What a View!

A sneak preview of the pictures from my trip. Here is the fantastic view from my hotel room in Lisbon. The picture does not do it justice!

Home Again

I'm back from my trip to Madrid & Lisbon. I had a really great time. I liked Madrid, but I loved Lisbon!! It is in my top five favorite cities! Of course, this could have something to do with our hotel room terrace (and the view from the terrace!). I will try to post pictures and a commentary about my trip in the next week or so but until then I will leave with you some of the menu items from the hotel restaurant in Madrid. Their menu was posted in the elevator and was no end of amusement to Jana and me. Something must have gotten a little lost in translation! :)

Hake to the Roman
Cod to the Oven
Cod to the Ember
Sirloin to the fat salt
Tomato to the fat salt

Mm, Frappuccino

It's funny how these silly little quizzes can be pretty accurate. I think this one comes close! Plus, it thinks I'm a frappuccino, and I love to drink frappuccinos! Speaking of which, I just tried the new Orange Creme Light Frappuccino and it was really good (and the light version is only 2 weight watcher points!).

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofcoffeeareyouquiz/

Congratulations!!

Congratulations John!! My brother graduated this weekend from Washington State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. It's been a long, hard road but he made it! Yay John! And in honor of him I will say one thing I rarely say... Go COUGS!

Hm

I woke up this morning with the song Motownphilly stuck in my head. Why, I'm really not sure. Often I will wake up with random songs in my head but usually I can trace it back to something - I heard it the night before, it was on the radio when I woke up, it was in my dream but not this time. Don't get me wrong, I like the song, just can't quite figure out why it was stuck in my head. Really, no explanation.

The Big 3-0, it's official!

It must seem as if I've been celebrating my birthday for awhile now. Probably because I started celebrating a month in advance! But as of 12:54 PM on April 29th I have officially entered into my 30's! I celebrated all weekend - and ate my through the celebrations!

After all the anxiety I had about turning 30, when I woke up on Sunday it was just another day. The hardest moment I've had with my new age was at the gym when I had to enter it in on the elliptical machine and I couldn't put 29 anymore and instead entered 30. But I'm slowly moving past the whole shock of being 30 and instead will focus on enjoying the next decade of my life!

Wanderlust

Main Entry: wan·der·lust
Pronunciation: 'wän-d&r-"l&st
Function: noun
Etymology: German, from wandern to wander + Lust desire, pleasure: strong longing for or impulse toward wandering

It doesn't take knowing me long before you realize how much I love to travel. I try to go on at least one (sometimes two) week long vacations each year. In fact, it's usually not to long after I get back when I start planning for the next one. This year, however, I'm taking it to another level! Hm, I wonder if it has anything to do with turning 30! Or more likely, my avoidance of accepting the fact I'm turning 30. This year I've haven't been able to stay in one place too long before the need to travel wells up in me. It was probably only a week or two after I got back from WDW that another trip presented itself and here I am preparing to leave again. At the end of May I will be going to Spain and Portugal (Madrid and Lisbon, specifically) with my friend Jana. I will probably have another 2 trips (Cabo in September, Europe in November) along with at least one or two Houston trips to visit my Houston family. I am suffering from some serious wanderlust this year.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

Yesterday I traveled up to annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. This has become an annual pilgrimage since I moved back to Washington. Tulips are my favorite flower and to see them in so many colors and spread out in fields for as far as the eye can see is truly a glorious sight to behold. The other fun thing about the tulips is they are great models for me to practice my photography skills, or lack thereof, on. As usual, some turned out, some didn't. I've posted a few of my favorites. The rest can be seen at: emily77.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AZuG7Nu2aOHWQ

Bonn/London March 2007

I was in Bonn, Germany & London for work. I'll just share a couple of the highlights.

Our German colleagues were great hosts, taking us to some really good restaurants. Sunday night we went to Indochine, an Asian fusion restaurant. Monday night we went into Cologne to eat at a brauhaus. I had a dish called Heaven & Earth and I'm still not sure exactly what it was - some type of sausage and potatos - but it was really good! Tuesday for lunch we had Italian, and I of course had my staple, margerita pizza. And Tuesday evening we left Bonn and headed to London.

We checked into our hotel and headed up to our rooms. This is probably one of the most interesting hotels I've ever stayed in. All the hallways were narrow and twisting going up and down stairs. And this was before I got to my room which was extremely small. The roof was sloping down. I nicknamed it the "Harry Potter" room as it reminded me of the room under the closet Harry had in the first book. We went to dinner at a Greek restaurant down the street.

The next night, after our conference, we went to see Wicked. I've never been a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz but had heard good things about Wicked. It was amazing!! I loved the story (which is told from the Wicked Witch of the West's point of view) and the songs were great. The lead actresses were excellent.

Friday we toured around London. After beautiful weather in Germany and even our first few days in London we were hoping it would continue but Mother Nature had other ideas. It was overcast and before long it started to rain. But you've got to expect rain in London!

Saturday we split up and I ventured out to Bletchley Park, where codebreaking was done in WWII. I had wanted to see it since I saw the movie Engima, which takes place at Bletchley Park. The house is an electic mix of different architectural styles - the original owner got ideas from places he had traveled to and incorporated them into his house. The lady who gave my tour actually worked at Bletchley during the war and one of the women on our tour did as well. It was neat to hear their stories. It's unfortunate that Bletchley is not a government-run museum, it's funded entirely by donations, as it lacks the efficiency and organization you normally find in a museum.

Sunday we left and came home.

Happy Birthday to ME!!

This honestly needs to start with once upon a time as it was once upon a time Michelle and I decided for my 30th birthday we should go to Disneyworld. So without further ado, once upon a time in Houston, Michelle & I were talking about our mutual love of Disney and the fact I'd never been to Disneyworld. And so the plan was born that in 2007 we would go to Disneyworld. As the time got closer we began planning and decided to go in March. I'm still not sure how it got to be 2007 but it here it was 2007!


My dad had United Airline miles he wanted to use up and so offered them to me to use on my birthday trip. I was grateful for the free plane ticket even though it meant a red eye flight connecting through LAX. Diane met me at my house and my mom drove us to the airport. We landed in Orlando a little after 6 a.m. on March 17th (St. Patrick's Day!). I'd planned ahead and worn green. I find it funny that so many grown-ups will wear green on St. Patrick's Day. It can't be fear of being pinched, can it? But I digress. We made our way through the airport. Because we were staying at a Disney property we were able to use their Magical Express service which meant we didn't have to pick up our luggage and they took us straight to our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised when the hotel had a room available for us. After showering we headed to Downtown Disney in search of breakfast and coffee. We had breakfast with the Earl of Sandwich, however we never found coffee. Where is a Starbucks when you need one? Shopping beckoned after breakfast and then it was back to the hotel for a little nap that turned out to be a little longer than 40 winks. After we woke up, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. Walking down Main Street a huge smile started at my mouth and continued to my toes! It really is the happiest place on earth. In a bakery on Main Street our quest for coffee ended successfully. Not quite Starbucks but it definitely hit the spot. We started off in Adventureland, fastpassing the Jungle Cruise (one of my favorites) and waited in line for Pirates of the Carribbean (another favorite - in fact you should probably get used to me saying such and such is my favorite as I say it about a lot of things). Big Thunder Mountain Railroad had a 50 minute wait so we decided to go for it and wait in line. About an hour and 15 minutes later we boarded our out of control train. We were trying to decide what to do next when Michelle called to let us know they had landed and were on their way to the hotel. Not knowing how long it would take us to get back to the hotel we set off. Walking through the masses of people, green was the predominant color of choice. Again, it's funny to me how you are never to old to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. On the bus ride home we learned that Daisy Duck has three neices - April, May and June which is something I never knew.


Not to long after we got back to the hotel, Michelle, Stacy & Bailey arrived. We had dinner at our new favorite spot, The Earl of Sandwich and then dessert at Ghiradelli's. Yum! After we got back tothe hotel Janette arrived (Michelle's mom) which was wonderful as we weren't sure when she was going to make it with the winter storms in the east.


Magic Kingdom Day! Angie met us at the hotel & we set off. After breakfast at the bakery while watching a mini parade, it was time to begin. I had gotten a button that said it was my birthday and one of the park workers told me happy birthday. When I said thank you he told me to get used to it and he was right! Everyone told me happy birthday that day, including people standing in line with me. The day started in Fantasyland on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Pooh and the gang are probably my favorite group of Disney characters. It was on this ride we discovered my ride karma as it stopped a few times. Snow White was next, followed by It's a Small World, and then another favorite, Peter Pan! I think part of the reason I love the Peter Pan ride is flying over London. We then went to one of my new favorites, Philharmagic. It's a 3-D experience with lots of songs which of course I sang along too! With Fantasyland basically complete it was time for lunch in Tomorrowland. We split up after lunch. Seeing that Space Mountain had a huge line Diane and I fastpassed it and went to check out Buzz Lightyear. It was a very fun ride, but once again the ride stopped in the middle, which allowed us to rack up a lot more points. We then hurried over to Adventureland and Splash Mountain with a stop at the teacups. Splash Mountain and I have a love/hate relationship. I hate the anticipation of the drop but I love the ride and at the bottom I'm always glad I did it. It had gotten hot by then so the splash was actually a good thing. It was time to meet up with Michelle, Stacy and Angie for Haunted Mansion where once again the ride stopped in the middle. As I was the common denominator on the rides that stopped we figured out it was my ride karma. We headed back to Tomorrowland to use our Space Mountain fastpasses but before going on Space Mountain we rode on another new favorite of mine, the Blue Line ride or the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority. What was so great about this ride? You got to sit down and relax! Before getting on Space Mountain we pastpassed it again for that evening. After Space Mountain we headed back towards Main Street to watch the nighttime parade before watching the firework show above Cinderella's castle. I took probably about a gazillion photos in hopes a few would turn out - and I think some of them really turned out well. It was Magic Hours that night for Magic Kingdom which meant we could spend an extra 3 hours at the park since we were staying at a Disney property. I immediately spoke out and said "oh, there is no way I'm going to be here until 2 a.m." So when we left the park at really close to 2 a.m. I had to eat my words but the extra time was worth it! We rode Space Mountain, the teacups, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Carribbean without really waiting in line at all before doing a little shopping. By the time we got home it was after 2 and by the time we were asleep it was probably closer to 3! Climbing into bed, I felt like my body was still moving and I was still on some sort of ride.


Considering the night before (which overflowed into this morning) we were not the most animated group as we left the hotel. But we did manage to make it to breakfast with Winnie the Pooh! Yay! Pooh was there along with his pals Piglet, Tigger & Eeyore. Why Rabbit got left out? I'm not sure. He probably was working very hard in his garden. Breakfast was very fun! We took the monorail from the Magic Kingdom (where breakfast was) over to Epcot. Our first ride was another ride where it stopped in the middle. However, the folks behind us had a plausible explanation (as opposed to Emily's ride karma theory) which was that on the continuous moving rides, when someone with a disability gets on they have to shut down the ride in order to help them on. From there we ventured over to the Nemo ride where we got to ride in clammobiles!! I don't know why but the clammobiles cracked me up! We then waited for Turtletalk with Crush, however due to technical difficulties they had to cancel the show. We tried to fastpass Soarin' (a hang-gliding adventure over California) but all the fastpasses had been distributed for the day. So we fastpassed Test Track and started our journey around the world. In Norway, we went on a Maelstrom, a Viking adventure. We continued on our journey when we landed in Italy, just in time for lunch. Yummy!! After lunch we did Test Track before splitting up - Michelle, Bailey & Janette headed back to the hotel to get some rest while Angie, Stacy, Diane & I finished up our tour of the world where I learned that apparently you don't have to be in France to take a gazillion photos of the Eiffel Tower! We also celebrated a wedding in Morocco (between Angie & the Genie from Aladdin). Unfortunately (or fortunately!) it was only valid in Morocco and as soon as we were in France it was null and void. We finished up in Canada and we really began to feel the effects of the night before and so we too called it a day and headed back to the hotel. Thinking it would be just as quick to head to Downtown Disney and visit the Earl for dinner as it would be to grab some food from the store at the hotel Diane and I headed out. It was just as quick to get there, however, it was the getting back part that took awhile. We sat and waited and waited and waited for our bus back to the hotel. Granted the hotel was not that far away, but it was dark and we knew if we tried to walk, we'd probably end up lost so it was easier to wait. But finally the bus came and we were able to go home and get some much needed sleep!


Today was Animal Kingdom day. After the Magic Kingdom, this was the place I was most excited to visit! Angie was spending the day with her family and Diane left that morning to visit her family in Georgia so it was a smaller crew that set out that morning. I was definitely not disappointed by Animal Kingdom - they really did an excellent job with that park. We started off the day exploring Mt. Everest where we met a Yeti Monster!! Oh no!! The Yeti ripped up our tracks so we couldn't go forward. But thankfully our train was able to backtrack and take us down the mountain away from the Yeti. We fastpassed the safari adventure and watched the Lion King Festival which was amazing!! Very colorful and of course filled with the songs from the movie. The safari was fun - I couldn't believe how close the animals were! It had started raining so we hurried to It's Tough to be a Bug (a 3-D adventure with Flick) inside the Tree of Life to get out of the rain. It was really starting to rain and so we broke down and bought a Mickey poncho - of course, after we bought our poncho, the rain stopped. After lunch we watched the parade, watched the Finding Nemo musical, got scared by a Dinosaur and said good-bye to the animals before heading back to the hotel. That night Michelle, Stacy & I met up with Angie and her sister Mary to explore Pleasure Island. We had dinner at an Irish Pub and then went to an improv comedy club.


We made it to Wednesday!! Our day of rest!! And boy did we need it. Stacy spent the day with her brother, Angie with her family, and Diane was in Georgia. Michelle and I started off the day with a massage. We walked over to the spa and were surprised to find out when we got there we had the time wrong and so missed the first part of our massage. Bummer! Oh well, but at least we still got close to an hour (it was originally scheduled for 90 minutes) and some massage is better than no massage!! After the massage we were feeling quite relaxed and headed over to Downtown Disney for lunch & shopping. Several hours later, and many shopping bags later, we needed a pick-me-up and stopped by Ghiradelli for a sweet treat! Michelle, Stacy & I had dinner at the restaurant at the resort and then headed back to Downtown Disney and met up with Angie & Mary to watch a Cirque du Soliel show (La Nouba). I had never been to a Cirque show before and I was very impressed! Starting with the first act I thought it would be my favorite but then the next act would start and I was sure it was going to be my favorite. Even now, I'm not sure I could pick one act that was my favorite - they were all so good!


Today was Disney-MGM Studios day. The park was designed in the fashion of old Hollywood in the 1940's. I loved it!! We headed directly over to the Tower of Terror, Michelle's favorite ride. Based on the Twilight Zone, it drops you 13 stories. Sometimes having an active imagination is a good thing, sometimes it's not. Had we visited MGM earlier in the week I might have attempted the ride, however having many days to think about it, as well as seeing how tall the tower was from the road, my imagination took over and I pysched myself out of doing it. So while Michelle, Stacy, & Angie were being braver than me, I went and got us fast passes for the Rockin' Rollercoaster. I'm very glad to say Michelle, Stacy & Angie survived the Tower of Terror and we made our way over to the Great Movie Ride which took us through the sets of several movies, including two of my all-time favorites, Singin' in the Rain and Casablanca. We then made our way over to see the Playhouse Disney show where we sang along with several Playhouse Disney characters including Bear in the Big Blue House. Diane arrived at MGM while we were at Playhouse Disney and just in time for our fast passes on Rockin' Rollercoaster. Now this is another one where I wasn't completely sure I wanted to try as it goes upside down but upside down wasn't as scary to me as dropping 13 floors so I sucked it up and I was glad I did. I kept my eyes tightly shut so I wouldn't see when they flipped us upside down and that seemed to work. Lunch was next on the agenda and we had it at the Prime Time Diner. It was a really neat place, decorated like a house from the 1950's. The waiters/waitresses treated us as if we were like family, including telling us to sit up straight and get our elbows off the table. When they found out we were there celebrating my birthday, our waitress, Aunt Elaine, brought out a cupcake. I made a wish but before I blew out the candle Aunt Elaine said my wish wasn't going to come true so I should wish again. Darn! And I had thought it was a good wish. After lunch we headed over to the Drew Carey show which was in total darkness for part of the time. I do have to admit that I closed my eyes for just a second (or maybe a couple of seconds) and was on my way to sleep. When we emerged from the show it was time for Angie to leave to go to her nephew's birthday party. The rest of watched the afternoon parade. After the parade we boarded Star Tours, for a trip to Endor. Diane, Michelle, & Stacy went back to ride Tower of Terror (since Diane missed it in the morning) while I once again chickened out. Afterwards we split up with Stacy, Michelle, Janette & Bailey watching Beauty & the Beast live and Diane & I watching the High School Musical pep rally. We met back up and made our way over to Lights, Motors, Action, an extreme stunt show, where we were all entertained by the hero trying to make his escape from a town on the coast of France. We took a quick trip to New York and San Francisco (by way of movie set magic) before taking a backlot tour. At the beginning of the tour they warned us that people sitting on the right may get a little wet. I was sitting on the left so felt safe, until they said the next thing, which was people sitting on the left will get soaked! Meandering our way through the tour we came across a canyon. Nothing bad ever happens in a canyon, right? Once the train was inside the canyon we were subjected to all sorts of movie magic, including tons of water coming straight towards us! I did get a little wet, but not soaked. Whew! By this time it was getting close to the start time of Fantasmic, a light show on the water. The first time I went to Disneyland, my mom and I stumbled across this show and were amazed! I was very excited to see it again, and to see if it was as good as I remembered it. And it was! I think this show is one of my favorite things to see at a Disney park.


Our last day! The week had gone by so fast. We decided to split up with a plan to meet up later. Diane, Stacy & I started out at Animal Kingdom since Diane had missed it. We fastpassed the safari and watched the Lion King Festival. When we emerged from the Lion King Festival it was time for our safari. Even more animals were out on this safari - we even saw an elephant taking a bath!! We then went back to Mt. Everest where that silly Yeti was still ripping up train tracks. Diane & I headed over to the Dinosaur ride but as we got to the entrance there was a huge stream of people exiting. The ride was broken. But it wasn't my fault this time!! I wasn't even on the ride at the time. We waited for 5 minutes to see if it would open but when it didn't, we left and met up with Stacy at the front of the park. We got on a bus and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. It was at the Magic Kingdom we decided to see if we could visit all 4 parks in one day. With that goal in mind we got our picture taken on Main Street as photographic evidence. The only problem with this was that we hadn't done it at Animal Kingdom. Too bad, if only we had thought of it earlier in the day. After a quick snack at the bakery we made our way over to Toon Town to meet Mickey!! We toured Minnie's house and then headed over to Mickey's and we met the Mouse himself! We had fastpassed Space Mountain and still had time so we headed over to the barn to meet a few more characters - Minnie & Goofy. We still had more time and took a ride on Goofy's plane. Goofy wasn't the greatest pilot and the plane went through a barn before landing us on the runway. It was time for our fastpass so we left Toon Town and headed to Tomorrowland. We did a bit of shopping before saying goodbye to the Magic Kingdom and hello to MGM. After we got our picture taken we headed for the Rockin' Rollercoaster but all fastpasses had been distributed and the line was long. We were feeling "lined" out and decided to skip it. We we went on the Great Movie Ride and walked around before heading over to Epcot. We made our goal of all 4 parks in one day! At Epcot we met up with Michelle, Janette & Bailey to watch IllumiNations. Disney definitely knows how to put on a fireworks show!! Epcot had late Magic Hours so we thought we would hit Soarin', Test Track and Mission Space. Soarin' and Test Track still had long lines so we headed to Mission Space. Once again, I chickened out. Mission Space is a spinning ride and those who are claustraphobic are warned not to ride it. Every once in awhile I get very claustraphobic so I opted out. A group of high schoolers had just finished the ride while I was waiting and several were very sick, and one even needed a wheelchair to leave so I felt validated in my decision not to ride it. Feeling tired, and realizing how much packing we had left to do, we headed back to the hotel.


Diane had a very early flight the next morning. Originally I was on the same flight but instead of flying home I was flying to Germany to meet with co-workers before heading to London for training. So we said goodbye. Stacy left to spend the day with her brother. I did laundry most of the morning and finished up packing before Michelle, Janette, Bailey & I headed to the front of the hotel to wait for my bus to take me to the airport. We said goodbye and I left on the Magical Express bus.


What a wonderful birthday trip!! Thanks to everyone who made my birthday trip so special!!

Back in the US of A

I am back at home after a long 2 weeks of traveling that had me in Orlando, Bonn (Germany), and London before finally heading back to Seattle. Pictures & trip report to follow but it might be awhile.

And on a "shoulda hada V-8" note, my VCR decided it knew better than I did about the time change with daylight savings and changed the time on me so I'm not sure that any of my shows were recorded while I was gone. Just another reason why I need to join everyone else on the planet and get a DVR!

Procrastination

I leave for WDW in about a day and a half and instead of madly packing, which I should be doing, I am watching 102 Dalmations with Chloe (it's really Chloe who is watching - she enjoys barking at the dogs). I always end up packing and repacking and then unpacking and packing once again. What will eventually be the contents of my suitcase are currently spread out across the floor, some in my suitcase, some on the chair. Next commercial I am definitely going downstairs to finish packing!! Really, next commercial.

Countdown

Emily, you're turning 30 this year, what are you going to do next? I'm going to Disneyworld!! That's right, a mere week from today I will be leaving on a jet plane to go visit Mickey Mouse. This trip has been planned for probably close to 4 years so it's a little hard to believe it's really happening. With it only a week away, the official countdown has begun. 7 days and counting!!

It's March BABY!

NCAA, NC 2A, NC Double A - however you say it, it is tournament time! I love college basketball which makes March one of my favorite times of the year. Every year as I sit through nail-biter games, and the eventual loss of my team, I wonder why I continue to put myself through the ecstasy and agony every year. It has been awhile since my team has won the championship, it’s actually been several years since they’ve made it past the sweet sixteen.

Heading into championship week it looks like Duke will make the tournament, even with only a .500 record in the ACC. The (Washington) Huskies will most likely only make it if they win the PAC 10 championship. Gonzaga looks to be in, even if they were to lose the WCC championship. And, surprise of all surprises, the Cougars are not only a lock to get in but a potential 3 seed! 3 seed and Cougars is something I never thought I would say in the same sentance. Normally the Cougars wouldn't really even be on my radar considering I'm a Husky at heart, but my brother is in his final year at WSU and so I've temporarily set aside my cross-state rivalry prejudice towards the Cougars.

So what will this March bring? Who knows? But one thing is for certain, I will be watching!

London P.S.

I realized I had left out a very important part of my trip to London!! The ghost!! Or the psycho TV!! Take your pick. Saturday is when the trouble began. I was watching TV before we left for dinner and the channel changed all by itself. I didn't pay too much attention to it as I figured I had just inadvertently pushed a button. Later that night it happened again. Not a big deal, I just switched it back to the program we were watching. The problem started when we went to bed and the TV turned itself on not once, not twice but 5 times!! Granted, after the first time I should have turned it completely off rather than just hitting the power button but I was warm in my bed and didn't feel like getting out of bed to walk over to the TV. The first time I really noticed it was a little after midnight (midnight:20 to be exact). I made an empty threat that I would unplug the TV if it happened again. The second time was 2 hours later at 2:20. I thought to myself it must be on a 2 hour timer and it was probably near 10:20 when the channel switched. I didn't think on it too much and went back to sleep. The next time was at 3:45 so there went the whole 2 hour timer theory. The next time was sometime after 4, again just turned off the TV and went back to bed. The last time I had apparently gotten used to it and didn't wake up that quickly. It woke Jana up that time but it hadn't woken her up the two times before that. I was fed up with it by that time, fed up enough to get out of bed and turn it off completely. Before we went back to sleep we joked that it must have been the ghost from the castle that had followed us home. The rest of the night passed peacefully until of course the alarm clock went off, but that's another story.

Capachala

The theme for this long weekend became capachala. I was trying to describe the absurdity of a situation and words failed me. What came out was a series of sounds that formed "capachala". Jana thought it was too good to pass up and so the word for the trip became capachala.

With the President's Day holiday coming up, Jana and I decided to make a long weekend of it. And what better place than London? Since we have both been there several times before we wouldn't need to spend a lot of time orienting ourselves.

With the where and when decided, the how came in to play. Normally, I always fly British Airways to London as they are the only ones who fly direct out of Seattle. However, there was a potential for a cabin crew strike when I would be flying out and if that occurred most likely my flight would be cancelled. Not wanting to deal with the potential for a strike I explored other options and settled on American. I kept waiting, though, in hopes the strike would be called off, but I ended up booking at what I considered my last minute as the trip was getting close. Of course a day or two after I booked with American the British Airways strike was called off. With this news came the debate of do I cancel my (nonrefundable) American flight and just book the British flight or do I suck it up and take the American flight? My more economical side won out and I decided to stick with American.

Before I knew it, the trip had arrived. I was dropped off at the airport Wednesday morning for my flight to NY where I would catch another flight to London. I had a little over an hour connecting time in NY (I flew into JFK) which I thought would be plenty. Not long after take-off the pilot came on and made what I thought would be a pretty routine announcement so I tuned him out until I caught the part about weather issues but they were still allowing planes to land. Not worrying overmuch, I went back to my book. When the second announcement came on and again there was mention of weather and not allowing planes to leave, I sat up and tried to listen, realizing maybe there was more to this than I thought. Turns out there was a huge storm in New York! We had just about reached New York and the pilot came on again to let us know that we could land and they were allowing planes to take-off as well. We landed right about on time, which meant I had a little over an hour to get to my connecting gate. The plane taxied toward the gate and pulled up short and sat. Another announcement - this time to let us know there was a plane sitting at our gate and it was having issues pushing back due to the ice. So we sat, and sat, and sat some more until finally the other plane was able to push back and we could pull in to the gate. By the time I got off the plane I had less than 30 minutes to get to my next flight. At this time they were telling us that the flight was leaving as scheduled. The instructions were to follow the signs, however after the first sign, there weren't really any more, at least any more clearly marked. When we had to go out through baggage I started doubting I would make it as I realized I would have to go through security again. Waiting in line at security I made friends with a few other passengers who were trying to make it to my same flight. One of them had talked to an agent and as there were several of us, they were holding the flight for us. After I got through security, I didn't even bother to put my shoes back on. I grabbed all my stuff and ran! I arrived at the gate slightly out of breath to find out the flight was delayed for 15 minutes. I asked the agent exactly how long until boarding and he told me they were still catering the plane. Realizing I had a few more minutes I used the restroom and bought a bottle of water. I got back to the gate just as they announced pre-boarding. I waited my turn and boarded when my group was called. I settled into my seat and flipped through the magazine to plan out the movies I wanted to watch. The woman sitting next to me had flown in that morning from Argentina and had been trying to get a flight out all day. All other flights to London had been cancelled except this one. Hmm, well at least this flight was leaving, and only a little behind schedule. An hour passed and we were still sitting at the gate. The pilot finally made an announcement to let us know they were having issues with the cargo being loaded but they were still hopeful we would be able to leave. Another hour passed. After we had been waiting for over 2 hours, they turned on the inflight entertainment on the main channel so we would have something to occupy us while we waited. Another hour passed, and another annoucement. They were still having issues with the cargo but if they needed to, they would forego loading the cargo but rest assured our luggage was on board (if I had been paying attention I would have realized this was the foreshadowing part of the story). Finally after 4 long hours we pulled back from the gate only to sit on the runway waiting for the de-icing truck. It was close to an hour before the truck came and de-iced us. So when it was all said and done we were over 5 hours late in taking off. But never was I so happy to taxi down a runway!

The travel woes continued when after the first movie the entertainment system stopped. And all we got for breakfast was a crossaint - it didn't even come with jam or orange juice! Now, I know airplane food isn't great, but still, couldn't we at least get some fruit or some juice with breakfast?! We ended up circling around Heathrow for awhile (along with several other planes which we could see out the window) until we finally got the okay to land. I made it through passport control and headed to baggage. As the conveyor started slowing down and my suitcase had still not appeared a horrible feeling came over as I realized my suitcase was not there. I joined the growing line of passengers at the customer service counter. It was another hour or so before I reached the head of the line to find out my suitcase was back in NY. Now I realize these things happen, but come on! We were SITTING at the gate for over 4 hours!! How did they manage to forget to load not only my bag, but the bags of the 20 or 30 other people in line with me? At this point I was about ready to cry. I made my way to the Heathrow Express and 15 minutes later I was at Paddington Station. Not willing to deal with people on the Tube in my tired and cranky state, I got a taxi and headed for the hotel.

After checking in, I realized just how hungry I was. I really hadn't eaten since the morning before (the croissant didn't count). By this time I had met up with Jana and so we headed out to grab some lunch. There was a cute thai food place not too far from our hotel. Unfortunately, it was probably the worst thai food I ever had.

Our hotel was just off of Kensington High Street, one of many shopping streets, which was a nice location especially since I needed to go shopping because my suitcase was in NY. We walked around and I bought only the necessities to get me through the night and the next morning as I was hopeful I would get my suitcase the next day. We were both pretty tired and so grabbed dinner and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we went The Muffin Man, a cafe near our hotel. It was really cute and the food was really good! After we finished eating we made our way to Waterloo train station to catch a train to Hampton Court Palace. Hampton Court Palace was one of Henry VIII's residences. One of his wives is even rumoured to still haunt the palace. There were several people dressed in costumes milling about the palace. We toured the different rooms before heading towards the gardens to the maze. I couldn't remember if in a maze you are always supposed to turn right or turn left. We heard someone else in the maze talking and they said turn right so we followed that advice and made it to the center.

We got back to the hotel and there was my suitcase sitting in the room! Yay!! I wouldn't be wearing the same clothes the entire trip. For dinner we decided to we wanted pub food. We asked the hotel concierge if there was a pub to which he answered "Of course" and directed us to the Britannia, the best pub in the neighborhood. There weren't any seats up front so we ended up sitting in the more restaurant area. Because we were sitting in the restaurant area we had a different menu so didn't end up eating normal "pub" fare but the food was still very good. The lights kept dimming and then getting brighter. We wondered if there was a fight over the lights. Jana figured out the kitchen staff (we were sitting near the kitchen) would raise the lights when the food was up and the waiter would dim the lights after he picked up the food.

Breakfast the next morning was once again at the Muffin Man. The weather was really nice so we decided since neither of us had been on the London Eye it would be a good day for it. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea and the line was extremely long so we decided against it and ended up just walking around and doing some shopping. I went to Harrods as I can't seem to go to London and not stop by Harrods.

Sushi was the choice for dinner tonight and so we asked the concierge again to recommend a sushi restaurant. He directed us to Church Street where there were two different sushi restaurants. We found the first one fairly quickly but it didn't look like what we wanted so we kept walking down the street. We walked all the way to the end of the street and never found the other sushi restaurant. However we passed by several Italian restaurants and ended up at a very inviting, homey restaurant. We made a good choice - the food was excellent! We got the tiramisu for dessert and it was the best tiramisu I have ever eaten!!

Another place neither of us had been to is Greenwich, where the prime meridian line is (the 0 longitdue line). And after we had breakfast at, yes you guessed it, the Muffin Man, we set off for Greenwich. The clock and the line were up at the observatory at the top of a short, but very steep hill. After looking around the observatory we climbed back down the hill and visited the Queen's House, now converted into a museum. Many of the paintings were of ships and after awhile we got bored and hungry and left. We ate lunch at a pub and this time had very traditional pub fare - fish & chips!

We got back into London as it was getting dark and decided to try the London Eye again. This time the line was manageable and we climbed aboard a flight pod. It was getting dark and everything was lit up. It was really neat to see the city all lit up! The view of St. Stephen's Tower (aka Big Ben) reminded me of Peter Pan.

Dinner was at the Italian restaurant we had discovered the night before. The waiters welcomed us back and sat us at our same table. We got to dessert and got terrible news - they were out of tiramisu! We tried another dish, which was good, but not as good as the tiramisu. Walking back to our hotel, we realized we hadn't gotten the waiter's name so we decided he needed a very Italian name and so he became Frederico.

The next morning it was time to say goodbye. The flight home was as uneventful as the flight over was eventful. And when I arrived in Seattle my suitcase was waiting for me!

Until next trip!!

Chloe's New Sweater

Chloe's cousin Sadie sent Chloe a very stylish new sweater made by Sadie's mom. Doesn't she look cute?

Where I've Been

I saw this on my friend's website. I've actually been looking for something like this to map out where I've been. As you can see, there is a lot more of the world left for me to see!



create your own visited countries map

And here's just the good ol' US of A. The west coast I've visited, the rest of the country I need to work on.



create your own visited states map

New York, New York!

I was thisclose to reaching elite status with Continental for 2007 (you need a total of 25,000 miles flown). All I needed was one more plane ride before December 31, 2006 and I would be at 25,000. Would it be worth a quick trip somewhere? The main benefits, for me anyway, was getting my luggage first and being able to board the plane whenever I wanted. The newest perk I discovered, and what turned out to be the deciding factor, was being able to bypass the normal security lines and use the "Elite" Security line. Security lines at SeaTac can be horrible and with the ability to avoid the mian security line for another year just a plane ride away I decided to go for it!

The next question was where should I go? This wouldn't be a long trip at all, in fact it might just be going somewhere only to turn around and come back. I also had to keep in mind how many miles I needed to fly to get the Elite status. Continental doesn't fly to many places direct out of Seattle so I really had a choice of Houston or New York. Neither was quite enough miles by itself, however if I flew Seattle to Houston to New York to Seattle it would be enough. So I was going to New York by way of Houston. I had never been to New York and here I was going for just a couple of hours. Would I have enough time to go into the city before coming home? Which is how the trip evolved into an overnight trip. When my brother heard I was going to be in New York for a half a day he decided it would be fun to go as well. So this quick trip was quickly gaining a life of its own. We would arrive in New York right around noon and we would fly out the next morning which gave us several hours to explore.

The flight to Houston was a red-eye, leaving just after midnight. When I got the airport I discovered I had been upgraded (thanks to my Elite status in 2006), which validated my decision to go on this crazy journey. And most people who know me can tell you I need validation on most decisions so this was a good thing. I boarded the flight and sat back to wait for takeoff. I heard a voice of one of the passengers and I realized I knew that voice! It was Kathy, one of my very good friends - not only was she on my flight but she had also been upgraded to first class and was sitting right behind me!! What are the chances?! This trip was definitely off to a good start.

I did not get upgraded on the Houston to New York leg, and was stuck back in economy (sardine) class. It was about this time when I really started question my sanity to do this. I was able to get some sleep which did help. We caught a bus into the city which let us off at Grand Central Station. My brother really wanted to go the Empire State Building so we set off. The line to go up to the top was huge so we decided to keep going. We passed by Macy's and headed towards Times Square. I have to say I wasn't as impressed with Times Square as I thought I would be. I was expecting more of a square rather than a street with lots of advertising. But we did get to see the New Year's Eve countdown and ball which was really cool.

We continued on to Rockefeller Center. The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center was the one thing I really wanted to see and it did not disappoint! The tree was huge and all lit up - it was beautiful! We bought our tickets to go up to the Top of the Rock. We had about an hour until we could go up so we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was still decorated for Chritmas. The nativity scene was beautiful. After visiting the cathedral we walked back towards Rockefeller Center stopping to see the ice skating rink. It's really small!! There was just a mass of people crowded around the rink.

The line to get up to the Top of the Rock was deceptively long. It didn't seem long at all until you got past security. But they did have videos playing to entertain you while you waited. We finally made it up to the top and the view was incredible!! We got a great view of the Empire State Building all lit up. After admiring the view, the lack of sleep started to catch up with us and we decided to make our way to Penn Station to catch a train out to Newark Airport. Our flight left out of Newark and so I had gotten us a hotel near the airport. I do have to admit walking back through Times Square at night made it a little more appealing with all the lights.

We made it to Penn Station and caught the train out to Newark before catching the hotel shuttle. The next morning came very early and we caught the shuttle back to the airport. I was again upgraded to first class (yay!) while my brother was still stuck in sardine class.

All in all it was a very exhausting trip, but it was fun! And now I can say I've been to New York. I will be making a return journey sometime as this visit whetted my appetite to explore this city.

New Year's Resolutions

Any accountant whose company is on a calendar year-end knows not to make New Year's Resolutions until AFTER the books are closed. Otherwise, they will be broken in a matter of days, hours, or possibly minutes depending on how good the day is going. As it's starting to slow down I've turned my attention to 2007 and my New Year's Resolutions. But before I make my 2007 resolutions I wanted to look back at my 2006 resolutions.

#1 Go someplace new. Done!! I went to Copenhagen in May, Chicago in June, and New York City (for one day) in December.

#2 Do a triathlon. Done!! I finished my first triathlon in August.

#3 Exercise more, eat right. Eh, I'll give myself a B on this one. Could I have eaten better? Yes. Could I have exercised more? Of course. But overall I did okay on this resolution.

Looking back at my 2006 resolutions I think I will keep them the same for 2007.