Posts filed under 'On the road'
Every single time we fly we have to change the tickets because Matthew’s work schedule changes. I really wish I was kidding but it has happened more times than not. We usually end up booking really late to try and avoid the drams but this time we planned ahead. Go us! Since Matthew often works a New Years Eve show we decided to go early and come home early for Christmas this year just in case, because it has bitten us in the ass before. We were all set with tickets for weeks and now he’s booked work that overlaps with our trip. Its a great gig but COME ON! Beyond being completely irritating it can cost between $200-$500 depending on what we are doing. Not to mention my constant stream of worry since the day he found out he might be doing this job. Did he find out if the dates are confirmed? Can we even switch the tickets? Will they have any Christmas dates available? Did he find out if the dates are confirmed? Will we get bulkhead seats again? Did he find out if the dates are confirmed? Will we be able to sit together?? Will we have to fly through Seattle? Did he find out if the dates are confirmed? Can we even GO?
Just in case you need proof that worrying does pay off, we were able to change the tickets today, no problem!
Well, tiny problem….
Matthew: Hi, I’d like to change my tickets
British Airways Lady: Ok I have that date available, do you want to change the return
Matthew: Sure
BA Lady: I have that day too
Matthew: Great, lets do it
BA Lady: Ok thats $70 per person for you, the Mrs. and the infant. It comes to $210.
Matthew: Ok great! Let me get my credit card.
Me, eavesdropping: WAAAAAAAAIT! Why are they charging us for Asher? He doesn’t even have a ticket? What’s up with that?
BA Lady: Let me find out.
On hold for 15 minutes, no joke.
My Brain: What the hell? How can they do that? Why would we have to pay to change someone that doesn’t even have a ticket? What should we do? Who should I email? Should I take the phone from Matthew and tell that lady what’s what?
Me: If they tell us we have to pay for him just say no thanks. We can always call back later and add him. I mean really!
BA Lady: No problem, there is no fee and you are all set.
My Brain: PHEWF!
Me: SEE! all that worrying came through for us again.
Mr. It’ll-be-fine: I knew all along that it was going to be fine.
See you at Christmas, Vancouver!
November 8th, 2009
So where have I been? Oh you know…around.
We spent the week before last in Florida visiting my parents, soaking in the sunshine, and introducing Asher to lots of friends and family.
The plane ride was great. I wasn’t really worried about it until we walked onto the plane and I realized that I have the potential to be “that mom” but thankfully Asher wasn’t “that baby” so we all had a very peaceful and uneventful journey. He spent the majority of the flight in The Lifesaver.
As in ITWILLTOTALLYSAVEYOURLIFE. This thing, this tiny piece of stretchy fabric comes eveywhere with me and it really is a life saver. He just chills out the second I put this sucker on.
While the trip on a whole was a little less vacation and a little more of a learning experience we had a great time and can’t wait to go back.
One of the highlights of the trip was hanging out with my grandparents, or as I like to refer to them:
The tannest people in America.
Seriously, look at my grandfather’s hand.
Another highlight was randomly planning this trip at the same time that Matthew’s aunt and uncle (who live outside Vancouver) would be in town. We found out the day we left and were able to meet up with them for lunch
Other than that what’d we do? Not a lot. Went to the outlet mall one day. Got our butts to dairy queen on another day.
They were in the middle of a heat wave which in Florida is H-O-T so our outside activities were limited. We took Asher into the pool one evening at 5 o’clock because that’s the only time it was below 90.
October 26th, 2009
2 weeks ago we headed to DC (ok a suburb in Virginia) for Michelle’s baby shower – she is due 6 weeks before me and wow, that was a wake-up call! We were in town for less than 24 hours, rolling in late Friday night and heading to the shower at 11am Saturday morning. Well I did. Matthew headed to a pancake breakfast for 1 and then to starbucks to catch up on some work.
It was really fun to see the Florida peeps who made it up for the trip.
Hailey, Danielle & Judi
Judi and my mom have been best friends for 30 years so it’s pretty much like being around family. No, its exactly like that. In fact Michelle and Danielle’s grandma tapped me during the shower and told me that I’m “much nicer now then when I was little” Thanks for keepin it real Grandma!
The shower was really lovely and fun. There were some games but they were low key. eeeeeeeverybody knows I hate games. In fact I heard it was starting so I headed into the kitchen. I was loading up my plate of food when they started the first game and Judi said “ooh Bar, its your favorite part!” My reputation obviously preceeds me. Imagine that.
The second game was actually kind of cute, they put pix on the screen of celebs when they were kids and we had to guess who it was. Now, I did NOT start off playing this game but was sitting next to Michelle helping her when she wandered off around face #4. So I started filling them in. I only got 14 out of 20, not bad but not great right… WRONG.
I won.
Seriously. This was my face accepting my prize. How is this possible that I am the reluctant winner of yet another shower game that I was guilted into playing. There is history there. At Danielle’s shower I won some weird game where you take a clothespin from someone when they cross their legs, then at my friend Christine’s shower I won the diaper raffle. Take me to a shower with you – I’m a sure thing.
Honestly, I swear Michelle smiles. We just cannot get a good pic.
See!
On the way back from the shower we decided to stop in Philly and have a cheesesteak at one of the super famous places.
Looks pretty good right??
It wasn’t so good. It was kind of dry and gross. Very disappointing. I gave it a D. Good fries though.
May 16th, 2009
Yay! Its finally spring! I am beyond excited for the weather to start warming up. We spent the last week in Florida just relaxing and hanging out. It was a great vacation not for all the things we did, but because we did absolutely nothing. I mean nothing. We never went to the beach, or even my mom’s pool.
Part of the reason is because it was the 3rd time I was in Florida since mid january. The first was for Adam and Carin’s wedding. Unfortunately I totally forgot my camera the day of the wedding (seriously, the preggo brain is not a joke)
I did take some at the rehearsal dinner though, here is me and (his sister) michelle in the 1 crappy pic we took.
Luckily, peeps are on facebook and since the back of our heads are in this photo I didn’t feel too bad about ripping it off.
That’s Matthew in the middle looking all adorable in his yammy.
The second was a week in Miami for work, then I rented a convertible and drove up to my parents for the weekend. The view from my room at the fountainbleau was spectacular! Too bad I never really made use of my lovely terrace.
The only real firm plan we had all week was to go to the Mets v. Marlins exhibition game. The cool thing about these games is that the stadiums are small and intimate, the not so cool thing is that they give everyone a chance so they never usually play the well known players.
On top of that it was the same week as some big baseball tournament and most of the really good players were out playing for the US team. My aunt Jane hooked us up with really great seats and we had an awesome time.
Nothing says spring like the first game of the season! (Ok even if its the off-season and the game means nothing. He may have had a good time but don’t engage my dad on the stupidity of these games. He thinks they are retardles)
The other higlight of our trip was the day we drove around and explored with my dad. We started of on the search for good (ok decent) pizza and found Downtown Pizza: the best pizza we’ve had outside of ny! Best part, they had a lunch special $4.50 for a slice, salad and soda. Can’t beat it!
In all fairness to our lazy asses the weather turned really bad on Wednesday and pretty much rained the whole rest of our trip. According to my dad it rained about .25 inch for 2 months, then wednesday it rained 5 inches. Seriously. We spent Wednesday at the mall (baby clothes say what!) and then Thursday drove all around South Fla checking out places we have never been.
Friday we relaxed in the morning then went to see Danielle (Michelle and Adam’s sister) and her family. She has 2 adorable kids and it is so great to hang out with them. We got to chatting and she realized they no longer need their pack and play or high chair taking up precious space in their garage so they gave them to us for use at my mom’s house! I was sooooo excited since it did not even cross my mind to ask her about it. On top of that she still had a bunch of old boy clothes and let me pick a few things to take home. People are so generous I can’t even stand it! With me not working and not having a shower plus moving, every item we can borrow is really the most exciting thing. I know I keep saying it over and over but seriously, I can’t believe we don’t have to buy a pack and play for my mom’s house!
Saturday we went out with my parents and Jane for my early birthday dinner. We got to sit right by the water and have a true Florida dining experience.
Oh my poor mom and her photo taking issues. See former evidence here.
The week was really fun but I’m happy to be home. On the list this week is some work, finding a new apartment, packing, baby registry and who knows what else. Can’t wait to get started on it so we can finally relax a bit before the baby gets here!
March 26th, 2009
Right after we got back from Ireland I went to San Francisco for 8 days on a show. The show went great and I just love being back in one of my favorite cities in the world. The weather was unseasonably warm at 75 while the weather in NYC was unseasonably cold at, oh 5 degrees so that alone was thrilling.
I have a bunch of friends to visit with in SF, a few that were on the show with me so it really was a great trip. Add on that we were done by 6 or 7 every night and were able to leave the hotel every night which is such a huge treat.
Unfortunately I forgot my camera (shock, I know!) and was really angry about it the entire time. The last night there we took the cable car to fisherman’s wharf to go to the only In-n-Out burger in San Francisco because we are all crazy In-n-out freaks and couldn’t not go. Someone snapped this mediochre photo of me on the cable car but LOOK! I was in San Francisco!
Right after this I got to go straight to the airport for my redeye home. I rarely take redeyes but since I had to fly to Florida Saturday morning I didn’t want to waste all of Friday on a plane. I took Virgin America which I loved, definitely recommend it.
Where I Stayed: Westin St. Francis Hotel
Where I Ate (In order of yumminess):
Out The Door - Vietnamese (2x)
Salt House
Tropisueno - Mexican (2x)
Boudin – Great for lunch (2x)
In-n-Out Burger
Farmer Browns – meh
January 25th, 2009
Well Hello! I know its been a while but I have been out of town…like a lot. Christmas Day we flew to Dublin so I’ll start there…
We spent a week driving around Ireland, it was exactly like you imagine it! Gorgeous green rolling hills, tons of sheep, little seaside towns, completely adorable. We went with Michelle and Gary and had an amazing time. We spent 2 days in Dublin, 1 in Galway, 1 in a small town on the west coast and 2 in Cork.
Throughout the whole trip we were a little bit shocked at the quality and taste of the food. We happened upon more than 1 fabulous meal and my new obsession, the carvery. The first night we were there we walked past a pub that had a number of signs proclaiming it ‘Best dining Pub 2007″ also 2006. 2005, 2004, etc etc. Since it was only a 2 block walk from our hotel we decided to have dinner there on our first night. The carvery is basically like a buffet of carved meats – you choose what you want (Roast Beef for me!) and then you choose from about 10 different sides, 4 of which were potato, no joke. When I said I only wanted mashed potatoes to go with my peas and cabbage the cute Irish guy behind the counter was sort of offended and said “only ONE kind of potato???” That is apparently unheard of in those parts.
The drive from Dublin to Galway was great, Matthew just about mastered driving on the wrong side of the road by saying “Keep Left!” to himself every time he turned. He was such a great driver! It was a beautiful, sunny day which was quite unexpected and took us about 2 hours.
We explored Galway and had a bite to eat for lunch. It was there that I discovered the veg soup. Pureed vegetables, a bit of cream and spices. It was delicious and perfect on the cold wintery day, and every single day after. Seriously, every restaurant had a veg soup. There was definitely a day I had it twice. Galway was cute and we were very close to the adorable cobble stoned shopping district that every city in Ireland has. We learned in Dublin just to follow the Christmas decorations hanging above and you will find shopping. In the evening we decided to go to a movie just because.
The next day was the day I was most excited about – we were driving to the Cliffs of Moher, a really amazing sight and something I was most looking forward to. On the way there we randomly passed a castle on the side of the road. It was just gorgeous.
Another beautiful, sunny day but the cliffs were FREEZING. I’m not sure what we expected 200+ meters above the ocean but wow, we couldn’t handle it for long. Unfortunately the position of the sun wasn’t the best for photo ops but they DID have a number of funny signs. And I really love funny signs.
After the experience at the cliffs we drove to a tiny town called Doolin and went into the only restaurant open on a sunday afternoon, the pub. From the second we got out of the car it just smelled good. I got the veg soup, everyone else got fish and chips. The second I saw the fish and chips i regretted my decision, they were the freshest, lightest fillets and besides chips there was a real, honest to goodness salad on the plate! Everyone gave me a taste of theirs to hold me over from ordering my own but it was the most surprisingly delicous meal in all of Ireland.
That night we stayed sort of in the middle of nowhere at my favorite hotel of the trip. It was really modern and clean, free internet, free breakfast and only 99 euro.
The next day (day 4 if you are counting) we drove down to Cork - about an hour or so south. On the way there Matthew let Gary drive and well…
Maybe that was a mistake. Everyone was fine and besides the 2 pregos in our car, the other car involved had 3 small children in it! We had insurance through the rental car company so after a bit of form filling off we went. With Matthew driving of course!
On the way into Cork we stopped at Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone. It was enough for me to go to the top of a castle, there was no way I was leaning over backwards to kiss the stupid thing once we got up there. Its not just like sitting on the side of the road – you have to climb to the top of this castle and do gymnastics to earn the gift of eloquence. I passed.
Matthew kissing the Blarney Stone
Blarney Stone from below
Cork was great, definitely my favorite town in Ireland. It was really beautiful, there were tons of interesting people and shopping, and it happens to be the culinary capitol of Ireland. Yum!
They have a great shopping district and a farmers market called English Market that has food stalls and cooked food and chocolates and lots of other stuff. We walked over (5 minutes from the hotel) on our second day there and stopped in for lunch.
Matthew and Gary had sausages
The last day there we drove back to Dublin, the longest drive of the trip - about 3 hours or so. On the way back we stopped at the Rock of Cashel, a cathedral and priory built around 1100. It was a pretty amazing place.
That’s pretty much it. We got back to Dublin for New Years Eve, had Indian food for dinner (sooo sick of pub food) then packed up and got ready for our 6am trip to the airport. We waited for the stroke of midnight and watched the fireworks in London and Scotland on TV before passing out.
Where We Stayed
Dublin:Westin Dublin
SAS Royal Hotel
Galway: Park House Hotel
Between Limerick and Cork: Bunratty Castle Hotel
Cork: Jurys Cork
Where We Ate (reccomendations)
Dublin:O’Neills Bar
Jaipur
Galway: Galway Baking Company
Cork: Fenn’s Quay
Liberty Grill
Ambassador Chinese Restaurant
Doolin: O’Connor’s Pub
January 24th, 2009
Hope you had a great holiday! We are in Ireland, Be back soon.
Tags: travel
December 27th, 2008
Friday night we went down to DC for the Coldplay concert with Gary and Michelle. Surprisingly very few of the concertgoers were dressed up for halloween but the few that were, wow. They kind of stuck out, I’ll just say that.
The mood in DC was very festive all around, lots of sexy cops, sexy nurses and people dressed as bananas. It was quite a mix. The concert was really fun, and I even had the opportunity to enjoy a crystal light slurpee on the way home. Who knew they existed? Refreshing and delicious, and sugarfree.
Since Gary and MIchelle live in a Virginia suburb we were all set to visit the boy museum near their house on Saturday. When we woke up and headed out for breakfast it was about 65 degrees so we changed our plans and decided to go to Great Falls Park instead. The park was Great! there were Falls! It was GREAT! FALLS!
It was super cool, and the weather was unbelievable although none of us were dressed for hiking we still had fun.
My favorite part was the sign in the ladies room that said “Do not fall over the edge, You will DIE!” There was a whole bunch of people so I didn’t take a pic, but now I really wish I did.
We hiked around all up and down and all over the place, Michelle in her leisure suit and everything. Poor thing thought we were going to Eggspectation!
Whie Gary was busy pondering life on a tiny rock
And Matthew was busy climbing up to the top of mountains
Michelle and I sat here for a while, just enjoying the day without trying to get ourselves killed
*and also really irritating the shit out of that chick who was trying to meditate on the rock next to us.
What did I tell ya, good times had by all!
Tags: fun, travel
November 5th, 2008
I am aware that my posting has been a bit lax since I went back to work at the office. I seriously don’t understand how people do it 5 days a week and then have a life on top of that. It is exhausting! All the talking to people all day, and the matching outfits to shoes, and the subway. It’s enough to make a girl want to get in bed at 8 every night.
So that’s what I’ve been doing. Pretty much eating dinner and getting right into bed. Matthew was here all week but worked until midnight so I didn’t really see him, and then he left for Maryland. I’m free to do whatever I want all the time and that happens to be catching up on Pushing Daisies and Top Model.
Wha? Is anyone surprised?
Last weekend we did actually leave the house and drove to Montreal for my niece Liliane’s first birthday.
As expected there was quite a bit of this:
There was a also a bunch of this:
of COURSE some of this:
All leading up to this:
ahhhh,
“The Return of the Homemade Skillet Pizza – Francophone Version. Pizza Takes Montreal”
If only they made a really huge circular cast iron pizza skillet thingy we would really be in business. The teeny skillet is a little scary, well…for some people.
It took about 9 hours to make a bunch of mini pizzas that we all split when it came out of the oven, so you’d get 2 bites every 15 minutes. Thankfully we had some wine chilling for Liliane’s party. (Sorry that you didn’t get any delicious rosé Theresa’s friends, we had to wait a long time between pizzas!) All we did all night was make teeny tiny pizzas, wait the 10 minutes for the oven to heat back up and then 2 minutes for them to cook, shove them down and repeat, repeat, repeat. Lucky for us we had the idea to make a salad to go with it. Oh the salad. THE SALAD as it is now known. We did not get pictures of THE SALAD because we were too busy enjoying the act of taking multiple bites in a row but it was so amazing I have made it 2x since we’ve been home. Oh, its just a salad you say? Well you are wrong, its THE SALAD!
Don’t worry, I took some pics when I made it last night.
You’ll just have to wait.
Tags: nuggets, pizza, travel
October 27th, 2008
Since I had a show in Miami last Thursday I decided to celebrate 5769 at my parents house in South Florida. While perusing the internets I came across this recipe for a homemade honey cake and was thinking maybe I’d make my first ever cake from scratch.
What’s that?
Oh. 32 in March, why do you ask?
Yes I have a kitchen.
Um, yes, of course I like cake.
I DO SO have self-respect!
My family just doesn’t really bake, we always have carvel cakes for birthdays. I just never got into it, I don’t know. Also, I dislike using machines and I foolishly thought you needed to use mixers and stuff to make a cake, likely because my husband is the family baker and he is way into gadgets.
Now I knew the cake was going to be good because besides all the rave reviews on Smitten I got a real life review from my friend Jessica who was on the Miami show with me. A fellow chosen person, we were chatting about family traditions for the holidays and I sent her the link to the cake. She made it Sunday and called me Monday morning on her way to work saying that it was delicious and smells amazing. Then she sent me an email to follow up. Seriously! They loved this cake!
We ALWAYS have honey cake on the holiday, but its ALWAYS packaged and dry and boring and tasteless so making a cake from scratch (!) seemed kind of exciting. Plus the recipe looked super easy and its all stuff we usually have on hand at my house.
The Honey Cake Experiment
Step 1 – Make sure we have all the ingredients.
We have none of the ingredients. Except the honey. We have tons of honey.
Off to Target to pick up a cake pan because we didn’t have that either. Mom and I decided on a bundt for fun and smartly I asked if she had measuring cups and spoons. Good thing.
Then I loaded up the cart at Publix with every single ingredient on the list. My mother was apalled that I put cinnamon in the cart because OF COURSE WE HAVE CINNAMON!
Once we had all of the exotic hard to find ingredients we were good to go.
Step 2 – Mix all the stuff in a bowl. With a whisk! You don’t need a fancy mixer for honey cake people!
Step 3- Put it in the oven and make your house smell like a yankee candle
Step 4 – take it out and make sure it doesn’t all stick to the top. Whoops.
I really don’t know what happened. It was a non-stick pan with PAM. I served it anyway of course, we are not a family of Martha Stewarts.
The reviews:
Mom – “It’s delicious! Really delicious!”
Dad – “Its delicious! But maybe too much cinnamon? But delicious!”
Grandma – “You MADE this cake?”
Poppy – “Why isn’t it a loaf? Cut me another slice”
Me – There was too much cinnamon. I didn’t love the bundt.
Thanks for the good times honey cake! See you in 5770!
Tags: recipe
October 3rd, 2008
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