Day 2 - Saturday 4th May
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
New York City - Day 2
Monday, 27 May 2013
New York City - Day 1
Those of you who know me well will already be aware that my absence this month has actually been for a very good reason - my little sister came from the UK to visit me for a whole three weeks! As well as staying with N & I here in Baltimore, we took a couple of awesome trips together which I would like to tell you all about in a series of blog posts. I'm planning to pretty much just cut and paste from the journal I was writing while I was away. We started off in New York on Friday 3rd May, so here goes, enjoy!
First views of new York skyline very surreal! Getting off the bus very overwhelming, so busy with traffic and people! Went to Macy's for restrooms, awful place! Tried to find a recommended food truck but failed so walked back and ended up with salad sat in a little square.
So I waited an extra 40 or so minutes at the hostel until I knew Tamzy had landed then went out, first to Starbucks for a chai latte, then wandering 5th avenue in circles for a while trying to find the Girl Scouts headquarters. I eventually found it after I stopped looking, typical! Then I wandered past the public library, had some cool views of the Chrysler building, and checked out Grand Central station, which is nowhere near as grand as I expected! Found the airport shuttle stop then went back to a Panera on 5th for pasta and salad.
Got on the bus for La Guardia around 8.30pm, thinking I'd seen on the website that it took an hour. No way, it took a maximum of 25 minutes, meaning I was here before Tamzy even left Philly. Stoopid!
Tamzy arrived safely, so exciting! We got bus back to city, checked her in to hostel and went downstairs to drink tea and chat about plans. Excited for first proper day tomorrow!
Day 1 - Friday 3rd May
Woke up at 6.10 to go to the bathroom and decided to put WiFi on and check email before going back to
sleep, only to end up getting up: Tamzy's flight was delayed for 3.5 hours, meaning she missed her connection and wasn't going to arrive in NYC until 10 pm, five hours late! So I got up to see if I could get a later bus, but in the end decided to get my original bus anyway.
Bus was good but full of French school kids! Listened to lots of music. Stopped at a rest stop in New Jersey so I got an extra state!
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| First glimpse |
Found hostel easily, friendly staff and nice and clean. Has WiFi! Spending some time chilling before going back out, don't know what to do! Tamzy should be landing soon if on time, but instead I have to wait five hours! Will go to Grand Central to catch bus to airport at 8, but still have three hours to fill...
Stay tuned for the next installment!
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Spring has finally sprung!
I had such a lovely morning today. The uncomfortable muggy weather of the past few days broke last night to leave us with a beautiful fresh sunny spring day today. But first to share a couple of random tidbits from earlier in the month.
Firstly, I finally got my act together in applying to volunteer for Girl Scouts! Now just waiting to hear if they've found a troop for me to help with!
Then last weekend was one of the few that N has been home recently. We celebrated with sushi :)
So today N is away again, but I got to go to Patterson Park with my favourite little girl and her mummy, which was lovely in the sunshine. We were headed to Fort McHenry but were thwarted by some kind of crazy running people. But I reckon it was fate because we met a lovely fellow Englishwoman when asking if we could meet her dog (you can get away with that kind of behaviour when in the company of a two-year old apparently!), who lives nearby, and we're going to meet up again! Always exciting to meet people from home!
We looked at the pretty flowers:
Fed the ducks:
And played in the playground, before going for pizza. Awesome morning!
Firstly, I finally got my act together in applying to volunteer for Girl Scouts! Now just waiting to hear if they've found a troop for me to help with!
Then last weekend was one of the few that N has been home recently. We celebrated with sushi :)
So today N is away again, but I got to go to Patterson Park with my favourite little girl and her mummy, which was lovely in the sunshine. We were headed to Fort McHenry but were thwarted by some kind of crazy running people. But I reckon it was fate because we met a lovely fellow Englishwoman when asking if we could meet her dog (you can get away with that kind of behaviour when in the company of a two-year old apparently!), who lives nearby, and we're going to meet up again! Always exciting to meet people from home!
We looked at the pretty flowers:
Fed the ducks:
And played in the playground, before going for pizza. Awesome morning!
Cherry Blossom Festival, Washington DC
I was lucky enough to have a conference in Washington, DC the first week of April, which happened to tie in with the latter end of the famous cherry blossom festival. Before we get to the pretty pictures though, let me share a fuzzy picture of a living legend:
The great James Watson of Watson & Crick fame, as in discoverers of the structure of DNA! I can't even tell you how excited I was to be in the same room as this man, even if he was very very far away!
Which leads me to the other thing: the scale of this conference was like nothing I have ever seen before, just look at the size of one of the plenary lectures, and this room was full! Incredible!
Being not too fond of crowds I skipped the Rally for Medical Research on the Monday and instead went in search of these famous cherry blossoms, and boy, I was not disappointed! There were a lot of people there too, but at least I was free to move around! Now for pretty pictures:
The great James Watson of Watson & Crick fame, as in discoverers of the structure of DNA! I can't even tell you how excited I was to be in the same room as this man, even if he was very very far away!
Which leads me to the other thing: the scale of this conference was like nothing I have ever seen before, just look at the size of one of the plenary lectures, and this room was full! Incredible!
Being not too fond of crowds I skipped the Rally for Medical Research on the Monday and instead went in search of these famous cherry blossoms, and boy, I was not disappointed! There were a lot of people there too, but at least I was free to move around! Now for pretty pictures:
One a penny, two a penny
Yes I know, Easter was weeks ago, I fail at blogging, but I have beautiful images of hot cross buns to share, that I know you don't want to miss out on.
I was alone on Easter weekend, N has been away a lot for work the past month or so; not to mention the fact that neither Good Friday nor Easter Monday are public holidays here! So it could have been a miserable one, but thankfully I was invited to a two-year old's Easter egg hunt, which made the weekend a whole lot more fun!
We went to a place called Cylburn Arboretum, where I'd never been before. It was really lovely, and had a very English country garden feel which was rather nice.
It was the first time the weather was really nice, although still a little too chilly for our posh picnic really. Still very enjoyable though!
And finally some daffodils!
I filled the Sunday by making hot cross buns from Paul Hollywood's "How To Bake". They came out awesome, but went stale incredibly quickly. The one's I froze right away are still awesome though!
I also indulged in some American Easter candy. Peanut butter for the win! Nom nom nom!
I was alone on Easter weekend, N has been away a lot for work the past month or so; not to mention the fact that neither Good Friday nor Easter Monday are public holidays here! So it could have been a miserable one, but thankfully I was invited to a two-year old's Easter egg hunt, which made the weekend a whole lot more fun!
We went to a place called Cylburn Arboretum, where I'd never been before. It was really lovely, and had a very English country garden feel which was rather nice.
It was the first time the weather was really nice, although still a little too chilly for our posh picnic really. Still very enjoyable though!
And finally some daffodils!
I filled the Sunday by making hot cross buns from Paul Hollywood's "How To Bake". They came out awesome, but went stale incredibly quickly. The one's I froze right away are still awesome though!
I also indulged in some American Easter candy. Peanut butter for the win! Nom nom nom!
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Update
So yeah, I was doing pretty well at blogging regularly for a while there, but then we weren't doing anything interesting, other than watching a lot of Bones, so I didn't have anything to say! And then we did so much fun stuff that I didn't have time for blogging. And I keep forgetting to take photos. So here's a (hopefully) brief update of what's been going on in these parts recently. Enjoy!
Anniversary
Early in February N & I quietly celebrated a whole four years together with some sushi :)
Chinese New Year
I made spring rolls, and N made the most amazing sweet & sour pork! Nom nom nom!
Bara brith
I made bara brith for the first time for a lab meeting and it went down sooooooo well. It tasted so good and was incredibly easy to make, definitely making that one again!
Roller derby
Got tickets for the final match of the Baltimore league's tournament (Charm City Roller Girls). Lots of fun! Man those girls can skate!
Craft council show
Spent the following day wandering around the Convention Centre all day at the American Craft Council show which was awesome! I didn't realise how massive it was going to be, but we were there for four hours! I bought a mug and some chopsticks, ever practical...
Welsh day
We celebrated St David's Day a day late this year. We wandered over to Whole Foods and picked up some lamb, leek and daffodils, and even managed to find some Welsh cheese and "dragon" sushi for lunch! N made Welsh cakes, always amazing.
Fancy food box
We decided to treat ourselves by subscribing to a box of Fancy foods! The first one was an awesome assortment of tea, ginger ale, chocolate and, best of all for us, chorizo (among other things)! Amazing!
St Patrick's Day Parade
For some reason the St Patrick's Day parade was held on the 10th of March.... Anyway, it passed right outside the front of our apartment building, so we spent a happy hour in the sunshine (the one warm weekend so far, very lucky!) watching all the bands and flags go by. They still weren't done after an hour though, I have no idea how long it took!
Baby nephew!!!
N's nephew was born ten days ago. I'm an aunty! Or tante, seeing as the baby is Dutch. So exciting!
Zipcar, Girl Scouts, Six Nations
And finally, last Saturday was pretty fun, if a bit busier than I would have liked! I finally put my Zipcard to use and booked a car for a couple of hours to go in search of a Girl Scout cookie sale! I had a nice chat with one of their leaders about how it works out here, and came home with five boxes of cookies to my name! Hopefully I can find a troop to work with soon, I'm starting to get Guiding withdrawal symptoms! Oh, and the driving was fine, passed without incident, despite missing an exit :)
I followed that triumph with a brisk walk over to the Irish pub in Fells Point to watch the deciding match of the Six Nations. What a funny sport! Has anyone else ever thought how much it looks like a bird laying an egg when the ball pops out of the scrum? hehe :) I don't think I've ever actually watched a match before, but it was a lot of fun. And being in that pub I could easily forget I was in the US for an hour or so! I have to admit, I went down there expecting to not care who won, but as soon as the Welsh started thrashing the English with some amazing tries, I couldn't help cheering for the Welsh. To be fair, rugby wasn't even on my radar until I went to Wales, not that I paid much attention to it even then. But it just felt right to support them for some reason. I guess despite being English I have lived the majority of my adult life in Wales, so maybe that's why!
So that brings us up to date I think! If you want me to go into more detail about any of the happenings above just leave me a comment and I'll write a longer post!
What have you been up to lately?
Anniversary
Early in February N & I quietly celebrated a whole four years together with some sushi :)
Chinese New Year
I made spring rolls, and N made the most amazing sweet & sour pork! Nom nom nom!
Bara brith
I made bara brith for the first time for a lab meeting and it went down sooooooo well. It tasted so good and was incredibly easy to make, definitely making that one again!
Roller derby
Got tickets for the final match of the Baltimore league's tournament (Charm City Roller Girls). Lots of fun! Man those girls can skate!
Craft council show
Spent the following day wandering around the Convention Centre all day at the American Craft Council show which was awesome! I didn't realise how massive it was going to be, but we were there for four hours! I bought a mug and some chopsticks, ever practical...
Welsh day
We celebrated St David's Day a day late this year. We wandered over to Whole Foods and picked up some lamb, leek and daffodils, and even managed to find some Welsh cheese and "dragon" sushi for lunch! N made Welsh cakes, always amazing.
Fancy food box
We decided to treat ourselves by subscribing to a box of Fancy foods! The first one was an awesome assortment of tea, ginger ale, chocolate and, best of all for us, chorizo (among other things)! Amazing!
St Patrick's Day Parade
For some reason the St Patrick's Day parade was held on the 10th of March.... Anyway, it passed right outside the front of our apartment building, so we spent a happy hour in the sunshine (the one warm weekend so far, very lucky!) watching all the bands and flags go by. They still weren't done after an hour though, I have no idea how long it took!
Baby nephew!!!
N's nephew was born ten days ago. I'm an aunty! Or tante, seeing as the baby is Dutch. So exciting!
Zipcar, Girl Scouts, Six Nations
And finally, last Saturday was pretty fun, if a bit busier than I would have liked! I finally put my Zipcard to use and booked a car for a couple of hours to go in search of a Girl Scout cookie sale! I had a nice chat with one of their leaders about how it works out here, and came home with five boxes of cookies to my name! Hopefully I can find a troop to work with soon, I'm starting to get Guiding withdrawal symptoms! Oh, and the driving was fine, passed without incident, despite missing an exit :)
I followed that triumph with a brisk walk over to the Irish pub in Fells Point to watch the deciding match of the Six Nations. What a funny sport! Has anyone else ever thought how much it looks like a bird laying an egg when the ball pops out of the scrum? hehe :) I don't think I've ever actually watched a match before, but it was a lot of fun. And being in that pub I could easily forget I was in the US for an hour or so! I have to admit, I went down there expecting to not care who won, but as soon as the Welsh started thrashing the English with some amazing tries, I couldn't help cheering for the Welsh. To be fair, rugby wasn't even on my radar until I went to Wales, not that I paid much attention to it even then. But it just felt right to support them for some reason. I guess despite being English I have lived the majority of my adult life in Wales, so maybe that's why!
So that brings us up to date I think! If you want me to go into more detail about any of the happenings above just leave me a comment and I'll write a longer post!
What have you been up to lately?
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Go Ravens!
The beginning of this post was written on Sunday night, right in the middle of the Superbowl. I've finished it off with my thoughts in hindsight.
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We had an opportunity this weekend to enjoy a true American experience, as our home American football team, the Baltimore Ravens, made it to the Super Bowl this year. Our building held a party in the community room downstairs, complete with free food, so I thought I might as well see what it's all about. And oh my word, I am so glad I did!
We started our preparations on Saturday, heading down to the shops to pick up a purple shirt for N. Despite my wardrobe full of purple clothes, I ended up getting an official one too!
Then Sunday evening we headed downstairs, me with tablet and book in tow, fully expecting to be bored after five minutes. My word how wrong I was! Admittedly I spent the first fifteen minutes concentrating on my food. Thankfully I prepared myself in advance for the nutritional value (or lack thereof) of the food on offer. Beans with bacon in, macaroni cheese, corn muffin, chicken and pulled pork (which was amazing):
But as soon as I started to pay attention and learnt how the game worked, I was hooked! It has been so exciting so far, and the Ravens are awesome! Bit of a fail though, the power has gone out in half the stadium, and it's been nearly half an hour now! Completely insane! Intending to write the rest of my post at the end. If they ever play again!
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So in the end the power outage lasted for a full 35 minutes, by which time we were pretty worried that the Ravens would have lost their touch. I think they were leading by something like 22 points at this point, including an amazing touchdown in which one guy just ran with the ball from one end of the field to the other without being stopped! The San Francisco 49ers managed to pull back though, and by the end there was only something like 2 or 3 points in it. Which should have been exciting but by this time all I wanted was to go to bed and for them to stop having timeouts and showing more commercials!
Talking of commercials, that's a big thing about the Superbowl too. Apparently 44% of women who tune in do so just for the adverts. And each slot costs millions of dollars! It's all quite insane, and although some of them made me giggle, I can't remember what most of them were for, so they obviously weren't that great!
Oh and I shouldn't end this post without mentioning the halftime show, with Beyonce and Destiny's Child. I missed most of it because I was too busy running upstairs to make tea and smash one of my favourite mugs in the process :( But of what I did see, man can she sing!
So overall, even though it did last too long for a Sunday evening, not helped by the power cut, I actually enjoyed the Superbowl! And I'm really looking forward to watching some more Ravens games next season! I found the game so much more engaging and exciting than football. This weekend I'm off to watch some rugby, so I'll be interested to see how I like that! If you're interested to read more/see more about the Superbowl the BBC covered it here, and with pictures here. Or you may prefer the puppybowl... :D
Oh the Ravens won by the way! Go Ravens! I missed an opportunity on Tuesday to go see the victory parade, but my boss took some pictures for us. I don't think I missed much, not knowing who any of the guys are! But it would've been a cool "I was there" moment. But hey, I was living in Baltimore when the Ravens won the 47th Superbowl in 2013, I'd say that was pretty cool in itself!
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