rockin the sunshine in denmark

I can gladly say that I've been off the map in the wonderfully sunny and warm Denmark with my handsome fiance and it's been absolutely GLORIOUS.

For those of you who don't know, I barely made it here. I was on three different Chicago flights that were subsequently canceled except for one that was supposed to take off at 9am that I got on at 2pm. Of 8 total United flights from Boston to Chicago only two actually went. Sometimes it pays to be as anal about flying as I am.

There were four confirmed tornadoes in Chicago that day and only one small window of open air before another storm front came barreling through. I saw the next storm which only lasted an hour but scary none-the-less. The flight from Chicago to Copenhagen was only 3/4 full and I had both seats on the window side of the aircraft to myself. I got to sleep in all kinds of funny positions ;)

Christian and I have spent our days outside for the most part. We've done yard work, went to the beach, gone to barbeques, gone for runs and just basked in the sun whenever possible. The sun has been out until 11pm and has made my sleeping patterns very strange!

Tuesday was the celebration of the longest day of the year. Here it's called Midsommer which directly translates to mid-summer. However Danes celebrate this longest day of the year by having huge fires in which they burn (now fake) witches. Christian's dad asked if I brought my broom or if I needed some help being hoisted on top the fire. ;) Te-he-he-he.

We've spent a lot of time with family and friends, free meals are great! We talked about going on a mini-cruise to Oslo, Norway and back but decided that with such fabulous weather here it would be silly to leave! This weather knocks Boston weather straight out of the park. I got my first sunburn of the year here, who would have thought!

Denmark in the summer is undeniably charming. It's making me want to go back to Boston (and work)... not at all. We played the Lotto yesterday and I promised if we won big I wouldn't go back to the States. Too bad we didn't win. I will keep playing because I've officially had a serious reminder as to why I want to settle here eventually. This country is so darn cute. You should come visit instead of taking my word for it!

We did stop by the castle (yes, the castle) and I had tears in my eyes. It's not easy for me to give up the dream wedding. We've chatted here and there about what our new wedding will look like and all I keep saying is how I don't like leaves (Fall) but rather flowers (Spring/Summer). Fall is not me but perhaps it will have to be. Anyway, no definitive answers on that yet.

Will be coming home on Sunday if we don't win the lottery or if I don't have some fleeing live by the seat of my pants moment in which I decide to throw my arms up in the air and just forget about Boston... ohhh I could be convinced.

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cousin jill is so proud!

Jack and Maya, the loves of my life (aside from Christian of course), never cease to make me so proud of them!

Jack, now nearly 8 years old (gasp) just won the machine pitch championship in little league. Only wish I could have been there! I am so happy for him and not the least bit surprised, I already knew he is #1 ;)

Maya just performed in a dance recital that I also wish I could have seen. She's definitely the tiniest one in the crew and it only makes her cuter! I do wonder how my aunt got her hair in pigtails, though. Maya refuses to put her hair up the last I checked ;)

As most of you know I have a really close relationship with these kiddos despite the distance between us. They make me so happy and proud even as a cousin!

These kids rock and so today's blog post is dedicated to them both!!! I love and miss you SOOOOO much Jack & Maya. xoxo

taking it to the next level

I officially wish to take my blog to the next level. This includes but is not limited to the following:

uno. a unique URL : it's a surprise! i just registered it but in up to 48 hrs it is all mine!

dos. a theme to some degree

tres. a flashier and uber cool template/design

cuatro. eventually act as a portfolio as well (for my geeky web stuff)

I could really use your help with numero dos above. I've asked you all for thoughts on a theme before and gotten few and varied responses. So I might just take it upon myself to figure out the theme. I suppose it will be much like this blog initially as I slowly find my calling in life. Calling, what and where are you?

I will keep you posted but soon enough you'll be able to navigate to my very own URL. THIS IS SO EXCITING TO ME...

the farmers ought to be furious

In torrential rain I made my way to work this morning cursing all things mother nature. June in Boston has been MISERABLE. It's been so cold and rainy, so not the summer to me.

I furiously began googling to understand just what the hell is going on lately and I stumbled upon (there is a reason there is a site by this name) the 2009 Farmer's Almanac long term weather outlook for the Northeast.

Let me save you the trouble of clicking the link because it's all lies. "...hot weather mid June..." Not the case. I'm sorry but it's really not nice to disappoint all the farmers.

Maybe the devil subsidized farming conglomerates write the Almanac to throw off all the hard working average farmers. Jerks.

Speaking of farming. I am volunteering this afternoon by planting things in Roxbury with some of my colleagues. Its pouring rain and we know I detest most nature. FML.

I did sign up for this but under normal weather conditions "gardening" on a Friday afternoon instead of sitting at my desk sounds absolutely delightful.

I get myself in funny little situations sometimes. TBC.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZZIE <3

Hope Tennessee treats your birthday just right! xoxo love you.

the things i love

I'm happy to report that the things I love far outweighs the things I hate. And the good person in me won't let that last post linger too long without a followup to show that I'm not hater all day long. :)

I. Living Things

• Dogs, anyone who has spoken to me lately knows that I'm counting down the days until I can buy a black lab!
• Cats are really cool creatures. My cats growing up were almost little humans with very sweet, funny and distinct personalities. But jaguars and tigers and cheetahs and lions all rein pretty cool to me as well.

II. Food

• Cheese will be what kills me.
• My dad's notorious london broil with spinach and potatoes.
• Lima beans... which I have trouble finding in stores here.
• Funfetti cupcakes, need I say more?
• Spaghetti & meatballs, plain jane girl more often than not.
• Mint choc chip ice cream
• Nachos
• Olives, sorry babe ;)
• Corn on the cob
• Cranberry juice aka "pop-pop juice"
• Margaritas

Holy crap this is why I'm fat! ;)

III. General

• My fiance. Christian you help me hate things less and love things more :)
• My papa bear - Jimbo taught me how love and laughter wins over everything else.
• My family, they're the bomb. I miss you all!
• My friends, they're the best out there.
• Jack & Maya, technically fall under "family" but these kiddos are very special to me and fall into a category of their own.
• The Esplanade in Boston
• Nyhavn, Copenhagen
• Baseball games and cold beer
• Europe, ask Sarah Root and she will tell you that I am wannabe Euro. <3>
• Following up with Europe we have my closet love of house music.... haha.
• Patio's... love dining and drinking outdoors
• Technology... mostly smartphones as I seem to go through two a year.

Holy crap this is why I'm broke.

Honestly all these lists could go on and on. As much as I can be a cynical ranter... I do love my life and everyone and everything in it. Who and/or what do you love?

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the things i hate

The other day, in response to my oral declaration of absolute hatred of pigeons, my boss suggested we someday make a list of all the things I hate. I propose I start that list now for the record.

I urge you to comment to add to the list if you think I've missed anything or to just share general disgust! :)

In no particular order we begin...

I. Living Things

RODENTS. Legitimately have a r-a-t phobia (even refuse to say/spell the word out). Let's recall 218 Hemenway or maybe not, prefer to black that out from my memory. Mice just as bad... UGHHH.

Birds... yep all of them. Don't trust them and they shit midair; I'm all set. Highest marks in this category belong to Pigeons and Seagulls.

Fish... again all of them. I don't eat them and I don't swim with them. Which creates a lot of drama because I love the ocean and body surfing. The second I feel something I'm headed for the dunes, though.

Reptiles... f**k that. Snakes and lizards, helllll no.

Bugs... including spiders, all things that fly, crawl and creep. Done deal. ONLY exception would of course be Butterflies (moths certainly do NOT count).

II. Food

Fish, we've went over this.

Mushrooms, texture.

Mayonnaise, all set with fat lard spread.

Mustard, ew.

Heavy Indian Curry, that smell reaps through your skin!

Milk that's not skim, hurts my stomach.

Horseradish, not much of a condiments gal.

Worcestershire sauce, see above.

Grapefruit, tastes like bitter acid to me.

There has to be more...

III. General

Grammatical errors... I'm not perfect but honestly you should know the difference between their, there and they're.

Silverspoon fed people drive me nuts.

Winter Street, Boston - it encompasses nearly all the things I hate in one stretch of street.

Being broke, though I think everyone hates this.

Creeps... they're everywhere.

Okay well let's have some fun (this beat is sick) and why don't you take a stab at contributing to my list and/or share your own!

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getting back in the groove

What have I been up to since LA you ask? Well lots.  I am desperately trying to get back on my regular schedule and lifestyle after wisdom teeth drama.

Last weekend Susan came up to visit and we went to the Dave Matthews Band concert at Fenway Park which was pretty fantastic. Love Dave even if he did play a lot of new stuff to which I couldn't sing along.

I did, however, manage to dance like a hippy in a long pretty dress! It was so fun. He played an amazing rendition of Two Step, my all time favorite song. :)

I am finally working out again. It only took nearly 3 %*#^@ing weeks to be able. These stupid wisdom teeth really got the best of me. Argh! Anyhowwww.  I signed up officially for The Hampton's Half Marathon in honor of sebcake's momma. Should be fun but definitely will need to do some hill training this time around, blast.

There is also The Philly Distance run the weekend before which I promised my cousin I'd run. I think two half marathons in two weekends is a bit much but totally doable, what do you reckon? Either way thanks to my wisdom teeth sabbatical I have a ways back into distance running. 3.5 months should be plenty of time, though. I hope!

Speaking of wisdom teeth sabbatical... went back to my original dentist (not the devil that removed my wizzies) yesterday because pain 3 weeks after surgery feels excessive. I was right. He put me on an antibiotic and just said my bottom teeth wounds were not healing. Finally some answers.

He too mentioned something about the surgery being too traumatic for my body. I thought I was one tough cookie, what the hell. No more elective surgery for this girl.

So in other (fantastic) news a really good friend, well best friend from elementary school, is pregnant! She is due Jan 17th and I told her that he/she needs to stay in one more day so we can share the same birthday! ;) Very happy for Bridget & Ian or shall I say "Mommy & Daddy".... Congrats!!

Lots of babies these days. We now know my body can't handle trauma sooo I will be holding off on pregnancy until some moment of insanity when I'm 30. 

Excited for this weekend, though! Pickles is coming to visit yayyyy! Sad weekend related news is that Saturday is Kayte's last day in Boston. :( Butttt going to party it up in her honor at the boys from LP's bbq on Sat afternoon. Yay summer bbqs!

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LA part duex part 2

Well the 2nd half of my trip to LA was a whirlwind in some ways. In other ways there was a lot of sleeping involved? Haha.

The hike in Runyon Canyon was in the heart of the Hollywood Hills but unfortunately we didn't see any celebs hiking/walking/running any of the trails.  We discovered a lot about nature, mostly that Gail hates it (even more than I do if that's possible). She was even upset about the BUTTERFLIES. Oh man haha what a riot. 

Some drunk Slovakian man told us to find some aloe plants on the trail for Gail's very obvious red legs. This turned into Gail asking me if each plant we passed was aloe. No... no... kind of looks like it but no.... Until we arrived at the GIANT aloe plants that were the size of the 3 of us put together. Here is when Gail demands Libby and I to try and wrestle a stem off to get to the aloey bottom part. Not sure if I'm up for the humility of these pictures.

Next on our adventure was to navigate to Lauren Conrad's house. LC lives in the Holltywood Flats which is funny considering the name of her show is The Hills.

We then headed to Robertson Blvd and grabbed a drink at what is apparently LA's premier gay and lesbian club/bar, The Abbey. Not sure why the shot boys in speedos didn't give us the hint right away but that's what internet phones are for, right? ;) Anyway there was a promotion going on and here at 2pm was a live dj pumping the beats. Right up my alley... gay or not.

This is where we must have consumed sleeping rufies because we got back to Libby's in the late afternoon to relax and we all fell asleep watching Empire Records. We woke up and ate homemade guac and then fell back asleep. I appreciated it though because my lack of teeth/whole mouth was in serious pain for all of Saturday. Argh.

All this sleep had the three of us up and at them at 7am Sunday morning. Gail knew about a weekly flea market on Melrose that has vintage designer labels as well as handmade stuff. We got brunch (we are freaks about breakfast in case you didn't already gather) on Melrose and then hit up the market.

I got a set of homemade coasters for my new apartment. It's a shame I have no table to put them on. My coasters and I will be very happy on the floor, don't worry. ;) Gail got some rockstar jewelry and we headed back to Libby's for beach preparation.

Libs had to work at the gym (the one I told you she owns) and because Gail and I are are not able to drive stick (I mean I can get to 3rd gear but like whatever) we borrowed bikes!

Biking was a joyful yet painful experience. On our way to Venice Beach I crashed into a pole on the sidewalk and still can't get rid of the bruise. Oh well. Hit the beach for a few hours while Gail covered her body in towels to protect her sun burn.

We biked from Venice Beach up to Santa Monica Pier and back which was super fun when I wasn't dodging small children and power bikers. And I suppose there was the point when the chain completely fell off. Funny that a damsel in distress approach resolved this quickly. Thank you Mr. Man. ;)

We got back and waited for Libby before a big night out in Venice & Santa Monica. Well this night out is best described as a "hot mess." I can let some pictures speak for themselves as unfortunately the events of this night violate the parental advisory of my blog.  I will let you know I seriously contemplated sleeping on the bathroom floor...

LA night out

Anyway our last day in LA was spent mostly paying for the night before but it was worth it. How often does one really get to party like a rockstar with Libby?! ;)

So concludes the LA trip recap. I feel so lame for all this time going by but I really wanted to wait for Gail's pictures. It's been hectic ever since.

To a more active June! :)

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