Just after Brendan wrote the post below, we returned to the hotel to find out that flights have been cancelled from Iceland. They believe it will be back to normal tomorrow. So fingers crossed…
Quick greeting from Iceland. No more volcanic activity so far.
…here we come.
Eyjafjallajökull please stay quiet.
So when we last left, I was drinking under $100 red wine and catching up with Erica. We talked so long we got hungry and ordered food at 2am. One of the things I miss about New York – any food at any hour. (I ended up with a burger and a milkshake and couldn’t have been happier. Nick’s – good milkshake.)
Because of the talking and eating into the wee hours of the night, Erica and I were running late the next morning. We (not surprisingly) had not even bought a gift for the shower because we had plenty of time. Well we had about an hour and a half to get to the stores and get back. And we had to go to the bookstore to get a book for Baby Chase’s library. We probably spent about an hour in the bookstore, reading books, looking at books, discussing books. So this left us little time to get the real gift (which knowing Emily and us – seems just about right). So we ran but while paying got called by Debbie (BFD to those in the know). Sheepishly we called her back to say we are running late. However, in the end, she got there while we finished getting ready and we got out of there pretty much on time.
The drive to New Jersey was fine and contained a lot of laughter for things most of you wouldn’t get and some that should not be printed. But the lesson learned is that you cannot fill out cards while in the car because your handwriting will be jumpy.
At the pink-inspired shower (Baby Chase is presumed to be of the female persuasion), we learned what is soft and hard and that baby girl clothes are just the cutest. Emily pregnant is also the cutest. I had a good time imagining her at a Central Park event with the walkie talkie and baby bump. Sometimes I find humor in weird places – it gets me through the day.
We unfortunately had to leave Emily, Lowell and their families and head back to the city for some music. Debbie, Erica, Lauren and myself headed to City Winery for the Rhett Miller show (show great, wine great, hummus not so great). And then we decided to keep the party going and went to, I think, The Other Room or The Room or some type of room. I don’t know – it was dark. All in all, it was great to see Emily, Erica, Debbie, Lauren, and everyone else – my stomach hurt from laughing so hard.
This past weekend had us traveling…again. Poor Eli spent another weekend being boarded (don’t fret as he has gotten plenty of attention since we got back and will get spoiled this weekend if the weather is nice. who is joining us at the dog park?)
Brendan left for his annual day of italian meats and NCAA basketball (not kidding) on Thursday and I cuddled with Eli (see related post here). Then on Friday I drove down to the city to stay with Erica since we were going to New Jersey on Saturday for Little Rhody’s baby shower. (Convenient for the shower to be on the same weekend Brendan was down since it saved him from having to get up at 6:00 am for a ride back to Boston. And judging from how he was on Sunday, it wouldn’t have been pretty.) I left work around 5:30 and hit some traffic getting on to the Pike and stopped at Charleton. But other than that it was smooth sailing and I got to the Upper West Side around 9:30/10:00. I was weary about the parking because I have had nightmare situations. Erica told me of a dead-end street that usually has spots so I tried there. No luck. So back to West End Ave. and a few blocks was pulling out of a spot. Score! My parallel parking skills have been improving now that I have been driving more so it was not embarrassing for me to park. But then I had to figure out how to get to Erica’s apartment from where I was. I look up and realize I am across the street . Double score!
I go in and sit down with a glass of water and we begin chatting. Erica being a gracious host offers me a bottle of wine. I select a red. The only problem with her red wines are that an ex-boyfriend bought some and she knows one is worth about $100 and she is saving it for a special occasion which I am, apparently, not worthy of. Whatever. So she pulls at two bottles of wine (identical year and type) and we Google it. $100 each. Okay so we found the expensive wine but let’s just check the next bottle of red since it is from the same vineyard. $115. Next bottle: $125 and the final bottle: $165. About $600 of red wine. And none we can drink. After totaling it all up Erica replied, “Now I know why Brandon wanted me to ship the wine back to him.” We ended up drinking a really nice bottle of wine and I told Erica “Don’t worry. When you come to my place, no wine is more than $20 so we can drink it all.”
More on the shower and the rest of my girls weekend to come…
So two weeks ago we went to Naples, Florida for Brendan’s college friend’s wedding. We took a 6:30 flight out of Logan and arrived at the airport at 5:45 (because we checked in online). What we didn’t expect was to see the longest security line known to man and the local news filming people online. I guess they were beginning to use the body scanners and it wasn’t going well. Needless to say we made through security at 6:28. Some girl tried to cut us but I put a stop to that. We are all on the 6:30 flight toots. I hadn’t had my coffee yet.
We made it to Newark and transferred to another plane. We had a bit of a delay as some passengers didn’t get the gate change memo and were late to arrive. The last hour of the flight to Florida was the worst turbulance I have ever experienced. The plane shook, it dropped, people screamed. At one point, one passenger kept yelling “Jesus take the wheel! Jesus take the wheel!” I wanted to say “Dear Jesus, I know you are omnipotent and stuff but can you just have a licensed pilot take the wheel? You can clear up the weather. Thank you. Amen. xoxo Liz” Obviously we landed safely and applause broke out.
Wedding was a blast and all that jazz and then we had the flight home. We were delayed in Florida because of the nor’easter blasting Boston. Eventually we took off and were flying fine. Then we were told we were in a holding pattern for Logan. Apparently the cross winds were too strong and the runway used in these situations just had its lights go out. Awesome. Then the captain told us we had hit “bingo” level on the gas and needed to land so we were being diverted to Hartford. And this when people got a tad bit upset. I was getting apranoid since Eli had been dropped off at 1:00 and it was 7:30. Oh and the crew was reaching the time where they couldn’t work anymore so that was an issue. Basically after waiting an hour, we rented a car and drove to Boston. Erica joined us. Who is Erica you ask? Some random girl who tried but couldn’t rent a car due to her age (24). We could tell the rental car guy wasn’t going to budge and she was going to lose it so I asked her if she wanted to just ride with us. I think for the first 30 minutes she thought we might kill her and that is why she was furiously texting. In the meantime, Laura saved the day by letting Eli out and giving him food. He was biting Elefanten when she left so we knew he was fine. We made it back in 2 hours and returned the car the next day and got our luggage. No pictures since our camera battery is dead.
I am done with Florida.
May vacation is booked and we are going here:
Any guesses?
Well I am back. It was a whirlwind trip full of a lot of meetings and decadent dinners. The highlight of my trip was the return flight. We had a two-hour delay at the Zurich Airport heading into London. It appears that a snowstorm and low temperatures were gripping Europe. The delay did not affect our connection in London; however, it did affect others. And thankfully so.
My friend Cory had put in for upgrades for us and what was once a full flight now had a bunch of free seats. So we got to go to Business class and it was amazing for a 6-hour flight. I loved it. One thing I learned about Business class is you get a ton of food and most of it is actually tasty (unlike the suckers in economy). Also I could watch my choice of movies which was also good because economy was getting “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and I haven’t read the book yet.
So I ate, slept, watched “Adam” and “Julie and Julia” and “Elf”. I don’t know how I am going to go back to economy but I know I will have to.
Finally updating the blog. Please note that this entry is being written while under the influence of percocet.
So B and I took a trip to Atlanta and Athens for some good food, family and football. The usual stuff. We had to leave Eli which was tough but this way he was less likely to jump out a window. Laura stayed with him Thursday through Sunday and then he went to Day Care Sunday – Monday.
So Thursday we flew around a tropical storm and made it safely to Atlanta. But there was some panic since I didn’t do my due diligence in planning and wasn’t sure if the plan was for Kristen to pick us up at the airport. Luckily she was on the ball. So we ended up at her apartment (so cute!) and then headed out for a night cap and buffalo wings (which I have been craving ever since). I was excited to try out some local beers since the last time I was in Atlanta and tried to order one, I was sitting on the wrong floor. I guess the floor I was on only served Belgium beer. Don’t get me wrong, I love what the Belgiums do with their beer but I do like to try local flavors. So anyway I had the Sweet Water beer and liked it.
Friday we were lazy and took our time getting up. But we went to eat at “The Flying Biscuit“. On the way over we saw this interesting street light that made us feel like Big Brother was watching us.
I wanted to try to the Flying Biscuit because they were voted best biscuit in Georgia – Kristen disagreed. As did I. It was not as fluffy and buttery as an award winning biscuit should be. It just wasn’t. Also, I didn’t see it fly. But my eggs were good, enjoyed the grits and I think B enjoyed his food. Flying Biscuit: Good Food, Ok Biscuit.
We then decided to take in some sights. So we drove to the King Center. But then after several attempts to park, we kept driving by. Next time. Next time.
That night we drove over to the Sweetwater Brewery. They open the brewery for a few hours and for $8 you get a bunch of drink tickets and a PINT GLASS! (Anyone who has been to my home knows of my penchant for pint glasses).
While inside, they also give free tours of the brewery which was fun. It made me feel like we were in the opening to “Laverne and Shirley”. Below you can see Brendan and Kristen on the tour. Brendan listens intensely and Kristen drinks.
It was fun to get to try all the beers and it is a great place to people watch. And dog watch – another reason to love Sweetwater, they are dog-friendly. We saw one dog leap straight up into the arms of its owner and another that may have been a small horse.
After this we headed into downtown to go to the famous “Taco Mac“. Famous because Kristen wore a cool shirt from them when in Boston. But the one we went to this night, has an AMAZINGLY selection of beers on tap. They also have basically a wall of taps. It was beautiful. I especially like taps of microbrews because they get creative. Plus, it is hard to find bars in Boston with broad selections of beers. We believe it is because Boston is not the friendliest towards outsiders (non-New Englanders) and this especially pertains to goods (not just people). It is hard for small breweries to enter the Boston market (maybe at the Sunset Cantina). So this was a big change for us. I stuck to Sweetwater beer this night.
(For those not in the know, the picture above is Eli’s favorite cousin Kristen and her boy of the hour Jonathan)
So after that we retired so we could rest up for game day!!!!!! Saturday morning we got up, got ready, got the BBQ from J.R.’s, and also some good breakfast. While J.R.s was a runner up in the biscuit contest, I found them to be better than the Flying Biscuit. So with food, booze, tickets, and the gang, we headed out to Athens, Georgia aka the Classic City. Once we got close to the school, you could feel the energy and see the mobs of people tailgating or just walking around. The most interesting fact is that a good portion of people tailgating will not be going to the game – they are just there to tailgate.
We drop B and JB off with the food while we go park. Kristen and I walk through the campus and it is a beautiful campus with some great architecture. It is also HUGE. We walked by the stadium and that is huge. It seats 92,746 and is the seventh-largest stadium in the NCAA. It is also the largest stadium I have ever been to. And then we walk towards a main tailgating area and all I can say is “Holy Black and Red, Batman!” No spot is not filled with something black and red, and the set ups are just amazing. We are talking generators, TVs, direct TV dishes, and tons of food and beer. We bought Terrapin Beer which is brewed in Athens and I declared Terrapin to be better than Sweetwater.
So we got ourselves a beer and watched the Tech game until it was decided they won. JB and Cabe smoked celebratory cigars (a cigar girl came around selling Nat Sherman cigars with commemorative UGA vs Auburn labels – awesome) and I think JB started making his travel plans to the ACC Championship game. B and I walked around a bit. We tried to ring the chapel bell but stopped when we saw the handmade sign that read “This is our VICTORY bell. If you ring it before the game I will kill you.” I don’t take death threats lightly so we just walked on.
Let’s pause to discuss the game. Apparently UGA/Auburn is the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. All I can say is that the game and atmosphere is crazy. While the tailgating is huge and overwhelming at times, I was really taken back by the game itself.
It was a great game and UGA won. We also got to see Uga VII in his little air-conditioned dog house. And sadly, this was to be his last home game as he passed away a few days later.
After the game we went out a bit in Athens and that was very overwhelming. We overheard some Auburn fans who were taking the loss hard, very hard. Basically this is the worst thing that has ever happened to him and nothing can compare to it.
Sunday morning came around which was Anniversary Day!!! We went out to breakfast and I had amazing Eggs Benedict and coffee. I love getting breakfast out. We took a nice drive back Atlanta said our good byes to JB and then napped. That night we headed over to Tim and Wendy’s to see them and the boys. We had some coffee and Wendy bought us CUPCAKES! How did she know? I had a carrot cupcake that was almost too pretty to eat. But I ate it anyway. Seriously, I didn’t know that Whole Foods had such tasty and pretty cupcakes. It was great to see them.
After that we just headed back to downtown and went to bed only to leave early the next morning.
And that was our trip to Georgia.
We have been having fun in ATL and Athens but promise we will post pictures soon.
Surgery date has been changed from the 30th to December 7th. This means that my first surgery was on my niece’s birthday and the follow-up will be on my nephew’s birthday. Weird.