Christmas

Year End Reflections

2005 is almost history...what a ride! So much has happened this year, a move to a new city, a new job, new friends, a whole new outlook and perspective on everything. I can't begin to express how grateful I am for my family and friends (old and new) and how grateful I am for each and every thing that happened in 2005.

I can't wait to ring in 2006 with Snooky in London!!!

Christmas Eve

Home for the Holidays

Been having a nice time in IL. Keeping busy with shopping and visiting. Saturday I went to the T-Mobile Christmas party at the Hard Rock Cafe. The drinks were watered down but the company was good and the after party at the Rock Island bar was fun. The band was excellent and Romy and Michelle were entertaining.

We went to see A Christmas Carol at the Fox Theatre on Sunday. Had a good time....the Fox is a beautiful theatre. I had never been so it was a neat experience. Thanks Mom & Dad for taking us!! http://www.fabulousfox.com/ Today I met Kory for lunch and Amy, Ben, and Darren for dinner...and also on the food front... Tomorrow we're going to bake cookies....mmmmm

I love the guy in the Santa hat! Jared, Jewels and I were pulling into the parking lot at the grocery store and he was walking to his car. The stars on his hat light up. Very festive!

Romy & Michelle

This scene on the dance floor Saturday night reminded me of Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion ("Michelle" isn't visible).

Christmas Vacation

It's funny how different Christmas decorations look during the day....and sometimes they are just plain bad regardless of the time of day.

Bon Jovi

Last night I went to the Bon Jovi concert with Rebecca, a girl from the building. She was able to get Promenade seats through her work, so we were up high but it was a great view. We had the best time, the concert was great, they played for about 2 hours.

I'm on my way back to Mascoutah on Friday for Christmas. Can't wait!!!

Picture of my mom and I when they were here for my birthday.

Pictures from Walden Pond

Went to Walden again, this time with a camera. Also stopped a roadside Garden Shop/Boutique that had locally grown apples, fantastic looking pies, high priced picture frames and other odds and ends that were way too expensive, but fun to look at.

Widener Library

Tonight I got a belated Halloween treat. Alex found out he could take guests into the Widener Library so here I sit in the bowels of this gigantic beautiful library typing away.

The Widener has around 15 million titles and 30 million more on microfilm. It was built in memory of Harry Widener, a Harvard student who died on the Titanic. It's interesting to read about...check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widener_Library

On another note I encountered someone last night that I wish had perished in the Titanic or met some other dreadful fate...I was waiting for Alex last night in Harvard Square when I noticed a Bank Protection Officer (BPO) "protecting" the bank. He was standing outside of the bank, smoking a cig, leg hiked up on bench watching the ladies pass. And by ladies I mean borderline call girls. Well they weren't really call girls but many bore more than a passing resemblance to a call girl and seemed to be the type our BPO preferred.

At any rate I stood there for 15 minutes listening to him comment on the women that walked by. Even if they were call girls, even if they had on ridiculously short skirts and way too high of heels, it in no way justified his ludicrous, pig-tastic behavior. At one point, the point I finally had enough, he actually WHINNIED at a girl who was wearing a denim mini skirt and cowboy boots.

He sounded exactly like a horse in heat and I thought I was going to throw up. I don't think I have ever been so disgusted in my life...I've worked on construction sites and have heard my share of off color comments (none that came close to what he did). Needless to say my temper got the better of me and as I was getting into the cab I shot off a few obscenities at him. It wasn't nice of me I know but I couldn't help myself.

Boo at the Zoo...and more from the weekend

I am in Mascoutah this weekend visiting - spent Friday in Louisville with grandma and Uncle Don & Aunt Barb. Met Amy and her adorable kids at Boo at the Zoo on Saturday morning, had lunch with her and saw her new house in the afternoon.

Today we had an early Thanksgiving dinner (thanks Mom!) and tomorrow I'm meeting TMO folks for breakfast (with Mom and Dad) before I head back to Boston in the afternoon.

More pictures

Marblehead, MA - lovely seaside town.

Long Time...

Kory and Andy were in for a visit last weekend. Had a nice time, the weather was rainy but we shopped well, ate well, and did some sight seeing. Here are some pictures from their visit.

Back in Black

Alex and I went to see Lewis Black tonight (for Alex's birthday) at the Hampton Beach Casino in NH. More later on what casino means in New Hampshire...here are the pics of us with Lewis B. or as Alex called when he met him...Lew

I told him, because it was true, that I had to wait in line stuck between a guy with really bad dandruff and a very large woman who kept sucking her snot...like a snorting noise..you know what I mean when people try to clear the snot from their noses...she just kept going and going. He laughed and said that was his target audience. I patted his hand and told him it was worth it to get to meet him.

I was actually surrounded by the kind of weirdos that come out for county fairs (and I mean that in the nicest way possible....in Mascoutah for our August Fest the freaks come out of the woodwork...much like they did at the "casino" tonight) At any rate the others around us included a scrawny kid with a black trench coat and black hat on...think The Matrix meets Screech on Saved by the Bell, who was going on and on about how he wasn't moving out of his house because he had a super sweet deal on hi-def cable and man there was just no way they were going to make him move (he even did a few sweet dance moves while waiting in line) and oh...yes...the really really really drunk woman who's eyes were almost closed she was so wasted. She had a very nice early 80's feather hair cut working for her, and quite possibly a Members Only jacket...though I didn't get to read the label.

When we bought the tickets and it said Casino I was thinking like a big lit up like a Xmas tree casino...the one we went was so...um...run down we actually passed it twice without noticing it. It was on a boardwalk in front of the ocean and you could tell it had seen its share of salt water, winter weather, and years. And when we walked in it felt like a country bar...but the cool thing about it was that Led Zep and Janis Joplin played there many years ago. The show was really good...despite the fact the very first act, some obnoxious radio personality who started off with bad jokes about Eric Clapton's dead son and Christopher Reeve, completely bombed. I've never seen a comedian hit the wall so badly. The second act and Lewis Black were both really funny.

Walden Pond

This morning, for some reason, I woke up early, 8:30 and decided to get on with the day instead of trying to go back to sleep. I went to Target and planned to go to a park in Belmont and finish reading the book club book...but instead I ended up in Lexington. I had a coffee, sat on a bench and read for about 45 minutes and then had lunch at Vinny T's. I had fried ravioli (hoping they would be like toasted rav...they were cheesy but not as good as STL toasted rav).

I realized I was pretty close to Walden Pond so I headed down Route 2 and found my way to Walden. I have been wanting to go to Walden Pond since I lived in Maine.

It was beautiful. When I got onto the trail and it opened up to the pond I almost wept it was so beautiful. Even with a few noisy tourists the whole place had a pristine silence to it. I started to walk the 1.7 mile trail when I met a woman named Geggy. She was a cute gray haired lady with cropped jeans and sneakers on and she was ready to walk. She told me she had been waiting for 30 minutes for her group to show up but when noone came she decided to head out on her own. She asked if I minded company on my walk and I said I didn't mind at all. As we walked (she sprinted actually) I made a comment about how quick she was. She told me with a smile she was over 80 and liked to keep active. She could put a 20 year old to shame she was so spry.

In talking with her I found out she lived in Belmont, was originally from Norway (still had a bit of accent) but had lived in the states for over 50 years. She then told me that before coming to MA she and her husband (who was in the horse business) lived in Lexington, KY :)

We made our way up to the site where Thoreau had his cabin and as we headed up the small hill she ran into one of her group members, the leader of the hike actually. The three of us walked and talked for a bit longer but I left them to take a more leisurely walk so I could take in more of the scenery. There were chipmunks everywhere, a few people swimming, some diving, men, women and kids fishing, and two people kayaking.

As I finished up by the bath house I heard singing and when I rounded the corner I saw a group of people on the stone steps in front of the bathhouse, about 30 people I guess. I sat on some nearby steps and read and realized what the group was doing. They were performing baptisms. I watched several people of all ages be baptized in the pond. It was very peaceful to watch.

Had I known where I was going to end up today I would have taken my camera. It is truly a beautiful place, the water is clear and not terribly cold. I will go back this summer to enjoy the beach and the pond, and plan on going back when the leaves start to change in a few weeks. I can only imagine how beautiful it will be.

http://www.walden.org/

Autumn

I miss that town
I miss the faces
You can't erase
You can't replace it
I miss it now

Nickelback "Photograph"

I love Fall but it does make me a bit melancholy. I'm going home at the end of October. It will be nice to go home and see family/friends. My mom sent me a charm bracelet this week full of charms representing IL. It was nice...but it made me cry a little bit.

Gas makes you what?

So I've been in training the past three days. I really enjoyed it and wish I could go the rest of the week but alas tomorrow it's back to the real world. Had some interesting people in class with me, it was fun. On the first day there was a discussion about gas/fuel and one of the guys said, "The smell of gasoline makes me hungry." Huh? I'm a food lover and I admit I like the smell of gas but it doesn't make me hungry. Does it anyone else?

Stuffed Pets

I found this weird website http://www.comfortpets.com/

We went to see Lewis Black and Friends last night, it was for the Boston Comedy Festival. Lewis Black hosted the show and we got to see him and four other comedians. The show was at the Majestic Theatre: http://www.maj.org/
Still working on posting more pictures.

More pictures

No funny bus stories today...just pics of Labor Day Weekend :-)

All Aboard the Crack express

More bus adventures...this is by far the worst. At the second stop this morning a man got on and since there weren't any empty seats he stood next to my seat. We are rumbling along in the bus and I turn my head to the right and what do I see? His underwear, ripped along the waistband AND a good three inches of his ass crack!

I couldn't freaking believe it...freckles and everything right there at eye level. I motion to the girl sitting up and to the right of me (she lives in our building) and I mouth the words..."I have crack in my face!" She laughed and I got the giggles but it was no laughing matter...crack is wack as the saying goes and it's really wack at 8 am smack dab in front of your face!

And the thing is...you know how when you aren't supposed to look at something or don't want to look at something all you can do is look at it (like if a stranger catches you staring you can't seem to stop staring) and so feeling trapped with no where to look I kept turning my head towards his crack. MY EYES, MY EYES!!

More Pictures

We had a fun weekend with Snooky. We were able to see a lot but at the same time didn't kill ourselves trying to get it all in. On Saturday we toured around Boston Common and the Public Garden, saw the "Cheers" Bar, Copley, the Hard Rock, and the outside of the Museum of Fine Arts at night (two America's Cup sail boats were out front...pictures to follow soon). Sunday we went to the JFK Library, beautiful day, beautiful library. Monday Snooky and I did the Freedom Trail (most of it) and ended up in the North End and got some sinful treats at Mike's Pastry and had more lobster ravioli at Giacomo's. Before we started the Freedom Trail we thought we had stumbled onto the Twilight Zone Trail because two bizarre things happened within 5 minutes of each other. The first involved a girl who was having a seizure on the sidewalk and then right after that we see two homeless men fighting. I looked across the street and one homeless guy had shoved the other guy's wheelchair into the street (again pictures to follow). Funny thing was...the guy who owned the wheelchair didn't appear to have a problem scrambling away from the guy who pushed the chair into the street. The rest of the day was relatively calm :-) Thanks Snooky for a great weekend, we can't wait to have you back!

Labor Day Weekend Pictures