Tuesday, February 24, 2009
A Solid Decision
Kevin started his new job at the beginning of December, and this week, for the first time, he is on an international trip. He is in England for five days...after coping with five week long international trips at his former company, this is nothing! It's so great, I feel like we finally have our life back! (Also, at the old company, Kevin flew coach on Continental. Now, he either flies in the company jet, or, in the case of this trip, business class on Virgin Atlantic. Yep, I think this was a good career move!)
Monday, February 2, 2009
Old Dog
When we were in Chicago, I got carded at 3 different bars, so I guess I have been feeling a little young and sassy lately. On Saturday, I decided that I was young and sassy enough to try something new and exciting, and I even managed to talk Kevin into risking life and limb with me--that's right, we took a snowboarding lesson! We ski. We aren't great, but we have schussed down intermediate trails in Lake Placid, Breckenridge and Lillehammer without falling. I didn't think that snowboarding could be that hard...I was wrong!
We went to a tiny little ski center by our house because they offer good deals on lift/equipment rental/lesson packages, and also because their hills looked small and gentle. Our instructor was maybe 16 at the most--I was right, snowboarding is a young and sassy sport!
He told us how to put our snowboards on, and after a couple of frustrated minutes, I was ready...all I had to do was stand up. Which I couldn't do. At all. Every time I started to stand, my snowboard started sliding, and I ended up flat on my back. Finally I flipped over on my stomach, got on my knees, and then, gracefully, butt in the air, I walked my hands backwards and I managed to stand. Young and sassy indeed--I believe I have seen toddlers right themselves using this technique!
Once I was upright, I snowboarded about 2 feet, and then firmly planted my face in the snow. The instructor explained that I needed to keep my toes up to avoid pitching forward, so on my next try, I fell flat on my back. This pattern of me struggling to stand, snowboarding a yard and then slamming into the ground went on for a good 15 minutes...I got snow in places that I didn't think snow could go! Up my nose, in my ears, in my underwear and beyond... Finally, after about 4 miserable attempts on the bunny hill, I kind of got it. I still fell 3 times on one tiny hill, but between the falling, I was sort of steering myself, and sort of slowing down and stopping when I intended to, and sort of loving it!
Kevin was also kind of getting the hang of it, so our wise teenage instructor decided we were ready to try the ski lift. Which we were not. Getting on the ski lift was okay, and riding the ski lift was okay, but disembarking was, um, agonizingly painful. I glided off, and for a couple seconds, I thought I would make it, but then I crashed. Kevin, who was right behind me, crashed into me--a snowboard with a full grown human attached hurts like hell when it rams into your shoulder blade! After I got my breath back, I did make it down the ever so slightly larger and steeper hill. (Don't get me wrong, I still fell, repeatedly, but moments of actual, honest to goodness snowboarding happened, too!)
I ache all over now--Advil helps a little, but I have been walking like an octogenarian since Saturday night. Who's young and sassy now? Not me! I used muscles I didn't even know I had, and I bruised every square inch of myself. I now know that skiing is nothing like snowboarding, in fact, just about every technique I would use to steer, stop and just keep myself upright while skiing caused me to pitch face first into the snow while snowboarding. Despite all the frustration and pain, I loved snowboarding, and I can't wait to try it again! Kevin is not so sure--I think he'll stick to gliding down mountains on his skis, while I tumble and crash down bunny hills on my snowboard!
We went to a tiny little ski center by our house because they offer good deals on lift/equipment rental/lesson packages, and also because their hills looked small and gentle. Our instructor was maybe 16 at the most--I was right, snowboarding is a young and sassy sport!
He told us how to put our snowboards on, and after a couple of frustrated minutes, I was ready...all I had to do was stand up. Which I couldn't do. At all. Every time I started to stand, my snowboard started sliding, and I ended up flat on my back. Finally I flipped over on my stomach, got on my knees, and then, gracefully, butt in the air, I walked my hands backwards and I managed to stand. Young and sassy indeed--I believe I have seen toddlers right themselves using this technique!
Once I was upright, I snowboarded about 2 feet, and then firmly planted my face in the snow. The instructor explained that I needed to keep my toes up to avoid pitching forward, so on my next try, I fell flat on my back. This pattern of me struggling to stand, snowboarding a yard and then slamming into the ground went on for a good 15 minutes...I got snow in places that I didn't think snow could go! Up my nose, in my ears, in my underwear and beyond... Finally, after about 4 miserable attempts on the bunny hill, I kind of got it. I still fell 3 times on one tiny hill, but between the falling, I was sort of steering myself, and sort of slowing down and stopping when I intended to, and sort of loving it!
Kevin was also kind of getting the hang of it, so our wise teenage instructor decided we were ready to try the ski lift. Which we were not. Getting on the ski lift was okay, and riding the ski lift was okay, but disembarking was, um, agonizingly painful. I glided off, and for a couple seconds, I thought I would make it, but then I crashed. Kevin, who was right behind me, crashed into me--a snowboard with a full grown human attached hurts like hell when it rams into your shoulder blade! After I got my breath back, I did make it down the ever so slightly larger and steeper hill. (Don't get me wrong, I still fell, repeatedly, but moments of actual, honest to goodness snowboarding happened, too!)
I ache all over now--Advil helps a little, but I have been walking like an octogenarian since Saturday night. Who's young and sassy now? Not me! I used muscles I didn't even know I had, and I bruised every square inch of myself. I now know that skiing is nothing like snowboarding, in fact, just about every technique I would use to steer, stop and just keep myself upright while skiing caused me to pitch face first into the snow while snowboarding. Despite all the frustration and pain, I loved snowboarding, and I can't wait to try it again! Kevin is not so sure--I think he'll stick to gliding down mountains on his skis, while I tumble and crash down bunny hills on my snowboard!
Monday, January 26, 2009
My Kind Of Town
Chicago was awesome (well, it was insanely cold, WAYYYY colder than central New York, but still, it was awesome)! Kevin had to go for business, but since Chicago is the city we lived in when we first got married, and since tomorrow is our 8th anniversary, it seemed like the perfect time for me to accompany him. We stayed overnight in the suburbs on Friday with one of my best friends from college, Jen, and her husband Steve. Jen drove us in to the city on Saturday, and we took a trip down memory lane...here's our first home at 1000 W. Washington St. We had a loft in this building--1/2 of the building was a book binder and 1/2 was a Nabisco factory. Our loft was on top of the old oven!
Directly across from our old loft is Harpo Studios--we saw the limos pulling up every day, the lines of people waiting to see a taping of "Oprah," but we never saw the woman herself. No luck this trip either--she is elusive!
After a yummy brunch at Le Peep (which is housed inside our old apartment building) we were done reminiscing and ready to see some new things. Our first stop was The Drake...it's a gorgeous old hotel ovelooking Lake Michigan. I always was curious about what it looked like inside, and I finally found out, as that is where Kevin's company paid for us to stay. Woo hoo!
Another first for us was a trip to Millenium Park to see the "Bean." I loved it and took a ridiculous number of photos...the only reason I stopped was because I could no longer move my fingers to work the camera due to the frigid weather!
A view from under the Bean:
And yet another Bean picture:
And finally, me and Kevin in front of the Bean:
And part of the Chigao skyline including the Sears Tower seen through the gridwork of the new (to us anyway) amphitheater in Millenium Park:
After hitting a few bars in the Gold Coast, we decided to end the night on a nostalgic note. We cabbed it back to West Loop and ate dinner in Greektown, then finished up the night at our old neighborhood haunt, Emmit's. A scene in Ocean's 11 was filmed at Emmit's while we lived in Chicago, and I remember how excited the waitresses were because they got to meet George Clooney and Matt Damon. This visit, we didn't actually get to sit in George and Matt's booth, but it was still a perfect end to the day.
Oh yeah, one other first for me--Jen made me get on Facebook! I'm always the last to jump on these trends...I don't think I really used email until 2002. Now I have another way to procrastinate, I mean, reminisce!
Directly across from our old loft is Harpo Studios--we saw the limos pulling up every day, the lines of people waiting to see a taping of "Oprah," but we never saw the woman herself. No luck this trip either--she is elusive!
After a yummy brunch at Le Peep (which is housed inside our old apartment building) we were done reminiscing and ready to see some new things. Our first stop was The Drake...it's a gorgeous old hotel ovelooking Lake Michigan. I always was curious about what it looked like inside, and I finally found out, as that is where Kevin's company paid for us to stay. Woo hoo!
Another first for us was a trip to Millenium Park to see the "Bean." I loved it and took a ridiculous number of photos...the only reason I stopped was because I could no longer move my fingers to work the camera due to the frigid weather!
A view from under the Bean:
And yet another Bean picture:
And finally, me and Kevin in front of the Bean:
And part of the Chigao skyline including the Sears Tower seen through the gridwork of the new (to us anyway) amphitheater in Millenium Park:
After hitting a few bars in the Gold Coast, we decided to end the night on a nostalgic note. We cabbed it back to West Loop and ate dinner in Greektown, then finished up the night at our old neighborhood haunt, Emmit's. A scene in Ocean's 11 was filmed at Emmit's while we lived in Chicago, and I remember how excited the waitresses were because they got to meet George Clooney and Matt Damon. This visit, we didn't actually get to sit in George and Matt's booth, but it was still a perfect end to the day.
Oh yeah, one other first for me--Jen made me get on Facebook! I'm always the last to jump on these trends...I don't think I really used email until 2002. Now I have another way to procrastinate, I mean, reminisce!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Bandit & Big Bertha
An 18 year old cat was recently dropped off at the animal shelter. I can't fathom how anyone could own an animal for 18 years and then just take it to a shelter, and situations like this make me kind of bitter towards people. Of course the cat, Bandit, ended up getting sick--she was stressed out so her immune system faltered, and there are so many germs at an animal shelter. Young cats generally recover quickly with antibiotics, but I was scared that such an old cat wouldn't stand a chance, so I ended up fostering her until she got better. Here she is hanging out under the Christmas tree:
I learned many things during her stay at my house. Useful things, like if you are trying to squirt a syringe full of Pedialyte down a sick cat's throat, and said sick cat squirms and writhes and you accidentally squirt it into your own eye, it stings like a bitch! And similarly, if you are trying to squirt Zithromax into a sick cat's mouth, and said sick cat squirms and writhes and you instead squirt it into your own mouth, it is sweet and sticky and will make you gag (not so much the taste as the realization that you probably squirted some sick cat saliva into your own mouth too!) I also learned that a sick, old cat who crawls into my lap and starts purring and kneading her little paws will melt my heart. Finally, I learned that there are some truly wonderful, generous people out there--Bandit was just adopted this weekend. The family knows she doesn't have lots of time left, but they wanted to give her a good home for the remainder of her life. I am so happy for her, and it makes the inadvertant Pedialyte eye wash totally worth it!
On a completely unrelated note, our 14 year old TV gave up the ghost a couple of days ago. Kevin and I discussed it and decided that we would get a moderate sized plasma flat screen to replace it. You know how when you go to a Christmas tree lot, and all the trees seem really small, and you end bringing a much bigger tree home than you had intended, and then you end up lopping a bunch off the bottom just to make it fit in your house? Yeah, same thing happened at Circuit City--the TVs all seemed kind of small and unimposing, so we ended up getting a 50" model. We can't lop any off the side, so I guess we're stuck with a ridiculously massive TV. We have named her "Big Bertha":
And yes, we watched "Darjeeling Unlimited" starring Owen Wilson for Big Bertha's maiden voyage, and no, it was not very good. And then we watched the "Daily Show" starring John Stewart, which was very good indeed!
I learned many things during her stay at my house. Useful things, like if you are trying to squirt a syringe full of Pedialyte down a sick cat's throat, and said sick cat squirms and writhes and you accidentally squirt it into your own eye, it stings like a bitch! And similarly, if you are trying to squirt Zithromax into a sick cat's mouth, and said sick cat squirms and writhes and you instead squirt it into your own mouth, it is sweet and sticky and will make you gag (not so much the taste as the realization that you probably squirted some sick cat saliva into your own mouth too!) I also learned that a sick, old cat who crawls into my lap and starts purring and kneading her little paws will melt my heart. Finally, I learned that there are some truly wonderful, generous people out there--Bandit was just adopted this weekend. The family knows she doesn't have lots of time left, but they wanted to give her a good home for the remainder of her life. I am so happy for her, and it makes the inadvertant Pedialyte eye wash totally worth it!On a completely unrelated note, our 14 year old TV gave up the ghost a couple of days ago. Kevin and I discussed it and decided that we would get a moderate sized plasma flat screen to replace it. You know how when you go to a Christmas tree lot, and all the trees seem really small, and you end bringing a much bigger tree home than you had intended, and then you end up lopping a bunch off the bottom just to make it fit in your house? Yeah, same thing happened at Circuit City--the TVs all seemed kind of small and unimposing, so we ended up getting a 50" model. We can't lop any off the side, so I guess we're stuck with a ridiculously massive TV. We have named her "Big Bertha":
And yes, we watched "Darjeeling Unlimited" starring Owen Wilson for Big Bertha's maiden voyage, and no, it was not very good. And then we watched the "Daily Show" starring John Stewart, which was very good indeed!Sunday, December 28, 2008
Pretty Snow and Ice Courtesy of My Little Norwegian Friend
The teenager who used to catsit for us in Norway emailed me some photos of the frozen Gjovik landscape. So pretty! Much nicer than what we have going on in New York--we got over a foot of snow, which was gorgeous. Then the temperatures soared up into the 40's, so now we have slushy, muddy puddles everywhere. Yuck!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
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