tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10591777237291547162024-03-13T09:53:49.333-04:00Gems Swirlsembarking on the biggest adventure of my life...Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-33042897922071875102014-07-20T19:38:00.001-04:002014-07-20T19:38:28.318-04:00July 2014 - Birthday WeekI have obviously been failing to keep up with my blog posts recently, at least partially because I often don't feel like I have anything new or exciting to say. So I'm going to change the aim or purpose of my blog a little. Instead of primarily focusing on letting you all know what we have been up to, I am going to write about what has made me happy in the past week. This will have the dual purpose of keeping you all up to date, and remind me of all the good things happening in my life to make me smile when I'm feeling super homesick. So let us begin...<br />
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Monday 14th July - I spent the evening making the sponges for my birthday cake. I made <a href="http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/raspberry-caramel-ombre-cake" target="_blank">this one from BBC Good Food</a>.<br />
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Tuesday 15th July - My 27th birthday! Unfortunately I spent most of the day in the lab, but I was able to leave a little early to come home to all these lovely cards and pressies!<br />
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I am so spoilt! Thank you everyone, especially husband-face! We also went out for dinner, and I assembled and iced my cake.<br />
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Wednesday 16th July - The Rileys arrived! My Uncle Steve, Aunty Ann and my cousins Jo and Em came to stay! We had a nice lunch before I went back to work while they explored the Inner Harbor, then Nick made a burger bar for tea, and we looked at all the wedding photos!<br />
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Thursday 17th July - Worked for most of the day, but managed to escape early to meet my family in the Inner Harbor, then we went out for crabs in Fells Point at Riptide By The Bay, which I think was an experience for everyone! The food there was great, especially the appetisers, and awesome service too!<br />
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Friday 18th July - The Rileys left to continue on their journey to DC and the west coast :( That did not make me happy. But this was my awesome view for the evening when we went out to Barcocina in Fells Point for (what turned out to be birthday) drinks and food with our friends from the Hopkins Postdoc Association:<br />
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They even brought me cupcakes, which I failed to get a photo of before we dived in! After some awesome chips & salsa, and incredible tacos.<br />
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Saturday 19th July - A lovely relaxed day spent with my awesome husband, during which I got a lot of satisfaction from getting a lot of jobs done! And then took a hot walk up Federal Hill, to further remind myself what is good about Baltimore.<br />
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We rounded out the day with a game that N got for my birthday, Forbidden Desert, which is a sequel of Forbidden Island, a game we got a couple of years ago that we love! This new version is just as good, and different enough to be fun :)<br />
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Sunday 20th July - Another relaxing day chilling with N, including a trip to the Farmer's Market, resulting in a major haul of nectarines & apricots! And got lots more done too, feels good!<br />
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Note to self - must take more photos if I'm going to start blogging again!<br />
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Please leave a comment and tell me something that made you happy this week!<br />
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Gem xGemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-45087992884303805602014-04-06T20:39:00.000-04:002014-04-06T20:39:18.600-04:00March 2014 - Winter goes on... and on... and on...March was a pretty quiet month, characterised by the remains of what felt like a never-ending winter, not helped by the clocks going back way too early meaning that we went from it starting to get light when the alarm went off, to getting up in the dark again. But that's past now :)<br />
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We started out with an ice-skating trip with the Hopkins Postdoc association at Patterson Park. It took me a while to find my feet after a few years of not skating, but it was so much fun! N meanwhile was just an orange blur speeding round and round the rink.<br />
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We followed this up with a trip out to Catonsville for a leaving meal for one of N's colleagues at the best Chinese restaurant ever! Apparently it was very authentic, and the two Chinese people in attendance made excellent choices for us!<br />
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And of course we couldn't start March without Welsh cakes to celebrate St David's Day.<br />
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Pancake Day saw us at N's boss' house for a traditional English-style celebration, complete with lemon and sugar :) I even flipped one for the first time!<br />
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The night before the clocks went back we headed north-east to try out the Hamilton Tavern with some friends, to try out the reportedly awesome burgers. We turned up with seven of us on a Saturday night to this tiny, popular bar which doesn't take reservations, so needless to say we had a bit of a wait! It was fine though because the atmosphere and the company were great. Although unfortunately the food did not turn out to be worth the wait<br />
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Probably the defining theme of March was wedding planning! With only three months to go things really stepped up a notch (I must admit to getting a little stressed for a minute there) and we got a lot of stuff sorted. My dress arrived and I've already had two fittings, I bought shoes, we got our rings, and made lots of other decisions too. It's all getting very exciting now!!!<br />
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What with the dress picking-up and fittings I did a above average amount of driving in March, including a trip out to Roland Park to try the brunch at Johnny's Downstairs. It was sooooooo good! I had a chai latte that was so good I practically downed it, and gobbled up my omelette before everyone else had barely even started!<br />
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That day was book-ended by fun meals with friends (we won't mention the hour and twenty minutes I waited for a bus in between...), as we headed back to N's boss' house for a dinner party to celebrate his promotion to associate professor! Congrats Dr Edden!<br />
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Shortly after this N headed off to Berlin for a conference but was back within a week. In the meantime I went to the roller derby to watch the Charm City Roller Girls compete in their home league, again a Postdoc Association event, which as always was a lot of fun.<br />
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Oh and a couple of sweet treats courtesy of my awesome colleagues this month. Firstly I finally tried the legendary holiday treat, Peeps. Very intriguing, basically scary marshmallow shapes covered in coloured sugar. And a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for St Patrick's Day, so cool!<br />
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And that was March. Obviously with a hefty amount of work thrown in there too :)<br />
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How was your March? Was it still winter where you are, or have you been enjoying some beautiful spring weather? Surprise snail mail for anyone who leaves a comment below! :DGemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-39298607003657336232014-03-02T20:40:00.001-05:002014-03-02T20:40:06.554-05:00February 2014 - Snow-versaryHeeyyyy! Thanks to all of you who took the time to read my last blog post! You will be pleased to hear that this one will be much shorter with a higher ratio of photos to words! February was all about snow days and baking, working and new friends, dinosaurs and fun! (And exclamation marks apparently. Woo!)<br />
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February began with a trip to Wegmans for groceries, because apparently a 45 minute journey to the supermarket is normal for us since the shop downstairs closed! This led to a fun weekend of cooking and baking, with N making a loaf and some brioche buns, and me making some jammy dodgers after promising them to some friends (they went down very well, in case you're wondering, <a href="http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/jammy-heart-drops" target="_blank">here's the recipe</a>, so easy!) And I cooked a roast chicken, I think for the first time in my life, which was also pretty good, with Chinese five spice and soy sauce. I even used the leftover carcass for soup! So very domesticated!<br />
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The second weekend of February saw the arrival of our fifth anniversary, which we celebrated by booking a car and taking a cold walk at the very pretty Cylburn Arboretum, cooking duck for tea, and making an anniversary battenburg! We were so proud of ourselves for that, and it tasted soooo good! I spent the following day helping to sell Girl Scout cookies in the freezing cold, which was less fun, but did lead to me finding us a cheaper and closer supermarket to use. Also, if anyone in downtown Baltimore still needs cookies, we still have some, so get in touch!<br />
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The day before Valentine's Day we had a big snow storm which led to a snow day, even for me and I don't even live that far from work! But thankfully it didn't stop our planned Valentine's girls' night checking out some of the bars in Fells Point, which was so much fun! Although it may have ended a little messily for pretty much everyone but me... :) We even stopped by a bar which reminded me so much of a proper British pub that I felt very much at home!<br />
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The rest of the weekend was spent recovering (I may not drink, but it was a long time since I've stayed out until 2am!), taking a very snowy walk at Fort McHenry, and, of course, more baking. I made chai tea loaf which is a recipe in the BBC Good Food magazine from Frances who won the British Bake Off last year. Unfortunately most of the filling oozed out in the oven, but it was still very tasty. I also made pineapple and date relish which I'm enjoying very much on my sandwiches right now, and have been giving away to everyone because I made so much! Oh and it was restaurant week so we finally tried out The Helmand, which is the Afghan restaurant just up the road from us. I can't believe we waited so long to go there, it was incredible! Everything tasted amazing, right down to the cardamom tea at the end. It was extremely busy, but that wasn't actually a problem because they were so smooth and efficient.<br />
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And then last weekend we visited the Science Centre with our favourite little girl and her mum which was a lot of fun, and so lovely to have some mild weather for a change (unfortunately it's back to being ridiculously cold now). And on the Sunday I went to the Craft Council Show with our friend, which was awesome. So many beautiful things on the display, but I definitely have expensive taste! Oh and I baked lime and ginger bars which don't look very appetising, but tasted pretty good, especially considering I'm not a huge citrus dessert fan!<br />
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Oh and I can't end a February round-up without mentioning that on Friday night I found an Irish pub that does decent fish and chips, it's been just up the road this whole time and I never knew!<br />
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So that was February for me! And that's not even to mention all the evenings spent doing Girl Scouts and learning about camp, gatecrashing Hopkins post-doc association events and Friday night happy hours. Busy but fun! :)<br />
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How was your February? Did you get up to anything fun? Make any tasty food or baked goods? Like last month, if you leave a comment below I'll send you some surprise snail mail!Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-46065612000212597032014-02-20T20:55:00.000-05:002014-02-20T20:55:33.428-05:00January 2014 - Cardiff Hen Do Fun Times!OK so yes, I totally failed at updating you on the second half of 2013. In fact all I managed to do before giving up was give a summary of the first half of 2013, which I had already told you about! Needless to say, the second half of 2013 was busy. I've put some photos up <a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/101697246786828685795/albums/5981181262679666497?authkey=CJi5yN724Ke_0gE" target="_blank">here</a> for your perusal, from Independence Day to New Years Eve. If you want to know more about any of our adventures from last year just ask and I'll write about it!<br />
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But anyway, onwards to 2014, a year which promises much excitement, and has in fact already offered up some fun times! Instead of trying to do a weekly blog post and failing miserably, I think I'm going to aim for a monthly round-up, with extras as I fancy. Let's see how I do!<br />
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Our year started like this:<br />
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No, we didn't have people over! XD<br />
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This was shortly followed a couple of days later by a lovely meal at Alewife with some new friends.<br />
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And then... we got back from a fleeting visit to Cardiff a whole month ago already! Ten days in the motherland certainly made me feel totally homesick for the UK, but I'm feeling much better now that we're back in our apartment. We fit so much into that short time, and I managed to see loads of my friends, in no small part due to my awesome sister being in cahoots with said friends to organise me a fabulous HEN DO! Bur more of that shortly.<br />
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We arrived at Lemon HQ on the Sunday afternoon after an uneventful journey. My marvellous friends let us stay even though they're both knee deep in work right now, so a massive thank you to both of them, especially Kate for giving up her bed! We were promptly treated to a proper roast dinner, a great start to our stay.<br />
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N was right off to work on the Monday morning, even though he wasn't supposed to be working on this trip, go figure! I spent most of the day chilling over jetlag, but did go in the MRI for the first time in the afternoon for one of N's studies. It was much louder than I expected, but fine really.<br />
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On the Tuesday we met a friend for lunch at one of our favourite cafes in an arcade in the city centre, The Plan, which serves the most amazing salmon baguettes. Then spent the afternoon relishing the novelty of shopping on a high street, before collecting my friend from the train station who had awesomely taken a couple of her days off to come down from Sheffield to see me :D We had sushi for dinner at our favourite Japanese restaurant in Roath, Tenkaichi. I wish I'd taken more photos!<br />
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The Wednesday involved much chilling and shopping - my friend and I both bought new phones! And a lovely lunch at another favourite arcade-based cafe, Madame Fromage, where I indulged in ginger beer and a panini featuring chorizo. Then of course it rained (similar to every afternoon we spent in Cardiff) so I had fun picking up the hire car and driving back to Roath through the rush hour traffic, before having to put my friend back on a bus to the train station :(<br />
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On the Thursday I drove N & I down to Dorset for the day so that he could visit our wedding venue for the first time. We made it through some torrential rain on the M5 and trudged through some mud, and thankfully N loved it! Yay! We also met our photographer who was sooooo lovely! Excitement! Then we headed for Montacute House to meet my lovely aunty for lunch, before driving back to Cardiff through some more rain. Great day!<br />
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Friday lunchtime saw my little sister arrive in Cardiff. We spent the afternoon shopping for bridesmaids dresses which was incredibly unsuccessful. Apparently our wedding colours are absolutely not in fashion right now! Once we were allowed back to the flat I was greeted by this:<br />
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Haha, oh dear! Hen do had begun! I had a surprise bake-off to judge, I was crowned Mary Berry for the evening! Amazing cupcakes and iced buns, and plenty of 90s pop. But best of all were these incredible mugs, one for every guest of the weekend (and N), all hand-drawn by the two fantastic residents of the Roath outpost! As if they didn't have enough to do! Thank you guys!<br />
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After not a huge amount of sleep we were all up bright and early for a mystery trip! After spending a not insubstantial time heading west on the M4 we eventually ended up near Tenby and met up with some more friends - we were doing high ropes! My sister is awesome, she had organised exactly what I asked for. Unfortunately I was waaaayyyy more terrified than I expected to be, as in, actually hysterical! But I am so proud of myself for facing my fears and doing 2/3 of the course, and hopefully everyone else had fun too! Unfortunately I was too busy to take photos, but one of friends who was waaaayyy too pregnant to do high ropes took lots for us, which you can see <a href="https://www.facebook.com/gemmasamanthacook/media_set?set=a.10100362124897837.223602385&type=3" target="_blank">here</a>. We followed this with some well-deserved (and long craved for) fish & chips and pots of tea in Tenby before heading back to the Roath outpost for pizza, and a quiz all about me! Which felt pretty narcissistic, but at least I didn't write the questions. Thank you Kate for putting it together (with N's help), they were great questions and it was fun to find out what all my crazy friends know and don't know about me! Everyone did pretty well though :)<br />
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The pace on the Sunday was entirely different as we headed for a spa in the countryside for a lovely chilled day of swimming, jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, sitting, drinking tea, lunch, reading magazines and having afternoon tea. But unfortunately the hen do had to end, with some sad goodbyes, but happy memories :)<br />
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Unfortunately there was no time for a lie-in on the Monday as it was time to do what we'd come for: the wedding license appointment! We had stayed our required seven consecutive nights in Cardiff so just had to show up and prove identities and we were set, as long as no-one came forward with any legal impediments before February 5th! We took some photos in Sherlock's mind palace (aka Cardiff University main building, which just happens to house the lab in which I did my PhD :D ), then I headed into town, spending some time saying goodbye to the city centre and buying British stuff to bring back, before a final meal with our lovely hosts.<br />
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And then Tuesday N and I headed to Cardiff Bay, to go to the Doctor Who Experience initially, which turned out to be closed on Tuesdays :( So instead we had a nice walk across the barrage and back, and some Wagamamas, before going to Starbucks to check in for our flight. The rest of the day was spent drying off, packing and basically waiting for our trip back to Baltimore, which started early on the Wednesday morning.<br />
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Everything went smoothly, although it was a long flight because of the wind. This did mean that I was able to watch four full films though! About Time (loved it!), We're The Millers (very funny), Blue Jasmine (meh) and Austenland (brainless, but fun to fill the couple of hours at the end of the flight when I couldn't think any more!)<br />
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But the January fun didn't end there! We were straight back to work on the Thursday, and then on the last Saturday of the month we headed out for brunch at our favourite spot, City Cafe, with our wonderful friends, and my favourite little girl :) It was actually the best brunch ever: I couldn't decide whether I wanted savoury or sweet so our friend suggested we get one of each and swap halfway through, it was the perfect balance of Croque Madame & French toast! That weekend was also filled with baking and cooking and tea: N made rolls, I made pork, chorizo & bean stew; and bara brith for St Dwynwen's Day, and set out afternoon tea with one of my new Christmas teapots and the milk & sugar set from my aunty, and I also tried out one of my Christmas flowering teas! So much excitement!<br />
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Anyway, that was a lot of writing, so well done if you made it to the end. I'm sure you didn't want to read every little detail of my month, but it turned into a bit of journalling so that I wouldn't forget the fun time we had! More pictures <a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/101697246786828685795/albums/5981567359691473857?authkey=CMToo9-hwMOfdQ" target="_blank">here</a>. I hope you had a lovely January! What did you get up to? Any New Year's Resolutions? How are they going? Leave me a comment and I promise to send you a surprise item of snail mail! :DGemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-62297287106345815802013-12-28T18:03:00.000-05:002013-12-28T18:03:03.341-05:00Gemswirls 2013 recap: May - JuneI don't really feel like I need to write anything more about May, I was lucky enough to spend most of the month with my sister, first in New York, then here in Baltimore, and then on our road trip down to New Orleans, and I wrote blog posts about our New York trip <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html" target="_blank">here</a> and the road trip <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013_06_01_archive.html" target="_blank">here</a>. That last link also includes what we got up to in June, with me back in Baltimore and the weather getting warmer. So that's it for today! I have a feeling I got quite lax in the second half of the year, so I might have more to say over the next few days!Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-18083075529239445442013-12-27T18:40:00.000-05:002013-12-27T18:40:26.894-05:00Gemswirls 2013 recap: March - AprilN was away either in Europe or Salt Lake City for most of March & April so it was a relatively quiet time, but we/I still managed to fit in some fun times. <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013_03_01_archive.html" target="_blank">This post</a> gives a pretty good update of how my March went by, quite heavily food related as usual. And our nephew was born which was exciting, although still sad that we can't be there to spend more time with him.<div>
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<a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013/04/one-penny-two-penny.html" target="_blank">Easter</a> happened, obviously a perfect occasion for more baking.</div>
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The following weekend saw me commuting to Washington, DC for a massive cancer research conference, where I also managed to fit in some <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013/04/cherry-blossom-festival-washington-dc.html" target="_blank">cherry blossom sightseeing</a>.</div>
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Apparently I was super excited about <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013/04/spring-has-finally-sprung.html" target="_blank">spring</a> coming, which is funny because right now I'm still enjoying the colder weather a little. Although I'm sure by the end of January I'll be singing a different tune!</div>
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Otherwise not much more to say about these lovely spring months, apparently I did a pretty good job of blogging about them! I spent most of the rest of the time working or planning for my sister arriving in May!</div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-18240812319822309892013-12-26T18:59:00.000-05:002013-12-26T18:59:40.884-05:00Gemswirls 2013 recap: January - FebruaryI feel that I didn't do a very good job of keeping my blog up to date this year, so I figured that this time between Christmas and New Year would be a perfect time to do a recap of my 2013, if I can remember it!<br />
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I wasn't too bad at blogging in January (see <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html" target="_blank">here</a>) and the year started out well.<br />
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<b><u>2013 Goals</u></b><br />
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I set some goals for 2013 out in my <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013/01/happy-new-year.html" target="_blank">New Year blog post</a>, and I'm happy to say that I did pretty well:<br />
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<li><b>Join Girl Scouts</b> - this actually took a lot longer than I expected, but I ended up starting with my troop of Cadettes (age 12-13) when school went back in September, and accidentally became troop leader!</li>
<li><b>Lose American belly</b> - pretty happy with my health and fitness levels at the moment, got a good exercise regime going and have been maintaining a healthy weight for a while.</li>
<li><b>Plan wedding</b> - happy to say, with 5.5 months to go, that things are well on track. We had a good start with finally starting our savings account in January and then booking our venue in February.</li>
<li><b>Stop scratching my face</b> - not so good with this one, although I did better over the past few weeks when N threatened to take one of Christmas presents away for every time I did!</li>
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<u><b>Baking & Cooking</b></u></div>
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N got two baking books for Christmas last year, so January last year was the real beginning of the obsession, making tasty simple bread, and Dutch filled cookies. And I started a digital subscription to the BBC Good Food magazine and made lots of tasty meals, trends which both of us continued all year.</div>
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<u><b>Other stuff</b></u></div>
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I joined the uni gym in January and was super proud of myself for going swimming, and started going to water aerobics.</div>
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We watched a lot of Bones!</div>
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We spent a day at the Smithsonian <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013/01/were-going-to-zoo-zoo-zoo.html" target="_blank">Zoo</a> in Washington DC.</div>
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The Baltimore Ravens won the <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2013_02_01_archive.html" target="_blank">Super Bowl!</a></div>
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N & I celebrated our four-year anniversary by going out for sushi.</div>
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My sister started planning her trip to the USA.</div>
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I finally had <a href="http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/7/2093.long" target="_blank">my first paper</a> accepted!</div>
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We watched some roller derby.</div>
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I went to the massive American Craft Center show at the Convention Centre.</div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-3061639512051601802013-09-22T20:58:00.001-04:002013-09-22T20:58:16.080-04:00All summered out!I guess I totally failed at keeping you all updated over the summer then? Oh well! I saw a lot of you a couple of weeks ago anyway, so you're all caught up! For the rest of you, I don't think you missed much. Although my reasoning for not blogging much is that we were busy. So, erm, here's your summer update : Baltimore got hot, then it got hotter, and then it got more hot again. We played outside, until it was too hot, then we came indoors. N baked a lot, I ate a lot. We both had birthdays, they were fun. Then I went to the UK for a whirlwind two weeks, and the Netherlands for a relaxed couple of days. I came home for a week during which time two of N's friends came to stay, and then after a week N went to Europe for two weeks. Yes, good timing there! Now he is home and all is right with the world.<br />
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So here's the exciting bit: I became a Girl Scout troop leader on Thursday! And like, not just an assistant leader, but actually in charge! Which wasn't supposed to happen, but did... So there we are, now I have to learn how Girl Scouts works. Specifically Cadettes (7th grade, 12-13 yrs old). If anyone out there would like to help me out with that I would greatly appreciate it! I'm excited! We get to start selling cookies soon, so we're probably going to start out doing some badges related to business plans and marketing, which is more fun than it sounds!<br />
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In other recent news I did some baking this weekend, before N could come home to start once again doing so much baking that there's already too much food to eat so I can't bake anything. This afternoon I made these tasty cheese scones which we had warm for lunch/afternoon tea:<br />
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And yesterday I made these biscuits, which are essentially jammie dodgers, but waaayyy better, if I do say so myself! :D<br />
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And for dinner just now I made toad-in-the-hole with butternut squash chips, which I didn't take photos of but was sooooo yummy!<br />
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So I think you're all caught up! If you want a more detailed post/photos on any of the above please get in touch in the comments and let me know! In fact, if you're reading this, please leave me a comment to say hi and let me know how you're doing. The reason I write this blog is to keep everyone back home in the UK updated as to what we're up to out here in Baltimore without having to tell the same story over and over again. Which is maybe incredibly selfish and lazy of me, but it doesn't mean I don't want to hear how you are and what you're up to too! It's no secret that while I'm happy and making the best of life here, I'm also homesick and lonely and I miss my family and friends all the time so, please, just take a moment to say hello! And that includes anyone reading this who I don't know already, I'm always up for making new friends!<br />
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So there, rant over! I'm off to make a cup of tea and prepare myself for another fun week in the lab!Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-61197149861096922742013-06-30T20:41:00.001-04:002013-06-30T20:41:07.105-04:00Meanwhile, back in Baltimore......it seems that summer has started, and with it festivals, BBQs and heat galore!<br />
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We checked out the Charles Village festival with some of N's colleagues<br />
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Attended a leaving do BBQ for one of N's colleagues at Rocks State Park which was a pretty cool day. I got to do some driving, from which I'd been having withdrawal symptoms after the road trip! And of course it was awesome to spend a day in nature for a change, climbing rocks (yes, the park is imaginatively named) and going on a hike before enjoying some awesome food.<br />
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One Saturday after getting some food from the Let's Eat Charles Street festival, which closed off the block right by our apartment, we stuck around in Mount Vernon to watch the Pride Parade. Needless to say that was a fun experience!<br />
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We went out for crabs with N's colleagues:<br />
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We played in the fountains in the Inner Harbour (shame you need to be with a child to get away with that!)<br />
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And then yesterday we booked a car and went to the H-mart for Asian food, mainly because our grocery store stopped selling noodles, but also because of all this other awesome stuff! Topped off by finally trying out the incredible Vietnamese place around the corner from us!<br />
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And we took advantage of being near Patapsco Valley State Park to go for a very hot hike. Been exhausted from all that sunshine for the rest of the weekend!<br />
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Other happenings since coming home from my trip have involved meeting N for lunch at the B&O Brasserie on a work day (in itself a novel experience) to go for a soft shell crab BLT, essentially a whole, fried crab in a sandwich!<br />
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Lots of Farmer's Market trips, I don't think I'll ever be able to eat strawberries from the supermarket again!<br />
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Had an English ladys' night at an Irish pub eating fish + chips with our new friend that we met in the park :) and met said new friend for a walk with her dog in Harbour East.<br />
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Celebrated our minus one year wedding anniversary with a meal at a lovely Italian restaurant, Sotto Sopra in Mount Vernon. I had incredible lobster ravioli!<br />
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Tried to make marshmallows, didn't turn out so well...<br />
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Re-watched the final episode of series 2 of Doctor Who, still makes me weep apparently.<br />
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Had an interesting evening when water started coming through our A/C!<br />
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And drinks on the terrace of an Irish pub for a Friday.<br />
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So actually lots going on here!Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-76261995344220498062013-06-29T18:08:00.000-04:002013-06-29T18:08:35.630-04:00The Back of Tamzy's Head seriesToday I'm going to share my latest (and only) art project with you. I have entitled it "The Back of Tamzy's Head series."<div>
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While my sister and I were in New York I slowly started to realise that a lot of the photos I was taking pictured the back of her head. And that in fact they were some of my favourite photos from the trip. So then I started doing it on purpose and came up with a series of photos that I really like, and that I would like to share with you today. Let me know what you think, maybe I'll do another art project! XD And see if you can spot the odd one out!</div>
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Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-59358109457072203272013-06-18T20:41:00.000-04:002013-06-19T07:29:40.194-04:00I promise that I will do my best...We're taking a break from the road trip saga today because I'm too excited about something else I want to share.<br />
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A few months ago Girlguiding (in which I was a Rainbow, Brownie, Guide, Young Leader and, since I was 18, an adult leader) held a consultation about the Promise. Just asking about it was exciting enough for me, as I had had problems with the wording since I was old enough to really understand what I was saying. However I obviously put up with it, because it never took away from the fact that it's an amazing organisation.<br />
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This is what the Promise has been for as long as I can remember:<br />
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<i>I promise that I will do my best:</i><br />
<i>To love my God,</i><br />
<i>To serve the Queen and my country,</i><br />
<i>To help other people</i><br />
<i>and</i><br />
<i>To keep the (Brownie) Guide Law.</i><br />
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Which is fine, but must have been off-putting for newcomers to the organisation who, for example, were atheist or agnostic; or anyone who believed in another God and weren't able to make this apply to them. I even had a discussion with some fellow Guiders at a training once who were convinced that if you were an atheist you weren't allowed to be a leader. I'm nearly 100% certain that this was never the case, but it does put it into perspective when even people within the organisation were put off by it!<br />
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Well, I am very happy to say that today Girlguiding has announced a change in wording for the Promise, effective 1st September 2013. It now reads:<br />
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<i>I promise that I will do my best:</i><br />
<i>To be true to myself and develop my beliefs,</i><br />
<i>To serve the Queen and my community,</i><br />
<i>To help other people</i><br />
<i>and</i><br />
<i>To keep the (Brownie) Guide Law.</i><br />
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So I no longer have to pretend that I believe in God every time I say the Promise! I can be my true agnostic self, who will wait for a divine being to be proven or disproven either way before I decide whether or not to love it! I no longer have to say my God is "chocolate" or something else silly just to justify the Promise to myself! Yays!<br />
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And to all of you who have used the Promise as an excuse not to help at your local unit: haha! You now have no excuse! Now get out there and go for it, I promise you won't regret it!<br />
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<br />Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-14532744176942989312013-06-16T20:38:00.000-04:002013-06-28T18:10:54.171-04:00Road Trip - final day in New Orleans<div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Slept really well, but woke up too early, stupid body still on Eastern time!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Diner for breakfast, poor service, massive pancake not cooked through, won't be going back!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Went out into hot muggy weather. Found post office but no international stamps. Tried to walk to garden district but too far. Got streetcar instead.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Wandered around some pretty houses and found a cemetery, very interesting above ground graves/tombs. Lizards roaming the streets! Got too hot so stopped at Starbucks for OJ and iced chai before heading to the Magazine Street shops - shop full of reused items including beautifully bound notebooks made of scrap card, for $54! Estate sale/antique store, record store and needlework store.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Headed back to Canal Street and changed trams to go to City Park. Too hot, nowhere to eat and too far to real bit of park so saw the Pavilion of Two Sisters and the museum sculpture garden then headed back to streetcar.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Very late lunch of shrimp po boy at a cafe on the corner of Jackson Square, followed by beignets and sweet tea. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Wandered to Louis Armstrong Park again, but no music today so sat a bit then walked back. Sat in Jackson Square for a while but couldn't stand terrible pipe music. Never found the perpetrator though! Sat by the Market Cafe for a bit instead.</span><br /><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Got pre-dinner drinks and then dinner of jambalaya. Went to Preservation Hall and saw some amazing jazz!</span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And so ends my road trip journal! The following day we went back to the Beignet Cafe for an amazing breakfast of waffles, then I had to say my goodbyes to my sister (who was off on the next leg of her trip, from New Orleans to San Francisco!) and head to the airport. It was nice to be home though, although I can't believe how fast the time has gone since I got back now!</span></span></div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-78457719298358882172013-06-16T20:28:00.001-04:002013-06-26T07:33:25.059-04:00Road Trip - Tallahassee to New Orleans<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><b>Day 8 - Thursday 23rd May - Tallahassee to New Orleans</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Slept well at the motel, real bed! OK breakfast, learned the lady's whole family, including her sixteen year old son who eats everything and her daredevil daughter in the navy!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Got on the road to New Orleans, I-10 for over five hours!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Stopped at a rest stop, then in Alabama for gas, and in Mississippi for lunch! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Made it to New Orleans around two, they didn't even check the car so we just ran away before they noticed the scratch! Although I think it's more likely that it was just covered by the insurance so they didn't actually care!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">So hot here! Chilled out (literally) at hotel for a bit before venturing out into the French Quarter. So many amazing houses!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Saw crazy Bourbon Street, to be avoided for rest of trip, Royal Street with antique and art shops. Bought some praline, and Taffy for Tamz. Got an iced chai at a lovely cafe. Saw a wedding at Jackson Square. checked out the waterfront, serenaded by the old guy!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Saw the French market then wandered up to Louis Armstrong park where there was a little festival thing going on, lots of music and people watching. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Went back to the market for a drink at the Market Cafe, also with music. Then an amazing dinner of alligator sausage and chicken gumbo! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Took pecan pie to go, enjoyed with tea and silly telly back at hotel. Now excited for sleeping in the super comfy bed!</span></div>
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Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-31011032120234855912013-06-16T20:16:00.002-04:002013-06-25T07:12:26.966-04:00Road Trip - Savannah to Tallahassee<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><b>Day 7 - Wednesday 22nd May - Savannah to Tallahassee</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Dry night, finally! Still had to pack tent damp though, condensation didn't dry fast enough :-( nice shower though!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Tamz managed to donate her mat to a wild park ranger :-)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Went back to Savannah, checked out the very pretty Forsyth park and finally found the nice part of the historic district. Enjoyed some iced beverages and resisted buying a very cute puppy!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Found and went inside the first Girl Scout headquarters, then had a tour around the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace which was very interesting but not as Girl Scout focused as expected.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Bought some bread and made sure to see the square where Forrest Gump was filmed before heading back to the car and nearly being soaked! Saw Forrest himself! Kinda...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Got on the road to Tallahassee, interstate all the way! Mostly boring except crazy rain time!</span><br /><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Stopped for petrol and picnic by a fake lake.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Arrived at motel around six, sorted out car, drove to Applebee's for dinner, trouble with one way roads, don't ask! Now enjoying the chillaxing and excited for sleeping in a real bed!</span></span></div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-11119788721524885462013-06-16T20:16:00.001-04:002013-06-24T08:22:52.238-04:00Road Trip - Charleston to Savannah<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><b>Day 6 - Tuesday 21st May - Charleston to Savannah</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Slept well again, but again had to quickly get tent down and pack it wet before it started to chuck down!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Headed back to Charleston for a tour of the bakeries in the pouring rain! First walked from visitor centre to Wild Flour for chai, then past Sugar Bakehouse which was closed. Hopped on a free shuttle back to visitor centre to visit Glaze, a doughnut store where we got an orange and pistachio doughnut, so tasty! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Then the Macaroon Boutique, but that was closed :-( after a souvenir visit to visitor centre store got on another shuttle to The Bakehouse, which sold amazing homemade marshmallow for 50c! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Waited for the circulator around the corner but realised we could fill our water from the fountain on the pier, saw a heron and a skimmer, then managed to get a free swing so hung out there for a while. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Another trolley to Whisk for quiche and free coffee. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Then yet another back to the Macaroon Boutique which was now open! Fun filling morning, still got lots left!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Onwards to Savannah, more crazy rain. Stopped at an old plantation for restrooms and to use a picnic table to eat our quiche for lunch. Rather bizarre!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Another beautiful campsite at Skidaway Island, got tent up and dry and headed back to Savannah.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Walked around a lot, found Juliette Gordon Low's birthplace, lots of pretty squares, the waterfront with a waving lady and Olympic flame. Different to expected, more touristy but not like Charleston, very expensive restaurants, looked for ages before finding Moon River, local brewery and food, served by Devon who had an ex from Wigan! Ate an amazing pulled pork wrap. Apparently one of the most haunted buildings in town (which is saying something!), filming with Ghost Hunters next month!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Back at tent now, hoping for a dry night!</span></span></div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-12117741173269161872013-06-16T20:16:00.000-04:002013-06-23T20:50:33.186-04:00Road Trip - Wilmington to Charleston<div>
<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Day 5 - Monday 20th May - Wilmington to Charleston</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Up, showered and left KOA by 8.30, Tamzy did a very good job of getting the tent down before a massive amount of rain came down.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Stopped off at Myrtle Beach, even more bizarre than <a href="http://gems-swirls.blogspot.com/2012/06/weekend-on-eastern-shore.html" target="_blank">Ocean City</a>. Wandered around a bit, nice to see the sea, eventually found some terrible hot beverages and left again just before a massive amount of rain hit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Spent most of the day on the 17 which felt like one long strip mall most of the time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Drove through a terrifying storm, could barely see but got through it!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Made it to Charleston around 2.30, got the tent up straight away and it was dry! Ate a picnic lunch then headed into Charleston.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Parked at visitor centre and jumped on free trolley, wandered through market then went to find Rainbow Row, such beautiful houses! Walked back along the waterfront, through the park, sat on a pier then through French Quarter. We both want to live here! Feels like a completely other country though! And accent has definitely changed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Lots of bike perving today!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Looked in some shops including Life Is Good and a hot sauce shop!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Went in search of dinner, found Toast, local cuisine, I had pecan crusted chicken with house made BBQ sauce, sweet potato fries and collard greens :-) Tamzy had a classic: shrimp + grits.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Back to tent to fight off mozzies!</span></span></div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-29902485003944142092013-06-16T20:15:00.002-04:002013-06-22T09:56:43.621-04:00Road Trip - Smith Mountain Lake to Wilmington<div>
<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Day 4 - Sunday 19th May - Smith Mountain Lake to Wilmington</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Wet tent again, although not so bad inside and managed to put it away while not raining</span><br /><span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Nicest shower so far, except for cicadas!</span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Drove around to check out Discovery Centre with beautiful views across lake, and beach which was a weird fake seaside!</span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Got on the road and made it to Chapel Hill in time for lunch. Much smaller than expected, but pretty, massive, University of North Carolina campus. Found tasty lunch (omelette, fruit and muffin) at Spanky's!</span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Back on the road to Wilmington, stopped once for iced tea, made it before 5. Had to dry out tent again though :-(</span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Headed downtown for a walk along the river, back through the quaint restaurants and shops, then did another loop to check out the historic buildings and houses. Looking at the photos makes it even more obvious that One Tree Hill was filmed there, didn't seem like it while I was there though!</span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Light taco dinner at Mixto, followed by salted caramel ice cream! Saw at least three weddings!</span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now sat outside in a t-shirt at 10pm, pretty awesome, but thunderstorms forecast!</span></span></div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-3581416383881323872013-06-16T20:15:00.001-04:002013-06-21T07:42:14.061-04:00Road Trip - Sherando Lake to Smith Mountain Lake<div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b>Day 3 - Saturday 18th May - Sherando Lake to Smith Mountain Lake</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did not sleep great at all, again. Very wet night, woke up to a couple of puddles in the tent but thankfully not on us or any stuff. Weather still terrible in morning though, had to take tent down in rain and stuff in bin bag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back onto Blue Ridge Parkway, terrible fog at first but cleared as we went south. Nothing really open, very bizarre!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Didn't really stop until Roanoke, funny little town! Got tasty local food (tofu stir fry for me) at a market and wandered around a bit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Got directions to a Walmart to try to buy stuff for tent drying, ended up at completely the wrong mall so wandered around for a while, totally hopeless, both so tired! Ended up using JC Penny WiFi to get directions to Walmart! After getting drive thru chais from Panera, went round Walmart pretty quickly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Drove on to Smith Mountain Lake Park, our next campsite. Another beautiful site. Gravel pitches though, very strange! Got tent up and dried out, then went for a little walk before enjoying another picnic tea. Gonna try for an early night soon!</span></div>
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Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-2435391739185005962013-06-16T20:14:00.002-04:002013-06-20T20:04:29.641-04:00Road Trip - Big Meadows to Sherando Lake<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><b>Day 2 - Friday 17th May - Big Meadows to Sherando Lake</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Didn't sleep great. Started out by paying $1 for a cold shower, and nearly lost a sock!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Left around 9, drove to mile 79 and hiked up Loft Mountain, incredible view point!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Down by 11.30, had some elevenses (tea and a Clif bar!) bought some souvenirs and continued to the end of Skyline Drive :-(</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Drove to Charlottesville, such a beautiful town! Pedestrianised main street, lovely independent stores and so many food outlets! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Had awesome burgers (chicken or vegan and avocado) at Citizen Burger. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Did a loop to see the pretty University of Virginia campus, then went to Great Harvest (of <a href="http://www.katheats.com/" target="_blank">KathEats</a> fame, I have been reading this blog religiously for over two years and was very excited)! Picked up a loaf of pesto parmesan swirl and had a nice chat with the girl serving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Drove back to the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway and a long way off to Sherando Lake Park to our campsite. There was a lady pitching her tent on our site, I got flustered and backed the car into a tree! Yikes! Pretty stressful, but hopefully will be covered by insurance. Fingers crossed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Got our tent up, went to check out the lake, came back, got swimming stuff, went back to the lake, decided not to swim, walked around lake instead!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Changed into PJs and had a picnic of our bread and other snacks at our picnic table. Until it started to chuck down with rain! Great to have a car to run to! Hung out there until eased off, then found puddle in tent! Just from a label wicking it in, easily fixed by cutting it off! </span></div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-42733715484674850042013-06-16T20:14:00.001-04:002013-06-18T07:26:22.723-04:00Road Trip - Baltimore to Big MeadowsSo it's back to the journal for the story of the road trip, enjoy!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Day 1 - Thursday 16th May - Baltimore to Big Meadows</b></span><br />
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Up bright and early, dragged everything, including a tray of water, to the Sheraton to pick up our car. Strong arms required!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Lovely lady at Avis, from Virginia Beach, gave us a "grey"car (it's white), persuaded me to buy insurance, and didn't have a full tank of gas like I requested. Oh and upgraded to a bigger car because she didn't have any smaller ones :S</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">All OK though, we loved our white Chevy Cruze! Driving is fun. Getting past DC was busy though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Stopped at rest stop in VA, saw some of the cicadas!!! Gross and amazing!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Stopped at weird strip mall, no car adapter for music at Target so walked even further across massive parking lot, very hot, and found one in Five Below, cheapy! Got iced beverages at Starbucks. Got back to car to find it had a headphone jack after all so we didn't even need to go find the adapter! Got some tunes on!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Made it to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park! So beautiful! Stopped at lots of outlooks, a rest stop where we found some walking pamphlets at mile 4, found food at mile 24.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Made it to Big Meadows campsite around 4, pitched tent in 8 minutes flat, then went out to hike to Rose River Falls. Very hot and sweaty! Saw a chipmunk :D And thankfully no bears, which is obviously down to all the talking and clapping...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Back to Big Meadows Lodge for dinner, hilarious experience! Big wooden dining room, served by a rather scary waiter who may or may not have taken a bite out of our Oreo cheesecake! </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Had to send pot roast + Tamzy's mushroom polenta thingy back for being too cold.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Chilled out in the Great Room for a while, amazing sunset!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Checked out entertainment down in the Tap Room, interesting renditions of Pink Floyd and David Bowie, all to the same tune!</span></div>
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Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-67192446649084238692013-06-16T18:05:00.000-04:002013-06-17T08:08:07.538-04:00Washington DC Cycle Chic Style!Now I promise that after this I will get to the road trip, but first I have to tell you about the wonderful day we spent in Washington DC. Traditionally a day spent showing someone around the capital of the US involves a LOT of walking, but we decided to rent bikes which turned out to be the best idea ever! It was so much fun and we were able to see so much more with the one day available to us. Obviously I've already seen all of the monuments before, and by cycling Tamz and I managed to see most of them by lunchtime.<br />
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This allowed us time to cycle along the Potomac to Georgetown which had been recommended to me as a cool place to wander around, with a canal and quaint houses. We found a lovely French patisserie in which to have baguettes for lunch, and a sneaky pastry saved for later. And found a cool spice and tea store where I could have spent all day!<br />
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After cycling back down to the Mall we had our requisite viewing of the White House before going in search of the old Post Office tower which is currently the highest viewing point in the city while the Washington Monument is undergoing repairs from an earthquake about 18 months ago.<br />
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Then we just had time to have a look at the original Star-Spangled Banner in the American History Museum, very appropriate given our trip to Fort McHenry the previous day, which is the first place this flag was flown.<br />
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Awesome day! :DGemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-48777098229959883252013-06-02T18:11:00.000-04:002013-06-04T07:08:20.269-04:00Tamzy in BaltimoreOnce we came home from New York, Tamzy spent about a week staying with us here in Baltimore while I got in a few days at work before we headed out on our big trip (which I'm sure y'all are gasping to hear about, all in good time :) ). I had fun partially showing her around and partially sending her off to visit the nicer parts of town. On my first day back at work I showed Tamz around the lab, showed her some melanoma cells down the microscope, then took her to Lexington Market, partly for the experience, but mainly for Faidley's lump crab cake, the best crab cake I have tasted!<div>
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On the Friday N finnnalllyy came home from all of his trips (Spain on this particular occasion), so we took the opportunity to visit Arundel Mills, a mall near the airport which has lots of outlet stores and a camping shop, to stock up on stuff for our trip "on the way" to pick up N. The camping shop turned out to be pretty rubbish, but we did spend an awful lot of money on some amazing bargains in the Merrell outlet, getting us both hiking shoes and me a lightweight waterproof. And having now used both I can testify that they were awesome purchases. I also may or may not have made an impulse buy in the Levi's outlet, but who can resist jackets this pretty, with so much money off?! (I went for the purple, not both, although I did also love the green and was very tempted!)</div>
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The Saturday started with a lazy morning, during which Tamz told us a story about how in Liverpool she cycles past a car on the way home from work every day with a bumper sticker saying "Eat Bertha's Mussels", and had wondered for ages what on earth it meant. Then the previous day she'd gone to Fells Point and seen a restaurant with "Eat Bertha's Mussels" on the side, so now she knows! Apparently they give the bumper stickers out to everyone who eats there, so we went there for lunch, and all left with our very own! This was followed by a trip to the roller derby. So much fun, as always :) Go Charm City Roller Girls!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The only picture I took at the roller derby. <br />Given what I work on it seemed like a very inappropriate name to me!</td></tr>
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On the Sunday Tamzy and I decided to take the water taxi to Fort McHenry. This was new to me too, and totally worth it, if a little breezy! And it was fun for Tamz to learn all the history about how the Americans beat the pesky British on this site, inspiring Francis Scott Key to pen the lyrics to what is now the American National Anthem.</div>
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We also took her to some of our favourite restaurants, including City Cafe, and Joss' Cafe for her first sushi, both in Mount Vernon, and of course we had to have take out from Fusion Wok, our favourite establishment in the food court downstairs, where the lady now even knows my order!</div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-35322934808031675532013-05-31T18:54:00.000-04:002013-06-01T12:13:45.352-04:00New York City - Day 5<div dir="ltr">
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Walked to Grand Central, found breakfast and caught subway down to Battery Park. Ate parfaits overlooking the Statue of Liberty!</span></div>
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Caught the Staten Island ferry to get a good view of the statue and the skyline, turned around and got right back on again to go back to Manhattan!</span></div>
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Caught subway to Columbus Circle, bought lunch at Whole Foods, picked up some fro yo with extra berries and went to find Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon memorial in Central Park which we'd missed on Saturday.</span></div>
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Long hot walk back to hostel to collect bags, ended up at bus stop a little early so ate our lunch outside Madison Square Garden.</span></div>
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Caught bus home to Baltimore, very tired, was very excited to get there and sleep!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So that's where the story of my very first trip to New York City ends, stay tuned for more tales of fun sisterly times in Baltimore, Washington DC and on our road trip baby woo!</span></div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-31613031854897580142013-05-30T18:45:00.000-04:002013-05-31T07:28:37.816-04:00New York City - Day 4<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Day 4 - Monday 6th May</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Slow start trying to find the right subway to downtown Brooklyn. Finally made it just in time for the opening of the TKTS booth where we got tickets to Avenue Q, 40% off!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Headed for Brooklyn Heights, eventually decided on somewhere for a brunch of egg and cheese bagels with gingerbread chai, nom nom nom!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Amazing view of skyline from Brooklyn Heights Promenade, just like on Friends! Then walked over the bridge which was hot and busy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Ended up in financial district, saw City Hall (surprisingly small for such a large city), the Woolworth building, Ground Zero and the new WTC, Trinity Church, Wall Street, and the Stock Exchange, Federal Hall and and the Bowling Green Bull.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Chilled out for half an hour on a park bench then wandered over to Little Italy. Had amazing pastries for afternoon tea swiftly followed by amazing pizza at Lombardi's!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Caught subway back to hostel, changed then headed out to make it to New World Stages (off Broadway) just in time for Avenue Q. Obviously still hilarious, and so much more intimate than the last time I saw it which was at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff (think: back row of a massive auditorium!), this time second row of a tiny theatre! So awesome to watch the actors faces as well as the puppets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Finished day with hot chocolate in Times Square, before sleep in preparation for the final day!</span></div>
Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059177723729154716.post-28726221040896020062013-05-29T20:15:00.001-04:002013-05-30T10:54:00.124-04:00New York City - Day 3<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Day 3 - Sunday 5th May</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Slept so much better! Slow start to morning but still out before ten, bit chilly! Met a guy trying to sell tickets to the Empire State Building who tried to speak British "street" and then proceeded to inform us that Baltimore is otherwise known as "Bodymore." Quite.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Saw flat iron building, very cool!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Walked about half of the Chelsea High Line, awesome linear park on a derelict elevated railway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Had an amazing brunch in Greenwich Village, involving Earl Grey and Belgian waffle with yogurt, berries, almonds and honey, at the Bus Stop Cafe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Explored the Village, starting with the Friends house! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Lots of bicycle perving and incredibly cute dogs, awesome bookstores (a whole shop dedicated to secondhand cookbooks!) and stationers and chemist, cobbled streets and Washington Mews, finishing up in Washington Square Park.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Got the L line subway to Williamsburg. Found bagels and chai, did some people watching on a bench. Wandered around some quaint shops (the cheese store has loads of English stuff like digestives and black treacle!) then hung out at the park watching people playing a kick ball tournament!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Found a really cool bar for a drink then pan-Asian vegan restaurant for dinner, very tasty! Then subway back to Manhattan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">Went back to hostel for warm clothes and decided it was too early for bed so went to check out Times Square! So crazy!</span></div>
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Gemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00757624673876105822noreply@blogger.com0