Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Monday, May 24, 2010

One year ago...

Today is the day, one year ago, that E and I returned home to Boston from our first "real" vacation together: a trip to Walt Disney World!

While we were there, it rained in Future World (Epcot)...


...and it rained on the streets of New York (MGM)...


...and it rained on Cinderella Castle (Magic Kingdom)...


...and in China (Epcot again). 

And yes, I am sort of really embarrassed to say that we rocked the ponchos. We brought some from home, and then I had to buy a stupid 8 dollar Disney one on the last day when it was downpouring YET AGAIN and I was poncho-less.  It rained every day! And not just the quick afternoon thunderstorms Florida is famous for. No, no, it was full-on, all-day monsoons all but one day we were there.

And I hurt my foot on the first full day of the trip, so E's view for the rest of the time was this:


Ridiculousness aside, we had a blast, and I can't wait for our next adventure together in far off lands (probably our honeymoon... wherever that may take us)!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

My school zombie fiance.

This past weekend, I went up to Boston to celebrate a friend's birthday with homemade dinner (including delicious pasta e fagioli -- hearty bean based dishes get me every time) and a night of dancing in a dark bar in Cambridge with a whole bunch of people who I miss a whole lot.  It was great to be back in the Boston area to feel how that city's energy differs from New York's.  Moving here directly from Boston, I have to confess that I have missed the quaint-y-historical-y feel that Boston has worked so hard to maintain and cultivate anew, but I also appreciate the different kind of electricity New York vibrates with, and the way it feels like the city is always trying to reinvent itself.  Ramblings aside, though, I mostly enjoyed lip-syncing to 80s music and celebrating one friend's birthday and another's grad school decision -- she'll be heading down this way to start at NYU in the fall!

I also had my first experience with BoltBus, the discount bus line offering cheap, direct service between major cities on the east coast.  They even have free wireless on board and places to plug in your computer at every seat!  Before I start to sound too much like a paid spokesperson, I will say that the journey up to Boston was a disaster -- the seats on Bolt seem a little narrower than other buses, and I was sitting next to an armrest hog, so I spent a lot of time leaning pathetically against the window.  Then, the bus driver actually got on a highway going in the wrong direction (as in, she got on 691-WEST going through Connecticut instead of 691-East), and didn't realize it til a passenger pointed it out like 25 minutes later. COOL.

However, the way back to New York on Sunday was quite pleasant: I had an aisle seat, we had time to stop at a rest stop in Connecticut so my butt didn't get numb and I didn't have to use the bus bathroom, and we even got in about 10 minutes early. Score! Overall, I think I'll be using Bolt again in the future.

Unfortunately, though, I made the trip up and back alone. We're coming into a stressful time of year, and E has begun the Great Finals Crackdown. Law school exams are, like, a big deal or something, because for the last month and a half of the semester, I might as well not have a fiance.  Instead, I just have someone who leaves dishes in the sink and appears in bed sometime between when I go to sleep and when I wake up.  Okay, I'm exaggerating, but that's the general idea.

I'm starting to stress, myself. My class has an exhibit opening in May and I am working on the website with another classmate, so that's taking up a lot of time.  I also have a lot of work to do at my internships, and end-of-term papers and presentations are coming up way too soon.  Plus, I still haven't done my taxes, whoops.

But hey, at least I have some fun things.  Like weekends in Boston with good friends, and Fage Greek yogurt with strawberry stuff. Because, seriously, I have been eating these things for lunch for like a week and a half now. They're like crack, I am so addicted.  In fact, I just ate one, and typing this out is making me want to get another one.


I wish I could find someplace to buy these in bulk.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Faraway places

Tonight I am dreaming of all the places we could go if we repurposed our wedding budget. Oh, wanderlust, I haz you.
Please note, basically all of these photos come from random sites that aren't really worth checking out. Except the one of Sacre Coeur. Check that link out. Gorgeous.
 
Chile (via)

 
The Mayan Riviera (via)

Thailand (via)

 
Spaaaaaain omg spaaain (via)

Granada... as in the country. (via)

India. India. India. (via)

And, of course, France. Paris. PARIS.  (via)

Okay, so obviously our wedding budget would not allow us to jaunt all over the world and visit all of these places, and there are about a bazillion other places I want to visit of which I am not scouring the web for pictures.  But even one.... sigh.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Back to the grind.

We pulled back into our neighborhood last night after a rainy, boring, 7-hour drive back from Maine, where E and I attended the memorial service for my grandmother and spent some quality time with family, including my littlest niece, the 18-month old wonder, Avery. She is smart, adorable, and sassy as all get-out. She seriously gives dirty looks better than I do, and I've had more than 2 decades longer than she has to figure it out.

The first order of business when I got to the apartment was to cook something delicious. We left Saturday afternoon, and kicked the trip off with a visit to Burger King's drive through. The next 3 days were a whirlwind of fast food pit stops, gluttonous hors d'oeuvres spreads, and dinners out with family -- all delicious, very little nutritious. It had gotten so bad that my body was shouting "GIVE ME GREENS!" to my brain from about noon Sunday til we got home. I raided the fridge for whatever salvageable produce was left, and made a veggie stirfry that soothed the craving a bit, but at this point I'll be happy if I never see the inside of a McDonald's again.

Either way, it's good to be home. The cat has probably never been happier to see us. She's the only cat I know whose owners can disappear for days on end and she doesn't even try to pretend to be mad at them when they return. She's been on our laps any time one of us stops moving, and was getting kicked around at our feet as we slept all night. Poor lonely, codependent kitty.