Thursday, June 20, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
Friday
It’s been raining a lot. And every day I wonder why I ran out the door without a jacket. I usually have a suit jacket or sweater on but I am always cold on my commute. I realize it’s because it’s June! And one doesn’t usually wear jackets this time of year. But it’s really acting like April with the showers and everything.
This morning it was a scramble getting ready in time to catch the early bus. As I was heading out the door, down my street, I see my bus coming so start running. I must have been a sight with my red umbrella flying around and me running like the dickens trying to beat the bus to the bus stop. I hear a honk and the bus driver pulls over and lets me on half a block before the stop. How nice was that!?! I thought there wasn’t anyone at the stop so she was just stopping for me but she ended up stopping a moment later to let the person waiting at the stop on.
And then as I was reading the free paper on the subway I first noticed this little article:
This morning it was a scramble getting ready in time to catch the early bus. As I was heading out the door, down my street, I see my bus coming so start running. I must have been a sight with my red umbrella flying around and me running like the dickens trying to beat the bus to the bus stop. I hear a honk and the bus driver pulls over and lets me on half a block before the stop. How nice was that!?! I thought there wasn’t anyone at the stop so she was just stopping for me but she ended up stopping a moment later to let the person waiting at the stop on.
And then as I was reading the free paper on the subway I first noticed this little article:
That’s over half a million for parking spots in an alley! Crazy isn’t it? And a moment later, I flip the page and see this other interesting story about more money.
Apparently we’re loaded with money here in Boston. But at least this last story gives you the warm and fuzzies.
And finally, I get into work and deal with my second email of the day with the subject line “HELP”. This seems to be a recent trend and hopefully just a passing fad. Thank goodness it’s Friday and the weather is supposed to break this afternoon. I plan to get my bike out and operating. Dad is visiting for Father’s Day weekend and we’ll be going on some biking adventures. I need to log a bunch of miles in preparation for that corporate run I mentioned months ago and is suddenly coming up next week. It looks like I will probably walk it but still want to make sure I can do even that. Thinking about it, London was some good training, I must have logged over 5k each day. Ok, that makes me feel better. Enjoy the last of the rain (for awhile)!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Jetlag
I think it’s jet lag. I had no problem adjusting when I arrived in London - took about a day but I was good to go. But coming back has been a bear. I kept crashing early and waking up early (3 am early). I thought by Tuesday night I had finally won (I came back Friday) - I was able to stay up past 10 pm without completely crashing. But again this morning I woke up at 4:30 am. I usually wake up around 5:30/6. I don’t know what’s going on but I’m tiiiired. They always say going east to west is harder but it’s never been this bad. I wonder if work is in the mix too. I sometimes I wish I was French and took a month or two off in the summer from work.
Friday, June 07, 2013
London!
I’m back! I had a lovely time in London. I flew out Friday night and landed Saturday morning bright and early (6 am). By the time I got my hotel straightened out (the one I booked had a broken boiler and relocated everyone to a neighboring sister hotel) and unpacked, it was 10 in the morning before I headed off for a great first day. I went over to the Portobello Road market which has a big antique/food market Saturday mornings. It was just what I needed after a red-eye flight, perusing the stalls of all the merchants and popping into the touristy shops along the street. I munched on a Bath bun as I walked down the street and even stumbled upon an Oxfam store and found the a copy of a Peter Robinson mystery (I stumbled upon him at an Oxfam in Scotland and haven’t been able to find him state side). BTW, Oxfam is just a used bookstore where proceeds go to a good cause.
After tiring of the market and crowds I took a break and toured the side streets of Notting Hill. Tons of cute boutique stores (home goods and clothes). All out of my price range, except one, which was having a huge clothes sale. I ended up getting a few cute pieces of clothes - one was even a sample - one of a kind. All made by this local up and coming London designer. I finished the visit off with a Chorizo sandwich from one of the stalls for lunch - such fresh ingredients - delic! I made my rounds of picking up the things I wanted to buy and at the end popped back into the House of Scotland store to deliberate over a wool blanket on sale. Decided in the end to resist temptation and as I was leaving, I ran into this elderly couple who had been one row ahead of me on the plane that morning. What are the odds of running into them at this one store. Had to say hi.
On my leisure walk back to the hotel I stumbled upon my first street map (it’s just past the red phone booth in the picture). These things are awesome - they’re all over London and made it a breeze to walk around town without a map. I hadn’t had much time to plan my trip since I didn’t really know if I was going and was short on time the week before.
Back to the hotel where I was in desperate need of a nap. And then in the evening I made my way to a London play, London Wall, via Leicester Square, which was a great way to close out the day.
Sunday and Monday was a nice mix of sightseeing, shopping and exploring the city. Great weather the whole time. Tuesday and Wednesday was me at work pretty much all day and then flew back home Thursday. All in all a great trip.
On the downside, my camera battery died on Monday and I had packed a million chords but not one for the camera. I had to use my blackberry phone camera which wasn’t great but better than nothing. I’m transferring the pictures right now, so figured I’d post a few.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Friday Roundup 5/24
Meant to post this last Friday 5/24:
For some reason I think of this blog as a way to document the events of my life - all of them. And in reality it’s a spotty glimpse. I have so much I’ve wanted to post from my pseudo-parenting (thanks to the generosity of my besty who’s generous in sharing her children with me) - taking my godchildren for a weekend up to Vermont to see the Maple Sugar Houses without any parents (mine or theirs), to trekking out to Ferry Beach again up in Maine for a weekend away, to all the house projects I’ve started - all at once and much much more I’ve already forgotten.
So I’m declaring a clean slate and if I post the old stuff - great, but here’s the latest.
- At work last night there were some last minute change in plans and instead of flying to Atlanta in a week, I’m flying to London. I was bummed not to go to the Atlanta thing - great learning experience. And I’m not sure how prepared I’ll be for the project meeting in London, but, hey, London vs. Atlanta, they’re miles apart in my book (literally and figuratively).
- Another plus - the London meeting was near a weekend, so instead of flying over and back for a day meeting, I’ll be there for a nice mini-vacation. I’ll have three days in London.
- I feel like I have a running list of things I wanted to do/visit when I was next in London and now I can’t remember a single thing. Plus, on top of that, I’m flat out right up until I leave so will barely have any time to plan.
- Booking the hotels last night it’s a funny spectrum. First three nights I’m at a decently priced hotel on Hyde Park. I decided my days of Youth Hostels are behind me. The last three nights I’m at a 5 star grand hotel that might make it to my top five list of places I’ve stayed. I’m giddy in anticipation.
- And the final splurge is I get to fly business class both ways. I can’t wait - it’s such a more civilized way to travel. It’s still a red eye going over there, but when you can actually sleep on the flight I don’t mind. Plus it’s direct - a must for me these days.
- On the work side I was hitting a wall for awhile - it was just getting to be too much. I’ve got a renewed excitement this last week. Not sure what from, but have been trying to work on the mind shift. I realized that I always wanted to start my own business but not deal with the risk and starting from scratch. And in a way, taking this department and really growing it and changing it, it’s like I have my own business within the company with the added benefit of automatic business and great resources to draw upon. So put in that light, it’s not so exhausting when I’m not able to find qualified staff as quickly as I’d like and ma faced with a mountain of demands. It’s nothing compared to if I was on my own.
- On the home front, I’ve been mulling and perusing and planning potential upgrades for my place. Simple stuff right now. I forget how expensive even the simple stuff can be. And for some reason I decided to start a few projects at the same time. I’m happy to report I finished one - I built a shoe rack that covers the floor of my entire closet - custom fitted. Pretty good since I don’t have a saw to make adjustments. Only one piece of wood was the wrong size. But just need to cut an inch and I’m good. It’s not critical so I was able to put all the shoes back in. And as I write this I just realized I should bring the wood to my friends I’m visiting tonight - they have a saw in the woodshop. It will be a two second job. Much faster than trying to sand it down with my new sander.
- I bought a sander. I’ve also started to pull up the wall to wall carpet from my loft. My plan is to patch up the floors and paint the plywood white. I’ve done a lot of research of what products to use for the primer, paint and sealer. Thought I was good, but then faced two challenges. It’s a lot more work than I thought it would be (surprise surprise) and I’m having trouble finding some of the products for paint that I want to use. Luckily, since it looks like I have several weeks worth of work working on prepping the surface it’s no problem. I’m slowing rolling up strips of carpet and putting them out with the trash each week. I don’t want to dump it out there all at once in the fear they won’t take any of it. There must be a cap of what they’ll take.
- One of the mid-century decorating blogs I was following posted that the couple who writes it and is in the Boston area are moving to California and selling a bunch of stuff. I was able to reserve one of their furniture pieces - the media stand and am scheduled to see/buy it tonight after work. They sent me the measurements and this morning I realized there’s no way I can get it into the car. Again I’m indebted to my friends who are letting me borrow their truck. So tonight I’ll be running around with that but can’t wait to have the new piece of furniture. This does mean though, that something has to get swapped out. I think I might have too much furniture in my place and this will definitely tip it over. Actually, I think I currently have the right balance of furniture… as long as it’s just me. If there are more people it starts to feel a little crowded.
- Speaking of which, tomorrow, my brother is coming to stay with me for a few weeks before he moves into his new place in Cambridge. I’m so excited he’ll be close for the next couple of years.
- My dad and step-mum are also popping down with Nick for the weekend. I have no food, no menus planned and no activities figured out yet. And the place needs a good cleaning. And I’ll probably not be done with the furniture pick-up until about 10pm. I’m a little stressed - but looking forward to the visit anyways. Thank goodness it’s family.
- And to end with, I keep forgetting that Monday is a holiday. It’s such a nice surprise. I can’t wait. Now, if only the dreary weather would cooperate.
For some reason I think of this blog as a way to document the events of my life - all of them. And in reality it’s a spotty glimpse. I have so much I’ve wanted to post from my pseudo-parenting (thanks to the generosity of my besty who’s generous in sharing her children with me) - taking my godchildren for a weekend up to Vermont to see the Maple Sugar Houses without any parents (mine or theirs), to trekking out to Ferry Beach again up in Maine for a weekend away, to all the house projects I’ve started - all at once and much much more I’ve already forgotten.
So I’m declaring a clean slate and if I post the old stuff - great, but here’s the latest.
- At work last night there were some last minute change in plans and instead of flying to Atlanta in a week, I’m flying to London. I was bummed not to go to the Atlanta thing - great learning experience. And I’m not sure how prepared I’ll be for the project meeting in London, but, hey, London vs. Atlanta, they’re miles apart in my book (literally and figuratively).
- Another plus - the London meeting was near a weekend, so instead of flying over and back for a day meeting, I’ll be there for a nice mini-vacation. I’ll have three days in London.
- I feel like I have a running list of things I wanted to do/visit when I was next in London and now I can’t remember a single thing. Plus, on top of that, I’m flat out right up until I leave so will barely have any time to plan.
- Booking the hotels last night it’s a funny spectrum. First three nights I’m at a decently priced hotel on Hyde Park. I decided my days of Youth Hostels are behind me. The last three nights I’m at a 5 star grand hotel that might make it to my top five list of places I’ve stayed. I’m giddy in anticipation.
- And the final splurge is I get to fly business class both ways. I can’t wait - it’s such a more civilized way to travel. It’s still a red eye going over there, but when you can actually sleep on the flight I don’t mind. Plus it’s direct - a must for me these days.
- On the work side I was hitting a wall for awhile - it was just getting to be too much. I’ve got a renewed excitement this last week. Not sure what from, but have been trying to work on the mind shift. I realized that I always wanted to start my own business but not deal with the risk and starting from scratch. And in a way, taking this department and really growing it and changing it, it’s like I have my own business within the company with the added benefit of automatic business and great resources to draw upon. So put in that light, it’s not so exhausting when I’m not able to find qualified staff as quickly as I’d like and ma faced with a mountain of demands. It’s nothing compared to if I was on my own.
- On the home front, I’ve been mulling and perusing and planning potential upgrades for my place. Simple stuff right now. I forget how expensive even the simple stuff can be. And for some reason I decided to start a few projects at the same time. I’m happy to report I finished one - I built a shoe rack that covers the floor of my entire closet - custom fitted. Pretty good since I don’t have a saw to make adjustments. Only one piece of wood was the wrong size. But just need to cut an inch and I’m good. It’s not critical so I was able to put all the shoes back in. And as I write this I just realized I should bring the wood to my friends I’m visiting tonight - they have a saw in the woodshop. It will be a two second job. Much faster than trying to sand it down with my new sander.
- I bought a sander. I’ve also started to pull up the wall to wall carpet from my loft. My plan is to patch up the floors and paint the plywood white. I’ve done a lot of research of what products to use for the primer, paint and sealer. Thought I was good, but then faced two challenges. It’s a lot more work than I thought it would be (surprise surprise) and I’m having trouble finding some of the products for paint that I want to use. Luckily, since it looks like I have several weeks worth of work working on prepping the surface it’s no problem. I’m slowing rolling up strips of carpet and putting them out with the trash each week. I don’t want to dump it out there all at once in the fear they won’t take any of it. There must be a cap of what they’ll take.
- One of the mid-century decorating blogs I was following posted that the couple who writes it and is in the Boston area are moving to California and selling a bunch of stuff. I was able to reserve one of their furniture pieces - the media stand and am scheduled to see/buy it tonight after work. They sent me the measurements and this morning I realized there’s no way I can get it into the car. Again I’m indebted to my friends who are letting me borrow their truck. So tonight I’ll be running around with that but can’t wait to have the new piece of furniture. This does mean though, that something has to get swapped out. I think I might have too much furniture in my place and this will definitely tip it over. Actually, I think I currently have the right balance of furniture… as long as it’s just me. If there are more people it starts to feel a little crowded.
- Speaking of which, tomorrow, my brother is coming to stay with me for a few weeks before he moves into his new place in Cambridge. I’m so excited he’ll be close for the next couple of years.
- My dad and step-mum are also popping down with Nick for the weekend. I have no food, no menus planned and no activities figured out yet. And the place needs a good cleaning. And I’ll probably not be done with the furniture pick-up until about 10pm. I’m a little stressed - but looking forward to the visit anyways. Thank goodness it’s family.
- And to end with, I keep forgetting that Monday is a holiday. It’s such a nice surprise. I can’t wait. Now, if only the dreary weather would cooperate.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Parents
As I've grown older I notice I'm turning into my parents. Of course we share in similar interests but I'm talking about the mannerisms and behaviors. I find that most of the time I am becoming like my mom: the way I cross my legs or quote certain things. But the other day after I left a friends Kentucky Derby party and was heading up to Vermont, I did a very dad thing. I took a picture of my odometer turning 40,000 miles (it's a little blurry in the picture).
If you look back through our picture albums you'll see spattered in amongst the pictures of us at Halloween and on road trips a picture here and there of some cars milestone mileage. I remember making fun of this habit and still think I do to this day until I realized I really wanted to take a picture of my car turning the big 4-0. And that's when it hit me - I've turned into dad.
So no more making fun of this behavior since I've now joined the club. I even just treated the car to a spring special car wash. Pretty good for a 2006. You can tell I take pride in my fairly low mileage. That's about 2,500 miles a year!
If you look back through our picture albums you'll see spattered in amongst the pictures of us at Halloween and on road trips a picture here and there of some cars milestone mileage. I remember making fun of this habit and still think I do to this day until I realized I really wanted to take a picture of my car turning the big 4-0. And that's when it hit me - I've turned into dad.
So no more making fun of this behavior since I've now joined the club. I even just treated the car to a spring special car wash. Pretty good for a 2006. You can tell I take pride in my fairly low mileage. That's about 2,500 miles a year!
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Guess where I am
I was supposed to pick my brother up at the airport but instead took my friend up on her offer to join her at a Red Sox game. Believe it or not it's my first Sox game!
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