April 25, 2012
I didn't want to blog while we were away—heck, I haven't wanted to blog in a while!—but I found myself wanting to share our Spring Break road trip to Detroit (yes, Detroit!) as it was happening, so I ended up pecking out emails to my mom and sister from the car, hotel rooms, rest stops, and even a Ford factory. Since I was doing this on my iPhone and iPad, I came home with a pretty severe case of...
January 2, 2010
Enjoyed a lovely, if bitterly cold, day in Princeton with Al and the Beaner. We spent the morning exploring and photographing the Princeton University campus (photos to follow; I shot a few with the 10D and a couple with the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim), then warmed up with tea and apple cider at Starbucks....
June 25, 2009
So a bit more info on our trip to Disney: (1) It was meant to be shortish, so it wouldn't be too expensive, (2) the Beaner and I went by ourselves, and (3) again to save on expenses, we only got 2-day non-Park Hopper tickets for a 3-day stay....
June 22, 2009
I have such a backlog things to write about that I kind of wish I'd brought my laptop with me on vacation and blogged daily. Instead I'm playing vacation catch-up, still uploading photos from the Beaner's and my trip to Disney World and Al's and my trip to Annapolis, and I haven't even begun the writing yet. Well, I guess technically I have now....
November 2, 2008
At 2:40am on Saturday morning, Al and I were awoken by about six twentysomethings chatting loudly outside our hotel room. Despite two frustrated SHHHes from me and a "dudes! I'm serious! My kid is asleep in here," they didn't shut up until they'd all piled into the room across the hall and gone to sleep themselves....
November 1, 2008
I brought my MacBook with me so I could participate in NaBloPoMo if I decided I was up to it, but the hotel wireless isn't working. Rather than taking that as a sign that I should give up on the notion that I am capable of blogging every day for a month right now, I'm posting from my iPhone. That means no photos, and probably a shorter post than otherwise would have been....
May 10, 2008
I'm writing this longhand (because blogging from my iPhone when the post is longer than a Twitter entry is tedious) and will post it when I get home tomorrow night. We're in NYC visiting Al's brother's family for the weekend; Cousin H's school fair was this afternoon, and we drove up to join in the fun. The roasted corn was tasty, the fishing in the Little Mermaid blow-up pool was fruitful, the cupcake decorating was a sparkly, sugary hit,...
March 31, 2008
We just returned from a lovely vacation to Disney World (the Beaner's first time there!), and I hope to write about it soon. My parents, Al, and I kept saying all weekend what a good time we had, and I had a whole bullet list of what we enjoyed most in my head to post, but this morning I was hit with a bit of post-vacation depression (not to mention a huge pile of e-mail, a buglist that doubled...
March 3, 2008
Al asked me for ideas for a family vacation this summer that can be accomplished (a) within a week, and (b) by car. We have friends in Boston and Portland, ME; cousins in NYC and Connecticut; and parents/grandparents in Maryland & DC, and we could just pick one of these constituencies and visit them... but we're kinda looking for something different. I think Al has a destination between DC and Florida in mind, while I would not be opposed...
January 7, 2008
Pittsburgh might seem an odd place to visit over the holidays, especially given that we have no family there, but visit Pittsburgh (or Pittspoop, as the Beaner calls it, not because he didn't like it, but because "poop" is the funniest word in the world to him right now) is exactly what we did for the last weekend of our holiday break. Why? Well, several reasons: (1) Al's very good friends Craig & Nico and their three kids were...
October 17, 2007
Yeah. Title says it all, really. I didn't explain in my last post that one of the things that cheered me up on Friday was the decision very late Thursday night, after the disastrous work day, to fly out to the SF office for a week. I used frequent flier miles, I was so desperate to get out here and see my colleagues. So far it's helping; I'll have a better idea of where I'm at when I return...
August 26, 2007
Just a quick post tonight (because school starts on Wednesday, and we're preparing for the new routine—which involves an earlier start in the morning—by going to bed a bit earlier, and according to my schedule I should have been in bed two minutes ago) to say that we went to Dutch Wonderland this weekend, and I've posted photos of the outing to Flickr....
August 16, 2007
It'll become obvious in a minute, when your RSS feeds get flodded with posts, that I'm in the process of clearing out the blogjam I'd intended to clear out last week. Yay for moving Tuesday's drama off the front page with more frivolous things!...
August 7, 2007
Me: These billboards are starting to freak me out. It's like Atlantic City is where all the bands we grew up with go to die. Al: Yeah, all the twentysomethings are probably like, "George Thoroughgood? Who's that???" Lori: I know! Look, there's one for Aerosmith and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. I remember doing modern dance to "I Love Rock and Roll" in my 8th grade gym class. Who knew she was still around? Al: I remember driving to...
July 12, 2007
I don't think I even had time to mention that we were back from Denver (and that I sort of solved my strapless dress + sunburn problem) before I took off again for Seattle. I arrived home again tonight hot, nauseous, and not wanting to go on another trip again for awhile. (Hopefully the two roadtrips we have planned for later this month won't be as tiring as all the timezone-crossing plane travel I've been doing lately. Also, only...
July 7, 2007
I swear, I put on two coats of Coppertone Sport SPF 50 before going outside. But two hours of this:...
July 2, 2007
After a long layover in a smoky, under-construction terminal at Frankfurt airport and a 90-minute flight delay, I finally made it back to Philadelphia on Friday evening. I arrived home to a startled Beaner, who gasped, "Mommy!" when he saw me, but then froze on the spot. I scooped him up and snuggled him, so he'd realize it was really me....
June 28, 2007
After an intense two-day wind and rainstorm, during which the Elbe overflowed its banks around the Adobe office (a not-uncommon occurrance in spring and fall, but much rarer in summer), the sky still looks a bit threatening, and it feels more like a fog-shrouded San Francisco evening than a European summer morning. I chose to walk from the subway yesterday just in case the bridge at the Altona ferry landing was flooded, to the peril of my umbrella and...
June 26, 2007
I have figured out the subway. I am a pro at ordering a decaf cappucino in German. I can ask whether a sandwich has only cheese in it, and I know how to get only steamed milk out of the coffee machine at work. And I just took a second birth control pill rather than my thyroid medication. Yep, I'm a regular whiz kid here....
June 22, 2007
Arrived in Hamburg yesterday and made it to the office without any trouble. The cab driver was astonished when I gave him a 40% tip, though, so maybe that's not done here. (I was feeling a bit generous because he'd made such a great effort to chat with me after stating up front that his English was nicht gut.) I dropped my tip to 30% for the ride from the office to the hotel at the end of the...
June 14, 2007
So I'm starting to freak out about my business trip to Hamburg... mainly because I leave next Wednesday, I have a bunch of laundry and packing to do (plus some house-cleaning and preparation for my parents' visit while I'm away), and our entire weekend, from Friday night to Sunday night, is full. (Also, I haven't done any Father's Day shopping. I totally suck.)...
May 24, 2007
Greetings from SUNNY Seattle! We flew in yesterday to lovely cool spring weather, had a late lunch across the street and totally didn't care when the waitress forgot to put in part of our order and ended up serving us 20 minutes apart, went swimming and soaking in the hotel pool and jacuzzi, and toured the neighborhood a bit before putting the Beaner to bed early (we'd gotten him in his jammies before the walk so he could fall...
April 23, 2007
OK, obviously I'm behind on blogging—after a week running around San Francisco meeting friends and former work colleagues for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and meeting current work colleagues for, well, meetings, I have a gazillion photos to upload and a few stories to tell. I also have the day off, but I chose to get a massage this morning to help mitigate the after-effects of Friday's migraine, vacuum the remodeling dust off every surface in the house, get caught...
April 20, 2007
Oy, it's been a busy week here in San Francisco. I thought I'd packed the USB cable for the camera so I could upload photos as I went, but alas I did not. Might be in the suitcase I'd planned to bring but then switched out when I realized my final item didn't fit. Anyway, that's just my way of saying "the post about what I've been doing this week will come later, when there are photos to go...
April 17, 2007
It's been a VERY long day, and though I am slightly more coherent now that I've eaten some Paneer Tikka Masala and rice out of separate cartons (with a spork!) and had a shower, I am minutes away from crashing on the hopefully-comfortable hotel bed....
March 14, 2007
November 19, 2006
We're back from NYC; I only wish I had enough energy to write about what we did. Our dinner at Nobu was excellent (and I have been craving lychee martinis ever since), we got to SEE A MOVIE sans kid, I finally got a chance to wear my black suede boots, and The Beaner had an awesome time with his grandmother and great aunt....
November 18, 2006
We are leaving The Beaner. Not for good, of course, but overnight, for the first time. My mom came up on Friday to hang out with him and get used to his routine, to learn where the sippy cups are, which towel to use when getting him out of the tub, which jammies are his favorites and which ones he'll reject with tears of anguish, what he eats for lunch and dinner, and how to determine whether he needs...
October 27, 2006
I left for MAX2006 in Las Vegas early Tuesday morning, before The Beaner woke up, and returned last night a little before midnight, long after he went to bed. While at the conference, I attended a few CSS sessions; talked to a lot of customers (something I realized I hadn't done—face-to-face, anyway—in three or four years); took lots of notes and filed a few bugs based on what I saw and heard; battled a cold, dehydration, and noxious clouds...
October 12, 2006
Al, The Beaner, and I had a lovely weekend in California... and I'm still a bit heart-heavy about it. Truly, we had a wonderful, wonderful time: We got to see friends we don't see often, The Beaner got to play with new friends P and S, the weather was wonderful, my dress worked out great, The Beaner was more talkative than ever and used several new phrases, we got to eat great food, a good friend finally met and...
September 26, 2006
We've been shouting "APPLE PICKING!" at each other for about a week and a half now. At first it was in anticipation of the event—the first of two we hope to complete this season—which was scheduled for this past Saturday in Stow, MA. Ever since we got back, it's been to remind ourselves what a great time we had, and how many wonderful apples are taking up all the space in our fridge. (By the way, The Beaner learned...
September 14, 2006
I have a little list of things I've been wanting to write about, but which I haven't had time to address as of yet (and yes, I'm still behind on my e-mail—if I owe you one, hopefully you'll hear from me soon). Part of the problem—which isn't really a problem at all, given that usually we're homebodies who don't do much of anything—is that we're too busy DOING THINGS and HAVING FUN for me to keep up with, well,...
August 14, 2006
Earlier this week, when I heard from the Weather Channel that it was supposed to be cooler and drier this weekend—and cooler and drier still in New England—I proposed that we drive to Connecticut to enjoy the weather and restock my supply of Decaf Chocolate Truffle coffee. (I mix it 3:4 with Starbucks Decaf Verona for a rich iced coffee treat, in case you're curious.) My original idea was that we'd stay overnight and then drive back on Sunday...
July 25, 2006
So as I mentioned in the previous post, we had a busy weekend. I probably should have spent the weekend doing laundry and cleaning the house and bleaching my hair and making packing lists in preparation for BlogHer (I only remembered last night that I'd be IN THE OFFICE on Thursday and not calling into meetings, and that I'd need to have everything washed and ready to be packed on Wednesday in preparation for the 6:20am flight on Thursday), but...
July 8, 2006
Al, Austen, and I just returned from a lovely road trip to Maine. We took our time (a trick I learned when Austen and I traveled alone to Maine in November), spending a night in Springfield, Mass on the way up and one in Norwood, Mass (near my best friend Sandra's place in Canton) on the way back....
May 29, 2006
I'm on my way home now, between flights at Chicago O'Hare. I'm waiting to see if Orbitz' "air traffic advisor" is right about late-afternoon flights being delayed by 45 minutes or more. So far, no posted delays on my flight to Philadelphia....
May 28, 2006
I had so wanted to get up early and go see if the seals were out at Deep Cove, but after two hockey games last night and a bedtime after midnight, I just couldn't do it. The only reason I'm up now is that Al called around 7:50am, and my mind clicked ON—a sure impediment to getting back to sleep. I hope to use the time between now and when I have to leave for this morning's game at...
May 27, 2006
Before heading out to Deep Cove (the suggestion of the guy at the front desk) this morning, I took some more photos of the bruise on my butt. I think this one shows the damage pretty well, as well as the migration of the bruise into the previously-swollen area just above my tailbone. I think you can also see the knob pretty clearly, even though this photo was taken head-on (or butt-on, as the case may be...)....
I finally arrived at YVR, went through customs, grabbed my bag and stick off the oversize ramp, and picked up my rental car, and I was on my way to North Vancouver at 9:09pm local time last night. After a quick stop at the Safeway and a couple wrong turns (I was following a Google Maps route from memory), I made it to my hotel almost exactly an hour later....
May 26, 2006
Well, I made it to Denver—40 minutes late, but with a 5-hour layover, who cares? The wireless access I paid for in Philadelphia is good here too (yay!), so I've been able to do some website maintenance-type stuff while I'm waiting... like putting ads on my hockey blog. We'll see how that flies. I'm not sure I want them here at avocado8; there's plenty of stuff already on the main page, and I don't want to clutter it up...
I was planning on catching up on all my e-mail on the plane and then sending the messages once I got to the hotel in Vancouver, but as you all know, plans change. My flight to Chicago at 8:30 was cancelled due to mechanical problems with the plane, and after many tears, several phone calls, and lots of running back and forth between United in Terminal D and USAir in Terminal C, I got rebooked on a USAir flight...
March 6, 2006
I think I'll remember month 15 as the one in which Austen learned to sign "please" and say "no". These two additions to his vocabulary have made a tremendous difference in his ability to communicate his wants and needs; when he points up at the kitchen counter and says, "uhhn," we can now hold up any items in the area one at a time (me: "sippy cup?" A: "no." me: "banana?" A: "no." me: "glass of water?" A: "no."...
February 19, 2006
So I didn't mention that we were going on vacation before we left for a couple reasons, but now that we're back it's probably safe to say that we were in Hawaii with both my parents and Al's. Al's parents go every year for a couple months (they're retired), but my parents had never been. Whenever we mentioned it, my mom would say that Hawaii was a place they'd go "someday."...
Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of blogging over here—Al, Austen and I have been in Hawaii for the past 10 days (as you might have noticed from some of the photos popping up in the Flickr badge on the front page). I jotted down some notes during the trip and will post a vacation summary shortly. I'll also be uploading a slew of photos to Flickr sometime today or tomorrow. Stand by!...
November 11, 2005
Austen and I returned, along with Al (who flew up to Hartford to meet us on Sunday), from Maine on Monday. We had great weather every day except Sunday (which was foggy and drizzly), and especially on Saturday, when the air was brisk but not cold, the sun was warm but not roasty, and the wind was cool but not frigid. Perfect Dreamweaver fleece weather. Val, Austen, and I started the day with a hike around Mackworth Island just...
November 5, 2005
Austen and I left Lexington, Massachusetts for Portland, Maine at roughly 8:45am yesterday. The tree colors as we traveled north moved more to the orange-umber end of the scale, with an occasional shockingly white birch trunk sticking out like an exclamation mark amid the brittle-looking browns. We made it to Portland at about 11am and headed straight for the Eastern Promenade (Valerie's "nice day" suggestion). Sadly, the nice weather only lasted long enough for me to get Austen out...
November 2, 2005
It's important to know that when I say "leaf peeping", I say it the way Al would—in a sort of high-pitched, introducing-His-Majesty-the-King fanfare style. LlllLeaf PppPeeping! OK, now that the correct pronounciation of "leaf peeping" has been established, here's what we did today:...
September 28, 2005
It's time to clear my backlog of scribbled-on-hotel-stationery notes, most of which pertain to our trip to Boston on the 7th. Al had a meeting there on the 8th, and we decided to make a weekend of it so Austen and his godmother could meet each other, and so the three of us could have a little family vacation. The drive there was pretty easy; Austen didn't cry at all, and we made good time despite a stop at...
July 23, 2005
With all the cute little restaurants that Princeton has to offer, we somehow managed to eat at the same one twice today. Just after I last posted, we went across the street from the hotel to Teresa Caffe, where I had the pasta special (it's a pasta that I can't pronounce the name of, but it looked like rigatoni) and a glass of Merlot (I know, I know—that line from Sideways kept running through my head about how "WE...
Austen found his voice recently—and it's very shrill. Sometimes he babbles pleasantly, saying things like "ay ya ya ya ya ya" and "hey da da da da da", and it's super cute. Other times, he SHRIEKS. Loudly, shrilly, earsplittingly. It's annoying enough at home, but in public it's stressful in the extreme. I'm horrified and embarrassed that I might be bothering other hotel guests, restaurant patrons, and driving range golfers, and that I can't get him to stop. I...
July 22, 2005
After really enjoying my last (and first) Princeton visit on Father's Day, Al and I decided to spend a weekend here. We're staying at the Nassau Inn on Palmer Square. I chose the place for its location and hoped for a bonus of charm; I'm not sure we've really gotten the bonus, but the location *is* great. Our room reminds me strongly of the one we stayed in at the Jameson Inn in Lakeland, FL on our honeymoon, though...
July 13, 2005
All kinds of food items to share today, from the gastronomical delights of our last hours in New York this weekend to local Philadelphia finds. First, New York: Al and I got up early again on Sunday (though not quite as early as on Saturday) and made it out for another morning walk, this time with Al's brother Carl for company. We walked down Broadway to the Starbucks at 81st, where I ordered a cappucino and (as usual) got...
July 9, 2005
I'm not sure if I explained properly yesterday why a downpour in New York was the nightmare scenario, so let me address that omission before I talk about what we did today: Basically, a downpour meant that I was trapped—with Austen, and without any of the tools for entertaining him or giving my arms a break that I'd have at home. Being wet as well just made things even less comfortable. Today dawned better and brighter (and cooler and...
July 8, 2005
So as I was saying, it's pouring here in New York, and pouring rain wasn't part of the plan. I am wearing a skirt and neoprene flipflops. I suppose as raingear goes, these choices aren't so bad; the skirt material doesn't absorb water, and neoprene is what wetsuits are made of, so that's something. At first I was a little weirded out by walking through NYC puddles in almost-bare feet, but when the curb cuts disappeared under 2' wide,...
June 1, 2005
We're back from Vancouver, and I'm still in the process of entering some of my hand-written notes about the games into The Ice Hockey Escapades, as well as adding photos to the entries I was able to post from Al's Blackberry. I moved to paper after a couple games for two reasons: (1) my hands were already sore from holding my stick, and typing with my thumbs made the pain worse; and (2) it was faster to just take...