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Earlier this week, we officially found out that

galagan was getting not only Wednesday off, but also Thursday - some sort of internal company goal was met. So - since he gets, like, no vacation as a self-employed contractor, we clearly had to take advantage of this. We were originally talking about going to Ithaca, a place that we have never been together (though I've been there as a child), but has big meaning for us (we were heading there on Valentine's weekend 1998, and got into a wreck between Littleton and Ayer, MA - which was totally the other guy's fault - and totaled

galagan's beloved little blue Miata - after that, we have never made it that-a-way). Anyway, I was pretty psyched to go to Ithaca, but after talking about it, we decided maybe that was a little further than we wanted to go for one night. So, we picked somewhere closer to home: ( Burlington, VT )

And now it's nice to be home. A quick little 2-day jaunt, with not too much excitement, just lots of cute towns and nice views. And some assurance that as we start planning longer trips (say, for Nova Scotia, which will hopefully be SOON) that Elena will be okay with all this. Yay.

1. My hair is now a ridiculous shade of red not found in nature. In a few days, it will probably fade to something relatively normal.

2.

galagan writes the best nice/nasty business letters in the universe. If you ever need one, I suggest you contact him for his superpower services.

3. When Elena reads "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" she inserts the phrase "good job!" at regular intervals: "On Monday he ate one apple. Good job apple!" and so on. It's pretty funny.

4. My sister is coming to visit this weekend! In typical sisterly fashion, she will be here less than 24 hours, I think.

5. I had a dream early early this morning that involved my famiy's traditional Christmas party and

allthatjazmyne. All I really remember now is that

allthatjazmyne wore head-to-toe red, and looked stunning. :)

6. If I were very wealthy, I'd have a personal assistant just to make phone calls for me. Just so I wouldn't have to.

7. I..... think I might have a Plan. I'm thinking thinky thoughts about future aspirations. But I'm not ready to talk about it yet. Soon.

8. I finally found plane tickets to visit Montana this summer, at a semi-decent price. My mother can stop panicking now.

So, I had a great weekend, full of non-toddler-compliant activities, which was pretty much the point.

( cut for food and books and walking )

It's good to be home. Being in a city is a bit of a shock to the system, because it's just so fundamentally different - the noise, the stimulation, the dirt, the planes and helicopters and trucks and trains, the fact of so many people packed together in a small space, and how that changes your perception and expectation of privacy. I find myself feeling sorry for the people who are stuck living there, even though I do rationally know that most of them actively *choose* to live there, and probably pity me being off in the boonies. This just proves what we already know - that I shouldn't ever live in a big city again. :)

This weekend, I get to go to New York City - all by myself! I'm incredibly excited for the vacation, plus it will be fun to see my sister. I have expressed an interest to her in consuming Vietnamese food. Also, her boyfriend's ~~blues~~ bluegrass band has a show on Saturday night in Brooklyn, so we'll be going to that.

Otherwise - no plans yet. I've been thinking a bit about ideas of what I might want to do. When I was growing up, my grandparents lived right in Manhattan, so I do feel like I've seen most of the standard tourist-y things there. The only things I can think of that I really wanna see are the Cloisters and Chinatown (I've been to Chinatowns in many other large cities, just not NYC's).

So - what do I not want to miss? Or to rephrase: how would you spend a day (or a day and a half) of free time in New York City?

( Oh the Places You'll Go! )

Finally here.

We had a lovely Christmas, and a good open house. Elena loved her presents - a number puzzle and a letter puzzle, wooden blocks, and Quatro Lego blocks (4-times-regular size) were the biggest hits. Actually, everyone loved their presents this year, though my mom and I duplicated one (to

galagan), which is no biggie.

And then we got up at 4:45 on Boxing Day for a flight home, only to discover that the flight was delayed because of mechanical difficulty. We went back and forth to the airport several times on Tuesday (it's seriously only 5 minutes from my mom's house), and finally they decided that our flight would not be leaving at a time conducive to making *any* further connections that day. So we rebooked for the same flights this morning (Wednesday) and I called in to work to say I wouldn't actually be at work for one more day.

This morning was a breeze, though getting up AGAIN at 4:45 sucked majorly. On the other hand, having rebooked several times throughout the day meant that by the time they found us seats on today's flight, there weren't enough coach seats left, so we were bumped up to first class (for the first flight, anyway). Also, we checked our bags yesterday, and never bothered getting them back (too much bother, mostly - too heavy and bulky), so our bags were waiting for us at the Albany airport when we got there this afternoon. Very nice.

E is totally worn out, I think - so many people and strange things and presents and constant stimulation for the past few days have got worn her nerves to the breaking point, and she is exhausted. A few quiet days of routine at home should get her back into sorts. She did have a blast playing with random kids at the airport - she's really good in mixed groups of kids of all ages (even if she can't talk much yet - or chooses not to, with them), which is great to see. This morning she was talking on a play phone, like this:

galagan: *bring*bring*
E picks up: Hello? (rising tone)

galagan: Hello.
E: Bye.

galagan: Bye.
Repeat 150 million times.

So.Cute.OMG.

She dubbed my mom "Gram" and my dad "Pa". She can't say Ls too well at all (her attempts at her own name sound most like "Jen" or "Jenna"), so my sister's name (Alissa) and stepmother's (Linda) didn't fare so well.

And we're back, to be greeted with the news that several friends my age are dealing with medical issues that 30-year-olds (plus-or-minus a few) shouldn't have to deal with. I'm thinking of you.

Dinner conversation turned to Christmas shopping, and

galagan revealed that he has bought *nothing* yet.

Me: But my birthday is five days away! Five!
Elena: Sit! Sen!
(we laugh)
Me: Yes, and eight days from now, it will be Christmas!
Elena: Nun! Ten! E'ven! Telv! Siddoo! Ot-doo! Mmm-doo! Uh-doo!

She cracks me up.

**************************************************

We leave tomorrow. I should really think about packing. I did make pesto - I have a basil plant I bought in summer, which has somehow survived all this time (usually, I kill basil in this span of time). I am sure it wouldn't have survived us being gone for 8 days - so I stripped all the leaves and made yummy yummy pesto. I also cooked most of the remaining veggies from our fridge, and had a lovely dinner. Now we truly have no food in the house.

*************************************************

I rarely bake at home for just us. We don't *need* all that stuff, or I'm too lazy, or whatever. But Christmas is the one holiday my mom really goes nuts for, and I've always enjoyed helping her. She has promised to put me to work once I get there - she claims that she'll watch Elena and I'll cook/bake. I have a few ideas of my own of things I want to make - some almond lace cookies we did last year that were unbelievably scrumptious and irresistable, the cream caramels we've done the last few years (so! much! stirring! but truly yummy), and perhaps candied orange peel (I tried to make it a few years ago and it turned out weirdly, so I'd like to try it again). Plus there are the usual standards - candy-cane cookies, buckeyes, wreaths, etc. My sister arrives Tuesday night, so she'll be able to help too. I do love baking (and candy-making), so this should be lots of fun.

**************************************************

Of course, tonight we discovered a leak from the kitchen sink that seems to be penetrating the floorboards and dripping down into the basement. Why do these things always happen right before you're headed out of town? But we put a bucket under it and called our landlord, and he seems to know about it (I guess that spot's been a problem before) and promises he'll take a look at it. So we won't worry.

*PHEW*, I have plane tickets home for Christmas!! When I looked last week, prices were $700-800 and UP (considerably up); waiting the week (and for confirmation from my boss as to which days were okay to miss) made the prices go down a tad. What a relief.

Still more than I like to pay, but do-able. It's scary, now that there are 3 of us, to see that total figure. (Yay, the girlie will have her own seat!!! Soooooo worth it!)

Current Mood: incoherent

After a whirlwind tour, I'm pleased to report that Asheville, North Carolina is a gorgeous place, and really, I can't wait to go back. We were lucky to partake of

saltcod's lovely hospitality. The wedding (of

goatstoheaven) was lovely, and at a Lutheran retreat in the hills, surrounded by trees in full autumnal leafy glory. Elena did pretty well at the wedding / reception - although the first thing she did was pick up a couple of pinecones that were loaded with fresh sap, and the second thing she did was bonk her head by falling off a chair. However, the day did improve from there, and she had a blast, and ate roughly half of the contents of a huge table loaded with fruit and cheese at the reception. She even got to dance at the end with some of the other kids, but she was too tired to stay for that, and so we took her home.

Other highpoints: Asheville is a gorgeous little funky town, and I definitely want to see more of it another time.

saltcod and D did take me out driving along a nearby stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it was rather cloudy, so we didn't have many great views. Also: a farmer's market that made me insanely jealous. Year-round and daily. Wow. I had a multitude of good conversations about books with different people, which always makes my heart sing. And our rental car was a brand-new ORANGE Ford Mustang with 58 miles on it, which I dubbed the Pimpmobile (see my flickr page for proof of the ridiculousness).

Elena's new words: Apple, poke and unpoke (for putting sleeves on, or getting her strapped into her car seat, or lots of other things like that - we use those terms a lot!), hop, *maybe* up. We're definitely increasing rapidly in this department.

There is other goofiness I could ramble about, but I think I'd rather present that in poll format, so watch this space!

I ran some errands this morning, and then spent a good part of the afternoon in the kitchen: mushroom barley soup for dinner, along with dill oyster crackers, plus a batch of granola. Mmmmm.

I'm having a day of printing out forms (to be filled out) and trying to call credit card companies and navigate computerized menus and stuff. (I finally gave up on the phone, despairing of even getting a *person* and decided to look on the web for a few details - and their website is down. Sheesh.)

In other news, we did get to see

xen_opus this weekend, though far too briefly. E did her usual dance of oh-I'm-too-shy / hey-you're-my-new-best-friend, which is always amusing and good.

And I'm trying to get ready for our trip to Asheville this weekend - yay! I gon't look forward to flying like I used to (23 pounds of wriggle on your lap for a few hours will do that), but once we're there, it should be great!!!! As I have told several people, I'm not sure what to wear.... the service is at an indoor/outdoor chapel, so it could be chilly (looking at the forecast).

galagan will be in a tux (as part of the wedding party) so I don't want to look too schlubby when I'm standing near him. And, of course, I will be toddler-wrangling, so comfort, non-wrinkle-ability, and all those things will be important as well. I don't think I own anything that fits all those categories. Hmmmm. Still pondering. (Ideas and hints welcome!)

The good part is, our trip means I only have to work 2 days this week!!!!

In other news, I finished reading a book: Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley - another satire lent to me by

boylawyer. Very funny, and lots of fun (if tobacco stats can be called "fun").

....And we're back from Houston. It was a lot of fun, and we had a blast. We stayed with

boylawyer and his lovely family. We did a lot of driving (anyone who knows

galagan will not be one bit surprised by that) and so I got to see quite a number of sights from

galagan's childhood/adolescence/early adulthood. The reception for the couple who eloped a few months ago (and the main reason for the trip) was very nice, and they had Star Wars figures on the tables and the movies playing on wide-screen TVs throughout.

Of course we went to Chuy's - and I have to say, it managed to live up to all the hype. Very tasty.

Sunday morning we drove down to Galveston to stick our toes in the Gulf. Elena is a verified water rat. She loved the water (which was nice and warm) and we pretty much couldn't get her out of it.

A few minutes later:

My best Texas story - we were at the Galleria Mall, just wandering through (for more of the authentic Houstonian experience), when a woman stopped us and asked if we'd take a survey. She promised it would be short, so okay, fine, whatever. She asked where we were from, and when I said Massachusetts, said something like that we had an East Coast look. (???)
Then: "What was the last makeup you bought?"
Me: "Uhhhh...."
Her: "What makeup have you bought in the last three months?"
Me: "Uhhhhh...." (Okay, I spent my last three months MOVING, basically. I haven't bought much of anything!)
Her: (in a tone of disbelief) "Lipstick?" She scrutinizes my face. *pause*
(In a tone of disgust) "Oh, I guess you're just a natural beauty."

(Ironically, I was wearing a little lipstick - I read that lipstick was preferred over lip balms for getting through airport security, and so that's what I had in my purse, and had just put a little on recently. But I guess it was too light and natural for her. Or something.)

Right. We're back.

It was a pretty good trip. ( We learned many things. We saw stuff (and people!). )

So, we're back, and the refrigerator smells stale and weird, even after I cleaned out the icky things (we were only gone 5 days!). I think I will sleep like a whole pile of rocks tonight, in my own bed. Yay, bed!

OMG National Spelling Bee. It makes me so happy that it was televised.

We are off in the morning for a long weekend in San Francisco - back Tuesday sometime. Hold down the fort til I get back, 'kay?

p.s. new icon too. (I've been going crazy adding them lately.) I can't decide if I want this for my default or not.

We're back. Phoenix was fun, though it rained all day Saturday and was chilly the entire 3 days. Of course, we had tickets only to the game on that day, so in the end, we went to spring training, and actually saw no games. Which is fine too. It was a fun time - the group rented a big house on the edge of the city, with great views of the entire valley and the mountains beyond. (Unfortunately it was too cold to use the pool - though by the end of the week, they should be in better luck.) It was really good to see everyone there, and we only wish we'd been able to intersect more people's visits.

Elena's big thing at the house was the stairs. 6 weeks ago, when we moved out of our old house, she had absolutely no interest in stairs - this time, she couldn't be stopped. The first time she tried it, she climbed the entire stairs up to the second floor. After that, everytime she was set down on the floor she made a beeline for stairs. She got a lot of good practice in. Perhaps the next time we visit someone/someplace with stairs, she'll learn about going down. :)

So - a quick update. For those of you not reading

galagan and his recent friends-locked posts, his job is going all kinds of wrong. (Locked because he doesn't want to get dooced, even if the job is No Good.) Since we moved to LA entirely for that job and nothing else, it seems clear that there isn't much else to keep us here. (We still aren't finished unpacking and there is still stuff in boxes! and it looks like it might just stay that way, because you know, why bother now?) So we're back to asking that perennial question in our lives - where do we ultimately want to live? We have a short list of criteria we're considering, and we'll go from there. Keeping an open mind and all that. It's good to think about what we actually want and don't want. And then, you know, we'll *ACT* upon it. Moving forward. Whee!

Meanwhile, we are going to Phoenix for the weekend for spring training. Yes, me and baseball. I'll pause while the universe shifts and you all ponder this moment of weirdness. * * * * * * * * I will get to see people and socialize and all that good stuff. Oh yes - and show off my ~~baby~~ toddler. Which means I have to pack. I hate packing for travel with small child - you end up toting so much *crap* along. Mostly very necessary crap, but it's still crap, nevertheless. At least I won't be flying alone with E (as I have done the last several times) - flying with another adult will definitely help my state of mind.

It's been a lovely couple of days. Not really. Sunday night

galagan and I both came down with a stomach virus. IT'S NO FUN TO BE SICK AND TAKE CARE OF A BABY!!!! The EB may have gotten it first and given it to us (though, where the hell did she get it? It's not like she's been out partying with her friends) because she had symptoms on Saturday. We're all fine now, but getting sick on top of ongoing sleep deprivation really wiped both of us adults out, and we spent Monday sleeping and whining and drinking ginger ale. It was highly contagious too, because we gave it to my mother as well. Anyway, all better now. Food once again looks appealing and good.

Plus it's snowing massively. There are downed branches everywhere from yesterday, and this is supposed to continue through today. I don't think I'll leave the house. I made a nice pot of lentil barley stew which turned out nicely (yay for recipes that can be fixed from the existing contents of one's pantry!), and I think I'll just curl up with my book and enjoy. And finish my laundry and write more thank you notes.

New place I want to visit: The Orkney Islands. Yeah. Just 'cause.

For me, 2004 was divided into two sections - Before the Accident, and After the Accident. And I couldn't think of much that had happened BA - I got pregnant, yes, but what else? I went to San Francisco and I went to the March in DC..... So I just spent the last hour or so reading my LJ from January through July. Most of that time didn't suck, I discovered. I didn't have any life-changing events, but that's okay really.

So - I'm glad 2004 is over and past, but I won't say it was a terrible year. It was a mixed year. Onward and upward!

Really, what can one do in Vegas while pregnant? It might not be the ideal place to be at that stage of life....

So, an old friend of

galagan's got married in Vegas this weekend. He went on Thursday (for the bachelor party) and I followed Friday. My first time there.
( snippety snip )

I'm back from Chicago. The training was interesting. I managed not to kill, maim, spindle, or mutilate anyone on the trip. Yes, this is key. My roommate was my least favorite person, who knows everything (in her own mind anyway), and then has to explain everything to you patiently. (Never mind that she's been in this job for 6 months, and I've been in this position for 4 years - 7 years with the organization - she clearly knows better, and knows more, than me.)

Note: My father is much like this - always knows everything, is always right, etc. - so this just gets an automatic kneejerk reaction from me.

Anyway. The guy running the training, who works for the national office, is a Williams alum, and sang with the Ephlats my freshman year. (I knew this in advance - having seen his name around, and checked it out.) So I went up to him at the first break and told him we were fellow alums, and he just went crazy and gave me a big hug and was all excited. It was cute. :)

We were in downtown Chicago, which is beautiful - somehow, I don't think I've ever been to that part of the city.

We got to see a sneak preview of the movie Kinsey, which will be out in November. (We're people who talk about sex, so we're special.) Stars Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, and a million other excellent people. Very good - a warts and all portrait, to be sure. Reasonably explicit too - I'm somewhat surprised they managed to score an R rating for it. Full frontal male nudity, some shots that in other contexts would be construed as porn.... Within the context here - scientific study of sexuality - they make sense. Anyway, very very good. Go see it when it comes out!

I'm off to the mountains in Colorado - a reunion of Montana friends. Hopefully we won't be too cold there. Be back Monday!

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Entries tagged with travel

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List of Nothing

I went to the Big City and all I got was this huge pile of books

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meme!

And we're.... home again, home again, jiggity jig.

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back from a not-so-wild weekend in Vegas

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