16
Scotland: Day 1
Christian and I headed to SFO Sunday morning and checked in at the United Airlines desk to kick start our Scotland trip (thank you Gregg for getting us there)! Our United clerk, Ms. Kristina San Pedro, was THE nicest airline worker we have EVER encountered. She was so chipper and friendly; I completely appreciated her for contributing to a great start to our vacation.
I was pretty nervous while waiting in line to get through security, simply because this was my first trip out of the country. Everything went fine though and we had plenty of time to spare. We decided to grab a little bit of food from “Deli Up Cafe.” Christian thinks it’s a play on “belly Up” but who would want to name their business with a play on those words???
After my very so-so salad, we went to wait patiently for our plane to board. Turned out to be the longest line ever once we got up to get on the plane. Our seats were in the last row of the plane by the restrooms (which turned out to be pretty okay – no stench and lines weren’t annoying). I was on the aisle and Christian was one seat in. Each seat had movie screens on the back and a channel guide of movies and shows. It ended up being that only two channels would work for me, so I watched “Changeling” (which was very good, by the way) and “Twilight” (turned out to be a bit fluffy and over dramatic, but still glad I saw it). At two points during the flight, they served us Morocco Chicken, salad, veggies, and an oatmeal chewie as one meal and turkey sandwich with cheese and yogurt. I crocheted some, listened to music some, tried to sleep some (but failed miserably at it). My back was killing me by 3/4 of the way into the trip and I couldn’t wait to get up and about.
We landed in Heathrow at around 7 and had to go through customs (was pretty nervous about that and no one there was exactly friendly). We then went through security AGAIN – that was annoying. Once we were all cleared and arrived at our gate, we took the opportunity to make our first purchase with the British pound by purchasing water and orange juice.
We ended up being in line behind an old American couple while boarding the connecting flight from Heathrow to Edinburgh. They were a bit funny like old couples can be, but the wife TOTALLY reminded me of Clark Kent. She was wearing a bright red long-sleeve top and uber-bright blue pants. Either she is a very proud American citizen who wanted to display her pride for all others to see, or she was a closet Superman freak. I vote for the latter since it had potential to be so much more interesting of the a story.
I was finally able to fall asleep for about 20-30 minutes in to the connecting flight, but that really wasn’t a whole lot of rest that I could have taken advantage of. Oh well. On a side note, it’s 830 PM Scotland time as I draft this post, and I’m nodding off a bit and losing track of where I am, so pardon me if I stop making sense at some point or miss something… All right, back to connecting flight. It was nice and sunny in London (would have been great for photos) and then became uber-foggy as we headed into Edinburgh. We landed a bit early and had our baggage claimed a ready to go pretty early on. We had never offiicially discussed the specifics of our pick-up with Christian’s sister Stefania (aside from agreeing that she and her boyfriend would pick us up), so we weren’t sure whether the default thing to do was to sit in the baggable area team and wait, or find a spot curbside and wait. We figured the easier thing for them to do was to pick up curbside, so we went with that guess. After doing a sweep of baggage claim (in case they were in there somewhere) We waited for almost half an hour before her boyfriend came out and got us.
Ooops for not connecting better about that tidbit of info.
We went back to her place, dropped stuff off, (no elevators, btw) and stopped by her Forestry Commission Office to check the place out and meet the people. Appparently, the Forestry commission has a guy in their lunch room that makes deep fried Mars Bars. MMmmmm they were good. And so bad for me. After meeting her co-workers and getting a tour of the office and greenhouses, we decided to head to the Rosslyn Chapel since we were in the neighborgood. For those who are unfamiliar with “The Da Vinci Code,” the chapel is the setting for a pivotal plot point in the book. We were a bit disappointed when we got there. There was construction all over the place and admission into the mid-constructed/restored chapel was more than we were willing to pay, PLUS they didn’t allow picture taking once inside the chapel. It would have been awesome to have seen the chapel closer than we already were, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
Once we were done sneaking around the perimeters of Rosslyn Chapel to get peeks of the building, we went on our merry way to Costco. That’s right. We went to Costco in Scotland. We’re heading up to a cabin by a lake for the rest of the week, so the Costco shopping trip was for food for all of us while we’re up there. Christian and I each bought a hot dog and coke (even though he gave his sister his soda cup – sacrifices for lent). Stefania ordered this thing called a “jacket potato” which was basically a baked potato topped with stuff. She got one topped with Tuna. Yeah, I thought it was a hair weird too.
Once done, we stopped by Stefania’s boyfriend’s (Keith) flat in order to pick up his Wii to take with us while we are up in the cabin. Boy, we sure know how to have a good time, huh.
Once we dropped all of the Costco groceries back at Stefania’s place, we headed out to a local bar that was featuring Irish dancers (one of which is one of Stefania’s good friends and former flatmate).
The performance was fun! Once that was over, we headed out, took a few photos of the castle near the bars, and then taxied back to the apartment.
I can’t believe I managed to get through all of this. Some of it may not make sense… So sorry about that. I’ll edit the post to include pictures from the day – I just need to rest now *yawn* Hope to post again in a few days if not sooner.
12
Scotland, Here We Come!
Headed to Scotland on Sunday… it’s my first time out of the country (I can’t count Ensenada and Catalina, Mexico – I just can’t). So excited! I’ll try to post photos and/or blog while I’m there, but we’ll see what happens…
1
Unsatisfying Start to 2009
Christian and I decided to get some shopping done today and boy was it not what we imagined or wanted… at all. We went to Michael’s with my 50% off coupon but I wasn’t able to find a great big-ticket item to use it on. I ended up using it to save a whopping $2.50 on treat bags. We then went to Borders to use up a $10 gift card I received from participating in a focus group at work. We were on the hunt for calendars since we didn’t get all of the calendars we wanted for Christmas. No good wall calendars at Borders (at least not at the one in Milpitas). I picked up two desk calendars (Scrapbook stickers and “How to Cook Everything”) but no calendars for Christian. We went to pay for my stuff and the cashier scans my card and tells me it isn’t valid. Apparently, whoever scanned it to put money on it didn’t punch in the number correctly, so my gift card was useless.
Moving on to the Great Mall:
Since there were no good wall calendars at Borders, we decided to try the calendar store in the Great Mall. After unsuccessfully scouring the Great Mall parking lot for 15 minutes for a spot, Christian dropped me off to shop on my own while he continued on his hunt for a space. It only took him a total of 25 minutes of roaming the lot before he found a spot. I met up with him at the calendar store where there were no good calendars left. We then decided to go to Old Navy since I had a gift card and it was right across the way. The place was packed and things were a mess. I found a couple of things but really wanted a knitted sweater that I saw hanging by a 50% off sign so I had the cashier price check it for me before ringing me up. Of course, it was not 50% off… even though all of the sweaters were hanging in that same 50% off section! Idiots.
We headed to the Skechers store because we are both on the hunt for new shoes so we can chuck our worn out ones. I found a pair that I liked – no wait – I found a single shoe in my size that I liked (its partner was the display shoe with scuff marks all over it). Christian found a pair that he liked but not in his size. He asked an employee if he could check for a size 14 and the guy automatically shot him down and told us that they didn’t carry 14s in the store. Total lie. We’d purchased multiple size 14 shoes from that store in the past. Granted, this time there really was no size 14 for that particular shoe (we insisted that he check the back for us anyway) but to not even put the effort in before shooting us down just pissed me off a little. Whatever. After that disappointing venture, we decided to leave the mall.
Next up – Target:
I found most of the items on my shopping list there, so that wasn’t terrible. The annoying part of this trip was the clearance suitcase that we found for Lily that we weren’t allowed to buy! I wanted to pick up a little suitcase for Lily to hold all of her food, treats, and toys when we drop her off at my parents’ house or take her on trips. It was annoying to pack three little bags for her, so having one suitcase would have been nice and organized. We came across a cute pink camo rolling suitcase that was clearanced for $17.50 with just enough room for all of her stuff. When the cashier scanned the item, the computer gave her an error and then bold red text appeared on the screen that said, “DO NOT SELL THIS ITEM.” Apparently, the suitcase was recalled and they were not allowed to sell it. We just wanted it for our Dog! Lame. Stupid. Pissed me off.
The only fully successful shopping destination we hit was Walgreens. We were in and out in 5 minutes – no fuss. Of all places. *Sigh*
27
Thanksgiving Weekend
Happy Thanksgiving!
Christian and I are in Las Vegas, Nevada again this year to enjoy Thanksgiving with his aunt. We flew out here yesterday morning and his parents flew out here last night. It’s a tad rainy here, so I expect to be drenched for Black Friday shopping tomorrow. We checked out the Planet Hollywood hotel yesterday, had lunch at the Spice Market Buffet (I hate waaaay too much), and Christian played a few hands of Blackjack.
The turkey is in the oven, appetizers are out, and there are a bajillion people over at his aunt’s house (okay, not a bajillion, but maybe 12 or so). I’m excited for dinner. Thanksgiving meals are always so good. This day always makes me wish I was home with my own family though. Just a small part of me. It’s not so bad because my parents don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. I just want to force them to one year though, ya know? Today is like any other day for them, except that they are spending it with our dog Lily while we’re away.
Black Friday shopping will begin around 3 AM for us at Fry’s. I don’t think that getting in line at 3AM will be early enough to score the laptops we’ve been asked to buy for people, but whatever… we’ll see. Store opens at 5. Last year, we lined up at Best Buy at 3:30AM here in Vegas and the line was already wrapped outside of the parking lot. Did I also mention it’s raining here? It’s going to be a cold, wet Black Friday.
We head out to Cheesecake Factory for lunch tomorrow with his family and will be flying home tomorrow night. Someone is going to have to roll me on to the plane at the rate we’re eating. I’m feeling a tad blubberish at the moment.
That’s the update from Vegas. Hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying their Thanksgiving Holiday!
27
Dislikes
I very much strongly dislike walking my dog. I will be dislocating my wrist or shoulder one day, thanks to her.
17
San Jose 48 Hour Film Project 2008
The 48 Hour Film Project for San Jose started 7:30 PM Friday and ended 7:30 PM tonight. The genre Christian & Jason pulled was fantasy. The required prop was a pin. The required character was Chris or Christie Doyle the drummer. The required line of dialogue was “What just happened?”
Christian & Jason, of course, went in full force and came out with an excellent end product (in my opinion). I spent Friday night – Saturday morning cranking out two wizard costumes and assembled several props. Christian had to take Lily to obedience class alone Saturday morning because I was way behind schedule and was still assembling wizard robe #2. Thank goodness class ran late because that bought me an extra 15 much-needed minutes to sew sleeves on! I played photographer all day Saturday while the guys shot their footage. At about 5 PM, I started feeling the onset of exhaustion and realized that my mind was a little gone when I started texting in Gibberish to Jason’s wife, Sharon. After 40 sleepless hours, I finally hit the sack for a much-needed 11 hours last night. I still feel completely exhausted, but it’s very satisfying to know everything we accomplished in a mere two days.
I’ll post photos and pictures as soon as they get uploaded.
The film will be shown on the big screen at the Camera 12 theaters downtown this coming Wednesday for those of you who are in need of plans Wednesday night and want to support us (at least help vote for us to win the audience award!) It’s the Camera 12 Cinemas on Second street. The films start at 7:30. Hope to see some of you there!
11
Family Giving Tree – Back to School Drive
Christian and I went shopping for our donation to the Back to School Drive being hosted at Yahoo!. Shopping was always my most favorite part about going back to school. We loaded up on tons of goodies for a low-income 6th-8th grade girl. We weren’t allowed to buy red or blue backpacks, so I chose purple (because pink was just a hair too girly). I hope she likes everything we got her.
Yes, that is Purell anti-bacterial gel. Cleanliness is important so don’t knock it.
If you have the opportunity, consider making a donation too. You can make a monetary donation or buy a backpack for some lucky kid. Visit the Family Giving Tree website for more info.
6
RIP Pillow
Lily ripped my handmade pillow (1 of 2) that I made for our couch almost 3 years ago to shreds. She pulled the blanket that was on the couch because it was sitting a little too close to her crate and the pillow must have moved right up against the crate bars. I’m a little sad and a little mad. Cuteness will not win this owner over this week. Nope.
3
Lily’s First Day of School – Follow Up
Lily went to her first session of obedience class yesterday. The session was an hour long at Sirius Dog Training with Eleanor Stewart in South San Jose. Great instructor. She’s super-nice, direct, and uber-knowledgeable. Lily was only second-worst in class. She wasn’t THE worst, but her excitement (causing her to constantly whine) certainly put her up there. Lessons learned for next class:
- Don’t feed her breakfast in the morning or she’ll be done with treats before class is over.
- Bring paper towels in case she decides to hurl in class (Lily didn’t do this, another dog did).
- Bring tiny bites of soft, chewy food instead of her usual crunchy treats – she takes too long to consume those.
I’m uber-glad that she didn’t pee in class from being so excited, but I certainly hope that we work with her enough this week to make that more manageable by next class ’cause it’s a little embarrassing.
2
Lily’s First Day of School
Today is Lily’s first day of obedience school. We leave in about half an hour for Sirius Dog Training – south San Jose location. It will be 6 weeks, an hour a week on Saturdays starting at 9 AM. I’m not expecting any miracles, but I’m hoping to learn how to get her to listen to us. Walking is one of the biggest problems we have with her, so we’ll see what they have to say today. I’m not too sure about what to expect. Look for a follow-up to this post!
14
Lily Houdini
I wish I took a picture of this today, but when Christian and I got home, we were greeted at the door by none other than Lily. This was a huge shock to us because we crate her during the day while we’re at work. I rushed in the house to figure out what had happened and found all of the toys that were in the crate strewn about the living room (3 toys). The PS3 controller that Christian left on the couch *ahem* was upside down on the floor. On my way to the bedroom, I found her blanket that was in the crate pulled halfway out the doorway. When I got to the crate, I discovered the crate liner about half a foot away from the actual crate itself, the crate door wide open, and the top handle lock (there are two on each door) somewhat chewed up. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to escape. No accidents in the house. Nothing chewed up except for the crate handle lock. No garbage to tissue paper torn to bits or anything. Aside from the condition of the crate, the toys, and the PS3 controller on the floor, nothing was messed up. Amazing. We’re still going to crate her. I vote to mount a Doggy Cam though.
3
Foxtails
Christian and I took Lily to the vet yesterday to get her checked out and cure her ear infection. We had to take her back this morning so they could sedate her to clean out her ears. Yeah, it was THAT bad. They found three of these babies stuck in her ear:
Um. Yuck. These little suckers are just nasty. Apparently, they work their way into the ear and fur and get stuck. We have to give her medication for the next few weeks: a pill to ingest and 5-6 drops in each ear twice a day, 12 hours apart. Good grief. At least she won’t be itchy and feel irritation in there anymore. *whew*
27
Lily
So… I meant to blog a lot sooner and I’m disappointed myself for taking so long. I meant to blog about what a cool birthday I had last week. Christian and I took a half day off of work to go see “The Happening” and then have dinner at Forbes Mill Steakhouse (which I highly recommend going to at least once in your lifetime… sooo good). This was the complimentary birthday dessert (kona coffee creme brulee):
I meant to blog about our trip to SB and LA to see Christian’s parents, the solstice parade, our LA friends, Santa Monica Yahoo! office, and the Nissan Live Sets Weezer concert. I’ll post all kinds of pics and write more about all of that later.
Today, I mainly just want to introduce you all to our newly adopted 1 year old Cocker Spaniel Lily (We were looking to adopt either Lily or a Lhasa Maltese mix named Violet – it was like an unintentional tribute to the Clemm girls, really).
So this is Lily right now:
She hails all the way from Southern California and made the big trip this morning, so she is a little wiped out. She is the most gentle, easy-going puppy I’ve ever met. She’s great and I can’t wait to see how we all get along together. More pics of her on my Flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleepyeve/sets/72157605858717361/
Enjoy the pics and I hope you all get to meet her someday!
10
Early B-Day Present
My early b-day present came in this:
Inside the box was this:
I love this guy!
Thank you for my awesome new lens!
9
Summertime Blues
Summer’s got a real knack for making a girl feel like a beached whale. Your body expands in heat and I have just been feeling so fat and yucky this past weekend (and today… and probably the rest of the week). I can’t imagine how my mom must have felt when she was pregnant with me in the summer heat. Kudos to her for sticking it out though. I guess I should really be the one to celebrate her sacrifices on my birthday (in a little over a week) instead of getting others to celebrate my getting older and fatter (but hopefully a little wiser).
Summertime means getting out of those jackets and winter coats that have been hiding that muffin top. Yuck.
I’ll blog more positively tomorrow. Today, I just want to express my disgust with my summer body.