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Sunday, January 28, 2007 |
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Well, the snow has come and gone. It's now warmed back up to a point where you can go out in a tshirt and not freeze. My project at work is almost done, and im finding myself suddenly with more time on my hands... Atleast for a couple days until the next project starts. So I thought I'd post about my upcoming trip. In March I'm taking off for 5 weeks of vacation split between London and Italy! I shouldnt be spending the money on this trip, but my want to see friends prevailed over my need to save money. Plus, I got $500 round trip tickets to London! :D My destinations are already set, and involve mainly hoping around to see different friends, with a little bit of sightseeing thrown in. First stop is obviously London, where I'll be staying with Fede and hopefully seeing a few other friends who have moved up there. I'll be there for almost a week before flying down to Ancona and going down near Civitanova to see Emanuele, Matteo, Luca and most likely some of their friends who I've met a few times before. I'll only be there for a few days before hoping over to Macerata to see Jackie and Antonello for a few more days. After that its the train up to Milano to hang out with friends from school last year that are still up there. I'll also be hoping up north to see Carole for a day! I'll be spending about a week up there before flying down to Catania to stay with Caterina. Ive worked it out to be down there over easter weekend when she has some extra time off of work to hang out. Since it'll be my first time in Sicily, I'll also be doing a few touristy things on the days that she is working, and although I have a huge list of possible places to go, I havent decided on any and probably wont decide till Im there. Ill be there for about another week, maybe a little longer before getting a flight back up to London. I'll spend my last few days hanging out with Fede again before flying home. Its a lot of moving around, but I'll be in each place long enough that it shouldnt be too bad. Although I know each time I have to say goodbye to people its going to be hard! |
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Thursday, January 25, 2007 |
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This morning when I got to work (aka, big warehouse with no windows) it was sunny out, and not too terribly cold. When I left today, there was almost an inch of snow on the ground, and it was coming down hard! A couple miles away from the base though, the flakes started turning into slush and rain. When we got home nothing was coming down, but it was obvious that we had missed a show today while we were gone. I went on my normal walk around the neighborhood, and took a few photos:
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I enjoy knitting, but I've found that here in Williamsburg there isnt much use for scarves. This caused me a problem, cause lets face it, a girl only needs so many scarves when she never has a chance to wear them! So for Christmas this year I did a bit of knitting. Not as much as I was planning to, as I got a late start. But I did manage to to knit two scarves, one for my mom and one for Jackie. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of them before I mailed them off. I did get my mom to take a photo of the one I made for her though:  This scarf was also my first attempt at blocking. Obviously it didnt work so well, as the scarf still tends to curl up around the edges. My mom says she likes it this way though, so I suppose all is good. Also in the photo is this weird chicken ornament thing that I got for her. Somehow it seemed like something she would enjoy :) The pattern in the scarf is eyelet diamonds the whole way. Actually fairly easy to do, although a little time consumming. The scarf I made for Jackie was in the same yarn, but a different pattern. Her's looks a bit more like rounded fans one on top of the other. It was even more time consuming, but again, a simple pattern to follow. Perhaps later I'll take a picture of the picture in the pattern that I used and post that :D In other news, I'm finding myself with a lot of extra time on my hands in the mornings. I'm working on a project here in town everyday, but we dont leave until around 8.30 or 9.30 depending on the day. I like to give myself an hour to an hour and a half in the morning to get up, shower, read email and have coffee before leaving. And while I have my alarm set for 7.30, I havent actually heard it in over a week. My body keeps waking me up sooner. Yesterday at 6.30, and today at 6! Granted I have been going to bed around 10.30 or 11 at night, do I really need to be waking up before the sun has even started to peep out!? On the bright side, atleast by the time i get to work I'm wide awake! |
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Wednesday, January 03, 2007 |
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Okay Okay, so I know its been FOREVER since I've blogged. And I've got no outstanding excuses. But for those of you who may still read this, yes, I am alive! My trip to the west coast was wonderful. I saw family and friends and had a great time, despite some long rides on greyhound which left me missing the Italian train system. In Portland I went shopping with my mom, drank way too much wine with my aunt, and explained to my uncle my particular tastes in jewelry (he's into jewelry making). I went out to dinner with two old friends from high school, Paris and Debbie who I hadnt seen in a couple of years it seems like. We must have talked for an hour at the resturaunt before we realized that we should order! There is something great about old friends like them - even if you dont hang out with them very often, you're never at a lack of things to talk about when you do see them and the night always comes to an end way too soon. We decided that the next time we would have to do a 'slumber party' as a few hours at dinner just wasnt enough.
Right: My uncle tends to bring out the kid in me. From Portland my mom gave me and AJ (my friend who was in Senegal with the peace core) a ride down to Corvallis where we met up with our group of college friends for lunch. Luckily, despite forgetting that there was a Beaver home football game that day, we managed to avoid traffic, and slipped in to the restuuraunt between the crowd that was leaving when the game was over, and the crowd that had been at the game and was coming to eat. After lunch we were off to Bend to spend Halloween with friends. Silly me thought that I could get away without having a costume - not with my friends! When they discovered that I didnt have a costume, I was made into a Christmas tree, yes that's right, a tree. Lights and all. While it didnt rank up there with the best of my costumes, I was surprised about how many people knew what I was and complemented me on it.  Halloween weekend with friends in BendTwo days later it was back to Corvallis for AJ and me to spend more time with friends there. It was very surreal wondering around Corvallis, but not actually living there anymore. We quickly came to the realization, that Corvallis may be a good place to grow up, and go to school when you have friends around and other activities to keep you occupied, but after that, it's a sucky place to visit. Back up to Portland I found waiting for me a birthday present from my uncle, an Ipod video! I'd been wanting an ipod for a long time but never found the extra cash to spend on one. It was a great present to get and kept me occupied on the many flights I had to come. The next day I was off to San Fran where I met up with Kari when she got off of work. That night we went wondering through the Italian district which is by her apartment. It was odd to be walking down the street and hearing Italian spoke amongst the English! The only time I've really heard Italian spoke in America was at Jackie's wedding! I didnt have the opportunity to talk to anyone though, and rather enjoyed just walking around catching pieces of conversations without them knowing I could understand. The following morning, when we finally dragged ourselves out of bed, we headed to for our favorite passtime - shopping! After wondering through some stores we met up with Christie, another friend we studied with at OSU for tapas and a large pitcher of sangria - needless to say we were a bit happy when we left lunch. Several bus rides and more shopping later, we found ourselves back at Kari's apartment eating take out chow mein and getting ready to head to the club - It was my birthday at midnight! I have no idea what time we got home that night, only that I was both happy and tired from a great night out when we did.  Me, Kari and Christie before going outKari was back at work Monday morning and while I had plans to go explore the city more, when I woke up something told me it wasnt going to happen. I'd been fighting off a cold, but it finally caught up with me. I spent the next few days huddled up in Kari's bed while she worked, occasionally venturing out to the store. Thurs I was off again for another flight, this time to Reno to meet up with (yet another college friend) Jeff. It was great to see Jeff again, even if I was still a bit sick. Friday night we met up with some of his friends from work and went to a club to dance the night away. Despite being in Reno, I'm not much of a gambler so I only put $4 into the slot machines (and only that because it was my last day there and I had it in my pocket. Monday morning I was at the airport bright and early at 6.30 am, although I didnt get in to Norfolk till midnight. I'll spare you the deatails of the day, only that it was a lot of waiting! _________________________________ Since my trip life has been pretty normal. Work, sleep, watch tv, play with the cats, etc. Thanksgiving and Christmas were both fairly uneventful at home with Josh and Jen, although it was nice after last year to spend them with family. Now after a bit of a break for Christmas, I'm trying to get myself back into the work mode. Hopefully I wont be quite as bad about blogging this year, although its hard to come up with things to write about when everyday is the same. Perhaps I'll make some more knitting posts... who knows. I hope everyone has a great 2007! |
