which was right down the street from La Provence. This place should totally be on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." It was a fun place that is crazy busy! It has been there for 38+ years and apparently is popular. The food was pretty good, too. Most of the places we went to eat were around the University of New Mexico. There just seemed to be a lot of fun places to eat there with a wide array of food types.
We drove by a place called the Dog House on our first day in ABQ. I loved the sign because it reminded me of my dog Frank! It is an old place that serves, you guessed it, hotdogs. I'm not a big hot dog fan, but we ate their one night after eating a big lunch. The food was actually pretty good.
Before we left for ABQ I looked online for places that sell cupcakes. Ever since going to the Magnolia Bakery in NYC and I have renewed love for these tasty treats. I did a google search and found 2 places to go. Both had the most amazing array of flavors I've ever seen. I knew I had to eat a cupcake everyday I was there - and I did. I had a chocolate chip cookie dough, s'mores, grandma betty, and red velvet cupcake. All were tasty! We got them from Cupcakeology. Check out the website and drool!
In the mean time, enjoy these pictures of our tasty travels!
Well, that's the highlights of our trip. It was a lot of fun. This week I am headed out to Austin, TX to see Bethany. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures and stories to share from that trip. We always have fun and crazy times when we get together. I'm so excited to see her!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
doing my civic duty/the bachelor sucks (yes, i watch it)
A few weeks ago I got the dreaded summons for jury duty in the mail. I had to call Sunday afternoon to see if they needed me to come in or not - most of the cases plea out before they go to trial so they don't need the jury. They did release the jurors - numbers 220-500...my number was 123. So I would be heading down to the courthouse the following day.
I have only been summoned one other time, while I was in college. Since I wasn't in the county I was excused. This time I wasn't so lucky.
I got down to the courthouse at a little after 8 am and went through security and was taken to the Juror Waiting Room. There were about 200 chairs in there. Eventually the room filled and the Clerk of Courts came in and swore us all in. He said that there were 4 cases on the docket that day and that a computer would randomly select the names of the potential jury pool. If selected, you went on to be questioned by the attorneys who would decide if they wanted you or not. Then we watched a 15 minute video about what you do as a juror and the different types of cases you would hear.
After the video they called the first group - my name wasn't called. About an hour later they called 2 more groups and again my name wasn't called. Another hour passed, and they called the final group...again my name wasn't selected. They held the remaining 30+ of us who hadn't been called for other cases to wait until the first group came back. If the attorneys had rejected them all they would need us. Of course, they didn't and I was eventually sent on my way.
I was a little disappointed. I was kind of hoping I'd get picked. I've never been on a jury before or in court and thought it might be a neat experience. Instead I got to miss 3.5 hours of work and sit in a room watching Fox News. Oh well, at least it made the rest of my day go by fast!
Changing subjects, I watched the finale of The Bachelor last night. Yes, I watch that show. Every time it comes on I say I'm not going to watch it and then due to a lack of other interesting programming being on I get sucked in. This season was much like other seasons. A previous bachelor reject gets the tables turned and now gets to be the one doing the picking and since they know what it's like being dumped on national TV, they won't be anything like that. WRONG. Jason, the bachelor, is just like every other moron who goes on that show hoping for true love...in a completely unrealistic, highly-staged-for-ratings ploy by ABC. Needless to say, this bachelor sank to a new low by proposing to one girl, dumping her on the After the Final Rose show following the finale, and then proceeding to hook-up with the girl he didn't propose to some 30 minutes later. It was awful. Judging by the backlash I've read about online today, most others agree.
While I type this entry, I just saw on the news that yet another person Obama has picked for his cabinet has "accidentally" forgotten to pay a portion of their taxes. Seriously?! Several of his appointees have had this same "unfortunate lapse of memory". What is wrong with people!? Can anyone be honest anymore? Everyday I watch the news and see billions more of money we don't have being spent on some ailing bank or company and then I hear about the president's budget that apparently contains "earmarks" that he swore once he got into office that he'd eliminate. Like the high speed railway from CA to Las Vegas and something about tatoo parlors. Give me a break! Can someone with some integrity, a backbone, and some decent ideas please step forward and run our country! So much for change! We need it. We're not getting it.
Anyways, off my soapbox I step. I didn't intend to rant, but I couldn't help my self. I'm sure some people may disagree with me. That's ok. You're entitled to your opinion, I'm entitled to mine.
Well, off I go to make dinner. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing interesting to talk about. Hah!
I have only been summoned one other time, while I was in college. Since I wasn't in the county I was excused. This time I wasn't so lucky.
I got down to the courthouse at a little after 8 am and went through security and was taken to the Juror Waiting Room. There were about 200 chairs in there. Eventually the room filled and the Clerk of Courts came in and swore us all in. He said that there were 4 cases on the docket that day and that a computer would randomly select the names of the potential jury pool. If selected, you went on to be questioned by the attorneys who would decide if they wanted you or not. Then we watched a 15 minute video about what you do as a juror and the different types of cases you would hear.
After the video they called the first group - my name wasn't called. About an hour later they called 2 more groups and again my name wasn't called. Another hour passed, and they called the final group...again my name wasn't selected. They held the remaining 30+ of us who hadn't been called for other cases to wait until the first group came back. If the attorneys had rejected them all they would need us. Of course, they didn't and I was eventually sent on my way.
I was a little disappointed. I was kind of hoping I'd get picked. I've never been on a jury before or in court and thought it might be a neat experience. Instead I got to miss 3.5 hours of work and sit in a room watching Fox News. Oh well, at least it made the rest of my day go by fast!
Changing subjects, I watched the finale of The Bachelor last night. Yes, I watch that show. Every time it comes on I say I'm not going to watch it and then due to a lack of other interesting programming being on I get sucked in. This season was much like other seasons. A previous bachelor reject gets the tables turned and now gets to be the one doing the picking and since they know what it's like being dumped on national TV, they won't be anything like that. WRONG. Jason, the bachelor, is just like every other moron who goes on that show hoping for true love...in a completely unrealistic, highly-staged-for-ratings ploy by ABC. Needless to say, this bachelor sank to a new low by proposing to one girl, dumping her on the After the Final Rose show following the finale, and then proceeding to hook-up with the girl he didn't propose to some 30 minutes later. It was awful. Judging by the backlash I've read about online today, most others agree.
While I type this entry, I just saw on the news that yet another person Obama has picked for his cabinet has "accidentally" forgotten to pay a portion of their taxes. Seriously?! Several of his appointees have had this same "unfortunate lapse of memory". What is wrong with people!? Can anyone be honest anymore? Everyday I watch the news and see billions more of money we don't have being spent on some ailing bank or company and then I hear about the president's budget that apparently contains "earmarks" that he swore once he got into office that he'd eliminate. Like the high speed railway from CA to Las Vegas and something about tatoo parlors. Give me a break! Can someone with some integrity, a backbone, and some decent ideas please step forward and run our country! So much for change! We need it. We're not getting it.
Anyways, off my soapbox I step. I didn't intend to rant, but I couldn't help my self. I'm sure some people may disagree with me. That's ok. You're entitled to your opinion, I'm entitled to mine.
Well, off I go to make dinner. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing interesting to talk about. Hah!
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